"She," "He," Coexistence, and Bastardy.

Before proposing a solution for the sex bias problems inherent in the generic use of the pronoun he, Spencer (see record 1990-58427-001) reviews some efforts to solve the problem. The attempted solutions are evaluated as "not an improvement ... awkward... jarring ... disturbing" (p. 782), In one case, Spencer notes that coauthors of a book "slip up" twice. To avoid the difficulties and the accompanying unpleasant experiences, Spencer suggests the use of co: "The form is derived from an old Indo-European common form for both male and female English pronouns" (p. 783). While arguing for the "goodness of fit" (p. 783) of co. Spencer acknowledges that "there is currently one exception in our language to this meaning of co-coed, in which the form has been bastardized and debased from its source" (p. 783). A clinical psychologist is assuredly not an expert in psycholinguistics, but one could reasonably argue the following: The concept of bastardy with all of its connotative meaning, including debased, derives from patriarchal, patrilineal, male primary societies and history. In short, it is a sexist concept. Ours is a difficult language to use and avoid the expression of bias. Perhaps we ought to be gentler with those who are trying. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of pronouns in young children's acquisition of the English transitive construction.

Two studies investigating the linguistic representations underlying English-speaking 2 1/2-year-olds' production of transitive utterances are reported. The first study was a training study in which half the children heard utterances with full nouns as agent and patient, and half the children heard utterances with both pronouns (i.e., He's [verb]-ing it) and also full nouns. In subsequent testing, only children who had been trained with pronouns and nouns were able to produce a transitive utterance creatively with a nonce verb. The second study reported an analogous set of findings, but in comprehension. Together, the results of these 2 studies suggest that English-speaking children build many of their early linguistic constructions around certain specific lexical or morphological items and patterns, perhaps especially around particular pronoun configurations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex bias in psychological research.

Sex bias occurs at different stages in research on sex differences. Review articles often attribute greater value to tasks on which good performance is more frequent among males and undervalue those tasks at which females excel. There is bias in reporting primary sources. Public statements by psychologists concerning sex differences are misleading and irresponsible. Journals more readily publish reports of sex differences and turn down reports of no differences. The conventional linguistic format describing sex differences does not adequately reflect group overlap. Research should seek to determine underlying causes for differential frequencies of good and bad performance among the sexes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Male versus Female Representation in Psychological Research.

In the interests of scientific accuracy, researchers must caution each other about sources of bias in the representativeness of their studies. This comment, stemming from some recent work of the authors, is offered as such a caution. A review of over one year's issues of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (Schwabacher, in press) has indicated a potent source of distortion in the discipline of psychology. Not only are males overrepresented numerically, but the conclusions drawn from male-based research are also more likely to be over generalized. Over half of the both-sex studies reviewed either did not check for sex differences or did not report on what they found. To ignore or not even to check for sex differences in most areas is to prolong our lack of knowledge about which areas are influenced significantly by sex and which are not. Of course, both-sex studies with careful attention to presence or absence of sex differences are most likely to avoid the kinds of bias we have described. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Time orientation in male and female juvenile delinquents.

"This paper represents an attempt to relate findings obtained from three independent studies. Using a story completion technique to assess time orientation in imaginal processes, no difference was found between adolescent delinquent boys and adolescent delinquent girls. The measures of time orientation… were practically identical with findings… in a previous study of adolescent delinquent boys. Moreover, time orientation in the… delinquents was very similar to time orientation evidenced by much younger emotionally disturbed boys and normal boys." The delinquent children were found to be more present-oriented than nondelinquent adolescent boys. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

More on Sex and Salary.

Comments on an article by J. N. Cates "Sex and salary," (see record 1974-11177-001), in which she noted that female psychologists earn less money than male psychologists. While the point is valid and needs to be made, the magnitude of the difference may be deceiving. Specifically, would the magnitude shown be as large if the variables of age and years of professional experience were held constant? Any data on the point? (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of The natural superiority of women.

Reviews the book The natural superiority of women by A. Montagu (see record 1954-02431-000). The reviewer notes that it seems that this particular work is a polemic rather than simply a popularization of scientific material. Ashley Montagu, like other writers of our time, is concerned about the state of our society. Many of our difficulties arise, he thinks, because of the emphasis we place on aggressiveness and competition and our failure to promote loving-kindness and cooperation. These policies he sees as a consequence of the long-continued subjection of women. The psychological characteristics in which they excel have been systematically devaluated and thus both men and women have failed to stress the values which alone can insure the survival of humanity. If we can become convinced that the female sex is biologically and psychologically superior, that endurance and resistance to disease are more important than muscular size and strength, and that emotional expressiveness and social perceptiveness are more important than aggressiveness and mechanical skill, we shall have taken the first step toward the new emphasis our times require. The necessity the author sees to make the case that women are in all ways superior is responsible for the book's major defects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Occurrence of Male-to-Female Intimate Partner Violence on Days of Men's Drinking: The Moderating Effects of Antisocial Personality Disorder.

In this study, the moderating effects of antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) on the day-to-day relationship between male partner alcohol consumption and male-to-female intimate partner violence (IPV) for men entering a domestic violence treatment program (n = 170) or an alcoholism treatment program (n = 169) were examined. For both samples, alcohol consumption was associated with an increased likelihood of nonsevere IPV among men without a diagnosis of ASPD but not among men with ASPD (who tended to engage in nonsevere IPV whether they did or did not drink). Drinking was more strongly associated with a likelihood of severe IPV among men with ASPD compared with those without ASPD who also drank. These results provide partial support for a multiple threshold model of intoxication and aggression. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An analog study with beginning therapists suggesting bias against "activity" in women.

Investigated the effects of client sex and therapist attitudes toward women on treatment planning for an "active" client by having 28 social workers, 28 psychiatrists, 2 nurses, and 3 psychologists (aged 20–30 yrs) formulate a treatment plan for either a male or female client whose cases were identical except for client sex. The client was portrayed as active in work, sex, and interpersonal relationships. Results show bias against activity in women: The female client was seen as having an intrapsychic problem requiring individual insight-oriented therapy, while the male client, with the same presenting problem of marital conflict, was seen as having an interpersonal relationship problem requiring couples' therapy. Activity in a woman was viewed as neurotic. The conflict was conceptualized as unresolved issues about sexual identification, implying normal femininity had not been achieved. Therapists expected that the woman would make the concessions in the relationship and would compromise her career ambitions to achieve a more satisfactory balance of the roles of career woman and wife. It is suggested that therapists must reexamine their conceptualization of activity in men and women and the consequences of their beliefs in everyday clinical practice. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Confirming the three-factor structure of the quality of relationships inventory within couples.

The current study further validates the Quality of Relationships Inventory (QRI; G. R. Pierce, I. G. Sarason, & B. R. Sarason, 1991) by evaluating its factor structure in a sample of 572 partners from 286 couples. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to compare 3 different models of the QRI and to investigate the invariance of the factor structure of the QRI across gender and across relationship satisfaction. Analyses revealed that a 3-factor solution--consisting of 3 different but interrelated factors (a 7-item support factor, a 12-item conflict factor, and a 6-item depth factor)--best accounted for the data. The authors' findings suggest that full metric invariance holds across gender and across relationship satisfaction in the female subsample, whereas only partial metric invariance could be established for relationship satisfaction in the male subsample. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Factors That Influence Fee Setting by Male and Female Psychologists.

What factors influence how psychologists in private practice set fees for self-pay clients? An anonymous survey in one county showed that male and female clinical psychologists did not differ in fees requested for services to self-pay clients, indicating that they equally value their time and work effort. They felt that their fees were strongly influenced by personal and local factors (i.e., education/qualifications, business experience, and local competition). Female psychologists indicated that local competition had a significantly greater influence on fee setting than did male psychologists. This perception among female psychologists might arise from competition with the larger number of nondoctoral therapists, who are predominately female, or from higher awareness through more active networking. The usefulness of this model for studies of self-employment is highlighted. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Correction to Eberhardt and Muchinsky.

Reports an error in the original article by Eberhardt and Muchinsky(Journal of Applied Psychology. Vol 67(2) Apr 1982, 138-145). The departmental affiliation of the authors was incorrectly listed as Department of Industrial Relations. The authors were actually affiliated with the Department of Psychology. (The following abstract of this article originally appeared in record 1982-20126-001.) Investigated the factor structure stability of the Biographical Questionnaire (BQ). It was hypothesized that the factor structure obtained would be similar to that found in a previous study reported by W. A. Owens and L. F. Schoenfeldt (see record 1981-00218-001) with 1,037 male and 897 female undergraduates. In the present study, 379 male and 437 female undergraduates were administered the BQ. Product-moment correlations between analog factors in the present study and the previous study were used to augment the analysis of common items between the 2 factor structures. Both analyses supported the idea of factor congruence across the 2 male samples. Only partial support was obtained for congruence in the comparisons of the female biodata factors. Several factors in the earlier study did not emerge in the present study. An explanation for this lack of congruence involved the recognition of the changing life experiences of females. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of chronic morphine treatment on responding for intracranial stimulation in female versus male rats.

Morphine was administered to Sprague-Dawley rats twice daily at 0, 3, 10, and 20 mg/kg injection during Weeks 1, 2, 3, and 4, respectively; responding for medial forebrain bundle stimulation was assessed 1, 2, and 3 hr after morning injections in female versus male rats. There were no sex differences in responding under control conditions (Week 1). Morphine's effect on response rate depended on dose, time post-injection, stimulation frequency, and day of treatment. Significant sex differences in morphine's effects occurred at 10 mg/kg, which decreased responding more in males at 1 hr and increased responding more in females at 2 hr, at some frequencies and on some test days. Similar trends were observed at other frequencies, test days, and doses. Morphine's differential effect in males versus females in this procedure suggests that sex comparisons of opioid effects in many animal models may be influenced by sex difference in opioid effects on behavior output. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Couple communication and female problem drinking: A behavioral observation study.

Couples with alcohol and relationship problems often report poor communication, yet little is known about the communication of maritally distressed couples in which the woman abuses alcohol (MDWA couples). Compared with maritally distressed couples without alcohol problems (MDNA) and couples with neither problem (NDNA), MDWA couples showed a distinctive pattern of negative communication. Similar to MDNA men, MDWA men spoke negatively to their partners but listened positively to their partners much like NDNA men. MDWA women listened negatively, much as MDNA women did, but spoke positively, like NDNA women did. The interactions of MDWA couples can be characterized as a male-demand-female-withdraw pattern, which is a gender reversal of the female-demand-male-withdraw pattern often observed in MDNA couples. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Prejudice at the nexus of race and gender: An outgroup male target hypothesis.

Adopting an evolutionary approach to the psychology of race bias, we posit that intergroup conflict perpetrated by male aggressors throughout human evolutionary history has shaped the psychology of modern forms of intergroup bias and that this psychology reflects the unique adaptive problems that differ between men and women in coping with male aggressors from groups other than one's own. Here we report results across 4 studies consistent with this perspective, showing that race bias is moderated by gender differences in traits relevant to threat responses that differ in their adaptive utility between the sexes—namely, aggression and dominance motives for men and fear of sexual coercion for women. These results are consistent with the notion that the psychology of intergroup bias is generated by different psychological systems for men and women, and the results underscore the importance of considering the gender of the outgroup target as well as the gender of the agent in psychological studies on prejudice and discrimination. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Correction to Casas et al.

In the article, "Sexual Preference Biases in Counseling: An Information Processing Approach," by J. Manuel Casas, Stephen Brady, and Joseph G. Ponterotto (see record 1983-26490-001), the word no was omitted in the last sentence of the Results section on page 143. That sentence should read as follows: "Finally, when sex was used as a between–subjects factor, there was no significant effect due to sex of the respondent." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Male honor and female fidelity: Implicit cultural scripts that perpetuate domestic violence.

Two studies explored how domestic violence may be implicitly or explicitly sanctioned and reinforced in cultures where honor is a salient organizing theme. Three general predictions were supported: (a) female infidelity damages a man's reputation, particularly in honor cultures; (b) this reputation can be partially restored through the use of violence; and (c) women in honor cultures are expected to remain loyal in the face of jealousy-related violence. Study 1 involved participants from Brazil (an honor culture) and the United States responding to written vignettes involving infidelity and violence in response to infidelity. Study 2 involved southern Anglo, Latino, and northern Anglo participants witnessing a "live" incident of aggression against a woman (actually a confederate) and subsequently interacting with her. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex differences in physical dependence on orally self-administered phencyclidine (PCP) in rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta).

Withdrawal from orally self-administered phencyclidine (PCP) has been shown to alter operant baselines of food-maintained responding. The goal of the present study was to determine whether there are sex differences in these alterations. Seven female and 7 male rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) were given concurrent access to PCP and water under fixed ratio (FR) 8 schedules during 2 daily sessions that alternated with 2 sessions during which pellet deliveries were contingent on lever presses under an FR 64 schedule. After operant responding stabilized, PCP was replaced by water for 10 days, and food access remained under the same schedule. Subsequently, concurrent PCP and water access was reintroduced for 10 days. This procedure was repeated with 3 PCP concentrations (0.125, 0.25, and 0.50 mg/ml) and 3 FR requirements for food-reinforced responding (64, 128, and 256). Disruptions in operant responding for food served as a quantitative measure of withdrawal severity. During PCP withdrawal, males showed a greater suppression of food-maintained behavior than females at the 2 highest PCP concentrations and the lowest FR requirement tested. Males responded more than females for PCP; however, when weight was taken into consideration, PCP intake (milligrams per kilogram) in males and females was equal. The data suggest that males may experience more severe withdrawal effects than females, and the duration of the adverse effects of withdrawal lasts longer in males than in females. This study is the 1st to use nonhuman primates to document sex differences in withdrawal severity as measured by a quantifiable baseline. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The occurrence of partner physical aggression on days of alcohol consumption: A longitudinal diary study.

The likelihood of partner physical aggression on days of male partners' alcohol consumption, during a 15-month period, was examined for men entering a domestic violence treatment program (n=137) and domestically violent men entering an alcoholism treatment program (n=135). For men entering the domestic violence treatment program (alcoholism treatment program odds in parentheses), the odds of any male-to-female physical aggression were more than 8 times (11 times) higher on days when men drank than on days of no alcohol consumption. The odds of severe male-to-female physical aggression were more than 11 times (11 times) higher on days of men's drinking than on days of no drinking. These findings support the proximal effect model of alcohol use and partner violence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)