Biological Sex and Psychological Gender as Predictors of Routine and Strategic Relational Maintenance

The current study contributes to 2 growing areas of research: one distinguishes between routine and strategic relational maintenance behaviors, and the other concerns the relative utility of biological sex and psychological gender as predictors of communication behaviors. Specifically, we sought to uncover sex and gender differences in routine and strategic maintenance and to test the relative strength of each as predictors of routine and strategic maintenance. Survey data were collected from 189 individuals in romantic relationships. Results indicated only one sex difference; women use routine openness more than men do. However, femininity was positively associated with the routine use of advice, conflict management, and openness. Masculinity was positively associated with the strategic use of openness and tasks. Femininity was not associated with strategic maintenance, and masculinity was not associated with routine maintenance. The value of distinguishing between sex and gender to explain how individuals function in relationships is discussed.     

An Approach to Teaching Ethics Courses in Human Services and Counseling

This article presents multiple facets of a team approach to teaching and facilitating an ethics course for undergraduate human services students and a graduate ethics course for students majoring in counseling. Starting with general points, this article describes a specific, week‐to‐week approach to a 1‐semester course, concluding with sample student evaluative comments and an experienced professor/author's processing of the experience of preparing and teaching this course for many years.     

The World According to Men: It Is Hierarchical and Stereotypical

The present research was designed to test whether people who expect social relationships to be structured like pecking orders (interpersonal hierarchy expectation, IHE) are also prone to stereotyping and whether this relation is moderated by gender. In two studies, a total of 203 participants completed a self-report questionnaire on IHE (Interpersonal Hierarchy Expectation Scale, IHES) and either a questionnaire that measures a general tendency to stereotype (Acceptance of Stereotyping Questionnaire, ASQ, Study 1) or a projective measure that assesses the specific gender stereotype that low dominance positions are occupied by women and high dominance positions by men (Study 2). Results showed that both stereotyping measures were related to IHE, but only for men. Moreover, trait dominance did not mediate the relation between IHE and stereotyping.     

Using a multi‐feature paradigm to measure mismatch responses to minimal sound contrasts in children with cochlear implants and hearing aids

Our aim was to explore whether a multi‐feature paradigm (Optimum‐1) for eliciting mismatch negativity (MMN) would objectively capture difficulties in perceiving small sound contrasts in children with hearing impairment (HI) listening through their hearing aids (HAs) and/or cochlear implants (CIs). Children aged 5–7 years with HAs, CIs and children with normal hearing (NH) were tested in a free‐field setting using a multi‐feature paradigm with deviations in pitch, intensity, gap, duration, and location. There were significant mismatch responses across all subjects that were positive (p‐MMR) for the gap and pitch deviants (F(1,43) = 5.17, p = 0.028 and F(1,43) = 6.56, p = 0.014, respectively) and negative (MMN) for the duration deviant (F(1,43) = 4.74, p = 0.035). Only the intensity deviant showed a significant group interaction with MMN in the HA group and p‐MMR in the CI group (F(2,43) = 3.40, p = 0.043). The p‐MMR correlated negatively with age, with the strongest correlation in the NH subjects. In the CI group, the late discriminative negativity (LDN) was replaced by a late positivity with a significant group interaction for the location deviant. Children with severe HI can be assessed through their hearing device with a fast multi‐feature paradigm. For further studies a multi‐feature paradigm including more complex speech sounds may better capture variation in auditory processing in these children.     

Drawn towards what others seem to like: Implicit preference for objects and people looked at with a duchenne smile

People tend to like objects that are looked at by others, especially if the person looking at the object expresses a positive emotion. But not all positive emotions are equal. We investigated the effect of third party gazing while expressing subtle positive emotions on perceivers’ subsequent preferences and evaluations of objects and people. In two studies participants saw faces looking at target objects and people either with a Duchenne, a non-Duchenne smile, or a neural expression. Participants first indicated gaze direction and later reported intuitive target preference and evaluated the targets. Results show a preference for target stimuli that were smiled at with a Duchenne smile as opposed to when they were looked at with a non-Duchenne smile or a neutral expression. More explicit evaluations of the target stimuli were not affected by the type of facial expression.     

Who Counts as Human? Antecedents to Androcentric Behavior

People view men as typically human, although some conditions may make this more or less likely. Language has been implicated as one factor, with masculine generic language (e.g., he used neutrally) leading to more androcentrism relative to its alternatives. However, the influence of two types of alternatives (e.g., they vs. he or she) remains unclear. The present study asked 297 male and female online participants from the United States to select typical representations of humanity from a set of White and Black male and female faces. The wording for the concept humanity was manipulated to be either a typical member of mankind, a typical human, or a typical man or woman (or woman or man). Overall, participants selected more White targets. Participants also selected more male targets, but the degree to which that was the case was affected by wording and participant’s gender. Participants, particularly male participants, in the mankind and human wording conditions were more likely to select a male target as representative, whereas in the man or woman condition, participants’ choices did not differ from chance. Thus, androcentric thinking may be more mutable than previously surmised, varying by participants’ gender and by context.     

Infelicitous inter-ritual hospitality

This article focuses on inter-ritual hospitality, ‘where the reciprocal roles of host and guest set the parameters for interaction’ (60). This type of hospitality has the potential to enhance the dialogue between religions; indeed, one may ask whether there can be a greater token of mutual respect and appreciation than that of inviting another to share one’s rituals. In this article, however, I am not interested primarily in the success stories of inter-ritual hospitality that have brought growth and enrichment for the parties involved; rather, I will focus my attention on its infelicitous counterparts. The failure of inter-ritual hospitality is a subject that has been explored very little in interreligious studies, and there is little (ethnographic) documentation on this subject. One could say that inter-ritual failure is virgin territory among interreligious scholars. I will begin to explore some of the issues at stake and examine where inter-ritual hospitality can go wrong. In doing so, I continue and expand the research done by ritual scholars who have focused their attention on infelicitous ritual performances conducted mainly in ‘monoreligious’ settings.     

A longitudinal study of the relationship between leisure-time physical activity and depressed mood among adolescents

ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to examine and test the possible directions of the relationships between leisure-time physical activity and depressed mood.MethodA 10-year longitudinal study with a sample of 924 adolescents was conducted, and data were collected 8 times from the age of 13 years to the age of 23 years. The data were analysed using multivariate latent curve modelling.ResultsLeisure-time physical activity and depressed mood covary inversely through adolescence. However, baseline levels of leisure-time physical activity do not predict later changes in depressed mood, and baseline levels of depressed mood do not predict later changes in leisure-time physical activity.ConclusionChanges in leisure-time physical activity and depressed mood are related, but the results do not provide support for the common assumption that a high early level of physical activity protects against later depressed mood, nor that a high early level of depressed mood acts as a barrier for later physical activity.