Environmental Learning of Social Cues: Evidence From Enhanced Gaze Cueing in Deaf Children

The susceptibility to gaze cueing in deaf children aged 7–14 years old (N = 16) was tested using a nonlinguistic task. Participants performed a peripheral shape-discrimination task, whereas uninformative central gaze cues validly or invalidly cued the location of the target. To assess the role of sign language experience and bilingualism in deaf participants, three groups of age-matched hearing children were recruited: bimodal bilinguals (vocal and sign-language, N = 19), unimodal bilinguals (two vocal languages, N = 17), and monolinguals (N = 14). Although all groups showed a gaze-cueing effect and were faster to respond to validly than invalidly cued targets, this effect was twice as large in deaf participants. This result shows that atypical sensory experience can tune the saliency of a fundamental social cue.     

Full-income and price elasticities of demand for German public theatre

This article provides estimates of price and income elasticities of demand for German public theatre, using a large and reliable data set for 178 theatres over 40 years (1965–2004). It is posited that the consumption of the performing arts is a time-intensive activity for which both a theatre ticket and leisure time are necessary. Thus, the impacts of ‘full-income’ (‘leisure time income’ added to disposable income) and the price of leisure time on theatre attendance are examined. The findings indicate that the demand for the performing arts is own-price inelastic. The disposable income elasticity is significant, positive and equals approximately one. In contrast, the full-income elasticity is well above one and greater than usual income elasticity indicating that the performing arts are a luxury good when leisure time income is included in the consumer’s budget. The positive full-income effect is, however, offset by the negative price of leisure effect indicating that leisure time is a complement for the performing arts. Additionally, three objective quality characteristics of theatrical productions which can positively influence theatre demand are examined.

Teachers' beliefs and integration of information and communications technology in Italian schools

Abstract

The goal of the present study was to examine teaching styles with information and communications technology (ICT); in Italian schools and in particular to explore whether there is a relationship between personal theories of teaching and learning, levels of competence in ICT, and how ICT is integrated into classroom activities. Teachers with high and low levels of competence in ICT were interviewed in order to examine their beliefs, perceptions, and experiences related to teaching with and without the computer. They were asked to reflect both on themselves as teachers and on their pupils. The results of this preliminary study appeared to indicate that both personal theories of teaching and the level of competence with ICT play a major role in how teachers implement ICT and in their perception of their own and their pupils' motivation     

Motivational variables involved in commitment of female soccer players at different competitive levels

Today more and more women are playing sport and choosing activities previously considered the exclusive domain of men, such as soccer. The main purpose of this study was to analyse the role of motivational variables (individual and team) regarding the commitment to and future expectations of playing higher levels of competition in a sample of female association soccer players (N = 117) at different levels of competition (local, regional and national leagues). Results confirm that the highest league shows high values in perception of success (ego orientation and task orientation), transactional psychological contract and future expectations. On the other hand, the local league produces high values in relational contracts. A path analysis tests a theoretical model with all the motivational variables as predictors of sporting commitment and future expectations. It shows the power of individual and team motivational variables in terms of predicting the involvement of women in soccer.     

Professional encounters with the post-WWII immigrant: a privileged prism for studying the shaping of European welfare nation-states

Abstract

This introductory article argues that practices of professional thinking and acting on the presence of the immigrant offer a privileged analytical prism through which to study how post-WWII European welfare nation-states have been shaped and crafted. As such, study of the formation of post-WWII welfare nation-states where one usually does not look for them is suggested: that is, beyond the bureaucratic logic imposed by the state itself. Consequently, a wedge is driven into the mundane professional practices embedded in the immigrant/welfare nation-state nexus, through which may be observed the very heterogeneous production of problems and solutions with immense effect on human lives, communities, and societies. These practices demonstrate the boundary work of the welfare nation-state that shapes it and gives shape to the construction and reconstruction of immigrant children and their families as problems and, thus, objects of integration and professional intervention. In this sense, the prism offers a new approach to writing histories of immigrant children’s education and the shaping and crafting of welfare nation-states that displaces both objects of study to professional practices of their making. In the first part of the article, the privileging of this analytical prism is substantiated historically and theoretically. In the second part, the four contributions constituting this themed issue are introduced. Finally there is a discussion of how the four contributions demonstrate the analytical prism’s cross-national relevance and historical sensitivity, adding new histories of how immigrant children’s education has been caught up in the immigrant/welfare nation-state nexus.