•

June Mead

The Downtown Endicott Business Association is working to improve in the village's main business district, hard-hit by recent job losses in Broome County. The Business Association has been working to promote and revitalize downtown as an "ethnic and commodity diverse business destination," said J. Brian Luby, the group's president. To bring attention to the Business Association’s work, the group recently celebrated the work accomplished by the CITY Teen Leaders by holding a news conference in a parking lot off Washington Ave. in Endicott.

At the event, Luby highlighted the efforts of the Teen Leaders from the Community Improvement Trhough Youth (CITY) Project, Oasis After School Program and Cornell Cooperative Extension of Broome County. Luby credited New York State Assemblywoman Donna Lupardo, D-Endwell, for her ongoing support of both the CITY Project and the Endicott Business Association.

The CITY Teen Leaders took a neglected area owned by the village and created a community park. They built benches, planted flower gardens, installed fencing and built walkways. The ribbon cutting for the park is scheduled later this fall.

June P. Mead, Dept. of Human Development, is the CITY Project Director and Program Evaluator. Holly Welfel is the CITY Project Community Partner at the Oasis After School Program, Endicott. The CITY Project is part of the Children, Youth and Families At-Risk (CYFAR) Program, Sustainable Community Projects (SCP). It is supported by Smith Lever funds, National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Human Development Today e-News

Human Development Outreach & Extension

•

Valerie Reyna along with faculty from economics, psychology, government, management, policy analysis and management, and law will collaborate on a new project sponsored by the Institute for the Social Sciences on Judgment, Decision making and Social Behavior. The project will be led by Ted O’Donoghue in the Department of Economics.

The field of Behavioral Decision Research, populated primarily by psychologists, attempts to develop descriptively accurate models of human judgment (i.e., how people understand and react to uncertain outcomes) and human decision making. The field of Behavioral Economics, populated primarily by economists, attempts to incorporate ideas from Behavioral Decision Research in order to make better predictions about economic behavior and economic outcomes. In recent years, each field has expanded rapidly within its discipline. However, despite their closely related research agendas, there is surprisingly little direct interaction between the two fields, and even less collaboration. This lack of collaboration is a major stumbling block for the behavioral literature --- many important questions are addressed independently despite the potential benefits from working together. Furthermore, both fields suffer from a lack of interaction with other social sciences which study many of the same questions.

Cornell is uniquely positioned to solve these problems and thereby move to the forefront of research on judgment, decision making, and social behavior. We have an established strength in both Behavioral Decision Research and Behavioral Economics. Moreover, Cornell is unique in that its psychologists and economists actively engage each other and consequently have developed an understanding and appreciation of each other’s field. While the potential for fruitful collaboration exists, the physically dispersed nature of behavioral scholars at Cornell has served as a barrier. This project will bring these scholars together to catalyze truly interdisciplinary collaboration that should persist well beyond the duration of the project. In addition, this project will identify ways to broaden the behavioral community to other social sciences.

For Further Information

Judgment, Decision Making and Social Behavior

•

Valerie Reyna and Charles Brainerd have received a two-year challenge grant from the National Institutes of Health to improve the prediction and diagnosis of cognitive impairment. Memory declines, especially in recall, are hallmarks of healthy aging and conversion to cognitive impairment. The project will use highly sensitive mathematical modeling techniques to improve the ability of clinical recall tests to predict future cognitive impairment and to diagnose current impairment. Their research will focus on one of the most widely used clinical tests of such declines, the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT).

The specific aims of the project are to apply mathematical models to RAVLT data in order to: (a) substantially improve the ability of the RAVLT and similar clinical recall tests to predict future impairment and to diagnose current impairment; (b) separate different clinically important components of memory from one another in accordance with current theories of the memory processes that underlie performance on the RAVLT and similar tests; (c) identify the components of memory that differentiate cognitive changes that are associated with normal aging from changes that are associated with conversion to impairment; and (d) provide separate scores for different memory components of RAVLT data, which can be used to better predict behavioral and biological markers of future impairment and to identify current impairment.

The research will consist of 2 phases, spanning 2 years. Both phases will rely on mathematical modeling tools and software that the investigators have previously developed. Preliminary studies have shown that RAVLT-type tests are inherently noisy measures of impairment because 3 different memory processes are responsible for performance, but only 1 of them (gist-based reconstruction) is responsible for conversion to impairment. The investigators will look at the effectiveness of modeling tools to remove this noise.

The first phase will establish whether noise-free scores improve the ability to separate groups of subjects that differ on biological markers of impairment, behavioral markers of impairment, and clinical diagnoses of impairment. This question will be investigated using a very large sample of subjects who participated in the Aging, Demographics, and Memory Study (ADAMS) portion of NIA’s Healthy Retirement Study. The second phase will establish whether noise-free scores improve the ability to differentiate individual people who differ in biological markers of impairment, behavioral markers of impairment, and clinical diagnoses of impairment. This question will be investigated in a longitudinal study of 200 adults (aged 70 and above) who will be administered a neuropsychological test battery as well as 3 versions of the RAVLT, spaced at 6-month intervals.

Human Development Today e-News

•

Valerie Reyna is Co-PI on a two-year grant, De-stigmatizing Fruits and Vegetables in School Cafeterias, ” with Brian Wansink and David Just from the Department of Applied Economics and Management. The grant from the USDA Economic Research Service will investigate whether changing the way fruits and vegetables are named in school cafeterias can increase their consumption (in free and reduced-price lunches), their ala cart purchases, and their subsequent taste-evaluations.

There has been ongoing concern that students tend to eat insufficient amounts of fruits and vegetables in school cafeterias.  Increasing the intake of fruits and vegetables could have a positive impact on nutrition and health, and it may also lead to a reduction in the intake of other foods, such as those that are more caloric and less nutritionally dense. Part of the reason fruits and vegetables are not widely consumed may be because some people have stigmatized them as being less tasty than other alternatives.  Recent research with preschoolers by Wansink and Just has indicated, however, that it may be possible to de-stigmatize fruits and vegetables. They found that labeling carrots as “X-Ray Vision Carrots” increased consumption by 62% and this increase in intake persisted the day after the study was completed.

This labeling strategy represents an approach that focuses on consumption-related consequences (X-Ray vision).  Another approach would be to use a taste or sensory-suggestive label.  For instance, cafeteria studies with adults have shown that labeling foods with sensory-suggestive labels (seafood filet versus Succulent Italian Seafood Filet) dramatically influenced taste ratings and repurchase in a cafeteria.

There is convergent evidence that there is a general notion about the food – a “gist” – that might motivate food choice, and that this choice might reflect both sensory and consequence-related attributes.  For instance, a survey of American children in 1928 indicated that their most favorite food was ice cream and their second most favorite was spinach.  This can be attributed to popularity of the cartoon character, Popeye, and the instant impact eating spinach had on his super-strength.

When people make initial decisions, they are not always based upon reasoned cost-benefit trade-offs.  Instead, decisions are often informed more by impressions or “gists” of alternatives. This conclusion is based on many studies of decision making with children, adolescents, and adults, and led to the formulation of fuzzy-trace theory developed by Valerie Reyna and Charles Brainerd, which will be applied to this project.  There may be at least two easily implementable ways that gists can be induced.  One may be in a sensory-related way (Succulent Italian Seafood Filet) and the other might be in a more consequence-related way (e.g., X-Ray vision carrots).

The research will look at which types of labels, sensory- or consequence-related, are most effective at increasing intake, purchase, and evaluation; how the effectiveness of labels varies between elementary and high school students;  and 3) in an ala cart context, how labels change the amount students are willing to pay for fruits and vegetables.

•

Steve Hamilton is co-PI on a project funded by the National Science Foundation called “Planning for a charter school-university-museum partnership to enhance diversity in the geosciences” with Robert Ross (PI) and others at the Museum of the Earth. The planning grant project will build a partnership to enhance participation of underrepresented minorities in the geosciences through working with large numbers of minority students in an environment where college enrollment is fostered and science pedagogy is valued. The four partner organizations are: KIPP NYC, a network of successful charter schools seeking improved science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education; Cornell Upward Bound, an organization dedicated to making college education attainable; Cornell University, a university focusing on administering partnerships for equity in STEM education; and the PRI and its Museum of the Earth, a museum specializing in inquiry-based Earth science education.

The project will seek to increase the amount and improve the quality of Earth science education across four KIPP middle schools and a high school. KIPP schools have an excellent record of increasing academic achievement in urban settings, but they have traditionally emphasized reading and math and lagged in inquiry-based science. The partnership seeks to increase awareness of the geosciences and to enhance the effectiveness of their middle and high school science preparation to provide a foundation for successful college science experiences. Partners will also work to foster maintenance of interest in sciences through high school and application to colleges where geoscience degrees might be pursued.

Human Development Outreach & Extension

Human Development Today e-News

•

The release of Chaos and Its Influence on Children’s Development: An Ecological Perspective provides an important first step in exploring how, why, and at what level, chaos at the familial and societal level affects children. Chaos refers to physical and social settings characterized by crowding, noise, unpredictability or a lack of routines, and instability or unplanned changes. It uses Urie Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological theory of human development as the means to understand the nature of relations between chaos and development. There is growing evidence that exposure to chaos can adversely impact children’s development and family functioning. The operation of chaos may explain why there are developmental consequences associated with poverty or living in high stress environments.

The book is the product of a conference in honor of Urie Bronfenbrenner held in November 2007, and edited by Gary Evans and Theodore Wachs. The contributors to the volume honor the work of Urie Bronfenbrenner, whose bioecological theory permits study at both the “microsystem” level (the family, school and daycare), as well as at higher-order levels that include parents’ work environments, the child’s local neighborhood, and his or her cultural milieu. The volume is part of an on-going biennial series supported financially by the American Psychological Association.

Human Development Outreach & Extension

Human Development Today e-News

•

June Mead
Did you know that many of the answers to the social, educational, and health challenges faced by children, parents and teachers may be right At Your Doorstep? Did you know that families who spend time outside together with their children in natural environments can increase their physical activity, connect family members with one another, and connect children with nature?

Recently, the Children, Youth and Families Education and Research Network (CYFERnet) and the CYFERnet Parent/Family Editorial Board, June P. Mead, Editor, conducted a webinar entitled, At Your Doorstep: Creating Family Connections Outdoors. The training focused on At Your Doorstep, an exciting new resource developed by educators at North Carolina State University, aimed at increasing opportunities for parents and children to spend more time together outdoors. An archived version of the webinar is available through CYFERnet at
http://www1.cyfernet.org/onlinepd/09-09-createFamilyConnect.html

Presenters

Karen DeBord, Ph.D., Professor and Extension Specialist, Child Development has been with North Carolina Cooperative Extension at North Carolina State University since 1995.

Lucy Bradley, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Horticultural Science, North Carolina State University, is the Urban Horticulture Specialist for North Carolina Cooperative Extension.

Liz Driscoll, M.S., Extension Associate, Department of Horticultural Science, North Carolina State University has been working to connect 4-H youth and extension educators to issues in agriculture and the environment in meaningful ways.

Human Development Today e-News

•

This presentation critiques the currently dominant models of criminal justice which focus on deterring wrongdoing by sanctions and punishment. Tyler suggests that a more effective and desirable model would focus on creating and maintaining the legitimacy of the law and legal authorities so that people would more voluntarily cooperate with the police and the courts. Research supporting this alternative perspective is presented.

Tom Tyler Tom R. Tyler is a University Professor at New York University. He teaches in the psychology department and the law school. His research explores the dynamics of authority in groups, organizations, and societies. In particular, he examines the role of judgments about the justice or injustice of group procedures in shaping legitimacy, compliance and cooperation. He is the author of several books, including The social psychology of procedural justice (1988); Social justice in a diverse society (1997); Cooperation in groups (2000); Trust in the law (2002); and Why people obey the law (2006).Sponsored by Law, Psychology & Human Development

•

By Susan Lang
Reprinted from Cornell Chronicle October 27, 2009

Almost half of all recent M.D.s and Ph.D.s in biology are women, and so are the majority of new psychologists (67 percent), veterinarians (75 percent) and dentists (70 percent). But why the lack of women mathematicians, engineers, chemists and physicists?

Book cover

In the top 100 U.S. universities, only 9-15 percent of tenure-track academic positions (and less than 10 percent of full professors) in math-intensive fields are held by women, report Cornell professors Stephen J. Ceci and Wendy M. Williams.

Yet, more than one-third of the professors in the social sciences and humanities (except in economics with 16 percent) are women.

In their new book, "The Mathematics of Sex: How Biology and Society Conspire to Limit Talented Women and Girls" (Oxford University Press), Ceci and Williams examine evidence from around the world in endocrinology, economics, sociology, education, genetics and psychology about why such fields as mathematics, computer science, physics, engineering and chemistry are so lopsidedly male. They examine three classes of explanations: ability differences in mathematics and spatial ability, biases and barriers, and career/lifestyle preferences.

Their general conclusion: The imbalance in mathematically oriented careers is not due to the sex differences in mathematical and spatial ability that have been reported, or to current biases.

"Though past cohort discrepancies may be explained in such terms, because women are hired for tenure-track positions at rates roughly comparable to their proportions in the Ph.D. pools -- and more often than not, slightly above their proportions," said Ceci, the Helen L. Carr Professor of Developmental Psychology at Cornell.

Rather, he added, the single biggest reason why so few women work in these fields is because they opt out of such careers at a fairly young age.

"In surveys," Ceci said, "very few adolescent girls say they desire to be an engineer or physicist, preferring instead to be medical doctors, veterinarians and lawyers."

Although females earn a large portion of bachelor's degrees in all fields of science, including math-intensive fields (46 percent of mathematics majors are females), disproportionately fewer women enter graduate school in these fields, and fewer women who earn Ph.D.s apply for academic jobs.

Women want some job flexibility to raise children, and "the timing of child rearing coincides with the most demanding periods of their career, such as trying to get tenure or working exorbitant hours to get promoted," Ceci said.

For the same reasons, women drop out of scientific fields after entering them -- especially math and physical sciences -- at significantly higher rates than men, particularly as they advance, added co-author Williams, professor of human development.

Even in such fields as medicine, where women now make up half of graduating classes, those entering academic medicine drop out at higher rates than do their male counterparts.

"The tenure structure in academe demands that women who have children make their greatest intellectual achievements contemporaneously with their greatest physical and emotional achievements -- a feat fathers are never expected to accomplish," Williams said. "When women opt out of careers -- or segue to part-time work in them -- to have children, this is a choice men are not required to make."

The book builds on a study that Ceci, Williams and colleague Susan Barnett published earlier this year in the American Psychological Association's Psychological Bulletin (135:2), which analyzed more than 400 articles and book chapters published over 35 years on sex differences in math.

Ceci and Williams, a couple with three daughters, including one with a graduate degree in engineering, both teach in Cornell's College of Human Ecology.

•

The Community Improvement Through Youth (CITY) Project team presented a workshop entitled, A Workforce Grows in the CITY, on October 5 at the 2009 Association of New York State Youth Bureaus in Syracuse.  The workshop focused on the ways in which the CITY Project intentionally integrates workforce readiness skills into the summer employment component of the CITY Project program plan. June P. Mead, Dept. of Human Development, is the CITY Project Director and Program Evaluator.

Each summer, the CITY Teen Leaders are connected with paid summer employment and continue to implement or complete community improvement projects planned during the regular school year after school program.  The teens are hired as employees by Cornell Cooperative Extension. They sign contracts that establish expectations for the employee-employer relationship.  This past summer, the CITY Teen Leaders built a community garden, served as educators at the Discovery Center's Story Garden, refurbished a neglected open space in Endicott and created a community park, built a wheelchair ramp for a needy family (see photos), and conducted healthy lifestyles education and outreach program in New York City.

The following table summarizes how the CITY Project is building the job skills that employers are looking for in today's workforce.

Workforce Readiness Skills CITY Project at Work
Problem Solving: Exercise sound reasoning and analytical thinking; use knowledge, facts, and data to solve workplace problems; apply math and science concepts to problem solving. Problem Solving: Through intentionally planned, hands-on learning experiences, teens are given ample opportunities to learn and practice problem-solving skills.
Oral Communications:  Articulate thoughts, ideas clearly and effectively; have public speaking skills. Oral Communications: A centerpiece of the 4-H program is public presentations.  CITY Teen Leaders are encouraged and supported to speak within group meeting and publicly.
Written Communications:  Write memos, letters and complex technical reports clearly and effectively. Written Communications: Public Adventures curriculum leads to concrete “real world” written documents such as mission statements, funding proposals, project budgets, and action plans.
Teamwork/Collaboration:  Build collaborative relationships with colleagues and customers; be able to work with diverse teams, negotiate and manage conflicts. Teamwork/Collaboration: The CITY Project emphasizes supports and opportunities for youth to experience a teamwork, collaboration with adult partners, a sense of efficacy, connectedness, and mattering.
Diversity: Learn from and work collaboratively with individuals representing diverse cultures, races, ages, gender, religions, lifestyles, and viewpoints. Diversity: The CITY Project embraces cultural diversity through team-building activities and collaboration with diverse community groups to celebrate and demonstrate respect for diversity.
Information Technology Application:  Select and use appropriate technology to accomplish a given task, apply computing skills to problem-solving. Information Technology Application: The CITY Project integrates technology into the program by focusing on what teens want to do and using technology skills to carry out projects.
Leadership:  Leverage the strengths of others to achieve common goals; use interpersonal skills to coach and develop others. Leadership: Through intentionally planned, hands-on learning experiences, teens have ample opportunities to learn and practice leadership skills.
Creativity/Innovation:  Demonstrate originality and inventiveness in work; communicate new ideas to others; integrate knowledge across different disciplines. Creativity/Innovation: The projects undertaken are youth-determined and youth-led. Creativity is reflected in the unique ideas for the community projects that are undertaken.
Self-direction:  Be able to continuously acquire new knowledge and skills; monitor one’s own learning needs; be able to learn from one’s mistakes. Self-direction: Public Adventures focuses on creating opportunities for teens to be self-directing, autonomous, and empowered.
Work Ethic:  Demonstrate personal accountability, effective work habits, e.g., punctuality, working productively with others, and time and workload management. Work Ethic: The CITY Teen Leaders are hired as employees by Cornell for the summer.  They sign contracts that establish expectations for the employee-employer relationship.
Social Responsibility:  Demonstrate integrity and ethical behavior; act responsibly with the interests of the larger community in mind. Social Responsibility: The CITY Project encourages and models warmth, closeness, connectedness, good communication, caring, support, and guidance.

* Drawn from: Are They Really Ready To Work? Employers' Perspectives on the Basic Knowledge and Applied Skills of New Entrants to the 21st Century U.S. Workforce (2006)  The Conference Board, Inc., the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, Corporate Voices for Working Families, and the Society for Human Resource Management. http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/documents/FINAL_REPORT_PDF09-29-06.pdf

The CITY Project is part of the Children, Youth and Families At-Risk (CYFAR) Program, Sustainable Community Projects (SCP).  It is supported by Smith Lever funds, National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), U.S. Department of Agriculture.