A gender perspective on Person-Manager fit and managerial advancement

This article presents two studies examining (1) the relationship between Person-Manager (P-M) fit and managerial advancement of women and men with, and without managerial aspirations and (2) the P-M fit as related to managerial and non-managerial women. The P-M fit was assessed by computing the congruence between participants' self-rated personality profile and the perceived personality profile of a manager. Sex (men show a higher P-M fit than women), gender (the higher the individual's masculine gender-role, the higher the P-M fit) and group (managers and managerial aspirants show a higher P-M fit than non-managerial aspirants and non-managers) hypotheses were tested. There was no support for the sex difference hypothesis. However, the group and gender hypotheses were confirmed showing that managers and managerial aspirants had a higher P-M fit than non-managers and non-aspirants. Further, analyses revealed that the higher the participants' masculinity scores, the higher the P-M fit. Implications of these findings are discussed in relation to the gendered image of the managerial role and adaptation theory.     

Age-related differences in collision detection during deceleration

Observers were presented with displays simulating a 3-D environment with obstacles in the path of motion. During the trial, observer motion decelerated at a constant rate and was followed by a blackout prior to the end of the display. On some trials the rate of deceleration resulted in stopping before the collision, whereas on other trials the rate of deceleration resulted in a collision with the obstacles. The observer's task was to detect which trials simulated an impending collision. Proportion of collision judgments was greater for older as compared with younger observers when a collision was not simulated. Older observers showed less sensitivity to detect collisions than younger observers did, particularly at high speeds. The age-dependent results are discussed in terms of analyses based on tau and constant deceleration. The results suggest that increased accident rates for older drivers may be due to an inability to detect collisions at high speeds.     

Summation of symbols by pigeons (Columba livia): the importance of number and mass of reward items

In each of 3 experiments, different sets of 4 pigeons (Columba livia) were trained to discriminate between 2 visual symbols that covered wells containing food items that varied in number, mass, or both. In Experiment 1, the symbols were associated with 0, 1, 3, 5, 7, or 9 pieces of grain reward. The pigeons learned to choose the symbol corresponding to the larger reward, and on summation tests, they chose the pair of symbols that summed to the larger total reward. When number of food pellets was varied but mass of reward was held constant in Experiment 2, preference for the larger number symbols failed to appear. When number was held constant and mass was varied in Experiment 3, the pigeons showed a clear preference for the larger mass symbols on single-symbol and summation tests. These findings show that pigeons summate the value of symbols and are more likely to represent symbols by mass of food reward than by number of food items.     

Clinical implications of "subthreshold" depressive symptoms

There is active debate regarding whether diagnosable depression exists on a continuum with subthreshold depressive symptoms or represents a categorically distinct phenomenon. To address this question, multiple indexes of dysfunction (psychosocial difficulties, mental health treatment history, and future incidence of major depression and substance abuse/dependence) were examined as a function of the extent of depressive symptoms in 3 large community samples (adolescent, adult, and older adult; N = 3,003). Increasing levels of depressive symptoms were associated with increasing levels of psychosocial dysfunction and incidence of major depression and substance use disorders. These findings suggest that (a) the clinical significance of depressive symptoms does not depend on crossing the major depressive diagnostic threshold and (b) depression may best be conceptualized as a continuum. Limitations of the present study are discussed.     

Inhibition of return and visual search: how many separate loci are inhibited?

Using a novel sequential visual search paradigm Danziger, Kingstone, and Snyder (1998) demonstrated that inhibition of return (IOR) can reside at three spatial locations. In the present study, we extended the work of Danziger et al. by investigating whether there is a limit to the number of locations that can be inhibited in a sequential visual search task. Our study revealed that IOR can be measured at a minimum of five locations. The magnitude of the IOR effect was largest at the most recently searched location and declined from there in an approximately linear fashion. Two models that can account for our data are presented.     

An evaluation of a computational model of lexical access: comment on Dell et al. (1997)

The computational model of lexical access proposed by G. S. Dell, M. F. Schwartz, N. Martin, E. M. Saffran, and D. A. Gagnon (1997) is evaluated. They argued that fits of their model to naming data obtained from normal and brain-damaged patients support assumptions regarding interactivity in the lexicon, global damage in aphasia, and continuity between normal and aphasic naming behavior. Additional analysis reveals that the model fits the empirical data poorly and that the claims Dell et al. made on the basis of the model's performance would not follow even if the model were accurate. Although use of a novel automatic regression procedure improved the model's fit, it cannot account for 5 of Dell et al.'s 21 patients (24%), and its limitations were found to be inherent in its design. It is argued that claims such as those made by Dell et al. can only be addressed by considering evidence from multiple related tasks and by comparing multiple computational models.     

Sadomasochistic relating: what's sex got to do with it?

The sexuality in sadomasochistic relating is most often viewed as defensive, functioning to erotize the repetition of earlier trauma, as a defense against painful affect, or as masking early, nonerotic needs for recognition and autonomy. However, this emphasis on the nonerotic dimension of so-called sexualized experience leads to symbolic interpretations of sexuality; this "deliteralization of sexuality" requires some embodiment in the concrete and literal, or metaphor is delinked from that which it is derived. Without discounting the validity of such formulations, this paper aims to put the drive (libido) back into formulations of sadomasochistic relations, and discusses the erotic dimension in sadomasochistic relations as an irreducible, hidden structure that both threatens and sustains the destructive attachment. It is suggested that sexuality is a driving force behind sadomasochistic interplay, while aggression may be recruited for defensive, concealing purposes. Through a case illustration, this paper demonstrates how sadomasochistic relating is symbolically penetrating, teasing, withholding, and intensifying in hate-inducing ways, all of which are designed to gratify and simultaneously harden the other. In many cases, sadomasochistic sexuality may be viewed as aggressivized, paradoxically, to maintain safety under the regressive pull of sexual and preoedipal longings.     

Performance on a mirror-drawing task by non-right-handers

Left-, mixed-, and right-handed (each n = 10, N = 30) adolescent boys who were classified on the basis of a hand preference inventory performed a mirror-drawing task with a bilateral transfer of a skill paradigm. Participants' hand preference and the magnitude of bilateral transfer of skill were assessed in terms of errors committed and time taken to complete the mirror-drawing task. Mixed-handed participants exhibited significantly less habit interference for mirror drawing, and they performed the task significantly faster than the left-handers did; the group difference was not significant for the frequency of errors committed. These groups did not differ in terms of the magnitude of bilateral transfer of skill; the trend, however, showed that the transfer of skill was minimum in mixed-handers. These findings extend the theory that mixed-handed participants' inability to transfer motor skill from one hand to the other could be attributable to their lack of a clear pattern of lateralization. Their ability to perform well either at initial or later trials may be a function of less interference from their normal motor habits.     

Inhibitory tagging in visual search can be found if search stimuli remain visible

Klein (1988) reported that inhibitory tagging (i.e., inhibition of return in visual search) made reaction times for the detection of small probes increase at locations where there had previously been rejected items in serial visual search. It is reasonable that the attended and rejected locations are inhibited. However, subsequent studies did not support Klein's idea. In these studies, inhibitory tagging was tested after removing the items from the search tasks. The paradigms in these studies were not appropriate for testing an object-based inhibitory effect because the objects (i.e., items) were removed from the display. In the present study, we found that evidence of inhibitory tagging could be observed only when the items of the search tasks were maintained until the responses for the small probes were made. This appeared to be an object-based effect.     

Longitudinal changes in the contribution of genetic and environmental influences to symptoms of depression in older male twins

Genetically informative longitudinal data on self-reported symptoms of depression allow for an investigation of the causes of stability and change in depression symptoms throughout adult life. In this report, the authors investigated the relative contribution of genetic and environmental influences to symptoms of depression in 83 monozygotic and 84 dizygotic male twin pairs from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) Twin Study. Participants first completed the Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression (CES-D) scale in 1985-1986 and again during 1995-1997. Mean age of twins at baseline was 63 years, range 59 to 70. From cross-sectional genetic analyses we estimated the heritability of CES-D to be 25% (95% confidence interval [CI], 11%-39%) at baseline and 55% (95% CI, 40%-71%) at follow-up. Fitting longitudinal genetic models to the two-wave data, we found that stability of symptoms over the 10-year follow-up was due primarily to continuity of genetic influences.