THE GENDER STEREOTYPING OF EMOTIONS

Three studies documented the gender stereotypes of emotions and the relationship between gender stereotypes and the interpretation of emotionally expressive behavior. Participants believed women experienced and expressed the majority of the 19 emotions studied (e.g., sadness, fear, sympathy) more often than men. Exceptions included anger and pride, which were thought to be experienced and expressed more often by men. In Study 2, participants interpreted photographs of adults'ambiguous anger/sadness facial expressions in a stereotype-consistent manner, such that women were rated as sadder and less angry than men. Even unambiguous anger poses by women were rated as a mixture of anger and sadness. Study 3 revealed that when expectant parents interpreted an infant's ambiguous anger/sadness expression presented on videotape only high-stereotyped men interpreted the expression in a stereotype-consistent manner. Discussion focuses on the role of gender stereotypes in adults'interpretations of emotional expressions and the implications for social relations and the socialization of emotion.     

Does Social Drinking Affect Memory in Older Adults?

The present study examines the possible impact of drinking status on objective memory performance in older adults. Subjects were 214 seniors who were participating in a memory research project and had been screened for cognitive impairment. Cognitive measures included the California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT) and the visual reproduction subtest of the Wechsler Memory Scale–Revised. Drinking status classification (i.e., abstinent, past drinker, light drinker, moderate drinker, and problem drinker) was based on the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test scores for the past year and report of past drinking history. Very few subjects were classified in the problem group, with the majority abstaining in the past year. Findings indicated that problem drinkers differed from moderate social drinkers on immediate visual memory, and also had a trend for more retroactive interference on the CVLT. There was no evidence that moderate social drinking (average 13.6 standard drinks) had an adverse impact on memory in this population.     

Executive function in children with high and low attentional skills: Correspondences between behavioural and cognitive profiles

Cognitive performance was compared between two groups of typically developing children, who had been observed and rated as differing significantly in their attentional skills at school. The participants were 24 8‐ and 9‐year‐old children scoring poorly relative to peers, on a classroom observation scale and teacher rating scale for attention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity [low‐attentional skills (LAS) group] and 24 sex‐ and age‐matched children scoring at a high level compared to peers [high‐attentional skills (HAS) group]. The two groups were compared on a series of cognitive tasks to assess executive function (EF). The LAS group performed within the typical range yet at a significantly lower level than the HAS group on the majority of the EF tasks administered, namely working memory and inhibition measures, even though there were no significant differences between the groups on a measure of intellectual ability. Working memory measures followed by measures of inhibition emerged as the best predictors of group membership. These findings provide empirical evidence that there are individual differences in attentional skills. Specifically, that there is a relationship between behavioural inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity and cognitive performance on working memory and inhibitory control tasks.