Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: In part of the literature, young people are being accused of being less civic minded than previous generations, and thus as responsible for a process of civic decline. Other authors assume that young people adhere to new and different citizenship concepts, thus bringing about a transition toward more postmodern forms of engagement and citizenship. An investigation of the political views of US 14 year olds, however, does not support either of these claims. The analysis (based on the 1999 IEA-survey among 2,811 9th graders in the US) shows that youngsters adhere to quite traditional and conventional citizenship concepts. A vast majority of them intends to vote or to volunteer. More innovative forms of expected political behavior appeal to a substantial group of pupils as well, but they certainly do not replace conventional and/or electoral participation. Both hypotheses from the civic education as well as social capital schools could be confirmed with regard to factors determining the likelihood of future participation: intensity of civics classes (both with regard to topics as to methods being used) prove to be influential, just as engagement in youth associations, but also informal discussions about politics with friends and media consumption. Non-school related experiences are just as important for political socialization as what is happening in schools and classrooms.

Publication Type: Poster
Abstract: During the last years the number of HIV infected people in Armenia has increased considerably. Recently the health governmental and non-governmental organizations in Armenia have begun to work actively to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS. The PAFHA, which is a non-governmental organization that works for the improvement of health and well being of families and individuals in Armenia and Armenian communities abroad. It works in partnership with the Government, UN agencies, international organizations, local NGOs and private companies. One of the important goals of the organization is to raise awareness of young people and adults of the means of protection against HIV/AIDS; to reduce the number of new cases of HIV infection; and people living with HIV/AIDS enjoy full protection of their rights and an improved quality of life.
The activities held by the association, like advocacy, sexual education, as well as peer education serves to raise awareness, to prevent HIV/AIDS, to promote behavior change among youth and adults.
The organization now is working on implementation of new projects, like the establishment of the high quality Sexual and Reproductive Health Services to enlarge the access for all, the empowerment of Young People to make Choices on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights, the enhancement of Youth-Friendly Services in Armenia, which will all advance for progress in health sphere.

Publication Type: Individual Poster
Abstract: Infants of 14 months have difficulty using fine phonetic detail when learning novel word-object combinations (i.e., confusing “bih” and “dih”; Stager & Werker, 1997); however, same-aged infants can use similar detail when presented with well-known word-object combinations (e.g., “ball” and “doll”; Fennell & Werker, 2003; Swingley & Aslin, 2002). Two hypotheses have been used to explain this pattern of results. The cognitive load hypothesis states that novel words include phonetic detail, but that the demands of mapping sound to meaning (i.e., learning details of both the word and object, and linking the two) interfere with novice word learners’ use of phonetic detail (e.g., Werker & Fennell, 2004). When the load is alleviated (i.e., presenting a known word), infants fully use detail. The second hypothesis states that words are initially encoded holistically, and only become refined when enough similar-sounding neighbours are added to the vocabulary (e.g., Charles-Luce & Luce, 1990, 1995; Metsala, 1997; Walley, 1993). The current study tests these two hypotheses by pairing a novel word with either a familiar or unfamiliar object. The cognitive load hypothesis predicts that task demands will be reduced when infants already know object details, and they will use phonetic detail in this case. As in previous work, they will not use detail when the object is unknown. For the lexically-based holistic position, level of object familiarity should have no impact. Half the infants were exposed to a toy object, without an auditory label, for approximately two hours per week over a two month period. The other half of the sample never saw the object before testing. In an object-label associative task at 14 months, all infants were habituated to the toy object paired with auditory label “din”. After habituation, infants experienced two counterbalanced test trials: one where the object was correctly labelled “din” (‘same’ trial) and one where it was mislabelled “gin” (‘switch’ trial). Those infants familiar with the object looked significantly longer during the ‘switch’ trial than during the ‘same’ trial [t(23) = -2.140, p = .043], thus indicating use of detail. Infants unfamiliar with the object did not show a looking time difference [t(23) = -.959, p = .347]. These results indicate that object familiarity can reduce cognitive load sufficiently so that novice word learners can fully use fine phonetic detail in novel words. The cognitive load hypothesis was supported and the data provide a strong challenge to the holistic position.

Publication Type: Informal Discussion Roundtable
Abstract: The proposed topic will challenge the prevailing belief that there exists an intimate connection between innate creativity and mental illness by arguing that the contemporary debate on the subject, one that is dominated by psychologists and members of the medical professions, suffers from two major shortcomings: the failure to examine the alleged association from a historical perspective along with the failure to recognize that this alleged connection has become an established cultural and medical axiom in Western society, one with attending role expectations for the gifted. I will argue that those statistical studies that claim support for the idea that manifestations of illness are more prevalent on the part of creative individuals as a result of some inherent disposition compared to average populations may be deceptive in that they fail to take into account what has been called the self-fulfilling prophecy in sociology and the nocebo effect in medicine (i.e., the opposite of the placebo effect which refers to distressing symptoms of physiological changes that occur following the administration of an inert, chemically inactive substance that the patient believes to be an active drug). I will argue that the alleged connection between creativity and psychopathology is so pervasive and deeply rooted in Western society that the stereotype of the psychologically troubled artist may prove similar in its consequences to the nocebo effect in clinical studies. To paraphrase George Orwell, “creative individuals are given a mask and their faces grow to fit it.”

Publication Type: Informal Discussion Roundtable
Abstract: Women out number men at every step of educational attainment until the doctorate (NCES 2005). However, educational attainment in certain areas, including Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM areas) is incredibly gendered with boys and men outnumbering girls and women in some areas at rates as high as three to one (NCES 2005). There has been much debate surrounding reasons for men outnumbering women in these areas. While much of this is attributed to exposure, mentoring, and the social construction of gender in early childhood, gender differences in later educational experiences only exacerbate the issues. Postdoctoral positions are the last step in the process to becoming a STEM academic scientists and entering the professorate. Postdoctoral scholars are still close in terms of gender division, but the lower levels of junior faculty and throughout the academic tenure track, this is not the case. What about a postdoc position causes so many women to fall out of the educational pipeline? Qualitative research of the 30 postdoctoral scholars illuminated the differences not only between genders, but also between citizenship status of postdoctoral scholars and their management of work and family. The management of work and family is assessed through three main avenues: total number of hours worked per week, routinization of work schedule, and presence of weekend and holiday work. Understanding these differences could help the academy begin to understand how to better address issues for women in STEM academia thus presenting a more holistic faculty picture.