The changing intercaste attitudes in North India: A follow-up after four years

Since independence, the government of India, through various constitutional and legislative measures, has tried to root out the evils of the caste system. In order to study the effect of these measures and of various socioeconomic changes on intercaste attitudes, a study of intercaste attitudes conducted by the author in 1968 is used as a baseline to study the changes over the four-year period. The responses to the 15 items compared deal with general caste attitudes, attitudes toward special privileges for the scheduled castes and, the caste Hindus' attitudes toward Harijans (former ‘untouchables’). The comparison of the responses to these items in 1968 and 1972 (the follow-up study) indicates that a higher percentage of respondents gave liberal responses in 1972 than in 1968 to the questions dealing with public and peripheral areas of interaction. However, very little change was found in those spheres of interaction which are relatively personal and central or involve intimate interaction, e.g., the theory of Karma, attitude toward the caste system as such and attitudes toward dining with or acceptance of food from Harijans. The results lend further support to the ‘cognitive imbalance’ theory of attitude change.     

Sex-role attitudes,identities, and political ideology

This study examines whether sex-role identities and attitudes toward sex roles are part of a more general liberal—conservative dimension of political ideology. Survey data are analyzed from two independent random samples of Indiana University students in 1974–1975. Sex-role attitudes are measured by two scales, dealing with evaluations of the traditional sex-based division of labor and levels of sex-stereotyping of various tasks. The Bem Sex Role Inventory is used to measure respondents' sex-role identities. Those who score more liberal or flexible on each measure of sex-role attitudes are also very likely to hold liberal political attitudes. These correlations are strong and consistent enough to indicate that sex-role attitudes fit into a more general liberal—conservative ideology, at least among college students. Correlations between sex-role identities and political attitudes are much weaker. Among men, liberal political attitudes are associated with a more flexible (androgynous) sex-role identity; among women, in contrast, liberal political attitudes are related more consistently to a more traditionally masculine sex-role identity.We gratefully acknowledge the assistance of the Indiana University Women's Studies Program, Michael A. Maggiotto, Christine Williams, and especially Barbara Allen for her insightful comments and capable data analysis.     

Attitude toward the Negro of Northern and Southern College Students

Summary

If we confine ourselves to the groups studied we may summarize as follows:

1. There are significant and true differences in the attitude toward the Negro of the three groups, students from Northern homes studying in the North being most favorable, students from Northern homes studying in the South being not so favorable, and students from Southern homes studying in the South being least favorable.

2. There is a slight positive relation between intelligence and attitude in all three groups, this relationship seemingly being highest for the Northern students studying in the North.

3. There is a consistent sex difference in the three groups, the women being slightly more favorable than men.

4. In the Northern group and in the Southern group upper-classmen are equally favorable or slightly more favorable in attitude than are freshmen, but among the Northern students studying in the South the upperclassmen are definitely less favorable than are the freshmen who have just recently come South.

5. No relation between size of community and attitude was found in any geographical group.

6. But slight if any relationship was found between occupation of the father and attitude.

Recognizing the limited nature of the study the writers hesitate to draw any general conclusions concerning the nature of differences in the attitude of college students toward the Negro. However, the study does suggest that Northern college students are on the average definitely more favorable toward the Negro than are Southern college students; but there are great individual differences within the groups and consequently overlapping between them. As to the causes of these differences our conclusions are only negative. They do not seem to be satisfactorily accounted for by intelligence, sex, degree of maturity, size of home community, or occupational level. Finally, when Northern students are transplanted into the Southern environment their attitude seems to change, gradually becoming more nearly that of the Southern students. Whether this change is the result of contact with the Negro or with the general Southern atmosphere cannot be said.     

The Myth of Motherhood: A Study of Attitudes Toward Motherhood

Traditional attitudes toward motherhood reflect many contradictions. The Motherhood Inventory (Ml), a 40 item questionnaire, has been developed to study attitudes toward motherhood and the motherhood myth. The Ml includes items relating to the control of reproduction, abortion, adoption, single motherhood, male-female relationships, and idealized and punitive attitudes toward mothers. The 301 subjects in this study were drawn largely from undergraduate and graduate students at an eastern university and their parents. Comparisons with scores on the Spence-Helmreich Attitudes toward Women Scale (AWS) revealed that the sample was more liberal than the original AWS sample. Men were found to hold significantly more traditional attitudes toward motherhood than women. Younger subjects also agreed more with the myth of motherhood as did unmarried subjects. Catholics more than non-Catholics rejected abortion and supported the primacy of the woman's role as mother. Education produced the most pronounced effect on attitudes toward motherhood with more liberal attitudes held by those who were college graduates.     

Occupational sex-role liberality of third-, fifth-, and seventh-grade females

A multimethod approach was used to assess the liberality of attitudes of third-, fifth-, and seventh-grade females toward sex-role division in adult occupations and activities. Significant differences on responses to an occupational attitude survey were found between grades. Attitudes became more liberal with grade level for some of the survey items, while others remained stable across grades, with grade 7 females being the most liberal. Evidence was found that choosing one's own occupation may not be directly related to responses to a general attitude questionnaire. Career choices of seventh-grade females showed a wider range of possibilities compared to the third and fifth graders.The author would like to thank the parents, children, and staff of Parkwood Elementary and Ankeney Junior High Schools for their help and cooperation in this study; also, Lawrence A. Kurdek, Wright State University, for his advice, encouragement and assistance. Author's address: 7446 Stonecrop Court, Colorado Springs, Colorado 80919.     

A compromise between self-enhancement and honesty: Chinese self-evaluations on social desirability scales

In this investigation, 202 Chinese college students were asked to complete the 48-item revised Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale (Crowne & Marlowe, 1960) which contains 32 items from the original version for the purpose of rating item desirability and estimating the percentage of others in general who would behave in the manner described by these items. Analysis indicated (a) nearly all original items keyed in the original direction, which suggests similar fundamental values are prevalent among American and Chinese college students; (b) the distribution of Chinese scores on the 32 items was somewhat positively skewed rather than negatively skewed as in some Western studies of American and Canadian college students. Also, (c) Chinese subjects perceived that they did significantly more desirable and slightly fewer undesirable things than others from which one may infer that Chinese college students tended to give both self-enhancing and honest responses to present good images; however, their need for self-enhancement may take precedence over the need to be honest. (d) Subjects chose to give more honest responses to undesirable items than to desirable ones because the more undesirable items were rated as approximately more neutral than were more desirable ones. Hence, endorsing such undesirable items would not threaten their self-esteem or face. It can be seen that Chinese subjects made an intelligent compromise between self-enhancement and honesty.     

Adolescents' attitudes toward suicide, and a suicidal peer: A comparison between Swedish and Turkish high school students

The present paper first presents the attitudes toward suicide and a suicidal classmate among 98 female and 69 male (N = 167) Swedish high school students. Secondly, the Swedish sample was compared with 167 (89 female and 78 male) Turkish high school students from a previous study. Among Swedish students, more males than females said that people have the right to commit suicide and suicide can be a solution to some problems. More females than males expressed a belief in life after death. Swedish adolescents were found to be holding more liberal attitudes toward suicide than Turkish adolescents. However, Turkish adolescents showed greater acceptance for a suicidal peer than Swedish adolescents. The results are discussed in terms of socio-cultural factors and related literature. The need for educational programs to provide basic knowledge about suicide and, effective ways of dealing with and helping suicidal peers is implicated.     

HIV/AIDS in scottish prisons: Attitudes of staff and prisoners

Abstract

Prison is commonly regarded as a high risk environment for the transmission of HIV/AIDS. Five hundred and fifty-nine prisoners and 591 prison staff sampled from 8 Scottish prisons completed questionnaires concerning attitudes towards various issues of HIVIAIDS. A majority of prisoners and prison staff expressed liberal attitudes with respect to HIV/AIDS. For both staff and prisoners, the most liberal responses were to items dealing with personal and social contact with people with HIVIAIDS. A majority of prisoners and prison staff expressed conservative attitudes in relation to screening of individuals for HIV. With regard to differences between prisoners and prison staff, prisoners were more supportive than prison staff of the provision of free condoms to homosexuals and free condoms and syringes to intravenous drug users, and the provision of free medical care to both groups in the case of AIDS. Among the prisoner sample, intravenous drug users, in comparison to non-users, were found to be more positive in their attitudes toward HIVIAIDS on a wide range of issues. The implications of the study for health psychology are discussed with regard to prisoner and prison staff educational needs and prisoner management.     

Ambivalence Toward Men: Comparing Sexism Among Polish, South African and British University Students

This study extends the literature on attitudes toward gender roles by exploring whether the nature of sexism (i.e., benevolence and hostility directed at men) differs among university students from two under-researched countries, Poland (n?=?190) and South Africa (n?=?188), in a comparison with students in the United Kingdom (n?=?166). Based on empirical literature applying Ambivalent Sexism Theory, and in the light of the socio-political context, it was hypothesized that: (1) both hostile and benevolent attitudes toward men in Poland would be more liberal than in South Africa and more conservative than in the United Kingdom, and (2), women would exhibit more hostile but less benevolent attitudes than men in relatively more conservative South Africa. The Ambivalence to Men Inventory was used to measure the two types of sexist attitudes about men. Findings supported the first hypothesis for hostile attitudes and partially for benevolent attitudes. South African and Polish students were more benevolent and hostile to men than British students, and students from South Africa were more hostile than those from Poland. Moreover, as predicted, a significant country-by-gender interaction revealed that South African women had more hostile and less benevolent attitudes to men than South African men. No such gender gap was present in the case of hostile attitudes in Poland and benevolent attitudes in the United Kingdom. Findings are discussed in terms of Ambivalent Sexism Theory and the countries’ socio-cultural context.     

Assessing the Learning Processes of Black South African Students

Data based on responses of 126 male and 201 female 14- and 15-year-old Black South African secondary school students showed the Learning Process Questionnaire (LPQ; Biggs, 1987) to be fairly reliable and factorially valid. Comparison with the LPQ means for like-aged students from Australia and Hong Kong called into question the common assertion that Black South African students are more prone to use superficial learning processes than are Western students. In particular, the South African responses to the LPQ indicated that they were less shallow and more oriented toward achievement in their approach to learning than the Australian students were.     

Sex role patterns in an Irish student sample as measured by the bem sex role inventory (comparisons with an American sample)

Sex roles in 171 male and 180 female university students in Ireland were examined by the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI). The distribution of scores for masculinity and femininity showed the same general pattern as in American samples. However, the Irish males rated themselves significantly lower in masculinity and significantly higher in femininity than the American males, indicating a more androgynous profile. Irish females rated themselves significantly lower than American females in both masculinity and femininity, and were less androgynous relative to Irish males. The distribution of subjects on sex role types showed a larger percentage of androgynous males and undifferentiated females in the Irish sample than in American samples. Both the male and the female Irish students scored lower than American students on the Social Desirability Scale. Separate scores were calculated for the positive and the negative items of the Social Desirability Scale, and it was found that positive items were assigned considerably higher ratings than the negative (reversed) items in both sexes. When controlled for social desirability, the masculinity and femininity scores were found to be uncorrelated. Factor analysis of the BSRI revealed six factors, which correspond to previous findings. In general, the present results support the view that masculinity and femininity, as measured by the BSRI, can be treated as separate dimensions, but that a more complex model than the two-factor structure is required.This is a joint report from the Psychosomatic Unit of the Irish Foundation for Human Development, Dublin; the Department of Psychiatry and Psychology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm; and the Department of Psychology, University of Stockholm. This collaboration was made possible by a twinning grant to Dr. John Cullen and Professor Marianne Frankenhaeuser from the European Training Programme in Brain and Behavior Research, European Science Foundation. Financial support was also obtained as grants from the Swedish Medical Research Council (Project No. 979) and the Swedish Council for Research in the Humanities and Social Sciences. The authors are indebted to Professor Desmond Swan, University College, Dublin, for his generous support, particularly during the initial stages of our work, and to Professor Liam Ryan, Maynooth College, who also gave valuable assistance.     

The Validity of Construction Workers' and Students' Perceptions of Each Other: A Research Note

Following the spring 1970 confrontations between undergraduate college students and construction workers in lower Manhattan, a study of attitudes of a sample of undergraduates and construction workers was conducted. One hunderd Columbia University undergraduates and 100 apprentice construction workers were asked to indicate their level of agreement with 10 statements which were intended to embody "basic American tenets". The respondents within each group were also asked to predict the attitude that a member of the other group would hold. A "liberal/conservative" dichotomy was developed for the instrument by having independent judges categorize each of the 10 items as representing a "liberal" or a "conservative" attitude.
The expectations that student responses would be more liberal than construction worker responses and that each group would perceive this difference were tested and supported. The expectation that students perceive construction workers to be even more conservative than the workers report themselves to be was also supported. But the construction workers did not demonstrate the expected exaggeration of the students' liberalism.     

Lay knowledge of eyewitness behaviour: A British survey

One of the recent concerns in the study of eyewitness memory is how well lay knowledge, i.e. ‘common sense’, matches the findings of empirical research. A number of American and Canadian studies, some using questionnaire methodology, have found limitations in lay knowledge of eyewitness behaviour. Further studies have extended this general finding beyond the lay public–who are prospective jurors–to legal professionals such as lawyers and policemen. The present study utilized the Knowledge of Eyewitness Behaviour Questionnaire (KEBQ), an inventory used in previous studies, to replicate the North American studies with a British sample of students, including law students, and the general public. The results showed a great similarity between the North American and British samples' knowledge of eyewitness behaviour. A significant number of correct responses were made to eight of the 14 KEBQ items, with a significant number of incorrect responses to the remainder. It was also found that law students were no more knowledgeable than other subjects; that knowledge did not vary with age; and that previous experience as an eyewitness was not related to knowledge of eyewitness behaviour. In responding to some of the criticisms of questionnaire studies it is argued that the evidence is mounting in favour of the need for a recognized system to make jurors aware of the factors known to influence eyewitness testimony.     

University students and AIDS: knowledge, attitudes and behavioral adjustment

This study addresses the relations between AIDS-related knowledge, attitudes, and behavior change among university students. A questionnaire covering such issues and personal background variables was administered to 750 students at the University of Zagreb. Over-all, 62.7% of the knowledge items were answered correctly, while functional, self-protective aspects of knowledge proved to be much better than general knowledge. On the average, attitudinal responses were moderately liberal. Both self-reported change in risk-reduction behavior and personal concern due to the appearance of AIDS were very small. Correlations of risk-reducing behavior with permissive (.15) and restrictive (.14) attitude orientations and with general and functional knowledge (.08) were modest. The level of personal concern correlated neither with permissive attitudes nor with functional knowledge, while it correlated negatively with restrictive attitudes (-.20) and with general knowledge (-.08). Substantial association was only established between functional knowledge and permissive (.51) and restrictive attitude orientations (-.23). It is concluded that, in addition to knowledge and attitudes, a number of factors which restrain desired behavioral adjustment should be considered in anti-AIDS campaigns, such as perceived level of exposure to HIV in a particular environment, young age-specific illusion of invulnerability, peer norms, and others.     

Religious upbringing and current religiosity in Spanish nursing and medicine students

The influence of religious education in the family upon current spiritual and religious tendencies was assessed in a sample of 599 Spanish nurse and medicine students using a religiosity scale and answers to a series of belief/disbelief statements. Results showed that nursing and medicine students were equally low-religious, with no differences in religiosity total scores between participants coming from religious families; however, medical students coming from nonreligious families showed higher religiousness than the corresponding nursing trainees. This distinction appeared both across religiosity items and in a variety of responses to belief/disbelief of Christian/secular assertions. Regression analysis showed that religious family background was a consistent predictor of religious beliefs at young adulthood, and its influence was higher for medical students. In addition to establish religious upbringing as an important factor modulating enduring religiosity, these findings provide distinctions between nurse and medical trainees, and reproduce, in a Spanish mainly catholic sample, the structure of religiosity factors previously found on North American mainline protestants.     

Reliability of a scale measuring disposition towards hallucination: a brief report

Two forms of the Launey-Slade Hallucination Scale (LSHS) measuring disposition toward hallucination were given to 150 male undergraduate students. Scores on both forms were approximately normally distributed and a high test-retest reliability was observed. All the items except one on each scale were judged by at least some Ss as applying to themselves. The percentage of Ss scoring pathological items as certainly applying to themselves was consistent with previous research that suggests that a surprisingly large percentage of people experience hallucinations at some time in their lives.     

Comparison of French and Japanese individuals with reference to Hofstede's concepts of Individualism and Masculinity

The purpose was to examine whether Japanese individuals were oriented toward collective and masculine values attributed to cultures by Hofstede by comparing them with those of French individuals. There were 110 French participants (54 men, 56 women) and 128 Japanese participants (41 men, 87 women), selected from undergraduate students, employed workers, housewives, and retirees. Their occupational proportion and their ranges of age were balanced in both countries. Scales for Individualism and Masculinity dealt not only with work-related but also general items for workplace, culture, education, and family. Analyses generally showed that the Japanese individuals scored higher on the Masculinity scale and French participants scored higher on the Individualism scale. There was a mean difference between Japanese men and women in how they answered questions about the work-related items concerning Masculinity.     

Self-esteem as a predictor of attitudes toward wife abuse among Muslim women and men in Canada

This study was designed (a) to assess attitudes toward wife abuse in a sample of Muslim women and men in Canada and (b) to assess whether those attitudes were influenced by self-esteem. Results suggested that, as in general North American samples, the Muslim women and men did not differ from each other on levels of self-esteem. Also consistent with general North American samples, the Muslim women's and men's attitudes toward wife abuse were related to their self-esteem, with higher self-esteem scores predicting stronger attitudes against wife abuse, independent of gender. However, the results also revealed that the Muslim men had significantly more lenient attitudes toward wife abuse compared with the Muslim women and with North American norms.     

Attitudes toward women among female college students

Female college students' attitudes toward women were investigated to determine the effects of housing, class status, and general field of study, and to provide standardization and reliability data for the AWS scale. Spence and Helmreich's Attitudes Toward Women Scale was administered to a large sample of female college students in a coed, moderately sized, private, Eastern secular college. Results indicated that seniors tend to hold more liberal attitudes toward women than underclasswomen and students in Business and Education tend to hold more conservative attitudes toward women. Interaction effects were observed and reported. Type of housing was not related to attitudes toward women. The split-half reliability technique revealed a strong internal reliability of .92 for the AWS.