Men and women at work: Similarities and differences in work values within occupational groupings

This paper presents national survey data regarding the work-related values of male and female labor force participants. Evidence is also presented concerning the relationship of family responsibilities to the work values of women. The empirical analysis derives in part from the recent work of Kaufman and Fetters (Journal of Vocational Behavior, 1980, 17, 251–262), the quality of work literature, and the literature on women and work. The hypotheses include expected work-value differences between men and women within occupational categories and the expected relationships between the presence of children in the home and the value attached to various aspects of work. Five job dimensions are considered: intrinsic, extrinsic, resource adequacy, convenience, and relations with co-workers. The only male-female value difference that appears to be enduring concerns the convenience aspects of work. Data indicate that the presence of children in the home, whether of preschool age, school age, or a combination of the two, tends to be negatively related to most work values of women. It is concluded that working women with children experience reduced work involvement.     

Working memory span tasks: A methodological review and user’s guide

Working memory (WM) span tasks—and in particular, counting span, operation span, and reading span tasks—are widely used measures of WM capacity. Despite their popularity, however, there has never been a comprehensive analysis of the merits of WM span tasks as measurement tools. Here, we review the genesis of these tasks and discuss how and why they came to be so influential. In so doing, we address the reliability and validity of the tasks, and we consider more technical aspects of the tasks, such as optimal administration and scoring procedures. Finally, we discuss statistical and methodological techniques that have commonly been used in conjunction with WM span tasks, such as latent variable analysis and extreme-groups designs.     

Proneness to psychosis and selection of objects of visual attention: individual differences in visual marking

Deficits in early visual attention and perceptual organisation have frequently been shown to associate with both poor pre-morbid schizophrenia and those at a greater putative risk of psychosis. The nature of the deficit is unclear. The present study investigated the relationship between speed of visual marking and proneness to psychosis. 20 males and 20 females completed several tasks assessing speed of selection and de-selection of visual objects. As predicted, negative schizotypy was associated with poorer marking in males, but socially desirable responding potentially confounded this result. In addition, impulsive non-conformity swas associated with poorer visual marking, more prominently in females. These results are discussed in relation to possible mechanisms by which psychosis-proneness and impulsivity may restrict the top–down influences operating on early visual attention.     

Activating and Suppressing Hostile and Benevolent Racism: Evidence for Comparative Media Stereotyping

This research examines the role of media literacy training and counter-stereotypical news stories in prejudice reduction. Research participants read either stereotypical or counter-stereotypical news stories after exposure to a media literacy video or a control video. After this, they completed a paper-and-pencil questionnaire that included Likert-type scales and feeling-thermometer ratings about their feelings toward African Americans, Asian-Indians, and Caucasian-Americans. The findings reveal that hostile prejudice is more likely to be expressed toward African-Americans and benevolent prejudice is more likely to be expressed toward Asian-Indians. As predicted, counter-stereotypical news stories as compared to stereotypical news stories decrease prejudice toward Asian-Indians. Contrary to expectations, the media literacy video seems to prime prejudices rather than suppress them. Interestingly, news stories about Asian-Indians increase hostility toward African-Americans. These comparative stereotyping are explained using modern racist beliefs and model minority stereotypes.     

Semantic activation in action planning

Four experiments investigated activation of semantic information in action preparation. Participants either prepared to grasp and use an object (e.g., to drink from a cup) or to lift a finger in association with the object's position following a go/no-go lexical-decision task. Word stimuli were consistent to the action goals of the object use (Experiment 1) or to the finger lifting (Experiment 2). Movement onset times yielded a double dissociation of consistency effects between action preparation and word processing. This effect was also present for semantic categorizations (Experiment 3), but disappeared when introducing a letter identification task (Experiment 4). In sum, our findings indicate that action semantics are activated selectively in accordance with the specific action intention of an actor.     

Brain dopamine and kinematics of graphomotor functions

Three experiments were performed in an attempt to achieve a better understanding of the effect of dopamine on handwriting. In the first experiment, kinematic aspects of handwriting movements were compared between healthy participants and patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) on their usual dopaminergic treatment and following withdrawal of dopaminergic medication. In the second experiment, the writing performance of healthy participants with a hyperechogenicity of the substantia nigra as detected by transcranial sonography (TCS) was compared with the performance of healthy participants with low echogenicity of the substantia nigra. The third experiment examined the effect of central dopamine reduction on kinematic aspects of handwriting movements in healthy adults using acute phenylalanine and tyrosine depletion (APTD). A digitising tablet was used for the assessment of handwriting movements. Participants were asked to perform a simple writing task. Movement time, distance, velocity, acceleration and measures of fluency of handwriting movements were measured. The kinematic analysis of handwriting movements revealed that alterations of central dopaminergic neurotransmission adversely affect movement execution during handwriting. In comparison to the automatic processing of handwriting movements displayed by control participants, participants with an altered dopaminergic neurotransmission shifted from an automatic to a controlled processing of movement execution. Central dopamine appears to be of particular importance with regard to the automatic execution of well-learned movements.     

Factors underlying expectancies of success and achievement: the influential roles of need for cognition and general or specific self-concepts

It has been assumed that task-specific self-concepts are more important than general self-concepts in determining expectancies of success and subsequent achievement. The authors argue here that the influence varies depending on need for cognition (NFC). Findings from Study 1 (N=104) showed that expectancies of success in an academic task could be predicted from specific self-concept for individuals with a high NFC and from general self-concept for individuals with a low NFC. In Study 2 (N=193), where cognitive load was manipulated, given a high cognitive load, only general self-concept was predictive of success expectancies, independent of NFC. In Study 3 (N=197), given a high relevance of correct expectancy ratings, only specific self-concept was predictive of expectancies and actual achievement, independent of NFC. In Studies 4 and 5, the results from Study 1 concerning the prediction of expectancies (as well as achievement) reappeared in a physical and a social domain.     

Effects of implicit power motivation on men's and women's implicit learning and testosterone changes after social victory or defeat

Two studies examined interactions of implicit power motivation and experimentally varied victory or defeat in a contest on implicit learning of a visuomotor sequence associated with the contest outcome and changes in testosterone and self-reported affect. In men and women, power motivation predicted enhanced learning (sequence-execution accuracy) after a victory and impaired learning after a defeat. In men, power motivation predicted testosterone increases among winners and decreases among losers, and testosterone decreases mediated the negative effect of power motivation on learning in losers. In women, power motivation predicted postcontest testosterone increases, particularly among losers. In both men and women, self-reported affective states were influenced only by contest outcome and were unrelated to participants' testosterone changes or implicit learning.     

Can children provide coherent, stable, and valid self-reports on the big five dimensions? A longitudinal study from ages 5 to 7

Research on early childhood personality has been scarce. Self-reports of Big Five personality traits were measured longitudinally with the Berkeley Puppet Interview when children were 5, 6, and 7 years of age. For comparative purposes, Big Five self-reports were collected in a sample of college students. The children's self-reports showed levels of consistency and differentiation that approached those of the college age sample. Children's personality self-reports demonstrated significant correlations across the 1- and 2-year longitudinal intervals. Substantial and increasing convergence was found between children's self-reports of Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness and conceptually relevant behavior ratings provided by mothers, fathers, and teachers. Children's self-reports of Neuroticism were unrelated to adults' reports but did predict sadness and anxious behavior observed in the laboratory. The results provide the beginnings of an account of how the Big Five dimensions begin to be salient and emerge as coherent, stable, and valid self-perceptions in childhood.