Knowledge of sex-role stereotypes in children aged 3 to 5

When do children begin acquiring adult sex-role stereotypes? This study examined the sex-stereotypic knowledge of four groups of young children: 3.0–3.5, 3.5–4.0, 4.0–4.5, and 4.5–5.0 years old. To assess the development of their knowledge, the same children were retested six months later. Evidence of sex-stereotyping appeared at 3.5 years and increased both across the different age groups and within the same children as they aged. The children's knowledge encompassed both feminine and masculine traits, and was related to general intellectual development. These results are interpreted as supporting cognitive-developmental theories that children learn sex-role stereotypes as structural rules for organizing and understanding behaviors present in their social environment.Thanks are due to Diane Bulow, Grace Horsman, Barbara Kutner, Joan Strutts, and the other teachers for aiding our access to children enrolled in their centers. Moira Davidson, Beth Kaplan, Keith Miller, Suzanna Nam, Dan Birecree, Sara Corse, Jim Gilbert, Jean Merenda, Anna Steiner, and Steve Tannenbaum served graciously as testers.     

A Structural Equation Model for the School Reinforcement Survey Schedule: Italian and American Early Adolescents

The School Reinforcement Survey Schedule (SRSS) was administered to 2,828 boys and girls in middle schools in the United States and an Italian translation was administered to 342 boys and girls in middle schools in Northern Italy. An exploratory factor analysis using half the American data set was performed using maximum likelihood estimation with a promax rotation. This analysis produced a structural equation model with six interpretable latent variables. This analysis was confirmed by results demonstrating a good fit with the other half of the American sample and separately with the Italian sample. Scores for the six latent variables were constructed and information about the distribution of scores was obtained. Multiple comparisons of the means were performed by gender, within each national sample, for each of the six latent variables. American and Italian girls report obtaining greater enjoyment from a wider variety of school activities compared to American and Italian boys.     

SPELLING AND EMERGENT PICTURE-PRINTED WORD RELATIONS ESTABLISHED WITH DELAYED IDENTITY MATCHING TO COMPLEX SAMPLES

Students with academic deficits learned delayed matching-to-sample tasks that used complex sample stimuli, each consisting of a picture and a printed word. A touch to the sample complex removed it from the computer display and produced either picture comparisons or a choice pool of letters. If the comparisons were pictures, selecting the picture identical to the preceding sample was reinforced. If the letters appeared, letter-by-letter construction of the preceding printed word sample was reinforced. The procedure engendered new constructed-response spelling performances and arbitrary relations among pictures and printed words in matching to sample. The emergence of relations among different sets of printed words (paired with the same pictures) suggested classes of equivalent stimuli. Outcome tests involving spoken words as sample stimuli suggested expansion of subjects' spelling repertoires and stimulus classes.     

Social resilience: the value of social fitness with an application to the military

Resilience has been regarded narrowly as a quintessential individual property by most investigators. Social resilience, however, is inherently a multilevel construct, revealed by capacities of individuals, but also groups, to foster, engage in, and sustain positive social relationships and to endure and recover from stressors and social isolation. Emergent levels of organization, ranging from dyads, families, and groups to cities, civilizations, and international alliances have long been apparent in human existence, but identifying the features of individuals, relationships, and group structures and norms that promote social resilience-and determining effective interventions to build social resilience-represent some of the most important challenges facing the military as well as contemporary behavioral science. We identify nine personal resources that foster social resilience, and we describe an educational, computer-based program that builds on these resources in an effort to improve the social resilience among troops in the U.S. Army. Data from this program should provide valuable evidence regarding the challenge of building social resilience.     

A revised semantic differential scale distinguishing between negative and positive God images

A sample of 755 school pupils between the ages of 11 and 18 years completed the Benson and Spilka semantic differential measure of God images. Factor analysis indicated the advantages of re‐scoring the measure as an eight item unidimensional index, defining semantic space relating to God images ranging from negative affect to positive affect.     

Equality of opportunity and complex equality: The special place of schooling

This paper is an engagement with Equality by John Baker, Kathleen Lynch, Judy Walsh and Sara Cantillon. It identifies a dilemma for educational egalitarians, which arises within their theory of equality, arguing that sometimes there may be a conflict between advancing equality of opportunity and providing equality of respect and recognition, and equality of love care and solidarity. It argues that the latter values may have more weight in deciding what to do than traditional educational egalitarians have usually thought.     

A Debate on the Ethics of Aging: Does the Concept of Autonomy Provide a Sufficient Framework for Aging Policy?

This article presents a debate on the issue of autonomy in aging policy held at the 1994 annual meeting of the American Society on Aging held in San Francisco, California. Harry R. Moody, director of the Institute for Human Values in Aging at Hunter College, supports a reconceptualized notion of personal autonomy which focuses on issues of power, theory, and practice, and finds conflicts between autonomy and justice in the lived world of the elderly and disabled. In aging policy, he promotes an emphasis on social movements such as Hospice rather than on autonomy of individuals. He suggests alternatives to extreme paternalism or complete autonomy, such as a communicative ethics approach. Larry Polivka, director of the Florida Policy Exchange Center on Aging at the University of South Florida, affirms that policy for the aging and disabled should be based ona commitment to autonomy. He describes an integrated model for long-term care that places autonomy first and includes features of communicative ethics and the negotiated consent and virtues models of ethics.     

Book reviews

The Psychological Attitude of Early Buddhist Philosophy. Lama Anagarika Govinda, 1991, Delhi, Motilal Banarsidass, Rs 125

The Law of Karma: a philosophical study. Bruce R. Reichenbach, 1990, Honolulu, University of Hawaii Press, pp. xiv + 238, $38.00

Religious Philosophy of Tagore and Radhakrishnan. Harendra Prasad Sinha, 1993, Delhi, Motilal Banarsidass Publishers 188 pp., Rs. 150

Scripture, Canon and Commentary: a comparison of Confucian and Western exegesis. John B. Henderson, 1991, Princeton, NJ, Princeton University Press, xii + 247 pp. $32.50

Chan Insights and Oversights: an epistemological critique of the Chan tradition. Bernard Fauré, 1993, Princeton, NJ, Princeton University Press, ix + 322 pp. £45

Reason and Tradition in Indian Thought: an essay on the nature of Indian philosophical thinking. Jitendra Nath Mohanty, 1992, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 306 pp. £37.50

Avicenna. L. E. Goodman London, Routledge, 1992, xii + 240 pp. £12.99

Becoming Bamboo: Western and Eastern explorations of the meaning of life. Robert E. Carter, 1992, Montreal, McGill‐Queen's University Press, xvi + 224 pp. £22.95