The double standard of aging and the social situation: Judgments of attractiveness of the middle-aged woman

Two hundred male and 200 female undergraduates judged pictures of middle-aged women and middle-aged men for their immediate emotional appeal. Pictures had been selected to be of middle attractiveness and to represent individuals who appeared to be between 35 and 55 years old. Subjects made judgments under one of the following social conditions: in private, or in small groups which were all male, all female, or half male and half female. Social condition and subjects' sex affected judgments significantly, and there were some significant complex interactions between these two variables and the sex of the stimulus picture. Male and female subjects privately judged middle-aged women to be more attractive than middle-aged men, but the effect was reversed when judgments were made publicly in groups. As predicted, members of all-male groups judged middle-aged women to be considerably less attractive than middle-aged men. Members of all-female groups, and both the men and the women in mixed-sex groups, judged middle-aged women to be only slightly less attractive than middle-aged men.The authors wish to thank Linda Andrews, Dayna Buskirk, Anne Grealy and Lori Monda for their assistance.     

Helplessness deficits in students: The role of motivational orientation

This paper includes research comprised of field studies and laboratory experiments to examine our diathesis-stress model that students with an extrinsic motivational orientation given evaluative/controlling directives are at risk for maladaptive achievement patterns, including performance, cognitive, and emotional deficits of helplessness. The findings, using our multimethod approach, confirmed our assumptions and indicated that motivational orientation is a more reliable predictor of helplessness than either attributions or perceptions of competence. The pattern of data obtained across studies is discussed in light of other theoretical approaches to understanding achievement patterns in students.The research reported here was supported, in part, by Grant No. MN45566 from NIMH. Address all correspondence to Ann K. Boggiano, Department of Psychology, Campus Box 345, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309-0345.     

A descriptive analysis of client outcomes associated with staff interventions in developmental disabilities

Although a large body of research supports the use of behavioral staff management interventions in developmental disabilities, the nature of client outcomes associated with such interventions has not been systematically assessed. We reviewed 59 staff management studies published over 20 years (1971–1990) in order to determine the generality or scope of the research (i. e., range of settings, types and levels of clients' disabilities, clients' ages), the frequency of inclusion of client outcome measures, the types of measures and levels of analysis selected (i. e., individual groups, combination), and the effects of the interventions on client behavior. Results indicated that: (a) over two-third of the studies were conducted in institutional settings; (b) more than one-half involved clients with profound to severe mental retardation; (c) clients of various ages were served; (d) assessment of client outcomes increased progressively over the period; (e) engagement and skill acquisition were the most frequently used measures; (f) group data were presented twice as frequently as either individual or a combination of group and individual data; and (g) staff interventions were associated with either positive or mixed client outcomes in 80% or more of the cases, although maladaptive behavior went unchanged in one-fifth of the studies in which they were reported. Based on these findings, suggestions are made for how researchers might extend the generality of staff management research, improve client outcome assessment practices, and produce even more consistently positive results.     

Gender and situational differences in children's smiles,touch, and proxemics

It was hypothesized that gender differences in nonverbal behaviors which are often considered to be affiliative may represent systematic differences between males and females in self-presentation. Smiling, touching, and interpersonal distance were studied with 256 White adolescents and preadolescents, who were randomly assigned to same-sex grade-level pairs. Self-presentation was made more salient by asking each subject pair to pose for a picture depicting a social situation. Each pair illustrated one of two situations — a neutral situation and a “male-appropriate” situation that emphasized team spirit in an athletic competition. Girls smiled significantly more often than boys did and mutually touched each other more often, but there were no differences between the sexes in the overall amount of touching or proxemics. Instead, the social situation significantly determined the amount of touch and proxemics. Subjects' age and experimenter's sex were not significant variables.     

A psychosocial study of hyperactive and learning-disabled boys

Adequately reading hyperactive boys, normally behaved learning-disabled (LD) boys, and normal controls were contrasted on tests measuring personality traits, cognitive role taking, and moral reasoning. Additionally, parents and teachers rated all children on a number of behaviors, and parents were interviewed in a process-oriented fashion to assess home stimulation potential. Hyperactive boys were rated more aggressive and anxious than LD boys and controls and had not been encouraged as much by parents to achieve. Hyperactives had been born to younger parents, on the average, and 25% lived with their mothers and stepfathers. None of the LD or control boys had stepfathers. The groups did not differ significantly in moral reasoning ability, cognitive role taking, or locus of control; on the Junior Personality Inventory hyperactives tended to have elevated scores on the neuroticism scale while LD boys had higher scores on the lie scale.This research was supported by Grant HDNS-09119 from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.     

A re-examination of the interrelations among measures of retention

The interrelations among measures of anticipation, recognition and savings are examined. It is shown that (a) the difficulty level of a recognition task can be above or below that of anticipation for the same material, and (b) the slope of retention curves based upon recognition measures may be more or less steep than the slope of curves based upon recall measures of the same material. Previous contrary conclusions reflect the exclusive use of easy recognition tests, and experimental designs in which the degree of learning is much greater for the recognition than for the recall task.     

How Do Geneticists and Genetic Counselors Counsel Women from High-Risk Breast Cancer Families?

This qualitative study asked Australian Genetic Counselors and Clinical Geneticists working in cancer genetics to describe their practice when a woman attends a consultation about her family history and her risk of developing breast cancer. Twenty-nine out of 36 Clinical Geneticists/Genetic Counselors returned the questionnaire (82%). Participants identified the key goals of the consultation as (a) identifying the individual needs and concerns of the woman, (b) providing information on genes and chromosomes, (c) giving an individual risk assessment in the context of supportive interaction, and (d) discussing the pros and cons of genetic testing and putting a surveillance plan into place. Respondents emphasized the dual importance of counseling/support and information provision in this setting, suggesting that one could not be given without the other. Implications for clinical practice are discussed.