Gender-related inequalities in the division of family work in close relationships: A social psychological perspective

We offer a social psychological perspective on gender-related inequalities in close relationships and integrate two lines of research that have focused on the intrapersonal perceptions and interpersonal consequences respectively of the gendered division of labour. We start with a brief summary of research on gender-related inequalities in the division of labour and discuss prior explanations and paradigms. We then address the extent to which spouses consider the division of labour as fair and the factors that contribute to perceptions of (un)fairness. Central to our argument is the distributive justice framework (<citeref rid="b76">Major, 1987</citeref>, <citeref rid="b77">1993</citeref>; <citeref rid="b113">Thompson, 1991</citeref>) which claims that fairness judgements are affected by people's wants and values, comparison standards, and justifications. In the following section, we address the question of whether dissatisfaction over the division of labour causes relationship conflict and how couples manage these conflicts. The main argument is that conflict over the division of labour generally comprises an asymmetrical conflict structure (with wives as complainants and husbands as defenders of the status quo), which elicits asymmetrical conflict interaction patterns (i.e., demand/withdraw interaction) that result in asymmetrical outcomes (i.e., status quo maintenance). Finally, we summarise the main conclusions and address contributions to theory and research as well as directions for further research.     

Dogmatism and information gathering in personality impression formation

Subjects were assigned the task of forming an impression of another person with information being gathered from two conflicting sources. One half were given a positive first impression, and one half were given a negative first impression before allowing them to select additional information. Final ratings were made when Ss indicated that they had taken sufficient information. Dogmatic Ss took in less information before passing “final judgment,” gave more extreme stability ratings, expressed greater liking for their agreed-with source, and showed a trend toward a preference for explaining away impression-discrepant information rather than to withhold judgment.     

Influencing food preferences of children by ‘if-then’ type instructions

Three experiments were conducted to examine the effects which ‘if-then’ instructions of the type ‘if you eat X’, then you will get Y, have on the evaluation of the foods addressed in the ‘if’ and the ‘then’ parts of the instructions, respectively. Based on research on intrinsic motivation it was hypothesized that liking for food X that one is induced to eat by means of ‘if-then’ instructions will be impaired, whereas liking for food Y offered as a reward for the consumption of X will be enhanced. Experiment 1 revealed an enhancement of liking effect for the ‘then’food lasting for at least six weeks, but no impairment of liking for the ‘if’ food. Experiment 2 explored the possibility of reducing children's dislike for foods by means of paradoxical ‘if-then’ instructions presenting the disliked food in the ‘then’ position as a reward for the consumption of another food. No significant effects were obtained in this study. Experiment 3 examined the effects of introducing yet unknown foods to children by means of ‘if-then’ instructions. Results revealed that liking for the new food is impaired when it is the ‘if’food, but is enhanced when it is offered in the ‘then’ position. Discussion is centered on the possibility that the effects of ‘if-then’ instructions are more pronounced in single trial compared to multi-trial treatment conditions.     

Personal relationships: Remarks on the current state of research

This article evaluates the present state of research on personal relationships on the basis of a selection of recently published books. After shortly sketching the historical development of socio-psychological research on interpersonal attraction and relationships, eight volumes dealing with relationships are reviewed and salient conceptual, methodological, and theoretical trends in recent research are discussed.     

Drosophila Mushroom Bodies Are Dispensable for Visual, Tactile, and Motor Learning

A total of 18 associative learning/memory tests have been applied to Drosophila melanogaster flies lacking mushroom bodies. Only in paradigms involving chemosensory cues as conditioned stimuli have flies been found to be compromised by a block in the mushroom body pathway. Among the learning tasks not requiring these structures are a case of motor learning (yaw torque/heat), a test of the fly’s spatial orientation in total darkness, conditioned courtship suppression by mated females, and nine different examples of visual learning. The latter used the reinforcers of heat, visual oscillations, mechanical shaking, or sucrose, and as conditioned stimuli, color, intensity contrast, as well as stationary and moving visual patterns. No forms of consolidated memory have been tested in mushroom body-less flies. With respect to short-term memory the mushroom bodies of Drosophila are specially required for chemosensory learning tasks, but not for associative learning and memory in general.     

Justice and Social Conflict

This article analyzes possible effects of ideas of justice, perceptions of injustice, and the use of justice arguments on the emergence, course, and resolution of social conflicts. Four functions of justice are identified: (1) ideas of justice and perceptions of injustice can elicit or evoke social conflicts; (2) justice arguments and rhetorics can be used to support one's own position in a dispute; (3) the basic value and the principles and rules of justice can restrict social conflicts and help to generate ways of conflict resolution; (4) the labelling of conflict resolutions as just can increase the acceptance of the resolution. The analysis is illustrated by making reference to a recent case of international conflict and diplomatic controversy.     

Management of multiple sclerosis: the role of coping self-efficacy and self-esteem

Patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) engage in various coping behaviours in order to manage their disease. The aim of this study is to find out if the self-esteem of patients is associated with coping strategies – problem-focused (e.g. making a plan of action when confronted with a problem); emotion focused (e.g. get emotional support from community); and focused on stopping unpleasant emotions and thoughts (e.g. keeping oneself from feeling sad), and if it can enhance or hinder coping efforts in the disease management. We collected data from 155 consecutive MS patients who completed the Coping Self-Efficacy Scale (CSE) and the Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale (RSE). Explained variance for problem-focused coping, emotion-focused coping, and coping focused on stopping unpleasant emotions and thoughts was 33, 24, and 31%, respectively. Self-esteem seems to be associated with coping strategies indicating that feelings of self-worth are linked with the ability to handle difficult life situations and can be helpful in chronic disease management.     

What people think about an unjust event: Toward a better understanding of the phenomenology of experiences of injustice

This article reports on an initial attempt to improve our knowledge of the cognitive processes which are elicited by the perception of an unjust event. High school students were given a story describing an unfair treatment of a student by his teacher and were asked to place themselves either in the role of the unfairly treated student or in that of a non-affected fellow-student. They were then asked to write down all questions and thoughts coming to their minds in the described situation. The reported questions and thoughts were classified into three categories: attributions, action-oriented thoughts, and assessments and evaluations. Statistical analyses of the frequencies and the temporal sequence of occurrence of these categories of responses revealed that victims of an unjust event reported attributions and action-related thoughts more frequently and in an earlier position than non-affected observers. Assessments and evaluations, on the other hand, were more frequently reported by observers than by victims.     

Der Einfluß mnemotechnischer Hilfen auf das Erlernen und Behalten verbalen Materials

Zusammenfassung Der Einfluß mnemotechnischer Hilfen unterschiedlich starker und prägnanter assoziativer Verbindung zum Lemmaterial auf das Erlernen und auf das kurz und langfristige Behalten sinnvoller Wörter wird untersucht. Als mnemotechnische Hilfen finden vom VI vorgegebene häufige, seltene, originelle oder von den Vpn selbsterfundene Assoziationen Verwendung. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, daß sich in der Lernphase dargebotene mnemotechnische Hilfen sowohl auf kurzals auch auf langfristiges Behalten nur dann fördernd auswirken, wenn sie auch zur Reproduktion vorgegeben werden. Unter den verschiedenen mnemotechnischen Hilfen üben seltene Assoziationen den geringsten fördernden Einfluß aus. Häufige Assoziationen steigern die Reproduktionsleistung auch dann, wenn sie nur zur Reproduktion und nicht schon in der Lernphase dargeboten werden. Auf die Anzahl der zum Erreichen des 75%-Kriteriums benötigten Lerndurchgänge nimmt die Vorgabe mnemotechnischer Hilfen kernen Einfluß.

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Effects of mnemonic aids on learning and retention of nouns

Summary An experiment was designed to investigate the effects of mnemonic aids varying in degree of associative strenght and Prägnanz (distinctiveness) on learning and recall of nouns. As mnemonics the following types of associations are used: strong, weak, distinctive associations given by E, and associations of S's own choice. The results show that all types of mnemonics in both short- and longterm recall are effective only when presented also during recall. Among the mnemonics used, weak associations have the least retrieval effect. Strong associations facilitate recall efficiency also when presented at recall only without having been offered in the learning stage. The number of trials necessary for attaining the 75%-criterion is not affected by the use of mnemonics.

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Frl. Waltraud Bauer und Frl. Beatrix Bauer ist für ihre Mitarbeit bei der Versuchsdurchführung und Auswertung zu danken.     

Testing an attribution‐of‐blame model of judgments of injustice

The attribution‐of‐blame model of judgments of injustice, which is the focus of this article, depicts judgments of injustice as blaming of an actor who is seen as responsible for the violation of the entitlement of somebody else without sufficient justification. Responsibility and blame are conceptualized in the model in accordance with Heider (1958) and Shaver (1985). The article briefly describes the background and the propositions of the model and its scope. Then it reports a series of four correlational and one experimental studies which tested the validity of the model. The findings lend support to the propositions that attributions of causality and intention and perceived lack of sufficient justification contribute to the perception of injustice beyond the mere perception that somebody's entitlement or deserving has been violated. However, no support was found for the assumption that perceived control of the respective agent contributes to the perception of injustice. The concluding section discusses the main findings of the studies and points to questions which should be pursued in future research in order to establish the range of validity of the proposed model of judgments of injustice. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.