Ambivalent Sexism and Applicant Evaluations: Effects on Ambiguous Applicants

The purpose of the current research was to evaluate how gender stereotypes and sexist attitudes affect responses to hypothetical job applicants. In Study 1 (N?=?93) undergraduate and graduate students in the Southwestern USA evaluated a male, female, or gender-ambiguous resume. They also completed the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory (ASI; Glick and Fiske 1996). Hypotheses were tested using ANOVA. Results suggested that participants who expressed more hostile sexist attitudes evaluated the gender-ambiguous applicant more negatively than a male or female applicant. In Study 2 (N?=?117), graduate and undergraduate participants were asked to indicate the gender of the ambiguous applicant. Those who scored high on hostile sexism, and perceived a gender-ambiguous applicant to be male, provided the most favorable evaluations.     

Lower limb kinematic variability in dancers performing drop landings onto floor surfaces with varied mechanical properties

Elite dancers perform highly skilled and consistent movements. These movements require effective regulation of the intrinsic and extrinsic forces acting within and on the body. Customized, compliant floors typically used in dance are assumed to enhance dance performance and reduce injury risk by dampening ground reaction forces during tasks such as landings. As floor compliance can affect the extrinsic forces applied to the body, secondary effects of floor properties may be observed in the movement consistency or kinematic variability exhibited during dance performance. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of floor mechanical properties on lower extremity kinematic variability in dancers performing landing tasks. A vector coding technique was used to analyze sagittal plane knee and ankle joint kinematic variability, in a cohort of 12 pre-professional dancers, through discrete phases of drop landings from a height of 0.2 m. No effect on kinematic variability was observed between floors, indicating that dancers could accommodate the changing extrinsic floor conditions. Future research may consider repeat analysis under more dynamic task constraints with a less experienced cohort. However, knee/ankle joint kinematic variability was observed to increase late in the landing phase which was predominantly comprised of knee flexion coupled with the terminal range of ankle dorsiflexion. These findings may be the result of greater neural input late in the landing phase as opposed to the suggested passive mechanical interaction of the foot and ankle complex at initial contact with a floor. Analysis of joint coordination in discrete movement phases may be of benefit in identifying intrinsic sources of variability in dynamic tasks that involve multiple movement phases.     

Difficult Patients in Group Analysis: The Personification of (ba) I:A/M

Following a discussion of the treatment of difficult patients in group analysis, two theories are proposed concerning a fourth basic assumption in the unconscious life of groups, called Incohesion: Aggregation/Massification or (ba) I:A/M and the personification of basic assumption processes, in particular that of (ba) I:A/M by difficult patients. These theories are illustrated with clinical data. Special attention is given to crustacean and amoeboid forms of encapsulation as a defence against the fear of annihilation within the context of the traumatogenic process. It is suggested that for difficult patients the treatment of choice is dyadic psychotherapy/psychoanalysis followed by group analysis.