Does the Organization of Emotional Expression Change Over Time? Facial Expressivity From 4 to 12 Months

Differentiation models contend that the organization of facial expressivity increases during infancy. Accordingly, infants are believed to exhibit increasingly specific facial expressions in response to stimuli as a function of development. This study tested this hypothesis in a sample of 151 infants (83 boys and 68 girls) observed in 4 situations (tickle, sour taste, arm restraint, and masked stranger) at 4 and 12 months of age. Three of the 4 situations showed evidence of increasing specificity over time. In response to tickle, the number of infants exhibiting joy expressions increased and the number exhibiting interest, surprise, and surprise blends decreased from 4 to 12 months. In tasting a sour substance, more infants exhibited disgust and fewer exhibited joy and interest expressions, and fear and surprise blends over time. For arm restraint, more infants exhibited anger expressions and anger blends and fewer exhibited interest and surprise expressions and surprise blends over time. In response to a masked stranger, however, no evidence of increased specificity was found. Overall, these findings suggest that infants increasingly exhibit particular expressions in response to specific stimuli during the 1st year of life. These data provide partial support for the hypothesis that facial expressivity becomes increasingly organized over time.     

On wasps and club dinners

Francis Ysidro Edgeworth could be termed a Victorian gentleman polymath: born on the family's estate in Edgeworthstown, Ireland, and a trained classicist and barrister, he was capable of both working as a Lecturer in Greek and deriving in 1883 (using what we now call a Bayesian argument) "what may the earliest appearance in any form of the Student's t distribution"¹. His unusual second name arose from his Catalan refugee mother, whom his father is reputed to have met on the steps of the British Museum.     

National Minority, National Mentality, and Communal Ethnicity: Changes in Ethnic Identity of Former Soviet Union Jewish Emigrants on the Israeli Kibbutz

In this paper we examine and compare the ethnic identity of the Jews in the former Soviet Union (FSU) and the process of change in ethnic identity among the new immigrants from the FSU. This analysis considers the role of the kibbutz as the first experience of Jewish community in their lives, as well as the location of the first phase of their process of absorption and resocialization into new and unfamiliar surroundings. The data are drawn through a longitudinal research design, with a pre‐ and post‐analysis of changes in the ethnicity of migrants studied from their arrival on the Israeli kibbutz until the completion of the five‐month kibbutz programme. We found that pre‐migration Soviet Jews defined their ethnicity as a discriminated national minority with a weak symbolic ethnicity content. The ambivalent nature of the ethnicity of Jews while in the FSU was expressed in the fact that although a majority were deculturized from traditional dimensions of Jewish life, they nevertheless felt they belonged to a specific ethnic group. Post‐migration ethnicity was found to be remarkably altered; the former ambivalence was dissolved. On the macro‐level, membership in the economically and politically successful Russian‐speaking group of Israeli society is a source of self esteem, rather than a sign of shameful otherness. On the micro‐level of ethnicity, the encounter in the initial phase of absorption in Israel, within the kibbutz Jewish community, often demands a re‐examination of their private concept of Jewishness, serving as a first step in resolving their ambivalent ethnic identity. Consequently, their new ethnic identity may now well have weaker boundaries, but a more positive (non‐alienating) content than that left behind.     

Employee E-mail and internet use: Canadian legal issues

VI. Conclusion The rapidly increasing use of Internet and e-mail in the workplace has introduced complicated issues related to the areas of potential liability of employers arising from the improper use of the Internet and e-mail by employees, as well as creating numerous privacy issues which must soon be addressed by all employers — union and nonunion. If employers specify and disseminate clear and concise e-mail and Internet use policies, they will be able to significantly reduce the risk associated with employee misconduct in this area. Not only should the policies be clear and concise, but they should also be communicated to the employees in such a fashion that all employees understand the policy and the consequences of breaching that policy.     

A question of identity

The weight to be attached to DNA profile evidence was the centre of a huge scientific controversy in the early-mid-1990s, with scientists, including statistical scientists, criticising each other over both science and conduct in the editorials of prestigious journals, on television and radio, and in newspapers. Today, only the occasional shot rings out on the DNA evidence front. David Balding looks back and reflects on the causes of the dispute, its evolution and resolution, and the role in it of statistics and statisticians.     

Specialised Supported Education for Australians with Psychotic Disorders

Australia has a network of Federally funded disability employment and vocational rehabilitation services, including a proportion of outlets that specialise in providing services for persons with psychiatric disabilities. However, neither Federal nor State Governments currently provide or fund disability‐specific education assistance to persons with psychiatric disabilities. To begin considering whether Specialised Supported Education is indicated for persons with psychotic disorders, we examined data collected in a national ‘Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers Australia, 1998’. International studies of the effectiveness of overseas Supported Education programs were also examined to identify the forms of assistance most likely to warrant consideration in Australia. U.S.A. evidence indicates that Specialised Supported Education is emerging as an effective career development option for persons with psychotic disorders. An example of an innovative Specialised Supported Education program is provided to illustrate how this type of program can be implemented in Australia.     

HISPANIC MEDIA USE AND PERCEPTIONS OF DISCRIMINATION:

This study utilizes data from the Latino National Political Survey to evaluate the relationship between several social and cultural variables, media use, and Hispanic perceptions of discrimination. We examine the effects that level of income and education, personal experience, ethnicity, and political party preference and media exposure have on these perceptions. The examination builds on social-psychological theories and media framing/cultivation arguments. The cross-section, regression analysis considers Hispanics as a whole and as various subgroups (Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, and Cubans), respectively. Contrary to conventional wisdom that media use is positively related to perceived discrimination, we find that socioeconomic and ethnic conditions are of greater import for understanding perceptions. Further, it appears that media use has little impact on perceptions of discrimination.     

Prisoner escort in Scotland: Costs, projection and performance under scrutiny

David Eyre is a journalist. He says that he is a little ignorant when it comes to statistics, as he thinks many people in the media are. Which is pretty surprising when you consider the number of stories that are based on statistics—everything from crime surveys to NHS waiting lists. Here he and Sheila Bird describe how they sought to address this problem in the context of prisoner escort in Scotland.