Smith College

Metastereotypes—an individual's or group's projection of what members of outgroups think about that individual or group (e.g., “I think they think I'm ignorant”)—are an important factor in intergroup interactions, particularly interracial interactions. Metastereotype content varies by race of the perceiver, yet research has not yet explained the mechanisms of this variation, nor has research determined how context might shape metastereotype activation. We examine these questions of mechanisms and contextual activation in the case of manager-employee interactions, as managers are especially important in advancing workplace diversity and inclusion. Our original vignette experiment explores how White and Black teachers interpret a potentially racially biased action by a school principal, and how the workplace racial composition and principal's race moderate teachers' perceptions of the scenario. We find that differing awareness of other groups' perspectives, akin to Du Bois' double-consciousness , helps explain diverging metastereotype content between White and Black teacher respondents. Further, we find that workplace racial composition and the principal's race independently and additively activated Black teachers' threat-based metastereotypes. White teachers' threat-based metastereotypes, in contrast, were not influenced by contextual factors. Our findings extend metastereotype theory by addressing predictors of metastereotype content and activation and showing that these operate asymmetrically across dominant and dominated racial groups. We conclude by considering practical contributions of our findings in terms of the need for more contextually informed managerial approaches to diversity and inclusion in the workplace.

This paper investigates the physical significance of ear-canal wave quantities-such as absorbance-that are commonly measured in wideband-acoustic-immittance tests and evaluates whether these quantities uniquely characterize middle-ear function. This is explored using simulations of lumped-element and transmission-line ear canals, along with measurements in three-dimensional-printed uniform and anatomical ear canals of varying geometry, terminated by the same middle-ear simulator. The results demonstrate the following points: (1) Wave quantities computed using estimated or geometrical cross-sectional areas do not uniquely characterize the middle ear because they describe the wave interaction between ear canal and middle ear and are therefore confounded by variations in ear-canal geometry. (2) At low frequencies, the reflection of sound waves in the ear canal plays a negligible role in the middle-ear transduction mechanism because of the long sound wavelength relative to ear-canal length, and wave quantities therefore do not provide a meaningful physical characterization of middle-ear function. (3) Wave quantities computed using an invariant cross-sectional area are likely most appropriate for clinical diagnostics, as they reduce the influence of ear-canal geometry up to approximately 3 kHz. However, this simplification means that wave quantities no longer characterize the reflection of sound waves in the ear canal at any frequency.

Gradable adjectives (long, happy) differ from absolute adjectives (spotted) in that they are dependent on context and speaker/listener perspective for their interpretation. Such context sensitivity may present challenges for individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD); however, this has never been investigated for these linguistic elements. In the current study, we asked adolescents with ASD or typical development (TD), who were part of a larger longitudinal study in which autistic characteristics, nonverbal cognition (NVIQ), and standardized language were also assessed, to sort pictures whose properties were either gradable or absolute. Adolescents sorted pictures on two occasions. In the second sorting, we manipulated the context by adding images representing one end of the scale to induce a shift in interpretation. Contrary to prediction, both groups demonstrated sensitivity to the context-specific properties by shifting their cutoffs of what counted as 'long' or 'happy' when the array was changed. Whereas NVIQ correlated positively with physical property shifts for the TD group, language measures correlated negatively with emotion property shifts for the ASD group. Autistic characteristics were not related to shift patterns in either group. Adolescents with autism are clearly able to take context into account when interpreting gradable adjectives; however, those with better language seem more focused on maintaining their cutoffs more than shifting them.

Climate variability has increased in recent decades, and this trend is predicted to continue. Globally, there is a rise in extreme temperatures, such as heatwaves, which are strengthening in both intensity and frequency. As ectotherms, insects are especially affected by temperature variation. Insects are the most speciose group of animals and important members of most terrestrial ecosystems, providing critical ecosystem services. Most studies of global change have investigated only a single stressor, yet insects rarely experience one stressor at a time. Two stressors that co‐occur are heatwaves and warming temperature regimes; thus, is it important that we study their interaction and whether diet may help mitigate negative effects from these stressors. We used a dietary generalist herbivore, the moth fall webworm Hyphantria cunea (Lepidoptera; hereafter, FW) and conducted a factorial experiment to test the separate and interactive effects of temperature warming, heatwave duration and host plant on FW fitness. We found significant interactions between temperature regime, heatwave duration and host plant. We also found that FW follow the temperature–size rule, but only when reared on one of the host plants, thereby supporting previous research that diet alters insect response to changes in temperature regime. Our results show that FW suffer reduced fitness when exposed to high temperatures and heatwaves, with more extreme temperatures and longer heatwaves resulting in increased negative effects on fitness. However, some of these negative effects may be attenuated by host plant identity, which could play an important role in how generalist herbivores respond to increasing extreme weather events as predicted by global change.