The Swiss “Tina Fey Effect”: The Content of Late-Night Political Humor and the Negative Effects of Political Parody on the Evaluation of Politicians

This article investigates the content and effects of political humor on late-night television. Besides conducting a systematic content analysis of a Swiss late-night show, this article examines the effects of late-night political parody on competence evaluations of politicians. An experiment manipulated the televised parody of a politician and measured political knowledge. Results show that exposure to a televised political parody decreased competence ratings of politicians only for individuals high in political knowledge. The reason is that viewers must already have an understanding of current political affairs to “get the joke”—that is, the implicit message transported by the parody. The implications of such a negative “Tina Fey Effect” are discussed.     

Spectral Strangers: Charlotte Brontë’s teachers

Abstract

In this article I attempt to engage with Charlotte Brontë as both a teacher and a philosopher. In her depiction of two impoverished gentlewomen as teachers Brontë is, as is often pointed out, drawing on her own history, but she is also exploring two conflicting contemporary philosophic notions: the romantic ideal and the ideal of rationality, as they are played out in the lives of women. Brontë uses the plot device of taking her teachers into new environments, from where as strangers they can report to the reader on the conditions they experience. But the teachers are also strangers in the teaching environments of their employment and, moreover, as individuals are stripped of all familial and social support. While her pedagogic strategies may not be appealing to twentieth century tastes, Brontë and her creations still have something to say about the issues, choices and constraints faced by young and inexperienced teachers, and the available subject-positions teachers may construct for themselves as they grapple with their own foreignness in their classrooms or other teaching situations.     

Mapping the knowledge structure exhibited by a cohort of students based on their understanding of how a galvanic cell produces energy

This study evaluates the use of an open‐ended question to determine students' knowledge structure on the topic of galvanic cells. The open‐ended question was developed and administered to 163 Grade 10 students who had earlier completed a course on electrochemistry. Students' responses were marked as well as coded on the basis of the fields identified from their responses. This was then evaluated statistically to determine the collective knowledge structure of the sample of students. The knowledge structure thus mapped contains both canonical concepts and alternative conceptions (ACs). An important finding emerging from this study is that instructors need to focus student's attention on the dynamic processes involving electrons and ions during the operation of galvanic cells. In order for students to fully understand how a galvanic cell operates, they need to see the whole picture. There are three critical components that lead to students' understanding of how an oxidation–reduction reaction can generate energy and how a circuit is complete: transfer of electrons during oxidation–reduction half‐reactions, flow of electrons within metals, and migration of ions in solution. Also, we found that it is possible for students to use correct chemistry concepts in an incorrect way by establishing linkages among these in an inappropriate manner. We reiterate that apart from evaluating students' ACs, it is also important to evaluate the links between the concepts and conceptions present in students' knowledge structure so that teaching can be made more effective.     

Does Parental Mind‐Mindedness Account for Cross‐Cultural Differences in Preschoolers’ Theory of Mind?

This study of 241 parent–child dyads from the United Kingdom (N = 120, M_age = 3.92, SD = 0.53) and Hong Kong (N = 121, M_age = 3.99, SD = 0.50) breaks new ground by adopting a cross‐cultural approach to investigate children's theory of mind and parental mind‐mindedness. Relative to the Hong Kong sample, U.K. children showed superior theory‐of‐mind performance and U.K. parents showed greater levels of mind‐mindedness. Within both cultures parental mind‐mindedness was correlated with theory of mind. Mind‐mindedness also accounted for cultural differences in preschoolers’ theory of mind. We argue that children's family environments might shed light on how culture shapes children's theory of mind.     

Sample duration and type of stimuli in delayed matching-to-sample in rhesus monkeys

Two experiments were performed to determine the effect of sample duration (0.1, 2, and 4 sec), delay interval (.03, 4, 8, 16, and 32 sec), and type of stimulus (color and shape) on the matching performance of rhesus monkeys. In Experiment 1, the 15 possible delay-duration combinations were randomly presented in blocks of 15 trials. In Experiment 2, each duration was held constant and the five delays randomly presented. Then each delay interval was held constant with the three durations randomly varied. Matching performance increased as sample duration increased (ps < .01 and .005), while length of delay did not significantly affect performance. The type of stimuli paired in the matching test significantly affected performance (ps < .05 and .10) with the shape/shape choices leading to the poorest performance. Stimulus discriminability and amount of training with brief sample durations were implicated as significant determinants of matching performance.     

Situational influences upon children's beliefs about global warming and energy

This paper explores children's beliefs about global warming and energy sources from a psychological perspective, focusing upon situational influences upon subjective beliefs, including perceived self‐efficacy. The context of the research is one of growing concern at the potential impacts of global warming, yet demonstrably low levels of self‐efficacy amongst both adults and children to effectively respond to this large‐scale environmental problem. Empirical research was conducted on a sample of 198 UK children and adults to explore the influence of a cooperative learning environment upon children's beliefs about global warming and energy. A comparative design was adopted, contrasting 9–12 year old members of the Woodcraft Folk educational organisation with non‐members of similar age and with adult members of the same organisation. Results indicate that cooperative learning environments can have a significant and positive effect upon children's beliefs about large‐scale environmental problems. In particular, Woodcraft folk children reported significantly higher levels of personal awareness and perceived self‐efficacy in relation to global warming in comparison to their peers. Secondly, unexpected differences were identified between levels of perceived self‐efficacy in children and adult Woodcraft folk. The implications of these differences for the design of educational programmes seeking to empower children to respond to global warming are discussed.     

Value differences in foreign students

The Rokeach Value Survey was administered to four equivalent groups of students studying in London. It was hypothesized that a number of differences would occur between these groups based on their country of origin, respective affluence and traditional cultural values. Half of the values showed significant differences between groups with the British Control Group and the Europeans being most often more similar to each other than the other groups. The Africans were most different from the three other groups. These results were interpreted in terms of cultural and economic differences and related specifically to the literature of sojourner adjustment. Limitations of the research are also noted.