The importance of ethnicity in ethnic studies programs

A study was undertaken to determine the importance of ethnicity in an ethnic studies program. Three different dimensions were examined (1) the importance of the ethnicity of the teacher in the opinions of administrators and students; (2) ethnic differences among students in attitudes and expectations regarding such a program; (3) the relationship between the structure or content of the ethnic studies program and the long-range ethnic goals of society. Results of a nationwide sample of academic deans and a sample of students from two colleges in San Antonio, Texas, indicate that the ethnicity of teachers is an important concern for both administrators and students. It was also found that attitudes and expectations, as well as what the primary function of the program and the long-range ethnic goals should be, differed with the ethnicity of students.     

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Modulation of an activity response with associative and nonassociative fear in the rat: A lighting differential influences the form of defensive behavior evoked after fear conditioning

Rats confronted with the onset of a light gradient display a transient increase in locomotion called theactivity response (AR) and a dark preference (Godsil & Fanselow, 2004). These experiments demonstrate that the magnitude of the AR can be blunted with Pavlovian fear-conditioning procedures via associative and nonassociative fear. Although manifested in decreased locomotion, the blunted AR effect was not due to increased freezing or immobility behaviors. Instead, rats displayed reduced rearing and an increase in a class of behaviors calledstationary activity. These results suggest that the lighting differential supplied by the cue influences the topography of defensive behavior and reduces the expression of freezing. This procedure provides a means by which to examine learned and unlearned defensive responses to the same stimulus.