Reviews of current books

Pastoral Psychology -     

A technique for correlating measurable traits with freely observed social behaviors

In much research in social psychology it is impractical to get quantitative measure of the degree of effectiveness of certain social behaviors, yet associates can sense that effectiveness sufficiently well to detect those who manifest the behavior in very high or in very low degree. This paper develops a technique of biserial correlation from wide-spread classes to deal statistically with such situations, develops standard error formulas for it, and points to a wide range of usefulness for this type of technique.     

Sex Bias in Educational Software: The Effect of Designers' Stereotypes on the Software They Design1

Why is the computer more alluring to boys than it is to girls? One answer to this question is drawn from a social psychological model of human interaction. Social psychological research indicates that the expectations an individual has about another person can shape his or her interaction with that person. We hypothesized that, in a similar manner, the expectations software designers hold about the users of the software they design are central in determining the way the software they design interacts with the user. In order to test this notion, we had 43 educators with programming experience design software for either boys, girls, or students, and found that programs for girls were classifiable as “learning tools,” whereas programs for both boys and students were most like “games.” These differences occur as a function of the designers' expectations of the characteristics of potential users of the program and result in sex stereotyped software. We conclude that it is not the computer, or even the software, that is at the root of the sex bias in software, but the expectations and stereotypes of the designers of the software.     

Life Stress,Hassles, and Self-Efficacy in Aging: A Replication and Extension1

This study examines the roles of life stress, hassles, and self-efficacy in the prediction of adjustment in aging. Twenty-six men and 26 women between the ages of 65 and 75 participated in an initial structured interview and a follow-up interview one year later. Measures of negative life change events, daily hassles, and self-efficacy were used to predict depression, psychosomatic symptoms, and negative well-being both in concurrent and time-lag designs. Frequency of hassles was the strongest predictor, showing significant relationships with depression and psychosomatic symptoms both concurrently and one year later, even when initial distress was controlled. Perceived self-efficacy was also shown to be predictive of current and subsequent depression, even after initial depression was controlled. Frequency of negative life events was a weak predictive factor. The only area where life events related significantly to health was in time-lag analyses with negative well-being, even when initial distress was controlled.     

Teachers' choice of punishment as a function of a student's gender,age, race,and IQ level

Evidence suggests that teachers treat students differently according to various characteristics, including demographic factors and academic labels. An attempt was made to discover whether teachers' recommendations of punishment would differ according to the students' age, race, gender, IQ level, and type of offense. Punishment was recommended for a hypothetical student in a fighting, a stealing, and a cheating situation. The results revealed that southern white female teachers generally reported that they would recommend more severe punishment for males than for females and for white males than for black males. It was noted that these results occured despite the fact that teachers differed in age, number of years of teaching experience, grade levels taught, and education level.     

Main and interaction effects of metallic toxins on classroom behavior

This study investigated the relationships of metal levels and metal combinations to children's classroom behavior. Hair-metal concentrations of lead, arsenic, mercury, cadmium, and aluminum were determined in 80 randomly selected elementary-age children, who were also rated by their classroom teacher on the Walker Problem Behavior Identification Checklist (WPBIC). Parents were interviewed to control for confounding variables that may have affected behavioral development. Regression analysis indicated that the set of metals was significantly related to increased scores on four of the five WPBIC subscales and on the total scale, with lead being a major contributor to four of the six dependent measures. Metal combinations were significantly related to increased scores on the WPBIC subscales measuring acting-out, disturbed peer relations, and immaturity, and on the total scale. A continuing reexamination of metal poisoning concentrations is needed because metal levels and metal combinations previously thought harmless may be associated with nonadaptive classroom behavior.     

Undergraduates' punish-help judgments: The effect of transgressor's and victim's sex

Thirty-six undergraduates were presented with four hypothetical court cases in which the negligent actions of one individual (male or female) resulted in harm to another individual (male or female). Each participant read one case from each of the four sex of transgressor— sex of victim dyads. The sex dyads associated with the cases were counterbalanced across the four nine-member groups. Following each case, the subjects were asked to (1) rate the importance of punishing the transgressor and aiding the victim, (2) allocate $1000 of tax revenues to punishing the transgressor and/or helping the victim, (3) select either punishing or helping if the available resources could be used for only one, and (4) rate how angry and how sad they thought the victim felt. Although the undergraduates generally favored helping over punishing, their ratings indicated that they perceive female victims as more emotional and as meriting more assistance than males experiencing the same misfortunes. The relation of the present findings to those of a similar study involving children is discussed.