Relation of sex and gender role to love,sexual attitudes,and self-esteem

One theory of love (J. A. Lee, The Colors of Love: An Exploration of the Ways of Loving, Don Mills, Ontario: New Press, 1973) assumes at least six different attitudinal orientations toward love. Based on Lee's approach, recent research (e.g., C. Hendrick & S. Hendrick, “A Theory and Method of Love,” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1986, 50, pp. 392–402) has found consistent sex differences in love attitudes. Other research has found comparable sex differences in sexual permissiveness and other sexual attitudes. The present study explored the possibility that gender role orientation might be related to differences in love and sexual attitudes. A sample of 286 college students completed the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI), Love Attitudes Scale, Sexual Attitudes Scale, and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. Correlational analyses revealed many significant associations among love and sexual attitudes, self-esteem, and masculinity and femininity. Subjects were also classified according to gender role as androgynous, masculine, feminine, or undifferentiated, according to BSRI scores. Analyses of variance showed effects for both sex of subjects and gender role orientation on several of the dependent measures. The pattern of the results suggested that sex-stereotyped couples may have difficulties in romantic relationships because of the discrepancies in their love and sexual attitudes. An argument was made in support of the recent trend toward a multidimensional concept of gender role orientation.     

The impact of pre-employment integrity testing on employee turnover and inventory shrinkage losses

A major home improvement chain located primarily in the western United States initiated the use of thePersonnel Selection Inventory, a written integrity test, as part of its pre-employment hiring process. For two years only, those job applicants who passed this test and other pre-employment criteria were hired by the chain. Following the introduction of the inventory, there was: (1) a 50% reduction in the number of employee terminations for theft, illegal drug use, and violence over a five year period and (2) a savings in shrinkage losses that amounted to over two million dollars over a two year period.     

Students' attitudes toward university health services

This study measured students' attitudes toward a university's student health services (SHS) and identified factors that were related to their attitudes. A questionnaire surveying students' attitudes was administered to a sample of 150 students at the Oxford Campus of the University of Mississippi. Analysis of the data revealed that students' attitudes had a statistically significant correlation with the following variables: perceived medical care cost, amount of health information/education received during medical encounters, time spent in the waiting room of the SHS, sex of the student, and income of the student. There was no significant relationship between attitude and age.     

Self-Control: Essence and Development

The paper surveys practical knowledge about the act of self-control, particularly how to cultivate it. The discussion is organized around four totally interrelated components: awareness, intervention, sense of self, and sense of will.

     

Pupillary responses to syntactic ambiguity of sentences

Pupillary responses have proven to be reliable physiological correlates of cognitive effort in a variety of tasks, including language processing. To investigate the relation between psychological and syntactic complexity 20 syntactically ambiguous sentences, balanced for bias, were presented to 16 subjects, while their pupil size was continuously measured. These sentences could be read as verb oriented (syntactically more complex) or object oriented (syntactically less complex). Principal components analysis of pupillary movements revealed that verb-oriented readings, resulted in greater pupillary dilations than object-oriented readings, indicating that syntactically more complex sentences, as determined via a formal grammar, require greater cognitive effort in processing. This is viewed as further evidence for the notion that syntactic and psychological complexity are related. High- and low-bias sentences did not induce comparable differences in pupillary movements, indicating that the "multiple meaning theory" may have to be modified.     

Behavioral assessment of methylphenidate in a child with frontal lobe damage

The assessment and management of inattentive, hyperactive, and impulsive behavior in a 6-year-old girl who experienced frontal lobe damage are described. A multimodel approach combining medical, educational, and behavioral techniques to assess hyperactive behavior, optimal medication level, and medication and psychotherapeutic effectiveness is described. The results of the study suggest that in similar cases, children and adolescents manifesting these behaviors should be given a trial of stimulant medication in a controlled environment to assess if such therapy is indicated. Additional support is given for the increasing need for detanté and cooperation with health-care professionals.     

Spontaneous alternation behavior in animals: A review

Factors affecting spontaneous alternation behavior (SAB) in animals, for example, age, gender and species studied; type of apparatus and cues employed; and neuro-anatomical, neuro-chemical and motivational status of the organism, were reviewed. Despite a myriad of experiments showing interesting main effects of such variables, little research has been performed assessing the interactive affects of these factors on alternation behavior. For example, psychologists test rats in central nervous system (CNS) lesion studies, whereas psychopharmacologists tend to assess SAB in mice. Most importantly, studies have not been reported investigating the possible interactions among species, brain lesions and drugs. This is an unfortunate omission since several important alternation models include propositions relating to cholinergic and/or serotonergic coding in the hippocampus. Examination of behavioral studies revealed the primary cue for alternation among invertebrates to be body turn, whereas vertebrates rely primarily on directional and odor cues. Reference to the seeking of stimulus change remains the most compelling motivational account of why animals manifest this ubiquitious and reliable behavior pattern. This review and the unpublished studies were supported by Research Grants MH16962, MH21288, and MH36491 from the National Institute of Mental Health and the Wake Forest University Research and Publication Fund.