Choosing an Endorser for a Women’s Sporting Event: The Interaction of Attractiveness and Expertise

An experimental study was conducted to determine the impact of expertise and attractiveness on perceived appropriateness of the endorser with a women’s tennis event and, subsequently, attitudes towards the event and intentions to purchase tickets. The sample was comprised of 184 undergraduate students at three U.S. universities. Hypotheses were tested through observed path analysis and results indicated both attractiveness and expertise were significantly related to the endorser’s appropriateness and explained 24% of the variance. However, there was a significant interaction; in the lower expertise condition, the more attractive athlete was rated as a more appropriate endorser. Further, endorser appropriateness led to more positive attitudes and intentions to purchase tickets, and the model explained 13 and 48% of the variance in these variables respectively.     

框架效应的神经机制

框架效应指人们对一个客观上相同问题的不同描述有不同反应的现象。近年来的认知神经研究发现框架效应的产生,可能源自以杏仁核为代表的情绪过程,而以前扣带回与前额叶皮层为代表的认知过程对此可能起到抑制与监控的作用。单侧化研究揭示了大脑两半球所擅长的不同思维方式也可能对框架效应产生影响。未来的研究应整合框架效应的神经机制与理论解释、探索框架效应的领域特异性并探究框架效应的产生根源。     

Triggering Rage: Unresolved Trauma in Women’s Lives

In this qualitative study we sought to explore the triggers involved in women’s rage that are expressed towards their intimate partners. In-depth interviews were conducted with 37 incarcerated women who reported experiencing rage towards their partner. Unresolved trauma from childhood closely linked to current levels of adult rage; specific types of trauma that were reported included experiencing physical and sexual abuse, feeling unprotected by caretakers, and having observed domestic violence within their homes. Symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder were described within the stories of rage as women recounted their experiences of intimate partner violence. Common triggers for igniting rage included women perceiving a threat to themselves, a threat to their loved ones, and emotional abuse.     

What Do Women Want? A New View of Women’s Sexual Problems

Recent attempts to medicalize women’s sexual “dysfunction” are critiqued and a “New View” of women’s sexual problems is introduced. The author argues for a female-centered perspective on women’s sexual desires and problems, based on a review of the literature on women’s sexuality and her observations of young women’s sexual experiences from 25 years of teaching Human Sexuality to undergraduate women. The review suggests that a pill or a patch cannot adequately address the sexual problems commonly experienced by US women.     

Fallout from the Women’s Health Study: A Short-lived Vindication for Feminists and the Resurrection of Hormone Therapies

The Women’s Health Initiative studies were begun in 1997, in large part the result of women’s health activists who for 40 years questioned the safety of hormone use at menopause and criticized the menopause as disease ideology. The studies were prematurely discontinued when investigators found that heretofore acclaimed benefits of hormone use were not supported. Risks to health such as stroke, breast cancer, and thrombophlebitis were found. A feeling of vindication was experienced by feminists but was quickly replaced by cautious optimism as strategies to continue hormone use were published and quality of life issues tied to symptom management emerged. The focus of this article is a review of the hormone story, a discussion of the implications of the Women’s Health Initiative results, and strategies for resolution of the continuing hormone dilemma.     

Women’s Close Friendships across Sexual Orientation: A Comparative Analysis of Lesbian-Heterosexual and Bisexual-Heterosexual Women’s Friendships

Interviews were conducted in close friendship pairs with women who ranged in age from 18 to 52 years at the time of interview. Results suggest that women of different sexual orientation identities had different friendship profiles. Comparisons across friendship type suggest that bisexual-heterosexual friends consistently experienced a shift in friendship dynamic based on the sex of partner for the bisexual friend and were more likely than lesbian-heterosexual friends to integrate their friendship into their social lives. Lesbian-heterosexual friendships were significantly more likely to include an explicit acknowledgment of non-heterosexual identity. Although cross-orientation friendships did not consistently include a feminist/political dimension, when friends also differed in racial identity a feminist/political dimension in the friendship became apparent. In cross-race friendships racial minority identities were explicitly acknowledged even when non-heterosexual identities were not.     

The Importance of Community Context for Young Women’s Occupational Aspirations

The effects of community context on occupational aspirations are examined in a national sample of young women in high school in the USA in 1979 (n = 2,210). Multilevel statistical models indicate that young women living in counties with a lower divorce rate, a lower percentage of women working, and more people employed in the wholesale and retail industrial sector tended to be less likely to aspire to paid work than young women living in areas with a higher divorce rate, a higher percentage of women working, and fewer people employed in the wholesale and retail industrial sector. Community context does not affect the level of young women’s occupational aspirations as predicted by prior scholarship. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 2006 Southern Sociological Society Annual Meetings. The author thanks John Reynolds, Patricia Yancey Martin, Irene Padavic, Robert Kunovich, Jennifer Keene, Mary Guy, and the editor and reviewers at Sex Roles for their helpful comments on previous drafts of this paper.     

‘How Can I Feel for Others When I Myself Am Beaten?’ The Impact of the Armed Conflict on Women in Israel

This research presents an initial documentation of Israeli women’s sense of insecurity during the Second Intifada (2001–2005). Drawing on feminist security theory and the intersectional approach to gender, we hypothesized that women’s familiar tendency to develop high levels of stress following political violence would be related to previous sexual and domestic victimization, to economic distress and ethnic discrimination among minority women, and to the cultural role of care workers among women of all socio-economic backgrounds. A sample of 552 women self-completed a cluster of questionnaires addressing a broad array of topics, and results confirmed most of the research hypotheses. The discussion highlights the multiple articulations of gender, militarism, and security and their possible implications for policies of conflict resolution.     

How Lesbian and Heterosexual Parents Convey Attitudes about Gender to their Children: The Role of Gendered Environments

We studied associations among parents’ gender role attitudes, gender stereotyping in children’s environments, and children’s gender role attitudes and whether these associations were similar for families with lesbian and heterosexual parents. Fifty-seven 4- to 6-year-olds and 114 parents from the US participated. Parents completed self-report questionnaires and responded to interview questions. Researchers collected data regarding the child’s environment and attitudes about gender. Results revealed that children with lesbian mothers had less stereotyped environments and less traditional attitudes. Parental attitudes were associated with stereotyping in children’s environments and with children’s attitudes about gender. Both for lesbian and heterosexual parents, the impact of parents’ attitudes on children’s attitudes was partially mediated by the nature of children’s environments.     

Courage in The Analects: A Genealogical Survey of the Confucian Virtue of Courage

The different meanings of “courage” in The Analects were expressed in Confucius’ remark on Zilu’s bravery. The typological analysis of courage in Mencius and Xunzi focused on the shaping of the personalities of brave persons. “Great courage” and “superior courage”, as the virtues of “great men” or “shi junzi 士君子 (intellectuals with noble characters)”, exhibit not only the uprightness of the “internal sagacity”, but also the rich implications of the “external kingship”. The prototype of these brave persons could be said to be between Zengzi’s courage and King Wen’s courage. The discussion entered a new stage of Neo-Confucianism in the Song and Ming dynasties, when admiration for “Yanzi’s great valor” became the key of various arguments. The order of “the three cardinal virtues” was also discussed because it concerned the relationship between “finished virtue” and “novice virtue”; hence, the virtue of courage became internalized as an essence of the internal virtuous life. At the turn of the 20th century, when China was trembling under the threat of foreign powers, intellectuals remodeled the tradition of courage by redefining “Confucius’ great valor”, as Liang Qichao did in representative fashion in his book Chinese Bushido. Hu Shi’s Lun Ru 论儒 (On Ru) was no more than a repetition of Liang’s opinion. In the theoretical structures of the modern Confucians, courage is hardly given a place. As one of the three cardinal virtues, bravery is but a concept. In a contemporary society where heroes and sages exist only in history books, do we need to talk about courage? How should it be discussed? These are questions which deserve our consideration.     

The Impact of Films on Viewer Attitudes towards People with Schizophrenia

The media, including television, newspapers, and popular films have been implicated in the facilitation of mental illness stigmatization by presenting negative and inaccurate depictions of various diagnoses. The current study examined the impact of film on participants’ knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors towards people with schizophrenia. A total of 106 participants completed questionnaires before and after viewing a 45-min film excerpt. Films viewed included a fear-based inaccurate, likeable-inaccurate, and an educational-accurate depiction of schizophrenia. There was also a control group. There were significant increases in stigmatizing attitudes for participants in the fear-based inaccurate group compared to the accurate and control group. Fear-based participants reported increased negative affect and endorsed statements suggesting that people with schizophrenia were unpredictable, dependent, and dangerous. These results provide support for the hypothesis that negative, inaccurate portrayals of severe mental illness enhance stigmatizing attitudes. Accurate film depictions, advocacy for social equality, and the continued education of individuals, clients, families, communities and organizations will help to mitigate the impact of films on mental illness stigmatization.     

Predictors of Satisfaction with Obstetric Care in High-risk Pregnancy: The Importance of Patient–Provider Relationship

The study set out to examine the predictive effects of patients’ emotional distress and their relationships with their health care providers on satisfaction with obstetric services in high-risk pregnancies. Participants were 104 pregnant women with a history of recurrent losses, fetal demise, previous or current fetal genetic abnormality, advanced maternal age, or obstetric or medical complications of the present pregnancy. Self-report measures of emotional distress and the quality of their relationships with their medical provider were administered. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were conducted to assess the predictive effect of these variables on satisfaction with services. Provision of information, constructive communication, and good relationships predicted elevated satisfaction with health services. Provision of information also buffered against the adverse effect of emotional distress on satisfaction with health services. These findings elucidate the central role of provider–patient interaction, particularly as it is related to provision of information, in high-risk pregnancy.     

Nontarget Markets and Viewer Distinctiveness: The Impact of Target Marketing on Advertising Attitudes

This research examines the effect of target marketing on members of the advertiser's intended audience as well as members not in the target market: the nontarget market. The results of 3 experiments show that unfavorable nontarget market effects are stronger for members of nondistinctive groups (e.g., Caucasian individuals, heterosexual individuals) and favorable target market effects are stronger for members of distinctive groups (e.g., African American individuals, homosexual individuals). The results of Experiment 2 demonstrate that the psychological processes by which target and nontarget market effects occur differ by viewer group: Felt similarity with sources in an advertisement drives target market effects for distinctive viewers, whereas felt targetedness drives target market effects for nondistinctive viewers. Finally, Experiment 3 shows that these consumer feelings of similarity or targetedness are associated with underlying processes of identification and internalization. Theoretical implications regarding the impact of distinctiveness theory in consumer persuasion effects and potential social effects of target marketing are discussed.     

To Accept or to Reject: The Effect of Framing on Attitudes Toward Affirmative Action1

Two experiments examined the effect of framing on attitudes toward an affirmative‐action program of preferential treatment. Participants' attitudes were consistently more favorable toward the affirmative‐action program presented in a positive frame—preferring a target group's applicant over a majority group's applicant—than when the very same program was presented in a negative frame—rejecting the majority group's applicant in favor of the target group's applicant. Similar effects were evident for 3 target groups in the context of higher education selection and personnel selection. Two theoretical explanations for the effect of framing on attitudes toward affirmative‐action programs are suggested. The implications of this effect are discussed, and the challenges facing future research of this phenomenon are outlined.     

The Elimination of Self-Reference: Generalized Yablo-Series and the Theory of Truth

Although it was traditionally thought that self-reference is a crucial ingredient of semantic paradoxes, Yablo (1993, 2004) showed that this was not so by displaying an infinite series of sentences none of which is self-referential but which, taken together, are paradoxical. Yablo’s paradox consists of a countable series of linearly ordered sentences s(0), s(1), s(2),... , where each s(i) says: For each k > i, s(k) is false (or equivalently: For no k > i is s(k) true). We generalize Yablo’s results along two dimensions. First, we study the behavior of generalized Yablo-series in which each sentence s(i) has the form: For Q k > i, s(k) is true, where Q is a generalized quantifier (e.g., no, every, infinitely many, etc). We show that under broad conditions all the sentences in the series must have the same truth value, and we derive a characterization of those values of Q for which the series is paradoxical. Second, we show that in the Strong Kleene trivalent logic Yablo’s results are a special case of a more general fact: under certain conditions, any semantic phenomenon that involves self-reference can be emulated without self-reference. Various translation procedures that eliminate self-reference from a non-quantificational language are defined and characterized. An Appendix sketches an extension to quantificational languages, as well as a new argument that Yablo’s paradox and the translations we offer do not involve self-reference.     

How We Conceptualize Our Attitudes Matters: The Effects of Valence Framing on the Resistance of Political Attitudes

Three studies tested the valence-framing effect: that merely conceptualizing one's preferences as opposing something will make that preference more resistant to persuasion than will thinking about the same preference in terms of supporting something . In Study 1, participants who were led to conceptualize their political preferences as being against a candidate were more resistant to a counterattitudinal message than were participants who were led to conceptualize the same preference as being in favor of the other candidate. Study 2 showed that this effect was not due to a priming process, while Study 3 provided evidence for the effect's generalizability.     

Effect of personal involvement in traumatic events on memory: The case of the Dolphinarium explosion

The association between memories of the terrorist explosion at the Dolphinarium discotheque in Tel Aviv and the level of personal involvement in the explosion was investigated. Memories of injured victims, uninjured eyewitnesses, and uninvolved controls who learned about the explosion from the mass media were compared. It was expected that memory of the explosion would be most and least detailed and accurate among the victims and the controls, respectively. The participants responded to an open-ended question about the explosion, as well as to specific and multiple-choice questions. Data analyses showed that the victims and the eyewitnesses remembered more details than the controls, and that the victims remembered both central and peripheral details more accurately than the other participants. Degree of involvement in the same traumatic experience was thus shown to be differentially associated with memory accuracy.     

The road to two theorems of logic

Work on how to axiomatize the subtheories of a first-order theory in which only a proper subset of their extra-logical vocabulary is being used led to a theorem on recursive axiomatizability and to an interpolation theorem for first-order logic. There were some fortuitous events and several logicians played a helpful role.     

Women’s Experiences of Female Ejaculation

Thirteen women responded to an open-ended questionnaire about their female ejaculation experiences. Responses are described from a phenomenological perspective. The major themes of responses include feelings of humiliation and shame or feelings of exploration and wonder, moving towards acceptance or acceptance tinged with resignation. Women explain their relationships to their bodies as well as their relationship to the ejaculation fluids and how this affects their sexual identities. The origins of their sexual fluids are mysterious. The stimulation needed for ejaculation differed among respondents, and was also found to occur separately from orgasm for some women. Ejaculation began at one of two distinct time points in the life course. This study supports the existence of female ejaculation as a common experience for some women, and proposes new areas for further exploration.