TV commercials as achievement scripts for women

This study suggests that sex stereotypes implicitly enacted, but never explicitly articulated, in TV commercials may inhibit women's achievement aspirations. Men and women (N=180) viewed locally produced replicas of four current, sex-stereotyped commercials, or four replicas that were identical except that the sex roles were reversed, or (control) named their favorite TV programs. All subjects then wrote an essay imagining their lives “10 years from now.” The essays were coded for achievement and homemaking themes. Women who viewed traditional commercials deemphasized achievement in favor of homemaking, compared to men and compared to women who had seen reversed role commercials. The reversed role commercials eliminated the sex difference in net achievement focus. Control subjects were indistinguishable from their same-sex counterparts in the traditional condition. The results identified some social changes needed to make “equality of opportunity” a social reality for women as well as men.     

Emotional responsiveness and obsessive-compulsive behaviour

Abstract

Several clinicians have proposed that patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) are unusually sensitive to unpleasant events. We tested a non-clinical sample of obsessive-compulsive (O-C) subjects who reported in diagnostic interviews that they experienced significant problems with obsessions and/or compulsions. Excerpts from three emotion-eliciting films were shown to 10 O-C males, 12 O-C females, 12 normal males, and 12 normal females. Emotional response was measured by using a self-report instrument and by recording facial expressions, which were coded for both appropriate emotional reactions as well as reactions that may represent efforts to mask or control the display of negative emotion. The groups did not differ with regard to subjective response to the film clips, but facial responses indicated that O-C subjects made more efforts to suppress the expression of fear (inappropriate smiles/laughs) during the frightening film clip. In spite of these responses, male O-C subjects also tended to reveal more frightened facial expressions than male control subjects. This finding is believed to illustrate one component of a model in which exaggerated emotional response is a precursor to the development of OCD.     

Social Function and Autism Spectrum Disorder in Children and Adults with Neurofibromatosis Type 1: a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

In light of the proliferation of recent research into social function in neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1), a systematic review and meta-analysis is required to synthesise data and place findings within the context of a theoretical framework. This paper reviews findings from research into social function and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in children and adults with NF1 and integrates these findings with the Socio-Cognitive Integration Abilities Model (SOCIAL). It also critically appraises links between social outcomes, internal and external factors moderating social functioning, cognitive domains implicated in social functioning, and underlying neural pathology in NF1. A systematic literature search conducted in MedLine (Ovid), PsycINFO (Ovid), Embase (Ovid), and PubMed electronic databases yielded 35 papers that met inclusion criteria for the systematic review. Out of these papers, 22 papers provided sufficient data for meta-analysis. Findings from this review and meta-analysis provide evidence that children and adults with NF1 exhibit significantly higher prevalence and severity of social dysfunction and ASD symptomatology. To date, very few studies have examined social cognition in NF1 but results indicate the presence of both perceptual and higher-level impairments in this population. The results of this review also provide support for age, gender, and comorbid ADHD as moderating factors for social outcomes in NF1. Suggestions for future research are offered to further our understanding of the social phenotype in NF1 and to facilitate the development of targeted interventions.     

“I Didn’t Expect to Learn as Much as I Did”: Rewards of Caregiving in Young Adulthood

While much attention is given to unpaid caregivers in midlife, there is a notable gap in the literature regarding young adults in family caregiving roles. Although two out of 5 family caregivers are between the ages of 18 and 40, we know relatively little about these younger relatives providing support to ill and disabled family members. Understanding the experiences of this under-researched population is critical to effective social service provision for this new wave of caregivers. In addition, the challenges associated with caregiving are well documented, yet examining the positive aspects of caregiving is necessary to provide a balanced picture of caregiving. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the gains experienced by family caregivers in young adulthood. In-depth telephone interviews were conducted with a diverse sample of 22 individuals who were (or had previously been) caregivers while in young adulthood. Analysis of the data resulted in identification of four themes concerning gains experienced by young adult caregivers: a strengthening of family relationships, character growth, personal satisfaction in the care provided, and material benefit. This study sheds some understanding on rewards experienced by a subgroup of family caregivers who has received little attention—young adult caregivers.     

Conscientious objection and person-centered care

Person-centered care offers a promising way to manage clinicians’ conscientious objection to providing services they consider morally wrong. Health care centered on persons, rather than patients, recognizes clinicians and patients on the same stratum. The moral interests of clinicians, as persons, thus warrant as much consideration as those of other persons, including patients. Interconnected moral interests of clinicians, patients, and society construct the clinician as a socially embedded and integrated self, transcending the simplistic duality of private conscience versus public role expectations. In this milieu of blurred boundaries, person-centered care offers a constructive way to accommodate conscientious objection by clinicians. The constitutionally social nature of clinicians commits and enables them, through care mechanisms such as self-care, to optimize the quality of health care and protect the welfare of patients. To advance these conditions, it is recommended that the medical profession develop a person-centered culture of care, along with clinician virtues and skills for person-centered communication.     

Don't sit so close to me: unconsciously elicited affect automatically provokes social avoidance

Behavior may be automatically prompted by cues in our social environment. Previous research has focused on cognitive explanations for such effects. Here we hypothesize that affective processes are susceptible to similar automatic influences. We propose that exposure to groups stereotyped as dangerous or violent may provoke an anxiety response and, thus, a tendency to move away. In the present experiment, we subliminally exposed participants to images of such a group, and found that they displayed greater avoidance in a subsequent interaction. Critically, this effect was explained by their increased sensitivity to threat-related information. These findings demonstrate an affective mechanism responsible for nonconscious priming effects on interpersonal behavior.     

Simple arithmetic processing: Individual differences in automaticity

This study investigated individual differences in the ability to automatically access simple addition and multiplication facts from memory. It employed a target-naming task and a priming procedure similar to that utilised in the single word semantic-priming paradigm. In each trial, participants were first presented with a single digit arithmetic problem (e.g., 6+8) and were then presented with a target that was either congruent (e.g., 14) or incongruent (e.g., 17) with this prime. Response times for congruent and incongruent conditions were then compared to a neutral condition (e.g., X+Y, with target 14). For the high skilled group, significant facilitation in naming congruent multiplication and addition targets was found at SOAs of 300 and 1000?ms. In contrast, for the low skilled group, facilitation in naming congruent targets was only observed at 1000?ms. Significant inhibition in naming incongruent multiplication and addition targets at 300?ms, and addition targets at 1000?ms, was found for the high skilled group alone. This advantage in access to simple facts for the high skilled group was then further supported in a problem size analysis that revealed individual differences in access to small and large problems that varied by operation. These findings support the notion that individual differences in arithmetic skill stem from automaticity in solution retrieval and additionally, that they also derive from strategic access to multiplication solutions.     

Developmental changes in personal goal orientation from young to late adulthood: from striving for gains to maintenance and prevention of losses

Using a multimethod approach, the authors conducted 4 studies to test life span hypotheses about goal orientations across adulthood. Confirming expectations, in Studies 1 and 2 younger adults reported a primary growth orientation in their goals, whereas older adults reported a stronger orientation toward maintenance and loss prevention. Orientation toward prevention of loss correlated negatively with well-being in younger adults. In older adults, orientation toward maintenance was positively associated with well-being. Studies 3 and 4 extend findings of a self-reported shift in goal orientation to the level of behavioral choice involving cognitive and physical fitness goals. Studies 3 and 4 also examine the role of expected resource demands. The shift in goal orientation is discussed as an adaptive mechanism to manage changing opportunities and constraints across adulthood.