Developmental changes in reasoning about cross-classified individuals.

Social categories allow children to make inferences about novel situations, which can then guide their interactions with others. However, this process can be complicated because individuals often belong to many different, sometimes interrelated, social categories. Four experiments examine whether children and adults differ in their willingness to classify a person as holding two social roles (e.g., a mother and a daughter), and how this influences their reasoning. Specifically, this work will examine the influence of cross-classification on inductive inferences, trust in testimony, and knowledge evaluations. The aim of these experiments is to investigate whether children privilege certain roles when reasoning about individuals who hold multiple social roles. Because children rely heavily on their knowledge of individuals’ social roles to interact with them appropriately, it is important that children be able to accurately use these social categories to reason about others. Experiments 1 and 2 explore children’s willingness to cross-classify individuals into a variety of social roles with varying degrees of hierarchical (vs. non-hierarchical) structure. Experiment 2 further examines what cognitive mechanisms may underlie children’s cross-classification behaviors. Experiments 3 and 4 examine how children make inferences about and evaluate the testimony of cross-classified individuals. Overall, the findings of these four experiments illustrate that there are developmental differences in willingness to cross-classify and reasoning about cross-classified individuals occurring between the preschool, early elementary, and adult years. The results of these experiments suggest that cross-classification may influence the way children make inferences about individuals, but that cross-classification does not influence their trust in the testimony of individuals with multiple social roles. This work contributes to our growing understanding of how children utilize information about social categories to reason about others

Professional School Counselors and Relational Aggression: Training, Perceptions, Barriers, and Interventions

Relational aggression (RA) is a type of bullying in which the relationship is used as the agent of harm (Crick & Grotpeter, 1995). RA behaviors are intended to impair or ruin reputations, friendships, and feelings of inclusion in a peer group (Putallaz et al., 2007). Professional School Counselors (PSCs) are charged to be social justice advocates for students; RA is a social justice issue because the effects of RA bullying, victimization, and bullying/victimization lead to poor academic achievement. Recent literature suggests that PSCs do not perceive the effects of RA to be as serious as the effects of physical and verbal bullying; however, training can increase RA sensitivity and willingness to intervene (Jacobsen & Bauman, 2007). No studies have explored PSC training, PSC perceptions regarding RA, PSC perceived barriers to RA intervention, and PSC intervention strategies. The purpose of this study was to examine PSC training for RA, PSC perceptions of RA as an issue with serious consequences for students, PSC perceived barriers to RA care, and the interventions PSCs currently use for RA. This study also examined if sex differences, grade level with which PSC worked, and school type in which PSC worked existed in PSC perceptions of RA as an issue with serious consequences for students. A substantial amount of PSCs surveyed strongly agreed (24.5%), agreed (39.8%) and somewhat agreed (26.8%; a cumulative of 91.2% of participants) that RA was an issue with serious consequences for students with whom they work. RA was recognized by PSCs as an issue with serious consequences for students with no significant differences by training, gender, and school type at which the PSC worked. Significant differences were found by school level with which the PSC worked. Several barriers to RA care were identified including lack of time, parents, issues with students reporting RA, and the confusion surrounding instances of RA. Several important RA interventions were identified including individual counseling with the victim and/or bully, using outside resources, group counseling, and focusing on school wide bullying interventions. Implications for PSC practice and training were given in addition to implications for future research

Contemporary femininities after postfeminism: genre, affect, aesthetics

This thesis investigates the relationship between postfeminist discourses of empowerment and constructions of female subjectivity in contemporary fictional genres aimed at women and girls. First, the thesis examines narratives focusing on women whose coming of age coincided with the height of postfeminist cultural dominance, and then explores the continuing influence of postfeminism in contemporary girlhood coming-of-age genres. By analysing how postfeminism is constructed narratively, aesthetically and generically, this project develops an original set of theoretical concepts and frameworks through which to read contemporary feminine culture and contributes to ongoing debates within feminist media studies. To understand how postfeminism feels in our contemporary moment, Lauren Berlant’s work on genre (2008, 2011), impasse and cruel optimism (2011) is mobilised to conceive of postfeminism as a set of failed fantasies of fulfilment. The thesis illuminates a major cultural turn in which the construction of postfeminist empowerment in popular genres begins to drastically shift from an affective register of carefree pleasure, to one in which postfeminism is articulated as a site of rage and resentment. Chapter One analyses Gone Girl (Gillian Flynn 2012) as emblematic of this affective shift. Chapter Two examines Lena Dunham’s Girls (2012–2017) through the lens of ‘cruel optimism’ (Berlant 2011: 1), while Chapter Three’s analysis of Appropriate Behaviour (Desiree Akhavan 2014) abandons the frame of postfeminism entirely, instead detailing a sense of profound isolation from normative genres. Through a reading of The Hunger Games (Suzanne Collins 2008, 2009, 2010), Chapter Four expands on Robin James’ (2015) model of resilience, adapting the insights of Mari Ruti’s (2017) and Jane Elliott’s (2013) conceptions of agency to sketch out the parameters of newly emergent feminine subjectivities in which a capacity to overcome socially inflicted suffering is what determines social viability. Chapter Five’s analysis of Bande de Filles/Girlhood (Céline Sciamma 2014) explores the transformative and relational aesthetics of resilience, while Chapter Six uses Nikolaj Lübecker’s (2015) study of feel-bad modes of cultural production to conceptualise the negativity generated when contemporary genres contravene expectations of resilient girlhood

Evaluation of the ‘Be Innovative’ Design and Electronic Engineering Challenge 2014 and Chinese students’ response

UK and global economies need innovative graduates with cross-disciplinary knowledge and skills. In order to promote innovation and creativity among Chinese students ‘Be Innovative!’, an electronic engineering and design themed educational challenge, was created by the British Council in China. Partnering for this project were six UK universities: University of Central Lancashire, Coventry University, University of Huddersfield, Kingston University, Royal College of Art and Sheffield Hallam University. Additional partners included the National Institute of Education Sciences and a media partner YouKu.com. http://bcchallenge2014.wix.com/beinnovative The 2014 Challenge focused on interdisciplinary practices between electronic engineering and design. It aimed to encourage the development of independent research, problem-solving, teamwork and project management skills amongst Chinese students, while simultaneously fostering recognition of the UK as an excellent provider of interdisciplinary education. The objectives were to: • Give Chinese students a chance to experience the innovative and exciting nature of UK education, • Promote the UK as a top study destination in a creative and interactive way, • Demonstrate the academic and research excellence of UK universities, and • Interact with Chinese schools and universities to nurture strategic partnerships. The Challenge was issued to Chinese Middle Schools and Universities in April 2014. Interdisciplinary teams were asked to combine innovative elements of electronic engineering and design to develop proposals for future products that would support people's wellbeing. The response was excellent: 189 teams from 19 middle schools and 66 teams from 26 universities successfully registered. Over 1000 participants from 16 cities entered the competition, and more than 3000 students from 5 middle schools attended promotional presentations. 416, 381 public votes were received for uploaded videos produced by participating teams during the preliminary stage (15 July – 18 Aug 2014). The best 50 teams from middle schools and 30 teams from universities qualified for the second, online stage (September-October 2014), when the teams worked closely with UK academics and postgraduates to further develop their ideas. Ten teams were selected by the UK staff and by Chinese voting public to compete in the “Be Innovative” final in Beijing on 29 November 2014, streamed live to millions of Chinese viewers http://edu.163.com/special/liuxue/beinnovative.html. The winning teams will visit UK partner universities in 2015. This presentation will take the form of a brief overview of the ‘Be Innovative’ Challenge by staff from three of the UK institutions involved, followed by an interactive Q&A session where a number of research questions arising from the experience will be addressed, including: • What are the main challenges in running international projects at this scale? • What are the limitations of Virtual Learning Environments (in this case OpenMoodle) in encouraging interaction with overseas students, and what are the implication for (long) distance learning? • To what extent does the success of such interdisciplinary initiatives rely on academic goodwill and close collaboration between partners? • The project relied heavily on the experience of UK partners involved in earlier incarnations of similar international interdisciplinary projects between Design and Science. To what extent does the nature of the disciplines involved change the interdisciplinary experience? • Do the same differences and similarities between disciplines occurring in the UK appear on a global platform? • How can the learning from this initiative be applied to different interdisciplinary projects currently taking place in the UK institutions involved