Responses to the Challenger tragedy: Subtle and significant gender differences

Within two weeks of the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger, 188 subjects rated and ranked questionnaire items, and completed open-ended questions reporting their responses to and concerns arising from the accident. Analysis of open-ended responses showed females focused more on communal, person-centered aspects of the tragedy than did males. Analysis of ratings showed females viewed person-oriented issues as more important than did males. However, males and females did not differ in rankings assigned the items nor in ratings of the importance of the technological issues. Claims about sex differences in moral orientation are discussed in light of the results of this study.     

Ethical Ambiguities in Participatory Action Research With Unauthorized Migrants

There is increased recognition of the importance of well-designed scholarship on how immigration status and policies impact migrants in the United States, including those who are unauthorized. Some researchers have looked to community-based and participatory methods to develop trust, place migrants’ voices at the forefront, and engage collaboratively in using research as a tool for social change. This article reviews three ethical ambiguities that emerged in the process of a series of participatory action research (PAR) projects with migrants in the United States, many of whom were unauthorized. Specifically, three themes are discussed: (a) the tension between the human desire to respond to injustices, and the challenges of doing so in ways that recognize one’s privilege and power as an outsider and supports the migrants’ agency and autonomy; (b) the complex definition, explanation, and dimensions of “risk”; and (c) the complexity of using a methodology (PAR) that prioritizes participants’ collective identity and community in the context of regulations that are designed primarily to protect individuals.     

A review ofDeveloping Reflective Judgment: Understanding and Promoting Intellectual Growth and Critical Thinking in Adolescents and Adults

Journal of Adult Development -     

Moral judgment: Theory and research on differences between males and females

That men and women differ in their moral orientations is a commonly held stereotype. The view that men are morally superior can be found in the writings of philosophers and psychologists (most notably Freud). Recently, Carol Gilligan (Harvard Educational Review, 1977, 47, 431–517) has entered this discussion bringing to it what she calls a “different [woman's] voice.” In this paper, the theory of an ethic of care is described and contrasted with Kohlberg's morality of justice. The empirical support for Gilligan's claim that men and women differ in their moral orientations is examined and a discussion of Gilligan's contribution to an integrated theory of morality is offered.     

Relationship styles of self-focused autonomy, other-focused connection, and mutuality among Mexican American and European American college students

The author examined relationship styles of self-focused autonomy (SFA), other-focused connection (OFC), and mutuality among 415 European and Mexican American young adults in 2 U.S. colleges. Mutuality was the most commonly reported style for both ethnic groups, although Mexican American men were more likely than the others to indicate that they had the SFA style. Mexican American participants perceived their fathers' styles as SFA more often than did the others regarding either of their parents' styles. Mutuality was associated with the best mental-health outcomes regardless of gender or ethnicity. The present results indicate that the cultural influences on autonomy and connection are complex and that collectivistic cultural contexts may sometimes promote autonomy concerns in men.     

Familial handedness and its relation to spatial ability following strategy instructions

This study compared subjects from right-handed families with subjects from nonrighthanded families in their ability to solve a mental-rotation task when instructed to use one of two different spatial strategies. All subjects completed a pretest Vandenberg. Next, one of the following procedures was presented prior to administering the Vandenberg posttest: Group 1 was given mental-rotation instructions, Group 2 was given spatial-orientation instructions, and Group 3 (control group) was given no special directions. For familial right-handers, no condition effects were found. In contrast, familial nonright-handers benefited significantly from mental-rotation instructions when compared both to their own control group and to familial right-handed subjects given the same instructions. However, with orientation instructions, the familial nonright-handers showed significantly less posttest improventnt than their control group. These results suggests familial non-rright-handers may be stronger in ability to use one spatial strategy, transformation of mental images, and weaker on a second, reorientation in relation to left-right cues. The educational and research implications of these findings are discussed.     

Human rights and mental health among Latin American women in situations of state-sponsored violence. Bibliographic resources

A Task Force of the American Psychological Association Division 35, Psychology of Women, has been collecting resources that address issues of human rights and mental health among Latin American women living in situations of war and/or state-sponsored violence. This work is being conducted primarily by women's groups, progressive organizations, and individual women in these contexts of institutionalized political violence. This paper describes our reflections on themes that emerged from our reading of this work. We discuss the false dichotomy between public and private violence, the silencing of women as an inevitable consequence of state-imposed violence, and the collective efforts of women to resist violence and heal its effects. These themes suggest that extreme violence against women can be most adequately understood and responded to within a psychosocial and cultural framework. We examined three issues that emerge from the material gathered by the Task Force that suggest how some Latin American psychologists and activists have begun to articulate such a framework: (a) exile within and outside of one's country of origin; (b) torture, the most extreme form of state-sponsored violence; and (c) nontraditional, culturally appropriate interventions that are alternatives to Anglo-Saxon theory and practice. The work of Latin American individuals is described here as a resource for all who are engaged in the struggle to achieve justice for women.