Organisational effects of neonatal and pubertal testosterone on sexually differentiated behaviours in the open-field and head-dip apparatus

On days 1 and 4 after birth rats were injected with 100 μg of testosterone propionate (TP) or vehicle, and at 35 days of age they were injected intramuscularly with 400 μg of testosterone oenanthate (TO), a long acting androgen, or the vehicle. There were four groups (oil-oil, TP-oil, oil-TO, TP-TO), each group subdivided by sex. Females treated with testosterone neonatally or at puberty were masculinised or defeminised on adult open-field behaviours, being less active and rearing less than oil-oil females; the oil-TO group also defaecated significantly more than controls. The TP-TO female group was indistinguishable from the oil-TO group. In a second experiment, sex differences were found in head-dipping behaviour as well as in activity and rearing. Females treated with TP or TO reared less and defaecated more than controls, and TP also decreased activity, but neither hormone treatment affected head-dipping behaviour. There is thus a peripubertal as well as a neonatal period when testosterone can act organisationally to masculinise or defeminise female rats. Potentiation between effects of neonatal and pubertal androgens was found on female body weights. TO alone had no effect, but TP-TO females were significantly heavier than controls at 90 days of age and by 130 days of age the TP-oil group was also heavier than controls.     

The concave cusp as a determiner of figure-ground

The tendency to interpret as figure, relative to background, those regions that are lighter, smaller, and, especially, more convex is well known. Wherever convex opaque objects abut or partially occlude one another in an image, the points of contact between the silhouettes form concave cusps, each indicating the local assignment of figure versus ground across the contour segments. It is proposed that this local geometric feature is a preattentive determiner of figure-ground perception and that it contributes to the previously observed tendency for convexity preference. Evidence is presented that figure-ground assignment can be determined solely on the basis of the concave cusp feature, and that the salience of the cusp derives from local geometry and not from adjacent contour convexity.     

The Role of Lad Magazines in Priming Men’s Chronic and Temporary Appearance‐Related Schemata: An Investigation of Longitudinal and Experimental Findings

We present a program of research investigating the effects of lad magazines on male body self‐consciousness and appearance anxiety. Study 1, based on panel data from undergraduate men, showed that lad magazine exposure in Year 1 predicted body self‐consciousness in Year 2. Study 2 was an experiment that showed that men assigned to view objectified women in lad magazines reported significantly higher levels of appearance anxiety and appearance‐related motivations for exercise than men assigned to view male fashion models. We speculated that participants believed that to be romantically successful with these women would require them to conform to an idealized appearance standard. Study 3 replicated the finding that exposure to sexually objectified women primed body self‐consciousness, and it further showed that this effect was mediated by romantic confidence.     

Dr. Susan W. Gray

While Susan W. Gray is known primarily for her work with the Early Training Project, a pioneering early intervention program with low-income black children, she has also influenced the development of school psychology and the creation of Early Childhood Education as a discipline. In addition, in her own quiet way, she has supported the career development of a number of professional women who have had impact on child development, early childhood education, and school psychology. Four major themes are used to present Susan Gray's biography: (1) being ahead of her time in terms of thinking which allowed her to take advantage of opportunities; (2) the role of serendipity versus long-range planning of career trajectories; (3) specific influences on her as a woman; and (4) a lifetime of courage and dedication. Examples of work which was in advance of psychology included work in early intervention with low-income children, an emphasis on the use of scientific experimental methodology in field research, an eclectic approach which crossed disciplinary boundaries, a consultative approach to school psychology, and the inclusion of affective and cognitive education in inter-