Dogmatic behavior among students: testing a new measure of dogmatism

The study tested the validity of a new measure of dogmatism by examining university students' evaluations of the Bible. Those who believed that every word in the Bible came directly from God and that the Bible is free of any error, contradiction, or inconsistency scored much higher on this dogmatism measure than students who thought otherwise. Such "true believers" then read the 4 highly varying Gospel accounts of the resurrection of Jesus. The most dogmatic of them still insisted there were no contradictions or inconsistencies in the Bible. The less dogmatic acknowledged that contradictions and inconsistencies exist. These results reinforce those of 4 earlier studies that indicated that the new measure of dogmatism has empirical validity.     

Mentor functions and outcomes: a comparison of men and women in formal and informal mentoring relationships.

The authors examined the effects of the type of mentoring relationship and the gender composition of the relationship on mentoring functions and career outcomes reported by 352 female and 257 male protégés. Protégés of informal mentors viewed their mentors as more effective and received greater compensation than protégés of formal mentors. Protégés with informal mentors also received more career outcomes than nonmentored individuals, but no significant differences were found between nonmentored and formally mentored individuals. The gender composition of the relationship affected mentoring functions and outcomes, and protégé gender interacted with the type of relationship to affect mentoring functions.     

Effects of dogmatism on state anxiety during the analysis and synthesis of new beliefs.

Investigated the concept of dogmatism as a defense mechanism and the role of threat in the synthesis of new beliefs by examining the effects of dogmatism on changes in state anxiety (A-State) during the analysis and synthesis of new beliefs. Sixty female college students were selected on the basis of extreme scores on the Dogmatism Scale and the trait anxiety (A-Trait) scale of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory to work on a task requiring the analysis and synthesis of new beliefs. In support of Rokeach's theory, high dogmatics displayed no change in A-State from the analysis to the synthesis period of the task, while low dogmatics exhibited a significant decline in A-State between the two periods. The clinical implications of these findings were discussed in terms of the role of dogmatism in the processing of personality interpretations and test feedback.     

Childhood abuse and spiritual development among women religious

Childhood abuse is known to have a negative influence on human development. This study expected to find a spiritual attitude of acceptance, as measured by the Ego Grasping Orientation scale, would help mitigate effects of childhood abuse in the realm of spiritual development. Spiritual Experience Index (SEI) scores for 350 religious women were treated as a measure of spiritual maturity. Contrary to expectation, however, the sexually and the physically abused groups with a more accepting attitude scored lower on the SEI than the abused with a more controlling attitude and the nonabused. Implications for spiritual development and well-being are discussed.     

Effects of reviewing risk-relevant behavior on perceived vulnerability among women marines

People generally underestimate their own vulnerability to negative events such as illness or accidents. It has been suggested that this illusion of "unique invulnerability" is due to selective focus on one's own risk-reducing behaviors, to the exclusion of others' risk-reducing behaviors and one's own risk-increasing behaviors. The current study examined the effects of reviewing sexual and contraceptive behavior on perceived vulnerability to unplanned pregnancy. Our results indicated that review of pregnancy-related behaviors decreased perceived vulnerability among two groups of subjects: those who considered unplanned pregnancy to be most undesirable and those who had the most confidence in the efficacy of their contraceptive behavior. The data also support the hypothesis that selective focus is a source of the illusion of invulnerability.     

A cognitive approach to dogmatism: An investigation into the relationship of verbal working memory and dogmatism

This study investigated the relationship of working memory to open and closed belief systems. Two hundred college students completed a working memory span test to measure verbal working memory, and Rokeach’s Dogmatism Scale (1956). Regression analysis was undertaken to determine the contribution of verbal working memory to dogmatism. A negative correlation was found between dogmatism scores and working memory scores (p = .002) confirming the hypothesis that those participants who display a larger working memory capacity would show lower levels of dogmatic beliefs than participants displaying a smaller working memory capacity. Error analysis was employed to determine the significance of inhibition processes; indicating that capacity limits in verbal working memory, and not processing deficits, were primarily responsible for poor working memory scores. Dogmatism was not found to be related to gender, age, ethnicity, religious affiliation, academic major, or level of education.     

The relationships among cognitive development,locus of control,and gender

Research has shown that perhaps 50% of all adults in this country are not able to perform abstract reasoning tasks described as formal opertions in the Piagetian cognitive developmental framework. Abstract reasoning is related to an individual's ability to perceive contingencies between their actions and subsequent outcomes. This pattern is seen as crucial for the development of an internal locus of control. Fifty-eight male and female undergraduates completed the Rotter Internal-External scale and a Cognitive Developmental Level assessment. For women, a highly significant inverse relationship was demonstrated between cognitive developmental level and locus of control. Women with higher levels of cognitive development were more likely to be internal. For men, no such relationship was found. Such results suggest that locus of control develops differently in men and women.     

Formal and informal classroom settings: Effects on hyperactivity

The behavior of hyperactive children was compared to controls in two different classroom settings. One setting (Informal) involved choice and variety of tasks; the other setting (Formal) involved teacher specification of a small number of tasks. As assessed by a composite observational measure of hyperactivity, there were significant differences between the hyperactive and control groups in the Formal but not in the Informal setting. Analyses of five individual categories of hyperactive behavior showed that, with one exception, the hyperactive group tended to display higher frequencies of behavior than did controls in both settings. For two of the categories, the difference between the groups was significantly larger in the Formal than in the Informal setting. Finally, a modified observational code was suggested that differentiated hyperactives from controls equally in the two settings.     

Effects of social media use on desire for cosmetic surgery among young women

Current Psychology - A large body of research has documented the influence of traditional media formats (e.g. television programs, adverts) on young women’s consideration of cosmetic surgery....     

To rebuild lives: a longitudinal study of the influences of the Holocaust on relationships among three generations of women in one family

The current article presents an analysis of the life stories of three generations of women within a family headed by a Holocaust survivor. Its uniqueness lies in its double analysis of the stories told by these women, with an interval of 12 years between telling. The first series of interviews were conducted in the early 1990s within the framework of a pioneering study in which, for the first time, three generations in each of 20 families were interviewed and their narratives analyzed. The current analyses are based on the perspective that, through life narratives, it is possible to view the transformations of relationships over time and that these transformations in relationships are central to personal development. We will examine the relationships of the women in these three generations, both with significant others and with each other. We will trace processes of development and changes in these relationships over the 12 years. Finally, we will discuss the social and methodological implications of our study.     

Gender and social relationships among the never-married

This research explores the social networks among the growing numbers of men and women who have never married. We use a representative sample of 193 never-married men and 217 never-married women, of whom 73% of the men and 60% women of the were white and 16% of the men and 20% of the women were black. We hypothesize that single women have a more extensive social network than do men. Second, we investigate the impact of gender roles and norms of filial responsibility and selected sociodemographic variables upon social interaction by gender. Our findings indicate that gender differences are not as anticipated: (1) while never-married women interact more frequently with relatives than do never-married men, no differences were noted among friendship or neighborhood networks; (2) time spent in social interaction was more likely to differ by marital status than it was by gender; (3) compared to married persons, the never-married are overrepresented in the extreme categories of interaction, both isolated and very active; (4) gender role ideology and filial responsibility did not significantly predict social interaction for either men or women, with the exception that, among never-married men, those with lower expectations of filial responsibility spent more time with friends.The National Survey of Families and Households was funded by a grant (HD21009) from the Center for Population Research of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. The survey was designed and carried out at the Center for Demography and Ecology at the University of Wisconsin—Madison under the direction of Larry Bumpass and James Sweet. The fieldwork was done by the Institute for Survey Research at Temple University. The original collectors of the data do not bear any responsibility for the analyses or the interpretations presented here.     

Power in relationships of women with depression

To identify marital power difficulties specifically associated with depression, twenty couples in which the female partner was depressed were compared on a range of interpersonal power variables with twenty healthy control couples and also with twenty couples in which the female partner had a disorder other than depression (specifically panic disorder with agoraphobia (PDA)). Couples in the depressed group had two features that distinguished them from couples in both the PDA and control groups and which were independent of relationship dissatisfaction. In the depressed group, both partners reported more physical assault in the year prior to the study and depressed women were more dissatisfied with their control of surplus spending money. Couples in the depressed group had a series of features that distinguished them from couples in both the PDA and control groups but which were due in part to relationship dissatisfaction. Depressed women were less committed to their relationships. Both partners in depressed couples reported more demand–withdraw transactions and less mutual constructive communication within their relationships. Depressed women reported more dissatisfaction with decision-making and greater dissatisfaction in childcare task distribution.     

Stimulus familiarity,dogmatism, and the duration of attention

Thirtyeight males and 30 females viewed each of 30 black and white photographs for as long as they wished. Half the photographs were judged by the Es to be unfamiliar to college students. The remaining photographs were judged to be familiar. After the looking task all Ss cotnpleted the Dogmatism Scale. It was predicted that the open-minded Ss would spend more time looking at the novel stimuli than the closed-minded Ss, and, that all Ss would spend more time looking at novel stimuli than familiar stimuli. The results failed to confirm the hypothesis that open-minded Ss would look longer at the novel stimuli than closed-minded Ss. However, it was found that Ss spent more time looking at novel stimuli than familiar stimuli regardless of the degree to which their belief systems were opened or closed. The adwwtage of manipulating stimulus familiarity by E-selection of the stimuli was discussed.