Psychological androgyny and stressful life events.

55 female and 22 male undergraduates completed the Bem Sex-Role Inventory, a stressful life-events (SLE) questionnaire, and some general questions on adjustment. Ss were also asked to rate the SLEs they had experienced in the prior 12 mo along the dimensions of desirability, amount of change, anticipation, control, and meaningfulness. As hypothesized, androgynous Ss rated their SLEs as less undesirable than other Ss, but this result held only for females. Undifferentiated Ss rated their SLEs as less meaningful than other Ss, and androgynous Ss rated themselves as happier than other Ss. Of the 5 examined dimensions, only meaningfulness was significantly related to happiness. Results may be related to the differential access to and/or use of social support systems by persons of different sex types. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Enhancing students' comprehension of the conceptual structure of algebra word problems.

Three experiments investigated Ss' ability to classify and solve similar algebra word problems. Four groups of problems were used, varying along 2 dimensions: problem equation type (2 types) and problem structure type (2 types). Ss were presented problem pairs and asked to rate the potential usefulness of Problem 1 in solving Problem 2. With no instruction, Ss rated problems sharing conceptual structure as being more helpful, regardless of equation type. Pairs with similar equations did not show this effect (Exp 1). This effect was enhanced by brief instruction, which illustrated structural similarities (Exp 2). Finally, a brief tutorial improved problem-solving performance (Exp 3). The improvement was particularly evident when target problems shared structural components but had different equations. The results are interpreted within S. K. Reed's (1987) structure-mapping model. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Comparisons of rating scales of child psychopathology in clinic and nonclinic samples.

Mothers of 45 control and 35 clinic children (mean ages 7.6 and 7.5 yrs, respectively) completed 2 factor-analytically derived rating scales of child psychopathology, the Behavior Problem Checklist and the Parent Questionnaire. Intercorrelations among factors indicated some factor overlap and some differences between apparently similar factors. Conduct problem ratings on the Behavior Problem Checklist covaried with ratings of conduct problems, hyperactivity, and learning problems on the Parent Questionnaire. Patterns of correlations suggested that mothers of nonreferred children rated pathology per se, whereas mothers of referred children rated behaviors that fell into internalizing and externalizing clusters. Teachers asked to rate 22 referred and 22 control males (mean ages 8.3 and 8.5 yrs, respectively) on the Behavior Problem Checklist and the Teacher Rating Scale showed more consistency in the behaviors rated. It is concluded that, although similar factor labels are used from scale to scale, they reflect somewhat different behaviors and are influenced by the child's clinical status, the rater's past experience with children, and specific scale characteristics. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Opposite sides of the same coin: Former spouses' divergent perspectives in coping with their divorce.

Investigated the extent to which people are assisted in their adjustment to divorce by their tendency to appraise the breakup in a biased, ego-enhancing fashion. Comparisons of the perceptions of 90 ex-spouses (45 couples) revealed that (1) ex-spouses did not differ in their positive self-perceptions or in their negative perceptions of each other; (2) Ss rated themselves more positively along dimensions of responsibility for the breakup, villain/victim status, and desire to reconcile than they were rated by their ex-partner; (3) both partners agreed that the women were more likely to have had control over the separation process than the men; and (4) wives' views of their ex-husband tended to correlate with the men's self-perceptions; men's and women's views of the wives were unrelated. The greater the control over the breakup attributed to one's ex-spouse, the lower one's level of psychosocial adjustment and resolution of the breakup. The article discusses how distorting perceptions of ego-threatening situations may facilitate adjustment to and maintenance of change. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Intergenerational Family Conflict and Coping Among Hmong American College Students.

Problem solving and social support, as different styles of coping with intergenerational family conflict, were examined among 86 Hmong American college students. Problem solving and social support were hypothesized to differentially moderate the effects of family conflict on psychological adjustment. Furthermore, the effects of attributions of blame on the adjustment of Hmong American college students were examined. Results indicate that social support buffered and problem solving enhanced the negative effects of family conflict on symptoms of distress but not on affect. Additionally, there were significant interaction effects between family conflict and self-blame on distress. Specifically, students who were more likely to blame themselves reported higher levels of distress. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Life regrets and current goals as predictors of psychological adjustment.

Life regrets and current goals were examined as predictors of psychological adjustment in a sample of 155 Ss who rated these constructs along 13 theoretically derived dimensions. Relative to regrets, goals were perceived as more impactful, important, controllable, achievable, socially supported, and desirable, and as occupying more time and energy. Hierarchical regression models indicated that regret ratings account for an additional 19.8% of the variance in life satisfaction and 11.9% of the variance in depression scores after removing the variance attributed to goal ratings. Furthermore, regrets contributed to the prediction of psychological adjustment after controlling for negative affectivity. A content analysis of respondents' regrets is presented and related to chronological age and gender. A goal-based reformulation of regrets is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Compassionate stereotyping of elderly patients by physicians: Revising the social contact hypothesis.

Departing from previous research on age stereotypes, this study examined degree of contact with elderly patients as a factor affecting age stereotyping by physicians. Included are measures of behavioral intentions as well as more traditional attitudinal measures. A total of 63 rheumatologists completed a brief questionnaire on which they rated a 53- or an 83-year-old target patient on a number of dimensions including psychological adjustment and need for support and information. Patients' age and physicians' degree of contact with elderly patients has few direct effects on physicians' ratings; their interaction, however, yielded a strong and consistent finding: The elderly patient was rated as less adjusted, autonomous, and instrumental and in greater need of support and information by high-contact physicians. These findings suggest that although negative age stereotypes are less prevalent than has previously been indicated, rheumatologists, particularly those who treat elderly patients, may draw on compassionate stereotypes in their care of elderly patients. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A different perspective on androgyny: Evaluations of masculine and feminine personality characteristics.

Hypothesized that androgynous Ss would be liked best and perceived as most adjusted (Exp I) and also be perceived to be as instrumental as masculine Ss and as expressive as feminine Ss (Exp II). 179 undergraduates served as Ss in Exp I and 160 undergraduates served in Exp II. Personal Attributes Questionnaires ostensibly filled out by others were the stimuli evaluated. These stimuli were constructed so that the stimulus persons (SPs) were classified as either androgynous, undifferentiated, masculine, or feminine. Male and female Ss evaluated the SPs on dimensions of likeability, adjustment, expressiveness, instrumentality, masculinity, and femininity. Results demonstrate that androgynous persons, regardless of gender, were liked best and perceived as most adjusted, whereas undifferentiated persons were liked least and perceived as least adjusted. Masculine and feminine persons, regardless of gender, were rated midway between androgynous and undifferentiated persons and generally were not evaluated differently on these dimensions. Evaluations of SPs on stereotypically gender-related dimensions revealed that androgynous persons were seen to be as highly instrumental as masculine persons and as highly expressive as feminine persons, but generally less masculine and feminine than sex-typed persons. Implications for self-fulfilling prophecies in social behavior are discussed. (40 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of dimensional relevance on accuracy of simulated hiring decisions by employment interviewers.

Presented to 52 experienced employment interviewers (32 male and 20 female) videotaped simulated interviews with 2 applicants (APs) who were differentially qualified for 2 jobs. APs' qualifications and job requirements were manipulated to produce a match or mismatch between each AP and the 2 jobs. However, APs were about average in overall qualifications and were not significantly different in favorability. In a repeated measures design, half the Ss rated the APs on specific job dimensions relevant to the critical behaviors involved in the jobs, while the remaining Ss rated the APs on general job dimensions. Both rating procedures emphasized work behaviors but differed in the relevance of the work behaviors for the jobs under consideration. Results show that Ss who rated on the specific and relevant dimensions accurately discriminated between the more qualified and less qualified AP, whereas Ss who rated on the general job dimensions were not able to discriminate accurately between the 2 APs. There was also a trend for greater agreement among Ss who rated along specific job dimensions. (4 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An investigation of six- to eleven-year-old children with allergic disorders.

Compared 6-11 yr. old children with and without allergic reactions on their intellectual ability, academic performance, social interaction patterns, medical history, TAT responses, and scores on a number of other psychological tests. Placement in the allergic sample was determined by a medical history provided by the parents of each child. The allergic sample included 199 boys and 172 girls, while the nonallergic sample consisted of 419 boys and 400 girls. Results indicate that Ss who did not exhibit allergic reactions were otherwise healthier and were rated as superior on a number of academic, social, and emotional adjustment dimensions. Results are related to studies of psychosomatic children. (19 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Number of assessment center dimensions as a determinant of assessor accuracy.

Undergraduates (N?=?131) were trained as assessors, who evaluated the performance of confederates in an assessment center simulation on 3, 6, or 9 dimensions. Number of dimensions significantly affected some assessment center judgments but not others. Ss who rated a small number of dimensions classified behaviors more accurately and made more accurate ratings than did Ss who rated a large number of dimensions. Number of dimensions did not affect the accuracy of assessors' observations nor the discriminant validity of their dimension ratings. Given these results and the findings of others (e.g., J. R. Hinrichs and S. Haanpera; see record 1978-20114-001), developers of assessment centers should limit the cognitive demands placed on assessors by, for example, minimizing the number of dimensions assessors are required to process. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Remembering pictures: Pleasure and arousal in memory.

Assessed incidental memory performance for pictures that varied along the affective dimensions of pleasantness and arousal. For both an immediate and delayed (1 yr later) free-recall task, only the arousal dimension had a stable effect on memory performance: Pictures rated as highly arousing were remembered better than low-arousal stimuli. This effect was corroborated in a speeded recognition test, in which high-arousal materials encoded earlier in the experiment produced faster reaction times (RTs) than their low-arousal counterparts. Pleasantness affected RT decisions only for pictures not encoded earlier. These results suggest that whereas both the dimensions of pleasantness and arousal are processed at initial encoding, long-term memory performance is mainly affected by arousal. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Helpful impacts in group counseling: Development of a multidimensional rating system.

The underlying structure of group therapy participants' perceptions of helpful therapeutic impacts were explored through principal-components analysis. Critical incidents obtained from 210 interpersonal growth group and 74 group counseling participants were rated on a measure that incorporated items from the Therapeutic Factors (S. Bloch, J. Reibstein, E. Crouch, P. Holroyd, & J. Themen; see record 1980-26125-001), and Categories of Good Moments (A. R. Mahrer & W. P. Nadler; see record 1986-17846-001) rating systems and R. Elliott's (see record 1985-31654-001) taxonomy of helpful impacts. Principal-components analysis revealed four underlying factors that accounted for 59.2% of the variance. These factors were labeled Emotional Awareness-Insight, Relationship-Climate, Other Versus Self Focus, and Problem Solving-Behavior Change. The identified helpful therapeutic impact dimensions were related to perceptions of group leader behavior and to ratings of group climate. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On the validity of social skills assessments: An analysis of role-play and ward staff ratings of social behavior in a maximum security setting.

Assessed the social skill of 64 male patients in a maximum security psychiatric hospital. Assertion and conversational role-plays were videotaped and rated on a variety of social skill dimensions. Ward staff rated the S's social behavior on a socialization scale and on the Social Contact and Communication subscales of the MACC Behavioral Adjustment Scale. Social skill and a number of relatively complex social skill dimensions in both assertion and conversation role-plays correlated significantly with the in vivo measures. Results support the external validity of role-played interactions in the assessment of social skill as well as the suggestion that social skills training should emphasize the more complex interpersonal behaviors. (French abstract) (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A laboratory study of the effects of varying levels of counselor eye contact on client-focused and problem-focused counseling styles.

Studied the effects of varying durations of counselor eye contact over 2 counseling conditions: (a) client-focused counseling style, defined as the counselor focusing on the client's thoughts and feelings about the presenting problem; and (b) problem-focused counseling style, defined as the counselor focusing on the problems themselves. 60 female undergraduates observed videotaped segments of counseling interviews depicting 1 of 6 conditions involving either client-focused or problem-focused counseling styles and either low, medium, or high counselor eye contact. Ss then rated the counselor on 3 dimensions of counselor effectiveness: genuineness, competence, and self-confidence. Results show that counselors using both counseling styles were rated progressively higher on all 3 dimensions from the low- to the medium- to the high-gaze condition. In the problem-focused condition, the counselor was rated lower on the genuineness factor than either competence or self-confidence. When broken down by gaze levels, these differences did not hold up for the high level of eye contact. There were no significant differences between counselor ratings on the 3 dimensions of counselor effectiveness for the client-focused condition. Results are discussed with respect to related research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator personality dimensions and perceptions of quality of therapy relationships.

Examined associations between perceived quality of therapy relationships and therapist and client scores on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). 35 experienced therapists and 53 adult outpatients involved in long-term personal therapy completed the MBTI and measures of therapy relationship quality and pretherapy adjustment. More positive client ratings of the quality of the therapy relationship were associated with similarity of therapist and client in overall MBTI profiles and in the thinking–feeling and judging–perceiving dimensions of the MBTI. When therapists had higher extroversion and feeling scores, both therapists and clients rated the relationship more positively. The MBTI may be valuable in determining optimal therapist–client matches and in guiding therapists to better understand their impact on clients. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Multidimensional scaling of the causes for negative interpersonal behavior.

Conducted studies to determine empirically the dimensions underlying attributions made for negative behavior in a close interpersonal relationship (a marriage). 96 university students rated the similarity of 13 causes given either by the enactor of a negative behavior (i.e., the actor) or by the person affected by the behavior (the partner or spouse). A multidimensional scaling analysis of these data yielded 2 dimensions in each condition. The interpretation of these dimensions was guided by data from 68 additional Ss who rated the 13 causes on bipolar scales (e.g., temporary–permanent). Dimension 1 in both conditions was interpreted as "positive vs negative attitude toward spouse." Dimension 2 of the actor condition was interpreted as "intentional vs unintentional" and Dimension 2 of the partner condition as "actor's traits vs circumstances or states." These dimensions are discussed in relation to the a priori causal distinctions made in current attribution writings and previous findings concerning actor–observer biases. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Alcohol expectancies and their relationship to actual drinking experiences.

44 undergraduate normal drinkers participated in a social task in drinking and nondrinking conditions and rated their subjective experiences and their perception of experiences of other group members along 7 alcohol expectancy dimensions. In the drinking condition, Ss rated their experiences as being positively enhanced on those dimensions predicted by the expectancy literature, but did not report experiencing the negative cognitive and motor effects associated with alcohol consumption. It is concluded that in social situations, individuals' alcohol expectancies and experiences coincide for socially relevant variables, but do not for variables related to cognitive skills. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Inhibition of EGF and TGF-beta dependent transformation of NRK23 cells by Crk II-23 mutant]

This study explored adults' judgments of competent and dysfunctional children's behavioral adjustment based solely on children's physical appearance. Adults rated photographs of preschoolers (6 boys, 6 girls) who previously had been classified as socially competent or dysfunctional on the basis of independent, standardized teacher ratings. Participants, who were not given any information about the stimulus children, rated their photographs one at a time on measures of attractiveness, aggression, anxiety, social competence, and overall adjustment. Results indicated that dysfunctional children were easily distinguished from their competent peers. Specifically, dysfunctional children were rated as less attractive, more aggressive, more anxious, less socially competent, and more likely to have an emotional or behavioral problem than competent children. These findings (especially strong for aggressive boys), remained significant when group differences in attractiveness were statistically controlled. Implications for interpreting the current literature on attractiveness and for modification of childhood behavior disorders are discussed.