Preschool Children's Attention to Environmental Messages about Groups: Social Categorization and the Origins of Intergroup Bias

This is the authors' accepted manuscript, post peer-review. The publisher's official version is available electronically from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2006.00906.x .The present study was designed to examine the effects of adults’ labeling and use of social groups on preschool children’s intergroup attitudes. Children (N = 87, aged 3 to 5) attending daycare were given measures of classification skill and self-esteem and assigned to membership in a novel (“red” or “blue”) social group. In experimental classrooms, teachers used the color groups to label children and organize the classroom. In control classrooms, teachers ignored the color groups. After three weeks, children completed multiple measures of intergroup attitudes. Results indicated that children in both types of classrooms developed ingroup-biased attitudes. As expected, children in experimental classrooms showed greater ingroup bias on some measures than children in control classrooms

Postbaccalaureate STEM Students’ Perceptions of their Training: Exploring the Intersection of Gender and Nativity

The number of international students in graduate school within STEM fields at US institutions has risen dramatically over the last few decades, whereas the numbers of US women attending graduate school in STEM fields has largely stagnated. These trends suggest the importance of intersectionality to understanding individuals’ pursuit of STEM careers. Here we examined doctoral (N = 270) and postdoctoral (N = 27) students\u27 satisfaction with their graduate training at a large, research focused institution in the US as a function of the intersection of participants’ gender and nativity. Participants completed measures of occupational values, perceived fit of their values with STEM research careers, perceptions of discrimination, mentor support, and satisfaction with their graduate training. Results indicated that both international and US-born women both valued family flexibility more than did international and US-born men. Importantly, international, but not US-born, women viewed careers in STEM research as affording, or providing a means of fulfilling, their values. Furthermore, US women were more likely than international women to perceive their gender as the target of discrimination. Stronger belief that research careers do not provide a means for fulfilling one’s values and greater perceptions of gender discrimination were associated with lower ratings of satisfaction with graduate training among women but not men

Effects of Physical Atypicality on Children's Social Issues and Intergroup Attitudes

This is the authors' accepted manuscript, post-peer review. The publisher's official version is available electronically from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0165025407081472.Individuals vary in the degree to which they are representative, or typical, of their social groups. To investigate the effects of atypicality on intergroup attitudes, elementary-school-age children (N = 97) attending a summer school program were assigned to novel color groups that included typical (blue or green) and atypical (light blue or light green) members. Children’s state self-esteem, ingroup identification, and intergroup attitudes (e.g., trait ratings, evaluations, peer preferences) were assessed following several weeks in the classroom. Results indicated that atypicality primarily affected children’s views of their ingroup. Among younger (but not older) children, atypical group members viewed themselves as more similar to—but less happy being a member of—their ingroup than typical group members

When personal identities confirm versus conflict with group identities: Evidence from an intergroup paradigm

Permissions were not obtained for sharing the full text of this article.This study provides an experimental investigation of the consequences of conflict between children's personal identities and experimentally manipulated group identities. Elementary-school-aged children (N = 82, ages 5-11) attending a summer school program rated their own academic and athletic abilities and were then randomly assigned to one of two novel groups. Children's views of the academic and athletic skills of the novel groups were assessed both before and after information about the groups' academic and athletic skills was manipulated via posters placed in their classrooms. Following the manipulation, children's self-views, ingroup identification, and intergroup attitudes were assessed. Results indicated that (a) in the absence of information about the novel groups, children projected their personal identities onto their ingroup identities, (b) children maintained their ingroup identities in the face of new information that should have altered their ingroup identities, and (c) more positive personal identities predicted ingroup bias, which in turn predicted happiness with one's ingroup membership. The latter finding suggests that a tendency for children to generalize from their idiosyncratic positive self-views, rather than an indiscriminate desire for self-enhancement or positivity, may be responsible for ingroup bias

Gender-Related Values, Perceptions of Discrimination, and Mentoring in STEM Graduate Training

Although girls and boys appear equally interested in most STEM fields during childhood and adolescence, men pursue academic research careers in most of these same fields at higher rates than women. We tested several prominent hypotheses concerning the causes of this differentiation. Specifically, 136 (59 women) doctoral students in the United States completed measures of their occupational values, views of the degree to which STEM careers afford their values, perceptions of gender discrimination in their department, mentor support, and satisfaction with their graduate training. Results indicated gender differences in students’ occupational values, ratings of career value affordances, and perceptions of gender discrimination. The perception that a STEM research career affords one’s values was predictive of women’s (but not men’s) satisfaction with their graduate training

Tissue-specific patterns of gene expression in the epithelium and stroma of normal colon in healthy individuals in an aspirin intervention trial

AbstractRegular aspirin use reduces colon adenoma and carcinoma incidence. UDP-glucuronosyltransferases (UGT) are involved in aspirin metabolism and clearance, and variant alleles in UGT1A6 have been shown to alter salicylic acid metabolism and risk of colon neoplasia. In a randomized, cross-over, placebo-controlled trial of 44 healthy men and women, homozygous for UGT1A6*1 or UGT1A6*2, we explored differences between global epithelial and stromal expression, using Affymetrix U133+2.0 microarrays and tested effects of 60-day aspirin supplementation (325mg/d) on epithelial and stromal gene expression and colon prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) levels. We conducted a comprehensive study of differential gene expression between normal human colonic epithelium and stroma from healthy individuals. Although no statistically significant differences in gene expression were observed in response to aspirin or UGT1A6 genotype, we have identified the genes uniquely and reproducibly expressed in each tissue type and have analyzed the biologic processes they represent. Here we describe in detail how the data, deposited in the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) – accession number GSE71571 – was generated including the basic analysis as contained in the manuscript published in BMC Medical Genetics with the PMID 25927723 (Thomas et al., 2015 [9])

TRY plant trait database – enhanced coverage and open access

Plant traits - the morphological, anatomical, physiological, biochemical and phenological characteristics of plants - determine how plants respond to environmental factors, affect other trophic levels, and influence ecosystem properties and their benefits and detriments to people. Plant trait data thus represent the basis for a vast area of research spanning from evolutionary biology, community and functional ecology, to biodiversity conservation, ecosystem and landscape management, restoration, biogeography and earth system modelling. Since its foundation in 2007, the TRY database of plant traits has grown continuously. It now provides unprecedented data coverage under an open access data policy and is the main plant trait database used by the research community worldwide. Increasingly, the TRY database also supports new frontiers of trait‐based plant research, including the identification of data gaps and the subsequent mobilization or measurement of new data. To support this development, in this article we evaluate the extent of the trait data compiled in TRY and analyse emerging patterns of data coverage and representativeness. Best species coverage is achieved for categorical traits - almost complete coverage for ‘plant growth form’. However, most traits relevant for ecology and vegetation modelling are characterized by continuous intraspecific variation and trait–environmental relationships. These traits have to be measured on individual plants in their respective environment. Despite unprecedented data coverage, we observe a humbling lack of completeness and representativeness of these continuous traits in many aspects. We, therefore, conclude that reducing data gaps and biases in the TRY database remains a key challenge and requires a coordinated approach to data mobilization and trait measurements. This can only be achieved in collaboration with other initiatives