The toy salesperson: A voice for change in sex-role stereotypes?

A field experiment was designed in which students approached sales personnel in 31 different retail settings, asking for help in selecting toys for a twin niece and nephew, 5 years of age. A majority of salesperson suggestions involved a sex-stereotypic selection of toys for both the male and the female child. Limited support was found for hypotheses that the responses of sales personnel would vary by retail setting (specialized toystore, department store, dimestore/discount store) and by sex of salesperson; responses did not vary by salesperson's age, however. Because more different toys are available for boys than for girls, female role expansion in children's play activities is a more likely outcome than sex-role convergence.This article is a revision of a paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association, New York, August 1976.     

Memory for music

Subjects created imaginal interpretations of classical music passages in accordance with themes which were either concrete and comprehensible or abstract and difficult to comprehend. Recognition memory for the musical passages was found to be superior in the former condition. The results support the hypothesis that meaningful interpretation of stimulus material is a major determinant of memory accuracy. The implications of the results for comparisons of music and language are also discussed.     

Violation of a Spacing Norm in High Social Density

A field experiment investigated violation of the spacing norm which keeps distance between people in a particular type of crowding, high social density, when the number of people in an area is large but space is not necessarily restricted. The proportion of people passing a drinking fountain who drank from the fountain was observed in conditions of high and low social density and, for each of these densities, when a confederate stood one foot from the fountain and when no one stood near the fountain. Three hundred passersby were observed in each of the four conditions. The observations supported the conclusion that the spacing norm was followed in low social density ( p <.01) but violated under conditions of high social density for reasons other than lack of space. Interpretation focused on several concomitants of high social density, especially excessive social stimulation, and the accompanying tendencies to attribute less of the usual social meanings to people and honor fewer of their expectations.     

Fear of Success,Need Achievement,and Fear of Failure: A factor analytic study

Several tests of Fear of Success (FOS), Fear of Failure (FOF), and Need Achievement (nAch), plus Taylor's Manifest Anxiety Scale and a social desirability scale were administered to 104 males and 101 females. FOS, FOF, and nAch did not show factor validity. Results for predictive validity were also poor. Anxiety defined the first factor in the factor analysis. All first-factor tests negatively predicted female grade point average and American College Test scores. All the first-factor tests showed sex differences, with females scoring higher. A clarifying role for anxiety in the study of sex differences in achievement is indicated.     

TEACHING THE HANDICAPPED TO EAT IN PUBLIC PLACES: ACQUISITION,GENERALIZATION AND MAINTENANCE OF RESTAURANT SKILLS

This study examined classroom-based instruction in restauranting skills for handicapped persons. Three male students were taught each of four skill components in sequential order: locating, ordering, paying, and eating and exiting. Training was implemented in a multiple baseline design across subjects and consisted of modeling and role playing in conjunction with photo slide sequences and a simulated ordering counter. The use of a menu containing general item classes and a finger matching procedure for identifying errors in the delivery of change greatly reduced the reading and math skills necessary to enter and complete the program. Periodic probes were conducted in a McDonald's restaurant prior to, during, and up to one-year following the termination of training. In addition, two probes (overt and covert observation) were conducted in a Burger King restaurant to assess further generalization to a location different from the one depicted throughout training. Results showed that students' performance on restaurant probes improved as a result of training, generalized to novel settings, maintained over an extended period of time, and was comparable to that of a normative sample of nonretarded persons.     

Evaluation of the relative effectiveness of methylphenidate and cognitive behavior modification in the treatment of kindergarten-aged hyperactive children

This study of kindergarten-aged hyperactive children evaluated the effects of three modes of treatment in relation to an untreated control group. The treatments were administered over a 3-month period and included cognitive behavior modification, methylphenidate, and the two treatments combined. A follow-up assessment was done approximately 1 year later at the end of the first grade. Analyses of psychological, rating scale observational, and interview data showed that hyperactive children became less symptomatic over time;the data did not provide evidence indicating that any of the treatments studied was more effective than any other or than no treatment at all.This research was supported by grants from the Ontario Mental Health Foundation (Grant No. 701-76/78) and The Hospital for Sick Children Foundation (Grant No. 77-22). The authors wish to thank Mr. Syl Sauro, of the Etobicoke Board of Education, and Mrs. M. Stijovic, of the Etobicoke Community Health Department, for their cooperation.     

The relationship of sex and sex role to trait and situationally specific anxiety types

While considerable research has investigated the relationship of sex and/or sex role to general or trait anxiety, little is known about their relationship to more specific anxiety types. Based on the postulate that sex and sex-role differences may depend on the extent to which an anxiety-producing situation represents a sex-stereotypic domain, the present study compared their relationships to four measures of anxiety: Math anxiety, test anxiety, and two measures of trait anxiety. Subjects were 180 undergraduate students enrolled in introductory psychology courses. Although females reported higher levels of anxiety on all four scales than did males, a discriminant function analysis indicated that math anxiety was the strongest contributor to the separation of the sexes. Significant score differences as a function of sex role were found using the STAI A-Trait scale, and a significant sex × sex-role interaction was found for scores on the S-R Inventory of Anxiousness. Feminine-typed males and undifferentiated females reported highest anxiety levels in comparison to same-sex individuals. Implications for the understanding and treatment of both general and situationally specific anxiety are discussed.     

Negative attitudes toward masturbation and pelvic vasocongestion: A thermographic analysis

The present study examined differences in pelvic vasocongestion as a function of negative attitudes toward masturbation. Pelvic vasocongestion was measured thermographically, which is a noninvasive means of detecting and photographing individual heat patterns to indicate physiological condition and functional changes within. The results indicated that women, with positive attitudes toward masturbation, who read an erotic story, experienced the greatest increase in pelvic vasocongestion. This and other findings were discussed in terms of masturbation acting to facilitate the patterning of sexual arousal and orgasmic functioning, especially in regard to creating the capacity for pelvic engorgement.     

ISRO: A scale to measure sex-role orientation

Sex-role research has been hampered by a lack of valid and reliable research tools to measure the construct being studied. This article describes the development of a research scale (ISRO) to measure women's sex-role orientation. This 16-item questionnaire has been shown to be internally consistent and to have fairly high temporal stability over 30 days. The high sensitivity (96.2%) and specificity (95.5%) suggest that it differentiates feminist from traditional women. Three factors assess attitudinal domains of conflict between family responsibilities and having a career; male/female division of household responsibilities; and women's work roles outside the home. Education appears to be the strongest predictor of ISRO scores.This study was supported in part by a grant from the American Nurses Foundation.