Pornography use and sexism among heterosexual men

ABSTRACT

The idea that pornography promotes sexism is a commonly purported one. This study employed an online sample of heterosexual men (N = 323) to investigate the relationship between pornography use (in terms of both overall level of pornography use and use of violent and/or humiliating pornography) and old-fashioned and modern sexism. The moderating effects of agreeableness and perceived realism of pornography were also assessed. Level of general pornography use and use of violent and/or humiliating pornography was not predictive of either sexism measure. Agreeableness was negatively predictive of both sexism measures, whereas perceived realism was positively predictive of sexism. Agreeableness and perceived realism did not moderate the relationship between level of pornography use and any of the outcome measures.     

Meeting Challenges in the Data World: RDAP 2017

The Global Postcards column is pleased to publish two contributions from Joshua Finnell and his colleagues. The first contribution with Brian Cain documents the themes and conversations of the Research Data Access and Preservation Summit (RDAP) in April 2017. The second contribution from Joshua with Stacy Konkiel documents the creation and sustainment of the Library Pipeline, a grassroots library organization. Finally, coeditor Robin Kear provides a personal synopsis of her attendance at the IFLA World Library & Information Congress (WLIC) in Wroclaw Poland in August 2017.

We always welcome contributions. If you would like to send a submission, please contact either of the column's coeditors: Jacqueline Solis, jsolis@email.unc.edu, and Robin Kear, rlk25@pitt.edu.     

R&D Funding Sources and University Technology Transfer: What Is Stimulating Universities to Be More Entrepreneurial?

In recent years, universities have become increasingly entrepreneurial as evidenced by their rapid escalation into technology transfer, the process by which university-developed technologies are commercialized. Stimulated in part by a favorable policy environment for patenting and licensing as well as increased competition for limited resources, university commercially oriented activities are nevertheless risky and controversial. Yet, it is unlikely this trend will be reversed, and hence research to inform its responsible practice is needed. This study investigates the effect of core R&D resources on university licensing to small and large companies, two important but distinct forms of licensing activity. Implications of the findings for policy and practice are offered.     

Third-Party Funding and Counselling in New Zealand: Implications for Counselling Services and Professional Autonomy

When, in New Zealand, a new third-party government funding arrangement was introduced for sexual abuse counselling, counsellors experienced challenges to their work practice and professional autonomy. There are some parallels between this experience and the influence of Managed Care on counselling in the United States. This article interprets the ways in which the development of counselling in New Zealand, and the New Zealand Association of Counsellors (NZAC) interacted with the government agency, the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC). responsible for the funding. The resulting funding arrangements, while initially mutually beneficial to government and counsellors, are now being questioned by counsellors and the NZAC. Possible responses to this situation by New Zealand counsellors are explored and discussed in the context of wider international responses to third-party funding issues.     

Framing processes in public commentary on US federal tobacco control regulation

Governmental health policy officials increasingly seek to promote public participation in expert and technical decisions regarding health regulation. The issues of what r?le the public plays in regulatory processes, and how health policy officials orient to public opinion, matter especially in the US context, where public commentary is a requisite component of federal rule-making. This paper examines written commentary as one specific, institutionalized form of public participation. To understand the relationship between scientific evidence and public commentary in public health regulation, we examine a US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulation, proposed in 1995, to restrict the promotion and sale of tobacco products to minors. We use recent work on collective action frames to analyse how the FDA framed the proposed regulation as a rational, science-based policy; the discursive practices employed in the public commentary either to embrace or to contest the FDA's framing; and how the agency presented the final version of its rule as responsive to that public commentary. Our content analyses reveal a significant disparity between the FDA's emphasis on scientific evidence and the commentators' emphases on political and ideological frames, which we analyse in terms of counter-framing. An orientation to the dynamics of framing and counter-framing contributes to an understanding of the relationship between scientific evidence and public commentary in the formulation of controversial health policy regulations.     

The influence of the information value provided by prior-cuing treatment on the reactivation of memory in preweanling rats

In two experiments, the influence of exposure to a CS? on the acquisition and retention of a conditioned odor aversion was examined. Preweanling rats were given exposure to the CS? either prior to (CS?/CS+) or following (CS + /CS?) the pairing of a second odor (the CS+) with footshock. The results of Experiment 1 indicated that subjects in both of the treatment conditions acquired aversions of comparable strength to the odor paired with footshock and that retention of the odor aversion was not affected by order of stimulus presentation during conditioning. Experiment 2 indicated, however, that the effectiveness of pretest exposure to various elements of the conditioning episode in reactivation of the memory for conditioningwas dependent on the order of stimulus presentation during conditioning. This differential effectiveness of the various reactivation treatments is discussed in terms of their relationship to the associative “status” of the stimuli present during conditioning and in terms of the information provided to the animal by the reactivation treatment.     

Conversing with pedagogical agents: A phenomenological exploration of interacting with digital entities

In this paper, we examine the meaning of conversing with pedagogical agents. Previous research has focused on examining cause and effect relationships, failing to take into account the meaning of the experiences individuals have when holding a dialogue with conversational agents for educational purposes. To understand these experiences, we have conducted a phenomenological examination of what it means to converse with a pedagogical agent. In phenomenological terms, findings suggest the experience is complex, engrossing, virtual yet real, human‐like, and social. Implications for the future design, implementation, and research of conversational agents in educational and other settings are discussed.