How Do U.S. Students Perceive Trans Persons?

This study explored undergraduate students’ interpersonal responses, namely general feelings toward and desire for further social interaction with trans persons in a helping context. Secondarily, this study explored the relationship between participants’ intrinsic empathy, interpersonal curiosity and interest in further interaction. Two hundred fifty-one undergraduates at a moderate sized university in the southeastern United States served as participants. In order to assess baseline levels of empathy and curiosity, participants in session 1 completed the Interpersonal Reactivity Scale (Davis 1983) and the Interpersonal Curiosity Scale (Litman and Pezzo 2007). One week later, during session 2, the same students assumed the role of a peer counselor and read 1 of 4 (male, female, male-to-female, female-to-male) randomly assigned versions of an intake form completed by a fictitious peer client. Each version was identical, with the exception of the gender identity of the peer client. Participants completed various measures of affect and interest in further interaction. Male participants reported less willingness to interact with, and the strongest negative feelings toward the FTM peer client. Men reported highest willingness to interact with the MTF client and showed the lowest negative reactions towards the MTF client. Female participants’ scores on willingness to interact and on negative reactions were similar across all four intake form versions. Contrary to expectations, baseline levels of empathy and curiosity did not impact responses to gender expression. Further investigation is needed to elucidate the factors associated with anti-transgender prejudice particularly in the context of helping relationships.     

Differential Daily Writing Contingencies and Performance on Major Multiple-Choice Exams

On 4 of 7 days in each unit of an undergraduate human development course, students responded in writing to specific questions related to instructor notes previously made available to them. The study compared the effects of three writing contingencies on the quality of student writing and performance on major multiple-choice exams in the course. The three contingencies were (1) receiving credit for all writing products each unit, (2) receiving credit for one randomly selected writing product each unit, and (3) receiving no credit for any writing product each unit. On all dimensions of exam performance, writing for daily credit produced higher scores than did writing for random credit and writing for no credit. The daily-writing contingency also produced the highest writing ratings across all units; the writing for random credit produced the next highest writing scores; and the writing for no credit yielded the lowest writing scores. Across all three contingencies, writing scores were highly correlated with performance on multiple-choice exams.     

Visual-motor ability of children with articulation disorders

The present study was done to assess differences between children with diagnosed functional articulation disorders and a control group on the variable of visual-motor ability. A group of 34 elementary children with articulation problems were matched with a control group of 34 for sex, age, and grade. Both groups were administered the Goldman-Fristoe Test of Articulation and the Minnesota Percepto-Diagnostic Test--Revised. Analysis indicated that children with articulation problems performed significantly lower on visual-motor skills.     

The history of large group phenomena in relation to group analytic psychotherapy: The story of the median group

This paper presents a history of the large group approach in relation to Foulkesian group analytic psychotherapy, including the nature of this approach in relation to Foulkesian principles. Much of the theory reflects Foulkes's attitude, but there are also clear distinctions made, notably a new stance in our thinking about groups as a result of the increase in size (i.e., a membership of about 20), the introduction of the cultural dimension which this increase entails, and the question of what happens after the resolution of Kleinian, oedipal and familial conflicts has been achieved in psychoanalysis and small groups, no-tably what happens once “exile” has been achieved. The approach presented proposes to handle the frustration and hate that these conflicts engender in the form of negative or antilibidinal energies, and their transformation into psychic energy, through dialogue leading from hate to the establishment of koinonia, or impersonal fellowship, and of microcultural influences which promote rather than inhibit communication. Being neither small nor large, a group of about 20 members has become known as a “median” group.     

Autobiographical memory and perceptual learning: A developmental study using picture recognition,naming latency,and perceptual identification

Memory &; Cognition - In this paper, we report four experiments aimed at extending the distinction between recognition memory and perceptual memory introduced by Jacoby and Dallas (1981). In...     

Constraints on semantic priming in reading: A fixation time analysis

In Experiment 1, subjects read sentences containing a category name or a neutral prime that was followed by a target exemplar that varied in typicality. Fixation time on the target exemplar was the measure of processing difficulty. The category name facilitated processing for both high- and low-typicality exemplars. Unexpectedly, high-typicality exemplars were processed more quickly than low-typicality exemplars in both primed and unprimed conditions. Experiment 2 extended the priming effect to primary associates. Most importantly, the priming effect was influenced by the syntactic structure of the stimulus sentence. When both the prime and the associated target word were in the same clause, semantic priming occurred, but when the prime and target were in different clauses, no associative facilitation was observed. These results were interpreted as supporting a clausal processing hypothesis based on an autonomous modular view of the language processing system. Furthermore, the results were consistent with direct control models of eye movements, which claim that fixation duration reflects the timing of processing related to the word currently under fixation.     

Sex differences in the relation of children's height and weight to academic performance and others' attributions of competence

The purposes of the present study were to examine the relation of elementary-school girls' and boys' height and weight to (a) teachers' and peers' perceptions of the children's independence and academic, athletic, and social competence; and (b) children's achievement test scores and grades. Teachers rated kindergarteners' through fourth graders' competence both at the beginning of the school year and four months later; first and third graders rated their peers' competence once midyear. In general, size and/or bulk were positively related to teachers' attributions of competence, grades, and achievement test scores for boys, especially for the older boys. Heaviness was negatively related to teachers' ratings of females' competence (especially athletic competence and especially for older girls). Moreover, large size (height not controlling for weight) was positively related to younger but not older children's nominations of males for athletic ability. The results are discussed in terms cultural stereotypes and their implications for the development of children's competence.     

On the form and universality of the contempt expression: A challenge to Ekman and Friesen's claim of discovery

The claim of Ekman and Friesen (1986, A New Pan- Cultural Facial Expression of Emotion,Motivation and Emotion, 10, 159–168) that they have found the first empirical support for the existence of a pancultural expression of contempt is challenged on three grounds. First, the claim that no one else had ever attempted to describe an expression unique to contempt in any culture neglects a tradition of research dating back to Darwin. Second, the data presented by Ekman and Friesen were derived using stimuli that are ambiguous representations of their intended expressions. Finally, there are earlier data for the universality of contempt expressions. Ekman and Friesen's contempt expression may best be viewed as a learned modification of a prototypical expression evolved from the infrahuman snarl.