Interracial Contact in South Africa Within the Nursing Context1

Previous research on the effect of intergroup contact has highlighted the necessity for the contact to be of equal-status within a supportive environment. The South African apartheid system, with its active discouragement of such contact, presents an interesting context in which the effect of inter-racial contact may be examined. One hundred and thirteen nurses from four private hospitals took part in the study. Two of the hospitals had racially integrated training programs, and two trained one race group alone. A number of questionnaires were administered to the nurses in individual interviews. The responses indicated that nurses from the contact hospitals viewed the integration of nursing significantly more positively than did the nurses from the noncontact hospitals. However, trait evaluations of the nurses own and corresponding race group on the dimensions, personality and work ability suggested that negative intergroup attribution had not been eliminated by the contact.     

Expert knowledge as mnemonic cues

It is proposed that expert knowledge can operate as a cognitive cueing structure for the acquisition and retention of new information in memory. Two experiments are reported which demonstrate that expert knowledge about football and clothing can act as mnemonic cues for the recall of information newly associated with that knowledge. In Experiment 1 expert terms from the domains of football and clothing and those neutral nouns paired with them were both better recalled by experts than by non-experts. In Experiment 2 passages containing information contrary to factual knowledge about football and clothing were recalled better by experts than by non-experts, in spite of the fact that information in the passages contradicted what the experts already knew. The results of the two experiments were interpreted as showing that expert knowledge provides mental cues that have desirable mnemonic properties such as constructibility, associability, discriminability and invertibility. Also, the interpretation of expert knowledge as a cognitive cueing structure is compared to Ausubel's ideas regarding advance organizers.     

Acoustic analysis in the differentiation of Parkinson's disease and major depression

In its early stages, Parkinson's disease (P.D.) may be difficult to distinguish from major depression (M.D.) leading to inappropriate management. Both illnesses are characterized by psychomotor retardation. The neurovegetative symptoms used to diagnose M.D. are not specific and in P.D. may be due to the physical illness itself. Currently, differentiation of the two disorders relies on subjective clinical observation. Improved diagnostic accuracy based on more objective data is needed. To this end, this study used computerized acoustic analysis to contrast speech patterns in P.D. and M.D. The sample consisted of 30 P.D. patients without depression or dementia, 30 patients with uncomplicated M.D., and 31 normal controls, each 60 years of age or over. Of the acoustic variables studied, M.D. patients had significantly reduced rates of speech compared with P.D. patients. The data suggest that this temporal measure of speech may be useful in the differentiation of P.D. and M.D.     

Challenging occupational stereotypes: Women's training roadshows and guidance at school level

The views that women and girls hold about themselves contribute to the segregation of women in the labour market. Women's Training Roadshows are an example of initiatives aimed at 'cultural interruption', in that they attempt to challenge occupational stereotypes. This paper evaluates the Cardiff Women's Roadshow from the schoolgirls' perspective and discusses the implications of the findings for careers guidance at school level.     

Parental preferences regarding sex education topics for sixth graders

The purpose of this study was to ascertain which sex education topics parents of preadolescents regarded as appropriate for their children. The sample was comprised of 146 respondents randomly selected from a class list of sixth graders in a suburban school district. A mailed, self-administered questionnaire listing 48 possible topics was used to elicit parental response. Pretesting found the questionnaire to be highly reliable (Cronbach's alpha = .95). Overall, parents strongly supported the inclusion of a broad range of sex education topics regardless of parental age, sex, marital status, income, education, or child's sex. Moreover, parents were largely in agreement with the inclusion of sensitive topics in addition to those which were more physiological or behavioral. Catholics more often than Protestants agreed with the inclusion of birth control, abortion, and sterilization even after controlling for income and education. Thus, the findings suggest that parents of sixth graders find a broad sex education program in the school appropriate. To this end, school officials and sex educators should not overlook the needs of preadolescents for sex education solely on the basis of perceived parental opposition.     

Social support from weak ties: Insight from the literature on minimal social interactions

When people face difficult life events, such as cancer or bereavement, they fare better when they receive support. These “experiencers” are likely to seek and receive support from a wide range of people, from close others to acquaintances. Indeed, the social support literature has long acknowledged the value of having a diverse support network. Research suggests that experiencers often perceive “weak ties” (i.e., acquaintances) as sources of support, and that experiencers sometimes prefer to get support from weak ties rather than strong ties. Providing support can be challenging for all kinds of supporters, however weak ties may be more likely than strong ties to allow worries about their inability to provide effective support to stop them from providing any support at all, thus depriving experiencers of opportunities for additional support. In this paper, we focus on the fact that often the provision of support occurs via a social interaction. We draw on the social psychology literature on minimal social interactions to suggest reasons why potential weak tie supporters might doubt their ability to provide effective support, and to generate advice to encourage potential supporters to reach out. Finally, we suggest future areas of research, with the ultimate goal of helping to expand the support that is available for people experiencing difficult life events.     

Students' experience of the transition from school to tertiary college

The experiences of a group of students as they transferred from school to tertiary college at 16 were investigated. A number of issues are highlighted in relation to the transition period. In particular, a distinction is drawn between the curriculum-related aspects and the personal/social aspects of the students' concerns. Implications of the research findings for both policy and practice in post-16 education are discussed in the context of a recent HMI Report on the pastoral curriculum for the 13-19 age-group     

Defining the boundary in a positioning task

Previous experiments have shown that overshoot rate in a linear positioning task is determined by the distance of the target from the boundary of the task in the direction of movement. Present experiments have served to specify distance more precisely as being relative rather than absolute, and as proximal rather than distal, and to show that the position of the boundary depends on the movements demanded by the task and not the visual and proprioceptive limits of the display. The operational boundary may be regarded as a cognitive construct by reference to which subjects locate targets.     

Components of the laterality effect in letter recognition: Asymmetries in iconic storage

A partial report procedure and a backward masking paradigm were employed to explore lateral asymmetries in components of letter recognition. Stimulus displays were displaced off-centre into the left visual field (LVF) or the right visual field (RVF). Visual field differences in the effect of a delayed backward mask indicated an RVF superiority in the rate of read-out or encoding. Comparison of masked and unmasked full report also yielded estimates of iconic persistence. The persistence of these peripheral displays was surprisingly brief, although it was significantly longer in the LVF (₅₇ ms) than in the RVF (₃₄ ms). Precueing by colour and by location produced a larger partial report advantage in the RVF, reflecting a superiority in selective sampling. With postcueing no partial report effect was obtained at any delay, and this failure was attributed to the briefness of the iconic persistence.