“They Make No Contribution!” versus “We Should Make Friends with Them!”—American Domestic Students’ Perception of Chinese International Students’ Reticence and Face

This project examined both quantitative and qualitative data about how American domestic undergraduates perceived Chinese international students’ (CISs) reticence and face concerns. A quasi-experimental design about American students’ ratings of a fictional CIS described in scenarios demonstrated that the reticent CIS was rated as more typical, less likable, and less socially-approved. A thematic analysis of American students’ impression about CISs suggested: 1) some Americans stigmatized CISs due to their poor English and reticence in classroom; 2) others were more open-minded to approach CISs’ reticence with intercultural communication competence by taking CISs’ perspective. The findings indicated: the stereotype that typical CISs are reticent leads to Americans’ negative evaluations of CISs; while perspective-taking skills resulted in better intercultural-communication experience

The James Webb Space Telescope Mission

Twenty-six years ago a small committee report, building on earlier studies, expounded a compelling and poetic vision for the future of astronomy, calling for an infrared-optimized space telescope with an aperture of at least $4m$. With the support of their governments in the US, Europe, and Canada, 20,000 people realized that vision as the $6.5m$ James Webb Space Telescope. A generation of astronomers will celebrate their accomplishments for the life of the mission, potentially as long as 20 years, and beyond. This report and the scientific discoveries that follow are extended thank-you notes to the 20,000 team members. The telescope is working perfectly, with much better image quality than expected. In this and accompanying papers, we give a brief history, describe the observatory, outline its objectives and current observing program, and discuss the inventions and people who made it possible. We cite detailed reports on the design and the measured performance on orbit.Comment: Accepted by PASP for the special issue on The James Webb Space Telescope Overview, 29 pages, 4 figure

Finding Our Feet: Problems in Interpreting a Foreign Text (Discourse, Reader Response, Second Language, Tagalog, Philippines).

Reading a novel in a foreign language, especially in a language far-removed from one's own, provides problems for interpretation which are beyond grammar and syntax. This dissertation studies the difficulty of reading Luha nq Buwaya (Crocodile Tears), a novel in Tagalog by Filipino writer Amado V. Hern and ez. Luha nq Buwaya draws upon traditions of Philippine vernacular writing. Recognizing these references is a formidable difficulty for readers who find themselves outside of these traditions. The fullness of meaning is dependent on ability to identify intertextual references. A second problem, which is explored in this study, is how insiders repair imbalanced exchanges which violate the smooth flow of interpersonal relations. Hiya is a central metaphor suggesting how self ideally ought to be presented to other. But certain adversative speech acts create awkwardness for observance of hiya, making presentation of self too prominent. For outsiders, it is instructive to examine these points of potential conflict to see how insiders repair hiya. A third difficulty in plotting a well-marked path through a text comes from features of the discourse-grammar. Zero anaphors and clausal ellipses disrupt topic continuity. The unstated reference must cognitively be restored for interpretation. Tagalog verbal focus is additionally a problem for outsiders contributing to the difficulty of interpretation. The metaphor of "finding our feet" from the title of this study suggests that the ultimate goal of interpretation is for outsiders to be able to read and begin to underst and Luha nq Buwaya the way insiders underst and it.Ph.D.LinguisticsUniversity of Michiganhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/160487/1/8512372.pd

Communicating Stigma about Body Size

Body-size stigma is a well-documented phenomenon, particularly for large bodies (Puhl & Brownell, 2003), but few studies have investigated the features of body-related stigma communication. This article uses Smith\u27s (2007a) stigma communication framework to analyze descriptions of male and female bodies of various sizes for their stigma content. Analyses reveal that elements of stigma communication appeared in 46.5% of comments across all bodies. The most common elements of stigma communication were severe labeling and negative comparison to body ideals. The most stigmatized body was the large male body; the second most stigmatized body was the very small female body. This article shows that stigmatizing communication occurs across the spectrum of body sizes for both genders. The implications of weight-based stigma communication on emotional and physical health are discussed. Implications for future health communication interventions aimed at decreasing body size stigma are presented

Combatting Weight-based Cyberbullying on Facebook with the Dissenter Effect

Weight-based cyberbullying is prevalent among youth and adolescents and can have lasting negative psychological effects on the victims. One way to combat these negative effects is through modeling dissenting behavior. When a bystander challenges the bully or supports the victim, this models dissenting behavior. In this study, 181 participants were exposed to message manipulations posted on a Facebook page aimed at testing the conformity effect, the dissenter effect, and the bystander effect in response to enactment of weight-based bullying. Facebook is a common social media site where cyberbullying is reported. Results indicate that in the dissenting condition, participants\u27 comments were significantly more positive or supporting for the victim, as compared to other conditions. This effect was more pronounced for men than for women. In addition, in the dissenting condition, men were less likely to consider the victim unhealthy than women and men in other conditions. These results support the effectiveness of efforts to model dissenting behavior in the face of bullies and extend them to online contexts. Implications are discussed

Fighting Back: Inner-City Community Responses to Food Insecurity

This study investigated perceptions of stigma stemming from food insecurity experienced by residents of an inner-city community described as a food desert. Sixty inner-city residents were interviewed about their difficulty in providing healthy food for their families. The study measured four kinds of structural barriers which contributed to the experience of stigma. Participants agreed that welfare created a barrier and reported experiencing health disparities, neighborhood stigma, and welfare stigma. Participants who read high-stigma messages agreed more with health-stigma beliefs compared with participants who read low-stigma messages. Low-income White residents perceived more nutritional and neighborhood barriers compared with other racial groups. In spite of these perceptions of being stigmatized, the people included in this study engaged in stigma resistance in their efforts to secure nutritious food for their families

The Impact of Personal Metaphors and Memorable Interpersonal Communication on Body Satisfaction

Memorable messages about body size can have profound negative psychological and emotional effects on body image and personal health. We found that both men and women recalled more negative than positive memorable messages about their body appearance and size. Participants who reported receiving negative memorable messages also revealed stronger current body dissatisfaction and poorer self-image than participants who reported positive memorable messages. Participants who received negative body comments also described their own body using negative metaphors. Negative memorable messages often occurred in front of third parties who expressed approval for the message, sometimes in the form of laughter. We discuss the mental health consequences of negative messages about body size and the implications for public health campaigns