SEX ROLE SATISFACTION AMONG AUSTRALIAN CHILDREN: SOME SEX, AGE, AND CULTURAL GROUP COMPARISONS

Children's satisfaction with being a member of their own sex was explored within two Australian samples. In a national sample of 2,268 children, grades 1–6, trends were similar to those reported in the United States. Girls were less satisfied with their sex role than boys, and older girls were more dissatisfied than younger girls. The most frequent reason girls offered for dissatisfaction with their sex was restriction of sports opportunities. In a smaller sample of 9–11-year-olds (133 boys, 146 girls), chosen to include adequate representation of children of non-Anglo immigrants, it was found that while Anglo-Australian girls were less satisfied with their sex role than boys, non-Anglo girls were just as satisfied as the boys. The non-Anglo girls were no higher in global satisfaction with themselves or with their lives in general than other children. They were, however, less likely to offer self-definitions that included sports abilities and interests. While non-Anglo parents observed a stronger public/private division of labor in certain childcare activities, this difference was not associated with children's satisfaction with their sex role. However, across the entire sample, children's sex-role satisfaction was associated with parents' division of labor on two tasks on which cultural groups did not differ—disciplining and comforting.     

EMPIRICAL COMPARISONS OF COUNSELOR ORIENTATIONS

The purpose of this study was to investigate counselor behaviors related to being “counseling oriented” in one's interaction with clients as opposed to being “placement oriented.” The levels of therapeutic conditions (accurate empathy, self congruence, unconditional positive regard, and intensity and intimacy of interpersonal contact) were all positively correlated with being counseling oriented (p<.01). The multiple correlation of the therapeutic conditions with being counseling oriented was .74 with accurate empathy accounting for the major portion of the variance. Further analysis of the frequency of specific counselor responses revealed that counselors who provide high therapeutic conditions, or those who are counseling oriented: (a) manifest a distinctly different pattern of responses; and, (b) are more active in the counseling relationship in terms of total responses.     

GENDER COMPARISONS OF MATHEMATICS ATTITUDES AND AFFECT

This article reports the complex results of meta-analyses of gender differences in attitudes and affect specific to mathematics. Overall, effect sizes were small and were similar in size to gender differences in mathematics performance. When differences exist, the pattern is for females to hold more negative attitudes. Gender differences in self-confidence and general mathematics attitudes are larger among high school and college students than among younger students. Effect sizes for mathematics anxiety differ depending upon the sample (highly selected or general). One exception to the general pattern is in stereotyping mathematics as a male domain, where males hold much more stereotyped attitudes ( d = -.90). While affect and attitudes toward mathematics are not the only influences on the development of gender differences in mathematics performance, they are important, and both male and female affect and attitudes should be considered in conjunction with other social and political influences as explanations.     

PROBLEMS IN ESTABLISHING NORMS FOR CROSS-CULTURAL COMPARISONS

Problèmes de l'établissement des normes dans les comparisons interculturelles. — En examinant plusieurs des méthodes employées pour comparer les attitudes et les pratiques de parents allemands et américains relativement à l'éducation des enfants, nous avons abouti aux conclusions suivantes, susceptibles de s'appliquer à toutes les études comparatives interculturelles. 1. Les observations rollectées dans une culture et réduites à des moyennes ne peuvent servir à en évaluer une autre. — 2. Il faudrait étudier des problèmes spécifiques plutôt que des problèmes généraux ou globaux; on peut s'attendre à trouver des configurations complexes dans les différences observées. — 3. Les variables susceptibles ou non de modification selon l'âge de l'enfant, augmentent la complexité des comparaisons entre cultures. — 4. Une norme basée sur une culture n'est probablement pas valable pour une autre. — 5. Les méthodes basées sur l'utilisation d'observateurs bi-culturels semblent réduire au minimum la possibilité d'erreurs systéamatiques et la dépendance vis-à-vis de normes non-équivalentes. — 6. Les questions et les résponses de type opératoire et comportemental augmenteront, mais ne garantiront pas, la précision et la validité de l'instrument employé. — 7. Les questions ouvertes ne peuvent permettre de différencier les éléments non importants, très évidents ou uniformes des comportements ou des attitudes. — 8. Actuellement, on ne peut que rarement détecter les causes du comportement. Il n'est peut-être pas possible de les mettre en évidence, en dehors des cas où plusieurs méthodes différentes et différentes sortes de questions donnent des résultats cohérents. — 9. Il est nécessaire d'isoler un très grand nombre de variables dans chaque culture avant de pouvoir faire des comparaisons interculturelles satisfaisantes. l'utilisation de moyens électroniques pourrait faciliter le travail.     

GENDER AND ETHNOCULTURAL COMPARISONS IN STYLES OF LOVE

Ethnocultural background and gender were investigated as correlates of love styles in an ethnically diverse sample of university students in Toronto. Women viewed love as more friendship oriented, more pragmatic, but less permissive than did men, findings consistent with previous research with American college students. Ethnocultural differences or Gender x Ethnocultural Background interactions were also found. In line with an expected contrast between Asian and Western cultural traditions regarding love, Chinese and other Asian respondents of both sexes were more friendship oriented in their love relationships than were respondents of Anglo-Celtic or European ethnocultural backgrounds. Expectations of greater gender role differentiation among Asians were partly supported by finding that women from Asian ethnocultural backgrounds other than Chinese were less likely to view love as a game than were either their female or male counterparts. Women from Asian ethnocultural backgrounds other than Chinese also expressed a more altruistic view of love than did Anglo-Celtic women.     

内隐和外显记忆测验的信度比较研究及思考

任务分离的实验范式以功能分离和随机独立性等证据说明不同记忆任务的底层系统或加工机制。近期研究发现,两种记忆测量重测信度、复本信度和分半信度差异显著,内隐测验的信度更低一些,因而对变量效果缺乏足够的敏感性。两种测验信度差异对任务分离提出了区别于系统说或加工观点的另外解释。以后在研究外显和内隐记忆分离的时候应该慎重考虑测验信度的检验问题,还应通过各种方法来提高内隐记忆测验的信度,使两种记忆测验的信度具有可比性。     

CROSS-CULTURAL COMPARISONS ON PSYCHOSEMANTICS OF ICONS AND GRAPHICS

This study is to report a cross-cultural comparison on perceptions of icons and graphics and their relationships. Data were ratings of 10 icons and 10 graphics against 21 bipolar semantic differential scales from 325 college students in three countries, Mexico, Columbia, and Japan. Cross-cultural factor analyses resulted in the identification of four semantic (three affective and one denotative) features, three icon factors, and three graphic factors. Indigenous cultural means of these iconic and graphic factors were computed and used to probe cross-cultural similarities and differences in perceptions. Psychosemantics of icon factors were further predicted by graphic factors through canonical correlation. This study concludes the importance of implicit cultural meanings of nonverbal figures in intercultural communications. The implications of this study are also discussed.     

COMPARISONS OF SOCIO-POLITICAL ATTITUDES BETWEEN TWO DEMOCRATIC SOCIETIES

Three-hundred and twenty-seven Australian and 192 Swedish psychology students were compared with respect to four aspects of socio-politico attitudes: (a) differences in average levels for items and dimensions, (b) differences in degrees of consensus for specific issues (items), (c) differences in the structures of socio-politico attitudes and (d) differences in the profiles of attitudes across relevant items and dimensions. Analyses of variance showed that, in general, Swedes were significantly less conservative than Australians. The largest difference between the two samples were found for the dimension of punitiveness where Swedes were found to be much less punitive than Australians. The results also disclosed that there was greater ideological consensus and consistency among Swedes than among Australians. In line with earlier cross-cultural research, the results also disclosed a relatively high level of ideological profile and structural similarity among the two western nations.     

GENDER COMPARISONS IN RESPONSIVENESS TO OTHERS'EVALUATIONS IN ACHIEVEMENT SETTINGS

An experiment tested three possible explanations for gender differences in responsiveness to others'evaluations in achievement settings. Results replicated previous studies and showed that women and men perceived the valence of evaluative messages similarly. Further, women's privately made self-evaluations reflected the valence of others'evaluations to a greater extent than men's. Finally, women saw others'evaluations as more accurate assessments of their performance than did men and said they were more influenced by those evaluations than did men. The best explanation for the gender difference in responsiveness to others'evaluations, therefore, seems to lie in women's and men's differing construals of the informational value of those evaluations. The authors propose that different experiences girls and boys have with evaluative feedback may lead to gender differences in beliefs about the informational value of others'evaluations of our competence.     

A STUDY OF FOUR METHODS FOR SCALING PAIRED COMPARISONS DATA

An experiment of paired comparisons of nine lotteries is reported. Ratings were also made of apparent magnitude of difference in each pair. Conventional techniques as well as the author's correlational scaling method were applied on paired comparisons data. Ratings were analyzed according to successive intervals scaling. Non-linear relations between scales were found. Dispersion terms from correlational scaling covary with those from the analysis of ratings.     

COMPARISONS OF MANAGERIAL AND EMPLOYEE SATISFACTION WITH A PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL SYSTEM

Questionnaires were administered to managers and employees in a large multinational corporation to assess satisfaction with various aspects of a performance appraisal system. Comparisons of managers' and employees' satisfaction were made by conducting factor analyses for each sample. The results indicate moderate similarity between the two groups. However, two significant differences were revealed by the analysis. First, there is evidence that employees perceive certain aspects of the appraisal system in a global way, whereas managers differentiate among various components and see them as distinct entities. Second, the relative importance of the factors differs between the two groups. The largest portion of variance accounted for in the employee sample pertained to general satisfaction with the system whereas for managers it pertained to the types of ratings made on the appraisal form. The results are discussed in terms of the different perspectives managers and employees have in the appraisal process.     

COMPARISONS OF YOUNG CHILDREN'S SYNTAX TO THE SYNTAX OF THEIR BASAL READERS

Abstract

Based on T‐unit analysis of passages from three recently published basal series at grade levels one, two, and three and oral language samples of subjects at corresponding grade levels from Loban's (1976) longitudinal study, comparisons are made between children's oral syntax and the syntax of the basal stories they read. Results indicate that in average number of words per T‐unit, complexity of basal passages generally exceeds that of children's oral language. Although this is not always true for students high in language proficiency, this is especially true for randomly grouped students and students low in language proficiency. In addition, none of the basal series exhibit a graduated increase in average number of words per T‐unit among basal passages within the same basal reader. Findings are discussed and implications suggested.     

中英青少年科学创造力发展的比较

将中学生科学创造力测验施测于英国6所中学的1190名青少年及中国2所中学的1087名青少年的研究,得出如下结论：第一,青少年的科学创造力存在显著的年龄差异。随着年龄的增大,青少年的科学创造力呈持续上升趋势,但在14岁时要下降;11-13岁、14-16岁是青少年的科学创造力迅速发展的关键时期;第二,青少年的科学创造力存在性别差异。英国女生的科学创造力比男生强,差异显著;中国男生的科学创造力比女生强,差异不显著;第三,中英青少年的科学创造力存在显著的差异。在创造性的问题解决能力方面,中国青少年明显高于英国青少年,但中国青少年在其它方面的科学创造力及总成绩则明显低于英国青少年;第四,中国青少年的科学创造力存在显著的学校类型差异。重点中学学生的科学创造力显著高于普通中学学生的科学创造力。