TOWARD A FEMINIST UNDERSTANDING OF WOMEN AND POWER

Both psychologists and feminists believe power is an important and ubiquitous concept, yet its definition and scope eludes both groups. In this introduction to a special issue on women and power, we suggest three points to help organize and interpret research in the area. First, definitions of power should center around the distinction between "power-over," the domination and control of one person or group over another, and "power-to" or personal empowerment. Second, power can be analyzed at different levels—societal, organizational, interpersonal, and individual—and, importantly, these levels interact. Third, power differences frequently underlie what appear to be gender differences in behavior; as society is currently configured, power and gender are never independent. Although the articles in this special issue often ask more questions than they answer, the present volume adds a feminist perspective to the psychological study of power.     

By your attributions you shall be known: Consequences of attributional accounts for professional and gender identities

We demonstrate the power of a situated identity perspective for understanding the different attributional patterns of women and men in an academic setting and their differential experiences in the workplace. Two explanations for the gender difference found in attributions of success are considered. This difference may be due either to different identities being attributed to men and women employing the same explanations for success and failure, or to the inconsistency between actions that confirm a professional (academic) identity and women's gender identity. The results of this survey of senior social science faculty men support the latter explanation but not the former. An editorial acceptance was seen as more professional but less feminine than a rejection. In the eyes of senior colleagues, the modest account of success, typical of women academics, enhances femininity but detracts from professionalism. The self-serving account typical of men makes the offerer appear less feminine but more professional. Thus in their situated identity claims, successful academic women, but not men, must choose between their professional and gender identities. Despite the movement of women into university social science positions, the role of academic has a masculine face.Order of authors was determined by a coin toss.     

Suggestiveness in photospread line-ups: Similarity induces distinctiveness

The present research examined whether line-ups based on target (‘suspect’) face similarity are biased or suggestive. Four experiments are described in which subjects constructed photographic line-ups by selecting foils similar in appearance to a target. Later, another group of subjects who had not seen the faces before (mock witnesses) were asked to pick out the targets from the line-ups. All four experiments showed that mock witnesses selected the target significantly more often than expected by chance, thereby demonstrating suggestiveness. Three alternative line-up construction methods were also evaluated. In these methods, foil selection was based not only on target similarity but also on similarity with one or more of the other line-up faces. Results showed that alternative line-up targets were not selected significantly more often than chance, suggesting that bias was reduced. An overall analysis showed that the alternative line-ups were significantly less suggestive than target-based line-ups. The results indicate that foil selection procedures that incorporate foil-to-foil similarity produce fairer line-ups than those exclusively based on target similarity.     

The relationship between counsellor interpersonal skills and the core conditions of client-centred counselling

The present study aimed to determine whether there was a systematic relationship between Rogers'(1957) core conditions of empathy, acceptance and genuineness, and counsellors' use of specific behaviours or skills which have been isolated for training. Video recordings of 12 counsellors' performance in 'naturalistic' counselling interactions were analysed. Counsellor, client and judges' ratings of the core conditions were obtained. Skill assessment included molar ratings of eight skill areas and molecular measures of 29 behaviours. The results indicated that there were few significant relationships. It is concluded that there is a discrepancy between specification of the skills or behaviours which are thought to communicate the core conditions and those which have been empirically demonstrated to do so. Implications for counsellor training and proposals for future research are discussed.     

Clinical ethics consultations: reasons for optimism, but problems exist

[The author identifies] five problems familiar to clinical ethicists. (1) Physicians often do not recognize important ethical issues. (2) Debate exists over whether such consultations should give specific management recommendations. (3) Principles of medical ethics cannot, by themselves, resolve real ethical issues. (4) The patient's interests sometimes conflict with the interests of the family, the health professionals, and the hospital. (5) Clinical ethics consultations take a toll on the consultant....[He] discuss[es] the implications of each problem for clinical ethics consultations and offer[s] a solution to it.     

Heart rate--QT relationships during baroreceptor stimulation with diminished autonomic influence on the ventricles. Ventricular autonomic tone and QT interval.

The shortening of the QT interval of the electrocardiogram coincident with acceleration of heart rate and vice versa has been accepted for many years as evidence that the action potential duration and hence QT are necessarily dependent on heart rate. Exceptions to this rule have been attributed to the intervention of counteracting autonomic effects. In order to test this assumption, 26 conscious dogs divided into three groups were tested during baroreceptor stimulation by a bolus injection of phenylephrine. Seventeen dogs had been used in earlier studies in which they had undergone an experimental anterior myocardial infarction with apparent full recovery. A group of those dogs underwent beta-adrenergic blockade by intravenous atenolol 30 min prior to the baroreceptor activation. To test the intactness of the baroreceptor responses in the previously infarcted dogs, a third group of nine dogs that had had no prior myocardial infarction was included. All dogs were adapted to the laboratory environment and were not sedated during experiments. Simultaneous recordings of RR, QT interval, and phasic arterial pressure were made in all dogs before and during baroreceptor stimulation. In the normal group, and the previously infarcted group that received no atenolol, baroreceptor stimulation elicited a small (8/msec), but significant prolongation of the QT associated with a nearly 50% reduction in heart rate. The QT interval of the atenolol-treated dogs, although significantly more prolonged before stimulation, remained unchanged during the reflex. The data indicate that withdrawal of ventricular sympathetic tone may prolong the QT interval, thereby confirming the role of sympathetic innervation in the control of QT.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)