Exploring Microaggressions Among Trans Populations: Effects on Feelings of Social Exclusion

Those who identify as transgender face subtle discrimination in the form of microaggressions, which are behaviors and statements, often unconscious or unintentional, that communicate hostile or derogatory messages, particularly to members of marginalized social groups (Nadal et al., 2016). This study explored the microaggressions that transgender participants experience and the psychological effects on their feelings of social exclusion. Specifically, we hypothesized that transgender individuals experience microaggressions that make them feel socially excluded. The participants’ ages ranged from 18-66 and identified as nonbinary, agender, demiboy, genderqueer, male, or female. The study used an online survey that had the participants recall memories of microaggressions or a control, and then they rated their emotional responses to those experiences. The results showed that transgender individuals experience a variety of complex microaggressions, which can cause feelings of significant social exclusion. Different types of microaggressive experiences can significantly impact feelings of relational value. Due to the complex nature of these microaggressive experiences and severe feelings of social exclusion, there may be a variety of mental health impacts that transgender individuals are experiencing

Self Control In Dogs

Poster presentation abstract

The Domestic Dogs’ (\u3cem\u3eCanis Familiaris\u3c/em\u3e) Understanding of Intentional and Goal Oriented Action

Domestic dogs possess unique sensitivity to human social cues, perhaps due to our shared evolutionary history. We explored whether dogs share social cognitive abilities - understanding intentions and goals - humans demonstrate from infancy. In Study 1, dogs watched a researcher either unable (i.e. she dropped a treat) or unwilling (i.e. she offered and then withdrew a treat) to provide food. Dogs demonstrated sensitivity to intentions by spending more time close to the researcher during unable than unwilling trials. In Study 2, dogs watched a researcher reach for a ball and ignore a duck. Next, the ball and the duck switched locations. Dogs looked longer when the researcher reached for the duck, violating the goal, suggesting they encoded the goal, not simply motor patterns. Combined these results suggest that sophisticated social cognitive abilities may have evolved in dogs due to our shared evolutionary history

Do Dogs Possess Self-Control?

Each year 6 to 8 million pet dogs enter shelters, and approximately 60% are euthanized. Unfortunately, many dogs are taken to shelters or euthanized due to behavioral problems. Identifying dogs who may have these behaviors allows owners to be informed and prepared for these dogs, reducing the number returned to shelters. One way to identify potential problems may be through measuring self-control in dogs. We have adapted our methods from a similar method used with capuchin monkeys (Bramlett et al., 2012). We constructed a wheel with food that rotated in front of dog subjects. The dog had the choice to eat less-preferred kibble or wait an additional few seconds for a preferred jerky treat. Dogs wait for food, and demonstrate variation in how long they wait. Future studies will explore how long dogs can wait and if variation in self-control predicts behavioral problems

Dog Self-Control: The Extent and Limitations

Self-control predicts positive and negative outcomes for humans (Mischel & Ebbesen, 1970). Self-control may not be uniquely human: several non-human primate species wait for a more preferred reward and forgo immediate less-preferred choices. However, little work has explored individual differences or limitations in self-control of non-primates. In the present study, nine dogs were presented with a spinning plexi-glass covered wheel. When the wheel spun, it brought food close to a window where the dog could access it. A less-preferred reward approached the window before a more-preferred reward. If dogs ate the first reward the wheel stopped spinning and they could not access the preferred food. Three dogs readily waited for the more-preferred treat. However, no dogs allowed one preferred treat to pass to pass to receive four or even eight of the same treat later. Therefore, dogs\u27 self-control depended on the quality of the treat they wait for, but not quantity. Future studies could explore the relation between self-control and behavioral outcomes in dogs in an effort to provide insight into behavioral problems such as separation anxiety or destructive behaviors

Isolated Naming Speed and development of Serial Recall

This project was a re-analysis of data collected as part of Elliott, E. M., Morey, C. C., AuBuchon, A. M., Cowan, N., Jarrold, C., Adams, E. J., ... & Voracek, M. (2021). Multilab Direct Replication of Flavell, Beach, and Chinsky (1966): Spontaneous Verbal Rehearsal in a Memory Task as a Function of Age. Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science, 4(2), 25152459211018187

Expression quantitative trait locus fine mapping of the 17q12–21 asthma locus in African American children: a genetic association and gene expression study

Background: African ancestry is associated with a higher prevalence and greater severity of asthma than European ancestries, yet genetic studies of the most common locus associated with childhood-onset asthma, 17q12–21, in African Americans have been inconclusive. The aim of this study was to leverage both the phenotyping of the Children's Respiratory and Environmental Workgroup (CREW) birth cohort consortium, and the reduced linkage disequilibrium in African Americans, to fine map the 17q12–21 locus. Methods: We first did a genetic association study and meta-analysis using 17q12–21 tag single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) for childhood-onset asthma in 1613 European American and 870 African American children from the CREW consortium. Nine tag SNPs were selected based on linkage disequilibrium patterns at 17q12–21 and their association with asthma, considering the effect allele under an additive model (0, 1, or 2 effect alleles). Results were meta-analysed with publicly available summary data from the EVE consortium (on 4303 European American and 3034 African American individuals) for seven of the nine SNPs of interest. Subsequently, we tested for expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) among the SNPs associated with childhood-onset asthma and the expression of 17q12–21 genes in resting peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from 85 African American CREW children and in upper airway epithelial cells from 246 African American CREW children; and in lower airway epithelial cells from 44 European American and 72 African American adults from a case-control study of asthma genetic risk in Chicago (IL, USA). Findings: 17q12–21 SNPs were broadly associated with asthma in European Americans. Only two SNPs (rs2305480 in gasdermin-B [GSDMB] and rs8076131 in ORMDL sphingolipid biosynthesis regulator 3 [ORMDL3]) were associated with asthma in African Americans, at a Bonferroni-corrected threshold of p<0·0055 (for rs2305480_G, odds ratio [OR] 1·36 [95% CI 1·12–1·65], p=0·0014; and for rs8076131_A, OR 1·37 [1·13–1·67], p=0·0010). In upper airway epithelial cells from African American children, genotype at rs2305480 was the most significant eQTL for GSDMB (eQTL effect size [β] 1·35 [95% CI 1·25–1·46], p<0·0001), and to a lesser extent showed an eQTL effect for post-GPI attachment to proteins phospholipase 3 (β 1·15 [1·08–1·22], p<0·0001). No SNPs were eQTLs for ORMDL3. By contrast, in PBMCs, the five core SNPs were associated only with expression of GSDMB and ORMDL3. Genotype at rs12936231 (in zona pellucida binding protein 2) showed the strongest associations across both genes (for GSDMB, eQTLβ 1·24 [1·15–1·32], p<0·0001; and for ORMDL3 (β 1·19 [1·12–1·24], p<0·0001). The eQTL effects of rs2305480 on GSDMB expression were replicated in lower airway cells from African American adults (β 1·29 [1·15–1·44], p<0·0001). Interpretation: Our study suggests that SNPs regulating GSDMB expression in airway epithelial cells have a major role in childhood-onset asthma, whereas SNPs regulating the expression levels of 17q12–21 genes in resting blood cells are not central to asthma risk. Our genetic and gene expression data in African Americans and European Americans indicated GSDMB to be the leading candidate gene at this important asthma locus.6 month embargo; published: 01 May 2020This item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]