Alcohol and drug use in stressful times: The influence of the masculine role and sex-related personality attributes

In times of stress, men and women sometimes turn to the use of alcohol and drugs as an avenue for relieving their discomfort and distress. One explanation of this finding implicates traditional male tendencies as predisposing factors. The purpose of the present investigation was to study how the relationship between stress and substance use is moderated (1) by the masculine role, as measured by the Masculine Role Inventory; and (2) by socially desirable and undesirable masculine-instrumental and feminine-expressive personality attributes, as measured by the Extended Personal Attributes Questionnaire. The results indicated that during stressful episodes men characterized by socially undesirable instrumental personality attributes reported using tranquilizers and sedatives. By contrast, it was found that during stressful times, women characterized by success preoccupation reported less use of mind-altering drugs and more use of tranquilizers-sedatives. In addition, it was found that socially desirable expressive attributes served to buffer the impact of stressful experiences on women's use of alcohol.A preliminary report of these data were presented at the 1985 annual meeting of the Southwestern Psychological Association, Austin, Texas. Gratitude is extended to Toni Falbo for her assistance with this research.     

Relation of sex and gender role to love,sexual attitudes,and self-esteem

One theory of love (J. A. Lee, The Colors of Love: An Exploration of the Ways of Loving, Don Mills, Ontario: New Press, 1973) assumes at least six different attitudinal orientations toward love. Based on Lee's approach, recent research (e.g., C. Hendrick & S. Hendrick, “A Theory and Method of Love,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1986, 50, pp. 392–402) has found consistent sex differences in love attitudes. Other research has found comparable sex differences in sexual permissiveness and other sexual attitudes. The present study explored the possibility that gender role orientation might be related to differences in love and sexual attitudes. A sample of 286 college students completed the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI), Love Attitudes Scale, Sexual Attitudes Scale, and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. Correlational analyses revealed many significant associations among love and sexual attitudes, self-esteem, and masculinity and femininity. Subjects were also classified according to gender role as androgynous, masculine, feminine, or undifferentiated, according to BSRI scores. Analyses of variance showed effects for both sex of subjects and gender role orientation on several of the dependent measures. The pattern of the results suggested that sex-stereotyped couples may have difficulties in romantic relationships because of the discrepancies in their love and sexual attitudes. An argument was made in support of the recent trend toward a multidimensional concept of gender role orientation.     

The impact of pre-employment integrity testing on employee turnover and inventory shrinkage losses

A major home improvement chain located primarily in the western United States initiated the use of thePersonnel Selection Inventory, a written integrity test, as part of its pre-employment hiring process. For two years only, those job applicants who passed this test and other pre-employment criteria were hired by the chain. Following the introduction of the inventory, there was: (1) a 50% reduction in the number of employee terminations for theft, illegal drug use, and violence over a five year period and (2) a savings in shrinkage losses that amounted to over two million dollars over a two year period.     

A brainstem “mini-discharge” syndrome (anesthesia dolorosa)

Chronic pain consisting of anesthesia dolorosa secondary to bilateral interruption of the trigeminal nerves is presented as a brain stem reticular denervation syndrome. Electrothalamograms revealed fast frequency discharges in the mesothalamic prerubral and centermedian reticular formation. Mesothalamic electrical stimulation attenuated the discharges. Pain and other symptoms presumably of brainstem origin also were attenuated or abolished by therapeutic electrical stimulation twice daily. It is postulated that brain stem-represented behavioral generators are implicated by the reticular discharges in order to produce the complex symptomatology. Consequently the symptom complex is collectively identified as a brainstem “mini-discharge” syndrome. A theoretical discussion is presented to defend the thesis that reticular denervation-induced low threshold discharge system accounts for the episodic states of pain, dyskinesia, mood, and memory disturbances.     

Smoking,personality, and imagery preference in Relation to spontaneous bilateral electrodermal activity

Effects of smoking on spontaneous bilateral skin conductance were studied as a consequence of interactions with set and setting. Bilateral skin conductance was recorded in six men and six women who smoked and an equal number of nonsmokers on two different days. On the first day, spontaneous electrodermal activity was recorded before and after a 10-minute rest period during which half the smokers smoked a cigarette. On the second day, one week later, spontaneous activity was again recorded before and after a 10-minute rest period during which the remaining smokers smoked a cigarette. Nonsmokers did not smoke at any time. Following smoking there was a significant negative correlation between a preference for visual over nonvisual imagery and spontaneous skin conductance responsivity in the left as compared to the right hand. Correlations were significantly different in smokers and nonsmokers. Smokers showed significantly greater preferences for either visual or nonvisual imagery than nonsmokers. Nonresponding nonsmokers were higher on the psychoticism (P) scale of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ) than responding nonsmokers. Smokers scored higher on P than nonsmokers. Interactions between personality, cognitive style, and the experimental situation, set, and setting were discussed in relation to the arousing effects of nicotine.     

Pavlov as a psychologist

American psychologists are informed on Pavlov’s work on conditional reflexes but not on the full development of his theory of higher nervous activity. This article shows that Pavlov’s theory of higher nervous activity dealt with concepts that concerned contemporary psychologists. Pavlov used the conditioning of the salivary reflex for methodological purposes. Pavlov’s theory of higher nervous activity encompassed overt behavior, neural processes, and the conscious experience. The strong Darwinian element of Pavlov’s theory, with its stress on the higher organisms’ adaptation, is described. With regard to learning, Pavlov, at the end of his scholarly career, proposed that although all learning involves the formation of associations, the organism’s adaptation to the environment is established through conditioning, but the accumulation of knowledge is established by trial and error.