Men's and women's ratings of life satisfaction by age of respondent and age interval judged

A total of 432 people in six age groups rated the satisfaction of their current, past, and projected future lives. Average ratings for men and women did not differ. However, the triple interaction of sex × age of respondent × age interval judged indicated an optimism toward the future on the part of women. Compared with men of the same age, women judged the age interval prior to their own, as well as their present age interval, as being less satisfying than did the men. But women expected levels of satisfaction in the future to be higher than men expected. This optimism is attributed to socialization differences as well as the hope engendered by the current feminist movement.     

Rewarding safety belt usage at an industrial setting: Tests of treatment generality and response maintenance

An incentive program to motivate seat belt use was implemented at a large munitions plant. Seat belt usage was assessed daily at an entrance/exit gate of the industrial complex when employees arrived for work in the morning and departed in the afternoon. During treatment incentive fliers, which prompted seat belt usage and gave belt wearers opportunities to win prizes, were distributed only in the afternoon. Seat belt wearing increased from baseline means of 20.4% and 17.3% during the morning and afternoon, respectively, to averages of 55.5% during afternoon departures and 31.1% during morning arrivals. During follow-up, mean belt use dropped almost to baseline levels. Categorizing vehicles according to driver sex and license plate number enabled a study of belt wearing practices of individuals, and revealed that the incentive program influenced some drivers to wear their seat belts during morning arrival when incentives were not distributed (i.e., treatment generalization) and during a follow-up period after the incentives were withdrawn (i.e., response maintenance).     

Stimulus probability and prediction outcome as determinants of choice reaction time: Some procedural considerations

Effects of stimulus probability and prediction outcome on two-choice reaction speed (CRS) were determined when a frequency imbalance was reversed half-way through 300 samples of a 70/30 stimulus distribution and when the same 70/30 distribution was sampled for 1200 trials. Prior to each presentation Ss made a prediction; following each presentation Ss identified the stimulus by pressing a right-hand or left-hand trigger. CRS was faster to correctly predicted stimuli, and faster to the more probable stimulus. Ss who were informed of the frequency imbalance reacted significantly faster than Ss who were not. Both practice and boredom effects were demonstrated by using the extended number of trials. CRS was faster during the second session of 300 trials than during the first; after two sessions, CRS was slower during the second half of two additional sessions.     

Promoting Safety Belt Use on a University Campus: An Integration of Commitment and Incentive Strategies1

Safety belt use on a university campus was substantially increased by offering faculty/ staff and students who signed and returned “buckle up” pledge cards the opportunity to win prizes donated by community merchants. The 28,000 pledge cards, committing signers to buckle up for an academic quarter, were distributed during the spring and fall of 1985. One portion of the card was designed to be hung from a vehicle's rearview mirror as a reminder of the pledge to buckle up. The other portion served as a sweepstakes ticket and was deposited in boxes located throughout the campus community. Each quarter, winners were drawn from the returned pledge cards during three consecutive weeks. Although a relatively small proportion of the pledge cards were signed and turned in (i.e., 11.9% during spring and 9.4% during fall), those who signed and returned a pledge card (n = 3117) increased their safety belt use significantly. Across both quarters, faculty/ staff pledgers went from a high pre-pledge belt use level of 32.2% to a post-pledge level of 46.7%, and students increased their belt use from a pre-pledge use of 21.4% to a post-pledge level of 36.6%.     

A behavioral analysis of incentive prompts for motivating seat belt use

The seat belt usage of drivers was observed at the entrance to two campus parking lots during morning arrival times. After 11 days of baseline, fliers which prompted seat belt wearing were handed to drivers of incoming vehicles. At one parking lot all fliers offered a chance to win a prize (noncontingent rewards); while at the second lot only those fliers given to seat belt wearers included a chance to win a prize (contingent rewards). After 24 consecutive observation days, these interventions were removed for 14 days of withdrawal. The recording of vehicle license plates enabled an analysis of belt usage per individual over repeated exposures to the experimental conditions. At the lot with the contingent reward intervention, mean belt usage was 26.3% during baseline, 45.7% during treatment, and 37.9% during withdrawal. At the noncontingent reward lot, the mean percentage of belt wearing was 22.2% during baseline, 24.1% during treatment, and 21.8% during withdrawal. The analysis of repeated exposures per individual verified that only contingent rewards influenced substantial increases in belt wearing, and showed that most of the influence occurred after the initial incentive prompt.     

A critical examination of the concept of gender

Although psychologists have become increasingly interested in such areas as sex differences, gender identity, and sex roles, the concept of gender remains ill defined. We undertake a critical review of this concept and try to show that (a) if the term gender is taken to refer to a set of biological and psychological variables which are related to one another in a complex way, and (b) if gender differences are treated as differences in degree and not in kind, then the concept of gender can be used in a meaningful way to make sense of the things we observe about people.This article is based in part on a symposium entitled Psychosexual Development and the Nature of Androgyny presented at the annual meeting of the Association for Women in Psychology, Pittsburgh, March 1978. Since both authors contributed equally to the conceptualization and writing of this paper, the order of authorship was determined by the toss of a coin. The authors would like to thank James Laird, Dennis Wixon, and Roger Bibace, Clark University, who read and commented on an earlier draft of this paper, and several anonymous reviewers whose comments helped us to clarify our presentation.