TRANSFORMING LESBIAN SEXUALITY

Women are objectified and sexualized by the media and the economy, so that they live in a culture of sex. Lesbians are excluded from the mainstream sexual and appearance norms for women, yet are affected by these norms, including the association of sex and violence against women. The word sexuality has been used to connote both sexual orientation and sexual activity, and it is argued that this dual meaning illustrates the dominance of patriarchal definitions of women's sexuality. This article discusses methodologic issues in understanding who is a lesbian and presents various models or dimensions for understanding who is included in research about lesbians. It asks the question "What is sex?" and reviews the implications of this question for lesbian sexual activity. This question has implications for a collorary question: "What is a lesbian relationship?", and the article discusses the implications of this question on various forms of sexual and nonsexual relationships among lesbians.     

Einige Versuche zur Frage der harmonischen Zusammenstellung gefärbter Flächenstücke

Zusammenfassung Es werden einige Versuche mitgeteilt, die anzeigen, daß Farbenharmonien dann auftreten, wenn die Größen der gefärbten Flächenstücke so gewählt werden, daß die sog. Helligkeitsäquivalente im Verhältnis 11 stehen.     

Die Rechtsansichten der Eurasier -- Rechtsordnung oder Wertordnung?

In their juridical doctrines, the members of the Evrazijstvo movement advocated the idea of a Russian special path criticizing at the same time the formalism and coldness of the western conception of law, based principally on Roman law. Their views are characterized by an evident priority accorded to justice over law, to the order of values over legal order.     

Apes' and children's understanding of cooperative and competitive motives in a communicative situation

Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and bonobos (Pan paniscus) (Study 1) and 18- and 24-month-old human children (Study 2) participated in a novel communicative task. A human experimenter (E) hid food or a toy in one of two opaque containers before gesturing towards the reward's location in one of two ways. In the Informing condition, she attempted to help the subject find the hidden object by simply pointing to the correct container. In the Prohibiting condition, E held out her arm toward the correct container (palm out) and told the subject firmly 'Don't take this one.' As in previous studies, the apes were at chance in the Informing condition. However, they were above chance in the new Prohibiting condition. Human 18-month-olds showed this same pattern of results, whereas 24-month-olds showed the opposite pattern: they were better in the Informing condition than in the Prohibiting condition. In our interpretation, success in the Prohibiting condition requires subjects to understand E's goal toward them and their behavior, and then to make an inference (she would only prohibit if there were something good in there). Success in the Informing condition requires subjects to understand a cooperative communicative motive - which apparently apes and young infants find difficult.     

Adaptation of Two Family Therapy Training Instruments to Culturally Suit the Indian Context

Two family therapy training instruments, the Family Concept Assessment (FCA) and Rating Scale and Family Therapy Assessment Exercise (FTE), developed in the United States were adapted to suit the Indian cultural context. Several changes were made to the instruments while at the same time maintaining the equivalency of the scales to the original. Both the instruments were tested for face validity by a panel of cultural and content experts in the United States. The FTE was then pilot tested with an Indian sample. The psychometric properties of the adapted instrument are reported in this article including feedback from the participants.     

Sample size and the detection of correlation--a signal detection account: comment on Kareev (2000) and Juslin and Olsson (2005)

Simulations examined the hypothesis that small samples can provide better grounds for inferring the existence of a population correlation, p, than can large samples. Samples of 5, 7, 10, 15, or 30 data pairs were drawn either from a population with p=0 or from one with p>0. When decision accuracy was assessed independently for each level of the decision criterion, there was a criterion-specific small-sample advantage. For liberal criteria, accuracy was greater for large than for small samples, but for conservative criteria, the opposite result occurred. There was no small-sample advantage when accuracy was measured as the area under a receiver operating characteristic curve or as the posterior probability of a hit. The results show that small-sample advantages can occur, but under limited conditions.     

Effects of slow-release caffeine and a nap on driving simulator performance after partial sleep deprivation

A driving simulator was used to evaluate the effectiveness of a 30-min. nap and 300-mg slow-release caffeine as countermeasures to drivers' sleepiness induced by partial sleep deprivation. 12 participants were allowed 45 hr. time in bed at the laboratory. Driving performance then was measured twice--at 9 a.m. and at 1 p.m.--by a 45-min. driving task on a simulator. Subjective sleepiness/alertness and mood were assessed four times on the Stanford Sleepiness Scale and the Profile of Mood States. Driving performance was assessed as Lane Drifting, Speed Deviation, and Accident Liability. A 30-min. nap opportunity and 300 mg of slow-release caffeine both were successful in counteracting drivers' sleepiness. The remedial effect of slow-release caffeine lasted longer than that of the nap, that is, it was also effective in the afternoon session. This suggests that slow-release caffeine represents a valuable countermeasure that, in the case of partial sleep deprivation, is preferred to a nap when sleepiness has to be counteracted for a longer time.     

Adrenocortical reactivity and social competence in seven year-olds

We examined temporal changes in salivary cortisol in response to a peer self-presentation task in a group of seven year-olds, some of whom scored high, average, and low on the Harter, 1983 Perceived Social Competence Scale. Salivary cortisol was measured pre-task, and 20 and 35 min post-task. We found a significant relation between individual differences in perceived social competence and salivary cortisol reactivity in response to the task. Children who perceived themselves as socially competent exhibited a significantly greater decrease in salivary cortisol from 20 to 35 min following the task compared with children who self-reported a relatively lower degree of social competence. We speculate on the meaning of salivary cortisol changes in childrens socio-emotional development.     

A computer-graphic technique for the study of body size perception and body types

We present a novel approach for measuring body size estimation in normal and eating-disordered women and men. Clinical categories of body types were used as prototypes. By comparing the subjective appearance of a person’s body with prototypes, we can understand how different attributes of his or her body shape contribute to perception of body size. After lifelike random distortions have been applied to parts of their body image, individuals adjust their body shapes until they converge on their perceived veridical appearance. Exaggeration and minimization of particular body areas measured with respect to their true shape and with different prototypes can be expressed as numerical deviations. In this way, perceived body size and body attractiveness can be appraised during the course of diagnosis and treatment of eating disorders.