The effects of verbal and behavioral noncompliance on third party instigation of aggression

Females, assigned to one of four conditions defined in terms of a confederate's behavior, suggested which shock intensity the confederate ought to set for an opponent during a reaction time competition, should the opponent lose the trial (had slower reaction time). Confederates either verbally complied or disagreed with suggestions to set high shock, while either actually setting the intensity suggested or setting a lower intensity. Over trials, the opponent became increasingly provocative. Results revealed the main effects and interaction of confederate's verbal and actual behaviors, as well as provocativeness of the opponent, significantly influenced the level of shock subjects suggested. Subjects with verbally and behaviorally compliant confederates suggested more intense shock than subjects who encountered any noncompliance.     

Third party instigation of aggression as a function of attack and vulnerability

Subjects serving as advisors instructed a confederate which shock intensity to deliver to an opponent in a reaction-time competition; subjects could also directly aggress by setting shock for the opponent's partner. Vulnerable subjects (shock electrode on) both instigated less aggression, i.e., suggested that less intense shocks be set, and directly aggressed less frequently than nonvulnerable subjects (no shock electrode). Attacked subjects, those for whom the opponents set shock, both instigated more aggression and more frequently set shock than did nonattacked subjects. The relationship between vulnerability and attack was additive for instigative aggression and multiplicative for direct aggression. Both modes of aggression were significantly influenced by the intensity of provocation from the opponents.     

REVISING THE SES: A COLLABORATIVE PROCESS TO IMPROVE ASSESSMENT OF SEXUAL AGGRESSION AND VICTIMIZATION

The Sexual Experiences Survey (SES) assesses victimization and perpetration of unwanted sexual experiences (e.g., Koss, Gidycz, & Wisniewski, 1987 ). Revised versions of the SES that resulted from the work of the SES Collaboration are now available. This article reviews weaknesses of the SES that were identified, strengths that were preserved, and methodological considerations in the measurement of unwanted sexual experiences that informed the revisions. The primary changes include: more behavioral specificity; conversion to gender neutrality; full crossing of unwanted acts and coercive tactics; and revised and updated wording for assessing consent, alcohol-related incidents, unwanted acts, and coercive tactics. For illustration, the full text of the revised victimization version and its scoring rules are provided. The article concludes with suggestions for future research. These suggestions aim to involve researchers in a coordinated agenda to develop data that clarify methodological questions and contribute to continued improvement in assessing sexual victimization and perpetration.     

Recognition hypermnesia: how to get it

Although recall hypermnesia (enhanced recall) over time with repeated testing has by now become an established empirical fact, its recognition counterpart, recognition hypermnesia, has defied clear-cut laboratory confirmation. In four studies, which relied on the retrieval component of recognition memory, it was shown that recognition memory, indexed by d', reliably improved over three successive recognition tests. The stimuli consisted of 140 cartoons, each comprising a picture and a verbal caption. Recognition memory was tested on transforms or part-forms (parts) of the original stimulus material (pictures only, verbal paraphrases of the pictures, the latent content of the cartoons, or the combination of paraphrases and latent contents). The strongest effects were obtained when the originally presented cartoons were tested on their latent (deep semantic) contents. Recognition hypermnesia for part-forms or transforms of earlier presented stimuli has potentially wide-ranging implications since real-world recognition--of faces, texts, visual scenes--usually involves recognising stimuli that are variants, not exact copies, of the originally encountered materials.     

Feminism and the Decade of Behavior

This Psychology of Women Quarterly special issue argues that the goals of the Decade of Behavior to foster a healthier, safer, better educated, more prosperous, and more democratic nation cannot be achieved without contributions from feminist psychology. Its individual articles reflect feminist perspectives and provide examples of how feminist perspectives can inform behavioral and social research within Decade domains. In this overview, we outline the challenges that gender poses to achieving Decade goals, and discuss four cross-cutting feminist principles for research to address those challenges: Inclusiveness and Diversity, Context, Power and Privilege, and Activism. We discuss specific limitations of traditional research, and emphasize the need for new models that view the world in more complex, context-based ways. We underscore the importance of generating new, diversity-mindful research questions and of developing and accepting new methods to answer them. We discuss policy implications, stressing the need for activism. We hope this work will encourage the expansion of feminist scholarship in the new millennium and be helpful to researchers, educators, and policymakers in working to achieve the goals of the Decade of Behavior.