CAN PROMOTING CULTURAL DIVERSITY BACKFIRE? A LOOK AT THE IMPLICIT EFFECTS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL REACTANCE

Psychological reactance occurs when an individual's freedom to engage in a particular behavior is compromised, resulting in a greater urge to engage in that behavior (Brehm, 1966). The current study examined the role of reactance in the divergence between implicit and explicit attitudes, and considered the possibility that reactance itself may be experienced either implicitly or explicitly. Participants (N = 162) watched a cultural sensitivity video or control video in a study administered by a White or Black experimenter. It was found that the cultural sensitivity video elicited implicit reactance, but only for participants whose motivation to appear non-prejudiced was internal. Participants whose motivation to appear non-prejudiced was external had the highest levels of implicit racism with the White experimenter and the control video. Finally, participants showed higher scores on the Modern Racism Scale when they had the White experimenter than when they had the Black experimenter. This study suggests that there are circumstances in which cultural sensitivity videos may backfire, and that the distinction between people who are internally versus externally motivated to appear non-prejudiced is an important one, with regard to the effects of such videos

Discovery of 42 genome-wide significant loci associated with dyslexia

Funding: EE, GA, BM, BSP, CF and SEF are supported by the Max Planck Society (Germany). The Chinese Reading Study was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China Youth Project (Grant No. 61807023), the Youth Fund for Humanities and Social Sciences Research of the Ministry of Education (Grant No. 19YJC190023 and 17XJC190010), and the Natural Science Basic Research Plan in Shaanxi Province of China (Grant No. 2021JQ-309). SP is funded by the Royal Society.Reading and writing are crucial life skills but roughly one in ten children are affected by dyslexia, which can persist into adulthood. Family studies of dyslexia suggest heritability up to 70%, yet few convincing genetic markers have been found. Here we performed a genome-wide association study of 51,800 adults self-reporting a dyslexia diagnosis and 1,087,070 controls and identified 42 independent genome-wide significant loci: 15 in genes linked to cognitive ability/educational attainment, and 27 new and potentially more specific to dyslexia. We validated 23 loci (13 new) in independent cohorts of Chinese and European ancestry. Genetic etiology of dyslexia was similar between sexes, and genetic covariance with many traits was found, including ambidexterity, but not neuroanatomical measures of language-related circuitry. Dyslexia polygenic scores explained up to 6% of variance in reading traits, and might in future contribute to earlier identification and remediation of dyslexia.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Variation in Structure and Process of Care in Traumatic Brain Injury: Provider Profiles of European Neurotrauma Centers Participating in the CENTER-TBI Study.

INTRODUCTION: The strength of evidence underpinning care and treatment recommendations in traumatic brain injury (TBI) is low. Comparative effectiveness research (CER) has been proposed as a framework to provide evidence for optimal care for TBI patients. The first step in CER is to map the existing variation. The aim of current study is to quantify variation in general structural and process characteristics among centers participating in the Collaborative European NeuroTrauma Effectiveness Research in Traumatic Brain Injury (CENTER-TBI) study. METHODS: We designed a set of 11 provider profiling questionnaires with 321 questions about various aspects of TBI care, chosen based on literature and expert opinion. After pilot testing, questionnaires were disseminated to 71 centers from 20 countries participating in the CENTER-TBI study. Reliability of questionnaires was estimated by calculating a concordance rate among 5% duplicate questions. RESULTS: All 71 centers completed the questionnaires. Median concordance rate among duplicate questions was 0.85. The majority of centers were academic hospitals (n = 65, 92%), designated as a level I trauma center (n = 48, 68%) and situated in an urban location (n = 70, 99%). The availability of facilities for neuro-trauma care varied across centers; e.g. 40 (57%) had a dedicated neuro-intensive care unit (ICU), 36 (51%) had an in-hospital rehabilitation unit and the organization of the ICU was closed in 64% (n = 45) of the centers. In addition, we found wide variation in processes of care, such as the ICU admission policy and intracranial pressure monitoring policy among centers. CONCLUSION: Even among high-volume, specialized neurotrauma centers there is substantial variation in structures and processes of TBI care. This variation provides an opportunity to study effectiveness of specific aspects of TBI care and to identify best practices with CER approaches

Cosmological Synergies Enabled by Joint Analysis of Multi-probe data from WFIRST, Euclid, and LSST

WFIRST, Euclid, and LSST are all missions designed to perform dedicated cosmology surveys that offer unprecedented statistical constraining power and control of systematic uncertainties. There is a growing realization that these missions will be significantly more powerful when the data are processed and analyzed in unison

Rubin-Euclid Derived Data Products:Initial Recommendations

This report is the result of a joint discussion between the Rubin and Euclid scientific communities. The work presented in this report was focused on designing and recommending an initial set of Derived Data products (DDPs) that could realize the science goals enabled by joint processing. All interested Rubin and Euclid data rights holders were invited to contribute via an online discussion forum and a series of virtual meetings. Strong interest in enhancing science with joint DDPs emerged from across a wide range of astrophysical domains: Solar System, the Galaxy, the Local Volume, from the nearby to the primaeval Universe, and cosmology

Overview of the instrumentation for the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument

The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) embarked on an ambitious 5 yr survey in 2021 May to explore the nature of dark energy with spectroscopic measurements of 40 million galaxies and quasars. DESI will determine precise redshifts and employ the baryon acoustic oscillation method to measure distances from the nearby universe to beyond redshift z > 3.5, and employ redshift space distortions to measure the growth of structure and probe potential modifications to general relativity. We describe the significant instrumentation we developed to conduct the DESI survey. This includes: a wide-field, 3.°2 diameter prime-focus corrector; a focal plane system with 5020 fiber positioners on the 0.812 m diameter, aspheric focal surface; 10 continuous, high-efficiency fiber cable bundles that connect the focal plane to the spectrographs; and 10 identical spectrographs. Each spectrograph employs a pair of dichroics to split the light into three channels that together record the light from 360–980 nm with a spectral resolution that ranges from 2000–5000. We describe the science requirements, their connection to the technical requirements, the management of the project, and interfaces between subsystems. DESI was installed at the 4 m Mayall Telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory and has achieved all of its performance goals. Some performance highlights include an rms positioner accuracy of better than 0.″1 and a median signal-to-noise ratio of 7 of the [O ii] doublet at 8 × 10−17 erg s−1 cm−2 in 1000 s for galaxies at z = 1.4–1.6. We conclude with additional highlights from the on-sky validation and commissioning, key successes, and lessons learned

Variation in general supportive and preventive intensive care management of traumatic brain injury: a survey in 66 neurotrauma centers participating in the Collaborative European NeuroTrauma Effectiveness Research in Traumatic Brain Injury (CENTER-TBI) study

Abstract Background General supportive and preventive measures in the intensive care management of traumatic brain injury (TBI) aim to prevent or limit secondary brain injury and optimize recovery. The aim of this survey was to assess and quantify variation in perceptions on intensive care unit (ICU) management of patients with TBI in European neurotrauma centers. Methods We performed a survey as part of the Collaborative European NeuroTrauma Effectiveness Research in Traumatic Brain Injury (CENTER-TBI) study. We analyzed 23 questions focused on: 1) circulatory and respiratory management; 2) fever control; 3) use of corticosteroids; 4) nutrition and glucose management; and 5) seizure prophylaxis and treatment. Results The survey was completed predominantly by intensivists (n = 33, 50%) and neurosurgeons (n = 23, 35%) from 66 centers (97% response rate). The most common cerebral perfusion pressure (CPP) target was > 60 mmHg (n = 39, 60%) and/or an individualized target (n = 25, 38%). To support CPP, crystalloid fluid loading (n = 60, 91%) was generally preferred over albumin (n = 15, 23%), and vasopressors (n = 63, 96%) over inotropes (n = 29, 44%). The most commonly reported target of partial pressure of carbon dioxide in arterial blood (PaCO2) was 36–40 mmHg (4.8–5.3 kPa) in case of controlled intracranial pressure (ICP) < 20 mmHg (n = 45, 69%) and PaCO2 target of 30–35 mmHg (4–4.7 kPa) in case of raised ICP (n = 40, 62%). Almost all respondents indicated to generally treat fever (n = 65, 98%) with paracetamol (n = 61, 92%) and/or external cooling (n = 49, 74%). Conventional glucose management (n = 43, 66%) was preferred over tight glycemic control (n = 18, 28%). More than half of the respondents indicated to aim for full caloric replacement within 7 days (n = 43, 66%) using enteral nutrition (n = 60, 92%). Indications for and duration of seizure prophylaxis varied, and levetiracetam was mostly reported as the agent of choice for both seizure prophylaxis (n = 32, 49%) and treatment (n = 40, 61%). Conclusions Practice preferences vary substantially regarding general supportive and preventive measures in TBI patients at ICUs of European neurotrauma centers. These results provide an opportunity for future comparative effectiveness research, since a more evidence-based uniformity in good practices in general ICU management could have a major impact on TBI outcome

CAN PROMOTING CULTURAL DIVERSITY BACKFIRE? A LOOK AT THE IMPLICIT EFFECTS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL REACTANCE CAN PROMOTING CULTURAL DIVERSITY BACKFIRE? A LOOK AT THE IMPLICIT EFFECTS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL REACTANCE

Psychological reactance occurs when an individual&apos;s freedom to engage in a particular behavior is compromised, resulting in a greater urge to engage in that behavior Finally, participants showed higher scores on the Modern Racism Scale when they had the White experimenter than when they had the Black experimenter. This study suggests that there are circumstances in which cultural sensitivity videos may backfire, and that the distinction between people who are internally versus externally motivated to appear non-prejudiced is an important one, with regard to the effects of such videos. iii EFFECTS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL REACTANCE Cultural sensitivity has become an integral value in many organizations. Sensitivity towards &quot;other&quot; cultures is taught and promoted in schools, businesses, and in many other contexts, with the goal of enhancing unity and acceptance between people, reducing hatred and violence, and creating a better environment. Could emphasizing the need to accept other cultures actually backfire, thereby undermining this goal? Is it possible that when we think we are creating an environment that will promote unity we are actually promoting the enhancement of stereotypic tendencies toward out-group individuals? Emphasizing cultural sensitivity could be problematic given the potential presence of psychological reactance. Psychological reactance occurs when the freedom to engage in a particular behavior is compromised, resulting in a greater urge to engage in that behavior They then rated how much they would like to see each of the movies for which they read a summary. After making these ratings, some participants were told that at the completion of the 1 experiment they would be able to choose one of the movies to watch; others were told that they would be able to choose one of the movies to watch but that they could not choose the one they rated second highest because the experimenter was having technical difficulties with it. Then they read over the summaries again to decide if they wanted to make any changes to the ratings they initially made. Participants in the free behavior elimination condition (those participants who could not choose the movie they rated second highest) significantly increased their ratings of how much they would like to see the movie they were unable to see. This was not the case for participants able to choose any movie. Similar types of reactance effects have been observed for collegiate drinking Reactance at the implicit level Research to this point has looked at reactance using only explicit measures. Nevertheless, in certain situations reactance may only operate implicitly. Consider situations where cultural sensitivity norms are particularly salient. In such situations, an individual is likely to appear very culturally sensitive, while displaying reactance implicitly. One possibility is that the appearance of cultural sensitivity would serve a strategic self-presentation purpose, while the need to hide the true racist tendencies would reveal the reactance implicitly. Another possibility is that the appearance of cultural sensitivity would indeed be genuine, and that the individual would be unaware of their implicit racist tendencies. Reactance could therefore cause implicit 2 attitudes toward other cultures to become negative, whereas explicit attitudes towards other cultures would appear positive (thus creating a divergence between implicit and explicit attitudes). This divergent effect might be observed for two different reasons. One is that individuals truly believe themselves to be culturally sensitive (thus positive scores on explicit measures) while implicitly they are actually biased toward a lack of cultural sensitivity (leading to negative scores on implicit measures). On the other hand, such a divergence could emerge because individuals are simply trying to hide their culturally insensitive tendencies through impression management (again causing positive explicit measure scores but negative implicit measure scores). Although reactance has been examined in conjunction with impression management Emergence of implicit attitude measures Discriminating among these explanations requires the use of implicit measures of attitudes, such as those that have been developed in recent years to uncover the dissociations that can exist between explicit and implicit attitudes Another popular measure of implicit racial attitudes is the Implicit Association Test (IAT) (Greenwald, McGee, &amp; Schwartz, 1998). This measure uses associations between two categories to reveal automatically activated (implicit) associations. Attempting to associate two categories that violate automatically activated associations results in longer response times. Using this procedure, Greenwald et al. found very weak correlations between implicit measures and the explicit measures that were used (again supporting dissociations between implicit and explicit attitudes). Studies such as these have led to the now widely accepted view that when primed, people have an automatic or uncontrollable (implicit) response that may activate stereotypes; and then a controlled (explicit) component in which people suppress or ignore those stereotypes or associations The use of experimenters of different races illustrates this dissociation. In one study Implicit measures also predicted nonverbal behaviors during these interactions such as body language. Because the white participants&apos; beliefs of how friendly they were and how friendly they were perceived by the black confederate were predicated on explicit measures, it is logical to assume that explicit measures would be more influenced by impression management and the desire to appear in compliance with societal norms than would implicit measures

Discovery of 42 genome-wide significant loci associated with dyslexia

Reading and writing are crucial life skills but roughly one in ten children are affected by dyslexia, which can persist into adulthood. Family studies of dyslexia suggest heritability up to 70%, yet few convincing genetic markers have been found. Here we performed a genome-wide association study of 51,800 adults self-reporting a dyslexia diagnosis and 1,087,070 controls and identified 42 independent genome-wide significant loci: 15 in genes linked to cognitive ability/educational attainment, and 27 new and potentially more specific to dyslexia. We validated 23 loci (13 new) in independent cohorts of Chinese and European ancestry. Genetic etiology of dyslexia was similar between sexes, and genetic covariance with many traits was found, including ambidexterity, but not neuroanatomical measures of language-related circuitry. Dyslexia polygenic scores explained up to 6% of variance in reading traits, and might in future contribute to earlier identification and remediation of dyslexia