The Sexual Double Standard: Fact or Fiction?

In contemporary society it is widely believed that men are socially rewarded for sexual activity, whereas women are derogated for sexual activity. To determine whether a sexual double standard exists, both undergraduate (n = 144) and Internet (n = 8,080) participants evaluated experimental targets who were described as either male or female and as having a variable number of sexual partners. Targets were more likely to be derogated as the number of sexual partners increased, and this effect held for both male and female targets. These results suggest that, although people do evaluate others as a function of sexual activity, people do not necessarily hold men and women to different sexual standards.     

Campus Student Suicide Rates: Fact or Artifact?

A review of all English-language studies (14 foreign and 17 American) on campus student suicides was undertaken. Only studies reporting original data and containing sufficient demographic information to compute standard mortality rates (SMR) or crude suicide rates were analyzed and organized into single-site studies. Only 4 single-site studies had a higher suicide rate than the comparable populations. Multiple-site collaborative studies done in the United States since 1960 strongly suggest a campus student suicide rate significantly less than in the matched control population. However, deficiencies in case finding, case definition, sampling bias, and statistical techniques may place these conclusions in doubt. The author outlines research methods that might be applied to future multiple-site studies to resolve questions related to late adolescent and young adult suicidal behavior on campus and in other similar educational settings.     

Generational Differences in Work Ethic: Fact or Fiction?

Even though stereotypes suggest that older generational cohorts (e.g., Baby Boomers) endorse higher levels of work ethic than younger generations (e.g., Millennials), both the academic literature and popular press have found mixed evidence as to whether or not generational differences actually exist. To examine whether generational differences exist in work ethic, a dataset was compiled (k = 105) of all published studies that provided an average sample age and average work ethic score, with each sample becoming an observation, and being assigned a generational cohort based upon the average age of the sample. Three hierarchical multiple regressions found no effect of generational cohort on work ethic endorsement. In two of the three phases, results found a main effect of sample type, such that industry samples had higher work ethic endorsement than student samples. Implications for applied practitioners and future research streams for generational and work ethic research are discussed.     

Conformity Bias: A Fact or an Experimental Artifact?

Upon exploring social psychology’s treatment of the term social influence, a skew towards conformity is noted. This skew points to the tendency of amplifying the effect of conformity and minimizing any other form of social influence and has been termed ‘conformity bias’. This review explores the concept of conformity and tries to examine what conformity entails and how it has been understood (and often misunderstood). It is observed that conformity is not a unitary concept and has various facets to it. Besides identifying key disciplinary features such as methodology and ideology that may be possible causes of this skew, implications of this bias are discussed. Failure to identify and move beyond conformity bias may lead to failure in recognizing real social issues. Therefore, it becomes imperative that researchers be wary of this bias and take steps to consciously overcome it.     

Cotherapist modeling in group psychotherapy: Fact or fantasy?

This study examines ratings of cotherapist self-disclosure furnished by members in 20 outpatient groups. Clients completed a specially designed measure to assess three dimensions of therapist transparency: positive or negative valence, low or high risk, and the target of the disclosure, namely, the individual members, the group as a whole, the therapist her/himself, or the co-leader. Exploration of the frequency of therapist-to-therapist disclosure provided an evaluation of the modeling hypothesis that is so prevalent in the literature. The findings demonstrate that although the overall level of therapist self-disclosure was quite low, results were consistent with expectations showing that most of the personal comments were positive, low risk, and rarely directed to the cotherapist. The viability of the modeling concept in co-led groups is challenged.     

Aversive functions of response effort: Fact or artifact?

Historically, effort has been viewed as aversive. Most supporting evidence comes from studies demonstrating increased force/effort requirements reduce operant responding. Changes in force/effort requirements, however, are often accompanied by changes in response definition when mechanical devices are used to define the response. As a consequence, responses measured at one point in a study may go unmeasured at other points. In an alternative approach, we used a continuous measurement strategy that provided a means to fix the threshold force defining the response class and simultaneously allowed independent manipulation of the force criteria required to produce reinforcement. Rats pressed a force transducer according to a fixed‐ratio 5 schedule of food delivery. The criterion force was systematically increased and decreased; the threshold for response detection was constant. When response rates included only criterion responses, overall rate decreased when force requirements increased. By contrast, when all responses, both those meeting force criteria and those that did not (above the threshold but below the criteria for reinforcement) were included in the rate calculation, increases in force increased response rate. Increases in force criteria also increased the maximum force (g) and time‐integral of force (g‐s) of operant behavior. Control conditions showed increases in responding could be explained by the emergence of subcriterion responses, irrespective of force. We conclude that prior results showing effort decreases response rates are due to an artifact arising from inadvertent changes in response definitions. Increases in effort may better be understood as changes in the response:reinforcer payoff owing to the emergence of a subcriterion response class.     

Sex differences in college student-teacher interactions: Fact or fantasy?

On-site observations analyzing student-teacher interaction for 50 college classes, matched by level, subject, and teacher's sex, revealed no difference in number and type of interactions in which male and female students participated. In female-taught classes, style differences were found: Male students' interactions were characterized by more student-teacher exchanges than females' interactions. From student questionnaires, differences in office visitation patterns were revealed, showing an apparent relationship to sex: Female students visited more female than male instructors. However, closer examination showed the student's major to be the key variable influencing visitation patterns. Results point to the need for testing a variety of variables in addition to sex before drawing conclusions about sex-related behavior.Ordering of authors was determined alphabetically. A CETA special project grant from the King-Snohomish Manpower Consortium (P. Dee Boersma, principal investigator) funded the research. The authors thank the Institute for Environmental Studies for providing space.     

Similarity Bias and Ratings of Applicants: Fact or Artifact?

The present study investigated the relationship between similarity of self-reported biodata and recruiter ratings of applicant job preparedness. Subjects included 108 dyads, each composed of a corporate recruiter and a university student applying for a position posted by the recruiter's company. Because no effect of similarity bias was found, the results challenged the generalizability of previous laboratory study findings. The question of possible experimental design artifacts in prior field studies was also raised.     

Women's Interests—Fact or Fiction?

The data used in this study were made available through the Center for Interest Measurement Research and the Student Counseling Bureau, University of Minnesota. Computer analysis was provided by the Numerical Analysis Center, University of Minnesota. While attempting to increase the number of A and B+ scores on the women's SVIB by varying the composition of the criterion group on marital status, it was found that the desired effect was achieved by using a different item selection and weighting system from Strong's original one and not by varying the marital status of the criterion group. The experimental scoring keys developed in the study also acted selectively on original scores of B and B—, raising or lowering them, and generally reducing their number. These findings went beyond the original hypotheses and intent of the study and suggested an explanation for the apparent heterogeneity of women's interests and the resulting difficulty in measuring them.     

Agreeable fancy or disagreeable truth? Reconciling self-enhancement and self-verification

Three studies asked why people sometimes seek positive feedback (self-enhance) and sometimes seek subjectively accurate feedback (self-verify). Consistent with self-enhancement theory, people with low self-esteem as well as those with high self-esteem indicated that they preferred feedback pertaining to their positive rather than negative self-views. Consistent with self-verification theory, the very people who sought favorable feedback pertaining to their positive self-conceptions sought unfavorable feedback pertaining to their negative self-views, regardless of their level of global self-esteem. Apparently, although all people prefer to seek feedback regarding their positive self-views, when they seek feedback regarding their negative self-views, they seek unfavorable feedback. Whether people self-enhance or self-verify thus seems to be determined by the positivity of the relevant self-conceptions rather than their level of self-esteem or the type of person they are.     

The Animus: Help or Hindrance?

The “masculine” side of the woman’s psyche is seen as carrying two kinds of energy: drive, aggressiveness, and self-assertion as well as objectivity, consciousness, and concern with meaning and spiritual values. The need for (and problems with) becoming aware of these basic energies are discussed, using many contemporary examples.     

The fundamental: Ungrounded or all-grounding?

Philosophical Studies - Fundamentality plays a pivotal role in discussions of ontology, supervenience, and possibility, and other key topics in metaphysics. However, there are two...     

Hyperactivity from fluorescent lighting — Fact or fancy: A commentary on the report by O'Leary,Rosenbaum, and Hughes

The following commentary is designed to explain the experimental differences between the foregoing negative article by O'Leary, Rosenbaum, and Hughes and the original articles in this field, whose results were positive. These differences fall under the general categories of subjects, lights, measurements, and design.     

Fatigue and Quality of Life in Hepatitis C: Fact or Fiction?

The chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) has traditionally been impossible to treat. Recently there has been increased attention in the treatment of HCV due to the development of drug treatments (i.e., Interferon and Ribavirin). As clinical attention to the assessment and treatment of HCV has increased, the issue of fatigue has become a central concern. Fatigue is one of the major symptoms reported by those suffering from HCV but it is not clear whether fatigue should be treated as a major symptom that is an important focus on attention or if it is a minor and irrelevant concern. In this paper, we examine the issues of fatigue in HCV in light of the importance of health-related quality of life in HCV. We present evidence to suggest that fatigue is a major issue that warrants clinical attention. We also propose that fatigue be reconceptualized as lassitude and provide an operationalized definition of dysfunctional lassitude, a new clinical construct that may have value as a psychological diagnosis. The purpose of this paper is to provide those interested in psychological issues in HCV, and chronic illnesses for which fatigue is a major symptom, guidelines for future clinical and research efforts.     

Sex differences in motor performance of young children: Fact or fiction?

Prepubescent boys and girls who had participated for one or more years in a coeducational physical education program were classified by grade (3, 4, and 5) and year (1977, 1978, and 1979). Scores from the AAHPER Youth Fitness Test were analyzed for differences. Results indicated that females at prepubescent ages may be expected to perform at similar levels to boys of the same age on most test items. While differences were not significant, girls in 1979 were actually better than boys of the same age from the two previous years.     

Multipotential Abilities and Vocational Interests in Gifted Adolescents: Fact or Fiction?

The widely held view that highly intellectually gifted adolescents are multipotential in their abilities and career interests was investigated in two samples (N = 322 and N = 217) of gifted high school seniors. Three measures of intellectual abilities—verbal, mathematical, and mechanical—and a measure of vocational interest based upon nonacademic talented activities and accomplishments that yielded scores for vocational interest in three areas—Science, Social, and Artistic—were administered. Contrary to the widely held view, a very large proportion of intellectually gifted adolescents reported a differentiated pattern of both abilities and interests, and a very small proportion reported the expected high-flat ability and interest profiles. The findings suggest that the working assumptions of career education and counselling of intellectually gifted adolescents should perhaps be reconsidered.     

Method factors associated with assessment of child behavior: Fact or artifact?

A sample of 64 phobic children between the ages of 6 and 16, with their general population matched controls, were rated by parents on the Louisville Behavior Check List and Louisville Fear Survey and by teachers on the School Behavior Check List. The analysis of ratings by factor analysis revealed three instrument factors while a multiple discriminant analysis elicited a multidimensional phobic trait that crossed observers, situations, and instruments. The results are discussed in terms of the implications for multivariant analysis of behavior change as well as for classification of psychopathological disorders of childhood. The thesis is advanced that instrument factors elicited by factor analysis in psychotherapy change studies are statistical artifacts and that a multiple discriminant analysis is a more appropriate technique for the study of change as well as for classification.This study is one aspect of a psychotherapy research project on phobic children which was supported in part by National Institute of Mental Health Grant No. MH 13219.     

The lay distinction between primary and secondary emotions: A spontaneous categorization?

In line with the psychological essentialism perspective, Leyens et al. ( 13 2000) have hypothesized that people attribute different essences to groups and that they attribute more uniquely human characteristics to their own group than to out‐groups. Leyens et al. have focused on two types of emotions, which in Roman languages have specific labels, such as sentimientos and emociones in Spanish. A cross‐cultural study showed that sentimientos (or secondary emotions) are considered uniquely human emotions whereas emociones (or primary emotions) are perceived as nonuniquely human emotions. The present study focuses on whether this categorization into primary and secondary emotions is a spontaneous distinction that people use in their everyday lives, or whether, on the contrary, it is the result of experimental demands. The paradigm “Who says what to whom” was used to test this question. Geometrical shapes of different colours were systematically associated with different stimuli that varied in meaningfulness. In a first condition, shapes were associated with small or large items of furniture (meaningful categories) and with primary and secondary emotions. In a second condition, the items of furniture were replaced by words ending with a vowel or a consonant (meaningless categories). Subsequently, participants had to recognize which shape was associated with each stimulus. Intra‐category errors were significantly more numerous than inter‐category errors, except for the words ending with a vowel or a consonant. Stated otherwise, types of emotions were recognized like the meaningful difference between items of furniture. These results show that the distinction between primary and secondary emotions is an implicit one that people use spontaneously, and not as a result of task demands. The findings are discussed from the perspective of psychological essentialism and inter‐group relations.     

The verbal label: Mediator or classifier?

Three experiments on the role of verbal labels and perceptual cues in concept attainment are reported. Ss were kindergarten and second-grade upper-middle-class children. The results indicated that when Ss learned to associate two labels (or two perceptual cues) with each stimulus no positive transfer resulted, despite the fact that one of the labels (or cues) was relevant to solution. When one label only (or one perceptual cue) was associated with each stimulus, substantial positive transfer was observed. The effects of verbal labeling and perceptual cuing were identical.On the basis of these finding the authors reject the hypothesis that labels give rise to representational responses which act as mediators, and instead propose a new hypothesis, that labels and perceptual cues facilitate performance because they facilitate the division of the stimulus set into subsets which are correlated with the response systems the subjects are expected to learn.