Communication of social support to sexual harassment victims: Professors’ responses to a student’s narrative of unwanted sexual attention

University professors are important sources of social support for students who have been sexually harassed. However, research has not investigated how professors communicate with students who seek help in coping with this distressful problem. This study examines the types of social support provided by 96 professors in response to a student’s narrative of unwanted sexual attention, and factors that influence their support. The results show that professors provided the student with more problem solving than emotional support. Consistent with the social support model that was a foundation for the study, the types of support were associated with the sex of the professors and student, and the professors’ tolerance for sexual harassment.     

The relative impact of violation type and lie severity on judgments of message deceitfulness

This paper is part of a larger program of research assessing variables that underlie quantitative deceptiveness ratings. Several recent theoretical approaches, including Information Manipulation Theory (IMT), propose that deceptive messages are best understood as varying along two or more dimensions. At the same time, researchers have increasingly moved from dichotomous deception judgments to continuous deception ratings. This paper questions the validity of scaling degrees of deceptiveness along a single dimension, and argues that gradations in perceived deceptiveness reflect both the type of information manipulated and the severity of the consequences of the deception. This reasoning was tested with alxl experiment (N = 236) in which both the type of information manipulated and the severity of the consequences were systematically varied. As predicted, the results suggest that false messages (i.e., quality violations) are rated as more deceptive than lies of omission (i.e., quantity violations) when lie severity is low, but this difference diminishes as lie severity increases. In other words, false messages were rated as deceptive regardless of severity, but messages omitting information were rated as deceptive as false messages only when the consequences were serious. The implications for measuring deception are discussed.     

Communication and marital satisfaction: Social desirability and nonlinearity

In this paper two possible limitations with much of the traditional research on communication and marital satisfaction are explored: The failure to test for social desirability bias and nonlinear effects. Fitzpatrick's RDI, social desirability, and marital satisfaction questionnaires were administered to one hundred seventy‐one couples. The results suggest that social desirability bias may inflate correlations between sharing, traditionalism and marital satisfaction. Further, “traditional” couples were no more satisfied than “independent” couples when social desirability is controlled. Several nonlinear quadratic effects were obtained between sharing, traditionalism and marital satisfaction.     

Simulation games in science education‡

The astronomy concepts of 345 young people were studied over a 10‐year period using a multi‐media, multi‐modal methodology in a research design where survey participants were interviewed three times and control subjects were interviewed twice. The purpose of the research was to search for evidence to clarify competing theories on conceptual coherence versus knowledge‐in‐pieces, distinguishing between coherence as revealed in the representational systems at any particular stage in a young person’s development and the changes evident in mental growth thereafter. Thus five research questions concerned with the elements and structure of understanding were investigated: (1) conceptual coherence shown as patterns of high correlation of concept representations between the media used to assess subjects’ understanding within a survey, as well as (2) coherence revealed as consistency of representation of those concepts across media and modalities; (3) enhanced conceptual understanding and skill through repeated interviews across (longitudinal) surveys, as young people develop their knowledge; (4) cultural similarity in subjects’ representations of basic static concepts (e.g. the shape of the Earth); and (5) improved understanding of basic dynamic concepts (e.g. the motion of the Earth) and complex dynamic concepts (e.g. seasons and eclipses), through “knowledge‐skill compounding”. The research findings supported conceptual coherence and rejected the counter argument of knowledge‐in‐pieces (at an alpha level of .05). Further research is recommended to replicate current research in cultures other than those of China and New Zealand studied here to confirm the view that cognition and knowledge are inherently coherent in young people.     

Learning of Chemical Equilibrium through Modelling‐based Teaching

This paper presents and discusses students’ learning process of chemical equilibrium from a modelling‐based approach developed from the use of the ‘Model of Modelling’ diagram. The investigation was conducted in a regular classroom (students 14–15 years old) and aimed at discussing how modelling‐based teaching can contribute to students learning about the main qualitative aspects concerning chemical equilibrium. The data (collected from the written material produced by the students and the video‐recording of the classes) were organised in case studies for each group of students. The discussion supports the conclusion that elements from the ‘Model of Modelling’ diagram, as well as methodological aspects related to the teacher’s action, influenced the students’ learning process.     

The Playing Learning Child: Towards a pedagogy of early childhood

From children's own perspective, play and learning are not always separate in practices during early years. The purpose of this article is, first, to scrutinise the background and character of early years education in terms of play and learning. Second, to elaborate the findings of several years of research about children's learning in preschool related to the curriculum of early years education and, finally, to propose a sustainable pedagogy for the future, which does not separate play from learning but draws upon the similarities in character in order to promote creativity in future generations. Introducing the notions of act and object of learning and play (by act we mean how children play and learn and with the object we mean what children play and learn) we will chisel out an alternative early childhood education approach, here called developmental pedagogy, based on recent research in the field of play and learning, but also related to earlier approaches to early education.     

Sex and Gender Similarities and Differences in Communication Values in Same-Sex and Cross-Sex Friendships

This study extends research on sex differences and similarities in communication values by examining (a) the influence of sex of friend on ratings of functional communication skills in same-sex and cross-sex friendships, (b) the moderating role of friend's sex in sex differences in evaluations, and (c) the mediating role of psychological gender in sex differences in communication values. Participants (144 men and 148 women) rated the importance of communication skills for either same-sex or cross-sex friends. Results indicate that, although men's and women's ratings of communication skills are similar, participant sex, gender, and sex of friend do exert some influence.     

珠江三角洲地区旅游资源的基本特征与市域差异

珠三角在我国区域旅游发展中占有十分重要的地位,研究其旅游资源本身具有基础性研究意义.面对大区域旅游资源评价困难的状况,文章采用定性与定量相结合的方法,对该区域旅游资源的基本特征进行了分析评价,并系统比较了该区域九城市旅游资源的差异性.前者包括旅游资源的类型效应、强度效应和聚集效应评价.后者包括九城市在旅游资源丰度、配合指数、总体优势度方面的差异以及在各自旅游发展中所起作用的差异.研究发现,对于珠三角这样的大区域,选取上述评价指标对深入把握旅游资源的总体特征和旅游资源的内部差异是恰当的;珠三角九城市旅游资源的数量、组合及其总体优劣势不尽相同,在各自旅游发展中的地位与作用也存在明显差异,并由此形成不同的旅游发展模式;有必要通过系统整合,以有效推进该区域的旅游资源空间一体化进程.     

Investigation of behavior and perception of digital library users: A cognitive style perspective

Cognitive style is an influential factor in users’ information seeking. The study presented in this paper examines how users’ cognitive styles affect their behavior and perception in digital libraries. Fifty participants took part in this study. Two dimensions of cognitive styles were considered: (a) Field Dependence/Independence; (2) Verbalizer/Imager. The results showed that Intermediate users and Verbalizers have not only more positive perception, but they also complete the tasks in effective ways. Implications for the design of personalized digital libraries are also discussed.     

英语中“性别歧视”的文化溯源

语言总是反映着时代的社会传统文化。"性别歧视"特别是人们对女性的歧视在社会的各个方面都会留下很深的时代烙印。语言也是如此,从语言本身所包含的"性别歧视"去解读隐藏于其中的文化,又会促使我们更深入地把握语言的实质。