A Test of Bipolar and Androgyny Perspectives of Masculinity and Femininity: The Effect of Participation in an Outward Bound Program

ABSTRACT The purposes of the present investigation are to examine theoretical issues in androgyny theory by testing the effect of participation in the Outward Bound program on measures of masculinity (M) and femininity (F) Bipolar conceptualizations of MF posit that an increase in either M or F must lead to a decrease in the other, whereas androgyny theory posits M and F to be independent constructs Consistent with a priori predictions based on the nature of the Outward Bound program, participation substantially enhanced M and had a small positive effect on F The results were reasonably consistent for male and female participants, for single-sex and mixed-sex groups, and across responses to three different MF measures Results support the androgyny interpretation of MF and demonstrate the effectiveness of the Outward Bound program in changing MF The results contradict the bipolar perspective that an increase in M must be accompanied by a decrease in F     

Visual discrimination and response programming

Summary Choice reaction time (RT) depends on the relationship between responses, and these dependencies are usually interpreted in terms of the advance-specification assumption. According to this assumption characteristics that are the same for the choice responses can be specified in advance of the response signal, thus allowing faster RTs. Since the advance-specification assumption is called into question by some of the available data, an alternative interpretation is suggested and formalized in terms of an accumulator model. According to the programming-interactions assumption, stimulus processing is tightly linked to response programming, so that both the possible responses are programmed as long as there is uncertainty with regard to stimulus identity. This gives rise to interactions between simultaneous processes of motor programming. Predictions of this assumption for the joint effects of signal similarity and the relationship between responses are tested and confirmed.This research was supported by grant no. He 1187/3–1 from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft     

The Rotter locus of control scale: The comparison of alternative response formats and implications for reliability, validity, and dimensionality

Participants completed the Rotter internal/external (IE) instrument using three different response formats before and after completion of the Outward Bound program, and were evaluated by external observers at the end of the intervention. Multitrait-multimethod analyses indicated that five specific IE facets identified in previous research were consistently distinguished with each of the response formats. While responses were substantially more internal after the intervention, effect sizes varied with the IE facet and with the response format. Observer responses were significantly correlated with self-responses, and provided additional support for the construct validity of responses to the Rotter instrument and the interpretation of the intervention effect. Nevertheless, problems with the Rotter instrument were identified, and the implications for further research were discussed.     

Incarnation and pastoral care

This essay is an examination of the usefulness of incarnation as a theological metaphor for pastoral care and counseling. Understanding the incarnation as both an event and as a paradigm of God's relationship to the world provides a theological perspective for examining four interrelated questions about identity and the helping relationship frequently asked by the pastoral care-giver. The incarnation metaphor finally frees us to care in the confidence that in God the Incarnating One, all things, including our care for the sick, are held together.Dr. Anderson is Associate Professor of Pastoral Theology and Counseling at Wartburg Theological Seminary, 333 Wartburg Place, Dubuque, Iowa 52001.     

Magnitude production and magnitude estimation of taste intensity

Magnitude productions of sodium chloride (salty), quinine hydrochloride (bitter), and sucrose (sweet) yielded steeper psychophysical functions than those obtained with magnitude estimation. Hydrochloric acid (sour) produced the opposite effect. The results are discussed with respect to previous findings in taste intensity scaling and to general psychophysical considerations.     

Two-key concurrent responding: response-reinforcement dependencies and blackouts

Two-key concurrent responding was maintained for three pigeons by a single variable-interval 1-minute schedule of reinforcement in conjunction with a random number generator that assigned feeder operations between keys with equal probability. The duration of blackouts was varied between keys when each response initiated a blackout, and grain arranged by the variable-interval schedule was automatically presented after a blackout (Exp. I). In Exp. II every key peck, except for those that produced grain, initiated a blackout, and grain was dependent upon a response following a blackout. For each pigeon in Exp. I and for one pigeon in Exp. II, the relative frequency of responding on a key approximated, i.e., matched, the relative reciprocal of the duration of the blackout interval on that key. In a third experiment, blackouts scheduled on a variable-interval were of equal duration on the two keys. For one key, grain automatically followed each blackout; for the other key, grain was dependent upon a response and never followed a blackout. The relative frequency of responding on the former key, i.e., the delay key, better approximated the negative exponential function obtained by Chung (1965) than the matching function predicted by Chung and Herrnstein (1967).     

Variables underlying the recognition of random shapes

Speed of sorting decks of 32 cards with two alternative stimuli was measured. The stimuli were pairs of dots with attributes of distance between dots, angle of orientation of the pair, and position of the pair to the right or left of center. The attributes varied in relative discriminability and were used in all possible pair- and triple-correlated (redundant) combinations. Results showed an increase in speed of sorting with either an increase in discriminability or an increase in number of redundant attributes. It is argued that the increased speed with addition of redundant attributes is due both to a selective serial processing of attributes (requiring attribute separability) and to an increased discriminability with combined attributes (requiring attribute integrality).     

A note on mathematical models for learning

It is shown that a rational learning curve developed by Estes for paired associate learning is a special case of a more general function. The latter is the product of two functions and assumes that the discovery and fixation aspects of learning are independent. The indications are that the form of one of the functions has not been tested sharply by Estes in the paired associate learning setting.