THE DIRECT AND MODERATING INFLUENCES OF SEXUAL-HARASSMENT PERVASIVENESS, COPING STRATEGIES, AND GENDER ON WORK-RELATED OUTCOMES

This study explores the direct and moderating influences of sexual-harassment (SH) pervasiveness, coping strategies, and gender on work-related consequences of sexual harassment among a national, representative sample of federal employees who had experienced some form of unwanted sexual attention ( N = 553 men and 1,782 women). Regression analysis revealed that, contrary to conventional wisdom, individuals who experienced frequent SH and who used confrontive coping strategies tended to experience worse job outcomes than did others. Furthermore, use of confrontive coping tended to amplify associations between harassment pervasiveness and consequences, especially for men. A wimpy male hypothesis to explain this last finding is discussed. Finally, the study suggests that efforts to help both women and men to effectively respond to sexual harassment are needed.     

Recency effects in visual memory

A number of studies were conducted, in each of which a series of abstract visual patterns was presented, and the subject was then asked to choose which of two test items was in the list. The items contained specifiable visual features, and similarity could therefore be varied in a relatively known way. As in earlier studies by other workers with randomly generated patterns, a recency effect was obtained. However, this effect did not depend on similarity between the items in the list, or between them and an intervening activity. Such factors do in some cases affect the average level of performance, but not the magnitude of recency. Nor was recency abolished by tasks interposed between presentation and test. These findings suggest a general mechanism of short-term memory, rather than a specifically sensory one. However, the recency effect did depend on the similarity of location of items in the visual display. Thus there is some evidence for a specific sensory store, with items arriving more recently over-writing those which came earlier and which were similar in location.     

Characteristics of Air Force personnel who choose pharmacological aids for smoking cessation following an involuntary tobacco ban and tobacco control program.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to compare characteristics of smokers who did and did not report use of cessation aids as part of a tobacco control program in a military setting (n = 8994). DESIGN: The study is a longitudinal epidemiological study where the relationship between smoking status at follow-up and use of pharmacologic aids to quit smoking were assessed. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Smoking cessation, post baseline use of cessation aids to quit smoking. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Individuals remaining abstinent were 70% less likely to have used NRT/pharmacological aids compared to those that relapsed. NRT/pharmacological aid users were more likely to report plans to smoke after military training, to have friends who smoke, and to accept a cigarette from a friend. NRT/pharmacological aid users were more likely to believe that using NRT was safer than smoking and to have engaged in harm reduction strategies. Our findings suggest that selection bias related to such characteristics may explain some of the discrepancies between effect sizes reported in efficacy compared to effectiveness studies of NRT and smoking outcomes currently reported in the literature.     

Genetic and environmental influences on the Verbal-Perceptual-Image Rotation (VPR) model of the structure of mental abilities in the Minnesota study of twins reared apart

In previous papers [Johnson, W., & Bouchard Jr., T. J. (2005a). Constructive Replication of the Visual-Perceptual-Image Rotation (VPR) Model in Thurstone's (1941) Battery of 60 Tests of Mental Ability. Intelligence, 33, 417–430.] [Johnson, W., & Bouchard Jr., T. J. (2005b). The Structure of Human Intelligence: It's Verbal, perceptual, and image rotation (VPR), not Fluid and Crystallized. Intelligence, 33, 393–416.] we have proposed the Verbal, perceptual, and image rotation (VPR) model of the structure of mental abilities. The VPR model is hierarchical, with a g factor that contributes strongly to broad verbal, perceptual, and image rotation abilities, which in turn contribute to 8 more specialized abilities. The verbal and perceptual abilities, though separable, are highly correlated, as are the perceptual and mental rotation abilities. The verbal and mental rotation abilities are much less correlated. In this study we used the twin sample in the Minnesota Study of Twins Reared Apart to estimate the genetic and environmental influences and the correlations among them at each order of the VPR model. Genetic influences accounted for 67–79% of the variance throughout the model, with the exception of the second-stratum Content Memory factor, which showed 33% genetic influence. These influences could not be attributed to assessed similarity of rearing environment. Genetic correlations closely mirrored the phenotypic correlations. Together, these findings substantiate the theory that the entire structure of mental abilities is strongly influenced by genes.     

Developmental changes in information central to artifact representation: evidence from 'functional fluency' tasks

Research suggests that while information about design is a central feature of older children's artifact representations it may be less important in the artifact representations of younger children. Three experiments explore the pattern of responses that 5- and 7-year-old children generate when asked to produce multiple uses for familiar (Experiments 1, 2) and novel (Experiment 3) named objects. Results showed that while older children tended to produce responses based on the known design function of the object, younger children's responses were more flexible, though still constrained by the mechanical structure of the object. Only when ignorant of a novel object's design function did older children produce more varied functions than did younger children. These results suggest that representations supporting object function undergo change across this period of development, with information about design assuming more importance later than it does earlier.     

Children's understanding of motives for deception

This study examines the problem of why some motives are understood at an earlier age than others. Currently, the accepted explanation for this is that general cognitive level constrains children's reasoning in the social domain. An alternative explanation is that an important process in understanding others is projection. To investigate this young boys and girls from two age groups were presented with cartoon stories depicting situations involving altruistic deception and self-centred deception. Pairs of matched cartoon stories, each of which came in two versions, differing only in motive type were constructed. As predicted, self-centred deception was understood earlier than altruistic deception. These results are congruent with the idea that the underlying process in understanding others is projection.     

Domain-general contributions to social reasoning: theory of mind and deontic reasoning re-explored

Using older adults and dual-task interference, we examined performance on two social reasoning tasks: theory of mind (ToM) tasks and versions of the deontic selection task involving social contracts and hazardous conditions. In line with performance accounts of social reasoning, evidence from both aging and the dual-task method suggested that domain-general resources contribute to performance of these tasks. Specifically, older adults were impaired relative to younger adults on all types of social reasoning tasks tested; performance varied as a function of the demands these tasks placed on domain-general resources. Moreover, in younger adults, simultaneous performance of a working memory task interfered with younger adults' performance on both types of social reasoning tasks; here too, the magnitude of the interference effect varied with the processing demands of each task. Limits placed on social reasoning by executive functions contribute a great deal to performance, even in old age and in healthy younger adults under conditions of divided attention. The role of potentially non-modular and modular contributions to social reasoning is discussed.