Seasonal Occurrence of the White Shark, Carcharodon carcharias, in Waters off the Florida West Coast, with Notes on its Life History

The white shark, Carcharodon carcharias, is considered rare in the Gulf of Mexico; however, recent longline captures coupled with historical landings information suggest that the species occurs seasonally (winter-spring) within this region. We examined a total of seven adult and juvenile white sharks (185-472 em total length) captured in waters off the west coast of Florida. Commercial longline fisheries were monitored for white sharks during all months (1981-94), but this species was captured only from January to April. All white sharks were captured in continental shelf waters from 37 to 222 km off the west coast of Florida when sea surface temperatures ranged from 18.7° to 21.6°C. Depths at capture locations ranged from 20 to 164 m. Fishing gear typically used in Gulf of Mexico offshore fisheries may not be effective at capturing this species, and the apparent rarity of white sharks in this area may be, in part, a function of gear bias

On the Intentionality of Cultural Products: Representations of Black History As Psychological Affordances

A cultural-psychological analysis emphasizes the intentionality of everyday worlds: the idea that material products not only bear psychological traces of culturally constituted beliefs and desires, but also subsequently afford and promote culturally consistent understandings and actions. We applied this conceptual framework of mutual constitution in a research project using quantitative and qualitative approaches to understand the dynamic resonance between sociocultural variance in Black History Month (BHM) representations and the reproduction of racial inequality in the U.S. In studies 1 and 2, we considered whether mainstream BHM artifacts reflect the preferences and understandings of White Americans (i.e., psychological constitution of cultural worlds). Consistent with the psychological constitution hypothesis, White American participants reported more positive affect, better recognition, and greater liking for BHM representations from the schools where White Americans were the majority than BHM representations from the schools where Black students and other students of color were the majority. Moreover, as an indication of the identity relevance of BHM representations, White identification was more positively associated with judgments of positive affect and preference in response to BHM representations from White schools than BHM representations from the schools where Black students were in the majority. In studies 3 and 4, we considered whether BHM representations from different settings differentially afford support or opposition to anti-racism policies (i.e., cultural constitution of psychological experience). In support of the cultural constitution hypothesis, BHM representations typical of schools where Black students were in the majority were more effective at promoting support for anti-racism policies compared to BHM representations typical of predominately White schools and a control condition. This effect was mediated by the effect of (different) BHM representations on perception of racism. Together, these studies suggest that representations of Black History constitute cultural affordances that, depending on their source, can promote (or impede) perception of racism and anti-racism efforts. This research contributes to an emerging body of work examining the bidirectional, psychological importance of cultural products. We discuss implications for theorizing collective manifestations of mind

The (Biological or Cultural) Essence of Essentialism: Implications for Policy Support among Dominant and Subordinated Groups

Most research links (racial) essentialism to negative intergroup outcomes. We propose that this conclusion reflects both a narrow conceptual focus on biological/genetic essence and a narrow research focus from the perspective of racially dominant groups. We distinguished between beliefs in biological and cultural essences, and we investigated the implications of this distinction for support of social justice policies (e.g., affirmative action) among people with dominant (White) and subordinated (e.g., Black, Latino) racial identities in the United States. Whereas, endorsement of biological essentialism may have similarly negative implications for social justice policies across racial categories, we investigated the hypothesis that endorsement of cultural essentialism would have different implications across racial categories. In Studies 1a and 1b, we assessed the properties of a cultural essentialism measure we developed using two samples with different racial/ethnic compositions. In Study 2, we collected data from 170 participants using an online questionnaire to test the implications of essentialist beliefs for policy support. Consistent with previous research, we found that belief in biological essentialism was negatively related to policy support for participants from both dominant and subordinated categories. In contrast, the relationship between cultural essentialism and policy support varied across identity categories in the hypothesized way: negative for participants from the dominant category but positive for participants from subordinated categories. Results suggest that cultural essentialism may provide a way of identification that subordinated communities use to mobilize support for social justice

The Psychology of Engagement with Indigenous Identities: A Cultural Perspective

(c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved. This article may not exactly replicate the final version published in the APA journal. It is not the copy of record.A questionnaire study among 124 students at Haskell Indian Nations University investigated the hypothesis that engagement with Indigenous identity—assessed along 3 dimensions including degree (identification scale), content (pan-ethnic or tribal nation), and context (reservation or non-reservation)—can serve as a psychological resource for well-being and liberation from oppression. Consistent with this hypothesis, degree of identification was positively correlated with community efficacy and perception of racism. Apparently inconsistent with this hypothesis, degree of identification among students who had resided on a reservation was negatively correlated with the social self-esteem subscale of the Current Thoughts Scale (Heatherton & Polivy, 1991). Rather than evidence against the identity-as-resource hypothesis, this pattern may reflect the cultural grounding of self-esteem and tools designed to measure it

Culture as patterns: An alternative approach to the problem of reification

To challenge the treatment of culture and self as reified entities, Hermans (2001) proposes a model of both culture and self as a multiplicity of dialogical positions. We question whether this model fully responds to his challenge. First, the notion of positioning itself appears to reify culture by treating flowing patterns as fixed locations. Second, the notion of dialogue appears to neglect the possibility of automatic influence from implicit cultural patterns. This implies a core, universal self whose functioning is insensitive to cultural variation. We suggest an alternative approach to the problem of reification: to conceive of culture not as group, but as patterns. Corresponding to this shift, we propose a distinction between the negotiation of cultural identity and the cultural grounding of self. As a model of identity negotiation, Hermans' dialogical self makes important contributions: it emphasizes the multiplicity of identity highlights the agency of the self as a constructor of identity and suggests the importance of psychology-and the study of self, in particular-for the study of culture

Behavior as mind-in-context: A cultural psychology analysis of "paranoid" suspicion

This is the published version of a book chapter. The complete book is available from Guilford Press

Cultural Models of Well-Being Implicit in Four Ghanaian Languages

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.This contribution to the collection of articles on “African Cultural Models” considers the topic of well-being. Reflecting modern individualist selfways of North American and European worlds, normative conceptions of well-being in hegemonic psychological science tend to valorize self-acceptance, personal growth, and autonomy. In contrast, given the embedded interdependence of everyday life in many West African worlds, one can hypothesize that cultural models of well-being in many Ghanaian settings will place greater emphasis on sustainability-oriented themes of material sufficiency and successful navigation of normative obligations. To explore this hypothesis, we interviewed local cultural experts who function as custodians of religion and an important source of support for well-being in many Ghanaian settings. We asked participants to identify and explain models of well-being implicit in four Ghanaian languages (Akan, Dagbani, Ewe, and Ga). Participants were 19 men and 15 women (age range 32–92 years; Mean = 59.83; SD: 14.01). Results reveal some features of local models, including good health and positive affective states, that appear to resonate with standard understandings of well-being in hegemonic psychological science. However, results also provide evidence for other features of local models – specifically, good living (including moral living, material success, and proper relationality) and peace of mind – associated with a sustainability or maintenance orientation to well-being.Volkswagen Foundation, Germany (94667

Dwarf Galaxy Dark Matter Density Profiles Inferred from Stellar and Gas Kinematics

We present new constraints on the density profiles of dark matter (DM) halos in seven nearby dwarf galaxies from measurements of their integrated stellar light and gas kinematics. The gas kinematics of low mass galaxies frequently suggest that they contain constant density DM cores, while N-body simulations instead predict a cuspy profile. We present a data set of high resolution integral field spectroscopy on seven galaxies and measure the stellar and gas kinematics simultaneously. Using Jeans modeling on our full sample, we examine whether gas kinematics in general produce shallower density profiles than are derived from the stars. Although 2/7 galaxies show some localized differences in their rotation curves between the two tracers, estimates of the central logarithmic slope of the DM density profile, gamma, are generally robust. The mean and standard deviation of the logarithmic slope for the population are gamma=0.67+/-0.10 when measured in the stars and gamma=0.58+/-0.24 when measured in the gas. We also find that the halos are not under concentrated at the radii of half their maximum velocities. Finally, we search for correlations of the DM density profile with stellar velocity anisotropy and other baryonic properties. Two popular mechanisms to explain cored DM halos are an exotic DM component or feedback models that strongly couple the energy of supernovae into repeatedly driving out gas and dynamically heating the DM halos. We investigate correlations that may eventually be used to test models. We do not find a secondary parameter that strongly correlates with the central DM density slope, but we do find some weak correlations. Determining the importance of these correlations will require further model developments and larger observational samples. (Abridged)Comment: 29 pages, 18 figures, 10 tables, accepted for publication in Ap

Consciousness in Interdisciplinary Perspective: Discussions from the Hall Center for the Humanities Fall Faculty Colloquium 2011

This volume contains a collection of discussions from the 2011 Hall Center for the Humanities Fall Faculty Colloquium, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS

The Herschel Stripe 82 Survey (HerS): maps and early catalog

We present the first set of maps and band-merged catalog from the Herschel Stripe 82 Survey (HerS). Observations at 250, 350, and 500μm were taken with the Spectral and Photometric Imaging Receiver instrument aboard the Herschel Space Observatory. HerS covers 79deg 2 along the SDSS Stripe 82 to an average depth of 13.0, 12.9, and 14.8mJybeam −1 (including confusion) at 250, 350, and 500μm, respectively. HerS was designed to measure correlations with external tracers of the dark matter density field—either point-like (i.e., galaxies selected from radio to X-ray) or extended (i.e., clusters and gravitational lensing)—in order to measure the bias and redshift distribution of intensities of infrared-emitting dusty star-forming galaxies and active galactic nuclei. By locating HerS in Stripe 82, we maximize the overlap with available and upcoming cosmological surveys. The band-merged catalog contains 3.3 × 10 4 sources detected at a significance of ?3σ (including confusion noise). The maps and catalog are available at http://www.astro.caltech.edu/hers/