Eschew obfuscation in discussing political correctness

Conclusion Have I added to the constructive debate about PC? You decide. Sometimes it's valuable to provide a fresh perspective, even if it is rejected.One of the principles my journal was founded on was better writing. I think clear writing is crucial in the discussion of difficult issues like PC. While I may have made enemies of these authors, I probably share many values with them—if I could only be sure from their presentation. And I'll bet that they'll look at their future writing with a new eye.Founding Editor ofThe Journal of Social Behavior and Personality, an interdisciplinary peer-reviewed periodical.     

The Disconnect Between Observers’ Male and Masculine Judgments from Sparse Gait Cues Conveying Gender: Perceiving Precarious Manhood

Although universal definitions are by no means agreed upon, the terms sex—male and female—and gender—femininity and/or masculinity—are semantically dissociable. The aim with the current study was to explore whether and to what extent they may be dissociable in perceptual terms. A comparison of sex judgments and gender judgments from point light walker (PLW) stimuli offered possibilities for obtaining a finer-grained picture of the basis or bases of these types of social judgments. In this study PLWs were used explicitly to examine the pattern of responses to questions of sex (male/female) and gender (masculine/feminine). Observers perceived targets to be feminine at the same rate as female, but perceived a subset of targets significantly more often to be male than masculine. Thus, a disconnect was demonstrated between male and masculine perceptions with no such uncoupling evident for perceptions of female and feminine. This pattern of responding accords with the idea—often described as Precarious Manhood—that manhood, or masculinity, may be a more difficult mantle to earn than mere ‘maleness’, with femininity considered closer to an essential aspect of being female.     

Modeling Cholinesterase Activity for Human Dietary Risk Assessment of Carbamate Insecticides

This article demonstrates statistical models to quantify the interaction between a carbamate insecticide and acetylcholinesterase. Carbamates are a class of chemicals that inhibit the activity of acetylcholinesterase in humans, an enzyme involved in the regulation of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine. Following exposure to a carbamate insecticide, we specifically address (1) if acetylcholinesterase activity recovers to its level of preexposure activity; (2) the level of inhibition of acetylcholinesterase activity; (3) the recovery time of acetylcholinesterase activity to its preexposure level for a typical individual; and (4) the upper percentiles of the recovery time of acetycholinesterase activity across individuals. A nonlinear mixed-effects model is fitted to data from a repeated measures experiment conducted with human volunteers randomly assigned to a control and four dose groups. Repeated measurements were taken prior to exposure and at 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, and 21 hours after exposure to the carbamate aldicarb. It was found that full recovery did occur. Inhibition at 1 hour was estimated with maximum inhibition most likely occurring prior to 1-hour postexposure. In addition, recovery was rapid even for sensitive individuals. Given this information, the potential effect from exposure to a carbamate consumed in the diet during a day can be quantitatively assessed.     

Transactions between older people and the hospital environment: A social ecological analysis

PurposeTo illuminate how problems arise between older adults and the hospital environment through examination of the transactions between the two rather than a focus on one or the other.Design and methodsA critical ethnographic study that used constant comparative analysis applied to three data sets: hospital observations, interviews with older adults, and hospital employees.FindingsTwo groups of older people are distinguished: those identified as appropriate older patients and those found to be different or less appropriate. Incongruent relationships emerge only when older people who are inappropriate for the hospital's cultural space confront four areas of poor fit: architectural features, bureaucratic conditions, chaotic atmosphere and hospital employee attitude. These environmental features act in independent and interactive ways to produce a disempowering synergy that erodes independence and confidence; produces stress, worry and anxiety; and enhances disabilities when functional impairments exist. Being different is key to a lack of fit in the hospital environment and the construction of problems. Problem construction with older people is less about age and more about the efficiency of a one-size fits all approach to acute care. Ageism emerges as a bi-product of the pressure on hospital employees to keep the system moving.     

Eschew Obfuscation in Discussing Political Correctness

ABSTRACT

Despite the spectrum of available resources, homelessness is a persistent societal and public health challenge throughout the United States and in San Diego County. Beginning in January 2014, San Diego began the integration of a Coordinated Entry System into its homeless system-of-care. This historical prospective study examined the predictors of establishing eligibility for permanent housing resources among 15,042 single homeless adults enrolled in the Coordinated Entry System Multivariable logistic regression was conducted to assess the relationship between client vulnerability as measured by the triage tool VI-SPDAT and establishing client eligibility for permanent housing. Overall, being of moderate or high vulnerability was associated with establishing eligibility for a permanent housing resource. Veterans established eligibility faster and more frequently than others, regardless of their vulnerability score. However, the demand for services far outweighed the ability of the system to respond to those with moderate to high vulnerability. More housing navigators and fewer client “hand-offs” between housing professionals are recommended to increase the efficiency of the process. Additional research examining the second and third steps is also needed to more fully understand the factors that promote permanent housing solutions for those seeking services.     

A THEORETICAL INVESTIGATION OF PUBLIC ATTITUDES TOWARD SEX EDUCATION

Rates of teen pregnancy in the United States are significantly higher than those in most other industrialized nations. This is troubling in light of the consequences to teen mothers, their children, and society. Some suggest that teen pregnancies can be decreased by providing sex education in the public school system, while others believe that sex education is inappropriate for public school. Little research exists, however, on predictors of attitudes toward sex education, and most existing research is dated and lacks a theoretical framework. Guided by the seminal work of Ira L. Reiss, we examine the impact of labor shortages, religiosity, militarism, gender egalitarianism, regulation of sexuality, and a naturalistic view of sexuality on attitudes toward sex education. Results suggest that Hispanics, those with high levels of religiosity, and those who supported regulation of sexuality were significantly less likely to support sex education in public schools. Implications of the findings and directions for future research are discussed.     

Collectively seeing the wind: Distributed cognition in smokejumping

This paper examines a segment of the activity of smokejumping—the aerial deployment of forest fire fighters—for clues as to how cognition is distributed among the participants. Unlike the Cartesian paradigm in which actors are portrayed as individuals who send and receive messages, the collective nature of developing a shared vision of the environment is emphasized. A shared vision of the environment is vital to the success of the smokejumping activity. It is achieved here through both the use of common reference points in the environment and through historically constituted artifacts designed for the sharing of visions. Thus, human activity can be seen as a collective, historical process.