UNews - psychology professor

Study to examine competition for mates in third-gender cultures

caroline.zentner — Wed, 15 Nov 2017 21:20:12 +0000

Women in North America typically don’t worry about gay men flirting with their boyfriends but in cultures that recognize same-sex-attracted males as a third gender, all bets seem to be off.

Dr. Paul Vasey, a psychology professor at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge, wants to investigate what happens to women’s sexual psychology when they find themselves competing for mates with third-gender males. His proposed research study recently received more than $140,000 over four years from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).

“The research that I’m proposing to do in this latest SSHRC grant takes a different approach,” says Vasey. “It doesn’t ask why same-sex sexuality exists. We’re going to take it as a given that individuals who are same-sex attracted exist in the environment and we want to examine the influence they have on the behaviour and cognition of heterosexual individuals.”

Most research in human mating psychology has separated reproductive interactions from non-reproductive encounters but Vasey maintains that sex for procreation and sex for recreation evolve in concert and can influence each other. He conducts research in cultures that recognize a third gender, specifically the muxes in the Istmo region of Oaxaca, Mexico, and the fa’afafine in Samoa. The fa’afafine and muxes are same-sex attracted feminine males or what could be called transgender in North America. Fa’afafine and muxes will engage in sexual activity with masculine men who are bisexual, and bisexual males are quite commonplace in these cultures.

“I’m asking questions about how those third-gender males influence women’s behaviour and cognition,” says Vasey. “When you have these same-sex-attracted, feminine males in the environment and masculine men are willing to have sex with them, this creates a unique mating problem for heterosexual women. In such an environment, heterosexual women not only have to compete with other women like they do here in Canada, but they have to compete with these third-gender males as well.”

Vasey, and graduate students Lanna Petterson, Scott Semenyna and Francisco Gomez, have conducted some preliminary interviews in these cultures, asking heterosexual women if a fa’afafine or muxe had approached their boyfriends or husbands. One woman reported trying to compete by offering her boyfriend the same sexual services as the fa’afafine, while another reported rejecting her boyfriend after he chose to be with a muxe over her.

“No one has talked about these kinds of competitive mating interactions in the human literature,” says Vasey. “Ultimately, this research has implications for Darwinian sexual selection theory because sexual selection involves mate acquisition, which results in differential reproduction between individuals.”

Previous research has shown women in North America say they would be more upset if their husbands or boyfriends had a one-night stand with another man, rather than with a woman. Women in Samoa, when asked the same question, say they would be more upset if their husbands or boyfriends had a one-night stand with a woman than with a fa’afafine.

From an evolutionary perspective, Vasey says that a woman in North America interprets the situation and concludes her husband is gay. This is something she can’t compete with so she foresees losing her husband. Faced with the same situation, a woman in Samoa likely concludes her husband is bisexual and will eventually return to her because he wants children. A husband who had a one-night stand with another woman would be more upsetting because the chances of her being abandoned would be greater.

Vasey and his students will conduct interviews, questionnaires and experiments in the lab here in Canada and at their field sites in Samoa and Mexico to obtain their data.

“This research is cutting edge. We are the only lab in the world that has a sustained program of research on third-gender males,” says Vasey. “Studying non-traditional mating systems such as those that include Samoan fa’afafine and Istmo Zapotec muxes can result in transformative new ways of theorizing about the dynamic interplay between reproductive and non-reproductive sex. This can help reconfigure our thinking and help to correct biased, incomplete or erroneous views about human sexual psychology.”

Comparing approaches to learning a second language

caroline.zentner — Wed, 15 Nov 2017 20:46:48 +0000

Recent waves of immigration have led to a burgeoning bilingual population in Canada and second-language programs offered by the public education system have flourished in response.

The ability to speak a second language at a level that approaches native-like proficiency can positively affect academic and career success. However, graduates of second-language programs often produce speech errors that impair how well they are understood and sometimes lead to stereotypical judgments of their capability.

Now, thanks to $150,000 in funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, Dr. Fangfang Li, a professor in the Department of Psychology at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge, will be able to examine the factors that might influence speech errors. Li hopes to better understand the origins of such speech errors after she found some rather puzzling results from research she conducted with elementary-aged children in local French Immersion programs.

“In my past research, I looked at students in Grades 1, 3 and 5. At the time, we thought students in the higher grades should make fewer speech errors than students in lower grades but that’s not the case,” says Li. “We found that, if students make pronunciation errors when they are in Grade 1, it’s going to persist in Grade 5. They’re not getting substantial improvement over time.”

As Li pondered possible reasons for the finding, she hypothesized that local children in French Immersion programs continued to make the same speech errors because they most likely have an Anglophone background and are learning a second language that isn’t the dominant language in the community. These factors limit opportunities to speak French outside the classroom.

Li and fellow researchers from the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Alberta and the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Montreal have designed a further study to test out that hypothesis. Working with a colleague from the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Montreal, one part of the study will have native French speakers evaluate students’ speech production and identify areas that need improvement. This information can then be used by teachers to design better educational materials.

“Once we obtain the normative data, we can then use it as a reference to design standard tests,” says Li.

In her previous study, Li spoke with school administrators who indicated a concern that no standard testing is available for students who are native speakers of English who acquire a second language such as French.

Another part of the study, done in collaboration with the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Alberta, will look at a bilingual Mandarin Chinese and English program in Edmonton where the curriculum is divided equally between English and Mandarin.

“The student body is also divided so that native speakers of Mandarin Chinese and native speakers of English are mixed in the same classroom,” says Li. “That’s the kind of opportunity that French Immersion students, say in Lethbridge, don’t have. They don’t have the opportunity to talk to native speaking peers on a daily basis.”

Li expects that English students who have more opportunities to talk with native Mandarin-speaking peers and teachers will produce more accurate Mandarin speech as they move into the higher grades.

“If the Mandarin-English bilingual program proves to be better, I think it may be time to think about whether we can combine students from Anglophone backgrounds and Francophone backgrounds in the same school so they can learn from each other,” says Li.

Keeping students first earns Dr. Jennifer Mather a Distinguished Teaching Award

caroline.zentner — Mon, 29 May 2017 17:17:03 +0000

For Dr. Jennifer Mather, being a great teacher is also about learning. She has dedicated herself to learning the craft of teaching since joining the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge as a psychology professor in 1985.

Her commitment to students has helped prepare them for lifelong learning and sent them into the world equipped to be responsible global citizens. For her contributions to education, the U of L is pleased and proud to present Mather with the Distinguished Teaching Award. She will receive the award at Spring Convocation, Ceremony I at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, June 1.

Dr. Jennifer Mather

When she began her teaching career, Mather adopted a student-centered, inquiry-based approach. She emphasizes students’ learning, encouraging them to think critically, apply their knowledge and take ownership of their learning. To facilitate this, she ensures her students have opportunities to learn by doing. Mather has partnered with a variety of organizations to give her students the chance to take what they’ve learned in the classroom into the larger world. As a result, she has supervised more than 160 applied or independent studies and 11 honours theses.

Over the years, she honed her teaching skills by becoming involved in the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education and she has been part of the U of L’s Teaching Centre from its earliest days. Mather has researched teaching methods and strategies, presented at teaching and learning conferences and written articles for teaching-related publications. She willingly shares her findings and experience with her peers in the teaching community.

As an undergraduate, Mather studied biology and eventually moved to the psychology department at Brandeis ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ in Massachusetts to work with a professor who studied the behaviour of octopuses. She went on to complete a doctorate in human sensory motor coordination and pursued a research fellowship in human sensory perception, all while continuing her animal work.

Apart from teaching psychology courses, Mather has continued to conduct research on octopuses, travelling to exotic locales to carry out studies. Given her knowledge of octopuses, she is frequently sought out for media comments.

The Distinguished Teaching Award was established in 1987 to recognize the importance of teaching to the philosophy and goals of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ.

New conference to build bridges between academia and the public

caroline.zentner — Tue, 30 Aug 2016 21:02:10 +0000

People often think young children learn a second language much easier than older children or adults but much of the research into second language learning doesn’t necessarily support this idea in a school setting.

Popular wisdom holds that, in contrast to adults, immigrant children in a host society learn a second language quickly and effortlessly. However, new research demonstrates that English language learners take years to approach monolingual language abilities and with varying outcomes.

Dr. Fangfang Li, a ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge psychology professor with expertise in linguistics, together with her colleagues, Drs. Robbin Gibb, Claudia Gonzalez, Inge Genee and Noëlla Piquette, want to ensure the public has access to correct information about child language learning because language is central to children’s daily functioning.

Many students in today’s classrooms need to learn English as a second language or are in second language immersion programs and their success depends on their ability to learn the second language. Research in child language acquisition is a multi-disciplinary affair that draws on evidence from linguistics, psychology, neuroscience and education.

“Partly because of this inherent intricacy, the area of child language acquisition is frequently filled with myths and misconceptions,” says Li. “Further confusion is generated by commercial advertisements or popular videos prevalent in mass media.”

Li wants to build bridges between the various academic disciplines involved in child language acquisition research and the public through a conference that will be the first of its kind in Alberta. She has succeeded in obtaining a Connection Grant of more than $28,000 through the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) to make the conference a reality.

“We aim to orient research towards community needs, update the public with current research findings and address common misconceptions in the community,” she says. “These conversations are also timely in light of the booming demand of second language education for children who are immigrants, refugees, indigenous, and second language immersion or bilingual program students.”

Li says the first annual Alberta Conference on Child Language Acquisition Research, taking place from Nov. 24 to 26 at the U of L, will offer keynote addresses, workshops, a poster session and roundtable talks. The conference is designed to enhance the existing research network in Alberta in the area of child language acquisition and to foster further research exchanges and collaboration on a national and international level. The conference will appeal to parents, teachers, policy makers, academic experts and community members. The conference is also expected to become an annual event alternating between the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Alberta, the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Calgary and the U of L.

“Our long-term goal is to retain the two-way communication channel between academia and the community to help ensure decisions and policies are based on the best scientific evidence available,” says Li.

Mather receives Ingrid Speaker Medal

trevor.kenney — Wed, 18 May 2011 22:00:07 +0000

This year's winner of The Ingrid Speaker Medal is helping science understand the cognition and behaviour of octopuses and other cephalapods.

A world-renowned authority on octopus and squid behaviour, Dr. Jennifer Mather has been profiled in publications like the New York Times and Discover magazine, spoken at the prestigious TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design) conference, and conducted research around the world.

Dr. Jennifer Mather is a world-renowned authority on octopuses.

It's these achievements – and many others – that led to Mather's most recent accolade: The Ingrid Speaker Medal for Distinguished Research, Scholarship or Performance.

For almost three decades, the psychology professor and one-time CAETL Teaching Fellow, has taught thousands of undergraduates at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge everything from child development to the psychology of aging, while maintaining a rigorous research program defined by international collaboration and jet-setting to tropical locales. And, at 67, Mather's still as busy as ever.

"I'm probably trying to model what I teach, which is that we have a full lifespan, thank you, and we should use it," she says.

As one of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ's most accomplished and longest serving faculty members, Mather is an intuitive choice for the prestigious Ingrid Speaker Medal. But the idea of an international expert on squids and octopuses residing at a land-locked university in southern Alberta's dusty prairies is unintuitive, to say the least.

Mather's fascination with cephalopods – a category of boneless marine creatures which includes octupuses, squids and cuttle fish – began long before she set foot in Lethbridge. Growing up in Victoria, B.C., she spent a lot of time at the ocean shore, investigating the critters that dwelled in the water and sand.

As a child, she was certain she'd study marine life in some capacity, but wasn't sure how. Finally, in the last year of an undergraduate biology degree at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of British Columbia, Mather took an animal behaviour class that clarified her path.

"Bingo. I said, 'Okay. This is what I want to do.' "

After completing a biology master's degree in octopus behaviour at Florida State ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ, she went on to begin a PhD in psychology at Brandeis ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ in Massachusetts. Upon completion of post-doctoral research at Brandeis in 1978, Mather and her husband looked to return to Canada with their two children. In 1980 she took up a prestigious ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Research Fellowship at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of western Ontario, then spotted a tenure-track position at the U of L five years later and took the leap.

Lethbridge is nowhere near the natural habitats of cephalopods, but it's never been an impediment to Mather. She conducts field work related to squid displays (for instance, how they use their skin colour or tentacle movement to communicate) at the Caribbean island of Bonaire. At the Seattle Aquarium, she collaborates with Roland Anderson to study octopus cognition.

While many of us know octopuses mainly as odd, unique sea creatures, they're a far more intelligent and creative species than given credit. Researchers first realized the octopus's ability to solve problems in the 1960s, but the matter wasn't explored in breadth until the last couple of decades. In the course of her career, Mather has helped prove that octopuses have different personalities, can solve problems (like opening jars to eat food inside) and play.

While Mather is best known for her work on cephalopods, her research is broader: she's also explored how motor control problems can indicate brain dysfunction (like schizophrenia), care issues related to Alzheimer's disease, and successful university teaching. She's also recently co-authored a book about octopuses for the general public, entitled Octopus: The Ocean's Intelligent Invertebrate.

"I have my fingers in a lot of pies," she admits. "I think it came about by accident, but I'm glad it did. I didn't want to be the kind of researcher to sit in a lab and do nothing else. I also think, as a scientist, I have an obligation to help people understand these animals."

This story first appeared in the Legend. For a look at the Legend in a flipbook format, follow this link.

UNews - psychology professor

Study to examine competition for mates in third-gender cultures

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Comparing approaches to learning a second language

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Keeping students first earns Dr. Jennifer Mather a Distinguished Teaching Award

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New conference to build bridges between academia and the public

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Mather receives Ingrid Speaker Medal

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