One is Not Enough: Multiple Exemplars Facilitate Infants' Generalizations of Novel Properties

Across three experiments, we examined 9‐ and 11‐month‐olds' mappings of novel sound properties to novel animal categories. Infants were familiarized with novel animal–novel sound pairings (e.g., Animal A [red]–Sound 1) and then tested on: (1) their acquisition of the original pairing and (2) their generalization of the sound property to a new member of a familiarized category (e.g., Animal A [blue]–Sound 1). When familiarized with a single exemplar of a category, 11‐month‐olds showed no evidence of acquiring or generalizing the animal–sound pairings. In contrast, 11‐month‐olds learnt the original animal–sound mappings and generalized the sound property to a novel member of that category when familiarized with multiple exemplars of a category. Finally, when familiarized with multiple exemplars, 9‐month‐old infants learnt the original animal–sound pairing, but did not extend the novel sound property. The results of these experiments provide evidence for developmental differences in the facilitative role of multiple exemplars in promoting the learning and generalization of information.     

Factors Associated With Substance Use Disorders Among Traumatized Homeless Youth

This study aimed to identify homeless youths’ lifestyle and trauma-related risk factors as well as protective factors associated with alcohol use disorder or no disorder and drug use disorder or no disorder. Youth receiving homeless services in Denver (n = 201), Austin (n = 200), and Los Angeles (n = 200; N = 601) completed quantitative interviews assessing demographic information, alcohol and drug use, homeless lifestyle risk factors, trauma-related risk factors, and protective factors. Findings showed differences in trauma-related risk factors between alcohol and drug use disorders, but not homeless lifestyle risks. Protective factors predicted substance use disorders beyond risk factors. Understanding trauma-related risk and protective factors associated with substance use disorders could improve interventions.     

Individual Differences in Women's Salivary Testosterone and Estradiol Following Sexual Activity in a Nonlaboratory Setting

Objectives: The current study evaluated women's salivary testosterone and estradiol levels before and after exposure to sexual stimuli in a U.S. sex club. Methods: Behavioral data and salivary samples were collected from 19 women during semistructured interviews. Results: Findings demonstrate substantial individual differences in the magnitude and direction of women's hormonal changes following sexual activity. Conclusions: In an age of individualized medicine, these findings highlight the need to better understand factors shaping variation in physiological responses to sexual activity. Findings contribute to a relatively small and contradictory literature on women's hormonal responses to sexual stimuli.     

What's wrong is right: A response to the state of the discipline

In the June issue ofSociological Forum, several authors addressed the question, What's Wrong with Sociology. Answers included increased fragmentation of the discipline, and the lack of an identifiable cumulative core of sociological knowledge. This paper examines many of the claims made by the contributors to the June 1994Sociological Forum, reframes their arguments, and by placing debates regarding the problems in sociology in a broader perspective, identifies many of the recent advances made by the discipline. Focusing on such notable contributions to the field as feminist and postmodern scholarship, we locate the positive side of multiple perspective research.Feminist Scholars in Sociology is a collective of researchers and teachers at the University of Colorado interested in exploring and sharing feminist theory and methodology.     

Sustainable landscaping programs in the United States and their potential to encourage conservation and support ecosystem services

Sustainable landscaping programs are voluntary initiatives that recommend a set of practices to improve the environmental quality of urban ecosystems by providing landscaping materials, guidelines, and educational resources. Our goal was to examine the recommendations and outcomes of these programs in the United States and their value for encouraging conservation practices in residential ecosystems. We conducted a comprehensive web search and identified 193 sustainable landscaping programs in the United States. Programs aim to increase native species richness, affordably manage stormwater runoff, and offer residents meaningful experiences with nature. Sustainable landscaping programs present many opportunities to engage people with local ecological knowledge and conservation practices, provide accessible spaces for environmental education, cultivate interdisciplinary research collaborations, and advance inclusion in conservation. However, assessments of their ecological value are rare, leaving many questions surrounding the benefits to biodiversity and water quality afforded by participation. Many programs also require investments in landscaping materials and certification fees that might limit participation by some households. Future work should examine how recommended practices influence urban biodiversity, identify and address barriers to participation, and generate social-ecological knowledge that can inform future programs.

     

Online measures of looking and learning in infancy

Infants in laboratory settings look longer at events that violate their expectations, learn better about objects that behave unexpectedly, and match utterances to the objects that likely elicited them. The paradigms revealing these behaviors have become cornerstones of research on preverbal cognition. However, little is known about whether these canonical behaviors are observed outside laboratory settings. Here, we describe a series of online protocols that replicate classic laboratory findings, detailing our methods throughout. In Experiment 1a, 15-month-old infants (N = 24) looked longer at an online support event culminating in an Unexpected outcome (i.e., appearing to defy gravity) than an Expected outcome. Infants did not, however, show the same success with an online solidity event. In Experiment 1b, 15-month-old infants (N = 24) showed surprise-induced learning following online events—they were better able to learn a novel object's label when the object had behaved unexpectedly compared to when it behaved expectedly. Finally, in Experiment 2, 16-month-old infants (N = 20) who heard a valenced utterance (“Yum!”) showed preferential looking to the object most likely to have generated that utterance. Together, these results suggest that, with some adjustments, online testing is a feasible and promising approach for infant cognition research.     

Bar None: Extending Affirmative Action to Higher Education in Prison

Recognizing the intent of Affirmative Action to include historically marginalized citizens into institutions of higher learning, we stretch the limits of Affirmative Action to consider the role of higher education in prison. We present empirical findings of a 4-year, qualitative and quantitative participatory action research study of the impact of college in prison. Evidence is drawn from participant observations; individual and focus group interviews with participants of the college program, former inmates, prison administrators, corrections officers, and children of inmates; faculty surveys; and a quantitative analysis of recidivism rates. We address the psychological, academic, and crime-related impacts of higher education on women in prison, and document the benefits of broad-based access for inmates, prison environments, children of prisoners, and society-at-large.     

Affirmative Reaction: The Influence of Type of Justification on Nonbeneficiary Attitudes Toward Affirmative Action Plans in Higher Education

It is popularly believed that justifying an affirmative action plan (AAP) through emphasizing the advantages that diverse students can bring to a college campus will increase nonbeneficiary support for the program. However, there has been little empirical support for this proposition, perhaps because previous research has not directly articulated to participants the value of a diverse student body. As such, the current study sought to determine how the explicit framing of an AAP influences subsequent reactions. Both quantitative and qualitative data from 216 White undergraduate participants revealed that the utilitarianism justification that highlighted the benefits of the AAP to both minority and majority students, was the most effective means of increasing support for the plan.