Tests of the mediational role of preparatory safer sexual behavior in the context of the theory of planned behavior.

The present research details 2 empirical tests within the context of the theory of planned behavior (I. Ajzen & T. Madden, 1986) of the assumption that preparatory behaviors (e.g., discussing safer sex, obtaining condoms) play a mediational role in the relation between psychological variables (e.g., attitudes toward safer sex, social norms about safer sex) and condom use. The assumption of the mediational role of preparatory behaviors is examined in sexually experienced samples from 2 different populations: inner-city high school students (N = 226) and college students (N = 160). The results suggest that the mediational role of preparatory behaviors is a highly significant one. Results indicate no gender differences with regard to the main mediational hypotheses. The methodological, theoretical, and practical implications and importance of these findings are discussed.     

Distinct Patterns of Impaired Cognitive Control Among Boys and Girls with ADHD Across Development

Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology - This study examined whether girls and boys with ADHD show similar impairments in cognitive control from childhood into adolescence and the...     

Gender Roles and Pressure to be Truthful: The Bogus Pipeline Modifies Gender Differences in Sexual but Not Non-sexual Behavior

Previous studies have indicated that the research context has an influence on whether gender differences are found in sexual behavior, likely due to adherence to different gender norms for men and women. The present study utilized bogus pipeline methodology to help determine if the purported use of a lie detector would influence gender differences in reports of other types of behaviors considered more suitable for one gender or the other. Participants consisted of General Psychology students attending a regional campus of a major Midwestern university in the United States. Approximately half of 293 participants completed a questionnaire while connected to non-functioning lie detection equipment and the other half completed the questionnaire after the equipment had been disconnected. There were interactions between gender of participant and testing condition for sexual behavior but not for other types of common behaviors considered more appropriate for one gender or the other. This suggests that there is something specific to sexual behavior with regard to a differential willingness between men and women to report behavior unless there is pressure to be honest. Hypergender ideology was related to reports of sexual behavior (but not nonsexual behavior) only for men in the bogus pipeline condition, lending further support to the idea that gender role expectations influence reports of sexual behavior more than reports of other types of behavior.     

Dispositions, conditionals and auspicious circumstances

A number of authors have suggested that a conditional analysis of dispositions must take roughly the following form: Thing X is disposed to produce response R to stimulus S just in case, if X were exposed to S and surrounding circumstances were auspicious, then X would produce R. The great challenge is cashing out the relevant notion of ‘auspicious circumstances’. I give a general argument which entails that all existing conditional analyses fail, and that there is no satisfactory way to define ‘auspicious circumstances’ just in terms of S, R, and X. Instead, I argue that the auspicious circumstances C for the manifestation of a disposition constitute a third irreducible element of that disposition, and that to pick out (or to ‘individuate’) that disposition one must specify C along with S and R. This enables a new conditional analysis of dispositions that gives intuitively satisfying answers in cases that pose problems for other approaches.     

E-nabled for E-Learning? The Moderating Role of Personality in Determining the Optimal Degree of Learner Control in an E-Learning Environment

This paper investigates the moderating role of specific Big Five personality traits on the relationship between learner control and training performance in an e-learning environment. Specifically, we examined the role of openness to experience, conscientiousness, and extraversion. Participants completed a video-based e-learning program with either a high or low level of learner control. Results demonstrated that the personality traits of openness to experience and extraversion moderated the relationship between learner control and training performance. Specifically, training performance was higher for trainees higher in openness and extraversion when they were in an environment with high learner control versus low learner control. Conversely, for trainees lower in these traits, performance was higher with low learner control versus high learner control. Future research and practical applications are discussed.