Male-female associations in the domestic guinea pig

Male courtship of nonreceptive females and male-male agonistic encounters were monitored daily for eight heterosexual groups of guinea pigs. Typically, one male (the associating male) accounted for much more courtship of a given female during her pregnancy than did any of the other males. Associating males were high ranking animals but were not always the group’s normal alpha male. Nonalpha associating males invariably ranked higher on the day of the female’s litter and postpartum estrus than their modal daily rank during her pregnancy. In 10 of the 18 cases, a nonalpha associating male took over the alpha position on the day of the litter. The courtship of females by associating males was found to differ from that by nonassociating males in that associating males displayed circling, rumping, swaying, and pursuit in a significantly higher percentage of the total number of courtship bouts.     

Continuing education as a catalyst for inter-professional collaboration

Do nurses have access to the tools and resources they need for evidence-based practice? Are librarians prepared to work with nurses to provide access to appropriate resources and services, and teach the needed information literacy skills? The authors work with professional library and nursing organizations to present interdisciplinary continuing education to improve the information literacy of nurses and the ability of librarians to provide resources and services that meet nurses' information needs. This article reviews behavioral and practice changes reported by nurses and librarian participants in symposia on evidence-based nursing in March 2001 and May 2003.     

Television News Content of Minority Groups as an Intergroup Context Indicator of Differences Between Target-Specific Prejudices

Although research has shown that different types of prejudice are highly correlated, the existence of prejudice hierarchies indicates that individuals differentiate between target groups. Here we examine the relationship between television news coverage and differences in attitudes toward minority groups. We rely on intergroup threat theory, tone, and framing theories to formulate our hypotheses and conduct a multimethod study: All prime-time television news items in Flanders (N = 1,487) reporting on five minority groups (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender; Jews; Eastern Europeans; North Africans; Roma) were coded in terms of tone and framing and subsequently combined with individual-level survey data. Patterns in news coverage reflect differences in prejudice: Groups that are most negatively/positively evaluated by the public receive the most negative/positive coverage. Prejudice is especially high for minority groups associated with problems and criminal threat frames in the news. We conclude that news content is an important characteristic of the intergroup context reflecting differences in minority group appraisals in society.     

Technical characteristics and some correlates of the california critical thinking skills test,forms A and B

Forms A and B of the California Critical Thinking Skills Test (CCTST) were administered to two randomly formed groups of undergraduate students at a large eastern university, as part of the freshman orientation process. Arithmetic means for the forms were significantly different, indicating a lack of equivalence between forms. Principal component analyses and specific patterns of item intercorrelations differed between forms, with the lack of equivalence apparently due to the changes in Form A items, which were carried out in order to create Form B items. Internal consistency reliabilities for total and subtest scores were uniformly low, and it appears the CCTST scores largely reflect verbal intelligence of the type measured by the SAT. It was concluded that the CCTST may be acceptable for research purposes (e.g., as a blocking variable or covariate), but not for decision making concerning individual students, especially with respect to subtest scores and score differences.     

Impact of an in-service training in neurocognitive insights on teacher stress,teacher professionalism and teacher student relationships

The stressful nature of the teaching profession is recognised worldwide. Consistent with the recent international attention regarding the connection between neurocognition and education, the study ‘Learn2be@school’ introduced a training for teachers about the occurrence of stress and the relationship between human behaviour and the functioning of the human brain. This study investigates whether neurocognitive insights contribute to stress reduction in the professional and personal functioning of teachers, and focuses more specifically on the impact of the training on their attitudes (attitude level), understanding (knowledge level) and handling (application level) of complex stress situations. Using a quasi-experimental study design with 12 participants and 28 non-participants, data were gathered twice through the use of vignettes and in-depth interviews. The results indicated an impact of the training, not only on the stress experienced by teachers in their professional and personal functioning, but also at the level of the teacher–student relationship and team functioning.     

Approach-avoidance conflict in preweanling rats: A developmental study

Ten- and 15-day-old rat pups were trained with two procedures to approach an anesthetized mother, and then were punished for approaching. Both ages of subjects exhibited increased latencies to reapproach the mother, indicating passive inhibitions, but only the older pups retreated. All but one of the younger pups eventually reached the mother within 3 min after the punishment, while only half of the older pups did so. In a second experiment examining the development of locomotor avoidance reactions, 5- to 20-day-old rats were shocked without the mother present. Fifteen- and 20-day-old rats significantly decreased their activity patterns in reaction to shock and spent significantly less time in the shock area than either of the younger aged pups. These results suggest that flight reactions are components of a rat’s defensive repertoire that appear very rapidly between 10 and 15 days of age.     

Perceptions about Homeless Elders and Community Responsibility

Human service students were surveyed (N = 207) to determine their perceptions about homeless elders and communal responsibility for their well-being. Using a backward regression analysis, a final model (F = 15.617, df = 7, p < .001) for Perceptions about Homeless Persons and Community Responsibility (predicted variable) included the predictor variables of Homeless Older Persons Are Afraid and Lonely; Homeless Persons and Health Issues; History of Homeless Older People's Life on the Street; Touching a Homeless Older Person; Hygiene and Homeless Older People; Interest in Working with Elders; and Educational status. The findings indicated that the predictor variables accounted for more than 36% of the variance in Perceptions about Homeless Older Persons and Community Responsibility (R ² = .386; adjusted R ² = .361).