Ethnic bias in counseling: An information processing approach.

Used an illusory correlation paradigm to measure the impact of counselor trainee stereotyping on the processing of information about ethnic groups. 13 Anglo-American and 7 ethnic-minority graduate students in counseling psychology were presented the following information relative to hypothetical persons: stereotypic characteristics, ethnicity, and blood type (a neutral stimulus). Ss were subsequently asked to make judgments about the relationship between ethnicity and stereotypic characteristics as well as between blood type and stereotypic characteristics. Both populations made nearly the same number of errors on the ethnicity items as on blood type items. However, the Anglo-American group made fewer errors on those items for which a stereotypic response was correct than on those items for which the stereotypic response was incorrect, indicating that stereotyping did affect the processing of information relative to ethnicity. This phenomenon was not present for the ethnic-minority group. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-disclosure in a simulated psychiatric interview.

Describes 2 experiments in which a total of 192 undergraduates received 49 items of personal information previously scaled in terms of their intimacy and presented according to the method of constant stimuli. For each item, Ss indicated whether they believed they would have withheld or revealed that information under actual psychiatric interview conditions. Exp. I manipulated the professional role of the interviewer, confidentiality of obtained information, and sex of the interviewee in a 4 * 3 * 2 design. Results indicate that (a) Ss avowedly revealed more personal information to mental health professionals than they would in a control employment interview situation, with no differences between the mental health professionals; (b) informing Ss that the interview was not confidential produced significant information loss from female but not male Ss; and (c) Ss who received no information regarding confidentiality behaved like Ss who were told the information was confidential. In Exp. II, Ss were asked to assume the motivational-attitudinal state of persons either coerced or voluntarily seeking a psychiatric interview because they had violated interpersonal norms. Significant information loss occurred in coerced Ss while confidentiality had no effect on self-disclosure. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Correlates of sex role stereotyping among mental health professionals.

85 male and 40 female psychologists (mean age 47.9 yrs) and psychiatrists (mean age 54.8 yrs) were administered the Attitudes Toward Women Scale and the short form of the Bem Sex-Role Inventory to assess the effects of sex, sex role attitudes, professional affiliation, and therapeutic orientation on sex-role attitudes and sex-role stereotyping. In general, Ss demonstrated relatively liberal sex role attitudes. However, more liberal attitudes were endorsed by psychologists than by psychiatrists and, within disciplines, by younger Ss and those with fewer years of experience. Regarding sex role stereotyping, Ss with less liberal sex role attitudes exhibited stereotyping to a significantly greater extent than did those with more liberal attitudes. Female Ss endorsed as great a double standard of mental health as did males. (26 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The experimenter as a sex-role model in sex-role stereotyping.

Notes that the influence of the experimenter (E) has been neglected in sex role stereotypy research. Thus, it was predicted that male and female Ss' stereotyping would vary as the sex roles modeled by male and female Es varied from traditional to liberated. 100 high school students rated the concepts of adult male and female on standard stereotypic items and rated the Es' behavior and personality. The general hypothesis of E influence was supported by several significant interaction effects. Results show that the male concept was rated more competent and less warm-expressive than the female concept, thus replicating the basic finding in the literature, but traditional stereotypical differences were most accentuated when male and female Ss were crossed with task-oriented Es of the opposite sex. The reconceptualization of sex-role stereotypes as situationally influenced expectancies, in accord with a social learning theory interpretation of stereotyping, is discussed. (French summary) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Age, gender, and individual differences in memory failure appraisal.

Young adults (22 men and 24 women) and older adults (24 men and 24 women) rated 12 gender-neutral vignettes describing short-term, long-term, and very-long-term memory failures. Vignette target persons were young (aged 21–32 yrs) or older (aged 65–75 yrs) men or women. Ss of both age and gender groups used a double standard: Failures of older targets of both genders were rated as signifying greater mental difficulty than failures of young targets; failures of young targets were attributed to lack of effort and attention. Young Ss judged very-long-term failures more harshly than did older Ss. Ss' objective memory performance, self-rated memory failure frequency, memory failure discomfort, and depression made little difference in their target person ratings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex roles and psychotherapy: A current appraisal.

Reviews the current status of research on the effects of sex-role stereotypes on mental health judgments. Studies in this area have addressed (a) whether there are different sex-role-related standards of mental health for men and women, (b) if violations of sex role norms result in adverse mental health judgments, and (c) if therapists set sex-role-related goals for their clients. It is concluded that sex-role stereotypes are strong mental health cues for nonprofessionals, with violations of sex-role norms leading to adverse mental health judgments, but that while professionals share the sex-role stereotypes of their lay contemporaries, the professionals are unaffected by them in making mental health judgments and in setting therapeutic goals. This discrepancy between stereotypes and behavior may be due to any of 3 factors: the methodological limitations of the studies, actual differences in mental health between men and women, or normal attitude–behavior discrepancies. (2 p ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex differences in the utilization of mental health facilities.

Explores the impact of dramatic sex differences with respect to utilization of mental health services. In addition to the fact that women are overrepresented in most mental health services, they are also to receive better treatment if their disorders are congruent with idealized sex-role stereotypes, such as depression. However, the inadequacy of the data, particularly for identifying special needs of subpopulations of women who differ by age, race, ethnicity, and family structure, is discussed. Multiracial/multicultural models for understanding the impact of sex bias and sex-role stereotyping are considered imperative. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Mental health needs of the chronically mentally ill elderly.

The treatment histories and current social, financial, and clinical status of 111 chronically mentally ill (CMI) persons over the age of 60 were examined. Information was obtained from Ss, family, mental health records, and mental health professionals familiar with Ss. Psychiatric symptoms were observed in 74% of Ss. Many Ss experienced long periods without acute episodes of illness. Recurring episodes eventually appeared in most Ss, however, and ongoing deficits in daily functioning and social contacts were prototypical. Two thirds of the Ss were living in the community, relying heavily on family contacts; the rest lived primarily in nursing homes (23.4%) or psychiatric hospitals (7.2%). Social support was the best predictor of level of functioning. Findings suggest that failure of CMI elderly to use mental health services is not due to lack of need. Mental health services currently do not appear to be meeting the needs of this population. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Source credibility and perceived expertness of testimony in a simulated child-custody case.

Used a 2?×?2?×?4?×?2 completely randomized, between-S factorial design in a simulated child custody hearing to evaluate the effects of the sex of the S, sex of the witness, experience level of the witness, and witness status (psychiatrist, clinical psychologist, social worker, neighbor) on perceived expertness. 192 male and 192 female undergraduates listened to an audiotape of simulated testimony in a child custody case and subsequently completed a semantic-differential questionnaire embedded with items to evaluate perceived expertise of a source. Ss were assigned to different groups based on the version of testimony heard. Results indicate that experience level and witness status significantly influenced Ss' evaluations of witness expertise. Female Ss rated all witnesses higher in expertness, and there was a trend that suggested female witnesses may be judged as more expert. Results are discussed in reference to implicit notions that people may have of mental health professionals involved in court proceedings and the possible ramifications of the involvement of such professionals in legal matters. (26 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cultural myths and supports for rape.

Tested hypotheses derived from social psychological and feminist theory that acceptance of rape myths can be predicted from attitudes such as sex role stereotyping, adversarial sexual beliefs, sexual conservatism, and acceptance of interpersonal violence. Personality characteristics, background characteristics, and personal exposure to rape, rape victims, and rapists are other factors used in predictions. Results from regression analysis of interview data from 598 randomly selected adults indicate that the higher the sex role stereotyping, adversarial sexual beliefs, and acceptance of interpersonal violence, the greater an S's acceptance of rape myths. In addition, younger and better educated Ss revealed fewer stereotypic, adversarial, and proviolence attitudes and less rape myth acceptance. Implications for understanding and changing this cultural orientation toward sexual assault are discussed. (32 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Categorization of individuals on the basis of multiple social features.

Five experiments used a name-matching paradigm developed by S. E. Taylor et al (1978) to investigate how people use the immediately apparent features of others as a basis of social categorization. Ss were more likely to categorize targets according to their sex than their race but also tended to categorize using a single subordinate category that represented sex and race simultaneously. Racially prejudiced Ss categorized to greater degree by race than did nonprejudiced Ss, but manipulations of construct accessibility and processing goals did not influence categorization by race or sex. Processing goals did influence the use of clothing style as a categorization feature. Results are discussed in terms of the functional utility of person features as a basis of categorization and the effects of categorization on social stereotyping and prejudice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Not all stereotyping is created equal: Differential consequences of thoughtful versus nonthoughtful stereotyping.

Much research emphasizes heuristic use of stereotypes, though stereotypes have long been considered as capable of influencing more thoughtful processing of social information. Direct comparisons between thoughtful and nonthoughtful stereotyping are lacking in the literature. Recent research in attitude change emphasizes the different consequences of judgments arising from relatively thoughtful versus nonthoughtful processes. Therefore, increased thought could not only fail to decrease stereotyping but might also create stereotypic perceptions that are more likely to have lasting impact. The current studies demonstrate thoughtful and nonthoughtful stereotyping within the same setting. More thoughtful stereotyping is more resistant to future attempts at change and to warnings of possible bias. Implications are discussed for the typical research questions asked after observing stereotypic judgments. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Broverman et al. revisited: An artifactual sex bias.

Broverman, Broverman, Clarkson, Rosenkrantz, and Vogel (1970) is one of the most widely cited and influential studies on sex bias in the judgment of mental health. However, we demonstrate in this study that the findings were the result of an imbalanced ratio of male-valued to female-valued items in the dependent measure that forced the subjects to display a sex bias. A sex bias against women, against men, and no bias are obtained by altering the ratio of male-valued to female-valued items. The implications of the results for the measurement of sex biases and sex roles are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Early stimulus processing in dysthymia and anhedonia.

Previous event-related brain potential (ERP) research has found that dysthymic Ss differ from control Ss during later stages of information processing. An important issue that emerges from this literature is whether differences found in these ERP components, typically associated with cognitive processing, can be attributed to earlier differences in basic perceptual processing. This study was undertaken to determine whether early processing deficits are apparent in dysthymic persons. Responses of dysthymics (n?=?23) were compared with those of anhedonic (n?=?15) and normal control (n?=?17) Ss. ERPs were recorded while Ss heard tones at 55, 65, 75, 85, and 95 dB. Overall, N1-P1 and N1-P2 components of the ERP increased in a strong linear fashion as stimulus intensity increased. Dysthymics did exhibit a smaller N1-P2 response than normal Ss, which suggests the presence of difficulties in initial perceptual processing. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of sex role deviance in disturbed male adolescents on the perception of psychopathology.

Investigated the effect of sex-role deviance on the perception of psychopathology and correlated the size of this effect with measures of sex-role ideology and gender stereotyping. The study employed a person perception rating task in which Ss (99 school teachers; mean age 24.4) evaluated written case histories of sex-role deviant and sex-role congruent male adolescents with emotional and behavioral problems. Male adolescents were judged to be more disturbed if their hobbies, career aspirations, and interests were deviant for their sex than if they were sex-role congruent. The relationship between evaluative bias (i.e., the extent to which greater disturbance was perceived in sex-role deviant than congruent stimulus persons) and measures of gender stereotyping and sex-role ideology was also established. Gender stereotyping correlated significantly with bias, while sex-role ideology was not significantly correlated. Similar bias effects were found for male and female Ss. (French summary) (12 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Inferred sex differences in status as a determinant of gender stereotypes about social influence.

In 3 experiments, 470 male and 425 female university students read a scenario describing a communicator's attempt to influence a recipient and then judged how much influence would occur. The scenarios in Exp I described a man trying to influence a woman or a woman trying to influence a man. For scenarios in which job titles were omitted, Ss believed that women held lower status jobs than men and that women were more likely to comply behaviorally with men than men were with women. For scenarios in which job titles were included, Ss' beliefs about compliance were based on job status rather than the sex of the stimulus persons. In Exp II, scenarios in which job titles were omitted described an influence attempt between same- or opposite-sex persons. Both the communicator's and the recipient's sex were found to contribute to the greater perceived compliance of women to men (vs men to women). In Exp III, this perceived sex difference in compliance occurred only when the communicator and recipient were employed by the same organization. (31 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Content and grammatical sex bias on the Interpersonal Trust Scale and differential trust toward women and men.

Modified the items on the Interpersonal Trust Scale (ITS) to specify the sex of the reference groups to be trusted in order to study possible content and grammatical sex bias in responses to the ITS and to study whether men and women differ in their trust toward men and women. There was clear evidence for both masculine content sex bias and grammatical sex bias in responses by both college men and women (192 and 322 Ss, respectively). The trust scale provides a conservative estimate of trust toward women and indicates a critical need for ITS-trust-toward-women studies. Men and women indicated greater trust toward women than toward men or non-sex-specified referents wherever comparisons were possible. These findings coupled with differences between J. B. Rotter's trust concept and factors of trust on his scale suggest that 2 aspects of trust are sex linked and also suggest the importance of testing the implicit hypothesis that more important trusting decisions are made toward men than toward women. This study extends sex bias research to personality measures, distinguishes 2 new types of sex bias, and provides a methodology for testing the effects of these biases. (41 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stereotyping of older adults: The role of target facial cues and perceiver characteristics.

This 2-part study used photograph-age and photograph-stereotype sorting tasks to examine the role of target facial cues in stereotyping of older persons. As predicted, young, middle-aged, and older participants associated photographs of those who looked older and those with a neutral facial expression with fewer positive stereotypes than other photographs. Participants also selected fewer positive stereotypes for photographs of women than of men, except when the photographs showed old-old (80 years and over) men. Participant age affected stereotyping only of the photographs of old-old persons, with older participants selecting fewer positive stereotypes for those photographs than middle-aged and young participants. These results establish the importance of facial cues in the age stereotyping process and suggest age boundaries for positive stereotypes of men and women. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)