Karyn M. Plumm

Technology in the classroom: Burning the bridges to the gaps in gender-biased education?

This review introduces the concepts of gender bias and technology in education. It discusses the interaction between the two in the educational setting and the effects this interaction may have on teachers, students and materials used in the classroom. It is argued that areas in the educational setting that have been focused on as materials and practices that are biased have also been translated into the use of educational technology that is biased. This review makes the point that biases that have been pointed out and studied within the educational system have not been solved by the use of technology (as some had hoped). In fact, the biases have simply been converted into a new form and may have actually served to undo some the bias-eliminating practices that had been starting to take place in classrooms. Implications and suggestions for change are discussed.

On the determinants of induction in responding for sucrose when food pellet reinforcement is upcoming

Rats’ rates of leverpressing for low-concentration liquid-sucrose reinforcers in the first half of an experimental session increase when food pellet, rather than sucrose, reinforcers will be available in the second half. Experiment 1 determined that this induction effect was the outcome of food pellet reinforcement’s increasing response rates, not of continued sucrose reinforcement’s decreasing them. Experiments 2 and 3 showed that induction was primarily controlled by the conditions of reinforcement in the current session, not by those in the previous one. Experiment 4 showed little evidence that the induction was the outcome of Pavlovian processes. These results suggest that induction may occur because of processes operating at the level of the entire session. They also provide a link to a seemingly related area of study: contrast effects. Some of the results are consistent with what is known about contrast effects, but there are also several, yet unexplained differences.

Battered Women Who Kill The Impact of Expert Testimony and Empathy Induction in the Courtroom

Mock jurors (N = 312) viewed a simulated trial involving a woman, charged with the murder of her abusive husband, entering a plea of not guilty by reason of self-defense. Expert testimony was varied using battered woman syndrome, social agency framework, or no expert testimony. Within expert testimony conditions, jurors were presented with opening and closing statements either including or not including instructions aimed at inducing empathy. Results indicate differences in gender and expert testimony for ratings of guilt as well as differences in gender, expert testimony, and empathy induction for perceptions of the defendant.

Delay Discounting and Social Policy Issues

The present study used a delay discounting framework to study decisions about six social policy issues and one monetary outcome. For outcomes that nearly all participants discounted, social policies were discounted significantly more than money. A similar result was observed when analyzing all outcomes using data only from participants who discounted all outcomes. Factor analyses, however, indicated that discounting of social policies outcomes was not independent of discounting money. When data from nondiscounters were included in the analyses, results indicated that participants placed the most value on money and the least value on expanding legalized abortion. Further, a factor analysis suggested that the issues of abortion, gay marriage, and potentially affirmative action were valued differently than the other outcomes. This separation appeared to be mediated by political party affiliation and church attendance. The present results highlight the potential value of studying how individuals discount delayed outcomes pertaining to social issues, but also reveal the potential complexities of doing so.

Maternal Blame Battered Women and Abused Children

Participants (N = 126) read one of four scenarios depicting an incident of child physical abuse inflicted by the father. Scenarios varied history of wife abuse (present vs. absent) and severity of child abuse (battering vs. death). Overall, the father was held highly responsible. Greater maternal culpability was assigned when a history of wife abuse was present. The degree to which the mother should have been able to predict the incident of child abuse and maternal responsibility were mitigated when the abuse resulted in the death of her child. Perceptions of maternal psychological stability were jeopardized as a function of the presence of wife abuse. Implications are discussed.

Perceptions of Domestic Violence in Heterosexual Relationships: Impact of Victim Gender and History of Response

Within the context of a heterosexual relationship, participants (n = 197) read a police interview involving a claim of domestic violence that varied the gender of the victim. Within gender conditions, the victim’s previous history of response to the violence, and on the evening in question, was portrayed as either passive or active (i.e., fought back). Results support the notion of a prototypical domestic violence victim that has emerged within a gendered framework. Overall, the female victim was perceived in a more sympathetic light than the male victim was. Interaction effects showed that men, but not women, rated the male victim as more responsible for the assault than the female victim. Participant gender effects indicated that women rated the victim and their claim of victimization more favorably than men did. Implications within the courtroom are discussed.

Battered Women Who Kill: Impact of Expert Testimony Type and Timing

This study investigated the impact of expert testimony in a case involving a battered woman who killed her abusive husband. Mock jurors (N = 330) viewed a videotaped simulated trial involving a woman who had entered a self-defence plea in the shooting death of her abusive husband. Participants were presented with either expert testimony regarding the battered woman syndrome (BWS), social/agency (SA) testimony, or a no expert control. Because the timing of expert testimony may impact its application to the defendants circumstances, expert testimony was presented either prior to or following the testimony of the defendant. Although jury verdicts failed to differ across expert testimony and timing conditions, individual mock juror opinions, and perceptions of her situation and mental stability did. Men in particular appeared to be differentially influenced by the alternative forms of expert testimony. Implications are discussed.

Delay discounting as a function of intrinsic/extrinsic religiousness, religious fundamentalism, and regular church attendance.

ABSTRACT Delay discounting occurs when the subjective value of an outcome decreases because its delivery is delayed. Previous research has suggested that the rate at which some, but not all, outcomes are discounted varies as a function of regular church attendance. In the present study, 509 participants completed measures of intrinsic religiousness, extrinsic religiousness, religious fundamentalism, and whether they regularly attended church services. They then completed a delay-discounting task involving five outcomes. Although religiousness was not a significant predictor of discounting for all outcomes, participants scoring high in intrinsic religiousness tended to display less delay discounting than participants scoring low. Likewise, participants scoring high in religious fundamentalism tended to display more delay discounting than participants scoring low. These results partially replicate previous ones in showing that the process of discounting may vary as a function of religiousness. The results also provide some direction for those interested in altering how individuals discount.

Perceptions of Bias-Motivated Assault Against Bisexual Individuals

This study investigated the understanding of a criminal act (i.e., assault) as a hate crime as well as the perceptions of the victim and defendant in such scenarios based on perceived bisexual orientation of the victim for participants who either reported being an advocate for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) community or not. In the presented scenario gender of the victim and defendant were held constant (male/male vs. female/female) and sexual orientation of the defendant was varied in each condition (gay or lesbian vs. heterosexual) as was the stated orientation of the victim (gay or lesbian vs. bisexual vs. heterosexual). Results indicated significant differences for belief that the crime was a hate crime, beliefs that the defendants actions were not the results of the victims sexual orientation, credibility of the victim, and victim and defendant blame.

Perceptions of younger single adults as a function of their gender and number of children.

ABSTRACT. Research suggests that children may interfere with single parents’ romantic experiences. Although both male and female single parents face these challenges, they have stronger associations with the romantic satisfaction of single mothers as compared to single fathers. The two current studies examined aspects of attractiveness and dating across various dimensions for both younger single women and men, with and without children. Results of Study 1 indicated interactive effects of target gender and parental status on perceptions of both attractiveness and dating potential. Results of Study 2 indicated differential ratings on multiple dimensions (i.e., attractiveness, stress, motivation for dating, and positive qualities) of younger single adults on the basis of gender, parental status, and the number of children single parents were reported as having. Implications for importance of social support and difficulty of repartnering are discussed.