316 research outputs found
Differences in the Evaluation of Generic Statements About Human and NonâHuman Categories
Generic statements express generalizations about categories. Current theories suggest that people should be especially inclined to accept generics that involve threatening information. However, previous tests of this claim have focused on generics about non-human categories, which raises the question of whether this effect applies as readily to human categories. In Experiment 1, adults were more likely to accept generics involving a threatening property for artifacts, but this negativity bias did not also apply to human categories. Experiment 2 examined an alternative hypothesis for this result, and Experiments 3 and 4 served as conceptual replications of the first experiment. Experiment 5 found that even preschoolers apply generics differently for humans and artifacts. Finally, Experiment 6 showed that these effects reflect differences between human and non-human categories more generally, as adults showed a negativity bias for categories of non-human animals, but not for categories of humans. These findings suggest the presence of important, early-emerging domain differences in people's judgments about generics
Individual Differences in Children's and Parents' Generic Language
Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/106950/1/cdev12187.pd
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NEPC Review: The Effects of Test-Based Retention on Student Outcomes Over Time: Regression Discontinuity Evidence from Florida
A recent NBER working paper examines Florida’s policy to retain many low-scoring third graders. The report concludes that third-grade retention has immediate positive effects on the following year’s test results, but these effects fade over the next six years, with no effect on graduation. The regression discontinuity methods used to estimate the effects, comparing students immediately above and below the law’s cut-score, are generally good for making causal claims. But there is a serious shortcoming in the design—namely, the law requires that students below the cut-score receive intensive extra services intended to raise their subsequent achievement, and this applies to those retained and those promoted. This means the researchers do not know if these positive outcomes for those below the cut-score were due to the greater likelihood of retention or to the assurance of additional services. Also, two-thirds of students who fall below the cut-off score are nonetheless promoted because they fall into exception categories. Finally, the researchers exacerbate outcome differences by using an Instrumental Variable approach, which attributes the entire above/below-threshold difference to just retained students, effectively making the outcome difference appear more than three times as large. Because the policy stipulates that promoted students below the threshold also receive extra services that promoted students above the threshold do not receive, the IV approach is inappropriate. Even setting aside these problems, the study has extremely limited generalizability, restricted to students at or very near the threshold and directly affected by the policy. These and other problems call into serious question any causal claims of the longer-term effects and any policy utility for the report.</p
Histological and immunohistochemical evaluation of mandibular bone tissue regeneration
The purpose of the study was to perform an immunohistochemical and histological evaluation of samples taken from different bone regeneration procedures in atrophic human mandible. 30 patients (15 men and 15 women, age range of 35-60âyears), non-smokers, with good general and oral health were recruited in this study and divided into three groups. The first group included patients who were treated with blood Concentration Growth Factors (bCGF), the second group included patients who were treated with a mixture of bCGF and autologous bone, while the third group of patients was treated with bCGF and tricalcium phosphate/hydroxyapatite (TCP-HA). Six months after the regenerative procedures, all patients undergone implant surgery, and a bone biopsy was carried out in the site of implant insertion. Each sample was histologically and immunohistochemically examined. Histological evaluation showed a complete bone formation for group II, partial ossification for group I, and moderate ossification for group III. Immunohistochemical analysis demonstrated a statistically significant difference between the three groups, and the best clinical result was obtained with a mixture of bCGF and autologous bone
Children's Developing Intuitions About the Truth Conditions and Implications of Novel Generics Versus Quantified Statements
Generic statements express generalizations about categories and present a unique semantic profile that is distinct from quantified statements. This paper reports two studies examining the development of children's intuitions about the semantics of generics and how they differ from statements quantified by all, most, and some. Results reveal that, like adults, preschoolers (a) recognize that generics have flexible truth conditions and are capable of representing a wide range of prevalence levels; and (b) interpret novel generics as having nearâuniversal prevalence implications. Results further show that by age 4, children are beginning to differentiate the meaning of generics and quantified statements; however, even 7â to 11âyearâolds are not adultlike in their intuitions about the meaning of mostâquantified statements. Overall, these studies suggest that by preschool, children interpret generics in much the same way that adults do; however, mastery of the semantics of quantified statements follows a more protracted course.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/111169/1/cogs12176.pd
The frequency of "brilliant" and "genius" in teaching evaluations predicts the representation of women and African Americans across fields
Women and African Americans-groups targeted by negative stereotypes about their intellectual abilities-may be underrepresented in careers that prize brilliance and genius. A recent nationwide survey of academics provided initial support for this possibility. Fields whose practitioners believed that natural talent is crucial for success had fewer female and African American PhDs. The present study seeks to replicate this initial finding with a different, and arguably more naturalistic, measure of the extent to which brilliance and genius are prized within a field. Specifically, we measured field-by-field variability in the emphasis on these intellectual qualities by tallying-with the use of a recently released online tool-the frequency of the words "brilliant" and "genius" in over 14 million reviews on RateMyProfessors.com, a popular website where students can write anonymous evaluations of their instructors. This simple word count predicted both women's and African Americans' representation across the academic spectrum. That is, we found that fields in which the words "brilliant" and "genius" were used more frequently on RateMyProfessors.com also had fewer female and African American PhDs. Looking at an earlier stage in students' educational careers, we found that brilliance-focused fields also had fewer women and African Americans obtaining bachelor's degrees. These relationships held even when accounting for field-specific averages on standardized mathematics assessments, as well as several competing hypotheses concerning group differences in representation. The fact that this naturalistic measure of a field's focus on brilliance predicted the magnitude of its gender and race gaps speaks to the tight link between ability beliefs and diversity
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What makes a role model motivating for young girls? The effects of the role modelâs growth versus fixed mindsets about ability and interest
Successful women role models can beâbut are not alwaysâeffective in increasing pursuit of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers among girls. What makes a woman role model motivating for young girls? An experimental study (N = 205 girls aged 5â8 years; 42.0% girls of color) investigated the effects of a role modelâs messages about her own ability and interest. The model portrayed her ability and interest as quantities that developed over time (a growth mindset) or that had always been present (a fixed mindset). The role modelâs growth (vs. fixed) mindset messages about abilityâbut not interestâincreased girlsâ interest and self-efficacy in the scientistâs field, but these effects were observed only among girls of color (ds = 0.56 and 0.65 for interest and self-efficacy, respectively). The findings contribute to theory on role models and growth mindsets, and they also have implications for the design of effective role model interventions
Do Lions Have Manes? For Children, Generics Are About Kinds Rather Than Quantities
Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/90604/1/j.1467-8624.2011.01708.x.pd
Memory Errors Reveal a Bias to Spontaneously Generalize to Categories
Much evidence suggests that, from a young age, humans are able to generalize information learned about a subset of a category to the category itself. Here, we propose thatâbeyond simply being able to perform such generalizationsâpeople are biased to generalize to categories, such that they routinely make spontaneous, implicit category generalizations from information that licenses such generalizations. To demonstrate the existence of this bias, we asked participants to perform a task in which category generalizations would distract from the main goal of the task, leading to a characteristic pattern of errors. Specifically, participants were asked to memorize two types of novel facts: quantified facts about sets of kind members (e.g., facts about all or many stups) and generic facts about entire kinds (e.g., facts about zorbs as a kind). Moreover, half of the facts concerned properties that are typically generalizable to an animal kind (e.g., eating fruits and vegetables), and half concerned properties that are typically more idiosyncratic (e.g., getting mud in their hair). We predicted thatâbecause of the hypothesized biasâparticipants would spontaneously generalize the quantified facts to the corresponding kinds, and would do so more frequently for the facts about generalizable (rather than idiosyncratic) properties. In turn, these generalizations would lead to a higher rate of quantifiedâtoâgeneric memory errors for the generalizable properties. The results of four experiments (NÂ =Â 449) supported this prediction. Moreover, the same generalizableâversusâidiosyncratic difference in memory errors occurred even under cognitive load, which suggests that the hypothesized bias operates unnoticed in the background, requiring few cognitive resources. In sum, this evidence suggests the presence of a powerful bias to draw generalizations about kinds.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/112247/1/cogs12189.pd
Womenâparticularly underrepresented minority womenâand early-career academics feel like impostors in fields that value brilliance
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