Illegitimacy improves goal pursuit in powerless individuals

The effects of power legitimacy on self-regulation during goal pursuit were examined. Study 1 focused on goal-setting and goal-striving. Specifically, it examined how much time legitimate and illegitimate powerless individuals needed to set goals, and how many means they generated to pursue these goals. Study 2 examined persistence in the face of difficulties. Consistently across these studies illegitimacy improved self-regulation in powerless individuals. Illegitimate powerless individuals behaved similarly as control participants. They took less time to decide on a course of action, used more flexible means to strive for goals, and persisted longer in the face of difficulties, compared to their legitimate counterparts. The implications of these findings are discussed.     

Spanish- and English-Speaking Pregnant Women’s Views on cfDNA and Other Prenatal Screening: Practical and Ethical Reflections

The rapid clinical implementation of cell-free DNA (cfDNA) screening, a non-invasive method of prenatal genetic screening, has outpaced research on its social and ethical implications. This study is the first to compare the ethical and practical views of Spanish- and English-speaking pregnant women in the United States about cfDNA screening. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with diverse Spanish- and English-speaking women who had received prenatal care at a large academic medical center. Of the 24 interviewees, ten were Latinas who were interviewed in Spanish; English-language interviews were conducted with seven non-Hispanic Asian and seven non-Hispanic White women. Participants held positive opinions concerning the accuracy of cfDNA screening and often noted that it would enhance preparedness. Participants also expressed concerns about the possibility of inaccurate results and the potentially negative effects of cfDNA screening on the experience of pregnancy. Differences emerged between Spanish and English speakers in their portrayals of their relationships with prenatal health care providers, the extent to which they questioned providers’ advice, their ethical concerns, and their informational needs. We emphasize the importance of customizing prenatal test counseling to the needs of the individual patient, providing educationally appropriate counseling and literature, and mitigating potential language barriers.     

Note on comparability of MicroCog test forms.

This study investigated the differences between the Standard and Short forms of MicroCog by comparing Domain scores for a clinical sample of 351 substance abusers which gave a significant difference between scores on the Spatial Processing Domain. Implications for research and clinical use are discussed.     

Training the elderly on the ability factors of spatial orientation and inductive reasoning

We examined the effects of cognitive training with elderly participants from the Seattle Longitudinal Study. Subjects were classified as having remained stable or having declined over the previous 14-year interval on each of two primary abilities, spatial orientation and inductive reasoning. Subjects who had declined on one of these abilities received training on that ability; subjects who had declined on both abilities or who had remained stable on both were randomly assigned to the spatial orientation or inductive reasoning training programs. Training outcomes were examined within an ability-measurement framework with empirically determined factorial structure. Significant training effects, at the level of the latent ability constructs, occurred for both spatial orientation and inductive reasoning. These effects were general, in that no significant interactions with decline status or gender were found. Thus, training interventions were effective both in remediating cognitive decline on the target abilities and in improving the performance of stable subjects.     

Assessing retirement satisfaction and perceptions of retirement experiences.

A 2-part investigation developed a measure of retirement as a life transition. Study 1 generated items from interviews with retirees (n = 40) and service providers. Item analysis with recent retirees (n = 86) produced a 51-item Retirement Satisfaction Inventory assessing 6 areas: preretirement work functioning, adjustment and change, reasons for retirement, satisfaction with life in retirement, current sources of enjoyment, and leisure and physical activities. Study 2 examined a heterogeneous sample of men (n = 159) and women (n = 243) retires. Factor analyses produced internally consistent subscales. Moderate, but acceptable, test-retest reliability was demonstrated. Satisfaction scores correlated with concurrent measures and, together with pre- and postretirement experiences, discriminated 4 groups of voluntary and involuntary retirees. Few effects related to gender, socioeconomic status, length of retirement, and part-time employment were found.     

The Relationships of Primary Appraisals of Infertility and Other Gynecological Stressors to Coping

Women experiencing infertility, pregnancy, medical gynecological problems, or annual checkups were assessed for primary appraisal of their stressor and types of coping strategies used. Diagnostic category approximated the subjective appraisal of stressor for pregnant (challenge) and checkup (no stress) groups. Most participants in the medical gynecological problems group appraised their stress as a threat, but a few participants chose other appraisal categories. Infertility was associated with two categories of appraisal—loss and challenge. Participants appraising their stressor as a loss made greater use of the coping strategies of Action, Wishful Thinking, and Fatalism than did women appraising their stressor as a challenge, a threat, or not stressful. Women appraising infertility as challenge were less distressed than women in any other group. The bimodal perception of infertility has implications for treating women who seek psychological help.     

Effects of sex role stereotyping among European American students on domestic violence culpability attributions

Effects of European American students' sex role stereotyping and domestic violence participants' race and relationship intimacy were examined for culpability attributions. In addition to a man's responsibility rating and a sentencing measure, five factors were identified from the dependent measures; these were Sympathy with Man, Incident as Abusive, Generalness of Incident, Seriousness of Incident, and Man as Abuser. Results indicated that sex role stereotyping was influential in culpability attributions, as those with traditional orientations showed a favorable bias toward the man, particularly a married man. Traditionalists provided a shorter sentence for the man and thought the incident less abusive when the woman was African American, in comparison to egalitarians. Both egalitarians and traditionalists expressed more sympathy toward the man when the woman was African American and married. Although we had anticipated higher culpability ratings for women involved in interracial relationships, we found that the European American man was thought less responsible when the woman was African American, but no differences emerged when the woman was European American. It is suggested future research examine the specific content of various stereotypic subtypes of actors involved in domestic violence and how these stereotypic subtypes bias culpability attributions.Appreciation is extended to an anonymous reviewer for helpful comments on an earlier version of this article.Portions of this research were presented at the 1994 biennial meeting of the American Psychology-Law Society, Santa Fe, NM.     

A portable device for group modification of classroom attending behavior

There is a need for a portable means of signalling appropriate classroom behavior that the teacher can carry with her as she moves about the room. An inexpensive wireless switch, adapted for classroom use, was used to turn on a clock when all children were attending to their work. When a movie was made contingent on accumulating a specific number of minutes on the clock, class-attending increased. Throughout these conditions, the records of class attending made by an independent observer with a stopwatch correlated highly with the remote controlled clock.