Reliability of heterosocial skills measurement with sex offenders

The heterosocial skills of 79 sex offenders were assessed using two self-report inventories, the Social Anxiety and Distress Scale (SAD) and the S-R Inventory of Anxiousness (SRI). In addition, staff members rated the offenders on modified versions of the SAD and the Heterosocial Skills Behavior Checklist for Males (HSB). Twenty-one offenders were also videotaped during a brief interaction with a female confederate. The tapes were rated using the HSB. All ratings and videotapings were conducted twice within a two-week period. The two self-report scales showed good test-retest reliability (r=.88) and correlatedr=.63 with each other. However, the SAD correlated significantly with the Crowne-Marlowe Social Desirability Scale and showed significant change from first to second administrations. The SRI showed less reactivity to social desirability and changed less over time. The staff ratings showed higher test-retest (r=.72–.76) than interrater (r=.36–.43) reliability. They correlatedr=–.56 with each other and did not show a significant relationship to the Crowne-Marlowe. However, both staff-ratings changed significantly from test to retest. Inspection of correlations between staff and self-report measures indicated that these instruments may be strongly affected by rater variance. Different measures completed by the same person correlated higher than the same measure completed by different persons. The HSB showed high levels of interrater agreement (90–100%) and split-half reliability (r=.95–.97). However, test-retest reliability was poor for the overall score and for the category measuring form of conversation. Categories measuring voice and affect were moderately reliable over time (r=.53–.74). However, the voice category scores changed substantially from first to second videotaping. On almost all measures used in this study, the sex offenders' scores were similar to those derived from normal populations. Only the category measuring affect on the HSB seemed to differentiate this group from normals.     

PERCEPTIONS OF WOMEN'S SEXUAL INTEREST AND ACQUAINTANCE RAPE

Rape prevention and education efforts often focus on the need for clear communication regarding sexual intent between women and men. This approach is based on the underlying assumption that acquaintance rape is a relational issue resulting from miscommunication. Findings from two studies challenge that assumption. The first study demonstrates that men who self-report engaging in sexually aggressive behavior are significantly more likely to misperceive women's sexual intent than other men or women. The second study demonstrates that the cognitive, rather than affective, components of rape-supportive attitudes contribute to sexualized interpretations of women's behavior. Thus, it appears that the tendency to rely on miscommunication as a framework for understanding sexual assault may be deflecting attention from sexual overperceptions and the affectively based information processing among men who en-gage in sexually assaultive behavior.     

Personality and perceptions of harmful and harmless TV violence

A study was carried out to examine viewers' perceptions of violent TV portrayals characterized by different degrees of observable harm to victims and by different programme settings. These perceptions were also related to viewers' personality scores on the EPQ. A panel of 40 individuals rated 18 brief TV scenes depicting violence in American crime-detective or science-fiction settings which resulted in fatal or non-fatal injury, or no observable harm to victims. Results showed that harmful violence was rated as significantly more serious than harmless violence in American crime-detective settings, but that the perceived consequences of violence were less salient discriminating attributes of content in science-fiction settings. There were also individual differences in ratings in that older people and lower P scores tended to perceive harmful violence as more violent, frightening and likely to disturb others than were younger people with higher P scores.     

Factors affecting the onset and magnitude of linear vection

The role of central and peripheral vision in the production of linear vection was assessed by using displays in which flow structure and sources of internal and external depth information were manipulated. Radial optical flow was more effective for inducing self-motion in both central and peripheral visual fields than was lamellar flow in displays of the same size. The presence of external occlusion information was necessary to induce linear vection when small displays were composed of lamellar flow, whereas the effectiveness of small radial displays did not depend on the availability of occlusion edges.     

Gender Representation in Television Advertisements in Britain and Saudi Arabia

This study conducted a content analysis of TV adverts from Channel One in Saudi Arabia and ITV1 in the United Kingdom in 2000–2001. A total of 164 adverts were analyzed from each country. The analysis compared the representation of men and women. Results showed that men and women were equally visually represented as lead characters in advertisements in both countries, but male voice-overs dominated in Saudi advertisements more so than in British advertisements. Women appeared more often in domestic roles and settings and less often in occupational or leisure roles and settings, and were much more likely than men to promote body care and household cleaning products. These differences were more pronounced in Saudi than in British advertisements.