Gender constancy: A methodological and theoretical analysis

Two widely used tests of gender constancy, one verbal and one perceptual, were given to 26 4-to-6-year-old children. Children were classified at different levels of gender constancy, depending on which test was used. These discrepant results were not accounted for by the differences in the way the tests presented (verbally or visually), nor by the tests' differing definitions of gender constancy. The majority of the children answered gender constancy questions as though they were referring to a “pretend,” as opposed to a “real,” situation; such responses decreased scores of gender constancy on both tests. The theoretical and methodological implications of children spontaneously adopting a pretend mode of responding are discussed.     

Sex differences in college student-teacher interactions: Fact or fantasy?

On-site observations analyzing student-teacher interaction for 50 college classes, matched by level, subject, and teacher's sex, revealed no difference in number and type of interactions in which male and female students participated. In female-taught classes, style differences were found: Male students' interactions were characterized by more student-teacher exchanges than females' interactions. From student questionnaires, differences in office visitation patterns were revealed, showing an apparent relationship to sex: Female students visited more female than male instructors. However, closer examination showed the student's major to be the key variable influencing visitation patterns. Results point to the need for testing a variety of variables in addition to sex before drawing conclusions about sex-related behavior.Ordering of authors was determined alphabetically. A CETA special project grant from the King-Snohomish Manpower Consortium (P. Dee Boersma, principal investigator) funded the research. The authors thank the Institute for Environmental Studies for providing space.     

NORMAL PEER MODELS AND AUTISTIC CHILDREN'S LEARNING

Present research and legislation regarding mainstreaming autistic children into normal classrooms have raised the importance of studying whether autistic children can benefit from observing normal peer models. The present investigation systematically assessed whether autistic children's learning of discrimination tasks could be improved if they observed normal children perform the tasks correctly. In the context of a multiple baseline design, four autistic children worked on five discrimination tasks that their teachers reported were posing difficulty. Throughout the baseline condition the children evidenced very low levels of correct responding on all five tasks. In the subsequent treatment condition, when normal peers modeled correct responses, the autistic children's correct responding increased dramatically. In each case, the peer modeling procedure produced rapid achievement of the acquisition criterion which was maintained after the peer models were removed. These results are discussed in relation to issues concerning observational learning and in relation to the implications for mainstreaming autistic children into normal classrooms.     

The impact of moral theories on cheating

This research series began as a test of an emotion-attribution approach to moral behavior. However, in the early studies, college students who read about morality were subsequently more likely to cheat on a vocabulary test than were control subjects who read materials irrelevant to morality. We hypothesized that resentment toward the test constructors interacted with the moral schemas activated by the reading task. To reduce resentment, in Study III the vocabulary test was presented as the experimenter's doctoral research. As predicted, compared to controls, those subjects who read about morality cheated less. Study IV was a quasi-experiment that confirmed the hypothesized resentment differences between Study III and the earlier studies. In Study V, while two groups read about morality, one group read an internal emotion-attribution passage and the other read an external version; less cheating was observed in the internal condition than in the external or control conditions. The results indicate that even when moral schemas are elicited under conditions favoring moral behavior, those schemas will lead to reduced cheating most effectively under conditions in which subjects attribute their emotional arousal to their own behavior rather than to external causes. Issues of moral schema activation and emotion-attribution in moral behavior are discussed.     

Seat Belt Attitudes, Habits, and Behaviors: An Adaptive Amendment to the Fishbein Model

One hundred thirty-four introductory psychology students participatcd in a longitudinal study of seat belt usage. The model of Fishbein and Ajzen was tested, as was the construct of habit within this context. Multiple regression analyses supported the basic Fishhein and Ajzen model predictions. Attitudes and subjective norms predicted intentions, which in turn predicted behavior. Furthermore, habit predicted behavior better than intention. The following nonspurious relationships were observed in cross-lagged panel correlation tests: influence from subjective norm to intention, influence from intention to attitude, influcnce from attitude to subjective norm, influence from behavior to habit, and, of course, influence from attitude to behavior. Discussion included further consideration of the Fishbein and Ajzen model, social adaptation theory, and implications for seat belt usage.     

Endogenous visuospatial precuing effects as a function of age and task demands

This experiment examined the effects of age on processing resource capacity using an endogenous visuospatial precuing task and four levels of resource demands. Younger and older adults made speeded two-choice responses to dim and bright targets that required a line-orientation or a lexical decision. An arrow preceding target onset served as an attentional cue to affect the spatial distribution of resources. It provided accurate information about the target’s location on most trials and inaccurate or neutral information on the remaining trials. Although older adults were slower than younger adults under all conditions and were more affected by the resource demand manipulations, they exhibited a pattern of precuing effects across conditions that was similar to that of the younger adults. Results are consistent with the idea that the visuospatial attention system remains relatively unaffected by aging. However, the data speak against the idea that capacity reduction is the primary contributor to age-related slowing.     

The clinical focus as process variable in brief psychotherapy: A review of current status and reconsideration

Despite the importance attributed to focus throughout the brief therapy literature, current research pertaining to focus fails to demonstrate a causal link between this construct and positive therapeutic outcome. The purpose of this paper is to describe focus formulations within sample models of brief therapy and to present the available empirical research devoted to this process variable.     

The Effect of Scarcity on Anticipated Price Appreciation

Researchers in psychology and marketing have found that consumers' perceptions and evaluations of a product's attractiveness, desirability, expensiveness, quality, and taste are affected by knowledge that the product is scarce. This study examines scarcity's effect on a new variable—anticipated price appreciation. Although scarcity does not affect a product's actual potential for price appreciation, news reports of scarce collectibles that have appreciated in value may lead people to develop naive economic theories associating scarcity with price appreciation. Consistent with this expectation, we found that scarcity increased the anticipated price appreciation of two collectible products. The practical implications of this result are discussed along with issues for future research.     

The Intelligence of Ethiopian Immigrant and Israeli Adolescents: A Comment on Kaniel and Fisherman

This note corrects a number of errors in Kaniel and Fisherman's paper on the intelligence of Israeli and Ethiopian immigrant adolescents, that appeared in the journal.