Gender and friendship: Why are men's best same‐sex friendships less intimate and supportive?

Despite efforts to dismiss it, the finding that men's same‐sex friendships are less intimate and supportive than women's is robust and widely documented. We tested six possible explanations for this finding: lack of parental models for friendship, emotional restraint, homophobia, masculine self‐identity, competitive strivings, and role conflicts. Of these, emotional restraint and homophobia toward gay men provided the most explanatory power for gender effects on both intimacy and support in best friendships. Masculine self‐identity mediated the relationship between gender and intimate–but not supportive–friendship; and having a same‐sex parent with close friendships mediated the relationship between gender and supportive–but not intimate–friendship. Unexpected findings about the importance of a status orientation toward friendship suggest that researchers should abandon the male‐deficit model of friendship in favor of studying the reasons why some men and women seek close same‐sex friendships.     

An Applied Study Using the Analytic Hierarchy Process to Translate Common Verbal Phrases to Numerical Probabilities

This is an applied study of how to develop a standardized set of useful verbal probability phrases for communication purposes within an expert community. The analysis extends the previous research in two ways. First, the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is used to assess the relative weights associated with the verbal phrases employed by a group of thirty financial strategy experts at a major Wall Street firm. Second, a quadratic least-squares technique is used to map these relative weights onto a subjective probability scale. The result was a consistent scaling of probabilistic phrases that the analysts prefer and actually use. This methodology can be used to minimize the problems associated with the use of probabilistic phrases by a group of experts who interact daily and who share assumptions, working knowledge and values. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The cause is worse: Remeeting Jocasta1

This paper will help bring Jocasta, a fi gure relatively neglected by psychoanalytic theory, whose lens upon her son has left her to the side, into greater focus. It is not that Jocasta is completely ignored but rather that, when studied, she appears as the dangerous, castrating, forbidden woman to be placated or avoided at all costs. So, although she stands at center stage as the fulcrum of Oedipus's destruction, it is never as a mother longing for her son. The author contends that Jocasta is the personifi cation of an ongoing developmental need on the part of all mothers to separate from their children coupled with a universal longing for reunion. As with Oedipus, Jocasta—a character in a play—is an example of the perverse outcome of forbidden gratifi cations; but also, as with Oedipus, she is the fi gurative presentation of normal variations on a theme.     

ASSERTIVENESS AS A COMMUNICATION CONSTRUCT

Previous research in assertiveness has often failed to differentiate the behaviors to be subsumed within the construct. The purpose of this study was twofold: (1) to isolate and define the subconstructs of assertiveness as they emerged from the structure of two assertive inventories—the Rathus Assertiveness Schedule and the College Self Expression Scale; (2) to evaluate assertiveness as a communication construct by examining it in the framework of two measures of communicator style—a Communicator Style Measure and a test of Predispositions toward Verbal Behavior. Results revealed that the assertiveness measures related to the expected subconstructs of communicator style. Assertiveness, as evidenced by low anxiety, dominance, contentiousness, and a refusal to be intimidated by others, correlated highly with measures of verbal intensity, talkativeness, and good communicator style.     

The Impact of Social Issue Television Programming on Attitudes Toward Rape

A field experiment was conducted to evaluate the impact of a television movie about acquaintance rape on subsequent attitudes about rape. To maximize external validity, a nationally representative sample of 1,038 male and female adults from three age groups was selected to participate in the study. These participants were then randomly assigned to view or not view the movie over a closed-circuit channel, prior to the network broadcast of the film. Afterward, acceptance of rape myths and perceptions of rape as a social problem were measured. The movie increased awareness of date rape as a social problem across all demographic groups. The movie also had a prosocial effect on older females who were less likely to attribute blame to women in date rape situations after exposure. However, the opposite effect tended to occur among older men. The findings suggest that emotional involvement with a movie and selective perception of movie events may mediate the impact of social issue television programming.