Reaction times in the study of strategies in sentence-picture verification: A reconsideration

Investigations of cognitive strategies based on chronometric data may appear to contradict findings from verbal-report-based approaches. These inconsistencies may be due to misuse of RTs to infer subjects' behaviour. To test this hypothesis, 15 subjects were successively required to adopt 4 different strategies in a sentence-picture verification task. Trend analyses provide evidence that (1) highly dissimilar strategies can nevertheless yield similar mean RT curves as well as similar individual subjects' RT curves; (2) subjects using similar strategies can produce individual RT curves presenting vastly different features due partly to random variation and partly to idiosyncrasies. These findings suggest that RTs are an unreliable behavioural indicator for inferring individual or group strategies on certain experimental tasks and should be analysed in conjunction with other sources of information. An approach consisting of using RTs to test hypotheses based on subjects' verbal reports is described along with the appropriate controls. Results show that this approach provides an improved account for observed RTs.     

GUATEMALAN, FILIPINO, AND U.S. ADOLESCENTS'IMAGES OF WOMEN AS OFFICE WORKERS AND HOMEMAKERS

Although adolescents of different countries often draw pictures of the ideal woman cooking or working in an office, the meaning of the images may vary cross-culturally. In the present study, 88 adolescents from the Philippines, the U.S.A., and Guatemala interpreted drawings by their same-nationality peers. Interpreters from all three countries described the woman working in an office as hardworking and the woman cooking as a mother cooking for her family. In addition, Filipino adolescents wrote themes of contentment and organization, Guatemalan adolescents wrote themes of betterment, family, and hope, and U.S.A. adolescents wrote themes of contentment and niceness. Similar images of women's roles may have different meanings for adolescents of different cultures, and the use of emic approaches can provide psychological researchers with increased understanding of complex social phenomena.     

Mothers', fathers' and children's perceptions of parents' expectations about children's family obligations in nine countries

Children's family obligations involve assistance and respect that children are expected to provide to immediate and extended family members and reflect beliefs related to family life that may differ across cultural groups. Mothers, fathers and children (N = 1432 families) in 13 cultural groups in 9 countries (China, Colombia, Italy, Jordan, Kenya, Philippines, Sweden, Thailand and United States) reported on their expectations regarding children's family obligations and parenting attitudes and behaviours. Within families, mothers and fathers had more concordant expectations regarding children's family obligations than did parents and children. Parenting behaviours that were warmer, less neglectful and more controlling as well as parenting attitudes that were more authoritarian were related to higher expectations regarding children's family obligations between families within cultures as well as between cultures. These international findings advance understanding of children's family obligations by contextualising them both within families and across a number of diverse cultural groups in 9 countries.     

Getting hammered? ‥‥ students coping with alcohol

• This research draws on identity and coping theories to develop an understanding of the ways in which students with differing stances towards alcohol (both drinkers and light/non‐drinkers) deal with alcohol‐dominated social situations. We report findings from two studies, the first based on the stories of 160 students and the second based on in‐depth interviews with eight students. Our research found that many undergraduates view alcohol as playing a central role in ‘student life’, with excessive drinking being the norm. However, there is a significant group who are not comfortable with this view, nor do they ascribe to it. Choosing not to engage with the stereotypical student image presents a very real set of problems, stresses and barriers and the students discussed the various coping strategies they had in place to deal with these problems. We discuss the implications of these findings and the challenges for public policy in this area.

Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Cross-Cultural Sexism and the Effectiveness of Gender (Non)Traditional Advertising: A Comparison of Purchase Intentions in Poland,South Africa,and the United Kingdom

Findings regarding the effectiveness of (non)traditionally gendered advertisements are mixed and largely emanate from the United States. We tested the stereotype content model and ambivalent sexism theory cross-nationally in an advertising context and predicted that paternalistic (vs. envious) female stereotypes will trigger higher purchase intent (PI) irrespective of country (Hypothesis 1), viewers’ benevolent sexism will positively predict PI for paternalistic housewife advertisements (Hypothesis 2a), viewers’ hostile sexism will negatively predict PI for envious businesswoman advertisements (Hypothesis 2b), and these relationships with sexism will be confined to less gender egalitarian countries (i.e., Poland and South Africa) (Hypothesis 3). Statistical analyses of data from 468 Polish, South African, and British university students supported Hypothesis 1 and partially supported Hypotheses 2 and 3. The predicted patterns held for South Africa, but in Poland, viewers’ benevolence positively predicted PI for both advertisement types, with the exception of highly hostile women. British viewers’ hostility positively predicted PI for the housewife advertisement. Our findings support the cross-cultural applicability of the stereotype content model to advertising and suggest that the predictive role of sexism changes depending on its type, advertisement type, country, and gender. We recommend that advertisers should adopt a nuanced approach in predicting the effectiveness of gendered advertisements.