Interaction of sex role self-concept with relationship quality and relationship beliefs in married, heterosexual cohabiting, gay, and lesbian couples

The relation between sex role self-concept (masculine, feminine, undifferentiated, and androgynous) and both relationship quality and dysfunctional relationship beliefs was examined in 370 monogamous partners who represented four types of couples (married, heterosexual cohabiting, gay, and lesbian). Analyses used both the individual partner and the couple as the unit of analysis. The individual partner analyses revealed that relationship quality and relationship beliefs differed by subjects' sex role self-concept. Androgynous and feminine subjects reported higher relationship quality than masculine and undifferentiated subjects; androgynous subjects had fewer "disagreement is destructive" beliefs than feminine subjects; and androgynous subjects had fewer "partner cannot change" beliefs than undifferentiated subjects. The couple analyses revealed a relation between partners' sex role self-concept only for the heterosexual cohabiting couples. For these couples, masculine men tended to pair with feminine or undifferentiated women, and androgynous partners tended to pair together. Relative to other couples, couples in which one or both partners were androgynous or feminine reported the highest relationship quality, whereas couples in which one or both partners were undifferentiated or masculine reported the lowest relationship quality. These effects did not vary by type of couple. The study concluded that sex role self-concept is a robust factor in appraisals of relationship quality. Relative to masculine and undifferentiated individuals, androgynous and feminine individuals report greater positive relationship functioning.     

Effects of reinforcement rate and reinforcer magnitude on choice behavior of humans

Two experiments with human subjects investigated the effects of rate of reinforcement and reinforcer magnitude upon choice. In Experiment 1, each of five subjects responded on four concurrent variable-interval schedules. In contrast to previous studies using non-human organisms, relative response rate did not closely match relative rate of reinforcement. Discrepancies ranged from 0.03 to 0.43 (mean equal to 0.19). Similar discrepancies were found between relative amount of time spent responding on each schedule and the corresponding relative rates of reinforcement. In Experiment 2, in which reinforcer magnitude was varied for each of five subjects, similar discrepancies ranging from 0.05 to 0.50 (mean equal to 0.21), were found between relative response rate and relative proportion of reinforcers received. In both experiments, changeover rates were lower on the long-interval concurrent schedules than on the short-interval ones. The results suggest that simple application of previous generalizations regarding the effects of reinforcement rate and reinforcer magnitude on choice for variable-interval schedules does not accurately describe human behavior in a simple laboratory situation.     

Construct validity of the bem sex role inventory (BSRI): Does the BSRI distinguish between gender-schematic and gender-aschematic individuals?

Factor analyses were performed on the masculine, feminine, and neutral items of the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI) for gender-schematic and gender-aschematic individuals separately. The analyses revealed bipolar masculinity/femininity factors for the gender-schematic group and two unipolar “aschematicity” factors for the gender-aschematic group. The results support gender schema theory's claim that the two types of individuals respond differently to the items of the BSRI. Thus, the BSRI is a valid measure for distinguishing gender-schematic from gender-schematic individuals.     

Interpersonal contingencies: Performance differences and cost-effectiveness

Three reinforcement contingencies were compared with regard to performance differences and cost-effectiveness (i.e., responses per unit reinforcer). Pairs of college students were studied under individual, cooperative, or competitive contingencies using a concurrent setting that included one of these three contingencies as one alternative and a lower paying individual contingency as the other alternative. With the individual and the cooperative contingencies, overall response rates were typically high; under competitive contingencies the overall response rates were substantially lower. Subjects responded at very high rates when competing, but chose not to compete most of the time. Competition and cooperation produced the most cost-effective responding, assessed as the number of responses made per $.01 of reinforcer. High overall rates of competitive responding were obtained when the contests were longer and the lower paying alternative contingency was not available.     

Differentiation of existential guilt and compassion in relation to responsibility induction: a film experiment

Feelings of existential guilt are assumed to depend on the perception of a causal relationship between one's own behavior or (privileged) situation and the disadvantages of others. By contrast, pity should not depend on such perceptions. This hypothesis, which has been supported so far only by correlational studies, was tested experimentally. Eighty students were shown a film about a developing country. The film was provided with four different comments, each representing one experimental condition (between-subjects design). Experimental factors were "amount of misery of the people shown" and "subject's responsibility for these peoples' conditions of life". As expected, subjects in the condition "misery and responsibility" reported higher feelings of guilt, though no more pity than subjects in the remaining three treatment conditions (experiment 1, n = 40). This mean difference, however, was statistically significant for men only. Contrary to our theoretical expectations--and to finding from other experiments on vicarious reparation--the induction of guilt had no effect on willingness to help a third party (experiment 2, n = 40). Possible reasons for this unexpected finding are suggested.     

Taking and the disruption of cooperation

Subjects could either cooperate or respond on a lower-paying individual task. In Exp. I and II, either subject could make a response that took $1.00 of the other's earnings whenever subjects chose to cooperate. The two experiments differed as to whether taking responses were effective continuously or intermittently. Both experiments showed that the opportunity to take disrupted cooperative behavior. Experiment III indicated that if taking was possible regardless of whether the subjects cooperated or responded on the individual task, subjects either cooperated or terminated the experiment.