SEX DIFFERENCES IN CONFORMITY: STATUS AND GENDER ROLE INTERPRETATIONS

The experiment examines status and gender role explanations of the tendency for women to conform more than men in group pressure settings. Subjects believed they were assigned to groups containing two males and two females in addition to themselves and received these other group members' opinions, which were represented as deviating from the opinions that subjects had given earlier. Subjects then gave their opinions with the other group members either having or not having surveillance over these opinions. In addition, subjects were required to form impressions of each other's likability or expertise. The findings indicate that subjects' sex and age affected the extent of their conformity. Among older (19 years and older) subjects, females conformed more with surveillance than without it, whereas surveillance did not affect males' conformity. Among younger (under 19 years) subjects, surveillance had no effects. Analysis of sex differences revealed that older females were significantly more conforming than older males when under surveillance as well as when subjects formed impressions of one another's likability. Among younger subjects, there were no sex differences. These findings are discussed in terms of the theories that (a) both sex and age function as status characteristics and (b) gender roles determine conformity.     

Ontogeny of early event memory: I. Forgetting and retrieval by 2- and 3-month-olds

In 2 experiments, 2-month-olds, trained in the mobile conjugate reinforcement paradigm for two daily sessions, showed retrieval deficits relative to 3-month-olds. In Experiment 1, tests of simple forgetting administered to 2-month-olds after retention intervals of 1, 3, 6, and 9 days (a period over which 3-month-olds remember the contingency) indicated that their forgetting was complete after delays greater than 1 day. In Experiment 2, reactivation treatments administered to 2- and 3-month-olds alleviated forgetting after a retention interval of 28, but not 35, days in the 3-month-old group only. Previously, alleviated forgetting by a reactivation treatment had been demonstrated in 2-month-olds after a delay of 18 days. In both of the present experiments, performance of the two age groups did not differ during the immediate retention test at the end of training. These results suggest that neither the age of the infant nor the age of the memory determines memory retrieval after long delays; instead, it appears to be determined by the length of time that a memory has been inaccessible (i.e., forgotten). We propose that factors which delay simple forgetting will correspondingly increase the length of the interval over which a retrieval cue can still be effective in a reactivation paradigm, irrespective of the age of the infant or the age of the memory.     

High calcium intake does not prevent stress-salt hypertension in dogs

Avoidance conditioning sessions and isotonic saline (1.3 L/day) were administered to dogs for 12 days under conditions of a low (0.1%) or high (1.5%) calcium diet. Twenty-four-hour mean arterial pressure increased comparably during the stress-salt conditioning periods on both the low (systolic: +16 ± 5 mm Hg; diastolic: +6 ± 2 mm Hg) and high (systolic: +17 ± 4 mm Hg; diastolic: +11 ± 4 mm Hg) calcium diets. Urine volume, sodium excretion, and serum calcium levels on the high calcium diet were not significantly different from those on the low calcium diet. In a second experiment, calcium was infused continuously for six days into the arterial circulation of normotensive or stress-salt hypertensive dogs at a rate of 0.12–0.23 mEq/min. Although serum calcium levels increased by up to 50% under these conditions, there were no significant effects on 24-hour levels of arterial pressure. In contrast to the protective effect of augmented potassium intake, these findings indicate that calcium intake does not influence the development of stress-salt hypertension in dogs.     

Empty nest,cohort, and employment in the well-being of midlife women

Whether the empty-nest experience has positive or negative consequences for women's well-being at midlife may depend on their historical cohort membership and employment status. In this study, it was posited that the empty nest was likely to be a negative experience among the particular cohort of women (Cohort II) who reached adulthood during the period of strong societal emphasis on women's maternal role known as the feminine mystique, would be experienced positively among the earlier cohort (Cohort I) who as young adults were encouraged to enter the labor force during World War II. Analyses of covariance tested the relationships among empty-nest status, cohort membership, and employment status, and three measures of psychological well-being, adjusted for age, education, and marital status. The results of this study show that cohort and employment each have important independent associations with women's well-being at midlife, but that the experience of the empty nest depends on these two factors, especially cohort experiences.The authors wish to thank Joseph Veroff, Elizabeth Douvan, and Richard Kulka for the use of the data from The Study of Modern Living, and Joseph Veroff for comments on an earlier version of this paper.     

Measuring misinformation in repeat trial pick 1 of 2 tests

An extension is described to a product testing model to account for misinformation among subjects. A misinformed subject is one who associates the taste of product A with product B and vice-versa; thus, the subject would tend to perform incorrectly on pick 1 of 2 tests. A likelihood ratio test for the presence of misinformation is described. The model is applied to a data set, and misinformation is found to exist. Biases due to model misspecificationand other implications for product testing are discussed.The first author is currently on leave from Carnegie Mellon University.     

Sexual Outcasts: The Perceived Impact of Body Weight and Gender on Sexuality1

A person's weight may be perceived as an important aspect of his or her sexuality and a significant determinant of his or her interpersonal sexual experiences. However, researchers interested in body weight and sexuality have focused exclusively on sexual disorders found in individuals with eating disorders; consequently, little is known about people's beliefs about weight and sexuality, despite the individual and interpersonal significance of such beliefs. Undergraduates received information about a male or female, obese or normal-weight stimulus person and then evaluated that person along several dimensions related to sexuality. Participants believed that an obese man's sexual experiences would be highly similar to those of a normal-weight man. However, participants viewed an obese woman as less sexually attractive, skilled, warm, and responsive, and perceived her as less likely to experience desire and various sexual behaviors than a normal-weight woman. In addition, participants believed that an obese woman was less sexually attractive, skilled, warm, and responsive than an obese man.     

'An intimate loneliness': evaluating the impact of a child's death on parental self-identity and marital relationships

Marital relationships may degenerate following a son's or daughter's death. This paper explores ways in which problems of communication between grieving partners may be linked to the challenge which each is facing in reordering their parental self-narrative. The role which'talk'plays in constructing and maintaining self-identity, and the contributions which professional and volunteer support might make in facilitating marital conversation are examined. A brief note is also made of current research upon which this paper is based, commenting on the appropriateness of the narrative technique for collecting emotionally sensitive field-data.     

Age-Related Hearing Loss: Implications for Counseling

As the U.S. population ages, counseling practitioners are working with increasing numbers of hearing-impaired older adults. Age-related hearing loss affects various dimensions of the counseling process, in which communication is of primary importance. More generally, hearing loss has consequences for the overall lifestyle of the client and for effective functioning in the workplace and in social and family contexts. This article examines adaptation strategies used by hearing-impaired listeners and the implications of age-related hearing loss for counseling, intervention, and self-management.