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College students who do not have parents with 4-year degrees (first-generation students) earn lower grades and encounter more obstacles to success than do students who have at least one parent with a 4-year degree (continuing-generation students). In the study reported here, we tested a novel intervention designed to reduce this social-class achievement gap with a randomized controlled trial (N = 168). Using senior college students' real-life stories, we conducted a difference-education intervention with incoming students about how their diverse backgrounds can shape what they experience in college. Compared with a standard intervention that provided similar stories of college adjustment without highlighting students' different backgrounds, the difference-education intervention eliminated the social-class achievement gap by increasing first-generation students' tendency to seek out college resources (e.g., meeting with professors) and, in turn, improving their end-of-year grade point averages. The difference-education intervention also improved the college transition for all students on numerous psychosocial outcomes (e.g., mental health and engagement).

Differences in structural resources and individual skills contribute to social-class disparities in both U.S. gateway institutions of higher education and professional workplaces. People from working-class contexts also experience cultural barriers that maintain these disparities. In this article, we focus on one critical cultural barrier—the cultural mismatch between (a) the independent cultural norms prevalent in middle-class contexts and U.S. institutions and (b) the interdependent norms common in working-class contexts. In particular, we explain how cultural mismatch can fuel social-class disparities in higher education and professional workplaces. First, we explain how different socialclass contexts tend to reflect and foster different cultural models of self. Second, we outline how higher education and professional workplaces often prioritize independence as the cultural ideal. Finally, we describe two key sites of cultural mismatch—norms for understanding the self and interacting with others—and explain their consequences for working-class people’s access to and performance in gateway institutions.

Deciding on an educational setting for children who are deaf or hard of hearing (DHH) is a complex process that is not well understood. In the present study, the researchers' objective was to understand the factors caregivers consider when choosing a school for their child. Six caregivers of children who were DHH participated in semistructured interviews, which were coded into three themes (Child-Centered, Familial, School) and five subthemes (Inclusion, Additional Needs and Well-Being, Complex Process, Information Input and Flow, School Systems and Personnel). An unexpected theme (On Reflection) and three additional subthemes (Caregiver Perceptions of Education, School Character, No Regrets) were also identified. A highlighted finding is that when choosing an educational setting, caregivers of children who are DHH use decision-making processes that are complex and multifaceted. Practical implications for professionals supporting caregivers through decision-making processes are outlined, and applications for practice are suggested.

Choice makes North Americans feel more in control, free, and independent, and thus has many positive consequences for individuals' motivation and well-being. We report five studies that uncovered novel consequences of choice for public policy and interpersonal judgments. Studies 1 through 3 found that activating the concept of choice decreases support for policies promoting intergroup equality (e.g., affirmative action) and societal benefits (e.g., reducing environmental pollution), but increases support for policies promoting individual rights (e.g., legalizing drugs). Studies 4 and 5 found that activating the concept of choice increases victim blaming and decreases empathy for disadvantaged people. Study 5 found that choice does not decrease Indians' empathy for disadvantaged individuals, indicating that the social and interpersonal consequences of choice are likely culture-specific. This research suggests that the well-known positive effects of choice for individuals can be accompanied by an array of previously unexamined and potentially negative outcomes for other people and for society.

A growing social psychological literature reveals that brief interventions can benefit disadvantaged students. We tested a key component of the theoretical assumption that interventions exert long-term effects because they initiate recursive processes. Focusing on how interventions alter students' responses to specific situations over time, we conducted a follow-up lab study with students who had participated in a difference-education intervention 2 years earlier. In the intervention, students learned how their social-class backgrounds mattered in college. The follow-up study assessed participants' behavioral and hormonal responses to stressful college situations. We found that difference-education participants discussed their backgrounds in a speech more frequently than control participants did, an indication that they retained the understanding of how their backgrounds mattered. Moreover, among first-generation students (i.e., students whose parents did not have 4-year degrees), those in the difference-education condition showed greater physiological thriving (i.e., anabolic-balance reactivity) than those in the control condition, which suggests that they experienced their working-class backgrounds as a strength.

American women still confront workplace barriers (e. g., bias against mothers, inflexible policies) that hinder their advancement at the upper levels of organizations. However, most Americans fail to recognize that such gender barriers still exist. Focusing on mothers who have left the workforce, we propose that the prevalent American assumption that actions are a product of choice conceals workplace barriers by communicating that opportunities are equal and that behavior is free from contextual influence. Study I reveals that stay-at-home mothers who view their own workplace departure as an individual choice experience greater well-being but less often recognize workplace barriers and discrimination as a source of inequality than do mothers who do not view their workplace departure as an individual choice. Study 2 shows that merely exposing participants to a message that frames actions in terms of individual choice increases participants' belief that society provides equal opportunities and that gender discrimination no longer exists. By concealing the barriers that women still face in the workplace, this choice framework may hinder women's long-term advancement in society.

The Drosophila gene uses alternative messenger RNA (mRNA) processing to encode two different nuclear factor kappa Bs (NF-κBs). The DifA isoform is a canonical NF-κB transcription factor that is important for activation of the immune response. Our primary interest is the DifB isoform, which is neuron-specific and expressed in the mushroom bodies and antennal lobes of the adult brain. The DifB protein lacks a nuclear localization signal and does not enter the nucleus. Instead, it localizes to the cell body surrounding the nucleus, to axonal-dendritic projections, and to the synapse. DifB is an unusual member of the NF-κB superfamily, as it acts outside the nucleus to modulate behavior. The DifB isoform has been shown to modulate the sensitivity of the adult to sedation by alcohol. Here, we conducted a survey to determine whether the DifB NF-κB is important for other fly behaviors. We observed that a DifB-specific mutation strongly suppresses male courtship. However, despite the expression of DifB in the mushroom bodies, a DifB null allele does not interfere with learning in a learned-suppression-of-phototaxis assay. Finally, both DifA-specific and DifB-specific mutations caused flies to have a circadian long rhythm phenotype, although the circadian phenotype cannot be scored in male DifB mutants because of a sexually dimorphic locomotor defect.

Decision-making is fundamental to everyday modern life (Porter, Creed, Hood, & Ching, 2018; Ranyard & Crozier, 2002). Some decisions require little thought, while others are more complex as options considered do not always lead to clear outcomes (Baron, 2008). Caregivers of children who are deaf or hard of hearing (DHH) are frequently confronted with complex decisions (Marschark, 2018), with the almost universal decision encountered being school enrollment choice. This systematic literature review explores worldwide research on factors effecting the decisionmaking processes of caregivers of children who are DHH when deciding on an educational setting. Three databases were searched and reference lists of identified articles examined, which resulted in a limited number of documents located. To broaden the scope of the review, another search was conducted to include caregivers of children with other disabilities. In all, nine articles were found and analyzed for common themes and sub-themes relevant to the decision-making processes of caregivers when choosing educational settings for their children who are DHH or who have other disabilities. Three broadly grouped themes were identified: child-centered, familial, and school. Five sub-themes were also identified: community inclusion, additional disabilities and wellbeing, complexity of decision-making, information input and flow, and school systems and personnel.

Today’s increasingly diverse and divided world requires the ability to understand and navigate across social-group differences. We propose that interventions that teach students about these differences can not only improve all students’ intergroup skills but also help disadvantaged students succeed in school. Drawing on interdisciplinary research, this article theorizes that teaching students a contextual understanding of difference can accomplish both of these important goals. Understanding difference as contextual means recognizing that social-group differences come from participating in and adapting to diverse sociocultural contexts. This article begins by reviewing research that highlights two distinct understandings of social-group differences—as contextual or essential—and demonstrates their consequences for intergroup outcomes. We then review research on multicultural and social justice education that highlights the potential benefits of educating students about social-group differences. We propose that these educational approaches are associated with intergroup and academic benefits for one key reason: They teach students a contextual theory of difference. Finally, to illustrate and provide causal evidence for our theory of how a contextual understanding of difference affords these benefits, this article provides an overview of the first social psychological intervention to teach students a contextual understanding of difference: difference-education.