Julie S. Johnson-Pynn

Youth Civic Engagement in China: Results from a Program Promoting Environmental Activism.

China is a key player on the global stage, and nearly 300 million Chinese youth stand to be affected by rapid social and ecological transformations. Programs that promote developmental assets in Chinese youth could increase their resilience in the face of contemporary stressors and enhance their capacity to contribute to Chinas development. In this paper we describe a unique, service-learning approach to youth development, the Jane Goodall Institutes Roots & Shoots program (R&S), as it is implemented in China. Through qualitative and quantitative methods we explore perceptions of program impact on the personal and social development of Chinese youth. Cultural, sociopolitical, and environmental issues related to program practices, outcomes and viability are highlighted. Results suggest that R&S mobilized Chinese youth to work for the benefit of their environment, their communities, and themselves.

The sources of skill in seriating cups in children, monkeys and apes

Is a concept of either reversibility or of hierarchical forms of combination necessary for skilled seriation? We examined this question by presenting seriating cups to adult capuchin monkeys and chimpanzees and to 11-, 16- and 21-month-old children. Capuchins and chimpanzees consistently created seriated sets with five cups, and placed a sixth cup into a previously seriated set. Children of all three ages created seriated five-cup sets less consistently than the capuchins and chimpanzees, and were rarely able to place a sixth cup into a seriated set. Twenty-one-month-olds produced more structures containing three or more cups than did the younger age groups, and these children also achieved seriated sets more frequently. Within all participant groups, success at seriating five cups was associated with the frequency of combining three or more cups, regardless of form. The ability to integrate multiple elements in persistent combinatorial activity is sufficient for the emergence of seriation in young children, monkeys and apes. Reliance on particular methods of combination and a concept of reversibility are later refinements that can enhance skilled seriation.

Navigating two-dimensional mazes: Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and capuchins (Cebus apella sp.) profit from experience differently

We examined whether navigation is impacted by experience in two species of nonhuman primates. Five chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and seven capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella) navigated a cursor, using a joystick, through two-dimensional mazes presented on a computer monitor. Subjects completed 192 mazes, each one time. Each maze contained one to five choices, and in up to three of these choices, the correct path required moving the cursor away from the Euclidean direction toward the goal. Some subjects completed these mazes in a random order (Random group); others in a fixed order by ascending number of choices and ascending number of turns away from goal (Ordered group). Chimpanzees in both groups performed equivalently, demonstrated fewer errors and a higher rate of self-correcting errors with increasing experience at solving the mazes, and made significantly fewer errors than capuchin monkeys. Capuchins were more sensitive to the mode of presentation than chimpanzees; monkeys in the Ordered group made fewer errors than monkeys in the Random group. However, capuchins’ performance across testing changed little, and they remained particularly susceptible to making errors when the correct path required moving away from the goal. Thus, these two species responded differently to the same spatial challenges and same learning contexts. The findings indicate that chimpanzees have a strong advantage in this task compared to capuchins, no matter how the task is presented. We suggest that differences between the species in the dynamic organization of attention and motor processes contribute to their differences in performance on this task, and predict similar differences in other tasks requiring, as this one does, sustained attention to a dynamic visual display and self-produced movements variably towards and away from a goal.

Ethnic Identity, Self-Efficacy, and Intercultural Attitudes in East African and U.S. Youth:

Positive intercultural attitudes and civic action are increasingly important for youth around the world given the economic, social justice, and environmental challenges they face. Among U.S. youth and emerging adults, ethnic identity and self-efficacy are related to positive intercultural attitudes and may prompt civic engagement. Youth’s efficacy and civic involvement are critically important in sub-Saharan Africa, where rates of civil conflict are among the highest in the world. However, little research has been conducted with East African youth. In this paper, we discuss contextual challenges facing East African youth and the potential role of ethnic identity and self-efficacy in promoting peaceful and sustainable societies. We report qualitative results and scores on standard measures of self -efficacy, ethnic identity, and intercultural attitudes for 554 youth members of environmental clubs in Tanzania, Uganda, and the United States. Ethnic identity was associated with enhanced self-efficacy in East African, but not U.S. participants. East Africans scored higher on ethnic identity compared to U.S. youth and were more likely to reference intercultural attitudes in open-ended responses. Results provide some support for construct relevance in East Africa, however psychometric results, including internal consistency, validity, and factor structure, were mixed. Our results provide a cautionary tale about the import of measures across cultures and contexts. There is a need for international research, measurement development, and further explication of the meaning and function of ethnic identity across cultures.

Do apes and monkeys rely upon conceptual reversibility

Abstract. The ability to seriate nesting cups as a sensorimotor task has posed interesting questions for cognitive scientists. Greenfield et al. [(1972) Cognit Psychol 3:291–310] found parallels between children’s combinatorial activity with nesting cups and patterns of phonological and grammatical constructions. The parallels suggested the possibility of a neurally based developmental homology between language and instrumental action [Greenfield (1991) Behav Brain Sci 14:531–595]. Children who predominantly used subassembly, a hierarchical method of combining cups, succeeded at seriating nesting cups more often than those who did not. Greenfield and others [e.g., Piaget and Inhelder (1969) The psychology of the child. Basic Books, New York; DeLoache et al. (1985) Child Dev 56:928–939] argued that success in seriation reflects the child’s growing recognition of a reversible relationship: a particular element in a series is conceived of as being smaller than the previous element and larger than the subsequent element. But is a concept of reversibility or a hierarchical form of object manipulation necessary to seriate cups? In this article, we review studies with very young children and nonhuman primates to determine how individuals that do not evidence conceptual reversibility manage the seriation task. We argue that the development of skill in seriation is experientially, rather than conceptually, driven and that it may be unnecessary to link seriation with cognitive conceptions of reversibility or linguistic capacities. Rather, in ordering a set of objects by size, perceptual-motor learning may enable contemplative refinement.

Ethnic identity and civic attitudes in Latino and Caucasian youth

Understanding youths perceptions of their civic skills is important for enriching the lives of youth as well as society. This study explored the relationship between civic attitudes, leadership skills, and ethnic identity in Northwest Georgia schools using two measures, the Civic Attitudes and Skills Questionnaire (CASQ) and the Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure (MEIM). In sharp contrast with Georgia school demographics, these schools are predominately Latino/a. Within our sample population (N=1000), we expected that Latino/a students would score higher on both measures compared with Caucasian students based on research, which suggests that a strong ethnic identity is related to social justice concerns. On the contrary, Caucasian students scored higher on 4/6 domains of the CASQ. On the MEIM, Latino/a students scored lower than Caucasian students on both subscales. However, Latino/a students scored significantly higher than Caucasian students on items relating to participation in cultural activities. Our results suggest that Caucasian students perceived community-wide action and leadership as their civic strengths, whereas Latino/a students reported civic action limited to their cultural group and expressed less confidence in leadership skills. This has implications for designing programs to promote civic engagement in youth. There is no ‘one size fits all’ approach to engendering civic learning and action.

Response to novel housing in two groups of captive tufted capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella)

The influence of age, maternal status, and the presence of a group male on use of space was assessed in two groups of captive tufted capuchin monkeys that underwent a move from indoor housing to a larger outdoor facility. Both groups originally contained two adult males, but only one group retained a male after the move. Following the move, mothers spent less time on the ground when carrying their infants than they did when not carrying their infants. In the group with no male (1) individuals decreased time spent on the ground relative to pre-move levels, whereas no such difference was noted in the group with the male; (2) females spent more time carrying their infants than did females in the group with a male. In the group with the adult male, juveniles spent less time on the ground than did non-mother adult females, whereas no difference had existed prior to the move. Grooming rates dropped from pre-move to post-move, but the mean number of partners with which each animal was in contact increased. Measures of social behavior varied across post-move observation periods inversely to time spent on the ground. These results are consistent with the view that an individual’s relative vulnerability influences behavioral conservatism in novel environments, and suggests a relatively profound role for males in promoting exploration of new space in this species.

Pioneering water quality data on the Lake Victoria watershed: effects on human health.

Four forest reserves within 50 km of Kampala in Uganda act as a critical buffer to the Lake Victoria watershed and habitat for local populations. Over a 9-month period we capture a pioneering water quality data set that illustrates ecosystem health through the implementation of a water quality index (WQI). The WQI was calculated using field and laboratory data that reflect measured physical and chemical parameters (pH, dissolved oxygen, biological oxygen on demand, nitrates, phosphates, fecal coliform, and temperature turbidity). Overall, the WQI for the four forest reserves reflect poor to medium water quality. Results compared with US Environmental Protection Agency and World Health Organization drinking water standards indicate varying levels of contamination at most sites and all designated drinking water sources, with signatures of elevated nitrates, phosphates, and/or fecal coliforms. As critical health problems are known to arise with elevated exposure to contaminants in drinking water, this data set can be used to communicate necessary improvements within the watershed.