Diagnostic Sex-Role Bias and its relation to authoritarianism,Sex-Role Attitudes,and sex of the school psychologist

At the 1973 National Association of School Psychologists' Convention (NASP) in New York City, a national sample of 120 school psychologists (61 female, 59 male), were asked to participate in a survey measuring a wide spectrum of their attitudes. The Chasen Diagnostic Sex-Role Bias scale, consisting of eight equated “somewhat unhealthy” case histories of active and passive girls and boys, developed and validated for this study, was administered with the Trachtman Authoritarianism Scale, and the Hymer Sex-Role Attitude Scale. For the total group, authoritarianism and sex-role attitudes are not related to Diagnostic Sex-Role Bias, yet males with traditional sex-role attitudes exhibit Diagnostic Sex-Role Bias and males with untraditional sex-role attitudes exhibit counterstereotypic Diagnostic Sex-Role Bias. The sex of the school psychologist is related to Diagnostic Sex-Role Bias; that is, male school psychologists do not exhibit Diagnostic Sex-Role Bias, while female school psychologists exhibit counterstereotypic Diagnostic Sex-Role Bias. Females are most accepting of active girls, which may be considered a compensatory diagnostic mechanism to counteract stereotyping.     

Anger assessment and its relation to self-report of aggressive behavior

The effectiveness of anger assessment in classifying self-report of aggressive behavior was examined using a sample of normal college students. Paper-and-pencil measures of anger (Novaco Anger Inventory and Spielberger's Trait Anger scale) were not effective in accurately classifying subjects high and low in self-report of aggressive behavior. Explanations of this finding were discussed.     

Functional analysis of self-injurious behavior and its relation to self-restraint

Some individuals who engage in self-injurious behavior (SIB) also exhibit self-restraint. In the present study, a series of three functional analyses were conducted to determine the variables that maintained a participant's SIB, one without restraint items available, one with a preferred and effective form of self-restraint (an airplane pillow) available noncontingently, and one with this item delivered contingent on SIB. Results suggested that SIB was reinforced by escape and by access to self-restraint materials, self-restraint appeared to be maintained by automatic reinforcement, and continuous access to highly preferred restraint materials effectively suppressed SIB.     

Right-wing authoritarianism,political affiliation,religiosity, and their relation to psychological androgyny

The authoritarian personality is characterized by a traditional attitude towards gender roles that reflects its conservative ideology [T. W. Adorno, E. Frenkel-Brunswik, D. J. Levinson, and R. N. Sanford (1950) The Authoritarian Personality, New York: Norton]. The present study investigated the relationship between S. L. Bem's [(1974) sex roles The Measurement of Psychological Androgyny, Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, Vol. 42, pp. 155–162], on the one hand, and right-wing authoritarianism [RWA; B. Altemeyer (1988) Enemies of Freedom: Understanding Right-Wing Authoritarianism, San Francisco], political affiliation, and religiosity level, on the other. Subjects were 365 Jewish undergraduate students (227 women and 138 men) at a number of universities; 81 were second generation Israelis, 90 were children of Ashkenazic parents, 75 were children of Sephardic parents, and 113 were children of parents from mixed background. They completed Altemeyer's RWA scale and a shortened version of Bem's Sex Role Inventory. Political affiliation and religiosity level (variables strongly linked to the authoritarian personality theory) were also measured. Among women, the RWA mean score of the cross-sex typed subjects was significantly lower than that of the sex-typed and the undifferentiated subjects, and most of the cross-sex typed women supported the political left and defined themselves as secular, while among men, no statistically significant RWA, political affiliation, and religiosity differences were found between Bem's four personality types. These results highlight gender differences in the relationships between authoritarian personality and gender-role identification. While it seems that cross-sex-typed women tend to rebel against the status quo, the question of why similar patterns do not appear among men still remains open to speculation.     

Reactions to an offense in relation to authoritarianism,knowledge about risk,and freedom of action

This research investigated a situation where a fictitious company distributed contaminated meat that led to serious food poisoning. Participants (N = 241) responded to scenarios that varied information about knowledge of risk (aware, unaware) and freedom of action (free to act, constrained by higher authority). They provided judgments concerning compliance, foreseeability, negligence, recklessness, seriousness of offense, responsibility, deservingness, anger, sympathy, harshness/leniency of penalty, compensation, jail sentence, and community service. They also completed Altemeyer's Right‐Wing Authoritarianism Scale. Results implied that high authoritarians were less sensitive and less responsive to information about the risk of contamination and more sensitive and more responsive to information about constraints from the higher authority when compared with low authoritarians. These interaction effects involving authoritarianism and the two contextual variables occurred for judgments that related to the organizations and to the executive officers within them. These differences in the reactions of high and low authoritarians to the contextual cues were interpreted as reflecting the effects of value differences and possible differences in the way information was subsequently processed. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Generality of test-session observations to kindergarteners' classroom behavior

Test observations are integral components in the comprehensive assessment of children's academic talents and personal adjustment. They are used to validate standardized test scores obtained during test sessions and to draw inferences about children's general pattern of learning and social adjustment. Unfortunately, little empirical justification exists for extending inferences beyond the confines of test sessions. This issue was examined with 155 kindergarten children using the Stanford Binet Observation Schedule (SBOS), a popular instrument for the summative integration of test-session observations. Children's ratings on the SBOS were used to estimate teacher-observed behavior on the Guide to the Child's Learning Style (GCLS). SBOS and GCLS scores were subjected to independent principal components analyses with varimax rotation and, thereafter, to a joint canonical variance analysis. Weighted factor composites from two SBOS dimensions constituted the predictor data set and three GCLS dimensions the criterion data set. Although multivariate statistical significance was achieved (=.834, F (6, 200)=3.18, p<.005), cannonical redundancy showed merely 9.4% of classroom behavior predictable from test-session. Results are examined in light of research on the situational specificity of behavior.The authors gratefully acknowledge Gema Barkanic for her assistance with the data analysis.     

Involuntary subordination and its relation to personality, mood, and submissive behavior

According to social rank theory, involuntary subordination may be adaptive in species that compete for resources as a mechanism to switch off fighting behaviors when loss is imminent (thus saving an organism from injury). In humans, major depression is thought to occur when involuntary subordination becomes prolonged. The present study sought to operationalize involuntary subordination. Study 1 involved a reanalysis of a Gilbert and Allan (1998) study, with the hypothesis that social comparison (i.e., perceived status), submissive behavior, feelings of defeat, and entrapment would load on a common factor (interpreted as involuntary subordination). Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis supported this model. In Study 2 measures of these same variables were administered to a group of undergraduate students. Eight items were selected from each measure (on the basis of item-total correlations) to form the Involuntary Subordination Questionnaire (ISQ). In Study 3 scores on the ISQ showed high levels of internal consistency and test-retest reliability in a sample of undergraduate students. Scores on the ISQ were significantly positively correlated with various neurotic personality styles and negatively correlated with variables indicating dominance or mastery. Involuntary subordination scores also significantly predicted change in social anxiety symptoms over 9 weeks. In Study 4 scores on the ISQ were examined in relation to nonverbal behaviors. In men, the ISQ was correlated with behaviors indicating a lack of confidence and submissiveness. Involuntary subordination appears to be a relatively stable trait with implications for personality, mood, and real-world behavior.     

Children's knowledge of deceptive gaze cues and its relation to their actual lying behavior

Eye gaze plays a pivotal role during communication. When interacting deceptively, it is commonly believed that the deceiver will break eye contact and look downward. We examined whether children’s gaze behavior when lying is consistent with this belief. In our study, 7- to 15-year-olds and adults answered questions truthfully (Truth questions) or untruthfully (Lie questions) or answered questions that required thinking (Think questions). Younger participants (7- and 9-year-olds) broke eye contact significantly more when lying compared with other conditions. Also, their averted gaze when lying differed significantly from their gaze display in other conditions. In contrast, older participants did not differ in their durations of eye contact or averted gaze across conditions. Participants’ knowledge about eye gaze and deception increased with age. This knowledge significantly predicted their actual gaze behavior when lying. These findings suggest that with increased age, participants became increasingly sophisticated in their use of display rule knowledge to conceal their deception.     

Self-observation and the reduction of inappropriate classroom behavior

In an effort to reduce disrurtive classroom behavior, five students attending a school for behavior-disordered youth were shown edited videotapes depicting themselves or a peer appropriately engaged in classroom activities. Effects were idiosyncratic across students, the most significant effects occuring for the self-observation procedure. The results of the present study are compared with other similar investigations.