GUATEMALAN, FILIPINO, AND U.S. ADOLESCENTS'IMAGES OF WOMEN AS OFFICE WORKERS AND HOMEMAKERS

Although adolescents of different countries often draw pictures of the ideal woman cooking or working in an office, the meaning of the images may vary cross-culturally. In the present study, 88 adolescents from the Philippines, the U.S.A., and Guatemala interpreted drawings by their same-nationality peers. Interpreters from all three countries described the woman working in an office as hardworking and the woman cooking as a mother cooking for her family. In addition, Filipino adolescents wrote themes of contentment and organization, Guatemalan adolescents wrote themes of betterment, family, and hope, and U.S.A. adolescents wrote themes of contentment and niceness. Similar images of women's roles may have different meanings for adolescents of different cultures, and the use of emic approaches can provide psychological researchers with increased understanding of complex social phenomena.     

Lifetime and 12‐Month Nonsuicidal Self‐Injury and Academic Performance in College Freshmen

We examined whether nonsuicidal self‐injury (NSSI) is associated with academic performance in college freshmen, using census‐based web surveys (N = 7,527; response = 65.4%). NSSI was assessed with items from the Self‐Injurious Thoughts and Behaviors Interview and subsequently linked with the administratively recorded academic year percentage (AYP). Freshmen with lifetime and 12‐month NSSI showed a reduction in AYP of 3.4% and 5.9%, respectively. The college environment was found to moderate the effect of 12‐month NSSI, with more strongly reduced AYPs in departments with higher‐than‐average mean departmental AYPs. The findings suggest that overall stress and test anxiety are underlying processes between NSSI membership and academic performance.     

Facilitating the Furrowed Brow: An Unobtrusive Test of the Facial Feedback Hypothesis Applied to Unpleasant Affect

Abstract

We examined the hypothesis that muscle contractions in the face influence subjective emotional experience. Previously, researchers have been critical of experiments designed to test this facial feedback hypothesis, particularly in terms of methodological problems that may lead to demand characteristics. In an effort to surmount these methodological problems Strack, Martin, and Stepper (1988) developed an experimental procedure whereby subjects were induced to contract facial muscles involved in the production of an emotional pattern, without being asked to actually simulate an emotion. Specifically, subjects were required to hold a pen in their teeth, which unobtrusively creates a contraction of the zygomaticus major muscles, the muscles involved in the production of a human smile. This manipulation minimises the likelihood that subjects are able to interpret their zygomaticus contractions as representing a particular emotion, thereby preventing subjects from determining the purpose of the experiment. Strack et al. (1988) found support for the facial feedback hypothesis applied to pleasant affect, in that subjects in the pen-in-teeth condition rated humorous cartoons as being funnier than subjects in the control condition (in which zygomaticus contractions were inhibited). The present study represents an extension of this nonobtrusive methodology to an investigation of the facial feedback of unpleasant affect. Consistent with the Strack et al. procedure, we wanted to have subjects furrow their brow without actually instructing them to do so and without asking them to produce any emotional facial pattern at all. This was achieved by attaching two golf tees to the subject's brow region (just above the inside comer of each eye) and then instructing them to touch the tips of the golf tees together as part of a “divided-attention” experiment. Touching the tips of the golf tees together could only be achieved by a contraction of the corrugator supercilii muscles, the muscles involved in the production of a sad emotional facial pattern. Subjects reported significantly more sadness in response to aversive photographs while touching the tips of the golf tees together than under conditions which inhibited corrugator contractions. These results provide evidence, using a new and unobtrusive manipulation, that facial feedback operates for unpleasant affect to a degree similar to that previously found for pleasant affect.     

Child-related attributions of hostile intent and harsh discipline: Moderating effects of anger

Two studies tested whether attributions of hostile intent (AHI) and anger for ambiguous child behaviors uniquely predict parents’ harsh verbal discipline (HVD) and harsh physical discipline (HPD) or whether AHI only predicts harsh discipline when AHI occurs in conjunction with anger, as suggested by the Integrated Cognitive Model of general aggression (Wilkowski & Robinson, 2010, J. Pers., 78, 9–38). Replicating previous studies, the expected positive bivariate relationships between AHI, anger, HVD, and HPD were found in Study 1 (N = 493). However, when AHI, anger, and the AHI by anger interaction were considered simultaneously, patterns of prediction varied by discipline type. For HVD, high levels of AHI, high levels of anger, and the AHI by anger interaction (at high levels of AHI and anger) each were significant predictors. For HPD, low levels of AHI, high levels of anger, and the AHI by anger interaction (at high levels of AHI and anger) were significant predictors, suggesting a possible suppressor effect for AHI. These results were replicated in Study 2 ( N = 503). Thus, there was support for the contention that AHI only predicts harsh discipline when AHI occurs in conjunction with anger with respect to HPD but this was not the case for HVD. Since AHI suppressor effects were observed for HPD in two large sample studies, variables that may account for the AHI suppressor effects and the need for testing more complex interactive predictive models of harsh parenting behaviors are discussed.     

AGE AND GENDER DIMENSIONS OF FRIENDSHIP

Since stereotypes about appropriate social behavior appear to influence questionnaires and other self-reported data concerning friendship, an in-depth interview format was used to explore gender and age differences in friendship patterns. Thirty-one subjects were interviewed: five young males, six young females, fivemidlife males, five midlife females, five older males, and five older females. As in our previous questionnaire studies, groups described friendship in superficially similar ways. However, in the taped interviews, large gender differences appeared that followed conceptually along instrumental/expressive dimensions. Women at all ages were more expressive in their friendships, showing higher levels of empathy and altruism than men. Age differences also appeared, with men developing increased concern and thoughtfulness in friendship with greater age, and women showing more tolerance and less confrontation of their friends with greater age.