The relations between sex-typed play and preschoolers' social behavior

For decades toy choice has been a very popular measure of children's sex-role adoption. In the present study, the relations between choice of masculine, neutral, or feminine toys and other social behaviors (sex typed and non-sex typed) were examined. The social behaviors (socializing, requesting assistance, prosocial behaviors, aggressive/defensive behaviors) and toy choices of 33 preschool children were observed in their classrooms. Only two behaviors were found to be sex typed (socializing with peers and spontaneous prosocial behavior), and both of these behaviors were related to toy choice. Toy choice was also related to helping. Among boys, masculine toy choice was associated with requesting assistance from teachers. When toy choice was classified as masculine, androgynous, and feminine, only sociability toward peers was related to toy choice. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for the continued use of toy choice as a measure of sex-role adoption.The authors wish to express their gratitude to Rene Dodez for her assistance in data analysis and to the children and teachers at the Child Study Laboratory. We also appreciate the contributions of Drs. Laurie Chassin, Jerry Harris, Susan Somerville, Sharlene Wolchik, and Antonette Zeiss. This research was completed by the first author in partial fulfillment of the masters of arts degree at Arizona State University.     

Cultural differences in the predictors of depression

This study examined a number of psychosocial factors thought likely to contribute to depression among ethnic Korean and Caucasian students. As hypothesized, Koreans (n = 61) were more depressed than Caucasians (n = 69). Stepwise multiple regression analysis revealed different models for predicting depression in the two groups. Value orientations, a neglected element in the prevailing stress paradigm, contributed substantially to variation in depression, especially among Koreans. Two measures of parental values and three coping strategies accounted for a striking 44% of the variance in Korean youths' depression. Perceived parental traditionalism, the strongest predictor, was associated with higher depression; and perceived parental modernism, with lower depression. For Caucasians, in contrast, only 13% of the variance in depression could be accounted for; and the two significant predictors were academic stress and respondents' own modern values (the latter associated with fewer symptoms). The findings of this study argue for greater attention to the importance of values in studying adaptation to stress.     

Teaching social skills to emotionally disturbed adolescent inpatients

A social skills training program was evaluated with emotionally disturbed adolescent inpatients. The targeted social skills required an action or reaction within six skill areas. The program was adapted from a commercially available social skills training game that features the use of response specific feedback, self-monitoring, individualized reinforcers, and individualized performance criteria. A peer conducted the baseline and posttraining sessions while the training was conducted by an adult who had no previous interactive history with the subjects. A multiple baseline design across groups demonstrated that the program increased appropriate responding in all skill areas and that these effects generalized during the posttraining peer conducted sessions. A generalization test indicated that the subjects used their newly learned skills with a novel adult outside the training setting. The program appears quite applicable to emotionally disturbed adolescents since it targets skills in a variety of areas and employs standardized procedures to enhance replicability.     

The ABCs of categorical perception

Studies of speech perception first revealed a surprising discontinuity in the way in which stimulus values on a physical continuum are perceived. Data which demonstrate the effect in nonspeech modes have challenged the contention that categorical perception is a hallmark of the speech mode, but the psychophysical models that have been proposed have not resolved the issues raised by empirical findings. This study provides data from judgments of four sensory continua, two visual and two tactual-kinesthetic, which show that the adaptation level for a set of stimuli serves as a category boundary whether stimuli on the continuum differ by linear or logarithmic increments. For all sensory continua studied, discrimination of stimuli belonging to different perceptual categories was more accurate than discrimination of stimuli belonging to the same perceptual category. Moreover, shifts in the adaptation level produced shifts in the location of the category boundary. The concept of Adaptation-level Based Categorization (ABC) provides a unified account of judgmental processes in categorical perception without recourse to post hoc constructs such as implicit anchors or external referents.     

A short version of a spatial activity questionnaire

Newcombe, Bandura, and Taylor developed a questionnaire measuring participation in space-related activities. The activities were classified as masculine, feminine, or neutral in gender stereotyping. A short version of this questionnaire was developed based on an item analysis of the responses by 485 introductory psychology students (236 women and 249 men). The 10 masculine, 10 feminine, and 10 neutral items chosen for the short form were given to 60 subjects (28 women and 32 men), along with a measure of spatial performance (Piaget's water-level task). Reliabilities (by coefficient alpha) were .79, .77, and .75, for the masculine, feminine, and neutral activity subscales, respectively. As with the original scale, women had a greater preference than men for feminine activities, men had a greater preference than women for masculine activities, and women and men had an equal preference for neutral activities. Masculine activity preference was associated with better water-level performance, with the relationship significantly stronger for women (r=.50) than for men (r=.10). Uses for the questionnaire in research on sex-related differences in spatial performance are suggested.     

Effects of an Accelerated Reading Course on SAT-V Scores

3 groups of university freshmen took the SAT-V before and after a course in Accelerated Reading. The mean post-test scores for 2 groups increased slightly less than 10 points, while the mean post-test score for the third group decreased significantly. It is concluded that for the type of students used in this study, a course emphasizing speed and accuracy of reading is not of value in increasing scores on the verbal part of the Scholastic Aptitude Test.     

A Commodore 64-based interface system for the operant laboratory

A system of interfaces for the Commodore 64 (C-64) microcomputer for use in the operant laboratory is described. This system frees the experimenter from limitations on the number of I/O lines available on the user port of the C-64 and offers the control of operant chambers for a low cost. Subroutines in machine code to control the interfaces, offering millisecond timing of external events, are presented. A sample BASIC program demonstrates how the subroutines are called from BASIC to run a simple discrimination experiment.     

Response

We argue that Shogan's critique, as well as that of Fox, fails to engage with the central focus of our article, which was to characterize and evaluate different approaches to lesbian ethics and to propose an alternative to the more familiar approaches.