Avoidant personality disorder and the generalized subtype of social phobia.

Social phobia and avoidant personality disorder (APD) may be given as comorbid diagnoses. However, it is not known if the labels provide independent, useful diagnostic information. We classified social phobics by social phobia subtype and presence of APD. Generalized social phobics with and without APD (ns = 10 and 10) and nongeneralized social phobics without APD (n = 10) were distinguished on measures of phobic severity. The generalized groups also showed earlier age at onset and higher scores on measures of depression, fear of negative evaluation, and social anxiety and avoidance than did the nongeneralized group. APD criteria of general timidity and risk aversion were more frequently endorsed by social phobics with APD. The data suggest that both the generalized subtype of social phobia and the presence of APD do provide useful diagnostic information but the additional diagnosis of APD may simply identify a severe subgroup of social phobics.     

Race × class stereotypes of women

Forty-four undergraduates assigned traditional stereotyping adjectives to middle-class black, middle-class white, lower-class black, and lower-class white female stimulus persons. A multivariate analysis of variance revealed that these Race × Class stereotypes of women differed significantly by race and by social class, but there was no Race × Class interaction. The stereotype of white women was rated significantly higher than that of black women on dependent, passive, and emotional. The stereotype of lower-class women was rated significantly higher than that of middle-class women on confused, dirty, hostile, inconsiderate, and irresponsible. Although the stereotypes of women differed significantly by race and social class, all were stereotypically feminine. In addition, the stereotypes of white women, and of middle-class women were most similar to traditional stereotypes of women. Thus, it was concluded that both race and social class are implicit variables in sex-role stereotypes.     

The Effectiveness of Encounter Groups: Implications of Research for Counselling Practice

In the past decade, encounter groups have become a widely recognised technique of intervention for counsellors. Empirical research on encounter groups is confusing. Trends in research are obscured by a diversity of definitions, methodologies and subjects. This review considers the most significant research on the effectiveness of encounter groups, focusing on positive and negative effects, leader behaviour, group characteristics, participant characteristics, and the maintenance of change. Conclusions are drawn relating the research to practice, with some suggested guidelines for use of encounter groups in counselling interventions.     

Exploratory study of best friendship dissolution characteristics and psychological difficulties during early adolescence

Few studies have evaluated best friendship dissolutions and especially the circumstances surrounding the dissolutions. In this exploratory study of young adolescents (N = 273, M_age = 11.83 years; 51% boys), we investigate young adolescents' experiences with two types of best friendship dissolution (complete dissolutions, downgrade dissolutions) and two characteristics of such experiences: initiation status (self- versus friend-initiation) and emotional reactions (degree of happiness, anger, sadness, and embarrassment). We also consider whether these characteristics of best friendship dissolutions are related to psychological difficulties (loneliness, depressive symptoms). Results indicated that most young adolescents perceive their friends initiated their recent complete and downgrade dissolutions. When young adolescents did initiate their complete dissolutions, however, they reported less negative (anger) and more positive (happiness) emotional responses. Initiation status was not related to psychological difficulties, but variability in several types of emotional responses (e.g., embarrassment) was related to variability in loneliness and depressive symptoms. Findings underscore the importance of considering not only the type of dissolution, but also the circumstances surrounding dissolutions, during early adolescence.     

Asymmetries in the regulation of visually guided aiming

An experiment was conducted to examine the contribution of sensory information to asymmetries in manual aiming. Movements were performed in four vision conditions. In the full-vision condition (FV), subjects were afforded vision of both the hand and the target throughout the course of the movement. In the ambient-illumination-off condition (AO), the room lights were extinguished at movement initiation, preventing vision of the moving limb. In the target-off (TO) condition, the target was extinguished upon initiation of the movement. In a no-vision (NV) condition, ambient illumination was removed and the target was extinguished upon initiation of the response movement. Results indicated that accuracy was superior in the full-vision and target-off conditions and when movements were made by the right hand. Movements made by the right hand were also of shorter mean duration. The magnitudes of performance asymmetries were uninfluenced by vision condition. Analyses of movement kinematics revealed that movements made in conditions in which there was vision of the limb exhibited a greater number of discrete modifications of the movement trajectory. On an individual-trial basis, no relationship existed between accuracy and the occurrence of discrete modifications. These data suggest that although vision greatly enhances accuracy, discrete modifications subserved by vision reflect the imposition of nonfunctional zero-order control processes upon continuous higher-order control regimes.     

Confirmatory Factor Analysis of U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board's Survey of Sexual Harassment: The Fit of a Three-Factor Model

Research over the past decade and a half exploring the psychological dimensions of the definition of sexual harassment has converged on a three-factor model: gender harassment, unwanted sexual attention, and sexual coercion. The current study used confirmatory factor analysis to determine whether the most widely used sexual harassment survey, the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board (USMSPB; 1981) survey, measures this three-factor structure. Data from a sample of the USMSPB's 1988 survey of Federal employees (n= 1070) and from a midwestern university's survey of undergraduates (n= 572) and graduate students, faculty, and staff (n= 575) were analyzed. The three-factor model fit reasonably well in all samples, but two survey items, measuring sexual assault and sexual favors, were weakly related to their respective factors. This model, however, was only marginally stable across female and male subsamples, and gender harassment and unwanted sexual attention had low discriminant validity. Both practical and theoretical implications are discussed.     

Interpersonal Correlates of Narcissism in Adolescents

Researchers investigated the relationship between measures of interpersonal behavior and narcissism. Eight octant measures of interpersonal behavior were constructed, and validity and reliability estimates were obtained. High school and junior high school students (N = 333) completed five measures of narcissistic vulnerability, eight octant measures of interpersonal behavior, and a measure of social desirability. Canonical correlational analysis indicated a specific pattern of interpersonal behaviors for individuals with differing levels and types of narcissistic vulnerability. A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) indicated that scores on several of the scales were found to differ significantly by sex and by treatment for emotional, behavioral, or educational difficulties. Implications for counseling are considered.