A meta-analytic review of research on gender differences in sexuality, 1993–2007.

In 1993 Oliver and Hyde conducted a meta-analysis on gender differences in sexuality. The current study updated that analysis with current research and methods. Evolutionary psychology, cognitive social learning theory, social structural theory, and the gender similarities hypothesis provided predictions about gender differences in sexuality. We analyzed gender differences in 30 reported sexual behaviors and attitudes for 834 individual samples uncovered in literature searches and 7 large national data sets. In support of evolutionary psychology, results from both the individual studies and the large data sets indicated that men reported slightly more sexual experience and more permissive attitudes than women for most of the variables. However, as predicted by the gender similarities hypothesis, most gender differences in sexual attitudes and behaviors were small. Exceptions were masturbation incidence, pornography use, casual sex, and attitudes toward casual sex, which all yielded medium effect sizes in which male participants reported more sexual behavior or permissive attitudes than female participants. Most effect sizes reported in the current study were comparable to those reported in Oliver and Hyde’s study. In support of cognitive social learning theory, year of publication moderated the magnitude of effect sizes, with gender differences for some aspects of sexuality increasing over time and others decreasing. As predicted by social structural theory, nations and ethnic groups with greater gender equity had smaller gender differences for some reported sexual behaviors than nations and ethnic groups with less gender equity. Gender differences decreased with age of the sample for some sexual behaviors and attitudes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effect of a looker’s past reliability on infants’ reasoning about beliefs.

We investigated whether 16-month-old infants’ past experience with a person’s gaze reliability influences their expectation about the person’s ability to form beliefs. Infants were first administered a search task in which they observed an experimenter show excitement while looking inside a box that either contained a toy (reliable looker condition) or was empty (unreliable looker condition). The infants were then administered a true belief task in which they watched as the same experimenter hid a toy in 1 of 2 locations. In the test trial, the infants witnessed the experimenter search for the toy in a location that was consistent or inconsistent with her belief about the toy’s location. Results for the true belief task indicated that only the infants in the reliable looker condition looked longer at the incongruent than at the congruent search behavior. These findings are consistent with evidence suggesting that infants encode the identity of agents based on past reliability and implicitly attribute beliefs to others during the 2nd year of life. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The unique effect of paternal depressive symptoms on adolescent functioning: Associations with gender and father–adolescent relationship closeness.

Prospective, longitudinal data from a community sample of 451 families were used to assess the unique contribution of paternal depressive symptoms to adolescent functioning. Results indicated that paternal depressive symptoms were significantly related to subsequent depressive symptoms in adolescent offspring; this association remained significant after controlling for previous adolescent depressive symptoms, maternal depressive symptoms, gender, and family demographic variables. Adolescent gender and perception of father–adolescent relationship closeness moderated this association such that paternal depressive symptoms were positively associated with adolescent depressive symptoms for girls whose relations with fathers lacked closeness. These findings add to a growing literature on the interpersonal mechanisms through which depression runs in families, highlighting the need for future investigation of paternal mental health, adolescent gender, and intrafamily relationship quality in relation to adolescent development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Introduction to the special section on Campbell’s and Rubin’s conceptualizations of causality.

Causality plays a fundamental role in scientific explanation. This introduction describes 2 target articles and 3 commentaries on 2 influential perspectives on causal inference, one developed by Donald Campbell and the other developed by Donald Rubin. One goal of this special section is to introduce Rubin’s causal model to psychologists who may be largely unfamiliar with it. Another goal is to compare Rubin’s conceptualization with Campbell’s perspective, to enrich readers’ understanding of both views. All of the authors of this special section perceive many similarities between the 2 approaches. Even so, by comparing and contrasting the 2 perspectives, the authors also believe that it is possible to strengthen both approaches. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A meta-analysis of performance on emotion recognition tasks in Parkinson’s disease.

Individuals with Parkinson’s disease (PD) have shown deficits in the ability to recognize emotion. However, these results have been inconsistent. In addition, questions remain about whether any deficit in PD is secondary to depression and broader cognitive impairments, and the effects of stimulus modality, task type, and specific emotion remain unclear. A meta-analysis of 34 comparisons, using data from 1,295 individual participants, was conducted to (a) provide a reliable estimate of the magnitude of the purported deficit in emotion recognition and (b) examine the influence of several potential moderators of emotion recognition abilities in PD. Results show a robust link between PD and specific deficits in recognizing emotion, from both the face and the voice (overall effect size g = 0.52). The deficit extends across stimulus modalities and task types and is particularly acute with respect to negative emotions. Although this deficit does not appear to be secondary to comorbid depression or visuospatial impairments, the potential role of working memory constraints warrants further investigation. We highlight the potential implications of these findings for communication abilities in PD. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Job search and employment: A personality–motivational analysis and meta-analytic review.

A motivational, self-regulatory conceptualization of job search was used to organize and investigate the relationships between personality, expectancies, self, social, motive, and biographical variables and individual differences in job search behavior and employment outcomes. Meta-analytic results indicated that all antecedent variables, except optimism, were significantly related to job search behavior, with estimated population correlations ranging from –.15 to .46. As expected, job search behavior was significantly and positively related to finding employment. Several antecedents of job search were also significantly related to employment success, although the size of these relationships was consistently smaller than those obtained for job search. Moderator analyses showed significant differences in the size of variable relationships for type of job search measure (effort vs. intensity) and sample type (job loser vs. employed job seeker vs. new entrant). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Examining the impact of Culture’s Consequences: A three-decade, multilevel, meta-analytic review of Hofstede’s cultural value dimensions: Correction to Taras, Kirkman, and Steel (2010).

Reports an error in Examining the impact of Culture's consequences: A three-decade, multilevel, meta-analytic review of Hofstede's cultural value dimensions by Vas Taras, Bradley L. Kirkman and Piers Steel (Journal of Applied Psychology, 2010[May], Vol 95[3], 405-439). Tables 1 and 2 were printed incorrectly due to errors in the production process. In Table 1 (p. 414), row 2 (vote count, data point count) the table incorrectly lists 0s for categories in which data points were not available; therefore the data cells should in fact be empty. In Table 2 (pp. 416–423), due to formatting errors some of the columns were incorrectly shifted either one or two columns to the right (i.e., in row 1, the “4” should be aligned under the “k,” not the “r”). The formatting errors in Tables 1 and 2, however, do not affect the values in the tables. Corrected versions of both Table 1 and Table 2 can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0020939 .supp. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2010-09357-001.) Using data from 598 studies representing over 200,000 individuals, we meta-analyzed the relationship between G. Hofstede's (1980a) original 4 cultural value dimensions and a variety of organizationally relevant outcomes. First, values predict outcomes with similar strength (with an overall absolute weighted effect size of ρ = 0.18) at the individual level of analysis. Second, the predictive power of the cultural values was significantly lower than that of personality traits and demographics for certain outcomes (e.g., job performance, absenteeism, turnover) but was significantly higher for others (e.g., organizational commitment, identification, citizenship behavior, team-related attitudes, feedback seeking). Third, cultural values were most strongly related to emotions, followed by attitudes, then behaviors, and finally job performance. Fourth, cultural values were more strongly related to outcomes for managers (rather than students) and for older, male, and more educated respondents. Fifth, findings were stronger for primary, rather than secondary, data. Finally, we provide support for M. Gelfand, L. H. Nishii, and J. L. Raver's (2006) conceptualization of societal tightness–looseness, finding significantly stronger effects in culturally tighter, rather than looser, countries. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Examining the effects of classroom discussion on students’ comprehension of text: A meta-analysis.

The role of classroom discussions in comprehension and learning has been the focus of investigations since the early 1960s. Despite this long history, no syntheses have quantitatively reviewed the vast body of literature on classroom discussions for their effects on students’ comprehension and learning. This comprehensive meta-analysis of empirical studies was conducted to examine evidence of the effects of classroom discussion on measures of teacher and student talk and on individual student comprehension and critical-thinking and reasoning outcomes. Results revealed that several discussion approaches produced strong increases in the amount of student talk and concomitant reductions in teacher talk, as well as substantial improvements in text comprehension. Few approaches to discussion were effective at increasing students’ literal or inferential comprehension and critical thinking and reasoning. Effects were moderated by study design, the nature of the outcome measure, and student academic ability. While the range of ages of participants in the reviewed studies was large, a majority of studies were conducted with students in 4th through 6th grades. Implications for research and practice are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Campbell’s and Rubin’s perspectives on causal inference.

Donald Campbell’s approach to causal inference (D. T. Campbell, 1957; W. R. Shadish, T. D. Cook, & D. T. Campbell, 2002) is widely used in psychology and education, whereas Donald Rubin’s causal model (P. W. Holland, 1986; D. B. Rubin, 1974, 2005) is widely used in economics, statistics, medicine, and public health. Campbell’s approach focuses on the identification of threats to validity and the inclusion of design features that may prevent those threats from occurring or render them implausible. Rubin’s approach focuses on the precise specification of both the possible outcomes for each participant and assumptions that are mathematically sufficient to estimate the causal effect. In this article, the authors compare the perspectives provided by the 2 approaches on randomized experiments, broken randomized experiments in which treatment nonadherence or attrition occurs, and observational studies in which participants are assigned to treatments on an unknown basis. The authors highlight dimensions on which the 2 approaches have different emphases, including the roles of constructs versus operations, threats to validity versus assumptions, methods of addressing threats to internal validity and violations of assumptions, direction versus magnitude of causal effects, role of measurement, and causal generalization. The authors conclude that investigators can benefit from drawing on the strengths of both approaches in designing research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

What are the benefits of mindfulness? A practice review of psychotherapy-related research.

Research suggests that mindfulness practices offer psychotherapists a way to positively affect aspects of therapy that account for successful treatment. This paper provides psychotherapists with a synthesis of the empirically supported advantages of mindfulness. Definitions of mindfulness and evidence-based interpersonal, affective, and intrapersonal benefits of mindfulness are presented. Research on therapists who meditate and client outcomes of therapists who meditate are reviewed. Implications for practice, research, and training are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

“Sources of social support and burnout: A meta-analytic test of the conservation of resources model”: Correction.

Reports an error in Sources of social support and burnout: A meta-analytic test of the conservation of resources model by Jonathon R. B. Halbesleben (Journal of Applied Psychology, 2006[Sep], Vol 91[5], 1134-1145). There were errors in transcribing the ρ values from Table 2 to the results section. In the second paragraph of page 1138, the second and third sentences should read “In the present study, work-related support was more strongly related to exhaustion (ρ = -.26) than depersonalization (ρ = -.23) and personal accomplishment (ρ = .24; F(2, 111) = 24.13, p > .01). On the other hand, non-work support was more strongly related to depersonalization (ρ = -.16) and personal accomplishment (ρ = .19) than exhaustion (ρ = -.12; F(2, 38) = 3.83, p > .05).” The values in Table 2 are correct and the substantive conclusions have not changed. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2006-11397-012.) The Conservation of Resources (COR) model of burnout (Hobfoll & Freedy, 1993) suggests that resources are differentially related to burnout dimensions. In this paper, I provide a meta-analysis of the social support and burnout literature, finding that social support, as a resource, did not yield different relationships across the 3 burnout dimensions (emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment), challenging the COR model. However, when considering the source of the social support (work vs. nonwork) as a moderator, I found that work-related sources of social support, because of their more direct relationship to work demands, were more closely associated with exhaustion than depersonalization or personal accomplishment; the opposite pattern was found with nonwork sources of support. I discuss the implications of this finding in relation to the COR model and suggest future research directions to clarify the relationship between resources and burnout dimensions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Influence of Structural Design on the Aeroelastic Stability of Brancusi’s Endless Column

Brancusi’s Endless Column (Targu-Jiu, Romania) is an interesting case study in bluff body aeroelasticity. It has been referred to as aeroelastically indifferent owing to its remarkable aeroelastic stability. This stability has been attributed to its unconventional shape. Calculations are presented which show that this strictly aerodynamic view of the column behavior is incomplete, and that the structural dynamics characteristics of the column have a powerful role in ensuring its aeroelastic stability. The calculations show that the column’s design, which provided for significant damping and mass, would assure its aeroelastic stability even if the column had a conventional and aeroelastically less favorable shape, i.e., if it were a circular cylinder (a shape that is unfavorable from the point of view of vortex-induced response) or a square cylinder (a shape that is unfavorable from the point of view of galloping).     

A meta-analytic review of achievement goal measures: Different labels for the same constructs or different constructs with similar labels?

This meta-analysis addresses whether achievement goal researchers are using different labels for the same constructs or putting the same labels on different constructs. We systematically examined whether conceptual and methodological differences in the measurement of achievement goals moderated achievement goal intercorrelations and relationships with outcomes. We reviewed 243 correlational studies of self-reported achievement goals comprising a total of 91,087 participants. The items used to measure achievement goals were coded as being goal relevant (future-focused, cognitively represented, competence-related end states that the individual approaches or avoids) and were categorized according to the different conceptual definitions found within the literature. The results indicated that achievement goal–outcome and goal–goal correlations differed significantly depending on the goal scale chosen, the individual items used to assess goal strivings, and sociodemographic characteristics of the sample under study. For example, performance-approach goal scales coded as having a majority of normatively referenced items had a positive correlation with performance outcomes (r? = .14), whereas scales with a majority of appearance and evaluative items had a negative relationship (r? = ?.14). Mastery-approach goal scales that contained goal-relevant language were not significantly related to performance outcomes (r? = .05), whereas those that did not contain goal-relevant language had a positive relationship with performance outcomes (r? = .14). We concluded that achievement goal researchers are using the same label for conceptually different constructs. This discrepancy between conceptual and operational definitions and the absence of goal-relevant language in achievement goal measures may be preventing productive theory testing, research synthesis, and practical application. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Control-Mastery perspective: A clinical formulation of David’s plan.

The Control-Mastery theory is reviewed, focusing particular attention on the concept of the patient’s plan for therapy. A formulation of David’s plan is then presented. The formulation includes David’s early childhood traumas, his goals (conscious as well as unconscious) for therapy, the pathogenic beliefs (schemas) that have obstructed him, the tests that he is likely to present in therapy in order to disconfirm his pathogenic beliefs, and the insights that would be helpful to him. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Influence of Nanotwin Boundary on the Bauschinger’s Effect in Cu: A Molecular Dynamics Simulation Study

Plastic pre-strain may decrease the yield strength of metallic materials when stressed in the opposite direction, known as Bauschinger’s effect, which could considerably influence the performance of the materials during cyclic loading processes such as fatigue and fretting. In this study, effects of twin boundary (TW) as an ordered obstacle in a nanoscaled Cu crystal on defects’ generation and annihilation during cyclic tension–compression loading processes were investigated, in comparison with those occurring in a single crystal (SC), using a molecular dynamics simulation technique. It was observed that the Bauschinger’s effect in the nanoscaled TW system was weaker with higher residual strain energy, compared to the SC system; and, the ductility of both the SC and TW systems was increased by the cycling loading, but this increase was smaller for the TW system. Efforts were made to elucidate the mechanisms involved.     

Impact of China’s Macro Economic Situation on the Nonferrous Metals Industry

<正>In 2014,the downward pressure of China’s economy increased,the Central Government insisted on general work keynote of seeking progress in steady growth;guided by improving economic development quality and benefit,it pro-actively adapted tonew normalin economic development,introduced multiple     

Internal friction in F.C.C. alloys due to solute drag on dislocations—I. A model for the effect of core diffusion

The internal friction (mechanical loss) behavior of dislocations is studied in a model which, for the first time, considers the substitutional solute mobility in the dislocation core to be higher than in the bulk around it. The parameters investigated include the external stress σ_xy, the solute concentration c₀, the pinning length of the dislocation and the temperature. It is shown that, at low c₀ and high σ_xy, the kinetics of the dislocation motion is determined by the fast diffusion of the solute atoms in the core, while for high c₀ and low σ_xy the diffusion of the atoms far away from the dislocation is rate-limiting. The results are compared with the analytical model of Schoeck and are applied to the alloy system SlSi. New experimental results supporting the model are described in a companion paper (Part II).     

Recycling of aluminum – effect of fluoride additions on the salt viscosity and on the alumina dissolution

The objectives of this work are to study the influence of fluoride additions to molten salt flux used in aluminum recycling on the viscosity and on the dissolution of alumina. These parameters were studied to clarify the phenomena that occur inside the rotary furnace, because there is still very little fundamental research about this process. First, an apparatus was set to measure the viscosity of molten salt fluxes. Second, equimolar mixtures of NaCl and KCl with NaF, KF and CaF₂ additions up to 5 wt% were prepared and melted in a laboratory furnace. Alumina rods were immersed in the molten flux, and the measurements of the reduction of the external diameter were taken at periodic times. The additions of fluorides diminish the viscosity of the equimolar mixture of NaCl and KCl, and fluoride additions also improve the dissolution velocity and corrosive attack on alumina.     

A longitudinal study of the role of negative affectivity on the work stressor–strain process.

A significant proportion of previous research in the occupational stress area has tended to treat the personality variable negative affectivity (NA) as a nuisance variable. This perspective has led researchers to routinely control for the effects of NA. However, P. E. Spector, D. Zapf, P. Y. Chen, and M. Frese (2000) have proposed a number of different mechanisms by which NA could have substantive effects. The current research used a longitudinal framework to test several competing mechanisms proposed by Spector et al. (specifically, the perception, hyperresponsivity, and causality mechanisms) on the relationship between work stressors and psychological well-being. Customs workers and dentists constituted the longitudinal sample (N = 345). Results provided strong support for the perception mechanism, indicating that the effects of NA on psychological health were partially mediated by work stressors. The authors discuss the theoretical and practical relevance of the perception mechanism to occupational health. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Analysis on the Export Trend of China’s Aluminum Profiles in the Near Future

Since September 2006,in order to Control the export of products high in energy consumption, causing high pollution and with high intensity of resources and encourage the import of raw materials,the import and export policies on