« Femmes au volant,danger au tournant » Les conductrices sont-elles victimes d’une menace de stéréotype ?

Owing to the sexuation of occupations associating technical attributes with men and relational skills with women, the latter are less numerous in professions where driving is involved. The negative stereotype associating women with poor driving skills is thus likely to have a cognitive and behavioral impact. According to the model of the stereotype threat, could activation of the threat inhibit the performance of women in a Highway Code test? After performing an association task that demonstrated a largely negative stereotype, 56 female students took a Highway Code test in two conditions: an experimental condition where the stereotype was activated by a comparison between men and women (N = 17); and a control condition without activation (N = 39). Subjects performed less well in the experimental condition, demonstrating the expected effects of the stereotype threat.     

Effectiveness of the home‐start parenting support program: Behavioral outcomes for parents and children

This study examined effectiveness of Home‐Start, a program designed to support parents with young children. The aims were (a) to examine whether Home‐Start improved maternal well‐being and (b) to examine whether Home‐Start led to changes in the behavior of mothers or children. Self‐reported and observational data were collected in two waves, using data from 54 mothers and their children between 1.5 and 3.5 years of age who participated in this intervention program for 6 months. These data were compared to 51 comparison families who reported need for parenting support. The results showed a significant improvement in perceived parenting competence, but no effects on maternal depressive moods. Mixed results were found for parenting behavior: Parental consistency and observed sensitivity improved significantly in the Home‐Start group whereas no effects were found on the other parenting variables. Child behavioral problems seemed to diminish at the second measurement in both groups, and therefore these changes cannot be attributed to Home‐Start.     

Reducing Stereotyping Through Mindfulness: Effects on Automatic Stereotype-Activated Behaviors

We assessed whether mindfulness (active categorization) can prevent automatic stereotype-activated behaviors related to the elderly. Eighty participants (mean age = 24.4) were given a set of photographs to prime the dimension Old Age and were asked to categorize them multiple times, to see whether the effect of the prime could be reduced through increased mindfulness. Participants were randomly assigned to one of four conditions, where they were asked to categorize the photographs across (1) four self-generated categories; (2) four assigned categories; (3) a single category—Gender; or (4) a single category—Age. Participants’ walking speed (cf. Bargh et al. 1996, Experiment 2) was then measured, as they moved between the two experimental stations. The results show that greater mindfulness predicted greater walking speed, indicating a decrease in the effect of the automatic stereotype-activated behavior.

Children’s Feedback Preferences in Response to an Experimentally Manipulated Peer Evaluation Outcome: The Role of Depressive Symptoms

The present study examined the linkage between pre-adolescent children's depressive symptoms and their preferences for receiving positive vs. negative feedback subsequent to being faced with an experimentally manipulated peer evaluation outcome in real time. Participants (n = 142) ages 10 to 13, played a computer contest based on the television show Survivor and were randomized to either a peer rejection (i.e., receiving the lowest total 'likeability' score from a group of peer-judges), a peer success (i.e., receiving the highest score), or a control peer evaluation condition. Children's self-reported feedback preferences were then assessed. Results revealed that participants assigned to the negative evaluation outcome, relative to either the success or the control outcome, showed a significantly higher subsequent preference for negatively tuned feedback. Contrary to previous work and predictions derived from self-verification theory, children higher in depressive symptoms were only more likely to prefer negative feedback in response to the negative peer evaluation outcome. These effects for depression were not accounted for by either state mood at baseline or mood change in response to the feedback manipulation.     

COLLEGE WOMEN'S FEARS AND PRECAUTIONARY BEHAVIORS RELATING TO ACQUAINTANCE RAPE AND STRANGER RAPE

Past research on women's fear of rape has focused on women's fears relating to stranger rape, even though most rapes are acquaintance rapes. In this study, 139 undergraduate women completed a questionnaire concerning their fears, precautionary behaviors, and beliefs relating to acquaintance and stranger rape. Women reported being more fearful of rape by strangers than by acquaintances, and they reported engaging in more precautionary behaviors because of fear of stranger rape than of acquaintance rape. When asked to self-generate situations in which they feared rape, they generated more situations in which they feared stranger rape than acquaintance rape. Paradoxically, they estimated that acquaintance rape was more common. Precautionary behaviors were best predicted by level of fear. A history of acquaintance rape had no effect on women's responses. Theoretical and educational implications are discussed.     

The notion of feminine in Asian philosophical traditions

The abstract notion of “the feminine”, (womanliness, feminine nature)—in French, le féminin, and in German, das Weibliche—as substantivum neutrum, remains together with its opposite, the masculine, connotative of an inherent disparity. It is meant neither as the biological affiliation of sex, nor as gender, the social response, or echo, of this biological affiliation. Rather, it is the spiritual attitude (psychic, spiritual being, mind) which is the norm for psychic manifestations in general, and is its subtle psychosomatic background. It is not necessarily connected with the rude biological differentiation of sex, but rather appears as a quality in one or the other form; either as the individual, the social group or forms of activities, etc., without respect to the biological manifestations of the participants.

What this paper attempts to demonstrate, is the way in which the above described notion of the feminine, functions in classical Asian cultures and philosophies. In the famous Yijing, for instance, this is seen as the hexagram correlated to the male Qian; in the philosophy of Yin and Yang, as Yin the Earth, in correlation with Yang, the Heaven; which are united in the famous Taiji diagram, a sophisticated development of Chinese Neo‐Confucianism. The paper focuses on the Dao de jing, in which Lao Zi gives, as a counterbalance to the existing praxis, priority to the female principle (the feminine). He remains, however, faithful to the Asian tradition, maintaining that the masculine and the feminine should remain equal, correlative, neither one nor the other vying for dominance. The correlative embrace, “When you know the male yet hold on to. the female” (Dao de jing, chapter 28) subsists in the mythical past where both principles are joined in androgynous unity.     

Treatment outcome in personality disorder: The effect of social,psychological and behavioural variables

The study followed-up 245 patients referred to the Henderson Hospital (194 admitted for treatment and 51 not admitted) and for whom information had been collected on their social background and certain psychological variables allowing a classification and typology of personality disorder to be worked out. The study indicates that the therapeutic community treatment is effective with selected individuals showing the antisocial behaviour associated with such disorder. In particular this treatment is of benefit to the offenders with only one conviction and who are able to persevere with treatment for a period of 6 months for treatment to be maximally effective. The variation of psychological types within the broad category of personality disorder was demonstrated and this has a bearing on the outcome of treatment, the extrapunitive neurotic being of poorest prognosis with or without treatment. Yet even in this group, therapeutic community treatment can be effective.     

Considerations on using a lightpen-interactive system with young children

The lightpen is a simple interactive device allowing easy communication between a naive user and a computer. Very young children (4–6 years old) can use a lightpen interactively to pick out targets displayed on a VDU. Accuracy of target selection and stability of pointing with the lightpen was measured in these young children, and also in an older group of children (10–11 years old), who showed superior performance on both measures. In the younger group, both postural factors and physical fatigue sometimes affected lightpen handling. However, children of both age groups failed to compensate for parallax near the edges of the curved display screen. Recommendations are made for the programming and design of lightpen-interactive displays.     

Severity of Emotional and Behavioral Problems Among Poor and Typical Readers

The purpose of this study was to examine the severity of behavioral and emotional problems among adolescents with poor and typical single word reading ability (N = 188) recruited from public schools and followed for a median of 2.4 years. Youth and parents were repeatedly assessed to obtain information regarding the severity and course of symptoms (depression, anxiety, somatic complaints, aggression, delinquent behaviors, inattention), controlling for demographic variables and diagnosis of ADHD. After adjustment for demographic variables and ADHD, poor readers reported higher levels of depression, trait anxiety, and somatic complaints than typical readers, but there were no differences in reported self-reported delinquent or aggressive behaviors. Parent reports indicated no differences in depression, anxiety or aggression between the two groups but indicated more inattention, somatic complaints, and delinquent behaviors for the poor readers. School and health professionals should carefully assess youth with poor reading for behavioral and emotional symptoms and provide services when indicated.