Persuasive impact of loss and gain frames on intentions to exercise: A test of six moderators

The current study situated loss/gain-framing research in the extended parallel process model and tested whether two message features (dose, efficacy appeals) and four individual difference variables (walking self-efficacy, grit, consideration of future consequences, health information overload (HIO)) moderated the impact of message framing on intentions to engage in physical activity. Adults (N?=?341, M_age?=?38.09, SD?=?10.94) were randomly assigned to one of eight message conditions advocating exercise behavior. All four individual difference variables significantly moderated framing effects such that gain-framed messages were more effective for individuals with lower walking self-efficacy, grit, and consideration of future consequences and loss-framed messages were significantly more effective for individuals with higher walking self-efficacy, grit, consideration of future consequences, and for those with lower HIO.     

Online and Hybrid Water Industry Courses for Community College Students

ABSTRACT

The Water Quality Management Technology department at Red Rocks Community College in Denver, CO received a National Science Foundation grant and converted 24 courses from a face-to-face format to online and hybrid formats. The courses were converted to meet a growing employment need within the water industry. The online and hybrid options gave incumbent industry professionals, who may have a difficult schedule, the ability to keep their certifications current. In the future, the department will continue to evaluate curriculum modalities to ensure optimum student learning and cultivate more partnerships between industry and other colleges to create multiple pathways for students.     

How do apes ape?

In the wake of telling critiques of the foundations on which earlier conclusions were based, the last 15 years have witnessed a renaissance in the study of social learning in apes. As a result, we are able to review 31 experimental studies from this period in which social learning in chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans has been investigated. The principal question framed at the beginning of this era, Do apes ape? has been answered in the affirmative, at least in certain conditions. The more interesting question now is, thus, How do apes ape? Answering this question has engendered richer taxonomies of the range of social-learning processes at work and new methodologies to uncover them. Together, these studies suggest that apes ape by employing a portfolio of alternative social-learning processes in flexibly adaptive ways, in conjunction with nonsocial learning. We conclude by sketching the kind of decision tree that appears to underlie the deployment of these alternatives.     

The influence of breed and environmental factors on social and solitary play in dogs (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Canis lupus familiaris</Emphasis>)

The domestic dog is an ideal model species in which to study the genetic and environmental factors that influence play behavior. Dogs exist in a wide variety of breeds and frequently engage in multiple forms of play. In the present study, we investigated whether the levels of solitary and social play differed between dogs of three breed types with distinct predatory motor pattern sequences (herding dogs, retrievers, and livestock guarding dogs [LGDs]). Furthermore, we investigated how environmental factors (social and nonsocial contexts) influenced play in dogs of these breed types. Groups of breed-matched dyads with working experience and of equivalent age, sex, and neuter status ratios were exposed to four experimental test conditions and two control conditions in randomized orders. With respect to solitary play, environmental context did have a significant effect, with toys reliably producing the highest levels of solitary play across all breed types. Retrievers engaged in significantly higher levels of solitary play overall than LGDs, and there was a trend in comparison to herding dogs. In contrast, neither environmental context nor breed had a significant effect on social play levels; however, neuter status of the dyads did have a significant effect on social play, with mixed-status dyads engaging in significantly higher levels of social play than same-status dyads. Our findings provide experimental evidence for identifying proximate, environmental stimuli that reliably facilitate social and solitary play and discuss possible genetic (i.e., breed type) and lifetime influences on the form of play in domestic dogs.     

A Summative Evaluation of a Food Safety Social Marketing Campaign “4‐Day Throw‐Away” Using Traditional and Social Media

Foodborne illnesses remain a common problem in the United States. Focus group results indicated that lack of knowledge and improper handling of leftovers were common among food preparers in families with young children. The USDA‐recommended storage time for leftovers was used to develop and conduct a food safety social marketing campaign, 4 Day Throw Away using both traditional and social media. A procedural model for developing a theory‐based nutrition education intervention and the Health Belief Model were used to design, implement, and evaluate this campaign. The #4 mascot made numerous public appearances (in person and TV) to convey the 4 Day Throw Away message; 10000 magnets were distributed; and 500 posters with tear‐off note card were posted in the traditional campaign. Magnets and note card directed recipients to a website (4984 visits) with food safety information about leftovers. The social media campaign included 4 YouTube videos (11759 views); a Facebook page (166 users with over 21240 post views); and 51 followers on Twitter. The use of multiple media channels increased awareness and intention to change health behaviors especially among parents of children 10 and younger. Both traditional and social media methods in the 4 Day Throw Away campaign reached the intended audience suggesting that interventions using a mix of media channels broaden the reach and potential for intended behavior change.     

Research for a Movement

Reflecting from the Philippine experience, this article explores an emerging picture that characterizes contemporary Bible reading attitudes of college students. Six new attitude factor definitions are developed following the development of the Bible Reading (BR) attitude scale for college students constructed by this author in a separate study. Through empirical procedures, the pre-tested scale produced six new attitude factor definitions that displaced the nine original pre-test attitude sub-factors. Their Bible reading attitudes are described in terms of motivation, reading preference, and acquaintance. This research provides practitioners with useful attitudinal dimensions for youth formation particularly in biblical formation and religious education.     

Public Pedagogy and Social Justice in Arts Education

In this article we explore examples of public pedagogical actions and interventions, reading them through a social justice education framework lens. In our discussion we start with definitions of social justice, public pedagogy and case study methodologies. Then, we look at a variety of international examples to highlight the pervasiveness of public pedagogical opportunities in visual culture that include a festival, an individual, a citywide symposium, an online community, a cultural group and a museum exhibition. They are divided into three categories based on social justice principles suggested by Ayers et al. and later interpreted by Dewhurst: (1) Public pedagogy and social justice is rooted in people's experiences: Fiesta del Señor de Choquekillka: Ollantaytambo, Peru and Janet Weight Reed – an artist's public pedagogy utilising social media; (2) Public pedagogy and social justice is a process of reflection and action together: Ideas City Festival and the Vlogbrothers; (3) Public pedagogy and social justice seeks to dismantle systems of inequality to create a more humane society: CULTURUNNERS and sh[OUT]: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex art and culture. It is our hope that in looking more closely at these international examples of public pedagogy and social justice education that the power of such alternative sites of learning is apparent and encourages further interventions and investigations in such spaces of inquiry.