Preferences for skill versus chance-determined activities: The influence of gender and task sex-typing

Three experiments tested the hypothesis that skill-chance activity preference by men and women is moderated by task sex relatedness. Men and women (total N = 368) opted to perform either skill or chance versions of masculine and feminine tasks, and then provided ratings of performance expectancy, importance of success, and perceptions of task characteristics. Results support the conclusion that men do not prefer skill and women chance as had been found previously, but rather that while men's skill preferences are higher than women's on a masculine taks, women prefer skill more than do men on a feminine task. Skill-chance preferences were primarily a function of the expectancy of success on skill tasks.     

Exposure to pornography,permissive and nonpermissive cues,and male aggression toward females

The present study examined the role of permissive and nonpermissive cues in mediating the relationship between exposure to erotica and aggression. Male subjects viewed either neutral slides with a silent female or erotic slides with a female who made permissive, nonpermissive, or no comments about the slides. The males rated the slides and subsequently rated the female confederate. Male subjects were then given an opportunity to administer their choice of several intensities of shock to the female in a competitive reaction-time task. Subjects in the permissive cues condition rated the erotic slides as more arousing, saw the female as more reasonable and accepting, and selected more intense shocks for the female than did subjects in the other conditions. One explanation of these results is that permissive cues in the presence of erotica led the male to believe that other normally inappropriate behaviors would be tolerated.     

A critical review of psychotherapy outcome studies with adolescents: 1978-1988

Although interest in identifying effective psychotherapies for adolescent mental health problems has increased dramatically in the last decade, there have been few attempts to summarize and integrate the recent empirical literature on psychotherapy outcomes with adolescents. The present paper reviews the methods and findings of adolescent psychotherapy outcome studies published from 1978 to 1988. Evaluations of individual psychotherapy with adolescents generally reveal positive short-term outcomes, but long-term outcomes are still to be determined. Evaluations of systemic therapies (especially family therapy) with adolescents often reveal positive outcomes that are maintained over extended follow-up periods. Recommendations are presented for improving the methodology of future psychotherapy outcome studies with adolescents.     

The Fraser illusion: complex figures

The cause of the Fraser illusion, which occurs when a line made up of tilted segments itself appears tilted, is examined further. In this series of experiments, we used figures that resembled the original Fraser illusion; they were more complex than those reported on in our previous paper (Stuart & Day, 1988). The figures were used to explore two theories of the Fraser illusion further: that it is the result of interactions between orientation selective units, and that it is a consequence of the local, distributed processing of orientation. The presence of background elements like those used in the original illusion led to an increase in the strength of the illusion, but the shape of these elements had no differential effect on illusion strength. There was a differential effect of the background on the assimilative and contrast illusions, owing respectively to small and large tilts of the inducing elements. The illusion was markedly reduced at small visual angles when the background was absent, but it was only slightly affected when the background was present. All these findings are difficult to explain in terms of interactions between single units, either at the same or at different scales in the image. The effects of luminance contrast and isoluminance on the illusion were not consistent with either theory, but they indicated that researchers need to consider the role of figure-ground organization in this illusion.     

Extraversion and attitude towards capital punishment

Male and female Canadian undergraduate students identified as extraverts or introverts on the basis of the Eysenck Personality Inventory were administered a questionnaire measuring attitude towards Capital Punishment. Both effects of sex and personality were significant, males and extraverts reporting stronger beliefs in Capital Punishment than females and introverts. These results were interpreted as providing support for Eysenck's proposal that the social attitude dimension of Toughmindedness reflects the personality trait of Extraversion.     

Computer-Assisted Careers Counselling: A New Approach

This paper describes the outcome of a research and development project concerned to construct a computer aid for careers advisers and career decision-makers which differs in basic philosophy and design from others currentiy in the field. The resulting Careers Decision Aiding System (CDAS) is principally concerned with improving the quality of the decision-making strategy employed by clients by raising their awareness of the way in which their career choice is made, ratherthan with employing computer technology to attempt to match people to careers. The use of the CDAS by clients and careers advisers is illustrated by two case-studies.     

Gender differences in autonomous and social achievement orientations

This research examined gender differences in orientations toward autonomous and social achievement. Three independent samples of subjects (total N= 359 males and 574 females) completed measures of achievement orientation (including Strumpfer's [1975] Autonomous Achievement Values and Social Achievement Values scales) and relevant cognitive, affective, and behavioral variables. Correlational and factor analyses clearly identified distinct autonomous and social achievement factors for both men and women in each of the samples. Examination of the correlates of achievement orientation indicated that whereas an autonomous achievement orientation is similarly expressed in males and females, there are considerable sex differences in the expression of an orientation toward social achievement. In particular, a social achievement orientation was associated with concerns over social approval and responsiveness to social influence among males, but was generally unrelated to these factors among females. Findings are discussed in terms of several recent hypotheses concerning the effects of sex role norms on the development and expression of achievement needs in men and women.     

Auditory adaptation to gradual rise or fall in intensity of a tone

The auditory system adapts to gradual changes of intensity. After listening to a gradually loudening (or softening) tone, a steady test tone appeared to be growing gradually softer (or louder). “Tuning curves” for these aftereffects were measured by adapting to one audio frequency and testing at another. Softening tones produced larger aftereffects, which were more sharply tuned for audiofrequency, than did loudening tones.     

The effects of alcohol and extreme provocation on the use of a highly noxious electric shock

Intoxicated and nonintoxicated subjects were given the opportunity to administer a potentially injurious level of shock to an opponent who behaved in either a provocative or an extremely provocative manner. The provocative opponent attempted to administer high-intensity shocks to the subject. The extremely provocative opponent attempted to administer high-intensity shocks and the potentially injurious level of shock. The intoxicated subjects in the extreme provocation condition evidenced the greatest increase in the use of the potentially injurious shock. It was concluded that aggression is a function of the interaction of alcohol consumption and level of provocation.     

Patterns of interocular transfer of visuomotor coordination reveal differences in the representation of visual space

Acquisition and interocular transfer of adaptation to optical transformations of input were examined in strabismic and orthotropic subjects. Distinct patterns of behavior were displayed by three groups: strabismic alternating suppressors, strabismic and orthotropic constant suppressors, and orthotropes with normal binocularity of vision. It is suggested that these behaviors result from the way in which visual space is represented in each group, an outcome of the pattern of use of the eyes during early development. The conditions for modification of the representation of visual space appear to parallel those for initial acquisition.