External Validity of Matching on Physical Attractiveness for Same and Opposite Sex Couples1

The external validity of the hypothesis that couples come to be matched on physical attractiveness was examined for same and opposite sex pairs of college students in a wide range of natural settings and types of relationships. Correlations between ratings of couples by observers revealed evidence of matching for male friends and for opposite sex friends, dating, and committed couples. No evidence was found for female friends. The implications of these findings for fear of social rejection and exchange explanations of the matching hypothesis and for the normal development of interpersonal relationships are discussed.     

Psychotherapy and the locus of control

Underlying various actions of both the therapist and the patient are expectations about the measure to which an individual's experiences are the product of powerful external forces or of the person's own actions and decisions. While most of our anthropological theories support the notion that a person's experience is subject to an external locus of control, neither that view nor the opposite emphasizing freedom and autonomy is adequate for the therapeutic enterprise. THere are elements of truth in both positions that ned to be incorporated in therapeutic expectations if the enterprise is to proceed in an orderly fashion.     

Cross-Cultural Testing of Three Social Cognitive Theories: An Application to Condom Use1

The aim of this study was to test the cross-cultural validity of Fishbein and Ajzen's theory of reasoned action, Ajzen's theory of planned behavior, and Triandis' theory of interpersonal behavior and to apply them to understanding the intention to use a condom with a new partner in three ethnocultural communities: Latin American, English-speaking Caribbean, and South Asian. All respondents were recruited from multiple ethnocultural-venues using predetermined sampling frames and quotas for each community. The results indicated that the three theories have cross-cultural validity, but the theories of Ajzen and Triandis performed better than the theory of Fishbein and Ajzen. It is recommended that role beliefs and moral norm (personal normative belief) be added to Ajzen's model to maximize its predictive and explanatory ability.     

Scales,diagnoses, and child psychopathology: II. Comparing the CBCL and the DISC against external validators

Using a multimethod multistage screening procedure, the authors interviewed 201 parents and their children with the Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children (DISC 2.1). In addition, parents completed the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and other survey measures, while their children completed self-report scales. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses were done to determine optimal cutpoints on the CBCL, referenced to DISC diagnostic caseness. DISC diagnoses, DISC stem symptoms, CBCL scores, and CBCL ROC-cutpoints were compared against external validators, in order to determine the comparative advantages of each approach for assessing child psychopathology. Overall findings suggest that the controversies about best assessment strategies may be artificial: When both assessment approaches are compared using similar methods, they are reasonably comparable. However, highly specific diagnostic categories may show fewer relationships with external validators and may therefore need more systematic validational studies.The opinions and assertions contained in this paper are the private views of the authors and are not to be construed as official or as reflecting the views of the Department of Health and Human Services, the National Institute of Mental Health, the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, or the Department of the Army.     

Structural power and experienced job satisfactions: The empowerment paradox for women

This study related the structural power of women's occupational roles to their job values, perceptions, satisfactions, and dissatisfactions regarding power and affiliation. For 110 mostly Caucasian college-educated women in their mid-30s returning mailed questionnaires, analyses compared women in relational power, directive power, and low power jobs. Women in supervisory roles were compared with nonsupervisors. Perceived Autonomy/Challenge and Affiliation correlated with Interpersonal Power satisfaction; these and Perceived Status Mobility correlated with Interpersonal Power dissatisfaction. More women in relational power jobs reported Affiliative values and Interpersonal Power satisfactions, and fewer reported Status Mobility values and perceptions or Autonomy/Challenge satisfactions. Supervisors valued and perceived Status Mobility and Autonomy/Challenge more than did nonsupervisors, and reported more Autonomy/Challenge satisfaction. More nonsupervisors reported Interpersonal Power and Affiliative satisfactions. Thus, as women gain more structural power, they report less satisfaction from Interpersonal Power despite greater satisfaction with Autonomy/Challenge.I thank Sandra S. Tangri for initiating and continuing this longitudinal study; Sandra S. Tangri, Jo Ruggiero, and Jan Hitchcock for their collaborative work on the 1981 data collection; and Karen Chandler and Kathy MacDonald for coding of open-ended data. I appreciate Harriett Aronson's comments on previous drafts, and those of two anonymous reviewers.This research has been supported by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Grant No. 5-F1-MH-30#493-03; by Radcliffe Research Support Grants from The Henry A. Murray Research Center of Radcliffe College to Jo Ruggiero and to Sharon Rae Jenkins; a faculty research grant from the University of California, Santa Cruz to Sharon Rae Jenkins; and by a grant from the Mobil Foundation to Radcliffe College awarded to Sharon Rae Jenkins. Portions of these analyses were supported by NIMH Postdoctoral Fellowship MH-15122-07 from the Department of Sociology and Institute of Human Development, University of California, Berkeley. The 1967 and 1970 data sets are archived at The Henry A. Murray Research Center, Radcliffe College, Ten Garden St., Cambridge, MA 02138, are used with the Center's permission, and are available for secondary analysis by qualified researchers.     

Morality and the practice of psychotherapy

The morality of psychotherapy is challenged in terms of its effects on patients, their families, and the community. This paper discusses the issue of moral neutrality in therapy, the distinction between real and neurotic guilt, and offers suggestions as to how moral discourse might be incorporated in therapy.     

Motivational factors related to differences in self-schemas

This research attempts to integrate self-determination theory with the construct of self-schema. Forty-nine schematic subjects (i.e., extreme on a personality dimension) received counterschematic feedback in either an ego-involving or non-ego-involving condition. Subjects’ autonomy versus control orientations were assessed. Results indicated that subjects with higher autonomy orientations changed less in response to counterschematic feedback than those with lower autonomy orientations. As well, subjects in the ego-involving condition changed more in the direction of the counterschematic feedback than those in the non-ego-involving condition. Findings suggest that both dispositional and situational factors account for differences in the degree to which individuals display consistency and self-awareness in processing information about themselves. Results are interpreted as support for the notion that greater autonomy is associated with a higher degree of self-knowledge and self-concept stability. This research was supported in part by the Frances L. Hiatt School of Psychology, Clark University.     

Challenges to the Career Development of Urban Racial and Ethnic Minority Youth: Implications for Vocational Intervention

Urban racial and ethnic minority youth experience a variety of internal and external challenges to their career development. This article discusses several potential barriers to successful career attainment experienced by racial and ethnic minority youth and identifies a series of recommendations that vocational counselors may wish to consider in addressing the career development needs of this population.     

Automated Measurement of Mouse Freezing Behavior and its Use for Quantitative Trait Locus Analysis of Contextual Fear Conditioning in (BALB/cJ × C57BL/6J)F2 Mice

The most commonly measured mouse behavior in fear conditioning tests is freezing. A technical limitation, particularly for genetic studies, is the method of direct observation used for quantifying this response, with the potential for bias or inconsistencies. We report the use of a computerized method based on latency between photobeam interruption measures as a reliable scoring criterion in mice. The different computer measures obtained during contextual fear conditioning tests showed high correlations with hand-scored freezing; r values ranged from 0.87 to 0.94. Previously reported strain differences between C57BL/6J and DBA/2J in context-dependent fear conditioning were also detected by the computer-based system. In addition, the use of computer-scored freezing of 199 (BALB/cJ×C57BL/6J)F₂ mice enabled us to detect a suggestive gender-dependent chromosomal locus for contextual fear conditioning on distal chromosome 8 by QTL analysis. Automation of freeze scoring would significantly increase efficiency and reliability of this learning and memory test.