Cyborgs in the Everyday: Masculinity and Biosensing Prostate Cancer

Abstract

An in vivo biosensor is a technology in development that will assess the biological activity of cancers to individualise external beam radiotherapy. Inserting such technology into the human body creates cybernetic organisms; a cyborg that is a human–machine hybrid. There is a gap in knowledge relating to patient willingness to allow automated technology to be embedded and to become cyborg. There is little agreement around what makes a cyborg and less understanding of the variation in the cyborgisation process. Understanding the viewpoint of possible beneficiaries addresses such gaps. There are currently three versions of ‘cyborg’ in the literature (i) a critical feminist STS concept to destabilise power inherent in dualisms, (ii) an extreme version of the human/machine in science-fiction that emphasises the ‘man’ in human and (iii) a prediction of internal physiological adaptation required for future space exploration. Interview study findings with 12 men in remission from prostate cancer show a fourth version can be used to describe current and future sub-groups of the population; ‘everyday cyborgs'. For the everyday cyborg the masculine cyborg status found in the fictionalised human–machine related to issues of control of the cancer. This was preferred to the felt stigmatisation of being a ‘leaker and bleeder’. The willingness to become cyborg was matched with a having to get used to the everyday cyborg's technological adaptations and risks. It is crucial to explore the everyday cyborg's sometimes ambivalent viewpoint. The everyday cyborg thus adds the dimension of participant voice currently missing in existing cyborg literatures and imaginations.     

Tracking Children’s Print-Processing Skill Across Grades 1–3: Implications for Reading Assessment and Instruction

Grounded in the simple view of reading, this study tracked the development of print-processing skill in high-, average-, and low-achieving readers at six time points across grades 1–3. Results showed large between-group differences in sight vocabulary, oral reading accuracy, and oral reading rate that remained stable from beginning of first grade to end of third grade. While the average group consistently met pre-set instructional-level criteria for oral reading accuracy and rate, the low group did not. Implications for assessment and instruction are provided.     

Responses to discrimination: the role of emotion and expectations for emotional regulation

The present study examined the role of emotion in women's perceptions of discrimination and their endorsement of behavioral responses to change the status quo. In an experimental simulation involving a situation of sex discrimination, women (N = 108) were primed to experience a particular emotion (sad, angry, control condition) and were subsequently instructed to either suppress or express (or neither) their emotional responses. Women primed to feel sad and told to suppress their emotions reported the least discrimination, whereas angered women who were permitted to express themselves reported the greatest discrimination. Furthermore, when encouraged to express their emotions, women primed to feel sad were more likely to endorse normative actions to rectify the situation, whereas women induced to feel angry were more likely to endorse collective actions to change the status quo. These findings have implications for the role of emotions and expectations regarding their expression on collective action taking.     

Measuring emotional intelligence with the MSCEIT V2.0

Does a recently introduced ability scale adequately measure emotional intelligence (EI) skills? Using the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT; J. D. Mayer, P. Salovey, & D. R. Caruso, 2002b), the authors examined (a) whether members of a general standardization sample and emotions experts identified the same test answers as correct, (b) the test's reliability, and (c) the possible factor structures of EI. Twenty-one emotions experts endorsed many of the same answers, as did 2,112 members of the standardization sample, and exhibited superior agreement, particularly when research provides clearer answers to test questions (e.g., emotional perception in faces). The MSCEIT achieved reasonable reliability, and confirmatory factor analysis supported theoretical models of EI. These findings help clarify issues raised in earlier articles published in Emotion.     

Revision and Restandardization of the Conners Teacher Rating Scale (CTRS-R): Factor Structure, Reliability, and Criterion Validity

The Conners Teacher Rating Scale (CTRS) is a commonly used research and clinical tool for assessing children's behavior in the classroom. The present study introduces the revised CTRS (CTRS-R) which improves on the original CTRS by (1) establishing normative data from a large, representative North American sample, (2) deriving a factor structure using advanced statistical techniques, and (3) updating the item content to reflect current conceptualizations of childhood disorders. Using confirmatory factor analysis, a six-factor structure was found which includes Hyperactivity-Impulsivity, Perfectionism, Inattention/Cognitive Problems, Social Problems, Oppositionality, and Anxious/Shy factors. The reliability of the scale, as measured by test-retest correlations and internal consistency, is generally satisfactory. Using all of the scale factors to discriminate between attention deficit hyperactivity disordered and normal children, 85 percent of children were correctly classified, supporting the validity of the scale and indicating excellent clinical utility. Similarities and differences between the original CTRS factor structure and the CTRS-R factor structure are discussed.     

Purdue Pegboard: test-retest estimates

26 normal, self-reported dextral subjects (12 men, 14 women) were assessed with a Purdue Pegboard 5 times at weekly intervals to evaluate temporal stability and efficacy of lateralization with this test. There was a statistically significant increase in performance over time for men on the right- and left-hand placing subtests and for women on the assemblies subtest. For men/women the test-retest reliability over the 5 sessions averaged .63/.76 for the right-hand, .64/.79 for the left-hand, .67/.81 for both-hands, .81/.83 for assemblies, and .33/.22 for the right/left-hand ratio.     

Competitiveness among females and males in physical activity classes

Competitive orientations of 237 male and female undergraduates enrolled in competitive and noncompetitive physical activity classes were investigated using the Work and Family Orientation Questionnaire [WOFO: R. L. Helmreich and J. T. Spence, The Work and Family Orientation Questionnaire: An Objective Instrument to Assess Components of Achievement Motivation and Attitudes Toward Family and Career, Catalog of Selected Documents in Psychology, 1978, 8(2) (Document #1677)] and a Competitiveness Inventory. Factor analysis confirmed the four WOFO dimensions proposed by Helmreich and Spence (mastery, work, competitiveness, personal unconcern). Factor analysis of the Competitiveness Inventory revealed three factors termed competitiveness, goal orientation, and win orientation. Sex × Activity Class (competitive or noncompetitive) (2 × 2) multivariate analyses revealed sex differences on the WOFO scores, both sex and activity differences on the Competitiveness Inventory scores, and no interactions. Sex differences on the WOFO scores confirmed Spence and Helmreich's findings; females scored higher on work and males scored higher on competitiveness. On the Competitiveness Inventory, males scored slightly higher than females on competitiveness, but most of the multivariate sex difference was due to males scoring higher on win orientation and females scoring higher on goal orientation. In contrast, the multivariate activity difference was due primarily to competitiveness; students in competitive activities scored considerably higher on competitiveness than students in noncompetitive activities. The findings suggest that sport-achievement orientation has a unique factor structure and provide evidence supporting the validity of the sport-specific, multidimensional Competitiveness Inventory.The assistance of Thomas Deeter and Carol Gruber with data collection and analysis is gratefully acknowledged.     

Ego analysis and the relativity of defense: technical implications of the structural theory

We suggest that it is recognition of the relativity of defense, of the fact that the same content can be either defense or wish, rather than recognition of unconscious defense, that distinguishes the structural from the topographic theory. The structural theory did not simply add to the topographic theory the recognition that defense can be unconscious; it represents a radical shift in the concept of defense and of the relation between defense and wish. Accordingly, ego analysis, as the technical approach generated by the structural theory, is not complementary or preliminary to id analysis, the technical approach generated by the topographic theory. We attempt to demonstrate that the two theories represent antagonistic paradigms, both theoretically and technically. We suggest that "defense before drive," the structural formula for interpretation, made ego syntonicity a crucial determinant in formulating interpretations, and assumed the relativity of defense. Accordingly, the structural revision made possible an equidistant position between defense and wish, reducing reliance on suggestion and establishing interpretive neutrality, which we distinguish from behavioral neutrality.