Infants Prefer Tunes Previously Introduced by Speakers of Their Native Language

Infants show attentional biases for certain individuals over others based on various cues. However, the role of these biases in shaping infants' preferences and learning is not clear. This study asked whether infants' preference for native speakers (Kinzler, Dupoux, & Spelke, 2007) would modulate their preferences for tunes. After getting equal exposure to two different tunes introduced by two speakers, 7‐month‐olds (N = 32) listened longer to the tune that was introduced by a native speaker compared to the tune that was introduced by a foreign speaker. This suggests that the social‐emotional context in which exposure to stimuli occurs influences auditory preferences, and that the early emerging attentional biases might have important ramifications regarding social learning in early infancy.     

Beginning Principals and the Issue of Gender in Rural and Regional Areas

The lived experiences of female beginning principals is an under‐researched area in the field of educational administration. Much of the research undertaken in this area is flawed due to the assumption that male experience is the norm from which generalizations are made appropriately for all beginning principals. Androcentric bias inherent in the literature denies the reality of the beginning woman principal and the experiences of sexism often encountered when taking office. This paper reports qualitative data arising from an interview study of a small group of beginning women principals in rural and regional areas of New South Wales, Australia. The data demonstrate not only that there are distinctive issues for female school leaders, but that the conservative rural and regional context in which they work probably intensifies these issues. The paper concludes with a recommendation for further research examining the experiences of female beginning principals in a variety of social and cultural locations.