What Matters Most? The Effects of Goal Commitment Claiming Discrimination

Three studies explored the possibility that goal activation and goal commitment influenced attributions to discrimination. I hypothesized that some goals would lead to greater claiming of discrimination, while others would lead to less claiming of discrimination, and that this effect would be enhanced as commitment to the goal increased. I found some preliminary evidence supporting this hypothesis. In Study 1, when participants were more committed to being well liked, they reported discrimination less than when less committed to the goal. In Study 2, when participants were more committed to maintaining self-esteem, they claimed discrimination more than when less committed to the goal. Study 3 provided less conclusive evidence to support my hypothesis. Finally, I found that in conditions where participants claimed discrimination more or were expected to claim discrimination more, they also reported greater self-esteem, less anxiety, and less depression

Enhancing attachment-based aspects of PCIT for young children with a history of maltreatment

Disruptive behavior difficulties, such as aggression, non-compliance, and emotional outbursts, are common among children exposed to maltreatment. Parent–Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) is an effective parenting intervention for addressing child behavior difficulties, however, treatment retention and engagement among parents remain a concern in the clinical setting. This paper describes how the delivery of an intervention that teaches attachment theory concepts (Circle of Security-Parenting, COS-P) prior to PCIT can increase engagement and retention among parents of maltreated children and inform new coaching practices. A detailed description of how to extend and integrate COS-P concepts with PCIT for maltreated families using specific strategies is provided. Recommendations, limitations, and next steps for research are presented

Measuring student attitude and knowledge in technology-rich biology classrooms

The use of technology in schools is now ubiquitous, but the effectiveness on the learning environment has mixed results. This paper describes the development and validation of an instrument to measure students’ attitudes toward and knowledge of technology with the aim of investigating any differences based on gender after a course where the science department made use of technology as an integral part of teaching biology. In this study, conducted in one school in the state of New York, in the United States of America, the Students’ Attitudes Toward and Knowledge of Technology Questionnaire was administered to nearly 700 high school science students. A principal component and principal factor analysis resulted in new scales from the validation of the instrument that demonstrated high reliabilities. There were statistically significant gender differences in all the scales of the questionnaire in favor of males

Localized microstimulation of primate pregenual cingulate cortex induces negative decision-making

The pregenual anterior cingulate cortex (pACC) has been implicated in human anxiety disorders and depression, but the circuit-level mechanisms underlying these disorders are unclear. In healthy individuals, the pACC is involved in cost-benefit evaluation. We developed a macaque version of an approach-avoidance decision task used to evaluate anxiety and depression in humans and, with multi-electrode recording and cortical microstimulation, we probed pACC function as monkeys performed this task. We found that the macaque pACC has an opponent process-like organization of neurons representing motivationally positive and negative subjective value. Spatial distribution of these two neuronal populations overlapped in the pACC, except in one subzone, where neurons with negative coding were more numerous. Notably, microstimulation in this subzone, but not elsewhere in the pACC, increased negative decision-making, and this negative biasing was blocked by anti-anxiety drug treatment. This cortical zone could be critical for regulating negative emotional valence and anxiety in decision-making.National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Javits Merit Grant R01 NS025529)United States. Office of Naval Research (N000140710903)National Parkinson Foundation (U.S.) (Lynn Diamond Fellowship

INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN REJECTING TRADITIONAL GENDER ROLES

Three studies were conducted to investigate how different individual difference measures of gender role beliefs predicted attributions to discrimination and self-concept. I began by conducting a factor analysis of a variety of scales measuring different types of gender role attitudes and found three primary factors: gender consciousness, rejection of traditional gender roles, and desire to act to improve women's status. In Study 1 I created a measure of each of these factors and conducted a confirmatory factor analysis to ensure that these were in fact three distinct concepts. In Study 2 I assessed the influence of individual differences as assessed by these factors on reactions to an ambiguously discriminatory environment. Results show that rejection of traditional gender roles was the best predictor of perceiving a sexist environment as offensive and that these perceptions predicted a decrease in self-concept for those with less traditional attitudes, but predicted a slight, but non-significant increase in self-concept for those with more traditional attitudes

Modeling the impacts of climate change and agricultural management practices on surface erosion in a dryland agricultural basin

Soil erosion and sedimentation are a problem of interest for many land uses across the United States, particularly for agricultural areas where the soil surface is disturbed by harvest, planting, and cultivation of the soil. The objective of this study is to investigate the effects of climate change and agricultural land management on surface erosion and suspended sediment concentrations in the Potlatch River Basin. Because of certain cropping practices and rain-on-snow events, the Palouse region of northern Idaho and eastern Washington produce some of the highest sediment losses per acre in the United States. Climate change may lead to further problems if more frequent and intense storm events lead to a great amount of sediment generation. Many hydrological models have been developed which examine suspended sediment in river systems. The Potlatch River basin near Julietta, ID was examined using the Distributed Hydrology Soil Vegetation Model (DHSVM). The model was used to evaluate channel and soil surface erosion, as well as sediment yield in streams. DHSVM was calibrated using observed streamflow (2003 - 2010), evaluatedover the historical period of streamflow (1966 - 1984), and was also used to predict results for the year 2045 using statistically downscaled global climate data. The results show that as the projected climate-driven intensity of storms increase, more runoff is predicted in the Potlatch River Basin. Three tillage scenarios were incorporated into DHSVM for winter wheat cultivation: conventional till, reduced till, and no till. Sensitivity of the model to surface erosion and changes in channel sediment bed depth were both evaluated for several parameters that relate to erosion. Observations have shown that suspended sediment concentrations can drastically increase in this river, but model results do not yet display large fluctuations in suspended sediment concentrations which are typically observed in nature as a result of storm and erosion events. In the long-term, continued improvements to this preliminary model of the Potlatch River Basin can provide better insight into the effects of climate change on the riparian habitat of rainbow and steelhead trout in the basin and the sediment budget of the surrounding area