MEASUREMENT OF 'POLITICAL.' PREFERENCES: A further study of direct and indirect scaling methods

The direct methods of ratio estimation and magnitude estimation and the indirect method of pair comparison were used to construct scales of liberalism and conservatism. It was found ( a ) that the scales of conservatism are linearly related to each other and ( b ) those of liberalism are also linearly related to each other but with a discontinuity in the middle of the range; one linear function for the conservative statements and another for the liberal statements, with the discontinuity occurring in the middle of the subjective scale. Liberalism vs. conservatism was found to be reverse. The linear function between all kinds of scales as well as the reverse relation between liberalism vs. conservatism suggest that the continuum of political preferences is metathetic.     

Correlates of age at first sexual intercourse in a national sample of young women

A subsample of 814 sexually experienced adolescent females from the 1979 U.S. National Survey of Young Women was analyzed to assess the correlates of age at 1st sexual intercourse. Multiple regression procedures were used to examine sets of variables sequentially. In the hierarchical regression model, the control variables (respondent's age, race, religion, and age at menarche), along with 3 independent variables (household income, ideal age at 1st marriage, and ideal age for 1st birth), predicted age at 1st intercourse. The control variables accounted for a major portion of the variance in the model. Of the controls, chronological age and age at menarche were highly significant across all models tested.     

Graphic precision: Controlling stimulus displays on IBM PC-compatible computers

Tachistoscopic presentation of stimuli on IBM PC-compatible computers is limited by a number of factors, including video retrace rates, screen scrolling, and the shape and density of picture elements. A method is presented for overcoming these difficulties through the use of enhanced graphic adapters or video graphic arrays. A C-language program demonstrates (1) synchronous scroll-free displays achieved by writing alternating images to “hidden” pages of video memory, (2) alternative techniques for erasing images, and (3) use of an empirically derived aspect ratio to produce symmetrical figures.     

Development of knowledge bases and the reliability of a decision support system for behavioral treatment consultation for persons with mental retardation: The Mental Retardation-Expert

The development of expert and decision support systems requires the collection, organization, codification, and storage of a body of specialized knowledge. The development, using reconstructive methods, of two such knowledge bases, the first containing the current scientific literature and the second containing an expert’s knowledge, is described for an automated decision support system, the Mental Retardation-Expert. This system provides practitioners with assistance in the treatment of aggressive, self-injurious, and destructive behaviors displayed by individuals with mental retardation or developmental disabilities. The average interobserver reliability of the expert knowledge base ranged from 92.5% to 95.0% when calculated across four clinicians’ assessments of 31 abstracted cases.     

CHANGING PROTECTIVE AND RISKY BEHAVIORS TO PREVENT CHILD-TO-PARENT TRANSMISSION OF CYTOMEGALOVIRUS

Child-to-parent transmission of cytomegalovirus may be reduced by increasing protective behaviors (handwashing and glove use) and decreasing risky behaviors (intimate contact between child and parent). This study showed that an educational intervention resulted in increases in reported and objective measures of protective behaviors and decreases in reported risky behaviors. Further study must determine if changes in protective and risky behavior are maintained and prevent cytomegalovirus transmission.     

Gender and height: Developmental patterns in knowledge and use of an accurate stereotype

The belief that men are taller than women is an accurate gender stereotype that is presumably learned through everyday encounters with men and women. It is unlike most gender beliefs that are difficult to quantify and verify, and that may be learned through means other than direct experience. This research makes use of several advantages available when studying an accurate stereotype (e.g., the ability to know the “truth” about judged targets). Subjects from five different age/grade levels (kindergarten, third grade, seventh grade, tenth grade, and college, N=491, 92.26% Caucasian, 7.54% Arabic, 0.2% African American) made judgments of “who is taller” among photographed male—female pairs that had actually been matched in height. Judgments were made of kindergarten, seventh grade, and college photo pairs. In a developmental context, height judgments are particularly interesting because the gender difference in height changes at different ages—specifically, girls are taller than boys around seventh grade. The data indicated that subjects were sensitive to the changing height stereotype—i.e., they judged adult males taller than adult females, but seventh grade females taller than seventh-grade males. However this was most strikingly true among subjects directly faced with this reality in their peer context—seventh graders—and among college students. Height judgments were also sensitive to an ingroup (gender) bias. The data are discussed in reference to the broader literature on stereotyping and base rate influences on judgment.     

Stereotypes on Campus: How Contact and Liking Influence Perceptions of Group Distinctiveness

In two studies, subjects' stereotypes of various campus groups were assessed using a content-free, cognitive methodology in which stereotypes are defined as "generalizations about a class of people that distinguish that class from others" (McCauley, Stitt, & Segal, 1980, p. 197). In an effort to predict strength of stereotypes, four main findings emerged: (a) contact with a group's members was associated with increased liking of the group; (b) contact predicted increased stereotype strength; (c) liking a group was associated with decreased stereotype strength; and (d) over time, the strength of stereotypes tended to decrease. These data are discussed in regard to the contact hypothesis (Airport, 1954; Amir, 1969; Cook, 1978,1984), the role of positive affect in altering cognitive organization, and more generally, to the issue of stereotype development.     

Social Interactions of Obese and Nonobese Women

The stigma associated with obesity is likely to limit the opportunities obese women have to develop social skills. This hypothesis was tested by having obese (n = 15) and nonobese (n = 22) women converse on the telephone with college students who were unaware of the women's weights. Ratings made by judges who listened to the women's contributions to the conversations but who were unaware of their weights showed that obesity was negatively related to judgments about the women's likability, social skills, and physical attractiveness. The telephone partners of obese women rated the women and themselves more negatively than did the partners of nonobese women. Obese and nonobese women generally did not differ in their evaluations of their own and their telephone partners' behavior, and they also did not differ on a measure of social self-esteem. These findings suggest that there are real differences in the social behavior of obese and nonobese women and that these differences affect the impressions formed by those with whom they interact.     

Suspicion of ulterior motivation and the correspondence bias

Three studies examined the hypothesis that when perceivers learn of the existence of multiple, plausibly rival motives for an actor's behavior, they are less likely to fall prey to the correspondence bias than when they learn of the existence of situational factors that may have constrained the actor's behavior. In the first 2 studies, Ss who learned that an actor was instructed to behave as he did drew inferences that corresponded to his behavior. In contrast, Ss who were led to suspect that an actor's behavior may have been motivated by a desire to ingratiate (Study 1), or by a desire to avoid an unwanted job (Study 2), resisted the correspondence bias. The 3rd study demonstrated that these differences were not due to a general unwillingness on the part of suspicious perceivers to make dispositional inferences. The implications that these results have for understanding attribution theory are discussed.