Sexism on the Set: Gendered Expectations of TV Broadcasters in a Social Media World

This research examines gender performance expectations of television journalists in the era of social media. A qualitative survey found little to no progress in reducing discourse critical of broadcasters’ appearance in the 20 years since Engstrom and Ferri’s (2000) study, with social media adding another avenue to “correct” rather than challenge gender norms. Nearly all journalist respondents believe viewer criticism has increased with the rise of social media and believe their organizations should provide training and policies addressing this concern. However, 90% of respondents said their organizations provide neither, suggesting news outlets should enhance social media policies.     

Coursework Marks High,Examination Marks Low: Discuss

It is commonly believed that the standard of student performance in coursework tends to be higher than that achieved in formal examinations. This view was tested by analysing undergraduate performances in six subjects at four UK universities. Two measures of relative coursework performance were employed. The first is the difference between the mean coursework and examination marks for each module. The second considers the proportion of students in each module who achieve a higher mark in the coursework than in the examination. The measures showed that in English and History coursework performances are slightly higher, equivalent to one-third of one honours class (or division) while, in Biology, Business Studies, Computer Studies and Law, coursework performances are higher by as much as two-thirds of one honours class (or division). The differences observed in the latter subjects are very significant and have serious implications for parity of treatment in degree programmes where students may choose modules with contrasting modes of assessment.     

Effect of signaling extra unconditioned stimuli on autoshaping

Acquisition to a target conditioned stimulus (CS) is prevented when extra, unsignaled unconditioned stimuli (USs) are presented with sufficient frequency to remove contingency between target CS and US. Acquisition occurs, however, when the extra USs are signaled by another CS. According to the Rescorla-Wagner theory, signaling reduces contextual conditioning, which otherwise prevents acquisition. Results of Experiment 1 led to the rejection of a rival explanation derived from scalar expectancy theory by showing that acquisition does not occur when only half of the extra USs are signaled. The results of Experiment 2 were, however, contrary to the Rescorla-Wagner theory because they showed equivalent acquisition when the stimulus used to signal the extra USs was also present concurrently with the target CS. Signaling may exert its effect by converting the intertriai interval to CS?.