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.     

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.     

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.     

Matching the message to the process: the relative ordering of knowledge,attitudes, and practices in behavior change research

The authors empirically investigated the relative ordering of knowledge, attitudes, and practices in behavior change models and its relation to communicating health-related information. Considerable research has been conducted in the area of behavior change to identify and measure the presence of knowledge, attitudinal, and practice levels for many behaviors. The literature is reviewed. The authors' investigation consisted of interviewing 1680 men and women in Lima, Cusco, Huaraz, Puno, and Chimbote--5 large Peruvian cities--in 3 urban probability household surveys conducted in August 1994, January 1995, and January 1996. Six possible knowledge, attitude, and practice permutations are developed with regard to contraception in Peru. People may use contraceptive methods before they become fully knowledgeable about their chosen methods. In so doing, these users may become misinformed about contraceptive practice and become dissatisfied contraceptive users who discontinue contraceptive use. Media campaigns designed to inform the public can help produce a more satisfied and sustainable contraceptive user base. The informed choice approach can be the basis for effective communication strategies.     

Augmenting Computer-Interactive Self-Assessment with and Without Feedback

The Psychological Record - Following a preexperimental assessment of computer-interactive math performance during VR 6 reinforcement and extinction, 4 regular education students and 2 students...     

The Discounting Principle and Attitudes Toward Victims of HIV Infection1

Reactions to victims of HIV infection often encompass not only the stigma of disease, but also the stigma of membership in a high-risk group and the stigma of being held responsible for one's own illness. To examine the role the discounting principle might play in the evaluation of victims with multiple stigmas, 181 undergraduate students reacted to vignettes describing an HIV-positive male. Participants received information about the mode of transmission and the sexual preference of the described victim. Results suggested that the stigma of homosexuality had a greater effect when the victim was not viewed as behaviorally responsible than when he was considered to be responsible for the illness. This finding is explained in terms of both the discounting principle and the just world theory. Implications for attitude change are discussed.     

Case study: Noninvasive behavioral treatment of self-injurious hand stereotypy in a child with Rett syndrome

Treatment of stereotypic hand mouthing in a 3-year-old girl with Rett syndrome by differential reinforcement of competing functional responses plus response interruption is described and evaluated in this case study. A package of graduated guidance with social and edible reinforcers successfully established stable rates of functional hand movements to activate toys, gross motor responses to verbal prompts, palmar grasp and release, and some vocal imitation. Contingent response interruption virtually eliminated hand mouthing during instructional sessions. Instruction alone did not maintain hand mouthing suppression when interruption was withdrawn, and treatment gains appeared highly discriminated. Post-hoc comparison indicated differential reinforcement plus response interruption (DR1 + 1) to be superior to hand splints in reducing hand stereotypies, with approximately equivalent increases in collateral tongue thrusting.     

The self-perceptions and attributions of attention deficit hyperactivity disordered and nonreferred boys

Compared the self perceptions and attributions of attention deficit hyperactivity disordered (ADHD) and control boys. The ADHD boys viewed themselves as no worse than control boys on self-perceived competence and global selfworth, especially when internalizing symptomatology was taken into account statistically through covariance analyses. In terms of attributions, the ADHD boys were more likely to take responsibility for social successes and less likely to take responsibility for social failures than the control boys. Although the ADHD boys scored significantly higher on the Children's Depression Inventory, this difference was no longer significant when items dealing with behavior, school, and social problems were excluded. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for understanding how the attributions and selfperceptions of ADHD boys may mediate their performance in challenging academic and social situations.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 1992 Annual Meeting of the Society for Research in Child and Adolescent Psychopathology, Sarasota, Florida. The first author was supported in part by grants from the National Institute of Mental Health (MH47390 and MH48157) and the Clinical Research Center (MH30915). The second author was supported in part by grants from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (AA06267), the National Institute on Drug Abuse (DA05605), and the National Institute of Mental Health (MH48157). The fourth author was supported by a grant from the College of Arts and Sciences of the University of Kentucky.