Mediation of Social Density by Coalition Formation1

Past research has indicated that three-person groups are more likely to produce isolates than two-person groups, with isolates experiencing the greatest difficulties, least confidence, and most intense crowding stress. The present study extended these findings by examining the role of coalition formation as a mediator of social density in three- and four-person groups using a survey technique. As expected, coalition formation between two roommates, resulting in one or more isolates, was more likely to occur in three-person than four-person groups. Consistent with previous research, isolates in both three- and four-person groups reported more crowding, more somatic complaints, dissatisfaction with room and roommates, difficulty in maintaining control, and less confidence in their ability to regulate social interaction than nonisolates. Tripled isolates, however, consistently reported more significant feelings of not being understood by roommates and loneliness, as well as greater exclusion from group decisions, more extreme difficulties in maintaining control and regulating social interaction, and more intense crowding stress. Counterintuitively, with an increase in group size from three to four, reported crowding stress did not increase. Implications for group dynamic processes in ameliorating some of the problems associated with crowding stress are discussed.     

Effects of pattern, spatial frequency, number, and rate of stimulus presentation on the accuracy of detection.

Brief trains of pulsed stimuli were used to assess whether magnocellular or parvocellular visual pathways could be differentiated perceptually. Trains of either one to four sine-wave, square-wave, or checkerboard gratings were presented at three temporal and two spatial frequencies to six observers. The task of the observer was to report the perceived number of stimuli (gratings) in a train. The difference between actual number and perceived number of gratings was recorded as an error score. It was found that neither the pattern nor the spatial frequency of the gratings significantly affected perceptual accuracy. On the other hand, the number of gratings in a train and the interstimulus interval between gratings produced significant differences. Perceptual accuracy was greater when lower numbers of gratings in a train were presented with longer interstimulus intervals. The observers typically reported fewer stimuli than were presented. The source of the discrepancy is discussed in terms of a light adaptive process initiated in the retina.     

Changes in the marital relationship during the transition to first time motherhood: effects of violated expectations concerning division of household labor

This research combined cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses to evaluate the hypothesis that violated expectations with respect to sharing child care and housekeeping responsibilities contribute to women's dissatisfactions with their marital relationships after the birth of their first child. The cross-sectional sample consisted of 670 women who completed questionnaires at one of six phases in relation to birth. The longitudinal sample consisted of 48 women who filled out questionnaires late in pregnancy and at three periods postpartum. The results showed, consistent with previous findings, that women reported less positive feelings about their husbands during the postpartum period than during pregnancy, and that women reported doing much more of the housework and child care than they had expected. Moreover, regression analyses indicated, as predicted, that violated expectations concerning division of labor were related to negative feelings postpartum concerning some aspects of the marital relationship. Additional findings suggested that the negative implications of the birth of a baby for the marital relationship may not be as great as has been emphasized in previous literature, and that expectancy violations affect some parts of the relationship but not necessarily the core affective feeling.     

The Perceived Advantages and Disadvantages of Presymptomatic Testing for Machado-Joseph Disease: Development of a New Self-Response Inventory

This study describes the construction of a self-response inventory to evaluate the perception of advantages and disadvantages of the Machado-Joseph disease presymptomatic testing, in 44 individuals at-risk for this disease. The results showed that the reliability of this inventory was satisfactory. Factor analysis revealed a bidimensional structure: perceived advantages (pros) and perceived disadvantages (cons) of presymptomatic testing. Social desirability was found unrelated to the total scores of our inventory. Additional correlation studies, with other scales, confirmed the convergent validity of the instrument. These results suggest adequate construct validity. This inventory thus seems to be a proper instrument to assess expectations involved in the decision-making process of Machado-Joseph disease presymptomatic testing.     

Cultural Dimensions,Gender, and the Nature of Self-concept: A Fourteen-country Study

Ratings of the importance of and satisfaction with 20 areas of the self were obtained from 3604 first or second year social science undergraduates from 14 countries (15 cultures). Factor analysis at the culture by gender level supported four factors for both sets of ratings. The resulting factor scores were analyzed for mean differences according to the cultural dimension of Individualism-Collectivism by Gender and by correlations with other cultural dimenions and economic indicators. It was found that participants from the 10 collectivist cultures placed greater salience for their self-concepts on “family values” than did those from the individualist cultures. However, this cultural difference was not found for “social relationships”. The expected gender differences, with females valuing “family values” and “social relationships” more highly, were found only for the individualist countries. The findings indicate that there may be a strong cultural level interaction effect between gender and Individualism-Collectivism on the nature of self-conceptions, and that the “family” and “social” aspects of self-concept in collectivist countries need to be considered separately.     

The Nature of Stereotypes II: A Multiple-Process Model of Evaluations1

A model integrating 3 theoretical perspectives regarding how stereotypes influence person perception was tested. The theories included evaluative extremity theories, assumed characteristics theory, and expectancy violation theory. Predictions were assessed by manipulating the ethnicity, personal appearance, and speech style of target job applicants. These applicants were rated by 109 judges. Results showed that: (a) Judges evaluated job applicants far more on the basis of their personal appearance and speech style than on the basis of their ethnicity; (b) the range of evaluations of African American applicants was larger than the range of evaluations of White applicants; and (c) overall, judges evaluated the African American applicants more favorably than the White applicants. Results strongly supported the model integrating the 3 theories. We discuss the applicability of the model to other research and naturalistic situations.     

Discriminating personality disorders using the WAIS-R: a comparison of three approaches

The purpose of this article is to determine if performance on the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised (WAIS-R) can be used to discriminate between the different taxonomies of personality disorder classification specified by three models: the biosocial, the interpersonal, and that described by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd ed., rev. [DSM-III-R]; American Psychiatric Association, 1987). Three discriminant function analyses were performed and the results indicated the usefulness of the WAIS-R in making such differentiations for all the approaches. The WAIS-R proved most effective with the biosocial model, evidencing a robust and clinically meaningful pattern of results. Implications for further research are discussed.     

Enhancing quality of teaching by direct care staff through performance feedback on the job

Performance feedback was used on the job as the primary procedure to train four direct-care staff at a large state residential facility to administer a comprehensive set of teaching behaviors while they taught self-care skills to developmentally delayed residents. All trainees improved their teaching when provided feedback on the job, but maintained their skills to a lesser extent after a two month follow-up assessment. Residents made modest progress toward independence. Implications for designing methods to promote acquisition and maintenance of staff teaching skills and to provide more effective learning experiences for residents are discussed.