The relation between gender schemas and adults' recall of stereotyped and counterstereotyped televised information

The relation between adults' gender-related personality characteristics and memory for gender-stereotyped and counterstereotyped televised information was examined. Eighty middle-class undergraduates, equally divided by gender (92% Caucasian and 8% minority groups), viewed a television program that presented two plots: one was traditionally gender-stereotyped and the other was counterstereotyped. Three weeks after viewing, students answered questions assessing their recall of stereotyped and counterstereotyped information that had been presented in the television program. Masculinity and femininity scores were also assessed. Results indicated that gender aschematic adults recalled more counterstereotypical information than did gender schematic adults. Results were interpreted within an information processing model.The authors thank the students of Georgetown University who participated in this research.     

Differential effects of massage and heelstick procedures on transcutaneous oxygen tension in preterm neonates

The present study investigated the differential effects of heelsticks and tactile-kinesthetic massage on transcutaneous oxygen tension (TcPO₂) in preterm infants. The sample was comprised of 37 stabilized preterm neonates from the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. During the heelstick procedure, TcPO₂ significantly declined an average of 14 mmHg. When compared to the tactile-kinesthetic massage, TcPO₂ levels during the heelstick (M = 39.8) were significantly lower than during the stimulation (M = 72.8). Mean TcPO₂ levels remained clinically safe during the four massage sessions evaluated. The TcPO₂ levels during kinesthetic stimulation were somewhat more varied, and movement and pressurization of the TcPO₂ electrode were investigated as possible artifactual explanations for this phenomenon. Overall, the findings indicate that social forms of touch such as tactile-kinesthetic massage do not appear to have a medically compromising effect on TcPO₂ in the preterm neonate. These findings are evaluated in relation to the “minimal touch” policy, and implications for future handling of the stabilized preterm neonate are discussed.     

Countertransference and the developing family therapist: Treatment and supervision issues

All therapists experience reactions toward clients, which have traditionally been called countertransference. Such reactions toward families pose special issues for beginning and developing family therapists. This clinically based and clinically oriented article describes some of the reactions, clues pointing to their existence, and indicates some of the ways beginning and developing family therapists and their supervisors and consultants can deal constructively with these reactions.     

Effects of lateral ball location, grade, and sex on catching

To investigate the effects of lateral movement on the quality and quantity of catching as they interact with age, 108 children from Kindergarten through Grade 4 were tested. A ramp was constructed which slowed the descent of the 4-in. fleece ball so that it took 1.8 sec. to arrive at the child's location. Each ball could be delivered to one of five different locations in relation to the child. The child practiced five times, with balls coming in a random sequence to each location, the center of the ramp, 1 ft. and 2 ft. each to the right and left of the center. An increase in number of catches made and in the quality of the performance based on McClenaghan and Gallahue's evaluation were associated with grade. The locations 2 ft. from the center produced the fewest catches within a grade, but 1 ft. from center produced more catches from kindergarteners than the center location and occasionally for upper grades. Evaluations of the performances showed a steady improvement across grades, but there was no effect on the evaluation of catching performance of ball location within a grade. Children appear to be at a preferred stage.     

Sex role egalitarianism and marital violence

This study explores the link between sex role egalitarianism and marital violence using a sample of men enrolled in either substance abuse treatment programs (N=71) or in anger management programs (N=44). It was found that men in both treatment programs had very similar levels of egalitarianism and violence in their relationships. Using the combined sample, it was found that having attitudes approving of marital violence and using “severe” violence accounted for a significant portion of the variance in sex role egalitarianism, whereas use of “minor” violence did not account for significant variance in egalitarianism. These results suggest that sex role egalitarianism may be a meaningful indicator for spouse abuse.     

Family dances and the rhythms of intimacy

Over time each couple evolves its own repetitive, rhythmic patterns of loving, fighting, etc. This dance is picked up by the couple's children and becomes kinesthetic, rather than intellectual, knowledge of how to be in an intimate relationship. For each new generation of couples, making one dance out of two is the unspoken challenge to a marriage. Often mates do not fit into each other's dance, do not know the right moves, and thus remain rhythmically unfamiliar to one another, making it difficult to live in comfortable intimacy.It is possible to quickly and graphically represent these family dances in a therapy session. From the dances of the family of origin to the current dance of a couple, the impact of the rhythmic patterns of intimacy can be seen. The objective of performing a couple's family dance is to bring the rhythmic patterns into awareness and to develop a powerful metaphor for use throughout therapy.Sandra Watanabe-Hammond, BS, OTR, a co-founder of the Boston Family Institute and a faculty member of the Family Institute of Chicago, also is in private practice in Chicago at 253 E. Delaware Place and at 2 Pine Circle, Urbana, IL.     

From evolution to Larry P., or what shall we do about IQ tests?

IQ tests are a dilemma in that great morality play. “Who Shall Enjoy Society's Privileges?” Legal authorities battle over IQ tests as heroes or villians. The stages are courts around the nation jammed with plaintiffs whose test scores were used to reject them from desired educational and occupational positions or whose scores exceeded those of others who were selected for desired positions on nonintellective bases. Larry P. Bakke, and Griggs are but a few of the plaintiffs whose names may become household words in the late '70s. Judges know little about the technical construction of IQ tests, their appropriate use and interpretation, and about the underlying issues of inequality that bring the adversaries to court. But the judges will decide how, when, and for whom IQ tests may be used to make life decisions.