Vacation farms and ecotourism in Saskatchewan, Canada

Vacation farms represent an increasingly significant rural diversification option for chronically unstable agriculture-based economies such as Saskatchewan. Concurrently, ecotourism is a rapidly expanding form of tourism which could serve to enhance the recreation product of such rural enterprises. Accordingly, a self-administered questionnaire was sent to all listed vacation farm operators in the province to obtain information on the provision of ecotourism opportunities. Just over one-half (n = 40) of all operations returned a completed questionnaire. Of 23 listed recreation options, wildlife viewing was cited as the activity most frequently undertaken by vacation farm visitors, followed by hunting, casual photography and touring. Wildlife viewing occurred most commonly during the spring and summer, with access to the resource occurring mainly on foot, and less so by horse and vehicle. Birds were the most important category of wildlife viewed, followed by mammals and plants; reptiles/amphibians, insects and fish were of only minor significance. It was evident that the sampled vacation farm operators possessed very little training in the area of ecotourism; few barriers or opportunities related to the latter were indicated. Appropriate recommendations include the provision of ecotourism training opportunities, stronger linkages between vacation farms and public spaces, and further investigation into the relationship between wildlife viewing and hunting activities.     

Gender differences in risk behaviour in financial decision-making: An experimental analysis

This paper examines whether gender differences in risk propensity and strategy in financial decision-making can be viewed as general traits, or whether they arise because of context factors. It presents the results of two computerised laboratory experiments designed to examine whether differences in risk preference and decision strategies are explained by the framing of tasks and level of task familiarity to subjects. The results show that females are less risk seeking than males irrespective of familiarity and framing, costs or ambiguity. The results also indicate that males and females adopt different strategies in financial decision environments but that these strategies have no significant impact on ability to perform. Because strategies are more easily observed than either risk preference or outcomes in day to day decisions, strategy differences may reinforce stereotypical beliefs that females are less able financial managers.     

Larval growth dynamics ofHemipyrellia ligurriens (Calliphoridae) andBoettcherisca formosensis (Sarcophagidae) in crowded and uncrowded cultures

Summary Larval growth patterns ofHemipyrellia ligurriens (Calliphoridae) andBoettcherisca formosensis (Sacophagidae) in crowded and uncrowded cultures were compared. Growth of the larvae followed a sigmoid curve. The highest larval growth rates were 0.33 and 0.36 mg h⁻¹ for uncrowded and crowdedH. ligurriens respectively. The corresponding figures were 2.38 and 1.23 mg h⁻¹ forB. formosensis. Larvae of both species attained maximum weight earlier in crowded cultures than in uncrowded cultures, although the final weights attained in crowded cultures were less. The earlier period of most rapid growth in both species was interpreted as a result of intraspecific facilitation at higher larval densities. UncrowdedB. formosensis had a shorter larval to pupal development and an earlier period of most rapid growth than uncrowdedH. ligurriens, suggesting the former may be superior in exploiting carcasses with limiting food.     

Reinforcement,stereotypy, and rule discovery

The effects of reinforced pretraining on subsequent rule discovery were examined with college students as subjects. Levels of behavioral stereotypy observed during reinforced and non-contingent pretraining were compared. During pretraining subjects received reinforcement if they pressed two keys in a particular sequence. During the problem session pressing each key four times was a necessary condition for reinforcement, but each problem had additional different requirements for reinforcement. Subjects were asked to solve the problems by discovering the rule that determined whether or not they received reinforcement. Levels of stereotyped responding during pretraining were equivalent for contingently and non-contingently trained subjects. During the problem session contingently pretrained, non-contingently pretrained, and naive subjects required equal numbers of trials to solve problems and solved the same number of problems. The results suggest that behavioral stereotypy observed in this experimental preparation may be due to repeated exposure to the task. Differences between the results observed in this study and that of Schwartz (1982) and implications for the use of reinforcement procedures in applied settings are discussed.

     

REGION, RELIGIOUS COMMITMENT, AND LIFE SATISFACTION AMONG BLACK AMERICANS

Using data from the National Survey of Black Americans (NSBA), this research examines three sets of hypotheses regarding the effects of religious commitment on life satisfaction. Further, given evidence of historical geographical differences in black culture and social structure, this study explores the regional specificity of religious influences on life satisfaction. Religious participation contributes to subjective well-being only among non-southern blacks, while private religiosity is unrelated to well-being in any analysis. There are also denominational effects: non-southern members of traditional black denominations (i.e., Baptists and Methodists) and southern Catholics report particularly high levels of life satisfaction. In addition, the effects of religion on life satisfaction are contingent upon age for non-southerners only. This study concludes with a discussion of directions for future research on religion and mental health.     

Mothers' and Fathers' Use of Internal State Talk with their Young Children

The present study extends previous results demonstrating a relation between maternal discourse and child social understanding to include paternal discourse. Emotion understanding (EU) and theory of mind (ToM) were considered as two distinctive aspects of social understanding. Participants were 106 children (54 boys and 52 girls) studied at 3.5 and 5 years. Discourse measures came from separate parent–child conversations during a picture‐book task; measures of EU and ToM came from children's performance on social cognition tasks. Differences in parental talk translated into important differences in the influence of each parent on children's social‐cognitive understanding. Mothers' references to emotion and emotion causal explanatory language predicted children's concurrent EU. Fathers' use of causal explanatory language referring to desires and emotions predicted children's concurrent and later ToM. These results highlight important differences between mothers and fathers in their use of internal state language and its impact on children's social‐cognitive understanding.