Effects of Violent Versus Nonviolent Video Games on Children's Arousal, Aggressive Mood, and Positive Mood

This study investigated the relationship between violent video games and children's mood. A total of 71 children aged 8 to 12 years played a paper-and-pencil game, a nonviolent video game, and a violent video game. Results indicate that arousal, as measured by heart rate and self-reported arousal, increased significantly after playing the violent video game, as compared with the other two game conditions, with girls reporting more arousal than did boys. There was no significant increase in aggressive mood scores for either boys or girls after playing the violent game. Positive mood, as measured by positive affect, showed no significant increases or decreases after playing either video game. However, positive mood, as measured by general mood, showed a significant increase after playing the violent game for both boys and girls, but only as compared with the paper-and-pencil game. Results are interpreted in terms of social learning and cognitive information processing theories of aggression.     

Strategies and Dispositional Correlates of Sexual Coercion Perpetrated by Women: An Exploratory Investigation

This research tests whether theoretical constructs typically associated with male perpetrators of sexual coercion are predictive of women who perpetrate sexual coercion. We administered a questionnaire that contained measures of sexual experience, social dominance, ambivalent sexism, sex roles, attitudes toward sexual harassment, and lovestyle approaches toward intimate relationships to a sample of women undergraduates. Results found 18% of women to report engaging in sexually coercive behaviors. Coercive women exhibited higher tolerance of sexual harassment, and were significantly higher in femininity than noncoercive women. Coercive women were also found to embrace a ludic (manipulative, game-playing approach toward love) lovestyle significantly more than noncoercive women, while pragma (a logical approach toward love) was negatively associated with coercion. Lastly, a significant difference was found between coercive and noncoercive women and self-reported victimization. Eighty-one percent of women who reported using coercive strategies in their relationships also reported having been sexually victimized.     

Cross-cultural differences in coping with sadness

The current study investigated cross-cultural differences in ways of coping with sadness in a multicultural sample (N=140). Anova analyses revealed that Asians and Caucasians are less likely to use confrontive and positive reappraisal coping strategies in dealing with sadness than multicultural individuals. Asians are also less likely to use distancing coping strategies than multicultural individuals. Clinical implications of the results are discussed.     

The Validity of Unstructured Panel Interviews: More than Meets the Eye?

When considered at the aggregate level, a weak level of validity was found for unstructured panel interviews in the prediction of the job performance and training success of corrections officers. Aggregate analyses also revealed that panel judgments made a small incremental contribution to the prediction of job performance relative to paper credentials and that the two sources of information were only weakly related. However, considerable variation in simple and incremental validity was found at the level of individual panel members and among subgroups of panels. The findings suggest that aggregate analyses underestimate the validity of the typical unstructured panel interview.     

Hostile environments, stereotype threat, and math performance among undergraduate women

This study examined the impact of hostile environments and stereotype threat on women’s math performance. A hostile environment was created with a derogatory cartoon related to women's math ability. Stereotype threat was removed by informing women participants that “men and women perform equally” on the math test. Results showed that hostile environments and stereotype threat significantly interacted leading to differential math performance for number of math problems attempted and answered correctly. Additionally, women in hostile and stereotype threat conditions experienced differential emotional reactions during the math test. Results are discussed in terms of theoretical and practical importance. This article was based on the first author’s Master’s thesis. Parts of this study were presented at the American Psychological Society 10th Annual Conference (1998) in Washington D.C. The authors would like to thank David Mueller, Jason Joly, and Chris Termini for their help in collecting and entering data. We would also like to thank Eddie Clark and Michael Leippe for their helpful feedback and guidance on this paper.     

Hostile environments, stereotype threat, and math performance among undergraduate women

This study examined the impact of hostile environments and stereotype threat on women’s math performance. A hostile environment was created with a derogatory cartoon related to women's math ability. Stereotype threat was removed by informing women participants that “men and women perform equally” on the math test. Results showed that hostile environments and stereotype threat significantly interacted leading to differential math performance for number of math problems attempted and answered correctly. Additionally, women in hostile and stereotype threat conditions experienced differential emotional reactions during the math test. Results are discussed in terms of theoretical and practical importance. This article was based on the first author’s Master’s thesis. Parts of this study were presented at the American Psychological Society 10th Annual Conference (1998) in Washington D.C. The authors would like to thank David Mueller, Jason Joly, and Chris Termini for their help in collecting and entering data. We would also like to thank Eddie Clark and Michael Leippe for their helpful feedback and guidance on this paper.     

Professional Disclosure Statements and Formal Plans for Supervision: Two Strategies for Minimizing the Risk of Ethical Conflicts in Post‐Master's Supervision

Ethical conflicts related to the issues of informed consent, due process, competence, confidentiality, and dual relationships in supervision are discussed. Two strategies are proposed as ways to minimize the potential for ethical conflict in post‐master's supervision: the use of professional disclosure statements by supervisors and the development of formal plans for supervision.     

Collective Guilt and Shame as Motivation for White Support of Black Programs1

Two studies examined whether exposing Whites to collective guilt‐ and shame‐inducing stimuli would lead to heightened support for Black programs. White participants watched either a civil‐rights videotape or one of two control videos and then completed either a self‐affirmation task or a filler task. Support for Black programs was measured in a bogus second study. Those who watched the civil‐rights video and completed the filler task suppressed their support for Black programs, whereas those who watched the civil‐rights video and then self‐affirmed displayed the highest levels of Black program support. Findings suggest that Whites might react antisocially to guilt‐ and shame‐inducing situations, and react prosocially only after reaffirming their personal integrity.     

Test–Retest Reliability of Dominic Anxiety and Depression Items Among Young Children

Assessing anxiety and depressive symptoms through direct interviewing of young children has been found to be particularly difficult utilizing standard interview methods. Test–retest reliability of selected anxiety and depression items from the revised Dominic (Valla, Bergeron, Bidaut-Russell, St-Georges, & Gaudet, 1997), a cartoon-based questionnaire based on DSM diagnostic criteria, was investigated among two geographically diverse samples (Los Angeles and St. Louis; N = 37). Overall, kappas were higher for the anxiety items than for the depression items. In both cities the sample included clinic and non-clinic cases of African-American, Hispanic/Latino, and Caucasian children age 6–8; kappas for the anxiety and depression items were higher among the clinic cases than for the community cases. Given the need for psychometrically sound measures for culturally diverse samples of children, this initial report suggests that the use of selected Dominic items holds promise as a cartoon-based assessment of young children.     

A Review and Extension of Current Models of Dynamic Criteria

An important issue in personnel selection and test validation has been the nature of performance criteria and more specifically the existence of dynamic criteria. There is a continuing debate regarding the extent to which performance and validity coefficients remain stable over time. We examine research within work, laboratory, and academic settings and evaluate existing models of dynamic criteria. Building on previous models, we propose an integrative model of dynamic criteria that identifies important issues for ability and performance constructs and discusses how variables related to the task, job, and organization can affect the temporal stability of criterion performance and the ability-performance relationship.