Reciprocity and Discrimination: An Experiment of Hindu‐Muslim Cooperation in Indian Slums

This article shows that indirect positive reciprocity triggered by experiencing short and superficial cooperation with outgroups' individual members reduces discrimination of other members of the same group. The field research combined a lab‐in‐the‐field experiment and a survey conducted in the slums of Mumbai, an Indian city notorious for Hindu‐Muslim violence. After the treatment manipulated expectations of cooperative behavior, ethnically heterogeneous groups produced as much public goods in a public goods game as homogeneous groups. This positive experience radically reduced Hindu subjects' discriminatory attitudes towards the Muslim minority after the experiment. The effect was equally strong among voters of two extremist parties implicated in ethnic riots. The survey compared reciprocity with alternative explanations of why people discriminate against some, but not other ethnic groups. Indirect positive reciprocity and intergroup contact are associated with less, and relative size of the outgroup with more discriminatory attitudes.     

How international transracial adoptees and immigrants cope with discrimination? The moderating role of ethnic identity in the relation between perceived discrimination and psychological well‐being

Research has consistently shown that discrimination based on ethnic group membership affects the psychological well‐being of ethnic minorities. Recent studies revealed that discrimination is also a relevant experience for international transracial adoptees, who have experienced a unique migration process. Yet, there is still a paucity of studies focused on similarities and differences between how immigrants and international transracial adoptees perceive discrimination and on how perceived discrimination impacts psychological well‐being, also depending on ethnic identity. Our study aimed to fill these gaps by investigating the moderating role of ethnic identity affirmation in the association between perceived discrimination and psychological well‐being, measured in terms of self‐esteem. A comparison between international transracial adoptees and immigrants was carried out in the Italian context. Participants were 119 international transracial adoptees and 90 immigrants, aged between 15 and 24, all categorizing themselves as Latinos. Findings revealed that immigrants perceived more discrimination and showed higher levels of ethnic identity affirmation than did adoptees, but no difference emerged with respect to self‐esteem. Ethnic identity affirmation buffered the detrimental effects of perceived discrimination on self‐esteem among international transracial adoptees but not among immigrants. Results are discussed in relation to practical implications for preventive interventions.     

Attention and cognitive control networks assessed in a dichotic listening fMRI study

A meaningful interaction with our environment relies on the ability to focus on relevant sensory input and to ignore irrelevant information, i.e. top-down control and attention processes are employed to select from competing stimuli following internal goals. In this, the demands for the recruitment of top-down control processes depend on the relative perceptual salience of the competing stimuli. In the present functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study, we investigated the recruitment of top-down control processes in response to varying degrees of control demands in the auditory modality. For this purpose, we tested 20 male and 20 female subjects with a dichotic listening paradigm, in which the relative perceptual salience of two simultaneously presented stimuli was systematically manipulated by varying the inter-aural intensity difference (IID) and asking the subjects to selectively attend to either ear. The analysis showed that the interaction between IID and attentional direction involves two networks in the brain. A fronto-parietal network, including the pre-supplementary motor area, anterior cingulate cortex, inferior frontal junction, insula and inferior parietal lobe, was recruited during cognitively demanding conditions and can thus be seen as a top-down cognitive control network. In contrast, a second network including the superior temporal and the post-central gyri was engaged under conditions with low cognitive control demands. These findings demonstrate how cognitive control is achieved through the interplay of distinct brain networks, with their differential engagement determined as a function of the level of competition between the sensory stimuli.     

Tuberculosis detection by giant african pouched rats

In recent years, operant discrimination training procedures have been used to teach giant African pouched rats to detect tuberculosis (TB) in human sputum samples. This article summarizes how the rats are trained and used operationally, as well as their performance in studies published to date. Available data suggest that pouched rats, which can evaluate many samples quickly, are sufficiently accurate in detecting TB to merit further investigation as a diagnostic tool.     

The vocational well-being of workers with childhood onset of disability: Life satisfaction and perceived workplace discrimination

Workers with disabilities are understudied, and workers with childhood onset of disability have been excluded from many of the studies on disability and work that do exist. This research compares the effects of childhood and adult onset of disability in a nationally representative sample of workers with disabilities. Educational disruptions due to disability status in childhood are negatively associated with life satisfaction and positively associated with perceived discrimination. Although age is associated with increased life satisfaction and decreased perceptions of discrimination for workers with adult disability onset, age is unrelated to these outcomes for workers with childhood disability onset. Receiving workplace accommodations is positively associated with satisfaction and negatively associated with discrimination for both groups, however, these relationships are stronger in magnitude for the childhood disability onset group. Organizational environments, both in education and in the workplace, play a critical role in the vocational well-being of workers with childhood disability onset.     

The reversed work‐ethic effect: Monkeys avoid stimuli associated with high‐effort1

We investigated how different numbers of responses prior to the presentation of a stimulus influenced preferences for the stimulus in three Japanese monkeys (Macaca fuscata). Monkeys were trained for two kinds of simultaneous discriminations that followed a high‐effort or a low‐effort response. In probe test trials, the stimulus that followed the high‐effort and the stimulus that followed the low‐effort response during discriminations were presented simultaneously. All monkeys chose stimuli that in training followed a low‐effort response. This result suggested that monkeys avoided stimuli that followed high‐effort responses because of the association between those stimuli and the preceding greater effort. The present result is consistent with our previous study conducted with humans, but contradicts analogous studies carried out with pigeons that reported either opposite results (i.e. pigeons preferred the stimuli after high‐effort) or non‐biased preferences. The differences between mammals and birds are discussed in terms of the lack of a successive negative contrast effect in birds.     

中央线索化对听觉障碍人群辨别任务返回抑制的影响

选取一组先天聋被试和与之匹配的听力正常被试,采用线索提示范式考察中央线索化对听觉障碍被试在辨别任务中基于位置返回抑制的影响。实验结果发现,在有中央线索化的任务实验中,听力正常和听觉障碍被试都出现了返回抑制,但是听觉障碍被试消失得比听力正常被试早。无中央线索化的辨别任务实验中,听力正常被试组仅在SOA=650ms时,听觉障碍被试没有发现返回抑制现象。结果表明听觉障碍被试辨别任务的返回抑制更易受中央线索化条件的影响,听障被试的空间注意调节机制更具策略性和有效性。     

恒河猴对多边形边(角)数识别极限的实验研究

两只恒河猴在实验条件下以正多边形和不规则多边形的边数为刺激实体进行数量辨别训练,以最后测得恒河猴对多边形边(角)数识别的极限。实验结果表明,恒河猴在多边形边数相差为1的条件下,其辨别上限为7:8。这与以前以白色卡片上黑色圆点为刺激实体所得到的实验结果是一致的。     

社会经济地位与留守儿童社会适应的关系:歧视知觉的中介作用

本研究旨在考察歧视知觉(包括个体和群体歧视知觉)在社会经济地位和留守儿童社会适应之间的中介作用.542名10~18岁留守儿童参加了本次调查,测量工具包括社会经济地位(三个指标:父母职业,父母受教育程度和家庭经济),个体和群体歧视知觉量表,积极和消极情感量表,自尊量表和问题行为量表.结果发现:(1)留守儿童社会经济地位与其社会适应之间有着显著的正相关;(2)相对于个体歧视知觉,留守儿童群体歧视知觉在家庭社会经济地位和社会适应之间的中介作用更为显著;(3)留守儿童群体歧视知觉中介模型不存在显著的性别差异,但高群体歧视知觉的男生比同类别的女生更容易产生社会适应问题.     

先天性音乐障碍的音高空间表征能力研究

利用音高空间表征任务、心理旋转任务和音高辨别任务,探讨先天性音乐障碍者音高空间表征能力、心理旋转加工能力和音高辨别能力。结果发现：先天性音乐障碍组音高空间表征任务标准差、心理旋转任务错误率和音高辨别任务错误率均显著高于控制组。 这些结果表明先天性音乐障碍并非音乐特异性障碍,而是音乐相关性障碍。