Gender differences in mathematics anxiety: An artifact of response bias?

Abstract

Females are more likely than males to report anxiety about mathematics. Hunsley and Flessati (1988) examined two explanations for this difference: the sex-role socialization hypothesis, which states that gender differences occur as a result of differences in socialization, and the math experiences hypothesis, which states that math anxiety is due to previous experiences with mathematics, regardless of gender. They found support only for the math experiences hypothesis, and suggested that the gender difference in math anxiety may be an artifact of response bias.

The present study replicated the Hunsley and Flessati study and included an evaluation of response bias. One hundred and fifty Introductory Psychology students completed a series of questionnaires examining mathematics anxiety, attitudes and mathematical background. The findings of Hunsley and Flessati were replicated, however no evidence was found for a gender-linked response bias. An alternative explanation for the gender difference in math anxiety is proposed based on the finding that females are more self-critical.     

Individual differences in object-examining duration: do they reflect the use of different encoding strategies?

Much evidence has shown that individual differences in the duration of visual fixation in infancy are related to processing of wholistic versus featural properties of the stimuli. In the present study, an object-examining technique was used with 8-month-old infants to test the hypothesis that infants who display differential attention durations to visuo-manually presented stimuli will vary in their processing of wholistic versus featural aspects of the stimuli. The results confirmed the hypothesis, indicating that, after being familiarized with an object comprised of both global and local properties, long examiners attended more to an object comprised of new-local rather than new-global aspects, whereas short examiners attended more to the new-global rather than the new-local object. These findings provide support to the contention of the existence of close similarities between visual fixation and object-examining measures as indexes of infant information processing, extending the convergences between the two measures to the domain of individual differences.     

Are the times changing? An analysis of gender differences in sexual graffiti

This study examined the assumption that the gender gap has narrowed over time in the writing of sexual graffiti from male and female bathrooms of five colleges and universities in 1972 and 1984. In both studies, female graffiti, in relation to male graffiti, made fewer sexual references. In addition, female graffiti were more socially acceptable in regard to langauge and content. Overall, these results suggest that the decade of the 1970s may have had little or no impact on the pattern of gender differences in the sexual content and social acceptability of wall writings.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the annual meeting of the Society for the Study of Social Problems, August 26, 1985.     

An emerging postural response: is control of the hip possible in the newly walking child?

Previous researchers have proposed that because of their slow muscle-response latencies, 1- to 2-year-old children are unable to control hip-dominant postural responses when responding to balance threats (G. McCollum & T. Leen, 1989). To test that proposition, the authors exposed 41 children to backward support-surface translations and recorded muscle activations and movement kinematics. Children between 10 months and 10 years of age stood on a platform that was unexpectedly moved. Passive hip-dominant responses were observed among the least experienced walkers. In contrast, older children produced an active response, signified by higher levels of abdominal and quadriceps muscle activity and accompanied by larger hip flexor torques. Greater success in withstanding large magnitudes of perturbations were associated with actively generated hip responses.     

An examination of individual differences in the relation of subjective goal difficulty to performance in a goal‐setting model

A laboratory study investigated individual differences in the role of subjective goal difficulty as a mediating variable in a goal‐setting framework. A moderate or difficult anagram goal was assigned to participants based on individual task ability level. For individuals receiving a difficult goal 3 mediating relations and 1 moderator were found. For individuals receiving only moderately difficult goals, only 1 mediating relation was supported. Results are discussed with respect to goal‐setting theory.     

Two meanings of “if”? Individual differences in the interpretation of conditionals

This work investigates the nature of two distinct response patterns in a probabilistic truth table evaluation task, in which people estimate the probability of a conditional on the basis of frequencies of the truth table cases. The conditional-probability pattern reflects an interpretation of conditionals as expressing a conditional probability. The conjunctive pattern suggests that some people treat conditionals as conjunctions, in line with a prediction of the mental-model theory. Experiments 1 and 2 rule out two alternative explanations of the conjunctive pattern. It does not arise from people believing that at least one case matching the conjunction of antecedent and consequent must exist for a conditional to be true, and it does not arise from people adding the converse to the given conditional. Experiment 3 establishes that people's response patterns in the probabilistic truth table task are very consistent across different conditionals, and that the two response patterns generalize to conditionals with negated antecedents and consequents. Individual differences in rating the probability of a conditional were loosely correlated with corresponding response patterns in a classical truth table evaluation task, but there was little association with people's evaluation of deductive inferences from conditionals as premises. A theoretical framework is proposed that integrates elements from the conditional-probability view with the theory of mental models.     

An Explanation of “Emotional” Phenomena without the use of the Concept “Emotion”

This study investigated the joint influence of total presentation time (10, 20, or 30 seconds) and method of reading (paced, normal linguistic breaks, or atypical linguistic breaks) on the learning of a 25 words-in-length passage of connected discourse. The material was presented orally and the recall was written. The finding of major importance was the significant influence of method of reading on total learning time.     

Testing the cognitive catalyst model of depression: does rumination amplify the impact of cognitive diatheses in response to stress?

Recent studies have found that rumination functions as a catalyst of cognitive vulnerability to depression. Specifically, these studies have reported synergistic effects between rumination and negative cognitive content (beliefs and attitudes), such that rumination amplifies the association between negative cognitive content and depression (Ciesla & Roberts, 2002, 2007; Robinson & Alloy, 2003). The current study extended this work by testing whether cognitive vulnerability involving the combination of negative cognitive content and rumination increases the impact of stress on the course of depressive symptoms. One hundred ninety-one college students with elevated depressive symptoms participated in a two-wave longitudinal study. Results indicate that the maintenance of depressive symptoms was predicted by the three-way interaction of negative cognitive content, rumination, and stressful life events. More specifically, students who endorsed both maladaptive cognitive content and a tendency to ruminate were particularly vulnerable to the deleterious impact of life stress.     

An evaluation of the Brief Symptom Inventory-18 using item response theory: which items are most strongly related to psychological distress?

The psychometric structure of the Brief Symptom Inventory-18 (BSI-18; Derogatis, 2001) was investigated using Mokken scaling and parametric item response theory. Data of 487 outpatients, 266 students, and 207 prisoners were analyzed. Results of the Mokken analysis indicated that the BSI-18 formed a strong Mokken scale for outpatients and prisoners, indicating strong unidimensionality. For students, only the depression and anxiety items formed a medium Mokken scale. Parametric item response theory analyses showed that the best discriminating items came from the depression and anxiety subscales.     

An investigation of the use of linguistic probes “by” and “in order to” in assessing moral grammar

Proponents of the linguistic analogy suggest that methodologies originally developed for investigating linguistic grammar can also be fruitfully applied to the empirical study of moral grammar: the causal and intentional representations of moral events which – according to the linguistic analogy – drive moral judgements. In the current study, we put this claim to the empirical test. Participants were presented with moral dilemmas which previously have been shown to implement a central principle in moral judgements: the principle of double effect (PDE). Participants responded to by and in order to probes to assess causal and intentional representations of this principle. Results show that these linguistic probes do not relate to moral judgement in the manner predicted by proponents of the linguistic analogy and moral grammar. Although the linguistic analogy is a theoretically rich framework, the procedures posited to give it empirical traction require revision.     

Variations in use of the term “or”

Two studies showed that adults' responses to questions involving the term or varied markedly depending upon the type of question presented. When presented with various objects (A's and B's) and asked to circle all things which are A or B subjects tended to circle A's as well as B's, whereas when asked to circle all the A's or B's subjects showed a relatively stronger tendency to circle one or the other. Moreover the nature of the sets of objects (As and Bs) influenced behavior as well. There was also evidence that the effects due to question wording or set type transferred.     

Categorical perception of facial expressions: Evidence for a “category adjustment” model

Four experiments probed the nature of categorical perception (CP) for facial expressions. A model based on naming alone failed to accurately predict performance onthese tasks. The data are instead consistentwith an extension of the category adjustment model (Huttenlocher et al., 2000), in which the generation of a verbal code (e.g., "happy") activated knowledge ofthe expression category's range andcentral tendency (prototype) in memory, which was retained as veridical perceptual memory faded.Further support for amemory bias toward the category center came from a consistently asymmetric pattern of within-category errors. Verbal interference in the retention interval selectively removed CP for facial expressions, under blocked, but not under randomized presentation conditions. However, verbal interference at encoding removed CPeven under randomized conditions and these effects were shown to extend even to caricatured expressions, which lie outside the normal range of expression categories.     

Job demands–resources model in the context of recovery: Testing recovery experiences as mediators

The aim of the present study was to extend the original Job Demands–Resources (JD-R) model by taking into account recovery as an important mediation mechanism between work characteristics and well-being/ill-health. Specifically, we examined whether recovery experiences—strategies promoting recovery—might have a mediating role in the JD-R model among 527 employees from a variety of different jobs. The results showed that psychological detachment fully mediated the effects of job demands on fatigue at work and mastery partially mediated the effects of job resources on work engagement. Altogether, the results suggest that recovery merits consideration as a mediating mechanism in the JD-R model.     

Reliability as a function of the number of item options derived from the “knowledge or random guessing” model

For (0, 1) scored multiple-choice tests, a formula giving test reliability as a function of the number of item options is derived, assuming the knowledge or random guessing model, the parallelism of the new and old tests (apart from the guessing probability), and the assumptions of classical test theory. It is shown that the formula is a more general case of an equation by Lord, and reduces to Lord's equation if the items are effectively parallel. Further, the formula is shown to be closely related to another formula derived from Lord's randomly parallel tests model.     

Analysis of group differences in processing speed: Where are the models of processing?

Recently, Myerson, Adams, Hale, and Jenkins (2003) replied to arguments advanced by Ratcliff, Spieler, and McKoon (2000) about interpretations of Brinley functions. Myerson et al. (2003) focused on methodological and terminological issues, arguing that (1) Brinley functions are not quantile-quantile (QQ) plots of distributions of mean reaction times (RTs) across conditions; that the fact that the slope of a Brinley function is the ratio of the standard deviations of the two distributions of means has no implications for the use of slope as a measure of processing speed; that the ratio of slopes of RT functions for older and young subjects plotted against independent variables equals the Brinley function slope; and that speed-accuracy criterion effects do not account for slowing with age. We reply by showing that Brinley functions are plots of quantiles against quantiles; that the slope is best estimated by the ratio of standard deviations because there is variability in the distributions of mean RTs for both older and young subjects; that the interpretation of equality of the slopes Brinley functions and plots of RTs against independent variables in terms of processing speed is model dependent; and that speed-accuracy effects in some, but not all, experiments are solely responsible for Brinley slopes greater than 1. We conclude by reiterating the point that was not addressed in Myerson et al. (2003), that the goal of research should be modelbased accounts of processing that deal with correct and error RT distributions and accuracy.     

Does Dispositional Aggression Feed the Narcissistic Response? The Role of Narcissism and Aggression in the Prediction of Job Attitudes and Counterproductive Work Behaviors

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to extend the personality and work-related outcomes literature by examining: (1) the effects of narcissism on job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and counterproductive work behaviors and (2) the moderating effects of dispositional aggression on the narcissism–counterproductive work behaviors relationship.

Design/Methodology/Approach

Multi-wave data were collected from 381 workers employed in a variety of work settings within the United States.

Findings

Narcissism had consistent main effects on job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and counterproductive work behaviors after controlling for the personality characteristics agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and aggression. Aggression moderated the relationship between narcissism and counterproductive work behaviors, such that the positive relationship between narcissism and counterproductive work behaviors was stronger when dispositional aggression was high.

Implications

This study provides greater clarity regarding the role of narcissism within job attitudes and behaviors, shows that dispositional aggression strengthens or amplifies the narcissistic response for counterproductive work behaviors, and provides a platform to further explore narcissism and aggression within the workplace.

Originality/Value

This study found that narcissism consistently predicted unique variance in work-related criteria after the effects of agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and aggression were controlled. It also found evidence that aggression moderates the effects of narcissism on counterproductive work behaviors. This study is the first to directly examine these effects.