Hostile Sexism and Rape Proclivity Amongst Men

In the current study, we examined the influence of victim type and hostile sexism on men’s judgments about an acquaintance rape victim and their self-reported acquaintance rape proclivity. It was predicted that hostile sexism would predict self-reported rape proclivity, but that this relationship would be moderated by victim type. Specifically, it was predicted that participants would report greater proclivity in relation to a victim who appeared not to adhere to traditional gender stereotypes than to a victim who appeared to adhere to such stereotypes. Further, in line with D. Abrams, G. T. Viki, B. Masser, and G. Bohner (2003), it was predicted that the relationship between hostile sexism and rape proclivity would be mediated by perceptions of “token resistance” by the victim. Results partially supported the hypotheses. Hostile sexism was positively related to rape proclivity, but victim type was not found to moderate the relationship. In addition, perceptions of “token resistance” were found to mediate the hostile sexism and rape proclivity relationship. The results suggest that, at least in terms of rape proclivity, hostile sexists may not differentiate in their targets for sexual aggression.     

Interpretation revealed in the blink of an eye: depressive bias in the resolution of ambiguity

Self-report measures of interpretation have been criticized on methodological grounds. An approach is introduced in this article that enables the assessment of interpretive bias with a greater degree of methodological rigor than previously has been the case. Psychophysiological researchers have established that the magnitude of the human blink reflex is augmented when elicited during negative rather than neutral imagery. The 1st experiment demonstrates that the blink reflex is sensitive to the emotional valence of imagery evoked by interpretations imposed on ambiguous stimuli. In the 2nd experiment, this measure is used to assess interpretations imposed on ambiguous stimuli by individuals who differ in depression levels. The findings are consistent with the hypothesis that depression is associated with a negative interpretive bias.     

Performance predictions affect attentional processes of event-based prospective memory

To investigate whether making performance predictions affects prospective memory (PM) processing, we asked one group of participants to predict their performance in a PM task embedded in an ongoing task and compared their performance with a control group that made no predictions. A third group gave not only PM predictions but also ongoing-task predictions. Exclusive PM predictions resulted in slower ongoing-task responding both in a nonfocal (Experiment 1) and in a focal (Experiment 2) PM task. Only in the nonfocal task was the additional slowing accompanied by improved PM performance. Even in the nonfocal task, however, was the correlation between ongoing-task speed and PM performance reduced after predictions, suggesting that the slowing was not completely functional for PM. Prediction-induced changes could be avoided by asking participants to additionally predict their performance in the ongoing task. In sum, the present findings substantiate a role of metamemory for attention-allocation strategies of PM.     

An experimental study of attitudes toward homosexuals

A major shortcoming of research on homophobic attitude change has been methodological deficiencies. This report presents details of an experimental design, along with results.

A Solomon Four‐Group Experimental Design (SFGD) was employed for the study. Ninety‐two volunteer college students at a Mid‐Atlantic university were randomly assigned to four groups, two of which represented the classic experimental design (with pre‐test and post‐test for both experimental and control group) while the two remaining groups parallel the post‐test only design (with no pre‐test for both experimental and control group).

The principal independent and dependent variables of the study were positive social interaction with homosexuals and the degree of homophobia. Findings indicated that interaction strongly influences reduction of homophobic behavior.     

Mean Streets and Mental Health: Depression and Post‐Traumatic Stress Disorder at Crime Hot Spots

This study explores the relationship between mental health and place at microgeographic units of analysis. We examine self‐reported symptomology for depression and PTSD for 2,724 survey respondents interviewed in three types of randomly selected street segments: violent crime hot spots, cool spots, and cold spots. We find that the mean symptomology score is 61% higher for depression in violent crime hot spots than cold spots, and 85% higher for PTSD. Overall, we estimate that 14.8% of residents of violent crime hot spots meet thresholds for moderate depression or a diagnosis of PTSD. This can be compared to only 6.5% of residents at the cold spots. Using PSM and weighted negative binomial regression approaches we show that observable selection factors are not responsible for the relationships identified. Examining geographic influences, we find an important area effect of violent crime for both mental health measures, and an additional impact of the specific street of residence for PTSD.     

Call for Papers: National Conference in Sales Management

This article combines a constructivist grounded theory approach with a focus on structuration theory to propose a new mental model for understanding motivation in the context of solving complex problems in contemporary business-to-business (B2B) settings. This study uses the interpretative tradition of qualitative research to conduct in-depth interviews of 24 B2B sales professionals and subsequently analyze their lived experiences. Findings indicate that intrinsic motivation stems attitudinally from a need to foster an identity of helping customers, introducing a concept called “interpersonal identification” with customers. That identity motivates the development of more cognitively intense sales proposals using a more holistic proposal development process – referred to herein as “systems-savvy selling.” While interpersonal relationships have long been components of B2B relationships, this study challenges laypeople’s stereotypes of salespeople who use interpersonal relationships to improve business outcomes. Instead, systems-savvy selling helps salespeople build interpersonal relationships and use business outcomes as feedback to strengthen interpersonal relationships and their identification with customers. Unexpectedly, it also finds that dual-role sales managers, who have roles both in selling and managing, confront a paradox of self versus others when managing systems-savvy selling processes. By sampling within an industry in which the research team benefits from significant expertise, the constructivist grounded theory approach relying on semistructured, in-depth interviews used herein leverages the research team’s expertise while controlling for industry-level effects.