Food wrenching and dodging: Eating time estimates influence dodge probability and amplitude

Eating rats dodge conspecifics, who are trying to steal their food, by making a somewhat stereotyped 180° turn and step movement to block the robber's approach. This experiment examined the effect of food features on the form and vigor of the dodging movement. Dodge probability and its amplitude were measured as a function of food size, elapsed eating time, food hardness, and the way in which food theft was attempted. Under all conditions dodge probability and its amplitude were directly related to the time necessary to complete eating. Thus, rats estimated the time required to complete eating and adjusted the size of their evasive movements to gain this time. The results show that although dodging has the appearance of a fixed-action pattern, it is influenced by cognitive processes that may be similar to those that direct other aspects of foraging behavior. © 1994 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Disclosure reciprocity and liking as a function of gender and personalism

Evidence is presented that: (1) Liking and reciprocal disclosure for males and females are mediated by personalistic attributions; however, the predicted pattern was obtained for females on a willingness-to-disclose measure and for males on an appropriateness-to-disclose measure. (2) Females disclosed at higher levels of intimacy than males. Specifically, two studies are presented that show that the effect of disclosure intimacy and attribution on reciprocity and liking are influenced by subject sex, and may include sex differences in subjects' perception of the sex of the recipients of their liking and disclosure. An appropriateness-of-disclosure higher order interaction in Study II involved partner sex, intimacy, and attribution. It seemed that disclosers were careful in choosing their audience. When appropriateness of disclosing is the question, it is not so important who is doing the disclosing as who is receiving the disclosure. These findings may help to clarify the mixed evidence regarding sex differences in self-disclosure behaviors.     

Touch attitudes in cross‐sex friendships: We're just friends

Results from this survey indicated that within heterosexual cross‐sex friendships, perceptions of friendship intimacy for females were more strongly tied to their positive attitudes toward: enacting and receiving more touch, enacting and receiving more safe haven (e.g., caretaking) touch, and perceiving touch as more sexually arousing, when compared to males. Females were more motivated not to touch their cross‐sex friends in public regardless of intimacy perceptions and did not positively perceive safe haven touch if they did not have a romantic partner. It is argued that males' and females' attitudes toward touch in cross‐sex friendships diverge due to evolved differences related to parental investment and the manner in which they are socialized to perceive their roles in cross‐sex friendships.     

Sex differences in recipients' reactions to aid

The purpose of this study was to determine whether males and females differentially respond to the receipt of aid as a function of their similarity to the donor and their own chronic level of self-esteem. Female and male adults received either help from a fictitious partner or no aid. All subjects were given information that they had been paired with a partner who had an inferior, similar, or superior level of task-relevant experience. Females paired with a partner of equal experience reported greater decrements in situational self-esteem than did males. Furthermore, females who received help reported a higher level of satisfaction with the help, and in all but one of the similarity conditions, females expressed a greater need for help than did males. When self-esteem was considered, high self-esteem females paired with persons with similar experience exhibited greater decrements in mood than did other high self-esteem females; males did not differ across conditions. Implications of the obtained sex differences were discussed in relation to sex differences in help-seeking behavior and sex role stereotypes.The authors would like to express their gratitude to Rob Beller, Mary Greenspun, Cheryl Hepfel, and Andrea Nagel, who assisted in data collection, and to Sanford Braver, who assisted with analyses. Thanks are also extended to Paul Karoly, Clark Presson, and Manuel Barrera for their advice throughout the completion of this study. The study was completed as partial fulfillment for the requirements of a master's degree by the first author at Arizona State University.     

Female aggression as a response to sexual jealousy: A sex role reversal?

Sexual jealousy can be interpreted as a strategy which serves to retain the partner and defend exclusive sexual relationships. Because of the asymmetry in paternity confidence, it should be a more important strategy for males than for females. Indeed, male sexual jealousy is apparently a cross-cultural phenomenon and is often the proximate cause of violence against the female partner. The objective of this study was to investigate through self-report whether male “victims” of partner infidelity are expected to react more aggressively than female “victims,” how subjects themselves say they would react to a partner's infidelity, and whether these expectations vary across the sexes. Contrary to our predictions, subjects expected females more than males to react aggressively and revengefully when confronted with infidelity. These expectations were mainly sustained by the female subjects. Females were also more likely than males to declare that they themselves would verbally and physically abuse the partner. In addition, female subjects anticipated that they would cry, feign indifference, and try to look attractive and cool. Males were more likely than females to report that they would get drunk. Our results on aggressive reactions represent a departure from traditional sex roles. It is argued that emancipatorial development, as well as the levelling influence of contraceptives on the sexes' parental certainty, have triggered this change in sex roles. © 1993 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Sex differences in the levels of generality of values/preferences related to work

The current literature on sex differences in values/preferences related to work appears polarized around two apparently contradictory sets of findings and conclusions. One set of studies fails to detect sex differences. The other set of studies indicates that males are more concerned about money, independence, security, and career goals, while females appear more concerned about people and environmental issues at work. Following W. D. Siegfried, I. MacFarlane, D. B. Graham, N. A. Moore, and P. L. Young (Journal of Vocational Behavior, 1981, 18, 30–42) it is suggested that level of analysis may be a crucial factor accounting for much of the prevailing confusion in the literature. This study investigated sex differences in values/preferences related to work at various levels of generality. A sample of 1081 senior high school students was administered the Work Aspect Preference Scale (WAPS). Complete-link cluster analyses were performed for males and females separately. Comparison of the two dendrograms reveals the substantial similarity of the preference patterns of males and females. However, the basic difference in the patterns focused on the Altruism and Physical Activity subscales. Females appeared more likely to associate helping others with personal achievement whereas males tended to see helping people in terms of controlling and organizing them. Females also linked physical activity with helping others and self-development whereas males tended to associate physical activity with extrinsic rewards of work. It is concluded that the use of cluster analysis techniques may provide the best procedure to effect an adequate reconciliation of the conflicting results to be found in the current literature.     

Sex differences in semantic language processing: a functional MRI study

Predictions based on two models of sex differences in cerebral organization of language were compared by examining fMRI patterns of 10 females and 9 males during a semantic processing task. Both groups displayed activation of left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), left superior temporal gyrus (STG), and cingulate. Females, but not males, showed bilateral IFG and STG activation. Further analyses revealed females had less diffuse left activation and greater right posterior temporal and insula region activation than males. Results support both an interhemispheric and an intrahemispheric model of sex differences in language, suggesting that the models may not be mutually exclusive.     

The Development and Sex-Related Use of Interruption Behavior

In this article the authors argue that claims of sex differences in interruption behavior should not be uncritically accepted as there are limitations in previous research that make such acceptance questionable. The frequency of interruption was examined over a portion of the early life span (Grades 4 and 9 and college). Twenty-minute structured conversations of 90 dyads (30 male, 30 female, and 30 mixed sex) were scored for four types of interruption, and both developmental and sex differences in interruption behavior were examined. Interruption frequency did not change over age or across dyads of different sex composition. Males did not interrupt any more than females did and females were interrupted by their partners as frequently as males were interrupted by theirs, with one exception: Grade 9females were interrupted more by their female partners. Interruptions were asymmetrically distributed in same-sex and opposite-sex dyads; however, the asymmetry in opposite-sex dyads was not predictablefrom sex of subject or sex of partner. That is, males did not interrupt females any more than females interrupted males. The authors conclude that wholesale acceptance of sex differences in interruption behavior is not warranted.     

Sex differences: A study of the ear of the beholder

Male and female adult Ss, while performing an unrelated task, heard a single infant awakening. The infant was labeled a girl or a boy. The dependent variable was how quickly Ss responded to the crying infant. Females responded more quickly to the girl than to the boy. Males responded equally slowly to boy and girl. A questionnaire on sex differences in fragility showed that females and males tend to disagree with the proposition that girls are more fragile than boys. Thus, the females' faster response to a crying girl cannot be accounted for by a belief in sex-differential fragility. Correlations between fragility beliefs and response times to an infant indicate that sex-differential belief-behavior relationships are not the same for males and females.     

Does fear modulate defensive and offensive types of maternal attack in mice?

Swiss CD‐1 lactating mice show a different pattern of attack toward intruders of differing sex, displaying defensive attack against the male (bites on the head and ventrum associated with fear) and offensive attack against the female (bites on the back and flanks with no elicitation of fear). This dichotomy may reflect diverse functions of maternal aggression: the attack toward males (the more infanticidal gender in laboratory strains) has been interpreted as a counterstrategy to infanticide, whereas the attack toward females may serve to establish a social hierarchy or to space rivals of the same sex. In terms of proximal mechanisms, fear may be a key factor involved in the modulation of the different patterns of attack. In Experiment 1 we compared the pattern of attack of lactating females in Swiss CD‐1 and Wild mice toward male and female intruders in relation to fear components of behavior of the attacking dams. Results showed that in Swiss mice, male intruders were attacked with a defensive type of attack accompanied by high levels of fear, whereas female intruders did not elicit fear in the attacking animal but were attacked with an offensive pattern. In Wild mice, both types of intruders were attacked with a defensive pattern; notwithstanding, fear was evident only toward male intruders. This suggests that fear is not totally responsible for the expression of the defensive type of attack. To test the hypothesis that defensive attack toward male and female intruders may be related to the infanticidal potential of the intruder, Experiment 2 examined levels of infanticide in both male and female Swiss CD‐1 and Wild mice. Swiss female mice showed virtually no infanticidal behavior, whereas Swiss males and both sexes of Wild mice showed similarly high levels of infanticide (55%–75%). From a game theory perspective, the defensive pattern of maternal attack toward female intruders in Wild mice is discussed as “extreme” defense of a high value resource and thus, functionally, a competitive form of aggression. Aggr. Behav. 26:193–203, 2000. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

It's not who you are but who you're with: Self-Confidence in achievement settings

This study examined the effects of two social cues on women's and men's self-confidence: the sex and performance of another in an achievement setting. Before trying to solve 60 anagrams, women expected to perform more poorly than men. In addition, both sexes expected to perform more poorly when paired with a male confederate than when paired with a female confederate. The effect of the partner's sex showed up in anagram performance: people with a female partner solved more anagrams than people with a male partner. The effect of subject's sex on performance was unexpected: women solved more anagrams than men. After the task, sex differences in self-confidence disappeared; neither sex of subject nor sex of partner influenced self-confidence. The partner's performance, however, had a strong effect on everyone: people were less self-confident if they had worked with a high-scoring partner. The pattern of results suggests that sex-of-subject differences in self-confidence, while important, are less powerful than the effects wielded by the sex of others in achievement settings.     

The Performance of Hamsters in the Maze Situation Utilizing Gravitation and the Vestibular Sense as Motivation

The hypotheses of this study of sex differences on a measure of self-esteem are as follows: 1) the scales good, nice, generous, pleasant, dependable, honest, and active will group together to form the outer esteem dimension of the semantic differential; 2) the scales strong, leader, powerful, confident, curious, inventive, sharp, and active will group together to form the inner esteem dimension of the semantic differential; 3) males will score significantly higher than females on the inner esteem dimension of the semantic differential; 4) females will score significantly higher than males on the outer esteem dimension of the semantic differential; 5) there will be a significant difference between the scoring patterns of males and females on the two dimensions of the semantic differential after controlling for the effects of race and social desirability. The sample of 442 sixth through eighth grade students consisted of two subsamples made heterogeneous on race, geographic location, and type of school. The Franks-Marolla Self-Esteem Semantic Differential and the Lunneborg and Lunneborg Child's Social Desirability Scale were administered. The findings support each of the hypotheses and indicate that there is a significant difference between the sexes on the Franks-Marolla Semantic Differential Measure of Self-Esteem. It is concluded that additional research in self-esteem might specify the meaning of sex differences in esteem by measuring esteem relative to an individual's structural social positions rather than measuring esteem in the general and environmentally nonspecific contexts as advocated by some.     

ADHD and female specific concerns: a review of the literature and clinical implications

ADHD was once thought of as a predominantly male disorder. While this may be true for ADHD in childhood, extant research suggests that the number of women with ADHD may be nearly equal to that of men with the disorder (Faraone et al., 2000). There is accumulating research which clearly indicates subtle but important sex differences exist in the symptom profile, neuropathology and clinical course of ADHD. Compared to males with ADHD, females with ADHD are more prone to have difficulties with inattentive symptoms than hyperactive and impulsive symptoms, and females often receive a diagnosis of ADHD significantly later than do males (Gaub & Carlson, 1997; Gershon, 2002a, 2002b). Emerging evidence suggests differences exist in the neuropathology of ADHD, and there are hormonal factors which may play an important role in understanding ADHD in females. Although research demonstrates females with ADHD differ from males in important ways, little research exists that evaluates differences in treatment response. Given the subtle but important differences in presentation and developmental course of ADHD, it is essential that both clinical practice and research be informed by awareness of these differences in order to better identify and promote improved quality of care to girls and women with ADHD.     

Gender roles,computer attitudes,and dyadic computer interaction performance in college students

Females tend to score lower than males on measures of computer aptitude and attitudes. This study examined the potential effects of several mediating factors, sex of experimenter, sex of experimental partner, sex typing (Bem Sex Role Inventory score), and level of past experience, on a computer interaction task involving a dyad. College students, drawn from a primarily white college population, after completing paper-and-pencil measures assessing computer experience, computer attitudes, and gender roles, participated in a computer task involving drawing up to ten prescribed geometric patterns on a computer screen. Research assistants recorded the number of correctly completed patterns and videotaped participant interaction through a one-way mirror. Males reported experiencing more computer involvement than females. For males, past computer experience and masculinity were correlated with more positive computer attitude scores. For females, only past computer experience related to more positive computer attitude scores. Analyses of the computer interaction variable indicated that participants asked male research assistants significantly more questions than female research assistants. Several interaction effects were also found.A previous version of this paper was presented at the annual meeting of the Southwestern Psychological Association, New Orleans, April 1991.     

君子不夺人所好？择偶动机启动下的男性择偶复制

考察择偶动机启动下男女的择偶复制发生情况,及目标面孔吸引力对男性择偶复制的调节作用。结果：(1)女性易发生择偶复制;(2)男性的择偶复制会受择偶动机启动的影响,但这种影响仅限于目标面孔吸引力处于中、低水平时。结论：男性在特定情景中可发生择偶复制,这是更为复杂的、经多种信息评估的结果。     

Sex differences in processing aggression words using the Emotional Stroop task

There is a robust relationship between the salience of stimulus materials presented in the Emotional Stroop task and inhibition of response in clinical populations. Researchers have now found information‐processing biases in both forensic and non‐forensic samples presented with threatening or aggressive stimuli [Cohen et'al., 1998; Eckhardt and Cohen, 1997; Smith and Waterman, 2003; Van Honk et'al., 2001]. We sought to explore sex differences in processing words relating to acts of direct and indirect aggression using a group of undergraduates (50 males and 50 females). Participants also completed self‐report questionnaires (AQ and EXPAGG) to allow some consideration of the relationship between objective and subjective measures. We predicted that males would demonstrate delayed responses when presented with words relating to acts of direct aggression. We also predicted that high levels of physical aggression would be the best predictor of bias for direct aggression words, high levels of verbal aggression would be the best predictor of bias for indirect aggression words, physical aggression would predict bias in males, and verbal aggression would predict bias in females. Males demonstrated a perceptual bias for words relating to acts of direct aggression, taking significantly longer to correctly colour name direct aggression words. Females were slower to correctly colour name indirect aggression words, but not significantly so. Verbal aggression, as expected, predicted bias performance for indirect aggression words but anger rather than physical aggression was the best predictor of bias for direct aggression words. Gender was a predictor for bias with both sets of words. Contrary to our predictions, it was observed that a high level of physical aggression was the best predictor of bias in both males and females. These data provide further evidence to confirm the saliency of aggression words to aggressive individuals in non‐forensic populations. Aggress. Behav. 00:00–00, 2005. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Gender Differences in Illusion Response: The Influence of Spatial Strategy and Sex Ratio

Two experiments explored factors related to gender differences in Ponzo illusion susceptibility. In Experiment 1, 54 male and 54 female (predominantly white, middle class) undergraduates were administered Witkin's Embedded Figures Test (EFT) and, on 2 separate occasions, a form of the Ponzo illusion. Results showed the Ponzo to be quite reliable over several days. Females were significantly more field dependent (as shown by slower responses to the EFT), and significantly more susceptible to the Ponzo illusion, than males. Furthermore, EFT performance correlated significantly with Ponzo susceptibility for females, but not for males, suggesting that the difference between males and females in Ponzo response may be due not to differences in field independence per se, but rather to differences in the strategies used to solve the illusion task. In Experiment 2, 111 male and 148 female (predominantly white, middle class) undergraduates were administered the Ponzo illusion twice, the 2 administrations separated by about 90 min. Again, the illusion task showed good reliability, and females were significantly more susceptible to the illusion. Furthermore, the magnitude of the difference between males and females was systematically related to the sex ratio (the ratio of the number of males to the number of females) of the particular session in which each subject happened to be participating. It is suggested that social factors such as sex ratio might affect the strategies participants use when doing illusion tasks, and perhaps other spatial skills tasks as well.     

Sex differences in pain

Are there sex differences in pain? For experimentally delivered somatic stimuli, females have lower thresholds, greater ability to discriminate, higher pain ratings, and less tolerance of noxious stimuli than males. These differences, however, are small, exist only for certain forms of stimulation and are affected by many situational variables such as presence of disease, experimental setting, and even nutritive status. For endogenous pains, women report more multiple pains in more body regions than men. With no obvious underlying rationale, some painful diseases are more prevalent among females, others among males and, for many diseases, symptoms differ between females and males. Sex differences in attitudes exist that affect not only reporting, coping, and responses to treatment, but also measurement and treatment. So many variables are operative, however, that the most striking feature of sex differences in reported pain experience is the apparent overall lack of them. On the other hand, deduction from known biological sex differences suggests that these are powerful sex differences in the operation of pain mechanisms. First, the vaginal canal provides an additional route in women for internal trauma and invasion by pathological agents that puts them at greater risk for developing hyperalgesia in multiple body regions. Second, sex differences in temporal patterns are likely to give rise to sex differences in how pain is "learned" and stimuli are interpreted, a situation that could lead to a greater variability and wider range of pains without obvious peripheral pathology among females. Third, sex differences in the actions of sex hormones suggest pain-relevant differences in the operation of many neuroactive agents, opiate and nonopiate systems, nerve growth factor, and the sympathetic system. Thus, while inductive analysis of existing data demonstrate more similarities than differences in pain experience between females and males, deductive analysis suggests important operational sex differences in its production.     

Fear of failure in males: A more salient factor than fear of success in females?

Sex differences in self-attributions following winning or losing in a highly competitive achievement-type situation were investigated. Subjects competed in same- or mixed-sex pairs on an anagram task which was prearranged in difficulty so that one subject would clearly defeat his/her partner. A significant sex of subject × outcome interaction emerged. Males were more likely to attribute their successes to skill and failures to luck. Females attributed both their successes and failures to a relatively equal amount of skill. This self-defensive bias in males was interpreted as indicating a greater fear of failure in males. The relatively rational and objective attributions of females did not support a female fear of success hypothesis. No significant interactions with sex of partner on this variable were found. Finally, subjects were asked to rate their opponents on a series of personality, attractiveness, and happiness dimensions. Neither males nor females were differentially evaluated as a function of winning or losing.The research reported here was partially supported by a grant to the first author from the California State University, Fresno Foundation.