Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics Index to Volume 20

Volume Contents

heoretical Medicine and Bioethics Index to Volume 20     

THE SHIFT IN POWER WITH AGE Changes in Perception of the Power of Women and Men Over the Life Cycle

Previous research has described an apparent shift in perceived interpersonal power towards equality between men and women later in life. This study investigated (a) whether the shift in power with age would appear in the Israeli kibbutz, (b) the role of the parental emergency in the shift, and (c) whether changes in behaviors or attitudes best account for the shift. One hundred twenty younger and older Israeli women and men, half from the city and half from the kibbutz, wrote TAT stories, which were then rated for overall power of the female and male characters, their power strategies, and their motives. A shift in perceived power with age was found in both the city and the kibbutz. Parental status reduced the power of the woman and increased the power of the man only in the city, whereas the reverse was true in the kibbutz. These results counter the parental emergency explanation for the shift in power with age. Furthermore, older women used traditionally feminine power strategies, but their behavior was evaluated as more powerful than the same behavior in younger women. Thus, it is not the behaviors but rather people's evaluation of the behaviors that changes across the life span of the individual.     

Neuropsychological functioning in kleptomania

Kleptomania is characterized by the failure to resist impulses to steal objects not needed for personal use or their monetary value. The objective of this study was to examine cognitive and executive functioning in subjects with kleptomania. Fifteen women with a primary DSM-IV diagnosis of kleptomania underwent a detailed psychiatric examination, including measures of kleptomania severity, and a battery of neuropsychological tests that emphasized executive functions. Correlational analyses were computed between measures of kleptomania severity and tests of executive functioning. Kleptomania subjects reported a mean duration of illness of 17.9 years and shoplifting a mean of 1.7 times per week. All subjects reported an inability to resist urges to shoplift. Neuropsychological testing revealed group mean test scores within 0.5 standard deviations of normative standards for age. Five subjects (33.3%), however, had below-average performance on at least one measure of executive functioning, and 4 (26.7%) had below-average scores on two executive measures. Correlational analyses revealed a statistically significant correlation between kleptomania severity and Wisconsin Card Sorting Test performance (r=-0.693, p=0.004). As a group, subjects with kleptomania did not demonstrate deficits on neuropsychological testing. Greater kleptomania symptom severity, however, was correlated with impairment in executive functioning.     

SEX DIFFERENCES IN OCCUPATIONAL PERFORMANCE EXPECTATIONS

This study is an investigation of the effects of occupational sex-dominance on sex differences in occupational performance expectations. Female and male college students indicated their expectations for their own performance— self expectations—and that of either a typical male, female, or male and female person— comparison person expectations —for six occupations varying according to perceived sex-dominance. Additionally, the performance expectations were reported under anticipated private or public conditions. Results indicated that in contrast to males, females reported lower expectations for themselves alone and lower expectations for themselves in comparison to another person for male-dominated occupations. However, unlike males, females reported higher expectations for themselves and for themselves in comparison to others for female-dominated fields. Occupational sex dominance appeared to influence females' performance expectations, while males' expectations were similar across fields varying in sex-dominance. Neither the sex of the comparison person nor the anticipated privacy of the expectations were found to be related to the sex differences in performance expectations.     

A content analysis of the conversational behavior of accepted and rejected children

The present study was designed to assess whether the conversational behavior of children separated into accepted, rejected, and mixed-status dyads differed along the dimensions of listening to, paying attention to, and indicating interest in their dyadic partner. Conversations of 40 third-grade dyads were analyzed as they occurred in a 2- min waiting period and a 4- min conversation period. Seventeen categories of verbal behaviors that indexed these dimensions were used as content codes. Multivariate analyses of variance performed on the observational data yielded significant main effects for status, sex, and experimental condition. Results are interpreted in terms of previous social skills research, and suggestions for future research are offered.     

Socializing Attribution: Generalization to “Real” Social Environments1

Social status variables have been shown to influence attributional judgments, but their effects have been demonstrated almost entirely in experimental settings. The influence of such statuses in experimental settings may differ from their influence in natural settings. We examined the influence on attributional judgments of the status characteristics of both subjects and actors in conjunction with variations in the degree of “real world” characteristics of both subjects and social context. These comparisons were drawn through a partial replication of earlier research investigating the effects of a social status variable, victim sex, and a situational variable—type of assault—on attributions about an assault victim. The social status characteristic, victim sex, had less influence on attributions in an adult juror sample than in a student sample and testimony-related characteristics were more influential in the adult juror sample than in the student sample. Thus, the categories of variables that influence attributions appear to depend on the context of judgment and on the breadth of subjects' life experience. These findings are discussed and we conclude with the caution that careful identification of the differences produced by context and subject characteristics is necessary to support generalization of laboratory-based research.