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Deciding whose words to trust profoundly impacts children's knowledge acquisition. In evaluating informants' trustworthiness, children are attentive to their social dominance. Previous studies have shown that children's trust preferences may differ across cultures based on the dominance of the informant: children in Western cultures prefer to trust in testimony from dominant informants, whereas children in Eastern cultures prefer to trust subordinate informants (Bernard et al., 2016; Charafeddine et al., 2019). We aim to investigate the potential cultural difference in the trust preferences of European American children (in the United States) and Chinese children (in China) from informants of varying levels of dominance, using a more refined method to assess children's trust preferences. We propose that different levels of authoritarianism – advocacies to obey authorities – in Western and Eastern cultures may explain the potential difference in children's selective trust. Specifically, as impacted by societal cultures, Chinese parents may possess a higher level of authoritarianism than European American parents and may place a higher emphasis on obedience in their parenting. Consequently, Chinese children may show stronger trust preferences from subordinate informants over dominant informants than European American children. Our research will offer insights into the potential mechanism underlying children's different learning preferences across cultures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Developing Belief Network is a consortium of researchers studying human development in diverse social-cultural settings, with a focus on the interplay between general cognitive development and culturally specific processes of socialization and cultural transmission in early and middle childhood. The current manuscript describes the study protocol for the network's first wave of data collection, which aims to explore the development and diversity of religious cognition and behavior. This work is guided by three key research questions: (1) How do children represent and reason about religious and supernatural agents? (2) How do children represent and reason about religion as an aspect of social identity? (3) How are religious and supernatural beliefs transmitted within and between generations? The protocol is designed to address these questions via a set of nine tasks for children between the ages of 4 and 10 years, a comprehensive survey completed by their parents/caregivers, and a task designed to elicit conversations between children and caregivers. This study is being conducted in 39 distinct cultural-religious groups (to date), spanning 17 countries and 13 languages. In this manuscript, we provide detailed descriptions of all elements of this study protocol, give a brief overview of the ways in which this protocol has been adapted for use in diverse religious communities, and present the final, English-language study materials for 6 of the 39 cultural-religious groups who are currently being recruited for this study: Protestant Americans, Catholic Americans, American members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Jewish Americans, Muslim Americans, and religiously unaffiliated Americans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study investigates the efficacy of using a long-acting insulin analog, along with the infusion of regular insulin, in achieving appropriate glycemic control and correcting lactic acidosis in patients post orthotopic heart transplant who demonstrate severe lactic acidosis and insulin resistance. Methods: This was a retrospective study of two cohorts (IRB FLA 20-003) of patients post orthotopic heart transplant with severe lactic acidosis and insulin resistance who were admitted to a tertiary intensive care unit and treated with (group 1) or without long-acting insulin analog (group 2) within the first 24 h of admission to the intensive care unit. Insulin resistance is defined as the requirement for intravenous regular insulin infusion of more than 20 units/h without the ability to achieve appropriate serum glucose level (120–180 mg /dL). Severe lactic acidosis is defined as arterial lactic acid of more than 10 mmol/L. The following parameters were investigated: time to correct lactic acidosis, duration of postoperative mechanical ventilation, the need for periprocedural mechanical circulatory support, and 28-day mortality. Results: The 28-day mortality was zero in both groups. Two patients required periprocedural mechanical support in group one, and ten patients required mechanical support in group two (RR = 0.224, 95%, confidence interval 0.052–0.95, Z = 2.029, p = 0.042). Three patients required tracheostomy in group one, and four patients required tracheostomy in group two (RR 0.84, 95 confidence interval 0.20–3.48, Z = 0.23, P = 0.81). Wilcoxon rank-sum test was used to compare time to correct lactic acidosis, with lactic acid resolution being faster in group one ( X ¯ 1 = 19.7 h, SD ± 12.6 h X ¯ 2 = 29.3 h, SD ± 19.6 h, Z-value − 2.02, p-value 0.043). The duration of mechanical ventilation was less in group one ( X ¯ 1 = 29 h, SD ± 12.7 h, X ¯ 2 = 55.1 h, SD ± 44.5 h, Z-value: − 1.92, p-value 0.05). Conclusion: Administration of low-dose long-acting insulin glargine led to the resolution of the lactic acidosis, insulin resistance, and decreased requirements for pressor and inotropic support, which led to decreased need for mechanical circulatory support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organizations and institutions invest heavily in judging performance, championing individuals who have overcome adversity and achieved through hard work. Yet the current three studies sampling Hong Kong Chinese participants (N = 570; 313 women, Mage = 20.31 years) suggest that even in a society where hard work is a valued norm, people exhibit a preference for talented naturals over hardworking strivers. In Study 1, we tested participants' explicit beliefs regarding strivers and naturals, and found that they favored strivers over naturals (ds ≥ 0.31). In Study 2, participants read a vignette of a protagonist who attained networking skills either through natural talent (in the natural condition) or hard work (in the striver condition), and then evaluated the protagonist. Participants in the natural condition rated the protagonist's competence more highly than those in the striver condition (d = 0.34), although no between-condition difference was observed in ratings of the protagonist's warmth. In Study 3, participants were again assigned to either the natural or the striver condition. In addition to rating the protagonist's competence and warmth, participants also indicated the likelihood of their endorsing advice on networking from the protagonist. Participants in the natural condition perceived the protagonist as more competent (d = 0.36) and preferred to endorse professional advice from the protagonist (d = 0.33) than those in the striver condition. Our research indicates that the naturalness preference is robust, primarily impacts competence-related judgments, and consequently shapes trust decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study investigates the efficacy of using a long-acting insulin analog, along with the infusion of regular insulin, in achieving appropriate glycemic control and correcting lactic acidosis in patients post orthotopic heart transplant who demonstrate severe lactic acidosis and insulin resistance. Methods: This was a retrospective study of two cohorts (IRB FLA 20-003) of patients post orthotopic heart transplant with severe lactic acidosis and insulin resistance who were admitted to a tertiary intensive care unit and treated with (group 1) or without long-acting insulin analog (group 2) within the first 24 h of admission to the intensive care unit. Insulin resistance is defined as the requirement for intravenous regular insulin infusion of more than 20 units/h without the ability to achieve appropriate serum glucose level (120–180 mg /dL). Severe lactic acidosis is defined as arterial lactic acid of more than 10 mmol/L. The following parameters were investigated: time to correct lactic acidosis, duration of postoperative mechanical ventilation, the need for periprocedural mechanical circulatory support, and 28-day mortality. Results: The 28-day mortality was zero in both groups. Two patients required periprocedural mechanical support in group one, and ten patients required mechanical support in group two (RR = 0.224, 95%, confidence interval 0.052–0.95, Z = 2.029, p = 0.042). Three patients required tracheostomy in group one, and four patients required tracheostomy in group two (RR 0.84, 95 confidence interval 0.20–3.48, Z = 0.23, P = 0.81). Wilcoxon rank-sum test was used to compare time to correct lactic acidosis, with lactic acid resolution being faster in group one ( X ¯ 1 = 19.7 h, SD ± 12.6 h X ¯ 2 = 29.3 h, SD ± 19.6 h, Z-value − 2.02, p-value 0.043). The duration of mechanical ventilation was less in group one ( X ¯ 1 = 29 h, SD ± 12.7 h, X ¯ 2 = 55.1 h, SD ± 44.5 h, Z-value: − 1.92, p-value 0.05). Conclusion: Administration of low-dose long-acting insulin glargine led to the resolution of the lactic acidosis, insulin resistance, and decreased requirements for pressor and inotropic support, which led to decreased need for mechanical circulatory support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the wide usage of screen media among young children, less is known about the relationships between children's screen time and their social competence development as impacted by family-related factors. Here, we investigated parents' engagement, children's screen time, and their social competence among Taiwanese Chinese children's families at three time points as the children aged (Time 1: N = 2,037, including 991 girls, M = 3.00 years; Time 2: N = 1,785, including 868 girls, M = 4.00 years; Time 3: N = 1,749, including 842 girls, M = 5.01 years). Research Findings: From ages 3 to 5 years, parental engagement positively predicted children's social competence, whereas children's screen time negatively predicted their social competence. Examination of the mechanism underlying these longitudinal relationships suggested that when parents engaged less frequently in interacting with children, their children tended to spend more time on screen media, and then developed a lower level of social competence during the early years. Practice or Policy: Our findings indicate that young children's time spent on screen media should be monitored and restricted. Instead of keeping children occupied with screen media, parents and educators should engage more actively in interacting with children to promote their social competence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research has documented significant influences of parental psychological well-being on parenting. Yet, few studies have examined multiple measures of psychological well-being simultaneously to understand the underlying pathways and mediation factors. The present study employed new parents, without chronically high depressive symptoms, to examine across-time associations between the frequency of story reading and multiple measures of parental psychological well-being, namely the depressive symptoms, self-esteem, and global sense of personal control, in the first six years after becoming parents. Cross-lagged panel models with three time intervals were constructed to examine the across-time associations with 177 new parents. Significant direct and indirect effects between parental psychological well-being and story reading in the first six years after childbirth were identified. In the first three years after childbirth, new parents with more depressive symptoms and lower self-esteem tended to engage in more frequent story reading. New parents' global sense of personal control, when the child was one to three years old, had a direct positive effect on story reading two to three years later. Through the mediation of self-esteem, parents with low psychological well-being after childbirth tended to engage in more frequent story reading when the child was three to six years old. Furthermore, the indirect effects of story reading on parental well-being were mediated by self-esteem and global sense of personal control. Findings from the present study underscored the importance of considering multiple measures of psychological well-being in understanding the bidirectional interactions between new parents' well-being and early story reading in early family context. Highlights: Significant cross-lagged effects between new parents' psychological well-being and their frequency of story reading in the first six years after childbirth were identified. New parents with lower self-esteem and higher depressive symptoms in the first year after childbirth were associated with more frequent story reading when the child was three to six years old. In the first six years of parenthood, new parents who read stories to their children more often in the first year tended to have lower psychological well-being when the child was three to six years old. Findings were discussed in relation to the potential influences of social contexts, such as the perceived support and the perceived expectations of parental role, on shaping parental well-being and early parenting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Both talent and effort are considered essential sources of achievement, but past research suggests a preference for people who appear to achieve through talent. This research examined the potential naturalness preference in 306 Chinese children (Mage: 6.12 years; 164 girls) and 352 adults (Mage: 19.87 years; 182 women) in 2019. In Study 1, participants evaluated a natural or striver protagonist of equal achievement. Children attributed greater competence and warmth to naturals than strivers; adults exhibited this preference only when attributing competence. In Study 2, participants indicated their behavioral preferences between the two protagonists. Children, but not adults, interacted more with naturals than strivers. These findings indicate the naturalness preference emerges early (ds ≥.27) but declines in strength over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Silibinin, also known as silybin, is isolated from milk thistle (Silybum marianum). Silibinin has been demonstrated to be a good lead compound due to its potential to prevent and treat prostate cancer. Its moderate potency and poor pharmacokinetic profile hindered it from moving forward to therapeutic use. Our research group has been working on optimizing silibinin for the potential treatment of castration-resistant prostate cancer. Our previous studies established 5,7,20-O-trimethylsilybins as promising lead compounds as they can selectively suppress androgen receptor (AR)-positive LNCaP cell proliferation. Encouraged by the promising data, the present study aims to investigate the relationships between the core structure of 5,7,20-O-trimethylsilybin and their antiproliferative activities towards AR-positive (LNCaP) and AR-negative prostate cancer cell lines (PC-3 and DU145). The structure–activity relationships among the four different core structures (including flavanonol-type flavonolignan (silibinin), flavone-type flavonolignan (hydnocarpin D), chalcone-type flavonolignan, and taxifolin (a flavonolignan precursor) indicate that 5,7,20-O-trimethylsilybins are the most promising scaffold to selectively suppress AR-positive LNCaP prostate cancer cell proliferation. Further investigation on the antiproliferative potency of their optically enriched versions of the most promising 5,7,20-O-trimethylsilybins led to the conclusion that (10R,11R) derivatives (silybin A series) are more potent than (10S,11S) derivatives (silybin B series) in suppressing AR positive LNCaP cell proliferation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carter and Gilovich (2012) investigated the centrality of experiential and material purchases to the self and concluded people have stronger associations with their experiential than their material purchases. In a pre-registered experiment with a US American Amazon Mechanical Turk sample, (N=743), we successfully replicated their Studies 3A, 3B, 3C, and 5. Experiential purchases were perceived as more reflective of true-self than material purchases for both self (d=0.65[0.57,0.73]) and for strangers (d=0.88[0.80,0.96]), and that when meeting a new person, information about experiential purchases was considered to be more insightful (d=1.13[1.04,1.22]), useful (d=1.14[1.05,1.23]), and fun to talk about (d=1.96[1.83,2.08]) than material purchases. Self-concept was more strongly associated with experiential purchases than with material purchases (d=0.39[0.25,0.54]), and that there was a negative association between experiential purchase satisfaction and the willingness to exchange memory (r=-.34[-.43,-.24]) (all effects above were p<.001). We added an extension examining change in evaluations of material and experiential purchases over time and found that current evaluations were more negative than past evaluations, yet to a lesser extent for experiential compared to material purchases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forecasts of the trajectory of an infectious agent can help guide public health decision making. A traditional approach to forecasting fits a computational model to structured data and generates a predictive distribution. However, human judgment has access to the same data as computational models plus experience, intuition, and subjective data. We propose a chimeric ensemble—a combination of computational and human judgment forecasts—as a novel approach to predicting the trajectory of an infectious agent. Each month from January, 2021 to June, 2021 we asked two generalist crowds, using the same criteria as the COVID-19 Forecast Hub, to submit a predictive distribution over incident cases and deaths at the US national level either two or three weeks into the future and combined these human judgment forecasts with forecasts from computational models submitted to the COVID-19 Forecasthub into a chimeric ensemble. We find a chimeric ensemble compared to an ensemble including only computational models improves predictions of incident cases and shows similar performance for predictions of incident deaths. A chimeric ensemble is a flexible, supportive public health tool and shows promising results for predictions of the spread of an infectious agent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forecasts of the trajectory of an infectious agent can help guide public health decision making. A traditional approach to forecasting fits a computational model to structured data and generates a predictive distribution. However, human judgment has access to the same data as computational models plus experience, intuition, and subjective data. We propose a chimeric ensemble-a combination of computational and human judgment forecasts-as a novel approach to predicting the trajectory of an infectious agent. Each month from January, 2021 to June, 2021 we asked two generalist crowds, using the same criteria as the COVID-19 Forecast Hub, to submit a predictive distribution over incident cases and deaths at the US national level either two or three weeks into the future and combined these human judgment forecasts with forecasts from computational models submitted to the COVID-19 Forecasthub into a chimeric ensemble. We find a chimeric ensemble compared to an ensemble including only computational models improves predictions of incident cases and shows similar performance for predictions of incident deaths. A chimeric ensemble is a flexible, supportive public health tool and shows promising results for predictions of the spread of an infectious agent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Many countries have enforced strict regulations on travel since the emergence of the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic in December 2019. However, with the development of several vaccines and tests to help identify it, international travel has mostly resumed in the United States (US). Community pharmacists have long been highly accessible to the public and are capable of providing travel health services and are in an optimal position to provide COVID-19 patient care services to those who are now starting to travel again. Objectives: (1) To discuss how the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the practice of travel health and pharmacist provided travel health services in the US and (2) to discuss the incorporation COVID-19 prevention measures, as well as telehealth and other technologies, into travel health care services. Methods: A literature review was undertaken utilizing the following search engines and internet websites: PubMed, Google Scholar, Centers for Disease Control Prevention (CDC), World Health Organization (WHO), and the United States Department of Health and Human Services to identify published articles on pharmacist and pharmacy-based travel health services and patient care in the US during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results: The COVID-19 pandemic has changed many country's entry requirements which may now include COVID-19 vaccination, testing, and/or masking requirements in country. Telehealth and other technological advancements may further aid the practice of travel health by increasing patient access to care. Conclusions: Community pharmacists should consider incorporating COVID-19 vaccination and testing services in their travel health practices in order to meet country-specific COVID-19 entry requirements. Further, pharmacists should consider utilizing telehealth and other technologies to increase access to care while further limiting the potential spread and impact of COVID-19. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aggregated human judgment forecasts for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) targets of public health importance are accurate, often outperforming computational models. Our work shows that aggregated human judgment forecasts for infectious agents are timely, accurate, and adaptable, and can be used as a tool to aid public health decision making during outbreaks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carter and Gilovich (2012) investigated the centrality of experiential and material purchases to the self and concluded people have stronger associations with their experiential than their material purchases. In a pre-registered experiment with a US American Amazon Mechanical Turk sample, (N=743), we successfully replicated their Studies 3A, 3B, 3C, and 5. Experiential purchases were perceived as more reflective of true-self than material purchases for both self (d=0.65[0.57,0.73]) and for strangers (d=0.88[0.80,0.96]), and that when meeting a new person, information about experiential purchases was considered to be more insightful (d=1.13[1.04,1.22]), useful (d=1.14[1.05,1.23]), and fun to talk about (d=1.96[1.83,2.08]) than material purchases. Self-concept was more strongly associated with experiential purchases than with material purchases (d=0.39[0.25,0.54]), and that there was a negative association between experiential purchase satisfaction and the willingness to exchange memory (r=-.34[-.43,-.24]) (all effects above were p<.001). We added an extension examining change in evaluations of material and experiential purchases over time and found that current evaluations were more negative than past evaluations, yet to a lesser extent for experiential compared to material purchases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examined differences among children in their endorsement of an adult's claim, their subsequent empirical investigation of that claim, and their resolution of any potential conflict between the claim and their empirical investigation. American and Chinese preschool (N = 171, M = 4.71 years) and elementary school (N = 128, M = 7.59 years) children were presented with five, different-sized, Russian dolls and asked to indicate the heaviest doll. Children typically selected the biggest doll. Children then heard either a false, counter-intuitive claim (i.e., smallest doll = heaviest) or a claim confirming their initial intuition (i.e., biggest doll = heaviest). Children frequently endorsed the experimenter's claim even when it was counter-intuitive. The experimenter then left the room. During the experimenter's absence, older children who had heard the counter-intuitive as opposed to the confirming claim explored the dolls more than younger children, especially when subtly prompted to explore. Moreover, only older children who heard the counter-intuitive claim simultaneously picked up the smallest and biggest doll, a more deliberate test of the experimenter's claim. By implication, children engage in selective exploration following a surprising claim. Older children's more systematic explorations of what they have been told may reflect improvements in their ability to test such claims and in their greater sensitivity to the fact that unexpected claims can and should be empirically investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How socialization happens on the ground: Narrative practices as alternate socializing pathways in Taiwanese and European-American families. Specifically, the longitudinal design would clarify whether directive guidance is constantly practiced with infants as they develop and shed light onto how Chinese-heritage parents reinforce the ideologies such as I gu an i , I xiào i , and I dào dé guan i in everyday socialization practices. Keywords: Mother-infant interaction; Assets-based learning; Chinese culture; Directive guidance; Mixed-methods design EN Mother-infant interaction Assets-based learning Chinese culture Directive guidance Mixed-methods design 139 143 5 08/07/21 20210501 NES 210501 The article by Zhang, Wang, and Duh (2021, this issue, DOI: 10.1159/000517081) provides a comprehensive review of the existing research concerning cultural ways of learning focusing on Chinese and Taiwanese cultures (e.g., Li, 2012), verbal and nonverbal aspects of socialization (e.g., Goldin-Meadow & Saltzman, 2000; Miller et al., 2012), learning through observation (e.g., Gaskins & Paradise, 2010), and multifaceted frameworks of learning (e.g., Rogoff, 2014). Second, this study demonstrates and expands culture-specific socialization practices in Chinese-heritage communities from 2 years old to as early as 9 months old. [Extracted from the article]

Objective: The present study examined the moderation role of pre‐parenthood self‐esteem and sense of mastery in psychological well‐being across the transition to parenthood. Background: Past research has identified negative changes in new parents' psychological well‐being. Less studied are the protective factors that can alleviate this transition impact. Informed by theories of psychological well‐being, the protective role of pre‐parenthood positive sense of self in parenthood transitions was examined. Method: Longitudinal data for 2,588 individuals collected from adolescence through their transition to parenthood were analyzed. Pre‐parenthood sense‐of‐self trajectory groups were formed using data collected during adolescence. Piecewise multilevel models were constructed to explore the effect of pre‐parenthood sense of self on new parents' psychological well‐being measured by depressive symptoms, self‐esteem, and sense of mastery. Results: Compared to nonparent peers, the transitions to parenthood lowered new parents' psychological well‐being. This aforementioned change differed by pre‐parenthood sense‐of‐self trajectory groups. Contrary to expectations, new parents with high self‐esteem or sense of mastery during adolescence experienced greater negative immediate impacts at childbirth, compared to their low sense of self counterparts. Furthermore, new parents with both high pre‐parenthood self‐esteem and sense of mastery demonstrated gradual declines in sense of self after childbirth. Conclusion: Positive pre‐parenthood sense of self during adolescence may not protect individuals against the immediate and longitudinal impact of the transition to parenthood. Implications for research and practice were discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This multiple case study investigates the involvement of foreign domestic helpers (FDHs) in Hong Kong early childcare. Three middle-class families were chosen; one parent, one FDH, one teacher, and one preschool child within each family were interviewed. A grounded theory analysis approach was adopted to examine the interviews. Analyses revealed the following four themes: (1) reasons for FDHs' involvement in childcare; (2) discrepancies in childcare beliefs and practices; (3) interactions among children, parents, FDHs, and teachers; and (4) the influence of FDH-involved childcare on child development. Parents were driven more by the financial benefits of FDH-provided childcare rather than by pedagogical considerations; however, they also expected the FDHs to discipline children according to their educational goals. Because FDHs could only offer basic childcare, they frequently came into conflict with the parents. FDHs also faced multiple challenges with the school teachers, with the children, and even from the local cultural context. These conflicts and challenges FDHs experienced had a substantial impact on the childcare provided, and subsequently on the children's language and socioemotional development. A theoretical framework was established to conceptualize FDH-involved non-parental childcare. The implications for childcare-related policies in Hong Kong and other societies were discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research Findings: This study evaluated the impact of Chinese literacy interventions on Chinese language learning of South Asian children and their mothers in Hong Kong. A total of 44 children and eight of their mothers participated in Chinese literacy interventions that consisted of two approaches – Copying and Morphological Awareness Training (CMAT) and Integrative Perceptual Approach (IPA). Children in the intervention group who underwent four weeks of CMAT followed by four weeks of IPA were compared to a control group of 29 children who only attended regular Chinese classes in their preschools. After controlling for non-verbal intelligence, ANCOVA analyses revealed that the intervention group did significantly better than the control group at posttest in (i) morphological awareness, word reading and writing when taught using CMAT; and (ii) word reading when taught using IPA. Mothers made gains on most Chinese literacy measures and children whose mothers participated in the intervention had higher gains in mean scores relative to their pretest scores on most measures than those whose mothers did not, suggesting the effectiveness of combined child and parent interventions. Practice or Policy: Findings support the development of evidence-based interventions to cater to the language learning needs of SA children and parents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the history of women driving cars and the social challenges they confront. Also cited are the personalities who objected against women motorists like novelist Lady Violet Greville, the rage over a woman cyclist in Great Britain in the mid-1890s, and the efforts by motoring journals to promote motor-driving as a glamorous and safe feminine activity.

The early use of person perception terms was examined via an analysis of the spontaneous speech of four young children in conversation with their parents at home. All four children were producing such terms early in their third year. Like their parents, children used the terms in two distinguishable ways: to attribute a trait to a person or to characterize a person's ongoing action. Most of these terms were evaluative, whether positive or negative. Parents often made direct comments to their children about both their traits and ongoing actions; children made similar comments about themselves. Parents also used person perception terms to make comments about others who were not party to the conversation; children did likewise. A considerable proportion of the trait terms that children produced served as interpretive comments on someone's actions or preferences. Our findings suggest that from an early age, children are trait theorists. Not only do they describe ongoing actions using trait vocabulary, they interpret those ongoing actions by attributing traits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact of social group information on the learning and socializing preferences of Hong Kong Chinese children were examined. Specifically, the degree to which variability in racial out-group exposure affects children's use of race to make decisions about unfamiliar individuals (Chinese, White, Southeast Asian) was investigated. Participants (N = 212; Mage  = 60.51 months) chose functions for novel objects after informants demonstrated their use; indicated with which peer group member to socialize; and were measured on racial group recognition, preference, and identification. Overall, children preferred in-group members, though out-group exposure and the relative social status of out-groups mattered as well. At a young age, children's specific experiences with different races influence how they learn and befriend others across racial group lines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research Findings: This study investigated the relationship between family socioeconomic status (SES) and children’s early attainment, and the roles of preschool attendance and executive function (EF) in this association. Participants were 3,331 children (1,584 girls) ranging in age from 36 to 71 months from Cambodia, Mongolia, and Vanuatu. Children’s language, literacy, and mathematics attainment and EF were assessed using the East Asia-Pacific Early Child Development Scales. Mothers reported on family demographics and children’s preschool experience. Results indicated significant associations between SES and academic attainment in all three countries. Further analysis showed that preschool attendance and EF were significant mediators of SES- related disparities in attainment, but differed by country. Both served as parallel and sequential mediators in the associations between SES and performance in language, literacy, and mathematics in Mongolia. However, only preschool attendance mediated the association of SES with literacy attainment in Cambodia, and only EF mediated that with children’s mathematics and language performance in Vanuatu. Although SES is substantially related with early achievement in these developing countries, our findings indicate that preschool attendance and EF may attenuate this relationship. Practice or Policy:  Implications for the provision of early childhood education programs and public policy are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Less than half of American children meet national physical activity (PA) recommendations. This study tested the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary effectiveness of using wearable PA monitors to increase PA in school-age children. Methods. In Phase 1 of this study, conducted in 2014, 32 fifth-grade students enrolled in a low-resource middle school were given a waist-worn Fitbit Zip monitor for 4 weeks to test its feasibility (adherence) and acceptability. Adherence, wear time of ≥8 hours per day, was examined. Feedback was solicited from parents through structured interviews. In Phase 2, conducted in 2015, 42 sixth-grade students were assigned, by classroom, to one of three conditions (Fitbit + goal and incentive-based intervention, Fitbit only, or control) to test the feasibility of the wrist-worn Fitbit Charge and its preliminary effectiveness in increasing PA over 6 weeks. Results. In Phase 1, average adherence was 64.1%. In Phase 2, it was 73.4% and 80.2% for participants in the Fitbit + intervention and Fitbit only groups, respectively (p=.07). After controlling for baseline values, weight status, and sex, there were no significant group differences in changes in MVPA or steps from baseline to follow-up. Conclusions. While moderately acceptable, wearable PA monitors did not increase PA levels in this sample. They may be more effective within a coordinated school-based physical activity program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This qualitative study explored the unique experiences of seven Chinese American female church leaders, providing examples of the barriers they faced as women and those resulting from cultural conflicts, as well as the impact these factors had on their roles in church ministry. Specifically, the findings addressed the impact of gender roles and culture on these leaders' experiences and the extent to which they were able to achieve work-family balance. The study highlighted the challenges of working with a culturally diverse population as well as the struggles these female leaders faced in a male-dominated field. Furthermore, the factors influencing work-family balance were examined along with strategies for avoiding burnout. Taken together, these findings provided insight into the distinctive experiences of female leaders in ministry and the ways in which churches might be able to better provide for these leaders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Good judgment is often gauged against two gold standards - coherence and correspondence. Judgments are coherent if they demonstrate consistency with the axioms of probability theory or propositional logic. Judgments are correspondent if they agree with ground truth. When gold standards are unavailable, silver standards such as consistency and discrimination can be used to evaluate judgment quality. Individuals are consistent if they assign similar judgments to comparable stimuli, and they discriminate if they assign different judgments to dissimilar stimuli. We ask whether "superforecasters", individuals with noteworthy correspondence skills (see Mellers et al., 2014) show superior performance on laboratory tasks assessing other standards of good judgment. Results showed that superforecasters either tied or out-performed less correspondent forecasters and undergraduates with no forecasting experience on tests of consistency, discrimination, and coherence. While multifaceted, good judgment may be a more unified than concept than previously thought. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this passage, quoted from Grant Allen's 1897 bestseller The Type-writer Girl, the New-Woman-turned-typist Juliet Appleton decides to quit typing in a London law office where she is forced to “click, click, click all day like a machine.” As an alternative and a release, she jumps on her bicycle and rides for an “idyllic” anarchic farm in the countryside (11). There across the Weald of Sussex and Surrey, the bicycling Juliet encounters two other forms of mobility, that of the train and the horse-driven carriage. The train, an icon of industrial modernity that “annihilated time and space” (Schivelbusch 36), rumbles brutally over the green fields and terrifies the horses, which are symbols of a natural, organic, preindustrial world. But Juliet's bicycle seems to create a balance between the two worlds. The bicycle as the never-failing steel horse enables her to utilize the achievements of industrial mechanization and also allows for a degree of freedom and human agency. Juliet is portrayed as a true modern heroine and an “unabashed” daughter of the industrial age, because she seems to possess a new subjectivity bred and made possible by the partnership between machine and nature, mechanical power and organic energy. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

As a Victorian form of transport, the bicycle is often linked with the New Woman and hailed as a harbinger of emancipation and public mobility for women, or a tool for female sartorial reform and physical improvement. This paper argues that until the end of the nineteenth century, the bicycle, with its high cost and its association with the younger members of the upper-middle class, is also a tool of conspicuous consumption and fashionable display. As a crucial accessory of the much advertised, ridiculed but also emulated ensemble that constitutes the New Woman, the bicycle signifies her complicity with modern commodity culture, which, though entailing more opportunities and greater emancipation along gender lines for many bourgeois women, at the same time functions as a new marker of visible class privilege denying access to other less privileged women. This paper locates the bicycle, in its initial stage of the mid-1890s bicycle craze, as an integral part of a wider late Victorian material culture of conspicuous consumption and phantasmagoria where commodities, objects and spectacles increasingly articulate or fashion human subjectivities and denote their classed identities. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

An introduction to articles published within the issue is presented, including one on the representation of needlewomen in early-to-mid-Victorian popular magazines and another on Victorian fiction as propagating a mythologized material culture of settlement.

The heuristics-and-biases research program highlights reasons for expecting people to be poor intuitive forecasters. This article tests the power of a cognitive-debiasing training module ("CHAMPS KNOW") to improve probability judgments in a four-year series of geopolitical forecasting tournaments sponsored by the U.S. intelligence community. Although the training lasted less than one hour, it consistently improved accuracy (Brier scores) by 6 to 11% over the control condition. Cognitive ability and practice also made largely independent contributions to predictive accuracy. Given the brevity of the training tutorials and the heterogeneity of the problems posed, the observed effects are likely to be lower-bound estimates of what could be achieved by more intensive interventions. Future work should isolate which prongs of the multipronged CHAMPS KNOW training were most effective in improving judgment on which categories of problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To adult humans, the task of forming an impression of another social being seems effortless and even obligatory. In 2 experiments, we offer the first systematic cross-cultural examination of impression formation in European American and East Asian preschool children. Children across both cultures easily inferred basic personality traits, such asniceandmean, about unfamiliar peers from behavioral information, whether or not they were specifically prompted to do so. Children were able to identify peers they had seen before, to remember the traits associated with these peers, and to anticipate future behaviors consistent with the traits they had attributed. Thus, for basic traits, the ability to make behavior-to-behavior predictions, via an intervening trait inference, is present in young children across diverse cultures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We use results from a multiyear, geopolitical forecasting tournament to highlight the ability of the contribution weighted model [Budescu DV, Chen E (2015) Identifying expertise to extract the wisdom of crowds. Management Sci. 61(2):267-280] to capture and exploit expertise. We show that the model performs better when judges gain expertise from manipulations such as training in probabilistic reasoning and collaborative interaction from serving on teams. We document the model's robustness using probability judgments from early, middle and late phases of the forecasting period and by showing its strong performance in the presence of hypothetical malevolent forecasters. The model is highly cost-effective: it operates well, even with random attrition, as the number of judges shrinks and information on their past performance is reduced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human rationality–the ability to behave in order to maximize the achievement of their presumed goals (i.e., their optimal choices)–is the foundation for democracy. Research evidence has suggested that voters may not make decisions after exhaustively processing relevant information; instead, our decision-making capacity may be restricted by our own biases and the environment. In this paper, we investigate the extent to which humans in a democratic society can be rational when making decisions in a serious, complex situation–voting in a local political election. We believe examining human rationality in a political election is important, because a well-functioning democracy rests largely upon the rational choices of individual voters. Previous research has shown that explicit political attitudes predict voting intention and choices (i.e., actual votes) in democratic societies, indicating that people are able to reason comprehensively when making voting decisions. Other work, though, has demonstrated that the attitudes of which we may not be aware, such as our implicit (e.g., subconscious) preferences, can predict voting choices, which may question the well-functioning democracy. In this study, we systematically examined predictors on voting intention and choices in the 2014 mayoral election in Taipei, Taiwan. Results indicate that explicit political party preferences had the largest impact on voting intention and choices. Moreover, implicit political party preferences interacted with explicit political party preferences in accounting for voting intention, and in turn predicted voting choices. Ethnic identity and perceived voting intention of significant others were found to predict voting choices, but not voting intention. In sum, to the comfort of democracy, voters appeared to engage mainly explicit, controlled processes in making their decisions; but findings on ethnic identity and perceived voting intention of significant others may suggest otherwise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In two studies, 5- and 6-year-old children were questioned about the status of the protagonist embedded in three different types of stories. In realistic stories that only included ordinary events, all children, irrespective of family background and schooling, claimed that the protagonist was a real person. In religious stories that included ordinarily impossible events brought about by divine intervention, claims about the status of the protagonist varied sharply with exposure to religion. Children who went to church or were enrolled in a parochial school, or both, judged the protagonist in religious stories to be a real person, whereas secular children with no such exposure to religion judged the protagonist in religious stories to be fictional. Children's upbringing was also related to their judgment about the protagonist in fantastical stories that included ordinarily impossible events whether brought about by magic (Study 1) or without reference to magic (Study 2). Secular children were more likely than religious children to judge the protagonist in such fantastical stories to be fictional. The results suggest that exposure to religious ideas has a powerful impact on children's differentiation between reality and fiction, not just for religious stories but also for fantastical stories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children prefer learning from, and affiliating with, their racial in-group but those preferences may vary for biracial children. Monoracial (White, Black, Asian) and biracial (Black/White, Asian/White) children (N = 246, 3-8 years) had their racial identity primed. In a learning preferences task, participants determined the function of a novel object after watching adults (White, Black, and Asian) demonstrate its uses. In the social preferences task, participants saw pairs of children (White, Black, and Asian) and chose with whom they most wanted to socially affiliate. Biracial children showed flexibility in racial identification during learning and social tasks. However, minority-primed biracial children were not more likely than monoracial minorities to socially affiliate with primed racial in-group members, indicating their in-group preferences are contextually based. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although very young children are unable to formulate a personal narrative of the life course, their everyday lives are steeped in narratives. Drawing on ethnographic studies in diverse sociocultural worlds, we argue that the early years of life form a vital preamble to the personal narrative. In this phase of life, the universal predisposition to narrative takes root and burgeons as young children step into whichever narrative practices are at hand, practices that are culturally differentiated from the beginning. As children narrate their experiences, they orient themselves in time and establish the interpretive grounds for intelligibility. This process is highly dynamic. Stories recur, stories are repeated, stories are revamped, and stories disappear. These dynamics constitute, for many children, an intense narrative initiation that defines early childhood as a developmental context. By the end of early childhood, they are well versed in making and remaking narratives and show an incipient ability to open a wider temporal window on their own experience. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents the results of experimental evaluation of the effectiveness of agent support in e-negotiations. The agent-enhanced e-negotiation system eAgora has been used in the experiments. The system features an agent that assists the user in generating candidate offers, evaluating and critiquing incoming offers, and critiquing counteroffers. The work investigates the effects of agent support and task complexity on negotiation performance and perceived measures of usefulness, satisfaction, ease of use, and confidence. Overall, the results support the expectation that use of an agent leads to higher level of negotiation effectiveness, in particular for higher complexity tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]