School psychologists' rankings of stressful events

The issue of stress among school psychologists and other helping professionals has achieved a position of prominence in recent literature. Critical stressful events in the professional lives of 534 school psychologists are identified and rated. The demographic data for the subjects and the mean rankings of the 35 stressful events are reported. In addition, a factor analysis was performed on the stressful events, yielding nine factors: Interpersonal Conflict, High Risk to Self and Others, Obstacles to Efficient Job Performance, Public Speaking, Time Management, Keeping District “Legal,” Hassles, Professional Enrichment, and Insufficient Recognition of Work. Analyses of variance were performed, pairing the 11 demographic variables with the nine factor scores. One or more statistically significant (p<.05) factor loadings were obtained for gender, age, type of community, number of districts, number of years, and salary.     

Catching up with wonderful women: The women‐are‐wonderful effect is smaller in more gender egalitarian societies

Inequalities between men and women are common and well‐documented. Objective indexes show that men are better positioned than women in societal hierarchies—there is no single country in the world without a gender gap. In contrast, researchers have found that the women‐are‐wonderful effect—that women are evaluated more positively than men overall—is also common. Cross‐cultural studies on gender equality reveal that the more gender egalitarian the society is, the less prevalent explicit gender stereotypes are. Yet, because self‐reported gender stereotypes may differ from implicit attitudes towards each gender, we reanalysed data collected across 44 cultures, and (a) confirmed that societal gender egalitarianism reduces the women‐are‐wonderful effect when it is measured more implicitly (i.e. rating the personality of men and women presented in images) and (b) documented that the social perception of men benefits more from gender egalitarianism than that of women.     

Changes in HIV treatment beliefs and sexual risk behaviors among gay and bisexual men, 1997-2005.

OBJECTIVE: Beliefs about HIV treatment effectiveness and the impact of HIV treatments on HIV transmission risks were initially related to sexual risk-taking in the late 1990s when multidrug HIV treatments first became available. This study examined changes in beliefs about the effects of HIV treatment for preventing HIV transmission and their association to sexual risk behaviors between the years 1997 and 2005. DESIGN: Anonymous surveys were administered to a convenience sample of gay and bisexual men attending a large community event in Atlanta, Georgia in 1997 (N = 498) and again at the same community event in 2005 (N = 448). Analyses were performed for men living with HIV/AIDS and for men who have not been diagnosed with HIV/AIDS. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Rates of unprotected anal intercourse in the previous 3 months. RESULTS: There were significant increases in high-risk sexual practices that coincided with increased beliefs that HIV treatments can reduce the chance of transmitting HIV. However, optimistic beliefs about the health benefits of HIV treatments decreased over the 8 years and were not related to risk behaviors. CONCLUSIONS: Beliefs about how HIV treatments impact HIV infectiousness remain associated with HIV transmission risk behavior and interventions targeting at-risk as well as HIV-positive men who have sex with men must directly address these beliefs and perceptions.     

Frontal pole cortex: encoding ends at the end of the endbrain

Considerable neuroimaging research in humans indicates that the frontal pole cortex (FPC), also known as Brodmann area 10, contributes to many aspects of cognition. Despite these findings, however, its fundamental function and mechanism remain unclear. Recent neurophysiological results from the FPC of monkeys have implications about both. Neurons in the FPC seem to encode chosen goals at feedback time and nothing else. Goals, the places and objects that serve as targets for action, come in many forms and arise from many cognitive processes. The FPC's signal, although surprisingly simple for neurons at the apex of a prefrontal hierarchy, could promote learning about which kinds of goals and goal-generating processes produce particular costs and benefits, thereby improving future choices.     

The nature of The Nature of Prejudice

This paper attempts to establish the historical context for the development and publication of Gordon Allport's text, The Nature of Prejudice, and by so doing illustrate the importance of historicizing psychological social psychology. The Nature of Prejudice was, in part, the cumulative result of a decade of Gordon Allport's classroom teaching in a new interdisciplinary unit at Harvard, the Department of Social Relations. This paper chronicles key elements of Allport's course -"Prejudice and Intergroup Conflict"-from 1944 to the mid-1950s.