Gender differences in enrollment in computer camps and classes

Informal reports suggest that computer literacy (computer awareness and programming skills) is sought more often by boys than girls. In order to gather more systematic data on this possibility, questionnaires were sent in the summer of 1982 to directors of summer camps and classes that offered training in programming for microcomputers. Twenty-three directors of summer programs, serving a total of 5,533 students, provided data on enrollment, type of sponsorship of programs (private, public schools, universities), level of difficulty of programming classes, cost, and residential versus day use. Three times as many boys as girls were enrolled in the total sample. The ratio of males to females increased with grade, cost of program, and level of difficulty of course offerings. Possible explanations for differences in enrollment are discussed.     

Emotions,individual differences and time course: Reflections

I discuss the merits and demerits of the contributions to the present issue as I see them, and their implications for emotions research.     

Extraversion predicts individual differences in women’s face preferences

Extraversion is positively associated with various indices of women’s mate quality (e.g., facial symmetry and attractiveness). Since such indices are thought to predict variation in women’s preferences for masculine men, we investigated the relationships between each of the ‘Big 5’ personality factors and women’s preferences for facial masculinity. Extraversion, but not the other four personality factors, was positively correlated with women’s preferences for masculinity in men’s, but not women’s, faces. Additionally, extraversion mediated the positive relationship between women’s self-rated attractiveness and their preferences for masculinity in men’s faces, suggesting that extraversion may play a role in condition-dependent mate preferences. Unexpectedly, openness to experience was associated with women’s preferences for femininity in faces of both sexes and this association was independent of that between extraversion and women’s preferences for masculine men. This is the first study that we know of to implicate personality traits in individual differences in women’s preferences for masculine men.     

Effects of display characteristics and individual differences on preferences of VDT icon design

This study explored the effects of display characteristics such as target/background color combination, single/simultaneous presentation, and individual differences by sex, and design specialty on preferences of VDT icon design. The results indicated black targets (black-on-white, black-on-yellow) and black backgrounds (red-on-black, yellow-on-black) were the most popular and white targets (white-on-red, white-on-black) and white backgrounds (blue-on-white, red-on-white) were the second most popular. As for the chromatic color combinations, yellow-on-blue was the most favored. Subjects rated color combinations under single presentation higher than those under simultaneous presentation. Women rated purplish targets and rated purplish and blue backgrounds higher than men. Subjects with design background favored black more either as a target or background, but they favored turquoise less than those without design background.     

Examination of relationships among trait-like individual differences, state-like individual differences, and learning performance

Several authors (e.g., J.T. Austin & H.J. Klein, 1996; R. Kanfer, 1990b, 1992) have urged researchers to examine comprehensive models of distal individual differences as predictors of proximal motivational processes and performance. Two field studies in an academic setting tested a model of relationships among trait-like individual differences (cognitive ability, general self-efficacy, and goal orientation), state-like individual differences (state anxiety, task-specific self-efficacy, and goals), and learning performance. Most hypothesized relationships among these constructs received support when tested on 2 samples, when examining different performance episodes, and when using different goal orientation and state-anxiety measures. In general, state-like individual differences were found to mediate the relationships between trait-like individual differences and learning performance. Implications of these results are discussed and suggestions for future research are provided.     

Solitude experiences: varieties, settings, and individual differences

Solitude may be positive or negative, depending on situational and personal factors. From prior research, nine types of solitude were identified. Based on data from a questionnaire study of undergraduate participants, factor analysis suggests that these nine types can be reduced to three dimensions, two positive and one negative. These are, respectively, Inner-Directed Solitude (characterized by self-discovery and inner peace), Outer-Directed Solitude (characterized by intimacy and spirituality), and Loneliness. Personality and value correlates, as well as situational correlates, of the various types of solitude also were explored.     

Social evaluation fear in childhood and adolescence: Normative developmental course and continuity of individual differences

Using cross‐sectional (N =910) and longitudinal (N =261) data from Gullone and King's (1993, 1997 ) studies of normal fear in children and adolescents aged 7 to 18 years, the normative developmental pattern of social evaluation fear and the continuity of individual differences were investigated. Participants' responses were analysed according to two subscales (Social Evaluation and Punishment) within the Failure and Criticism scale of the Fear Survey Schedule. The findings indicated that: (a) social evaluation fear increased between childhood and adolescence, while punishment fear decreased, (b) individual differences in social evaluation fear displayed only modest continuity over the 3‐year follow‐up period, (c) continuity of social evaluation fear increased with increased age and (d) discontinuity was particularly salient for relatively high fear levels.     

Risk preferences in young children: early evidence of individual differences in reaction to potential gains and losses

New methods were developed for studying risky decision making in children as young as age five. Each child was given a block of ‘gain’ trials, for example, a choice between a sure gain of one prize and a 50:50 chance of gaining either two prizes or no prize, and a block of ‘loss’ trials, for example, a choice between a sure loss of one prize and a 50:50 chance of losing either two prizes or no prize. We were thus able to compare risky choice for gains and losses at the level of the individual child. In each of two experiments a variety of individual difference variables were measured, including in Experiment 2, the child's parent's scores on the same task. Across experiments, the preponderance of choices was of the risky option. However, most children and adults made more risky choices in the domain of losses than in the domain of gains. Predictors of individual differences in children included shyness, impulsivity, and the risk taking of the child's parent. We suggest that methods are now in place to encourage further studies of decision processes in young children. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Omission bias, individual differences, and normality

Omission bias is the preference for harm caused by omissions over equal or lesser harm caused by acts. Recent articles (Connolly & Reb, 2003; Patt & Zeckhauser, 2000; Tanner & Medin, in press) have raised questions about the generality of this phenomenon and have suggested that the opposite bias (action bias) sometimes exists. Prentice and Koehler (2003) have suggested that omission bias is sometimes confounded with a bias toward what is normal, a bias they find. We review this literature and report new data showing omission bias with appropriate methods, as well as a small normality bias that cannot explain the omission bias. The data suggest that the bias is largely based on the distinction between direct and indirect causation, rather than that between action and inaction as such. We report substantial individual differences: some subjects show action bias. We argue, though, that concern about omission bias is justified if only a substantial minority of people show it.     

Grade retention and enrollment in post-secondary education

Students retained in grade have dropout rates three to seven times higher than do their promoted peers, yet little is known about the outcomes for the most persistent of the retained students who graduate high school. The purpose of this research was to examine the post-secondary (PSE) enrollment rates of retained but persistent high school graduates. Ten thousand 1992 high school graduates in the National Education Longitudinal Study (NELS) data base composed the sample. A logistic regression controlling for gender, socio-economic status (SES), race–ethnicity, and achievement yielded odds ratios indicating significantly lower odds of PSE enrollment for retained graduates compared to promoted graduates. Later grade retention generally reduced the odds of PSE enrollment. Findings suggest that retaining students may be related to negative educational outcomes not realized for many years.     

Approach, avoidance, and self-regulatory conflict: An individual differences perspective

Four studies involving 230 undergraduates examined the interactive effects of dispositional approach and avoidance, as manifest in the traits of extraversion and neuroticism. Participants who were high in both traits or low in both traits exhibited less assertive knocking behavior (Study 1), had difficulties refraining from blinking (Study 2), and displayed more anxious behavior during a mental health interview (Study 3). Study 4 tested the idea that such extraversion by neuroticism interactions might be associated with difficulties in recognizing and responding to goal-relevant stimuli. Results involving a go/no go task confirmed this hypothesis. In total, the results highlight the manner in which the co-activation of dispositional motives related to approach and avoidance can compromise effective self-regulation.     

Equity and individual preferences in an MDG

Before participating in an Maximizing Difference Game (MDG) subjects were classified with the help of a social motive test (GDG, Liebrand, 1984) as having a cooperative, an individualistic or a Competitive preference for own/other outcome distributions. Thereafter subjects did make choices in an MDG. A status (high, equal, low, no feedback) × matrix (advantage: 8/6, disadvantage 6/81) × preference (competitive, individualistic, cooperative)-design was employed, whereas one control condition, i.e. equal statuslmatrix equal (616) was added. Equity theory could explain the data rather well. Support was found for the status hypothesis, i.e. high status subjects made more D-choices in an MDG than equal status subjects; equal status subjects made more D-choices than low status subjects, and for the matrix hypothesis, i.e. matrix disadvantage subjects made more D-choices than subjects playing in a matrix advantage position. Equity theory could also explain a significant status × matrix interaction effect. Support was partly found for a preference hypothesis: Competitors made more D-choices than cooperatives, while contrary to the hypothesis, individualists behaved more like competitors.     

Unravelling socioeconomic school composition effects on higher education enrollment: the role of students’ individual and shared feelings of futility and self-efficacy

Despite the massification of higher education, social inequality in higher education outcomes still persists. It is known that secondary schools’ socioeconomic composition is at least partly responsible for this social inequality. Nevertheless, the mechanisms by which socioeconomic composition affects higher education enrollment are still poorly understood. Based on the attribution theory, this study expects students’ feelings of academic self-efficacy and sense of futility to act as underlying mechanisms. Additionally, given that individual self-efficacy beliefs and individual sense of futility are shared among students within schools — that is, schools have different self-efficacy and futility cultures — we investigate whether these cultures are consequential for higher education enrollment and program choice. Results of binomial logistic multilevel analyses on the data of the International Study of City Youth (www.iscy.org) in Ghent, consisting of 1214 Flemish students across 29 schools, indicated that students in low socioeconomic composition schools are less likely to enroll in higher education because these schools are characterized by high futility cultures. In contrast, high self-efficacy and self-efficacy cultures are positively associated with the choice for academic bachelor programs, but they did not explain socioeconomic composition effects. We conclude that educational policies should aim at increasing a sense of control over academic outcomes in order to improve social equality in higher education outcomes.

     

Beliefs,personality, and person perception: A theory of individual differences

The hypothesis tested was that we attend to aspects of our interpersonal environment that correspond to prominent features of our own personality. One hundred fifty-four men and women rated the way in which they typically communicate and interact with significant other people (e.g., mother, father, lover) on 11 bipolar adjective scales and the way in which those other people interact with them. An individual differences multidimensional scaling analysis of interstimulus distances among the significant other people based on the ratings of the subject's interaction with those other people indicated that subjects who weighted a particular dimension tended to think they possessed a personality trait corresponding to the dimension. Reasons for the individual difference hypothesis were given.     

Lay perceptions of ethnic prejudice: causes,solutions, and individual differences

We assessed lay perceptions of the causes of and solutions to ethnic prejudice, and determined whether individual differences related to intergroup relations (social dominance orientation, right‐wing authoritarianism) and to cognitive style (personal need for structure, need for cognition) were predictive of these perceptions. Results revealed clear and coherent lay beliefs about the causes of and solutions to ethnic prejudice, and significant relations between perceived causes and solutions. Systematic relations between the intergroup‐relevant individual differences and these perceptions also emerged, in ways that may serve to justify and legitimize ethnic bias. Implications for the justification and maintenance of ethnic bias and for intervention programmes are discussed. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Analyses of mental contamination: Part II,individual differences

Recent research on mental contamination (internal, psychological feelings of dirtiness) has focused primarily on examining the experimental variables necessary to provoke contamination-related thoughts, feelings and behaviour; yet, relatively little is known regarding the individual differences among participants' mental contamination responses to these situational and experimental characteristics. The purpose of this study was to determine whether variables associated with symptoms, beliefs and appraisals could predict the experience of mental contamination after an established provocation. Female undergraduate students (n = 70 from Part I of this study; Elliott & Radomsky, 2009), completed a series of questionnaires then listened to an audio recording and imagined that they were receiving a forced, non-consensual kiss from a man described as moral or immoral. Participants indicated the presence and degree of mental contamination and appraisals of the man and act, then completed a behavioural task for which spontaneous washing was recorded. Results indicated that, although symptoms of physical contamination were able to predict feelings of mental contamination, appraisal variables emerged as unique predictors of feelings of mental contamination. Results are discussed in terms of cognitive-behavioural conceptualizations of and treatments for contamination fears.     

Mood regulation and emotional intelligence: individual differences

In 3 studies (Ns = 250, 83, 236), an examination of differences in how individuals experience their emotions (meta-emotion traits of clarity, attention, and intensity) led to the identification of 4 distinct types (overwhelmed, hot, cerebral, and cool). When mood was manipulated, the types differed in how they initially reacted to the emotional situation, how they regulated their mood, and how they made judgments. In particular, one type of individual (the hot type) was more reactive to emotional situations than the others. Another type of individual (the overwhelmed type) regulated mood differently than the others, which led these individuals to make judgments that were also different. Overwhelmed individuals appeared unable or unwilling to avail themselves of critical affective information.