Stephanie M. Müller

Women and computers. Effects of stereotype threat on attribution of failure

This study investigated whether stereotype threat can influence womens attributions of failure in a computer task. Male and female college-age students (n=86, 16-21 years old) from Germany were asked to work on a computer task and were hinted beforehand that in this task, either (a) men usually perform better than women do (negative threat condition), or (b) women usually perform better than men do (positive condition), or (c) they received no threat or gender-related information (control group). The final part of the task was prepared to provide an experience of failure: due to a faulty USB-memory stick, completion of the task was not possible. Results suggest a stereotype threat effect on womens attribution of failure: in the negative threat condition, women attributed the failure more internally (to their own inability), and men more externally (to the faulty technical equipment). In the positive and control conditions, no significant gender differences in attribution emerged.

Do the media provide transparent health information? A cross-cultural comparison of public information about the HPV vaccine.

The media is a powerful tool for informing the public about health treatments. In particular, the Internet has gained importance as a widely valued source for health information for parents and adolescents. Nonetheless, traditional sources, such as newspapers, continue to report on health innovations. But do websites and newspaper reports provide balanced information? We performed a systematic media analysis to evaluate and compare media coverage of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine on websites and in newspapers in Germany and Spain. We assessed to what extent the media provide complete (pros and cons), transparent (absolute instead of relative numbers), and correct information about the epidemiology and etiology of cervical cancer as well as the effectiveness and costs of the HPV vaccine. As a basis for comparison, a facts box containing current scientific evidence about cervical cancer and the HPV vaccine was developed. The media analysis included 61 websites and 141 newspaper articles in Germany, and 41 websites and 293 newspaper articles in Spain. Results show that 57% of German websites and 43% of German newspaper reports communicated correct estimates of epidemiological data, whereas in Spain 39% of the websites and 20% of the newspaper did so. While two thirds of Spanish websites explicitly mentioned causes of cervical cancer as well as spontaneous recovery, German websites communicated etiological information less frequently. Findings reveal that correct estimates about the vaccines effectiveness were mentioned in 10% of German websites and 6% of German newspaper reports; none of the Spanish newspaper reports and 2% of Spanish websites reported effectiveness correctly. Only German websites (13%) explicitly referred to scientific uncertainty regarding the vaccines evaluation. We conclude that the media lack balanced reporting on the dimensions completeness, transparency, and correctness. We propose standards for more balanced reporting on websites and in newspapers.

The malleability of gender stereotypes: Influence of population size on perceptions of men and women in the past, present, and future

ABSTRACT Recent studies on the malleability of gender stereotypes show that they are flexible, dynamic structures that change with the passage of time. In a study, we examined perceptions about men and women of the past, present, and future in Spain and focused on the influence of an important demographic variable on these perceptions: the population size of peoples location of residence. Results showed that people perceived an increase in similarity of men and women from the past to the present and from the present to the future. In less-populated locations, however, men and women were more gender stereotyped and, consequently, still perceived to be further from equality than those in more populated areas. We concluded that the study of dynamic gender stereotypes benefits from extensive research in populations that vary in their demographic characteristics and shows the importance of recent movements in rural areas supporting womens participation in the modernization process.

Causal beliefs and empirical evidence : Decision-making processes in two-alternative forced-choice tasks

Causal beliefs often facilitate decision making. However, strong causal beliefs can also lead to neglect of relevant empirical evidence causing errors in risky decision making (e.g., medical, financial). We investigated the impact of pre-training and post-experience on the evaluation of empirical evidence in a two-alternative medical diagnostic task. Participants actively searched for information about two patients on the basis of four available cues. The first experiment indicated that pre-training can weaken the strong influence of causal beliefs reducing neglect of empirical evidence. The second experiment demonstrated that increasing amounts of empirical evidence can improve peoples ability to decide in favor of a correct diagnosis. The current research converges with other recent work to clarify key mechanisms and boundary conditions shaping the influence of causal beliefs and empirical evidence in decisions and causal judgments.

Ermöglichen Medienberichte und Broschüren informierte Entscheidungen zur Gebärmutterhalskrebsprävention? [Do media reports and public brochures facilitate informed decision making about cervical cancer prevention?]

With the introduction and recommendation of the new HPV (human papillomavirus) vaccination in 2007, cervical cancer prevention has evoked large public interest. Is the public able to make informed decisions on the basis of media reports and brochures? To answer this question, an analysis of media coverage of HPV vaccination (Gardasil®) and Pap (Papanicolaou) screening was conducted from 2007-2009, which investigated the minimum requirement of completeness (pros and cons), transparency (absolute numbers), and correctness (references concerning outcome, uncertainty, magnitude) of the information. As a bench mark, facts boxes with concise data on epidemiology, etiology, benefits, harms, and costs were compiled in advance. Although all vaccination reports and brochures covered the impact of prevention, only 41% provided concrete numbers on effectiveness (90/220) and 2% on absolute risk reductions for the cancer surrogate dysplasia (5/220), whereby none of the latter numbers was correct. The prevention potential was correctly presented once. Only 48% (105/220) mentioned pros and cons. With regard to screening, 20% (4/20) provided explicit data on test quality and one expressed these in absolute numbers, while 25% (5/20) reported the prevention potential; all given numbers were correct. Finally, 25% (5/20) mentioned the possibility of false positive results. Minimum requirements were fulfilled by 1/220 vaccination and 1/20 screening reports. At present, informed decision making based on media coverage is hardly possible.

Ermöglichen Medienberichte und Broschüren informierte Entscheidungen zur Gebärmutterhalskrebsprävention

With the introduction and recommendation of the new HPV (human papillomavirus) vaccination in 2007, cervical cancer prevention has evoked large public interest. Is the public able to make informed decisions on the basis of media reports and brochures? To answer this question, an analysis of media coverage of HPV vaccination (Gardasil®) and Pap (Papanicolaou) screening was conducted from 2007-2009, which investigated the minimum requirement of completeness (pros and cons), transparency (absolute numbers), and correctness (references concerning outcome, uncertainty, magnitude) of the information. As a bench mark, facts boxes with concise data on epidemiology, etiology, benefits, harms, and costs were compiled in advance. Although all vaccination reports and brochures covered the impact of prevention, only 41% provided concrete numbers on effectiveness (90/220) and 2% on absolute risk reductions for the cancer surrogate dysplasia (5/220), whereby none of the latter numbers was correct. The prevention potential was correctly presented once. Only 48% (105/220) mentioned pros and cons. With regard to screening, 20% (4/20) provided explicit data on test quality and one expressed these in absolute numbers, while 25% (5/20) reported the prevention potential; all given numbers were correct. Finally, 25% (5/20) mentioned the possibility of false positive results. Minimum requirements were fulfilled by 1/220 vaccination and 1/20 screening reports. At present, informed decision making based on media coverage is hardly possible.

The Influence of Causal Knowledge in Two-Alternative Forced-Choice Tasks~!2009-07-22~!2009-12-21~!2010-07-13~!

Making decisions can be hard, but it can also be facilitated. Simple heuristics are fast and frugal but nevertheless fairly accurate decision rules that people can use to compensate for their limited computational capacity, time, and knowledge when making decisions. These heuristics are effective to the extent that they can exploit the structure of information in the environment in which they operate. They require knowledge about the predictive value of probabilistic cues. However, it is often difficult to keep track of all the available cues in the environment and how they relate to any relevant criterion. We suggest that knowledge about the causal structure of the environment helps decision makers focus on a manageable subset of cues, thus effectively reducing the potential computational complexity inherent in even relatively simple decision-making tasks. Specifically, we claim that causal knowledge can act as a meta-cue for identifying highly valid cues and help to estimate cue-validities. Causal knowledge, however, can also bias peoples decisions. We review experimental evidence that tested these hypotheses.

Transparent health information in the media

When it comes to medical decisions, people have to deal with a wide range of information from different sources. Information from the media is a prominent example: It increasingly addresses health-related issues and communicates benefits and risks of medical treatments and prevention programs. Is the media a reliable and objective source of health information? To investigate this issue, we conducted a media analysis of the widely promoted vaccination against human papillomavirus (HPV) in newspaper reports and Internet sources in Germany and Spain. These two countries differ in vaccination compliance rates and in the extent to which their health systems are directive. This chapter describes information categories in the media analyses. These categories included prevalence of cervical cancer and risk at baseline of suffering this disease, etiology, effectiveness of the vaccination, possible side effects, and costs. We compared media coverage and how balanced reports were in the two countries and investigated cross-cultural differences in medical communication.

Do media reports and public brochures facilitate informed decision making about cervical cancer prevention

With the introduction and recommendation of the new HPV (human papillomavirus) vaccination in 2007, cervical cancer prevention has evoked large public interest. Is the public able to make informed decisions on the basis of media reports and brochures? To answer this question, an analysis of media coverage of HPV vaccination (Gardasil®) and Pap (Papanicolaou) screening was conducted from 2007-2009, which investigated the minimum requirement of completeness (pros and cons), transparency (absolute numbers), and correctness (references concerning outcome, uncertainty, magnitude) of the information. As a bench mark, facts boxes with concise data on epidemiology, etiology, benefits, harms, and costs were compiled in advance. Although all vaccination reports and brochures covered the impact of prevention, only 41% provided concrete numbers on effectiveness (90/220) and 2% on absolute risk reductions for the cancer surrogate dysplasia (5/220), whereby none of the latter numbers was correct. The prevention potential was correctly presented once. Only 48% (105/220) mentioned pros and cons. With regard to screening, 20% (4/20) provided explicit data on test quality and one expressed these in absolute numbers, while 25% (5/20) reported the prevention potential; all given numbers were correct. Finally, 25% (5/20) mentioned the possibility of false positive results. Minimum requirements were fulfilled by 1/220 vaccination and 1/20 screening reports. At present, informed decision making based on media coverage is hardly possible.

Relación entre pensamiento y lenguaje: cómo el género gramatical afecta a las representaciones semánticas de los objetos

Resumen El lenguaje mantiene estrechas relaciones con diversos procesos psicologicos, como la atencion, la memoria o el razonamiento. En concreto, la relacion entre lenguaje y pensamiento plantea cuestiones fundamentales: ?representan las distintas lenguas la misma realidad social?; ?hasta que punto el lenguaje determina el modo en que pensamos? En este articulo, revisamos diversos estudios interculturales que han analizado la interrelacion entre lenguaje y pensamiento. Discutimos hallazgos que demuestran que el genero gramatical de las palabras afecta a las representaciones semanticas de los objetos que nos rodean. Asimismo, resaltamos como la medida en que se da este tipo de influencia esta determinada por la complejidad gramatical de cada lengua. Por ejemplo, en lenguas latinas como el espanol, frecuentemente existe una correspondencia entre el genero natural y el gramatical, y, por lo tanto, se establecen asociaciones fuertes entre ambos. En cambio, en lenguas con mayor complejidad gramatical, como el aleman, existen mas de dos generos no solo para la categorizacion de objetos, sino tambien de personas. Por lo tanto, en este tipo de lenguas el genero gramatical afectaria a las representaciones semanticas en menor medida. Concluimos que terminos con distinto genero gramatical conllevan distintas connotaciones sobre el genero natural, y resaltamos las implicaciones practicas que ello conlleva en el uso diario del lenguaje.