Sex differences in confidence influence patterns of conformity

The research was supported in part by an ERC Advanced Grant (EVOCULTURE, Ref.232823) awarded to KNL.Lack of confidence in one's own ability can increase the likelihood of relying on social information. Sex differences in confidence have been extensively investigated in cognitive tasks, but implications for conformity have not been directly tested. Here, we tested the hypothesis that, in a task that shows sex differences in confidence, an indirect effect of sex on social information use will also be evident. Participants (N = 168) were administered a mental rotation (MR) task or a letter transformation (LT) task. After providing an answer, participants reported their confidence before seeing the responses of demonstrators and being allowed to change their initial answer. In the MR, but not the LT, task, women showed lower levels of confidence than men, and confidence mediated an indirect effect of sex on the likelihood of switching answers. These results provide novel, experimental evidence that confidence is a general explanatory mechanism underpinning susceptibility to social influences. Our results have implications for the interpretation of the wider literature on sex differences in conformity.PostprintPeer reviewe

THE EFFICACY OF FEEDBACK IN THE FIRST YEAR PROGRAMME: A COMPARISON OF THE VIEWS OF STUDENTS AND STAFF

Feedback has been defined as "information about the gap between actual performance level and the reference level, which is subsequently used to alter that gap". It is now widely acknowledged that feedback forms an essential part of the learning cycle, allowing students to assess their performance and make improvements to future work. However, despite acceptance of the importance of feedback by academics, results from the recent National Student Survey (2005) have highlighted students' general dissatisfaction with the feedback they receive. The purpose of this study was to examine the efficacy of feedback on the first year of the Biological Sciences degree at the University of Leicester, by comparison of the perceptions of students and staff on a number of aspects of the current feedback process. Although a structured approach to giving feedback is encouraged within the School of Biological Sciences, there will be remaining differences in the way staff and students conceptualise the roles of feedback and its format. The views of students studying on the 1st and 2nd years of the Biological Sciences degree were ascertained using a questionnaire addressing various aspects of feedback including, quantity, timing, use and quality. The response rates to the questionnaire were high for both years and the views of students with a range of academic abilities were represented; statistical analysis showed the data obtained to be reliable. In addition, focus groups were used to further explore the views of 1st year students. Semi-structured discussions were led by non-teaching staff, allowing for an informal environment to encourage full participation from students with a range of academic abilities. Staff views on the feedback process were sought during semi-structured one-on-one interviews, again allowing an informal environment for discussion. The staff cohort comprised the majority of 1st year module course convenors, a group of 1st year personal tutors, representative of most departments within the School of Biological Sciences and staff from the Student Learning Centre

Linking a Pharmaceutical Chemistry Workshop to Pharmacy Practice

This paper describes the design and implementation of a workshop to enhance pharmacy students’ appreciation of the importance of chemistry for pharmacy practice. The workshop was designed to form part of the practical work of two modules taught in the second year of the MPharm degree. In this mandatory workshop, second year pharmacy students were required to spot in the dispensary drugs based on their chemical properties like chirality, their origin and chemical structure. The lecturers involved in the workshop showed examples of the application of chemistry in the day to day work of the dispensary (e.g. calculating the dose for a patient in millimoles or how small modifications from a natural product can change its ability to cross the blood-brain-barrier). Feedback from participating students was collected via two survey instruments to examine the impact of the intervention. The survey results showed a clear shift towards a more positive perception by students of the chemistry taught in the MPharm curriculum

Interprofessional anatomy education in the United Kingdom and Ireland: perspectives from students and teachers

There is increasing recognition of multiprofessional learning in anatomy and its role in medical and healthcare professions. This study utilized two components to investigate anatomy interprofessional education (AIPE) in the United Kingdom and Ireland. First, a survey involving qualitative and quantitative components asked Heads of Anatomy to report on their institutions’ uptake of AIPE. Second, a series of case studies explored the experiences of students by using evaluation forms and an in-depth analysis of thematic concepts to understand the learners’ perspectives on designing and delivering AIPE. Out of the 13 institutions that took part in the survey, eight did not offer an AIPE program. Between the remaining five institutions that deliver AIPE programs, 10 different modules are offered with the majority involving healthcare professions. The AIPE component is rated highly by students. The themes from the case studies highlight how valuable AIPE is from the student perspective both in terms of engaging them in anatomy as well as in the broader skills of teamwork and communication. The case studies also revealed how AIPE can be engaging for groups of students who might not have previously had access to cadaveric anatomy, for example, engineers and archeologists. The results of this study have implications for curriculum design in medicine and healthcare but also for further engagement of professional groups from non-healthcare backgrounds. Anat Sci Educ 8:360–370. © 2015 American Association of Anatomists

The Impact of Flag Desecration on Social Justice Movements: The Case of Occupy SLU

The unrest in Ferguson, Missouri brought about many points of contention that evolved into a collective, dualistic mindset: an “us-versus-them mentality” that set community members at odds with each other. A notable instance of divisiveness was the desecration of the American flag by some demonstrators, the merit of which is hotly debated. Some see the desecration of the flag as a powerful means of protest, a literal destruction of a perceived symbol of institutional oppression. Others see it as the ultimate insult to our nation and our nation’s service members who volunteer to uphold the very foundations that protect demonstrators. In the months following the unrest, the demonstrations made their way onto the campus of Saint Louis University, a Jesuit institution in St. Louis, Missouri, organizing the Occupy SLU movement. In the aftermath of this movement, researchers asked students to share their experiences. This research has its origins in that study, focused upon the student experiences on and near campus. This paper provides a brief overview of the historical foundations of flag desecration and evaluates the perceptions of students concerning the use of flag desecration as a tactic during the Occupy SLU movement

Bringing computational science to the public

The authors acknowledge the BBSRC Doctoral Training fund (ACH0- BDTG09) for funding this research.Background The increasing use of computers in science allows for the scientific analyses of large datasets at an increasing pace. We provided examples and interactive demonstrations at Dundee Science Centre as part of the 2015 Women in Science festival, to present aspects of computational science to the general public. We used low-cost Raspberry Pi computers to provide hands on experience in computer programming and demonstrated the application of computers to biology. Computer games were used as a means to introduce computers to younger visitors. The success of the event was evaluated by voluntary feedback forms completed by visitors, in conjunction with our own self-evaluation. This work builds on the original work of the 4273π bioinformatics education program of Barker et al. (2013, BMC Bioinform. 14:243). 4273π provides open source education materials in bioinformatics. This work looks at the potential to adapt similar materials for public engagement events. Results It appears, at least in our small sample of visitors (n = 13), that basic computational science can be conveyed to people of all ages by means of interactive demonstrations. Children as young as five were able to successfully edit simple computer programs with supervision. This was, in many cases, their first experience of computer programming. The feedback is predominantly positive, showing strong support for improving computational science education, but also included suggestions for improvement. Conclusions Our conclusions are necessarily preliminary. However, feedback forms suggest methods were generally well received among the participants; “Easy to follow. Clear explanation” and “Very easy. Demonstrators were very informative.” Our event, held at a local Science Centre in Dundee, demonstrates that computer games and programming activities suitable for young children can be performed alongside a more specialised and applied introduction to computational science for older visitors.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Vagueness and referential ambiguity in a large-scale annotated corpus

In this paper, we argue that difficulties in the definition of coreference itself contribute to lower inter-annotator agreement in certain cases. Data from a large referentially annotated corpus serves to corroborate this point, using a quantitative investigation to assess which effects or problems are likely to be the most prominent. Several examples where such problems occur are discussed in more detail, and we then propose a generalisation of Poesio, Reyle and Stevenson’s Justified Sloppiness Hypothesis to provide a unified model for these cases of disagreement and argue that a deeper understanding of the phenomena involved allows to tackle problematic cases in a more principled fashion than would be possible using only pre-theoretic intuitions

A consideration of two models of health and safety training for undergraduate chemists

An initial pilot evaluation is presented of students’ awareness of health and safety training provision, and a comparison of two models of health and safety training after a curriculum redesign. The old model focussed on students generating their own COSHH with highly variable approaches to checking understanding across our curriculum. The new model shifted the focus more on student understanding with a more harmonious approach using research-standard safety documentation and assessment processes. The new system has elements of research-connected teaching and authenticity with students finding the research-standard materials accessible. In terms of preparedness, each model has its benefits and some suggestions for future practice are presented

Sex differences in social learning : exploring the links with risk aversion and confidence

In this thesis, I explore sex differences in adult human social learning, and how these sex differences might be underpinned by differences in risk-taking and confidence. The capacity for high-fidelity social learning is fundamental to the complex culture observed in humans. Examining when we choose to learn socially rather than asocially and the factors that influence these choices is valuable for understanding broader patterns of cultural evolution. In Chapter 1, I give an overview of the literature on sex differences in social learning, particularly how individual differences in risk-taking and confidence impact upon social information use. I introduce stereotype threat as a possible factor affecting women’s confidence. I then use the stereotype threat literature as an example of the replication crisis in psychology, and discuss how improved methods of statistical analysis could help to elucidate the ambiguity in this literature. Chapter 2 provides an experimental investigation into when adult humans choose to use social or asocial information to solve a virtual construction task. I found that when the asocial information was made to be risky, women, but not men, preferred to learn socially. In Chapter 3, I present experimental data exploring the links between confidence and conformity. I found that lower confidence led to a greater likelihood of conforming, although I was unable to reliably alter confidence levels experimentally. In Chapter 4, I present a model of the stereotype threat literature by simulating numerous datasets and analysing them using four different statistical methods. I found that using informative priors in a Bayesian framework provided greater certainty about the presence or absence of an effect in a population. Finally, in Chapter 5 I conclude that studying the factors that lead to sex differences in social learning provides researchers with a greater understanding of the dynamics of cultural evolution