Self-reported reflective functioning and father–child interactions in a sample of fathers who have used intimate partner violence

Reflective functioning (RF) has been found to be associated with mother–child interactions, but less is known about the association of fathers’ self and child-focused RF and father–child relationships.  Fathers who have histories of intimate partner violence (IPV) are known to have poor RF, which may impact their father–child interactions.  The current study was designed to examine how types of RF are associated with father–child relationships.  Pretreatment assessments and recorded, coded father–child play interactions were used to examine associations among fathers’ history of adverse childhood experiences (ACES), RF and coded father-child play interactions in a sample of 47 fathers with a history of IPV use in the last 6 months with their coparent.  Fathers’ ACES and their child's mental states (CM) were associated with father-child dyadic play interactions.  Fathers with greater ACES and higher scores on CM had the most dyadic tension and constriction during play interactions.  Those with high ACES but low CM had scores similar to those with low ACES and low CM.  These results indicate that fathers who have used IPV and have a history of significant adversity may benefit from interventions to increase their child-focused RF and further improve their interactions with their children.     

The Idea of Moral Progress

This paper shows that moral progress is a substantive and plausible idea. Moral progress in belief involves deepening our grasp of existing moral concepts, while moral progress in practices involves realizing deepened moral understandings in behavior or social institutions. Moral insights could not be assimilated or widely disseminated if they involved devising and applying totally new moral concepts. Thus, it is argued, moral failures of past societies cannot be explained by appeal to ignorance of new moral ideas, but must be understood as resulting from refusals to subject social practices to critical scrutiny. Moral philosophy is not the main vehicle for disseminating morally progressive insights, though it has an important role in processes that lead to moral progress. Yet we have grounds for cautious optimism, since progressive moral insights can be disseminated and can, sometimes, have constructive social effects.     

Hyperactivity and frustration: The influence of control over and size of rewards in delaying gratification

This study examined the differential effects of frustration on normal children and those diagnosed as having Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity. Each group consisted of 16 boys between the ages of 6 and 8 years who were prematched for age, grade, and classroom placement. All children completed a series of arithmetic problems in order to earn toy rewards. Using a variant of Mischel's (1974) delay-of-gratification paradigm, children were presented with two choice-of-delay conditions in a randomly assigned, counterbalanced sequence: a free-choice conflict situation involving a long-passive or short-active reward delay, and a short-active delay. Results showed that a significantly greater proportion of hyperactive children chose to complete problems for an immediate reward compared to their normal control counterparts (p less than .01). Group differences were no longer apparent in the short-active delay trial. The results are discussed in terms of frustration tolerance and contributing factors such as cognitive-attentional style. Implications for treatment and future directions are delineated.     

Exploration of Coping Strategies of Youth Accessing Residential and Day Treatment Programs

Youth with emotional and behavioral disorders are often dealing with many challenges such as strained relationships, academic difficulties and family conflict in addition to their clinical symptoms. Youth can access intervention for these challenges in day and residential treatment centers. However, little is known about how these adolescents cope with stress or the strategies they use. The purpose for this study was to explore the ways youth report coping with stress, and in particular the active, passive/depressive and risky strategies they report using in response to stress. A second purpose was to explore the relationships between active, passive/depressive and risky strategies and their self-reported psychological difficulties. Using a crosssectional design, 30 adolescents (12–18 years of age, 79 % female) completed standardized measures of psychological difficulties and coping with stress. Youth reported using a variety of strategies to cope, and endorsed learning to live with it, and doing an activity alone as the two most commonly used. There were robust relationships between active (negative association) and risky behaviors (positive association) with psychological difficulties. Implications for family therapy are discussed.     

“I’m not a feminist, but…”: factors contributing to the discrepancy between pro-feminist orientation and feminist social identity

Using constructs from theories of social identity and collective action, hypotheses were developed concerning variables that predict pro-feminist orientation among those who resist the feminist label, as compared to variables that predict willingness to identify as a feminist. Predictors that were expected to be important to the latter, but not the former group, included (1) positive evaluation of feminists, (2) belief in collective action, (3) recognition of discrimination, and (4) previous exposure to feminist thought. The sample consisted of 47 male and 94 female college students (60% Anglo, 16% Asian-American, 7% African-American, 9% Hispanic, and 7% “Other”), aged 17–50 years. Using separate multiple regressions, support for the differential inclusion of all but the third variable was found. Also as predicted, the genders did not differ in pro-feminist orientation, although college women were more willing than college men to identify as feminist. Results are discussed as potentially important to understanding willingness to engage in collective advocacy.     

What's in an author's name? Differential evaluations of performance as a function of author's name

Three hundred college students (150 female, 150 male) were asked to evaluate an academic article in the field of politics, psychology of women, or education (judged masculine, feminine, and neutral, respectively) that was written by either a male, a female, or an author with a sexually ambiguous name. The results indicated that ratings of the articles were differentially perceived and evaluated according to the name of the author. An article written by a male was valued more positively than if the author was not male. Furthermore, subjects' bias against women was stronger when they believed that sexually neutral authors were female.We thank Brad Waite for his help in data collection.     

Goldberg revisited: What's in an author's name

The present research was a replication and extension of Goldberg's 1968 study of performance evaluation. 360 college students (180 male; 180 female) were asked to evaluate an academic article in the fields of politics, psychology of women or education (judged masculine, feminine, and neutral, respectively) that was written either by a male, female, or an author whose name was initialized. Results indicated that the articles were differentially perceived and evaluated according to the name of the author. An article written by a male was evaluated more favorably than if the author was not male. Subjects' bias against women was stronger when they believed the author with the initialized name was female.     

The effect of anticipated future interaction on reward allocation in same- and opposite-sex dyads

Hypotheses were tested concerning the relationship of anticipated future interaction and sex of allocator vs. sex of recipient on reward allocation norm choice. Male and female college students worked on a sex-neutral, attributionally ambiguous task. Subjects participated in same- and mixed-sex dyads, but were kept isolated from one another. All received feedback that they had contributed higher input than their partner and had been randomly chosen to apportion a group reward. The primary dependent variable was amount of reward allocated to self. As predicted, there was a significant difference in allocation norm choice in the no future interaction condition (with males favoring equity and females employing equality), while both sexes divided the reward equally between themselves and the coworker in the future interaction condition. A model was proposed to explain these findings in terms of a continuum of social interaction levels. Rather than being viewed as independent causal entities, sex of allocator and sex of recipient were demonstrated to play roles of differing importance as a function of the level of interaction experienced or anticipated.     

Comments on Thomas and Jamison's “a test of the X-linked genetic hypothesis for sex differences on Piaget's water-level task”

In this paper H. Thomas and W. Jamison's (Developmental Review, 1981, 1, 274–283) formulation and evaluation of an X-linked genetic model for explaining male superiority on Piaget's water horizontality task is examined. Criticisms are leveled against (1) the suitability of the model invoked for explaining the sex difference found, (2) the power of the statistical test used to evaluate the model, and (3) the appropriateness of their correction factors. A research strategy for advancing our understanding of the sex difference in performance at this task is suggested.