Self-Reported Alcohol Expectancies and Postdrinking Sexual Inferences About Women1

In evaluating dating scenarios, perceivers tend to infer more sexual responsiveness for drinking than nondrinking daters. The origin of these postdrinking sexual inferences has not previously been examined. In the present study, we considered whether perceivers' alcohol expectancies would influence these inferences. Male and female subjects completed a brief expectancy measure, read a vignette depicting a beer-drinking or cola-drinking woman, and evaluated the targeted woman. Multiple-regression equations were computed to test a replication hypothesis and an interaction hypothesis. In support of the replication hypothesis, subjects rated the beer-drinking woman as more sexual than her cola-drinking counterpart. In support of the interaction hypothesis, male but not female subjects exhibited the predicted expectancy by drink interaction. High expectancy men but not low expectancy men rated the beer-drinking woman as more likely to engage in sexual behaviors than the cola-drinking woman. This finding was evident on behaviorally specific measures, but not on trait-like measures. The roles of stereotypes and alcohol expectancies as determinants of post-drinking sexual inferences are discussed.     

Toward a Psychology of Resistance

Resistance is all around us in contemporary life. It is an everyday phenomenon of personal and cultural life, as the Chaudhary et al. (2017) volume establishes with theoretical analyses and empirical examples from diverse cultural contexts. Resistance functions in the dynamics of person-by-culture encounters when one party takes an opposing position. With the purpose of working towards a unified approach to resistance, the authors in this volume lay down the foundations for a psychology of resistance as an everyday phenomenon. As a basis for analyzing the role of resistance in the dialectical processes of change, the volume presents resistance as: personal and social, oppositional, intentional and future-oriented, transformational and developmental. We see different positions opening up a debate about whether resistance is a particular, intentional and oppositional phenomenon, or is the basic process of all dialectical transformational change. Further resistance to either position is consistent with moving forward in the development of a psychology of resistance.     

Relationships Between Attitudes Toward Organizations and Performance Appraisal Systems and Rating Behavior

Data collected in seven separate samples in three countries (the USA, Canada and Israel) were used to examine the relationships between perceptions of one’s organization (climate, commitment), beliefs about appraisal systems (self‐efficacy, uses of appraisal) and raters’ orientations to appraisal systems (confidence and comfort) and specific rating behaviors. We obtained good fits for structural models suggesting that attitudes and beliefs accounted for substantial variance in raters’ likelihood of giving high or low ratings, willingness to discriminate good from poor performers, and willingness to discriminate among various aspects of job performance when completing actual performance ratings. Proximal attitudes and beliefs (i.e., those directly related to the performance appraisal system) appear to have stronger links to rating behavior than do more distal attitudes (i.e., attitudes toward the organization in general).     

DEVELOPMENTAL ISSUES IN THE TREATMENT OF DIABETIC WOMEN

The physiological and psychological effects of diabetes on women show changes with age. Behavioral interventions on behalf of diabetic women must be based on an understanding of these life span changes. A review of selected articles from the medical and psychological literature that focus on special issues for a diabetic woman during preadolescence, adolescence, and adulthood is presented. Recommendations are made for behavioral interventions with diabetic women in regard to "sick" role adjustment, peer conformity pressures, eating disorders, sexuality, and pregnancy.     

Constraints on priming in spatial memory: Naturally learned versus experimentally learned environments

In four experiments, we explored constraints on priming in spatial memory. In Experiments 1 and 2, subjects who were familiar with the locations of buildings on the Vanderbilt campus participated in a recognition test. The subjects' task was to decide whether or not named buildings were on the campus. Foils in this recognition test were realistic but fictional names of buildings. In principle, the subjects could have performed this task without using spatial knowledge; in fact, they must not have used spatial knowledge, because there was no evidence of priming in recognition as a function of the spatial relations between buildings on the campus. This result differs from those obtained in earlier experiments that have examined memory of spatial layouts learned in laboratory settings. In Experiment 3, the fictional foils were replaced by names of buildings in an area of the campus separated geographically from the main campus. Evidently, this change induced subjects to retrieve spatial knowledge, because the spatial priming effect materialized. A fourth experiment replicated the above findings in a single experiment and demonstrated that spatial priming could be obtained when the configuration of buildings was learned experimentally. These results are explained by appealing to the "decontextualization" that takes place in memory over time.     

Concreteness, context availability, and imageability ratings and word associations for abstract, concrete, and emotion words

Normative values on various word characteristics were obtained for abstract, concrete, and emotion words in order to facilitate research on concreteness effects and on the similarities and differences among the three word types. A sample of 78 participants rated abstract, concrete, and emotion words on concreteness, context availability, and imagery scales. Word associations were also gathered for abstract, concrete, and emotion words. The data were used to investigate similarities and differences among these three word types on word attributes, association strengths, and number of associations. These normative data can be used to further research on concreteness effects, word type effects, and word recognition for abstract, concrete, and emotion words.     

Whose self is it anyway? Self-aspect control moderates the relation between self-complexity and well-being

Greater self-complexity refers to the extent that one’s self-concept is comprised of many and relatively differentiated self-aspects. Although some research has found that those greater in self-complexity fare better physically (e.g., fewer illnesses) and psychologically (e.g., less depression) when experiencing stress, other studies have reported another pattern of data (e.g., greater self-complexity predicts greater depression). In the current work, two studies found support for a moderating variable in this latter pattern, self-aspect control. Specifically, for those who perceived relatively little control over their self-aspects, being greater in self-complexity predicted worse physical and psychological outcomes. Study 2 tested alternative explanations and supported an interpretation that perceptions of control over one’s multiple selves, in particular, moderated the relation between self-complexity and well-being.