Gender influences as an impediment to knowledge sharing: when men and women fail to seek peer feedback

Little research has considered how work team characteristics influence feedback-seeking behavior among team members. The authors' aim in this research was to identify central sources of influence on feedback-seeking behavior in a mixed-gender context. They placed men and women in work groups of varying gender composition. The participants then participated in a gender-biased (perceived as either male-oriented or female-oriented) negotiation exercise. Findings indicated that the gender of the participant, the team's gender composition, and the gender orientation of the task influenced feedback-seeking behavior among team members.     

Cognitive theories of early gender development

The contribution of cognitive perspectives (cognitive-developmental theory and gender schema theory) to a contemporary understanding of gender development is evaluated. Recent critiques of cognitive approaches are discussed and empirical evidence is presented to counter these critiques. Because of the centrality of early gender development to the cognitive perspective, the latest research is reviewed on how infants and toddlers discriminate the sexes and learn the attributes correlated with sex. The essence of cognitive approaches--emphasis on motivational consequences of gender concepts; the active, self-initiated view of development; and focus on developmental patterns-is highlighted and contrasted with social-cognitive views. The value of cognitive theories to the field is illustrated, and recommendations are made concerning how to construct comprehensive, integrative perspectives of gender development.     

Observed classroom behavior of children with ADHD: relationship to gender and comorbidity

Examined hypothesized gender and comorbidity differences in the observed classroom behavior of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The behavior of 403 boys and 99 girls with ADHD, ages 7–10, was compared (a) to observed, sex-specific classroom behavior norms, (b) by sex, and (c) by comorbid subgroups. Boys and girls with ADHD deviated significantly from classroom norms on 15/16 and 13/16 categories, respectively. Compared to comparison girls, girls with ADHD had relatively high rates of verbal aggression to children. Boys with ADHD engaged in more rule-breaking and externalizing behaviors than did girls with ADHD, but the sexes did not differ on more neutral, unobtrusive behaviors. The sex differences are consistent with notions of why girls with ADHD are identified and referred later than boys. Contrary to hypothesis, the presence of comorbid anxiety disorder (ANX) was not associated with behavioral suppression; yet, as hypothesized, children with a comorbid disruptive behavior disorder (DBD) had higher rates of rule-breaking, and impulsive and aggressive behavior, than did children with ADHD alone and those with ADHD+ANX. Elevated rates of ADHD behaviors were also observed in children with comorbid DBD, indicating that these behaviors are truly present and suggesting that reports of higher ADHD ratings in this subgroup are not simply a consequence of negative halo effects and rater biases.     

Recognizing the un-real McCoy: priming and the modularity of face recognition

Fodor (1983) has proposed that face perception is carried out by an informationally encapsulated module, whose operation is unaffected by context or expectancies. We tested the modularity hypothesis by examining whether discriminations between normal and distorted versions of famous faces can be primed, either by the name of an associated person (semantic context) or by a valid cue as to the identity of the target face (expectancy). A preliminary experiment showed that, in the absence of priming, discriminations between normal and distorted versions of a face were unaffected by whether the target faces were familiar or not, confirming that these judgments tap perceptual, not postperceptual (semantic), coding processes. In Experiment 1, accuracy was significantly higher when target face pairs were preceded by related name primes, as compared with unrelated ones. In Experiment 2, reaction times were significantly faster for targets preceded by a valid identity cue than for targets preceded by an invalid one. Neither effect could be explained as a speed—accuracy tradeoff. These results fail to support Fodor’s conjecture that face processing is encapsulated.     

Religious belief,age, and sexual orientation on attributions of younger and older gay and heterosexual men

Using 4 vignettes and 20 response items, this exploratory study investigated attributions about older or younger gay or heterosexual men with a history of multiple sex partners, substance abuse, and legal problems. The character is diagnosed with a terminal illness and two options for care: no treatment or an aggressive treatment protocol with a small chance of recovery. When controlling for respondents’ (N?=?324) religious identification, frequency of attendance at religious services, and ethno-cultural identification, a General Linear Model was significant (F?=?57.014, df?=?20, p?<?.001). Differences in the vignette responses centred on perceptions of quality of life, the character's lifestyle, and suicide.     

Evidence that anticipated stigma predicts poorer depressive symptom trajectories among emerging adults living with concealable stigmatized identities

People living with concealable stigmatized identities are vulnerable to experiencing greater depressive symptoms as a result of occupying a lower social status. In the present research, we examine the effect of changes in enacted stigma and changes in anticipated stigma on trajectories of depressive symptoms over time. A sample of 192 college-aged emerging adults (81.0% female, 81.9% Caucasian, M_age = 18.82 years) living with a concealable stigmatized identity (e.g., mental illness and sexual minority status) completed measures of enacted stigma, anticipated stigma, and depressive symptoms at two time points across eight weeks. Hierarchical linear modeling analyses indicate that increases in anticipated stigma, but not enacted stigma, predicted poorer trajectories of depressive symptoms, controlling for the effect of baseline rumination and other identity-related variables. These data are among the first to demonstrate that worries about future devaluation predict poorer depressive symptom trajectories over time among college-aged emerging adults.     

Are Infants’ Theory-of-Mind Abilities Well Integrated? Implicit Understanding of Intentions,Desires, and Beliefs

The development of theory of mind (ToM) in infancy has been mainly documented through studies conducted on a single age group with a single task. Very few studies have examined ToM abilities other than false belief, and very few studies have used a within-subjects design. During 2 testing sessions, infants aged 14 and 18 months old were administered ToM tasks based on the violation-of-expectation paradigm which measured intention, true belief, desire, and false-belief understanding. Infants’ looking times at the congruent and incongruent test trials of each task were compared, and results revealed that both groups of infants looked significantly longer at the incongruent trial on the intention and true-belief tasks. In contrast, only 18-month-olds looked significantly longer at the incongruent trial of the desire task and neither age group looked significantly longer at the incongruent trial on the false-belief task. Additionally, intertask comparisons revealed only a significant relation between performance on the false-belief and intention task. These findings suggest that implicit intention and true-belief understanding emerge earlier than desire and false-belief understanding and that ToM constructs do not appear to be integrated, as is the case for explicit ToM.     

Religion, Spirituality and Therapy: Implications for Training

Religion and spirituality are recognized coping resources but are neglected in psychological training and practice. However, religion and spirituality can be successfully used to cope with psychological disorders, prevent unhealthy behaviors and promote resilience. This study explored and described two questions regarding the concepts of the terminology religion and spirituality, and the perceptions of the use of religion and spirituality in therapy. Purposive sampling was utilized in a qualitative study of 15 registered psychologists, and data were analyzed using Tesch’s model of qualitative content analysis. The concepts religion and spirituality appear difficult to define but the importance of their use as coping mechanisms in their own and their clients’ lives was recognized. These findings have implications for professional training.