Multiple mentoring in academe: Developing the professorial network

Previous studies in business organizations have shown that mentoring provides numerous benefits for both individuals and organizations. Most of this mentoring research has been based on traditional, hierarchical mentor-protégé relationships in non-academic settings. We discuss why there is little empirical research on faculty mentoring and review changes in professors’ careers that necessitate a fresh look at this issue. We suggest that because of environmental changes, the traditional model of professors being guided throughout their careers by one primary mentor, usually the dissertation advisor, may no longer be realistic or desirable. Instead, professors may be better served by a portfolio of mentors (Baugh & Scandura, 1999; Higgins & Kram, 2001) who facilitate the protégé’s development of career competencies. Building on the work of intelligent careers (DeFillippi & Arthur, 1996), we examine how the career competencies of knowing why, how, and whom interact with learning demands to produce the need for faculty to develop multiple mentoring relationships across their academic career. We build on this conceptualization by considering the role of signaling of career competencies (Jones, 2002) in developing the professorial network, offering managerial implications in developing mentoring programs, and discussing avenues for future research.     

Crying: discussing its basic reasons and uses

Crying can occur in a great variety of contexts, including fulfilment and happiness as well as failure, loss, and sadness or other negative feelings, such as anger and guilt. Despite such differences, we have tried to identify a unitary underlying psychological cause for crying: perceived helplessness. We explore the different crying situations, describing the basic cognitive ingredients and critical steps in the process leading to crying. We start from those situations which directly imply personal frustration and suffering, then we consider empathic crying, crying for joy, and “aesthetic” crying, i.e., crying elicited by aesthetic experiences. We try to show that all of them imply a common core: some frustration (anticipated, actual, or previous), one's attempt to resist, perceived helplessness, and surrender to frustration. Finally, we address both the psychological benefits and costs of crying, either expected or unexpected, showing their links with perceived helplessness.     

Derogation without words: On the power of non-verbal pejoratives

While a large body of literature on pejorative language has emerged recently, derogatory communication is a broader phenomenon that need not constitutively involve the use of words. This paper delineates the class of non-verbal pejoratives (NVPs) and sketches an account of the derogatory power of a subset of NVPs, namely those whose effectiveness crucially relies on iconicity. Along the way, I point out some ways in which iconic NVPs differ from wholly arbitrary NVPs and ritualized threat signals in the animal kingdom, such as the wolf’s snarl, which do not threaten or demean targets by virtue of any kind of iconographic depiction. An iconic portrayal such as a racist caricature disparages its target by inviting recipients to entertain an unflattering image of the target. “Blackface” performers in the nineteenth-century, for example, promulgated an unflattering image of African-Americans by means of make-up, costumes, and vocal impersonations.     

The appeal of vague financial forecasts

Prior findings suggest managers often choose ranges to communicate uncertainty in future earnings. We analyzed earnings forecasts over 11 years and find higher earnings uncertainty firms are more likely to choose range estimates. We study investors’ attitudes to forecast precision and argue investors’ evaluations of forecasts can be explained by a sequential non-compensatory two-stage process – First, investors determine whether a point or a range estimate is more appropriate for a particular domain based on the congruence principle. Then, they seek the most precise reasonable range to maximize informativeness. Results from three experiments indicate the preference for (im)precision is non-monotonic – it peaks for low levels of imprecision and diminishes when the range gets wider, and is consistent with participants’ desire for congruent and informative estimates, and supports the claim that investors favor forecasts that are as precise as warranted by the information available, but not more precise.     

Inexpensive video cameras used by parents to record social communication in epidemiological investigations in early childhood-A feasibility study

We tested the feasibility of parents recording social interactions with their infants using inexpensive camcorders, as a potential method of effective, convenient, and economical large scale data gathering on social communication. Participants were asked to record two short video clips during either play or a mealtime, and return the data. Sixty-five video clips (32 pairs) were returned by 33 families, comprising 8.5% of families contacted, 44.6% of respondents and 51.6% of those sent a camcorder, and the general visual and sound quality of the data was assessed.Audio and video quality were adequate for analysis in 85% of clips and several social behaviours, including social engagement and contingent responsiveness, could be assessed in 97% of clips. We examined two quantifiable social behaviours quantitatively in both adults and infants: gaze direction and duration, and vocalization occurrence and duration. It proved difficult for most observers to obtain a simultaneous clear view of the parents and infant's face.Video clips obtained by parents are informative and usable for analysis. Further work is required to establish the acceptability of this technique in longitudinal studies of child development and to maximize the return of usable data.     

The fruits of irony: gaining insight into how we make meaning of the world

Many philosophers of education emphasise the impossibility to really ‘solve’ philosophical—and with that, educational—problems these days. Philosophers have been trying to give philosophy a new, constructive turn in the face of this insolvability. This paper focuses on irony-based approaches that try to exploit the very uncertainty of philosophical issues to further philosophical understanding. We will first briefly discuss a few highlights of historical uses of irony as a philosophical tool. Then we concentrate on two different interpretations of irony, formulated by Bransen and Rorty, that aim at gaining insight into how we make meaning of the world, while at the same time recognising that such an understanding would be impossible. After discussing some problematic aspects of these interpretations a third interpretation of irony is developed, based on a third view of the nature of meaning-making. Following these three interpretations, we will discuss their philosophical merits and the different kinds of insight they can produce for philosophy of education.     

Listening to the Sound of Silence: Gender Roles and Communication about Sex in Puerto Rico

Puerto Rican women are at high risk for the heterosexual transmission of HIV. I examined social and interpersonal aspects of communication about sex in regard to safer sex practices within a specific cultural context. Participants in this study were 42 heterosexual Puerto Rican adults living in Puerto Rico, who ranged in age from 18 to 56 years. Participants were interviewed regarding their sexual communication, sexual practices, and their perceptions regarding the roles of culture and gender in the practice of safer sex. Inductive qualitative analysis showed that three factors limit meaningful communication about sex in Puerto Rico: (1) machismo, (2) the changing role of virginity, and (3) the silencing of both men and women. Implications for theory-based inventions informed by an interpersonal communication perspective are discussed.This research was supported by the Northeastern University Provost’s Research and Development Fund.     

The experiences of migrants to Australia who stutter

PurposeMigration is a contemporary, global matter. With the number of international migrants doubling over the past four decades, speech-language pathologists will likely work with migrants who have childhood-onset stuttering. However, combined migration and stuttering experiences have never been investigated specifically. This study is the first to investigate the experiences of migrants to Australia who stutter.MethodsThree women and six men, aged 23 to 66 years old, participated. Data from individual interviews were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis to examine the ‘lived experience’ of participants, as well as with NVivo 12 software for the management of coding. Participants also completed The Overall Assessment of the Speaker’s Experience of Stuttering (OASES™).ResultsThe stress experienced from migration interacted and compounded the existing stress of stuttering. Central themes emerged pertaining to the impact of increased stress on self-identity, the interactions of the stresses, as well as the coping strategies/facilitators. Stuttering and other personal factors, such as language(s) spoken and accent, had a negative impact on communication skills.ConclusionMigration cannot be experienced independently of a stutter, as both are intrinsically linked to self-identity. The combined stress of migration with stuttering amplified the perception of feeling abnormal and resulted in difficulties with establishing a stable self-identity and a sense of belonging in the new context. Participants found strength in the company of others and considered Australia to be accepting of stuttering.     

For the Love of Cybernetics

This narrative is a response to an invitation to share my story regarding cybernetics. I begin with an exploration of what “for the love of cybernetics” means to me. Tracing experiences and connections to cybernetics over the course of 50?years I explore how I observe and give voice to my relation with people and situations both personal and professional. I explore life and how it is enriched by knowing cybernetics. Recent projects to encourage systems and cybernetic literacy building on work with ocean, earth, air, and energy literacies are described.     

Eye gaze as a means of giving and seeking information during musical interaction

During skilled music ensemble performance, a multi-layered network of interaction processes allows musicians to negotiate common interpretations of ambiguously-notated music in real-time. This study investigated the conditions that encourage visual interaction during duo performance. Duos recorded performances of a new piece before and after a period of rehearsal. Mobile eye tracking and motion capture were used in combination to map uni- and bidirectional eye gaze patterns. Musicians watched each other more during temporally-unstable passages than during regularly-timed passages. They also watched each other more after rehearsal than before. Duo musicians may seek visual interaction with each other primarily, but not exclusively, when coordination is threatened by temporal instability. Visual interaction increases as musicians become familiar with the piece, suggesting that they visually monitor each other once a shared interpretation of the piece is established. Visual monitoring of co-performers’ movements and attention may facilitate feelings of engagement and high-level creative collaboration.