THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SEX ROLE ORIENTATION, SELF ESTEEM, AND SEX-TYPED OCCUPATIONAL CHOICE OF COLLEGE WOMEN

This study assessed the relationship between sex role orientation, self esteem, and occupational choice. A random sample of one hundred forty-four college women in a feminine-typed occupational field of study and 143 college women in a masculine-typed occupational field of study completed self-report measures to assess sex role orientation (androgynous, masculine, feminine, or undifferentiated) and self-esteem. Comparisons of occupational groups revealed a significantly higher level of self-esteem in the feminine-typed occupational group as opposed to the masculinetyped group. The masculine women in the feminine occupational group and the androgynous women in both groups had significantly higher levels of self-esteem than the masculine women in the masculine occupational group. Implications of findings and future research directions are discussed.     

UNDERSTANDING AND RESPONDING TO HUMAN EVIL: A MULTICAUSAL APPROACH

One task of religion is delivering human beings from evil within and between themselves. Defining good as well‐being or functioning well, evil as impaired functioning, and doing evil as impairing the functioning of others, this essay explores how religions in consort with other social institutions might understand and respond to evil in light of contemporary scientific knowledge. To understand evil I use a multicausal approach that includes both biological and sociocultural environmental causes. I illustrate the use of this approach by analyzing how we might understand and respond to human rage and violence.     

RELATIONSHIPS AMONG PAY, RACE, SEX, OCCUPATIONAL PRESTIGE, SUPERVISION, WORK AUTONOMY, AND JOB SATISFACTION IN A NATIONAL SAMPLE

Published evidence, based largely on bivariate methods of analysis, generally suggests that pay, race, occupational prestige, supervisory status, and work autonomy are associated with job satisfaction and that sex is not. Regression analysis of a representative sample of U.S. workers, which partialled out the effects of a number of other variables, affirms that supervisory status makes an independent contribution to job satisfaction and that sex is unrelated, but suggests that the zero-order effects of pay, race, occupational prestige, and work autonomy are spurious.     

DEVELOPMENTAL SEX DIFFERENCES IN THE RELATION OF NEUROANATOMICAL CONNECTIVITY TO INTELLIGENCE

Recent neuroimaging research has shown sex-related differences in the relationship between brain structure and cognitive function. Anatomical studies have shown a greater reliance for cognitive function on white matter structure in adult females, and a greater reliance on gray matter structure in adult males. Functional neuroimaging studies have also shown a greater correlation between brain connectivity and cognitive function in females. However, this relationship is not present in young childhood (5 years old) but appears during the developmental period. Here sex differences in structure–function relationships and their developmental trajectory are investigated using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) on a large cohort of over 100 normal children ages 5–18. Significant sex–X–IQ interactions on fractional anisotropy (FA), a marker for white matter organization, were seen in the left frontal lobe, in fronto-parietal areas bilaterally, and in the arcuate fasciculus bilaterally, with girls showing positive correlations of FA with IQ, and boys showing a negative correlation. Significant sex–X–IQ–X–age interactions on FA were also seen in the left frontal lobe and in fronto-parietal areas bilaterally, showing a developmental effect. These results strongly corroborate previous findings regarding sex differences in structure–function relationships regarding intelligence. Results also indicate that a naïve interpretation of “more is better” with respect to FA may not be accurate, especially in adult males.     

SEX DIFFERENCES IN THE ATTRIBUTION OF SOCIALLY DESIRABLE AND UNDESIRABLE TRAITS TO OUT-GROUP MEMBERS*

One hundred and forty-four male and female Australian subjects rated an Australian or a Vietnamese target group on the possession of five socially desirable and five socially undesirable personality traits. As predicted, the out-group was perceived less favourably than the in-group, but only by the males, the females not making the distinction.     

SEX DIFFERENCES IN JEALOUSY IN EVOLUTIONARY AND CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE:

Abstract— As predicted by models derived from evolutionary psychology, men within the United States have been shown to exhibit greater psychological and physiological distress to sexual than to emotional infidelity of their partner, and women have been shown to exhibit more distress to emotional than to sexual infidelity. Because cross-cultural tests are critical for evolutionary hypotheses, we examined these sex differences in three parallel studies conducted in the Netherlands ( N = 207), Germany ( N = 200), and the United Slates ( N = 224) Two key findings emerged First, the sex differences in sexual jealousy are robust across these cultures, providing support for the evolutionary psychological model Second, the magnitude of the sex differences varies somewhat across cultures—large for the United States, medium for Germany and the Netherlands Discussion focuses on the evolutionary psychology of jealousy and on the sensitivity of sex differences m the sexual sphere to cultural input.     

TRACKING THE GENDER PAY GAP: A CASE STUDY

This article provides a short introduction to standard considerations in the formal study of wages and illustrates the use of multiple regression and resampling simulation approaches in a case study of faculty salaries at one university. Multiple regression is especially beneficial where it provides information on strength of association, specific dollar estimates, and the option to identify outliers by gender. Resampling simulation allows for analysis at the department level and is beneficial where distributions depart substantially from normal, particularly where there are unequal error variances. Results indicate that both regression and simulation methods provided evidence of a sizable pay gap associated with gender, even after controlling for rank, academic field, and years of service. The gap occurs in fields traditionally viewed as female as well as science fields with typically lower female representation. Finally, we discuss implications for remediation based on these models.     

SEX DIFFERENCES IN CONFORMITY: STATUS AND GENDER ROLE INTERPRETATIONS

The experiment examines status and gender role explanations of the tendency for women to conform more than men in group pressure settings. Subjects believed they were assigned to groups containing two males and two females in addition to themselves and received these other group members' opinions, which were represented as deviating from the opinions that subjects had given earlier. Subjects then gave their opinions with the other group members either having or not having surveillance over these opinions. In addition, subjects were required to form impressions of each other's likability or expertise. The findings indicate that subjects' sex and age affected the extent of their conformity. Among older (19 years and older) subjects, females conformed more with surveillance than without it, whereas surveillance did not affect males' conformity. Among younger (under 19 years) subjects, surveillance had no effects. Analysis of sex differences revealed that older females were significantly more conforming than older males when under surveillance as well as when subjects formed impressions of one another's likability. Among younger subjects, there were no sex differences. These findings are discussed in terms of the theories that (a) both sex and age function as status characteristics and (b) gender roles determine conformity.     

THE DIVERSITY–VALIDITY DILEMMA: STRATEGIES FOR REDUCING RACIOETHNIC AND SEX SUBGROUP DIFFERENCES AND ADVERSE IMPACT IN SELECTION

Pyburn, Ployhart, and Kravitz (this issue, 2008) introduced the diversity–validity dilemma: that some of the most valid predictors of job performance are also associated with large racioethnic and sex subgroup predictor score differences. This article examines 16 selection strategies hypothesized to minimize racioethnic and sex subgroup differences and adverse impact and, hence, balance diversity and validity. Rather than presenting a highly technical review, our purpose is to provide practitioners with a concise summary, paying particular attention to comparing and contrasting the effectiveness of the strategies and reporting new developments. The paper is organized around 4 key questions: (a) Which strategies are most effective for reducing subgroup differences? (b) Which strategies do not involve a validity tradeoff? (c) What are the major new developments in strategies for reducing adverse impact? (d) What are the major new developments in alternative predictor measurement methods (e.g., interviews, situational judgment tests, assessment centers) for reducing adverse impact? We then conclude with recommendations and caveats for how to best balance diversity and validity. These ideas are developed further in Kravitz (this issue, 2008) , who considers even broader approaches for solving the diversity–validity dilemma.     

A COMPARISON OF TWO COHORTS OF COLLEGE STUDENTS IN RESPONSES TO THE MALE-FEMALE RELATIONS QUESTIONNAIRE

Two cohorts of male and female introductory psychology students from the same university, tested in 1978 and 1992, were given the male or the female form of the Male-Female Relations Questionnaire (MFRQ; Spence, Helmreich, & Sawin, 1980), which assesses respondents' personal gender-role preferences and behaviors in interpersonal situations. In both genders, the means of the majority of MFRQ items decreased significantly from 1978 to 1992, but item means were still fairly close to the midpoint of the response scale. Women tended to be less willing than men to assign leadership roles to men but in social interactions with the other gender, they admitted to deliberately acting "feminine" as much or more than men admitted to acting "masculine." Correlations between the MFRQ and the Attitudes Toward Women Scale (AWS; Spence & Helmreich, 1978) were also determined and found to be substantial. Psychometric differences between the instruments suggested, however, that the MFRQ provides unique information and may often be more useful than the AWS in detecting relationships with other variables.     

UNDERSTANDING,JUSTIFICATION AND THE A PRIORI

Philosophical Studies -     

SCIENTISTS IN THE COSMOS: AN EXISTENTIAL APPROACH TO THE DEBATE BETWEEN SCIENCE AND RELIGION

Walker Percy's use of the terms Umwelt (environment) and Welt (symbol world) as well as his separation of events into dyadic and triadic ones, where the latter involve human beings, is brought to bear on the relationship between science and religion with the upshot being that science (a dyadic enterprise) is not equipped to really understand or explain triadic entities (namely, human beings).