Variations in characteristic perceptual asymmetry: modality specific and modality general components.

The current study investigates sources of between-subjects variation in asymmetry scores on visual half-field and dichotic listening tasks. For each of these presentation modalities, subjects were given multiple laterality tasks. Results indicate that about 50% of the between-subjects variations in asymmetry scores in each modality is attributable to individual differences in perceptual asymmetries that are not stimulus-specific, referred to as "characteristic perceptual asymmetries" in this paper. In addition, the question of whether individual differences in characteristic perceptual asymmetries are modality specific, modality general, or both was investigated by entering subjects' asymmetry scores from visual half-field and dichotic listening tasks into a principal component analysis. The results of this analysis indicate that there are both modality specific and modality general influences on subjects' characteristic perceptual asymmetries.     

Hardiness: a review of theory and research.

Although a large body of research on hardiness (a personality construct with dimensions of commitment, control, and challenge) has accumulated, several fundamental issues remain unresolved. Although there are several hardiness scales, the properties of these scales have not been compared. There is debate as to whether hardiness is one or several characteristics. Research studying the pathways through which hardiness exerts its effects has not been comprehensively evaluated. Whereas critics have argued that hardiness does not buffer stress, others have suggested that hardiness buffers for working adults, for males, and in prospective analyses. There is also growing concern that hardiness is related to neuroticism. A review of the literature supports the following conclusions: The Dispositional Resilience Scale (DRS) has several advantages over alternative scales; DRS items form three factors that are consistent with hardiness theory; hardiness dimensions generally show low to moderate intercorrelations; the most common way of categorizing subjects as high or low in hardiness is not consistent with hardiness theory; hardiness does not buffer stress, and it does not buffer stress for working adults, for males, or in prospective analyses; both old and new hardiness scales inadvertently measure neuroticism. Recommendations for future research are provided.     

Patterns of coping with cancer.

We identified five patterns of coping in a sample of 603 cancer patients: "seeking or using social support," "focusing on the positive," "distancing," "cognitive escape-avoidance," and "behavioral escape-avoidance." Relationships of these coping patterns to sociodemographic characteristics, medical factors, stress appraisals, psychotherapeutic experience, and emotional distress were tested using correlational and regression techniques. Type of cancer, time since diagnosis, and whether a person was currently in treatment had few or no relationships to coping. The specific cancer-related problem (e.g., pain, fear of future) was also not associated with how individuals coped. Perceptions of its stressfulness, however, were related to significantly more coping through social support and more of both forms of escape-avoidance. Coping through social support, focusing on the positive, and distancing was associated with less emotional distress, whereas using cognitive and behavioral escape-avoidance was associated with more emotional distress. Implications of the results for understanding coping processes and intervention with cancer patients are discussed.     

Memory with and without awareness: performance and electrophysiological evidence of savings.

Event-related potentials (ERPs) recorded on the scalp were shown to be sensitive indicators of the strength of a memory trace on both implicit and explicit tests of memory. In explicit recognition tests, the amplitude of a positive potential identified as P300 was larger for "old" than for "new" words regardless of whether the subject categorized the items correctly. This effect, however, was statistically reliable only when the recognition memory (d') was relatively high. In contrast to ERPs, the reaction times in explicit recognition were sensitive to accuracy but not to repetition. In implicit tests, lexical decisions to repeated words were faster than to newly presented words. The magnitude of the repetition effect varied neither with elapsed time since the last repetition nor with the number of previous repetitions. In contrast, the P300 elicited by the same words were sensitive to both lag and recency of repetition, suggesting that they were influenced by the episodic memory strength of the items.     

Looking at pictures but remembering scenes.

Ss tend to remember close-up photographs as having had extended boundaries (Intraub & Richardson, 1989). Three alternate explanations were tested: object completion, distortion toward a perceptual schema, and normalization toward a prototypic view. In three experiments, 55-130 undergraduates viewed 16 close-up, prototypic, or wide-angle views of objects for 15 s each. Immediately or 48 hr later, they rated test pictures on a 5-point scale as "same", "closer up", or "father away." Results ruled out object completion because boundary extension occurred when the picture contained no incomplete objects. Immediate tests supported the perceptual schema hypothesis because all unidirectional distortions involved boundary extension. Delayed tests were more suggestive of a memory schema effect because wide-angle pictures yielded boundary restriction. A two-component model of picture processing is proposed.     

CAUCASIAN LESBIANS' USE OF PSYCHOTHERAPY: A Matter of Attitude?

Evidence suggests that a high proportion of lesbians seek psychological counseling. This study represents an empirical investigation of the disproportionate use of mental health services by lesbians, focusing on the hypothesis that lesbians place a greater value on psychotherapy than do nonlesbian women. Participants (100 lesbians and 309 nonlesbian women, 97% Caucasian) completed Surgenor's revision of the Attitudes Toward Seeking Professional Psychological Help Scale. Results indicate that the lesbian group had a significantly more positive attitude toward seeking psychological counseling than did the nonlesbian sample, regardless of whether or not they had experienced psychological counseling.     

TOWARD A FEMINIST UNDERSTANDING OF WOMEN AND POWER

Both psychologists and feminists believe power is an important and ubiquitous concept, yet its definition and scope eludes both groups. In this introduction to a special issue on women and power, we suggest three points to help organize and interpret research in the area. First, definitions of power should center around the distinction between "power-over," the domination and control of one person or group over another, and "power-to" or personal empowerment. Second, power can be analyzed at different levels—societal, organizational, interpersonal, and individual—and, importantly, these levels interact. Third, power differences frequently underlie what appear to be gender differences in behavior; as society is currently configured, power and gender are never independent. Although the articles in this special issue often ask more questions than they answer, the present volume adds a feminist perspective to the psychological study of power.     

By your attributions you shall be known: Consequences of attributional accounts for professional and gender identities

We demonstrate the power of a situated identity perspective for understanding the different attributional patterns of women and men in an academic setting and their differential experiences in the workplace. Two explanations for the gender difference found in attributions of success are considered. This difference may be due either to different identities being attributed to men and women employing the same explanations for success and failure, or to the inconsistency between actions that confirm a professional (academic) identity and women's gender identity. The results of this survey of senior social science faculty men support the latter explanation but not the former. An editorial acceptance was seen as more professional but less feminine than a rejection. In the eyes of senior colleagues, the modest account of success, typical of women academics, enhances femininity but detracts from professionalism. The self-serving account typical of men makes the offerer appear less feminine but more professional. Thus in their situated identity claims, successful academic women, but not men, must choose between their professional and gender identities. Despite the movement of women into university social science positions, the role of academic has a masculine face.Order of authors was determined by a coin toss.     

Reflections on group psychotherapy with eating-disordered patients

This paper addresses some of the dynamics, resistances, and transference and countertransference considerations in group psychotherapy with eating disordered patients. Several resistances are delineated, including guilt over being helped, the recreation of early problems around control and forced feeding, and withdrawal as a defensive operation. A brief vignette is presented which highlights the demand on the part of the therapist as well as the patient to contain and manage feelings rather than acting on them. Lastly, the author argues that group participation helps the patient to identify, articulate, and accept feelings and to promote assertiveness.This paper is based on a presentation given at the Training Institute for Mental Health on May 11, 1991.