Enhancing moral growth: is communication the key?

Traditional approaches in stimulating moral growth following Turiel's (1966) "+1" intervention strategy have been only marginally successful. This failure rate may be due to (a) the inconsistent control of both the cognitive and social perspective-taking prerequisites to moral growth, and (b) an overestimation of subjects' interpersonal communication skills. In this study, 17 college undergraduates (8 males, 9 females), possessing either basic or consolidated formal operations, received eight weeks of interpersonal skills training, along with pre- and posttraining assessments of social perspective-taking and moral reasoning. It was expected that gains in moral reasoning would be related to subjects' possessing the prerequisite cognitive and perspective-taking competencies necessary for moral growth. Results showed that posttraining changes in moral reasoning were in the predicted direction. In addition, gender differences in social perspective-taking were evident; males had significantly lower social perspective-taking scores at pretraining and showed significant gains in perspective-taking at posttesting. Females, however, scored relatively high in social perspective-taking at pretraining and showed no significant change in ability at posttesting. The results are interpreted as supportive of existing theoretical models regarding these domains of development.     

Mental rotation of laterally presented random shapes in males and females

Eighteen right-handed subjects (9 males, 9 female) were to decide if laterally presented random shapes were identical or a mirror image of a centrally presented standard shape. The lateral shapes were rotated over 0 degrees, 60 degrees, 120 degrees, 180 degrees, 240 degrees, or 300 degrees. For unrotated (0 degrees) mirror image stimuli, females showed a significant right visual-field advantage, whereas males showed no significant hemifield effect. The rate of rotation was equivalent for both sexes. Field of presentation did not affect the rotation rate either. The present results support a growing number of findings that indicate that the interpretation of mental rotation as a typical right-hemispheric spatial-processing task is questionable.     

Contraction intensity and velocity on vastus lateralis SEMG power spectrum and amplitude

Effect of contraction intensity [100%, 75%, 50%, and 25% maximum voluntary contraction (MVC)] and movement velocity [0 degrees (isometric)], 50 degrees, 100 degrees, 200 degrees, and 400 degrees/sec. [isovelocities]) on root mean square amplitude (SEMG-RMS) and median frequency power spectrum (SEMG-MNF) of vastus lateralis (VL) surface electromyography was investigated with ten healthy female university students. Peak torque (PT), mean torque (MT), SEMG-MNF, and SEMG-RMS, analyzed using separate repeated-measures analyses of variance (p < or = .05), indicated: (1) an inverse relation between PT and MT and movement velocity, (2) greater SEMG-MNF values during all isovelocity conditions compared with isometric conditions, with highest values occurring at 50 degrees /sec. and at 100% and 75% MVC, and (3) at all contraction intensities SEMG-RMS values were higher during dynamic movements than isometric movements and highest at 200 degrees /sec. Isovelocity contractions were inferred to facilitate a greater recruitment of fast-twitch fibers (via increased SEMG-MNF), which was intensified at 50 degrees /sec., whereas greater overall muscle activation was found at 200 degrees /sec.     

男女两性在文化震荡、心理健康及其关系中的差异比较

采用自编问卷对1555名30岁及以上被试受文化震荡的影响程度及其心理健康进行调查,分别探讨不同生活环境和环境相同但受教育程度不同的男女两性在两变量及其关系中的差异。结果表明:(1)总体上,男性报告的文化事件的主观影响明显比女性更积极,但其心理健康水平却明显低于女性;男女两性在文化震荡与心理健康之间均存在显著正相关,但具有不同特点。(2)不同生活环境和同一生活环境中不同受教育程度的男女两性在文化震荡、心理健康中均存在不同程度的差异;在这两变量间也均存在不同方面的显著正相关。     

Evaluation of prenatal androgen and ovarian secretions on receptivity in female and male rats

Offspring of rats infected daily from Day 16 through Day 20 of gestation with either 2 mg of testosterone propionate (TP) in .1 ml of sesame oil or oil alone were tested for sexual receptivity following injections of 3.3 microgram of estradiol benzoate (EB) and .5 mg of progesterone (P) beginning at 40, 80, or 120 days of age. At each age, neonatally gonadectomized males and females from TP-injected litters exhibited less receptivity than corresponding oil-injected controls. Prenatally androgenized females were similar to neonatally castrated oil-injected males at all ages. Ovarian implants from birth to 35 days of age significantly increased receptivity in neonatally castrated males and androgenized females. Increasing the age at which testing was initiated systematically reduced receptivity in all groups.     

Work and Rest Variables in the Acquisition of Psychomotor Tracking Skill

College students (75 men, 75 women) matched in preliminary performance of 100 sec on the rotary pursuit apparatus were randomly assigned to five experimental groups. Their work/rest ratios, measured in seconds, were: 20/20, 30/30, 60/60, 90/90,120/120. All subjects received 30 min of total practice time after the matching trial. There was a significant practice effect and a significant practice x conditions interaction, but no main effect due to the cycles’ length or number. The decay rate of reactive inhibition (lr) is probably independent of its prior growth level; hence postrest residual lr is proportional to prerest accumulation. Partly because they generated lr in hypothetically greater amounts, women were significantly less proficient on the average than men, and sex interacted with practice. Although males had higher initial and final levels of ability than females, the two sexes’ acquisition curves showed the same rate parameters in our mathematical model.     

The initial effect of noise on a simple vibrotactile learning task

In two experiments the effect of loud noise on a simple vibrotactile learning task was studied. After learning the task to criterion, 10 male and 10 female Ss received two pairs of test trials, one without noise, and one in continuous noise (a 1,000 cps pure tone at 90 dB SPL). An additional 10 male and 10 female Ss learned the same task and also received the same two pairs of test trials, but instead of receiving continuous noise for the second condition, they received an intermittent noise (random numbers presented at 2 sec intervals at 95 dB SPL). In the first experiment noise had a significant effect on the performance of the 20-subject group and also on the females in the group. Noise did not significantly affect the performance of males. In the second experiment noise had no significant effect on either males or females.     

Timing conditions and the magnitude of gender differences on the Mental Rotations Test

In two experiments, we examined the effect of timing conditions on the magnitude of gender differences in performance on the Mental Rotations Test (MRT). In Experiment 1, each of 196 females and 119 males was administered the MRT via a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation in one of five timing conditions (15, 20, 25, 30, and 40 sec). The participants were exposed to each MRT item for the period specified in the assigned timing condition. Experiment 2 was conducted to address flaws found in Experiment 1. Accordingly, each of 105 females and 105 males was individually administered the task in one of three timing conditions (15 sec, 25 sec, or unlimited duration). The results of both experiments showed that the magnitude of gender differences was similar across timing conditions when a conventional scoring method was used. An analysis of guessing behavior generally indicated that men tend to show little effect of timing conditions, whereas women's propensity to guess increases when they are given more time to respond. In general, the results supported an interpretation of gender differences on the MRT that relies on the joint operation of performance factors and level of spatial ability.     

Adaptation to auditory motion in the horizontal plane: effect of prior exposure to motion on motion detectability.

Thresholds for auditory motion detectability were measured in a darkened anechoic chamber while subjects were adapted to horizontally moving sound sources of various velocities. All stimuli were 500-Hz lowpass noises presented at a level of 55 dBA. The threshold measure employed was the minimum audible movement angle (MAMA)--that is, the minimum angle a horizontally moving sound must traverse to be just discriminable from a stationary sound. In an adaptive, two-interval forced-choice procedure, trials occurred every 2-5 sec (Experiment 1) or every 10-12 sec (Experiment 2). Intertrial time was "filled" with exposure to the adaptor--a stimulus that repeatedly traversed the subject's front hemifield at ear level (distance: 1.7 m) at a constant velocity (-150 degrees/sec to +150 degrees/sec) during a run. Average MAMAs in the control condition, in which the adaptor was stationary (0 degrees/sec,) were 2.4 degrees (Experiment 1) and 3.0 degrees (Experiment 2). Three out of 4 subjects in each experiment showed significantly elevated MAMAs (by up to 60%), with some adaptors relative to the control condition. However, there were large intersubject differences in the shape of the MAMA versus adaptor velocity functions. This loss of sensitivity to motion that most subjects show after exposure to moving signals is probably one component underlying the auditory motion aftereffect (Grantham, 1989), in which judgments of the direction of moving sounds are biased in the direction opposite to that of a previously presented adaptor.     

Sex differences in feelings attributed to a woman in situations involving coercion and sexual advances.

This study investigated sex differences of feelings attributed to a woman in situations involving varying degrees of coercion and sexual advances. Sixteen vignettes (12 dealing with sex and coercion, 4 dealing with coercion only) were rated on 17 semantic differential scales by 59 undergraduates (44 females, 15 males) and 45 graduate students (18 females, 27 males). The 16 vignettes yielded factors of Sexual Flattery/Overtures, Sexual Aggressiveness, and Violence. Factor analyses of the 17 semantic differential scales yielded factors of Helplessness, Aversiveness, and Threat. High agreement was found between males and females in both the graduate and undergraduate samples on the relative intensity of feelings attributed to the woman across the sex/coercion vignettes for the three dimensions of Helplessness, Aversiveness, and Threat. Even more importantly, systematic differences between males and females on intensity of attributed feelings across the semantic differential factors were independently replicated using the graduate and undergraduate samples. Analyses of variance revealed that males showed significantly greater attributions on the factors Helplessness and Threat on scenes mainly dealing with sexual flattery/overtures, whereas they showed significantly less attributions on the factor Aversiveness on scenes dealing with sexual aggressiveness and rape. In short, while there was strong agreement between men and women, there were also replicated significant systematic differences with men overestimating the psychological impact of less intense incidents and underestimating the psychological impact on women of more intense incidents.     

Primacy effect in orienting responses to auditory stimuli of tones and music.

This 25 factorial experiment investigated the primacy effect in the orienting response. The type of stimuli (tone or "music"), stimulus intensities (loud or soft), length of adaptation period (same, 5 or 30 sec; or different, 5 min.), interstimulus intervals (5 or 30 sec.), and sex were studied. College students, 32 males and 32 females were randomly assigned to each group. In the same condition, the tone (or music) was soft (or loud) for 5 sec. (or 30 sec.) in adaptation and was then changed alternately without interruption to loud, soft, etc. (or soft, loud, etc.) for 5 sec. (or 30 sec.). The different condition was identical except for the length of adaptation period in which the stimuli sounded continously for 5 min. Analyses of the GSR manifestation of the orienting responses indicated: (a) an over-all primacy effect with the auditory stimuli and (b) the primacy effect occurred in the 5-sec.-same but not in the 30-sec.-same condition as predicted.     

Position of the non-stance leg during the single leg squat affects females and males differently

BackgroundKinematic differences between females and males for the single leg squat (SLS) have been identified. However, kinetic differences between sexes and how variations of the non-stance leg position during the SLS may affect kinematics and kinetics differently in females and males have not been examined.ObjectivesExamine sex-specific kinematic and kinetic differences during the SLS task with 3 different non-stance leg positions.DesignControlled laboratory study, cross-sectional design.MethodsThirty-two healthy adults (16 females, 16 males) performed the 3 SLS tasks while data were collected using a motion capture system and force plates. At 60 degrees of knee flexion (60KF) and peak knee flexion (PKF), kinematics and joint moments were compared between sexes and SLS tasks using a linear regression analysis.ResultsFemales exhibited less ipsilateral trunk flexion (P < 0.001) and greater anterior pelvic tilt (P ≤ 0.021) and hip adduction (P < 0.001) than males across tasks at 60KF and PKF. Across tasks, females had a smaller knee flexion moment than males at PKF (P = 0.001). Females had a greater hip abduction moment during SLS-Front than SLS-Middle (P = 0.044) and SLS-Back (P = 0.003) at PKF, but males had similar hip abduction moments across tasks (P ≥ 0.299). At 60KF, males had a greater knee adduction moment during SLS-Front compared to the other tasks (P ≤ 0.019) while females had similar hip abduction moments across tasks (P ≥ 0.459).ConclusionAltering the non-stance leg position during the SLS affects the kinematics and kinetics of both females and males. The position of the non-stance leg can be modified for assessment and treatment purposes and should be reported in research.     

Effects of luminance oscillations on simulated lightness discriminations

The speed of processes underlying lightness constancy was studied by having observers discriminate small differences in simulated lightness under an oscillating illumination. The period of oscillation varied from 0.25 to 120 sec. The target was a 1 degrees square which appeared for 150 msec at random intervals either directly against a uniform background or separated from the background by a 1 degrees dark gap. When the target and background were adjacent to each other, discrimination accuracy approached control levels (fixed illumination) at all but the shortest periods of oscillation. When the gap was introduced, accuracy increased as the period of oscillation increased, but never approached control levels. The results suggest that a fast local contrast mechanism is the primary mediator of lightness constancy for this task, but that there is also a slower mechanism that may be related to adaptation.     

Social mediation of puberty: an adaptive female strategy?

Females of two hamster species with contrasting degrees of gregariousness were tested for social influences on the timing of sexual maturation. When female dwarf hamsters (Phodopus sungorus campbelli), a gregarious species, were housed with an adult male at weaning, they began estrous cycles significantly earlier than when they were housed alone or with their family. Females housed with one or two female siblings at weaning matured significantly later than did all other females. Once mature, females housed with familiar males conceived later than did females housed with unfamiliar males. Rearing conditions also affected body weight; those housed with female siblings grew more slowly and attained a lower weight at 8 weeks of age than did females in all other groups. In contrast, when weanling female golden hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus), a solitary species, were housed with either an adult male, two female siblings, or alone, they did not differ in their rate of sexual maturation or growth. It is suggested that the degree to which social factors can accelerate or delay puberty is an adaptive characteristic and may be correlated with the degree of gregariousness of a species.     

Attributions of responsibility for an incident of sexual harassment in a university setting

The present study replicated and extended research on the effects of observer characteristics (i.e., gender and traditional vs. less traditional attitudes) on attributions of responsibility in a case of sexual harassment. Participants (120 males, 120 females) were randomly assigned to one of six conditions that varied the gender of the victim and the victim's reaction. A sexual harassment scenario involving a university student and professor of the opposite gender was presented as an audiotape of the victim's account. Participants with less traditional attitudes attributed less responsibility to the victim than did participants with traditional attitudes. Females attributed more responsibility to the perpetrator and the victim of the same gender than did males. Victim reaction interacted with participant gender; males responded in a manner that was consistent with the reaction manipulation, whereas females attributed less responsibility to the self-blaming victim than to either the perpetrator-blaming or control victims. The results are discussed in the light of attribution theory and previous research.     

Parent-adolescent intimacy: impact on adolescent functioning

This paper examines the influence of parent-adolescent intimacy on adolescent functioning. Intimacy for both adolescent males and females was assessed in relation to their mothers and fathers. Adolescent development was measured using two scales: self-esteem and problem behavior. No significant differences were found between males and females on the measures of self-esteem, problem behavior, and intimacy. However, mothers were found to share greater degrees of intimacy than did fathers for both male and female adolescents. A regression analysis revealed that father intimacy was a better predictor of positive adolescent functioning than was mother intimacy.     

The effects of stimulus type,training, and chronological age on children's identification and recoding of multidimensional stimuli

Kindergarten and second-grade children (75 and 99 months of age, respectively) were first taught that the two stimuli within each of four pairs of multidimentional stimuli differed with respect to their values on every one of three bivalued dimensions: color, size, and form. Each of the eight stimuli was then presented twice, one at a time, and the child was asked either to find its duplicate (eight encoding trials) or to find its complementary mate (eight recoding trials) among the complete set of eight stimuli. Next, each of the eight stimulus compounds was presented twice as a display stimulus for 5 sec and, after a delay of 10 to 15 sec, the child was asked to find the display stimulus (eight trials of encoding plus memory) or its complement (eight trials of recoding plus memory) among the complete set. The stimuli for half the children in each age group were standard unitary compounds (e.g., a large red circle, a small blue square, etc.) and for the other half they were partitioned stimuli with their dimensional values spatially separated (e.g., large arrow, circle outline, and patch of color). Half of the children in each of these subgroups were given a basic pretraining, and the other half received extended pretraining, in recoding the stimulus attributes. The results indicated that unitary stimuli were easier to encode but the partitioned stimuli were easier to recode, that recoding was much more difficult than encoding, that extended training improved recoding performance, and that second graders were slightly better at encoding and much better at recoding than the kindergarten children. The patterns of performance on the tasks involving memory were similar to those just described. The results were discussed in terms of children's abilities to analyze multidimensional stimuli into their dimensional components.     

Gender differences in the relationship of moderator variables to stress and symptoms

Abstract

This study focused on gender differences in the relationship of four moderator variables (hostility, social support, optimism, and Type A behavior) to perceptions of symptoms and stress based on a sample of 120 female and 79 male undergraduates. Results confirmed significant gender differences in hostility, Type A behavior, and social support but not in optimism. Multiple regression analyses exposed distinct gender differences. For females, social support accounted for 21% and hostility 5% of the total variance in perceived stress. For males, only hostility accounted for any significant variance (10%). Hostility contributed 21% and social support contributed 13% to the total variance in the number of symptoms for females. For males, optimism contributed 14% and hostility 5%. Results indicate that social support is a potent variable for females in their perception of both stress and symptoms but essentially unrelated for males. Hostility, however, relates to perceptions of stress and symptoms for both sexes.     

Effect of Gender and Life-Stage on Love Styles in the Indian Context

This study examined how love styles evolve over a period of time and if gender shapes the use of love styles. The sample comprised 120 people (60 males and 60 females): 20 couples in a dating relationship, 20 couples married for less than 2 years (childless) and 20 couples married for more than 15 years (with children). The sample consisted of Indian population and only those married couples were selected who had married out of ‘love’. Results indicated significant differences across life stages for Eros, decreasing progressively with life stages. No other love style differed significantly across life styles. Gender differences were found on Pragma and Mania, with females using both Pragma and Mania more than males, in line with the evolutionary perspective.