Experience and Performance: Contrasting ‘Identity’ in Feminist Theorizings

Connecting identity, broadly defined to recent advances in educational research, this paper takes up two different feminist treatments based in pragmatism and poststructuralism. The first is from Charlene Haddock Seigfried on experience, and the second is from Peggy Phelan on performance. The first is in keeping with a dominant tradition to secure identity through visibility and the second suggests critique through a turn to invisibility. The first arises out of Dewey's naturalism and the second through Lacan, performance art, and anti-representation. At bottom is suggestion that an entire narrative tradition in educational research is potentially self-defeating.     

Latent structure of the Sex-Role Egalitarianism Scale: Confirmatory factor analyses

The dimensionality of alternate forms of the Sex-Role Egalitarianism Scale (SRES) was assessed using confirmatory factor analysis. The subjects, predominantly Caucasian students from seven colleges in the United States and Canada, completed Form B (n = 1,351) and Form K (n = 633) of the instrument. A series of hierarchically nested measurement models was specified and evaluated. A hypothesized two-factor, second-order solution was deemed most appropriate for both forms: a higher order “Intimate Relationship Egalitarianism” factor that subsumes three first-order domain factors (marital, parental, and social-interpersonal-heterosexual roles) and a higher-order “Formal Relationship Egalitarianism” factor that subsumes two first-order domain factors (educational and employment roles). A preliminary report of this study was presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Society, June 1995, New York City.     

ACCURACY AND DISTORTION IN MEMORY FOR HIGH SCHOOL GRADES

Abstract— The relation between accuracy and distortion of autobiographical memory content was examined by verifying 3,220 high school grades recalled by 99 college students. Accuracy of recall declined monotonically with letter grade, from 89% for grades of A to 29% for grades of D. The positive correlation between achievement and accuracy of recall is attributed to more frequent rehearsals of affectively positive content and to greater accuracy of reconstructive inferences based on homogeneous, generic memories. Most errors inflated the verified grade, and the degree of asymmetry of the error distribution is used as an index of the degree of distortion. Distortions are attributed to reconstructions in a positive, emotionally gratifying direction. Contrary to expectation, the percentage of accurate recall and the degree of asymmetry of the error distribution were uncorrelated. This finding indicates that the process of distortion does not cause forgetting of the veridical content Rather, distortion reflects bias in reconstructive inferences that occur after the veridical content has been forgotten for other reasons     

Developmental Emergence of Long-Term Memory for Sensitization inAplysia

AdultAplysiaexhibit both short-term and long-term memory for sensitization in the gill and siphon withdrawal reflex. Previous developmental studies showed that short-term memory for sensitization emerges late in juvenile development (stage 12; Rankin and Carew, 1988; Wright et al., 1991). In the present study, we examined the development of long-term memory for sensitization. Long-term sensitization of the siphon withdrawal reflex was quantified as an increase in mean response duration observed 20–24 h after receiving a training regime of one or more 90-min sessions of electrical shock to the tail. In the first three experiments we assessed the capacity for long-term sensitization in adults and in juveniles of stages late 12 and early 12. Animals in all three age classes showed long-term sensitization. In a fourth experiment we simultaneously trained and tested both early stage 12 animals and stage 11 animals with identical stimulus parameters that were scaled down to a level appropriate to the smaller stage 11 animals. Under these conditions, the early stage 12 animals demonstrated long-term sensitization, while the stage 11 animals still showed no evidence of long-term sensitization. These results indicate that long-term sensitization first emerges at early stage 12, which is the same developmental stage in which short-term sensitization first emerges. Although these behavioral data do not elucidate underlying mechanisms, the fact that short-term and long-term memory emerge according to the same developmental timetable is consistent with the possibility that these two forms of memory may share at least some common mechanistic features.     

Modern to postmodern: Social construction, dissonance, and education

Modernist educational practice operates within an overarching norm of consonance, notions of sameness and agreement that permeate schools and classroom life. This paper posits a needed move to postmodern educational theory and practice through dissonance. Following an intellectual contextualization, two sets of philosophical claims are presented. The first promotes social construction of reality and the second poses dissonance rather than consonance. The paper concludes with a look at education from this postmodern perspective.     

The sex-role egalitarianism scale: A measure of attitudes toward equality between the sexes

Two parallel forms of the Sex-Role Egalitarianism Scale (SRES) were developed. Each form includes 19 items representing each of five domains of adult living: marital roles, parental roles, employee roles, social-interpersonal-heterosexual roles, and educational roles. To determine the psychometric characteristics of the scales, 367 persons were tested, including police, senior citizens, business undergraduates, and psychology undergraduates. Reliability estimates for domain and total scores ranged from .81 to .97. Correlations between social desirability and SRES scores ranged from –.03 to +.18. Preliminary evidence of validity was derived from the confirmation of two a priori hypotheses: (a) Women scored more egalitarian than men, and psychology students scored more egalitarian than business students; (b) Both student groups scored more egalitarian than senior citizens and police.This research was supported by a Faculty Research and Creative Endeavors Grant from Central Michigan University. A portion of this paper was presented at the meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Detroit, April 1981. The authors wish to thank Ann Carey, Tom Blair, and Larry Dennis for their computer assistance.Copies of the Sex-Role Egalitarianism Scale may be obtained from Carole A. Beere, Department of Psychology, Central Michigan University, Mt. Pleasant, Michigan 48859.     

Genetic counseling after abnormal prenatal diagnosis: Facilitating coping in families who continue their pregnancies

Families continuing a pregnancy after abnormal prenatal diagnosis face a unique crisis. Case examples are combined with clinical observations and a review of selected literature to define the elements of this crisis. Counseling strategies are discussed that may facilitate coping. Further research is needed to define the experience, as well as to identify effective coping strategies and successful counseling approaches.