Recent geopolitical events have focused debate about immigration in Western nations on Muslim immigrants and the role of Islamic culture in these societies. Several commentators have noted that Muslims have become increasingly ‘othered’ by the mass-media, and that Muslim culture has been portrayed as incompatible with, and a potential threat to, the dominant Western culture (Manning, 2006). In Australia, which officially adopted a policy of multiculturalism more than 40 years ago, public opinion polls suggest that while support for the policy remains strong, many believe that certain cultural groups are not compatible with Australian society (Dunn, Forrest, Burnley, & McDonald, 2004). This has important implications, as recent research into acculturation preferences of dominant groups in other Western nations suggests that acceptance of cultural maintenance may not extend to cultures which are regarded as incompatible or which are perceived as threatening the cultural status quo (Florack, Piontkowski, Rohman, Balzer, & Perzig, 2003; Montreuil & Bourhis, 2001). This research program sought to investigate the role of perceived threat in tolerance of Muslim practice in Australia, with a focus on the impact of media portrayals. Recent research suggests that media may influence the criteria which members of dominant groups use when making decisions about acculturation practices (e.g., Domke, McCoy, & Torres, 1999). In a similar vein, this research pursued an information-processing perspective, seeking to demonstrate that accessible media exemplars of Muslims in conflict with others lead those who are reliant on the mass-media to take symbolic threat into consideration when making decisions about tolerance of Muslim cultural practice. Five studies were conducted, the first three using survey methodology, and the latter two using experimental designs. Study 1 demonstrated that Australians who were more reliant on television as a source of information considered issues such as terrorism and interethnic tension more important than those who were less reliant on television and that television reliance was more strongly associated with concern about both issues than either general or genre-specific levels of television viewing, (Ball-Rokeach & DeFleur, 1976; Rubin, Perse, & Taylor, 1988). Study 2 demonstrated that tolerance of Muslim practice in Australia was explained largely by general attitudes to multiculturalism, but that symbolic threat played an independent role in predicting tolerance for those who were reliant on the media. Study 3 replicated this finding, and demonstrated that it was symbolic threat rather than other forms of threat identified by Stephan and Stephan’s (1996) integrated threat theory which interacted with media reliance to predict tolerance of Muslim practice. Busselle and Shrum (2003) have suggested that media influences later decision making by making relevant exemplars more accessible in memory for those who use media frequently. In Study 4 participants read a transcript of a fictitious television interview describing a conflict between Muslims and Christians in Belarus, and then recalled examples of similar events. Results indicated that media reliance was positively associated with greater recall of events involving Muslims, and negatively associated with perceived difficulty of recall, providing support for the notion that the media reliant have more accessible exemplars of Muslim conflict. Study 5 aimed to demonstrate that the accessibility of such exemplars among the media reliant is the key factor explaining the interplay between media reliance and perceived threat on tolerance of Muslim practice observed in Studies 2 and 3. It sought to do so by comparing the responses of participants who first recalled an example of either a natural disaster (the control condition) or an act of terrorism (the experimental condition designed to make salient stereotypes about Muslims). As expected, among participants for whom terrorism was not made salient, symbolic threat predicted tolerance only for those high in media reliance (who ostensibly have accessible exemplars) – consistent with the results of Studies 2 and 3. However, among participants for whom terrorism was made salient, threat predicted tolerance even among those low in media reliance. Taken together, the research provides insight into an important real-world issue, tolerance of Muslim cultural practice in Australia. It demonstrates the role of both multicultural ideology and symbolic threat and makes a unique theoretical contribution to acculturation research regarding the mechanism by which the media may influence tolerance of minorities in multicultural societies. Implications for theoretical perspectives on prejudice and discrimination and for applied concerns about promotion of community harmony are discussed.

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No description available.

No description available.

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No description available.

Recent geopolitical events have focused debate about immigration in Western nations on Muslim immigrants and the role of Islamic culture in these societies. Several commentators have noted that Muslims have become increasingly ‘othered’ by the mass-media, and that Muslim culture has been portrayed as incompatible with, and a potential threat to, the dominant Western culture (Manning, 2006). In Australia, which officially adopted a policy of multiculturalism more than 40 years ago, public opinion polls suggest that while support for the policy remains strong, many believe that certain cultural groups are not compatible with Australian society (Dunn, Forrest, Burnley, & McDonald, 2004). This has important implications, as recent research into acculturation preferences of dominant groups in other Western nations suggests that acceptance of cultural maintenance may not extend to cultures which are regarded as incompatible or which are perceived as threatening the cultural status quo (Florack, Piontkowski, Rohman, Balzer, & Perzig, 2003; Montreuil & Bourhis, 2001). This research program sought to investigate the role of perceived threat in tolerance of Muslim practice in Australia, with a focus on the impact of media portrayals. Recent research suggests that media may influence the criteria which members of dominant groups use when making decisions about acculturation practices (e.g., Domke, McCoy, & Torres, 1999). In a similar vein, this research pursued an information-processing perspective, seeking to demonstrate that accessible media exemplars of Muslims in conflict with others lead those who are reliant on the mass-media to take symbolic threat into consideration when making decisions about tolerance of Muslim cultural practice. Five studies were conducted, the first three using survey methodology, and the latter two using experimental designs. Study 1 demonstrated that Australians who were more reliant on television as a source of information considered issues such as terrorism and interethnic tension more important than those who were less reliant on television and that television reliance was more strongly associated with concern about both issues than either general or genre-specific levels of television viewing, (Ball-Rokeach & DeFleur, 1976; Rubin, Perse, & Taylor, 1988). Study 2 demonstrated that tolerance of Muslim practice in Australia was explained largely by general attitudes to multiculturalism, but that symbolic threat played an independent role in predicting tolerance for those who were reliant on the media. Study 3 replicated this finding, and demonstrated that it was symbolic threat rather than other forms of threat identified by Stephan and Stephan’s (1996) integrated threat theory which interacted with media reliance to predict tolerance of Muslim practice. Busselle and Shrum (2003) have suggested that media influences later decision making by making relevant exemplars more accessible in memory for those who use media frequently. In Study 4 participants read a transcript of a fictitious television interview describing a conflict between Muslims and Christians in Belarus, and then recalled examples of similar events. Results indicated that media reliance was positively associated with greater recall of events involving Muslims, and negatively associated with perceived difficulty of recall, providing support for the notion that the media reliant have more accessible exemplars of Muslim conflict. Study 5 aimed to demonstrate that the accessibility of such exemplars among the media reliant is the key factor explaining the interplay between media reliance and perceived threat on tolerance of Muslim practice observed in Studies 2 and 3. It sought to do so by comparing the responses of participants who first recalled an example of either a natural disaster (the control condition) or an act of terrorism (the experimental condition designed to make salient stereotypes about Muslims). As expected, among participants for whom terrorism was not made salient, symbolic threat predicted tolerance only for those high in media reliance (who ostensibly have accessible exemplars) – consistent with the results of Studies 2 and 3. However, among participants for whom terrorism was made salient, threat predicted tolerance even among those low in media reliance. Taken together, the research provides insight into an important real-world issue, tolerance of Muslim cultural practice in Australia. It demonstrates the role of both multicultural ideology and symbolic threat and makes a unique theoretical contribution to acculturation research regarding the mechanism by which the media may influence tolerance of minorities in multicultural societies. Implications for theoretical perspectives on prejudice and discrimination and for applied concerns about promotion of community harmony are discussed.

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Antibody technology was applied to the study of synaptic plasticity resulting from passive avoidance training in the chick and long-term potentiation in the rat. These studies fell into three categories: 1) the disruption of memory for a one-trial passive avoidance task by intracranial injection of an anti-postsynaptic density antiserum 2) mapping time- and locus-specific changes in the chick brain using antisera to the cytoskeletal proteins (Xtubulin and microtubule-associated protein 2 following passive avoidance training and 3) using antibodies to synaptically-enriched antigens to map time- and locus-specific changes in hippocampal subfields following long-term potentiation in the rat. In the first series of experiments an antiserum (RI4) was raised against protein from chick forebrain postsynaptic densities (PSDs). The antiserum was characterised and was found to recognise six distinct antigens as determined by Western Blots. These antigens were found to have a primarily (but not exclusively) synaptic location. Intracranial injections of IgG isolated from R14 resulted in amnesia for a one-trial passive avoidance paradigm in the chick when administered 60min pre-training (but not 30min or 15min pre-training or 1000n post-training), in chicks tested 24hrs (but not Ihr or 3hrs) post-training. In the second set of experiments monoclonal antibodies were used to examine changes in levels of the cytoskeletal proteins a-tubulin and microtubule-associated protein 2 (MAP2) in specific forebrain loci following passive avoidance training in the chick. Of the regions examined, elevations in the titre of anti-a-tubulin were found in the left Intermediate Hyperstriatum Ventrale (IMHV) l hr, 6hrs and 24hrs following passive training, in the left Lobus Parolfactorius (LPO) 1hr following training and in the right LPO 6hrs and 24hrs following training. A hemispherically-asymmetrical change was found in the titre of anti-MAP2 which was interpreted as possibly reflecting a decrease in the amount of the antigen in the left IMHV 24hrs following training. No training-related changes were detected, using either antibody, in a third forebrain region, the Paleostriatum Augmentatum (PA). During the characterisation of antiserum R14 it was found that only one antigen (with an apparent molecular weight of 230kDa) is conserved between the chick and rat brain. The antigen is enriched in synaptic fractions isolated from the rat hippocampus and was used, as well as a PSD-specific monoclonal antibody, 411B, to examine possible changes in hippocampal subfields CAl, CA3 and the dentate area taken at several time-points following tetanisation of the right perforant path. 24hrs following tetanisation (but not at earlier time-points), the titre of R14 was elevated in the dentate area ipsilateral to tetanisation and in both the ipsi- and contralateral CAL The titre of 411B was increased specifically in the target, dentate area and only at 8hrs following tetanisation, an increase which was abolished in the presence of the protein synthesis inhibitor, anisomycin. These results are discussed in the context of current models of synaptic plasticity.