Gender differences in memory for the appearance of others

Five studies investigated gender differences in the accurate recall of the appearance of others. The greater interpersonal orientation and interpersonal sensitivity of women were predicted to give women an advantage over men in appearance accuracy. Under both directed- and incidental-learning conditions, women more accurately recalled information concerning the appearance of their social targets than did men, participants' memory for the appearance of female targets was more accurate than it was for male targets, and neither gender was found to be a relative advantage in recalling the appearance of same-gender targets. The motivational and knowledge-based factors that might underlie a gender difference in appearance accuracy are discussed.     

Manual-based cognitive behaviour therapy for chronic fatigue syndrome: therapists' adherence and perceptions

Several randomized controlled trials have indicated that cognitive behaviour therapy is an effective treatment for chronic fatigue syndrome. In 1 of these studies 13 therapists applied cognitive behaviour therapy for chronic fatigue syndrome in 83 chronic fatigue syndrome patients. In the present study therapists' adherence and perceptions of the manual are studied. Following completion of the study the therapists were asked to complete a questionnaire. Audiotaped sessions were conducted to verify the therapists' adherence. Analyses of the audiotapes showed that in 87% of the sessions this appeared to be the case. The questionnaire revealed that the therapists found it more difficult to treat patients with chronic fatigue syndrome than to treat patients with psychological or other physical problems. Treatment aspects posing the most problems were integrating individual problems into the standardized treatment, dealing with the patients' lack of confidence in the treatment and handling insufficient motivation.     

Effects of reinforcer magnitude on responding under differential-reinforcement-of-low-rate schedules of rats and pigeons

Experiment I investigated the effects of reinforcer magnitude on differential-reinforcement-of-low-rate (DRL) schedule performance in three phases. In Phase 1, two groups of rats (n = 6 and 5) responded under a DRI. 72-s schedule with reinforcer magnitudes of either 30 or 300 microl of water. After acquisition, the water amounts were reversed for each rat. In Phase 2, the effects of the same reinforcer magnitudes on DRL 18-s schedule performance were examined across conditions. In Phase 3, each rat responded unider a DR1. 18-s schedule in which the water amotnts alternated between 30 and 300 microl daily. Throughout each phase of Experiment 1, the larger reinforcer magnitude resulted in higher response rates and lower reinforcement rates. The peak of the interresponse-time distributions was at a lower value tinder the larger reinforcer magnitude. In Experiment 2, 3 pigeons responded under a DRL 20-s schedule in which reinforcer magnitude (1-s or 6-s access to grain) varied iron session to session. Higher response rates and lower reinforcement rates occurred tinder the longer hopper duration. These results demonstrate that larger reinforcer magnitudes engender less efficient DRL schedule performance in both rats and pigeons, and when reinforcer magnitude was held constant between sessions or was varied daily. The present results are consistent with previous research demonstrating a decrease in efficiency as a function of increased reinforcer magnituide tinder procedures that require a period of time without a specified response. These findings also support the claim that DRI. schedule performance is not governed solely by a timing process.     

Intergenerational Transmission of Risks for Problem Behavior

The intergenerational transmission of risk factors for problem behaviors was examined across three generations. Two hundred fifty-four 2-year-old toddlers, one or two of their parents, and one grandmother of each toddler were studied. Grandmothers and parents were individually interviewed. Data were analyzed for the male and female toddlers combined. Correlations and hierarchical multiple regression analyses were performed. Findings indicate that the grandmother–parent relationship, parental personality attributes, marital harmony, and drug use and the parent–toddler relationship, predict the toddlers' behavior. The investigation provides evidence for a longitudinal, intergenerational process whereby the grandmother–parent relationship and the parents' personality and behavioral attributes are transmitted across generations through their association with the parent–child relationship.     

Women and the Workplace: Applications of a Psychodynamic Theory

The American Journal of Psychoanalysis -     

Effects of disclosure of traumatic events on illness behavior among psychiatric prison inmates

To assess the health effects of writing about traumatic events in a clinical population, 98 psychiatric prison inmates were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 conditions in which they were asked to write about their deepest thoughts and feelings surrounding upsetting experiences (trauma writing condition), write about trivial topics (trivial writing control), or go about their daily routine without writing (no-writing control). Both writing groups wrote for 20 min per day for 3 consecutive days. Participants in the trauma condition reported experiencing more physical symptoms subsequent to the intervention relative to those in the other conditions. Despite this, controlling for prewriting infirmary visits, sex offenders in the trauma writing condition decreased their postwriting infirmary visits. These results are congruent with predictions based on stigmatization and inhibition.     

Anybody can be a boss but only certain people make good subordinates: behavioral impacts of striving for dominance and dominance aversion

The present study investigated whether people in assigned subordinate or dominant roles differ in their dominance behavior according to whether they initially wanted a subordinate or a dominant role. Sixty-six females and 72 males interacted twice for 8 mins in same-gender dyads. Prior to the interaction, participants could indicate whether they preferred to take a subordinate or a dominant role. Roles were then assigned randomly. Both interactions were videotaped and later coded for perceived dominance and speaking time. Results showed that for assigned subordinates, those who initially wanted to be in the dominant position were perceived as more dominant and behaved more dominantly than those who initially wanted to be in the subordinate role. For assigned high-dominance people, there was no difference in perceived dominance and behavioral dominance between those who initially wanted the dominant versus subordinate position.     

Anxiety and the interpretation of ambiguous information: beyond the emotion-congruent effect

The authors investigated how anxiety influences the use of contextual information in the resolution of ambiguity. Participants heard ambiguous homophones (threat/neutral, positive/neural, and neutral/neutral) with related contextual information. State anxiety was manipulated experimentally. The interpretations of anxious participants were influenced by context to a greater extent than those of control participants. Some mood-incongruent effects were observed where anxious participants were more likely to adopt neutral interpretations of potentially threatening stimuli. Effects were observed in a spelling task (Experiments 1 and 2) and in a lexical decision task (Experiment 3), with supraliminal, and subliminal presentation of contextual cues, and with 2 different anxiety-induction procedures. Results show how anxiety affects both the content and the process of resolution of ambiguity.     

The Dance: Essence of Embodiment

An analysis of movement, and particularly of dance,helps us to see in an extraordinarily effective way the meaningof embodiment. This paper then looks through the eyes ofdance theorists and at philosophers who consider dance andmovement and their meaning of embodiment. A study of movementand dance encompasses the fullest meaning of embodiment: that theembodied way of being-in-the-world is also an embedded way ofbeing in a world of others. Dance has critically importantsocial ramifications. In our own and other cultures, dance playsan important role in healing and in health enhancement.