Gendered Patterns of Interaction: A Foucauldian Discourse Analysis of Couple Therapy

In recent years, there has been a rapid increase in attention to gender and gender-based inequalities in family therapy. Despite this, there is a dearth of empirical work that examines how gendered inequalities intersecting with other axes of privilege/oppression are maintained within families, including in the therapeutic context. In this study, we used Foucauldian discourse analysis to examine how gendered power is produced and reproduced circularly or through recurrent patterns of interaction in couple therapy. We identified gendered discourses and assumptions informing partners’ constructions of their gendered selves and relationships. We highlight the complexity and intersectionality of gendered subjectivities and relations in contemporary Canadian couples involved in heterosexual relationships. Although women in this study contest their oppression and exhibit agency to negotiate who they are in general and in relation to men, they simultaneously continue to occupy subordinate positions in a gender order that is culturally and interactionally allocated to them. We discuss implications for family therapy practice.     

Behind the Pencil/Paper Measurement of Sexual Coercion: Interview-Based Clarification of Men's Interpretations of Sexual Experiences Survey Items1

The ubiquity of self-report pencil and paper surveys in sexual coercion research is matched only by the lack of attention to respondents' individual interpretations of survey items. Our purpose in this study was to examine men's interpretations of four apparently ambiguous items from a commonly used sexual coercion research instrument, the original Sexual Experiences Survey (SES; Koss & Oros, 1982). After completing the SES, college men (N = 102) were immediately interviewed about their interpretations of 4 of the SES items. Across the interviews, the men reported a variety of interpretations of each item. Ignoring SES item interpretations when forming research conclusions has significant implications for sexual coercion research. Based on the results of this investigation, we urge caution in interpreting results of studies based on self-administered measures of coercive sexual behavior.     

The Impact of Participant Characteristics,Perceived Motives,and Job Behaviors on Co-Workers' Evaluations of Workplace Romances1

Using a policy capturing approach, we examined the importance that observers placed on 7 different factors when evaluating workplace romances. Nearly half the explained variation in observers' evaluations of workplace romances was accounted for by participants' marital status. Participants' organizational status relative to one another was also important in explaining the variation. A series of nomothetic analyses indicated that workplace romance participants' marital status, academic status, motive for entry into the relationship, and job performance affected observers' evaluations of these relationships. Observers' level of prior involvement in a workplace romance was also significantly related to a number of variables. Results suggest that when evaluating workplace romances, observers place the greatest importance on the personal characteristics of participants. Ramifications for policy formation are discussed.     

Beyond Sowing and Growing: The Relationship of Sex Typing To Socialization,Family Plans,and Future Orientation1

The speculation, appearing frequently in the birth-planning and population literature, that family-size desires are associated with sex-role norms, was empirically investigated with the Bem (1974) Sex Role Inventory. Forty college students in a 2 (sex-typed vs. androgynous) × 2 (male or female) design responded to a demographic and future-plans inventory. Results indicated that androgynous females, as compared with sex-typed females, (a) moved frequently during childhood (p < .02); (b) were raised in larger communities (p < .02); (c) had fathers (p < .03) and mothers (p < .003) of higher occupational status; (d) tended toward higher educational aspiration (p < .09); (e) desired fewer children (p < .05); and (f) placed more importance on competence at work (p < .004). Male responses were not generally related to the sex-typing variable. Results were discussed in terms of implications of sex-role socialization for the problem of overpopulation.     

The role of bigram frequency in the perception of words and nonwords

Memory & Cognition - Adult subjects decided whether strings of four, five, or six letters formed words or nonwords. Words and nonwords were equally probable stimuli, and there were equal...     

Marriage in academe: Hitching your wagon to a star

A frequent pattern of marital dysfunction seen in an academic setting is described. Typically, the wife of a professor sublimates her own strong intellectual achievement needs in order to facilitate her husband's success. After he achieves renown, she expects he will support her efforts to satisfy suppressed achievement strivings. The husband/professor is locked into an external reward system and is unwilling to meet his wife's needs, leading to marital conflict. Background factors in both spouses set up this dysfunctional pattern. Marital therapy with an emphasis on self versus others' expectations for achievement is recommended. A case study is presented.     

Measurement of subjective responses to alcohol and non-alcohol slides by alcoholic respondents

Although ‘anxiety’ has traditionally been hypothesized as the cognitive mediating CR which results from electrical a versive conditioning, alternate competing hypotheses have not been adequately studied. This investigation has generated four constructs from a factor analysis of adjective ratings on alcohol-related stimuli and four constructs from an identical analysis of ratings on non-alcohol related stimuli. As these constructs are orthogonal, each can be used as an independent measure of ‘cognitive mediator’ or alternative competing hypothesis. The alcohol-related constructs appeared to be: (1) dangerous vs. safety; (2) approach or appetitiveness: (3) avoidance or aversiveness; and (4) general evaluation good vs. bad.     

NOVA SKED II: A behavioral notation language utilizing the Data General Corporation real-time disk operating system

A software system (NOVA SKED) was developed for the experimental control and collection of data from operant behavior experiments that is compatible with the Data General Corporation real-time disk operating system (RDOS). NOVA SKED is based on the SKED state notation language originally implemented on Digital Equipment Corporation PDP-8 series of minicomputers. The system includes a compiler written in FORTRAN, a multitasking run-time system that can be configured to run up to 30 stations, a data back-up system, standard data manipulation programs and subroutines, and user manuals.