Effects of self-attributed and other-attributed gaze on interpersonal evaluations between males and females

Male and female subjects were placed together in pairs for 10 min to get to know each other and talk about anything they wished. After the conversation, an experimenter gave the participants false feedback about the amount of gaze between them during the conversation. One subject (designated Self) was reported by the experimenter to have gazed at the Other at a higher level than usual for most people, at an average level, or at a lower level than usual for most people. After the conversation and the false feedback manipulation, subjects evaluated each other on a rating form. Results of the experiment showed that females gave males the most favorable ratings when they had ostensibly gazed at the males at a high level. Males were most favorable toward females when they thought they had given the females low levels of gaze. When considering the gaze of the other person, both male and female subjects rated a low gazing partner as least attentive and a high gazing partner as most sincere. Males rated low gazing females as least attractive. Females rated males with high reported gaze as least attractive. The research was discussed in terms of Bem's theory that attitudes are a function rather than a cause of behavior. Results were integrated with past research and suggestions for further study were made.     

Self-perception and characteristics of premanipulation attitudes: A test of Bem’s theory

In a study to provide evidence for the assumption of self-perception theory that premanipulation attitudes are not salient to postmanipulation phenomenology, Bem and McConnell (1970) performed two forced-compliance experiments. One experiment was a typical forced-compliance experiment in which Ss indicated their postmanipulation attitudes. In the other experiment, the Ss were asked to recall their premanipulation attitude after the essay writing task. It was found that the recall ratings were essentially the same as the postmanipulation attitude ratings. The present study was a partial replication of the Bern and McConnell experiment. The results of this study indicate that premanipulation attitudes are salient to the postmanipulation phenomenology of Ss for whom these attitudes are highly relevant.     

Two-voice music programming system: The PDP-9 as an automatic electronic organ

A small computer was programmed to translate two-part musical scores into tables of numbers which were then used in the execution of the music through an amplifier and loudspeaker. The objective was to create sets of tape recordings to be used in psychophysical testing of the discriminabilities and preferabilities of music played on different pitch scales. The close tolerances in the timing of events in such stimulus materials demand special programming techniques and hardware components. The working system is described, and recommendations are made concerning the main features of an improved system.     

Nursing considered as moral practice: a philosophical-ethical interpretation of nursing

Discussions of ethical approaches in nursing have been much enlivened in recent years, for instance by new developments in the theory of care. Nevertheless, many ethical concepts in nursing still need to be clarified. The purpose of this contribution is to develop a fundamental ethical view on nursing care considered as moral practice. Three main components are analyzed more deeply -- i.e., the caring relationship, caring behavior as the integration of virtue and expert activity, and "good care" as the ultimate goal of nursing practice. For the development of this philosophical-ethical interpretation of nursing, we have mainly drawn on the pioneering work of Anne Bishop and John Scudder, Alasdair MacIntyre, Lawrence Blum, and Louis Janssens. We will also show that the European philosophical background offers some original ideas for this endeavor.     

Modernity and Identity: Themes and Perspectives in the Study of Older Adults

Developments in social gerontology have led to an increased awareness of the relationship between political economy, culture, and personal narrative as influences on social identity in later life. Central to this debate has been a growing interest in lifestyle choice as evidence of a change from modern to postmodern forms of aging. A key component of this process has been the erosion of a predictable framework for an aging identity, previously supplied by the welfare state. It is argued that, alongside the emergence of no-care zones in health and welfare, postmodern ideas on consumerism and the body have led to an assault on identity in old age. As a result, we may be seeing the emergence of no-identity zones which fail to sustain an authentic framework for supporting experiences in old age. A critical gerontology should include the study of identity as central to understanding the disjunction between aging from within and aging within society.     

A vocal response time system for use with sentence verification tasks

A software system for the reliable detection of vocal response onset is described. The system was designed specifically for the measurement of vocal response times to speech stimuli presented aurally in a sound field in the presence of some background noise. The response time extraction method described here is robust to masking noise and extraneous sounds that may be included in the subject’s recorded response. In addition, the response words do not have to be limited to a small set because the system is able to differentiate the onset of any speech sounds, including low-energy fricatives. The method described here may be implemented with any computer sound system because it relies only on the sound conversion clock for timing accuracy and uses postprocessing of the signal after acquisition for response extraction. The response time extraction technique as currently implemented does not recognize subject’s responses but could be incorporated into an automatic speech recognition system.     

Mapping the terrain of pastoral psychology

Pastoral psychology has, over the course of the past century, undergone substantial transformation. Changes in the territory warrant, if not require, a thoroughly revised map. This essay approaches pastoral psychology as an interdisciplinary enterprise, a bridge discipline unifying three diverse, integrally related angles of vision: as a specialized field of theology (or theological studies), a specialized field or kind of psychology (or psychological studies), and a practical-clinical enterprise. The need to systematize the field as well as demonstrate its complex relations with cognate areas recommends approaching pastoral psychology, ultimately, as theological: as a dimension of pastoral theology, a kind of practical theology, which integrates practice-theory (praxis) and research; involves religious-theological and psychological domains of experiences, patterns of behavior, and forms of reflection; and maintains a focus on the understanding and care of persons across intrapsychic, familial, community, and cultural levels.     

An individual differences approach to the halo-accuracy paradox

In performance appraisal, the halo-accuracy paradox describes the surprising result that rater accuracy can be positively correlated with the halo rating error. Fisicaro (1988) provided an explanation for this unlikely relationship by proposing an inverse V function as the relationship between accuracy and invalid halo in which maximum accuracy is located at zero invalid halo. This paper develops the model by proposing that maximum accuracy does not have to be at zero invalid (Hypothesis 1). As the cognitive difficulty of a rating task increases, a negative monotonie relationship between maximum achievable accuracy and associated value of absolute invalid halo is specified (Hypothesis 2). The hypotheses were tested in two different experimental situations. Results from both studies supported Hypothesis 1 but, whilst a distinct pattern between accuracy and absolute invalid halo was noted, only a weak version of Hypothesis 2 could be supported. The evidence from this paper demonstrates that the halo-accuracy paradox is not an artefact as some recent reviewers have proposed (Balzer & Sulsky, 1992; Murphy & Balzer, 1989; Murphy & Cleveland, 1991).