Unpacking immigration in youths' academic and occupational pathways

This study sought to unpack how immigration is associated with youths' educational choices during the transition to college and adulthood. Surveys and school records were collected on 789 youth (ages 18-25) with Asian Pacific, Latino, African/Afro-Caribbean, and European backgrounds. The results indicated generational differences in educational choices, such that children of immigrants chose courses of study with higher math and science content than that of their peers with U.S.-born parents. Mediation analyses indicated that children of immigrants reported higher social and economic aspirations than did their peers, and their economic aspirations accounted for part of the generational difference in educational choices. Generational differences in educational choices were also mediated by verbal achievement test scores and perceived English skills.     

Blocking in autoshaped lever-pressing procedures with rats

Rats will approach and contact a lever whose insertion into the chamber signals response-independent food delivery. This “autoshaping” or “sign-tracking” phenomenon has recently attracted considerable attention as a platform for studying individual differences in impulsivity, drug sensitization, and other traits associated with vulnerability to drug addiction. Here, we examined two basic stimulus selection phenomena—blocking and overshadowing—in the autoshaped lever pressing of rats. Blocking and overshadowing were decidedly asymmetrical. Previously reinforced lever-extension conditioned stimuli (CSs) completely blocked conditioning to auditory cues (Exps. 1 and 2), and previously nonreinforced lever-extension CSs overshadowed conditioning to auditory cues. By contrast, conditioning to lever-extension CSs was not blocked by either auditory (Exp. 3) or lever-insertion (Exp. 4) cues, and was not overshadowed by auditory cues. Conditioning to a lever-insertion cue was somewhat overshadowed by the presence of another lever, especially in terms of food cup behavior displayed after lever withdrawal. We discuss several frameworks in which the apparent immunity of autoshaped lever pressing to blocking might be understood. Given evidence that different brain systems are engaged when different kinds of cues are paired with food delivery, it is worth considering the possibility that interactions among them in learning and performance may follow different rules. In particular, it is intriguing to speculate that the roles of simple cue–reinforcer contiguity, as well as of individual and aggregate reinforcer prediction errors, may differ across stimulus classes.     

Childhood abuse,adult interpersonal abuse,and depression in individuals with extreme obesity

This study sought to examine (a) a mediational model of childhood abuse, adult interpersonal abuse, and depressive symptoms and (b) the impact of weight-related teasing on rates and correlates of childhood abuse. Charts of 187 extremely obese individuals seeking psychological clearance for bariatric (weight-loss) surgery were retrospectively examined. Among the participants, 61% reported a history of childhood abuse, 30.5% reported adult interpersonal abuse, and 15% reported clinically significant depressive symptoms. Initially, the relationship between childhood abuse and current depressive symptoms was significant (p < .001). However, the introduction of adult interpersonal abuse as a mediator in the model reduced the magnitude of its significance (Sobel's test p = .01). The associations between childhood abuse and adult interpersonal abuse and between adult interpersonal abuse and depressive symptoms were significant (p < .001 and p = .002, respectively), and the model showed a good fit across multiple indices. Finally, weight-related teasing was a significant moderator in the relationship between childhood and adult interpersonal abuse. Bariatric surgery patients report elevated rates of childhood abuse that are comparable to rates in psychiatric populations (e.g., eating disorders, depression), and higher than those in community samples and other medical populations. The relationship between child abuse and depressive symptomatology may be partially explained by the presence of adult interpersonal abuse; additionally, the relationship between childhood and adult interpersonal abuse was stronger for those who did not endure weight-related teasing than for those who did.     

Testing the Predictive Validity of the GRE Exam on Communication Graduate Student Success: A Case Study at University at Buffalo

GRE scores for entering M.A. and Ph.D. students in Communication at University at Buffalo from 1990 to 2001 were used to predict graduate student success. Graduate student success was measured in two ways: grade point average (GGPA) and graduation rates. Preliminary analyses on Master's students (M.A.) revealed that international students, compared to domestic students, earned lower GRE verbal (GRE-V) scores, higher GRE quantitative (GRE-Q) scores, had higher undergraduate grade point averages and were more likely to graduate from the program (82% vs. 49%). Only GRE scores were different for International vs. Domestic students when examining doctoral students. For M.A. students, GRE-V was positively correlated with GGPA and GRE-Q was positively related to earning the M.A. degree. Regression analyses controlling for several factors, including domestic student status, found only undergraduate GPA to predict GGPA and graduation for M.A. students. GGPA and GRE-V predicted graduation rates for M.A. students when GGPA was included in logistic regression analysis. GRE, GPA, and GGPA failed to predict Ph.D. success when examined together.     

Choosing a secondary school for young people on the autism spectrum: a multi-informant study

Deciding on a secondary school for children with autism is notoriously difficult for parents. While current UK legislation emphasises the choice that parents of children with special educational needs should have in educational decision-making, there is a dearth of research in this area, which means that little is known about how parents come to make decisions about secondary school placements and the types of support, if any, they receive from professionals. The present study aimed to determine the factors that immediately influence secondary school choice for young people with autism in one London local authority from the perspectives of multiple informants. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with parents of children with autism (n?=?7), young people themselves prior to secondary school entry (n?=?6), parent advisors (n?=?5) and secondary school professionals (n?=?5). Parents emphasised the anxiety and burden of the decision-making process. There was, however, substantial agreement among adult groups on the factors necessary for a successful secondary school placement: a nurturing, flexible and inclusive environment that emphasised both academic and life skills. Few adults, however, mentioned the importance of children's social relationships – a factor that featured prominently in the reports of young people. These findings highlight both the different perceptions of those involved in making decisions about the educational placements of children with autism and the challenges associated with weighing up these potentially conflicting perspectives. More work is needed to ensure both that information is transparent and accessible to all parents and that young people are actively involved in decisions that ultimately affect their lives.     

Does E-mail Facilitate Negative Performance Feedback Giving?: Supervisor and Subordinate Responses Compared via the Concept of Social Accountability

With full- or part-time employees in Hong Kong as subjects, two studies examined how supervisors (n = 113) and subordinates (n = 145) reacted to a feedback scenario under the social accountability conditions depicted by a 2 (Valence: Positive or Negative) × 2 (Medium: FTF or e-mail) factorial design. Message valence explained greater variance than did medium, and e-mail was viable in mitigating both accountability-related reactions. Negative feedback, compared to positive feedback, created higher accountability that led participants in the role of a manager to feel greater anxiety and pressure, to perceive less effective message delivery and image and relationship management, and more likely to anticipate accountable behaviors. The perceptions by subordinate-subjects largely mirrored those by supervisor-subjects.     

Capoeira – a Brazilian Immaterial Heritage: Safeguarding Plans and Their Effectiveness as Public Policies

This paper aims to analyse the actions promoted by the Brazilian federal government for the promotion of Capoeira, which is a mix of dance, fight and play, practised with musical instruments. It is commonly called an Afro-Brazilian martial art. So, in this paper, we analyse the effectiveness of the proposed Safeguarding Plan to Capoeira, assuming the suggested orientations from the National Historic and Artistic Heritage Institute concerning its elaboration and execution. The elaboration of safeguarding plans aims to define and organise a group of actions willing to enhance social/environmental production, as well as reproduction and transmission conditions of the registered cultural immaterial heritage. It is important to mention that Capoeira is also much related to representations about Brazil.     

Neural Correlates of Decision Making on a Gambling Task

Individual differences in affective decision making were examined by recording event-related potentials (ERPs) while 74 typically developing 8-year-olds (38 boys, 36 girls) completed a 4-choice gambling task (Hungry Donkey Task; E. A. Crone & M. W. van der Molen, 2004 ). ERP results indicated: (a) a robust P300 component in response to feedback (punishment vs. reward outcomes), (b) anticipation effects (stimulus-preceding negativity) prior to outcomes presented on frequent (vs. infrequent) punishment choices, (c) anticipation effects prior to selections associated with short and long-term losses (vs. gains), and (d) individual differences in ERP components were significantly correlated with behavioral performance and verbal ability. These findings suggest that neurophysiological responses may be an index of children's trait-based and/or developmental level of decision-making skills in affective–motivational situations.     

Cultural-Specific Lexis for Intercultural Communication: Case Studies From Two Different Classrooms

In light of the move towards a bi/multilingual turn and recent reevaluation of translation in the field of applied linguistics, this article looks at the translation of culture-specific lexis (CSL) and its role in developing learners’ intercultural discussion and reflection. It examines learning journals kept by students in two different contexts, intermediate learners of Japanese in a U.K. university and intermediate learners of English in a South Korean university. Despite a difference in contexts, three recurrent themes were identified in the learning journals in both classrooms: (1) reflection of languages and cultures, (2) considerations of the target reader, and (3) critical reflection of one’s own translation. The results of the study show that translation tasks involving CSL can enhance students’ intercultural awareness and, consequently, contribute to the development of intercultural competence.