Celebrating organizational history triggers social identity threat among Black Americans.

Many mainstream organizations celebrate their historical successes. In their history, however, they often marginalized racial minorities, women, and other underrepresented groups. We suggest that when organizations celebrate their histories, even without mentioning historical marginalization, they can undermine belonging and intentions to join the organization among historically marginalized groups. Four experiments demonstrate that Black participants who were exposed to an organization that celebrated their history versus the present showed reduced belonging and intentions to participate in the organization. These effects were mediated by expectations of biased treatment in the organization. Further, when organizations had a history of Black people in power, celebrating history was no longer threatening, highlighting that the negative effects of celebrating history are most likely when organizations are or are assumed to be majority-White and have treated Black Americans poorly. Taken together, these findings suggest that emphasizing organizational history can be a source of social identity threat among Black Americans.

Girls are good at STEM: Opening minds and providing evidence reduces boys' stereotyping of girls' STEM ability.

Girls and women face persistent negative stereotyping within STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics). This field intervention was designed to improve boys' perceptions of girls' STEM ability. Boys (N = 667; mostly White and East Asian) aged 9-15 years in Canadian STEM summer camps (2017-2019) had an intervention or control conversation with trained camp staff. The intervention was a multi-stage persuasive appeal: a values affirmation, an illustration of girls' ability in STEM, a personalized anecdote, and reflection. Control participants discussed general camp experiences. Boys who received the intervention (vs. control) had more positive perceptions of girls' STEM ability, d = 0.23, an effect stronger among younger boys. These findings highlight the importance of engaging elementary-school-aged boys to make STEM climates more inclusive.

Examining Beliefs About the Benefits of Self-Affirmation for Mitigating Self-Threat.

Self-affirmation-reflecting on a source of global self-integrity outside of the threatened domain-can mitigate self-threat in education, health, relationships, and more. Whether people recognize these benefits is unknown. Inspired by the metamotivational approach, we examined people's beliefs about the benefits of self-affirmation and whether individual differences in these beliefs predict how people cope with self-threat. The current research revealed that people recognize that self-affirmation is selectively helpful for self-threat situations compared with other negative situations. However, people on average did not distinguish between self-affirmation and alternative strategies for coping with self-threat. Importantly, individual differences in these beliefs predicted coping decisions: Those who recognized the benefits of self-affirmation were more likely to choose to self-affirm rather than engage in an alternative strategy following an experience of self-threat. We discuss implications for self-affirmation theory and developing interventions to promote adaptive responses to self-threat.

When seeing stigma creates paternalism: Learning about disadvantage leads to perceptions of incompetence.

The present research examines the conditions under which educating non-stigmatized individuals about the experiences of members of stigmatized groups leads to paternalistic or more respectful views of the target. We propose that when these efforts ask members of non-stigmatized groups to focus only on the difficulties experienced by stigmatized targets, they will lead to more paternalistic views of targets because they portray targets as being in need of help. In contrast, we propose that when these efforts take a broader focus on stigmatized targets and include their resilience in the face of their difficulties, they will lead to more respectful views of targets. Four studies supported these predictions. Across studies, White participants who focused only on a Black target's difficulties subsequently perceived the target as more helpless and less competent than controls. Participants who focused on the target's resilience in the face of difficulties perceived him as more competent.

Stereotype Threat.

When members of a stigmatized group find themselves in a situation where negative stereotypes provide a possible framework for interpreting their behavior, the risk of being judged in light of those stereotypes can elicit a disruptive state that undermines performance and aspirations in that domain. This situational predicament, termed stereotype threat, continues to be an intensely debated and researched topic in educational, social, and organizational psychology. In this review, we explore the various sources of stereotype threat, the mechanisms underlying stereotype-threat effects (both mediators and moderators), and the consequences of this situational predicament, as well as the means through which society and stigmatized individuals can overcome the insidious effects of stereotype threat. Ultimately, we hope this review alleviates some of the confusion surrounding stereotype threat while also sparking further research and debate.

Mathematical models for the acoustic response of a solids-loaded encapsulated bubble.

A method of active acoustic resonance interference spectroscopy is introduced for estimation of bubble properties. A modified form of Rayleigh-Plesset equation for forced oscillation of either a single free bubble or elastic shell encapsulated microbubble with attached solids loading is solved by the regular perturbation method for steady oscillatory solutions as a result of small amplitude acoustic excitation by a point sinusoidal oscillator. A model for the total pressure field at an acoustic receiver in an incompressible liquid is then solved by the regular perturbation method. Closed-form analytical solutions are found for pressure power at the acoustic receiver as a function of the excitation frequency and strength; the properties of the bubble, liquid, and encapsulating shell; and the geometry of the active monitoring system. The receiver pressure power exhibits a maximum due to bubble resonance and a minimum due to destructive interference between source and bubble response pressure fields at higher excitation frequencies. The inverse problem is solved to derive unique closed-form analytical estimators for bubble equilibrium size, attached solids mass loading, and encapsulating layer dilatational viscosity as a function of the frequencies of the fundamental resonance maximum, interference minimum, second harmonic maximum total average acoustic power, monitoring system, and phase properties.

Corticospinal excitability as a predictor of functional gains at the affected upper limb following robotic training in chronic stroke survivors.

BACKGROUND: Robotic training can help improve function of a paretic limb following a stroke, but individuals respond differently to the training. A predictor of functional gains might improve the ability to select those individuals more likely to benefit from robot-based therapy. Studies evaluating predictors of functional improvement after a robotic training are scarce. One study has found that white matter tract integrity predicts functional gains following a robotic training of the hand and wrist. Objective. To determine the predictive ability of behavioral and brain measures in order to improve selection of individuals for robotic training. METHODS: Twenty subjects with chronic stroke participated in an 8-week course of robotic exoskeletal training for the arm. Before training, a clinical evaluation, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), diffusion tensor imaging, and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) were each measured as predictors. Final functional gain was defined as change in the Box and Block Test (BBT). Measures significant in bivariate analysis were fed into a multivariate linear regression model. RESULTS: Training was associated with an average gain of 6 ± 5 blocks on the BBT (P < .0001). Bivariate analysis revealed that lower baseline motor-evoked potential (MEP) amplitude on TMS, and lower laterality M1 index on fMRI each significantly correlated with greater BBT change. In the multivariate linear regression analysis, baseline MEP magnitude was the only measure that remained significant. CONCLUSION: Subjects with lower baseline MEP magnitude benefited the most from robotic training of the affected arm. These subjects might have reserve remaining for the training to boost corticospinal excitability, translating into functional gains.

A crossover pilot study evaluating the functional outcomes of two different types of robotic movement training in chronic stroke survivors using the arm exoskeleton BONES.

BACKGROUND: To date, the limited degrees of freedom (DOF) of most robotic training devices hinders them from providing functional training following stroke. We developed a 6-DOF exoskeleton ("BONES") that allows movement of the upper limb to assist in rehabilitation. The objectives of this pilot study were to evaluate the impact of training with BONES on function of the affected upper limb, and to assess whether multijoint functional robotic training would translate into greater gains in arm function than single joint robotic training also conducted with BONES. METHODS: Twenty subjects with mild to moderate chronic stroke participated in this crossover study. Each subject experienced multijoint functional training and single joint training three sessions per week, for four weeks, with the order of presentation randomized. The primary outcome measure was the change in Box and Block Test (BBT). The secondary outcome measures were the changes in Fugl-Meyer Arm Motor Scale (FMA), Wolf Motor Function Test (WMFT), Motor Activity Log (MAL), and quantitative measures of strength and speed of reaching. These measures were assessed at baseline, after each training period, and at a 3-month follow-up evaluation session. RESULTS: Training with the robotic exoskeleton resulted in significant improvements in the BBT, FMA, WMFT, MAL, shoulder and elbow strength, and reaching speed (p < 0.05); these improvements were sustained at the 3 month follow-up. When comparing the effect of type of training on the gains obtained, no significant difference was noted between multijoint functional and single joint robotic training programs. However, for the BBT, WMFT and MAL, inequality of carryover effects were noted; subsequent analysis on the change in score between the baseline and first period of training again revealed no difference in the gains obtained between the types of training. CONCLUSIONS: Training with the 6 DOF arm exoskeleton improved motor function after chronic stroke, challenging the idea that robotic therapy is only useful for impairment reduction. The pilot results presented here also suggest that multijoint functional robotic training is not decisively superior to single joint robotic training. This challenges the idea that functionally-oriented games during training is a key element for improving behavioral outcomes. TRIAL REGISTRATION: NCT01050231.

Characterization of acoustic emissions resulting from particle collision with a stationary bubble.

The present work characterizes the acoustic emissions resulting from the collision of a particle driven under gravity with a captive bubble. Conventional methods to investigate the bubble particle collision interaction model measure a descriptive parameter known as the collision time. During such a collision, particle impact may cause a strong deformation and a following oscillation of the bubble-particle interface generates detectable passive acoustic emissions (AE). Experiments and models presented show that the AE frequency monotonically decreases with the particle radius and is independent of the impact velocity, whereas the AE amplitude has a more complicated relationship with impact parameters.

Breaking it down is better: haptic decomposition of complex movements aids in robot-assisted motor learning.

Training with haptic guidance has been proposed as a technique for learning complex movements in rehabilitation and sports, but it is unclear how to best deliver guidance-based training. Here, we hypothesized that breaking down a complex movement, similar to a tennis backhand, into simpler parts and then using haptic feedback from a robotic exoskeleton would help the motor system learn the movement. We also examined how the particular form of the decomposition affected learning. Three groups of unimpaired participants trained with the target arm movement broken down in three ways: 1) elbow flexion/extension and the unified shoulder motion independently ("anatomical" decomposition), 2) three component shoulder motions in Euler coordinates and elbow flexion/extension ("Euler" decomposition), or 3) the motion of the tip of the elbow and motion of the hand with respect to the elbow, independently ("visual" decomposition). A control group practiced the same number of movements, but experienced the target motion only, achieving eight times more direct practice with this motion. Despite less experience with the target motion, part training was better, but only when the arm trajectory was decomposed into anatomical components. Varying robotic movement training to include practice of simpler, anatomically-isolated motions may enhance its efficacy.

Mere belonging: the power of social connections.

Four experiments examined the effect on achievement motivation of mere belonging, a minimal social connection to another person or group in a performance domain. Mere belonging was expected to increase motivation by creating socially shared goals around a performance task. Participants were led to believe that an endeavor provided opportunities for positive social interactions (Experiment 1), that they shared a birthday with a student majoring in an academic field (Experiment 2), that they belonged to a minimal group arbitrarily identified with a performance domain (Experiment 3), or that they had task-irrelevant preferences similar to a peer who pursued a series of goals (Experiment 4). Relative to control conditions that held constant other sources of motivation, each social-link manipulation raised motivation, including persistence on domain-relevant tasks (Experiments 1-3) and the accessibility of relevant goals (Experiment 4). The results suggest that even minimal cues of social connectedness affect important aspects of self.

Supinator Extender (SUE): a pneumatically actuated robot for forearm/wrist rehabilitation after stroke.

The robot described in this paper, SUE (Supinator Extender), adds forearm/wrist rehabilitation functionality to the UCI BONES exoskeleton robot and to the ArmeoSpring rehabilitation device. SUE is a 2-DOF serial chain that can measure and assist forearm supination-pronation and wrist flexion-extension. The large power to weight ratio of pneumatic actuators allows SUE to achieve the forces needed for rehabilitation therapy while remaining lightweight enough to be carried by BONES and ArmeoSpring. Each degree of freedom has a range of 90 degrees, and a nominal torque of 2 ft-lbs. The cylinders are mounted away from the patient's body on the lateral aspect of the arm. This is to prevent the danger of a collision and maximize the workspace of the arm robot. The rotation axis used for supination-pronation is a small bearing just below the subject's wrist. The flexion-extension motion is actuated by a cantilevered pneumatic cylinder, which allows the palm of the hand to remain open. Data are presented that demonstrate the ability of SUE to measure and cancel forearm/wrist passive tone, thereby extending the active range of motion for people with stroke.

Quantitative measurements of loss on ignition in iron ore using laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy and partial least squares regression analysis.

Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) and partial least squares regression (PLSR) have been applied to perform quantitative measurements of a multiple-species parameter known as loss on ignition (LOI), in a combined set of run-of-mine (ROM) iron ore samples originating from five different iron ore deposits. Global calibration models based on 65 samples and their duplicates from all the deposits with LOI ranging from 0.5 to 10 wt% are shown to be successful for prediction of LOI content in pressed pellets as well as bulk ore samples. A global independent dataset comprising a further 60 samples was used to validate the model resulting in the best validation R(2) of 0.87 and root mean square error of prediction (RMSEP) of 1.1 wt% for bulk samples. A validation R(2) of 0.90 and an RMSEP of 1.0 wt% were demonstrated for pressed pellets. Data preprocessing is shown to improve the quality of the analysis. Spectra normalization options, automatic outlier removal and automatic continuum background correction, which were used to improve the performance of the PLSR method, are discussed in detail.

Closed-form analytical solutions of the time difference of arrival source location problem for minimal element monitoring arrays.

Closed-form analytical solutions are found for the time difference of arrival (TDOA) source location problem. Solutions are found for both two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) source location by formulating the TDOA equations in, respectively, polar and spherical coordinate systems, with the radial direction coincident with the assumed geodesic path of signal propagation to a reference sensor. Quadratic equations for TDOA 2D and 3D source location based on the spherical intersection (SX) scheme, in some cases permitting dual physical solutions, are found for three and four sensor element monitoring arrays, respectively. A method of spherical intersection subarrays (SXSAs) is developed to derive from these quadratic equations globally unique closed-form analytical solutions for TDOA 2D and 3D source location, for four and five sensor element monitoring arrays, respectively. Errors in 2D source location for introduced bias in time differences of arrival are shown to have a strong geometrical dependence. The SXSA and SX methods perform well in terms of accuracy and precision at high levels of arrival time bias for both 2D and 3D source location and are much more efficient than nonlinear least-squares schemes. The SXSA scheme may have particular applicability to accurately solving source location problems in demanding real-time situations.

Latent ability: grades and test scores systematically underestimate the intellectual ability of negatively stereotyped students.

Past research has assumed that group differences in academic performance entirely reflect genuine differences in ability. In contrast, extending research on stereotype threat, we suggest that standard measures of academic performance are biased against non-Asian ethnic minorities and against women in quantitative fields. This bias results not from the content of performance measures, but from the context in which they are assessed-from psychological threats in common academic environments, which depress the performances of people targeted by negative intellectual stereotypes. Like the time of a track star running into a stiff headwind, such performances underestimate the true ability of stereotyped students. Two meta-analyses, combining data from 18,976 students in five countries, tested this latent-ability hypothesis. Both meta-analyses found that, under conditions that reduce psychological threat, stereotyped students performed better than nonstereotyped students at the same level of past performance. We discuss implications for the interpretation of and remedies for achievement gaps.

Inequality, discrimination, and the power of the status quo: Direct evidence for a motivation to see the way things are as the way they should be.

How powerful is the status quo in determining people's social ideals? The authors propose (a) that people engage in injunctification, that is, a motivated tendency to construe the current status quo as the most desirable and reasonable state of affairs (i.e., as the most representative of how things should be); (b) that this tendency is driven, at least in part, by people's desire to justify their sociopolitical systems; and (c) that injunctification has profound implications for the maintenance of inequality and societal change. Four studies, across a variety of domains, provided supportive evidence. When the motivation to justify the sociopolitical system was experimentally heightened, participants injunctified extant (a) political power (Study 1), (b) public funding policies (Study 2), and (c) unequal gender demographics in the political and business spheres (Studies 3 and 4, respectively). It was also demonstrated that this motivated phenomenon increased derogation of those who act counter to the status quo (Study 4). Theoretical implications for system justification theory, stereotype formation, affirmative action, and the maintenance of inequality are discussed.

Interacting with sexist men triggers social identity threat among female engineers.

Social identity threat is the notion that one of a person's many social identities may be at risk of being devalued in a particular context (C. M. Steele, S. J. Spencer, & J. Aronson, 2002). The authors suggest that in domains in which women are already negatively stereotyped, interacting with a sexist man can trigger social identity threat, undermining women's performance. In Study 1, male engineering students who scored highly on a subtle measure of sexism behaved in a dominant and sexually interested way toward an ostensible female classmate. In Studies 2 and 3, female engineering students who interacted with such sexist men, or with confederates trained to behave in the same way, performed worse on an engineering test than did women who interacted with nonsexist men. Study 4 replicated this finding and showed that women's underperformance did not extend to an English test, an area in which women are not negatively stereotyped. Study 5 showed that interacting with sexist men leads women to suppress concerns about gender stereotypes, an established mechanism of stereotype threat. Discussion addresses implications for social identity threat and for women's performance in school and at work.

Collaboration reduces the frequency of false memories in older and younger adults.

Older (mean age = 74.23) and younger (mean age = 33.50) participants recalled items from 6 briefly exposed household scenes either alone or with their spouses. Collaborative recall was compared with the pooled, nonredundant recall of spouses remembering alone (nominal groups). The authors examined hits, self-generated false memories, and false memories produced by another person's (actually a computer program's) misleading recollections. Older adults reported fewer hits and more self-generated false memories than younger adults. Relative to nominal groups, older and younger collaborating groups reported fewer hits and fewer self-generated false memories. Collaboration also reduced older people's computer-initiated false memories. The memory conversations in the collaborative groups were analyzed for evidence that collaboration inhibits the production of errors and/or promotes quality control processes that detect and eliminate errors. Only older adults inhibited the production of wrong answers, but both age groups eliminated errors during their discussions. The partners played an important role in helping rememberers discard false memories in older and younger couples. The results support the use of collaboration to reduce false recall in both younger and older adults.

The cost of lower self-esteem: testing a self- and social-bonds model of health.

The authors draw upon social, personality, and health psychology to propose and test a self-and-social-bonds model of health. The model contends that lower self-esteem predicts health problems and that poor-quality social bonds explain this association. In Study 1, lower self-esteem prospectively predicted reports of health problems 2 months later, and this association was explained by subjective reports of poor social bonds. Study 2 replicated the results of Study 1 but used a longitudinal design with 6 waves of data collection, assessed self-reports of concrete health-related behaviors (i.e., number of visits to the doctor and classes missed due to illness), and measured both subjective and objective indicators of quality of social bonds (i.e., interpersonal stress and number of friends). In addition, Study 2 showed that poor-quality social bonds predicted acute drops in self-esteem over time, which in turn predicted acute decreases in quality of social bonds and, consequently, acute increases in health problems. In both studies, alternative explanations to the model were tested.

Victoria's dirty secret: how sociocultural norms influence adolescent girls and women.

The present studies tested whether the salience of sociocultural norms for ideal appearance leads women to base their self-worth more strongly on appearance, which in turn leads them to feel more concerned with others' perceptions and less satisfied with their bodies. Study 1 tested this model by manipulating the salience of the sociocultural norm among female university students. The model was supported. In Study 2 an intervention challenging the legitimacy of the sociocultural norm was delivered to female and male adolescents. Compared to controls, females who received this intervention were less accepting of the sociocultural norms for appearance, based their self-worth less strongly on appearance, and in turn were less concerned with others' perceptions and were more satisfied with their bodies. The implications for women are discussed.