Everyday confrontation of discrimination: The well-being costs and benefits to women over time.

Taking action against discrimination has positive consequences for well-being (e.g., Cocking & Drury, 2004) but most of this research has focused on collective actions and has used methodologies assessing one point in time. This study therefore used a diary methodology to examine how women’s everyday confrontations of discrimination would affect measures of subjective and psychological well-being, and how these relationships would change over time. In a 28-day online diary study, women indicated their daily experience of discrimination, described their response, and completed measures of well-being. Results showed that at the beginning of the study, using indirect confrontation predicted greater well-being than using angered confrontation. However, continued use of indirect and educational confrontation decreased well-being whereas continued use of angered confrontation increased well-being over time. By the end of the study, using angered confrontation predicted greater well-being than using indirect confrontation. Analyses of linguistic markers were consistent with the explicit measures of well-being. Implications for distinguishing between types of confrontations and integrating time analyses are discussed

Perceiving pervasive discrimination over time: Implications for coping

This study suggests the effects of perceived pervasiveness may be dynamic over time. The hypothesis was that participants who perceived discrimination to be highly pervasive would initially be more likely to engage in inactive coping strategies than those who perceived low pervasiveness. However, those who continued to perceive high pervasiveness over time would ultimately show greater evidence of using active strategies than those perceiving low pervasiveness. Using a 28-day diary, women and ethnic minorities described their daily experiences of discrimination and indicated their appraisals of its pervasiveness as well as their coping strategies. Results showed that participants who initially perceived low pervasiveness reported more active coping and religion use as well as less behavioral disengagement than those initially perceiving high pervasiveness. However, this pattern was reversed by the end of the study. Implications for integrating “time” into the assessment of coping with discrimination are discussed

The Motivational Quality of Global Attributions in Hypothetical and Experienced Situations of Gender Discrimination

Traditionally, global attributions have been thought to reduce instrumental behavior aimed at resolving negative events. However, the present research shows global attributions for gender discrimination are related to taking action against unfair treatment. In Study 1, women ( N = 157) completed a questionnaire assessing attributions for hypothetical scenarios of discrimination and collective responses to discrimination. In Study 2, women ( N = 79) were placed into a laboratory situation of discrimination and asked to indicate their attributions for and responses to their unfair treatment. In both studies, hierarchical regression analyses showed that global attributions were related to both individual and collective responses to their discrimination. Implications for examining attributions in an intergroup context were discussed

Effect of heat treatment and surface oxidation on low-cycle fatigue life of Inconel

Test program involving specimens with different heat treatment, surface condition, and chemical composition yields low cycle fatigue data on Inconel 718

Acting Out Against Gender Discrimination: The Effects of Different Social Identities

Self-categorization theory suggests that when a social identity is salient, group- oriented behavior will ensue. Thus, women should be likely to act out against gender discrimination when their social identity as women is salient. However, self-categorization theory has typically defined a social identity along stereo- types, which may serve instead to maintain the status quo. Two studies therefore examined the effects of two different social identities on taking action against discrimination. Participants were female students (Anglo American (93%), African American (2%), Native American (2%), Hispanic (1%), Asian American (1%) and Other (1%)). Study 1 examined a structural model and Study 2 examined the causal relationships, both hypothesizing that a social identity based on stereotypes would be associated with less collective action than a social identity based on social experiences. The hypothesis was supported, and implications for expanding definitions of social identities were discussed

Utilization of global attributions in recognizing and responding to gender discrimination among college women

Although learned helplessness theories suggest that global attributions for gender discrimination may serve to promote feelings of helplessness about responding to discrimination, group consciousness theories suggest they may instead be a precursor to enhancing collective actions against discrimination. To examine this theoretical discrepancy, college women completed measures of attributions for gender discrimination, political consciousness (as measured by common fate), participation in collective action, and helplessness behavior among college women. To examine the unique role of global attributions, participants were included if they made external and unstable attributions for discrimination (N = 231). Structural equation modeling showed hat recognizing discrimination occurs globally was associated with an increased sense of common fate, which in turn was related to greater collective action and less helplessness behavior. Theoretical (attributions in an intergroup context) as well as practical (institutional policies on publicizing discrimination) implications were discussed

Plant respirometer enables high resolution of oxygen consumption rates

Plant respirometer permits high resolution of relatively small changes in the rate of oxygen consumed by plant organisms undergoing oxidative metabolism in a nonphotosynthetic state. The two stage supply and monitoring system operates by a differential pressure transducer and provides a calibrated output by digital or analog signals

Positive and negative responses to personal discrimination: Does coping make a difference?

Although psychological research has found that perceiving personal discrimination is associated with negative psychological symptoms, group consciousness theories suggest that perceiving personal discrimination can be empowering. To attempt to reconcile these presumably opposing findings, the present study suggested that how one copes with perceiving personal discrimination may better predict whether the outcomes are negative or positive than the perception of personal discrimination alone. American female university students ( N = 262) completed a questionnaire assessing their perceptions of personal discrimination, psychological symptoms and psychosocial behaviors. A series of hierarchical regression analyses indicated that coping mechanisms predicted psychosocial behaviors over and above personal discrimination so that the more women utilized social support coping, the more collective action and less helplessness behavior they reported. Also, the more women used avoidance coping, the more helplessness behavior they reported

The Relationship Between Collective Action and Well-Being and Its Moderators: Pervasiveness of Discrimination and Dimensions of Action

Given the negative impact of perceiving gender discrimination on health (e.g., Pascoe & Smart Richman, 2009), there is a need to develop interventions to attenuate this effect; collective action may be one such intervention. Study 1 (N = 185) used an experimental paradigm to investigate whether undergraduate women in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada perceived pervasiveness of discrimination would interact with their collective action-taking to predict negative mood and well-being. Results showed that among those perceiving pervasive gender discrimination, informing friends/family and informing the media led to greater well-being than doing nothing, whereas among those perceiving gender discrimination as isolated, doing nothing led to lower negative mood than taking action. In Study 2 (N = 105) undergraduate women in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada completed an online questionnaire to assess whether these patterns would be replicated and further moderated by the dimensions along which collective action is defined. Consistent with Study 1, among those perceiving pervasive discrimination, increased endorsement of informing the media predicted reduced symptomatology. Moreover, among those who defined collective actions as active, collective, public and high cost, increased endorsement of action predicted greater well-being. Theoretical and practical implications were discussed

Valuing congestion costs in the British Museum

Museums are potentially congestible resources because the exhibits they contain are, in any relevant sense of the word, irreproducible. Insofar as visitor congestion diminishes the value of individuals’ visits it constitutes an additional reason for charging for admission to museums, albeit one not previously considered. A policy of free access to a museum containing unique treasures may dissipate the economic benefits of the museum. Within the context of an empirical study undertaken for the British Museum using stated preference techniques it is shown that the congestion cost posed by the marginal visitor is quite high. Notwithstanding the argument that visits to the museum may possess external benefits, this points to the desirability of instigating charges for admission. Furthermore, it is shown that the marginal congestion cost decreases at least over a range as visitor numbers increase. In other words beyond certain levels introducing more visitors does not worsen congestion. This suggests that, contrary to what is often assumed, charging more during periods of high demand may be undesirable. Insofar as congestion is a widespread phenomenon in important museums, galleries and sites of historical heritage the issues raised in this paper as well as the methodology devised to determine congestion costs could have widespread application