Cognitions,Attitudes and Decision-Making in Search and Seizure Cases 1

This study investigated decision-making in a search and seizure context. Specifically, the study examined the viability of a tort remedy for deterring police from illegal searches. The decision is made in a context common in legal settings: the decision-maker is supposed to ignore available information (in this case, knowledge about the outcome of the search). This type of judgment allows for the operation of many cognitive influences, such as a hindsight bias-like process and the influence of attitudes and cognitive schemas. A search scenario was presented to 377 subjects; each scenario had one of three different endings—drugs were found (guilty), no evidence was found (not guilty), or no mention was made of the outcome (neutral). The results showed that knowledge of the outcome of the search influenced damage judgements, such that a guilty outcome led to lower damage awards. Outcome knowledge also influenced reconstruction of the events in the scenario, such that a guilty outcome led to a distortion of information in the direction of incriminating the defendant. The results also showed that well-organized and coherent ideological belief systems exert an independent influence on both awards and reconstruction of events.     

THE PSYCHOLOGY OF WOMEN AND CONSERVATISM

Although one goal of the psychology of women has been to enhance the status of women through social change, this goal has seldom been realized. Theory and research in the psychology of women have focused on gender differences and the personality of women rather than the society that oppresses women. As a result, this research has tended to blame women for their position in society and helped maintain the status quo, which can inhibit the struggle for equality by the women's movement. This process is demonstrated with reference to research on women and achievement. The causes and consequences of the focus on gender differences are discussed and recommendations made for a psychology of women in the service of women.     

Bayesian estimation in the two-parameter logistic model

A Bayesian procedure is developed for the estimation of parameters in the two-parameter logistic item response model. Joint modal estimates of the parameters are obtained and procedures for the specification of prior information are described. Through simulation studies it is shown that Bayesian estimates of the parameters are superior to maximum likelihood estimates in the sense that they are (a) more meaningful since they do not drift out of range, and (b) more accurate in that they result in smaller mean squared differences between estimates and true values.The research reported here was performed pursuant to Grant No. N0014-79-C-0039 with the Office of Naval Research.     

The Generalizability and Construct Validity of the Modern Sexism Scale: Some Cautionary Notes

Our purposes are to explore the generalizability of the Modern Sexism Scale [J. T. Swim et al. (1995) “Sexual and Racism: Old-Fashioned and Modern Prejudices,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 68, pp. 199–214] beyond mostly white, traditionally aged undergraduates and to extend analyses of its construct validity. Fourteen African American and 32 white women firefighters nationwide, having previously completed an extensive mail survey, were followed up with the Modern Sexism Scale. A four-factor solution, low inter-item correlations, and a low coefficient alpha argue against combining the 8-items of the scale. Racial differences on one item and in response variances as well as correlations with age, years of service, and education caution against handily overgeneralizing scale usage beyond students. Coherent patterns of interrelationships among Modern Sexism items and other personality, attitudinal, work experiential, and gender identity scales suggest strong convergent validity.     

Gendered norms for family size, employment, and occupation: Are there personal costs for violating them?

The present study investigated gendered stereotypes involving women’s family size, employment, and occupation. Eleven ratings of targets’ social and personality characteristics were ascribed by 400 undergraduates to a hypothetical married woman described as voluntarily childfree or the mother of one, two, or eight children, and as nonemployed or employed either part or full time in either a gender-appropriate or gender-inappropriate occupation. Women employed in gender-atypical occupations were considered less expressive and were socially distanced, but this factor did not interact with family size. Two-children mothers were regarded favorably as was employment. Prior findings denigrating single-child mothers and glorifying eight-children mothers were not replicated—both groups were rated similar to normative, two-children mothers. Consistent with prior research, childfree women were evaluated least favorably. Findings suggest that norms regarding both family size (two children) and employment exist among contemporary college students. The authors thank Pauline Beres for her help with data collection and entry. This paper was presented at the meeting of the American Psychological Association in New York in 1995.     

Counseling for Spiritual Wellness: Theory and Practice

Spiritual wellness is an emerging area of interest in counseling. It still lacks clarity, however, in definition and application. To increase familiarity with and encourage counselor intervention regarding the spiritual dimension, the authors of this article attempt to define more clearly the concept of spiritual health and to describe ways to use techniques for the enhancement of spiritual wellness and the advancement of spiritual development.     

The stability of work,self and interpersonal goals in young women and men

An investigation was made into the stability of important self-described goals of young men and women aged 18 to 20 years old using the results of analyses of two goal assessments having an intervening period of 5 months. A theoretical perspective was adopted which assumed goals are ‘future selves’ or ‘possible selves’, thus linking the self concept to motivation. An adapted version of Nuttin's Motivational Content Analysis (1985) was used to assess individual goals. It was hypothesized that women may have greater instability of self concept and ‘possible selves’ than men. Findings of the study showed the contrary, and revealed that men and women had similarly stable goals over time. Results are compared to other research on the self concept and to the problems of self concept measurement.     

Determining career orientations in women from different social-class backgrounds

This study examines career orientations in women from high- and low-socioeconomic status backgrounds, using a longitudinal data set collected over a period of 10 years, from 1973 to 1982. When first contacted, respondents were 18 years of age. The final data collection in 1982 resulted in a sample of some 1300 women. The longitudinal data were analyzed using LISREL structural equation modeling and were guided by a theoretical framework developed by Krumboltz (1981) which focuses on the process of decision-making. Results from the study indicated that there were effects of social-class background in the development of women's career orientations, over the secondary school-early career development stage. Group differences in determinants of orientation were found for political attitudes, occupational interests, senior school achievement, and professional attainment. Differences were also found in the influence of motivational tendencies and work satisfaction on model variables for the two groups of women. The benefit of the decision-making theoretical framework and its further development for use in studies of career development generally are discussed.     

Letter and word code interactions elicited by normally displayed words

The dependence of visual word recognition on letter processing was investigated by measuring the effect of a cue word on subsequent target word processing for various degrees of cue/ target similarity. Using a simultaneous matching task (Experiments 1 and 2), modest facilitation was found for identical cue/target items only, whereas items that differed by a single letter led to substantial interference. Targets that shared internal or external letters with cues yielded latencies comparable to those for neutral or different cue conditions. The identical facilitation and high-similarity interference was also found in a lexical decision task under normal display conditions (Experiment 3). However, when direct letter processing was measured using spatially transformed targets (Experiment 4), large facilitatory effects were found for similar as well as for identical cue/target conditions. Although both letter and word codes appear to be activated by normally displayed words, such word code activity may not routinely depend upon letter code outputs.     

Preventing mental illness through existential principles

A case is made for the dysfunctional attributes of traditional marital relationships conceptually based upon the material principle of scarcity. The application of the existential principle of abundance is put forth for the purpose of developing genuine mutual support, personal awareness, and authenticity leading to the prevention of mental illness.