Defensiveness as a factor in sex differences in anxiety.

Hypotheses involving defensiveness as a rationale for explaining sex differences in scores on anxiety questionnaires were investigated. Instruments differentially susceptible to the influence of defensiveness, the Structured-Objective Rorschach Test (SORT) and the Taylor MA scale were used in gathering data from 236 college students enrolled in a general psychology course. The following results were obtained: the relation between the MA scale and SORT was not higher for females (contrary to predictions); MA scale scores were higher for females (as predicted) while SORT scores were higher for males (no difference predicted); and no relation between either the SORT or the MA scale and grade-point average was found (contrary to predictions). The results appeared to fit an acquiescence rationale better than a defensiveness rationale, and it was argued that this hypothesis merits further research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A new look at British graduate students.

Discusses findings of a survey of British graduate students in psychology conducted in late 1972 and 1973. Responses were obtained from 34 of the 89 British departments offering advanced courses or supervision for research leading to the PhD in psychology or one of its subspecialties. The total enrollment of all postbaccalaureate students in psychology was 1,112, but only 277 of these were in PhD programs; the number is almost 8 times higher in the US. UK postgraduate training in psychology seems to be conducted on a much smaller scale than in the US, the students enter doctoral training at an earlier age than American students, and females and non-White minority students are well represented in UK doctoral training programs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Industrial/organizational psychology in Canada: An introduction.

The objective in this Special Issue is to provide colleagues and students with an introduction to current research and professional issues in industrial/organizational psychology in Canada. The authors provide a historical context for that current work and offer some suggestions for future directions. The authors include a cross-section of industrial/organizational psychologists at work in Canada today, reflecting regional, language and gender differences. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Comparison of Masculine and Feminine Personality Attributes and Sex-Role Attitudes Across Age Groups.

Scores on the Masculinity (M) and Femininity scales of the Personal Attributes Questionnaire were compared in male and female high school students, college students, parents of elementary school children, and parents of college students. Significant age trends occurred only for males on M. Scores on the Attitudes Toward Women Scale suggested that females were more liberal than males and students more liberal than parents of college students. The two sets of results are explained in terms of the differential sex-role expectations and life experiences of males and females. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sport psychology consultation: The influence of gender on learning style.

Consultants in sports psychology need to be aware of the potential gender differences among athletes. Examined are important gender-related factors related to learning styles in athletes. Identified are the observed differences in male and female response style on learning patterns for the population studied. When compared on 20 different learning style factors as measured by a standardized scale, the learning styles of males and females differed at a statistically significant level on 9 factors. Statistically significant differences were noted on factors measuring ability to trust, frustration tolerance, facilitation to change, and feedback preference. Gender differences are discussed, as are issues for the sports psychologist consultant as to the influence of gender on learning styles in male and female athletes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cohort differences in Big Five personality factors over a period of 25 years.

The notion of personality traits implies a certain degree of stability in the life span of an individual. But what about generational effects? Are there generational changes in the distribution or structure of personality traits? This article examines cohort changes on the Big Five personality factors Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Neuroticism, and Openness to Experience, among first-year psychology students in the Netherlands, ages 18 to 25 years, between 1982 and 2007. Because measurement invariance of a personality test is essential for a sound interpretation of cohort differences in personality, we first assessed measurement invariance with respect to cohort for males and females separately on the Big Five personality factors, as measured by the Dutch instrument Five Personality Factors Test. Results identified 11 (females) and 2 (males) biased items with respect to cohort, out of a total of 70 items. Analyzing the unbiased items, results indicated small linear increases over time in Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness and small linear decreases over time in Neuroticism. No clear patterns were found on the Openness to Experience factor. Secondary analyses on students from 1971 to 2007 of females and males of different ages together revealed linear trends comparable to those in the main analyses among young adults between 1982 onward. The results imply that the broad sociocultural context may affect personality factors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Clinical and counseling psychology: Can differences be gleaned from printed recruiting materials?

Students and professionals alike often ask, "What is the difference between clinical and counseling psychology?" An even more basic question for educators and trainers is, "Are students accurately informed of the differences between the two specialties?" To address this question, we examined recruitment and application materials from 227 APA-accredited doctoral programs in counseling psychology (CoPhD, n = 56), clinical psychology PhD (ClPhD, n = 137), and clinical psychology PsyD (ClPsyD, n = 34). It should be noted that 83% of both clinical and counseling psychology programs, respectively, were represented in the data. An eight-page coding instrument was used to examine similarities and dissimilarities between each discipline. The results of this study suggest few differences in program or faculty characteristics, student and faculty demographics, or admission and training requirements, as advertised in program recruitment materials. Implications of these findings are discussed and directions for future research are presented. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Status of women in the psychological community in the Southeast: Women as graduate students.

Results of interviews with female and male psychology graduate students in southeastern institutions reveal little evidence of perceived "soft" sex discrimination in assignments, interpersonal relationships, and encouragement received. The sexes were similar in financial aid received and field of psychology pursued. However, females felt that they were not fully accepted as individuals by the faculty. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relationship between scientific and theoretical orientation among clinical psychology doctoral students.

Examined the relationship between theoretical orientation and research attitudes and interests among 233 doctoral students in clinical psychology. Responses to a survey sent to 10 doctoral training programs indicated that behaviorally oriented students are more interested in conducting research and are more likely to endorse the basic tenets of science than those students expressing a preference for psychodynamic or humanistic orientations. Behavioral students were also younger and more likely to have majored in psychology as undergraduates, suggesting an earlier commitment to a career in psychology. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for the role of training programs in encouraging clinical psychology graduate students to become better consumers of scientific literature. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Individual differences in preferences to photographs.

Individual differences in preferences to photographs were explored based on an alternative framework. This framework predicts that the primary difference between individuals in this respect is their ability to process photographic information, which in turn influences their preferences. Chiefly, people with well-developed schemes in photography (e.g., photo professionals) should have a higher ability to process photographic information than people with less developed schemes (e.g., psychology students). Consequently, people with well-developed schemes in photography should prefer photographs that are relatively more demanding to process. Ten psychology students and 5 photo professionals assessed 32 photographs on six general concepts: Preference, Hedonic Tone, Expressiveness, Familiarity, Uncertainty, and Dynamics. As predicted, photo professionals had a higher ability to process photographic information and preferred photographs that were relatively uncertain and unfamiliar. These results are in concordance with previous research and give strong support to the utility of the present framework in experimental aesthetics. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Gender differences in belief in scientifically unsubstantiated phenomena.

Gender differences in belief in scientifically unsubstantiated phenomena are reported for 246 male and 326 female Canadian undergraduate and graduate students in science, psychology, and nonscience programs. Females were more likely than males to endorse belief in various scientifically unsubstantiated phenomena. Males, however, were more willing to endorse belief in unidentified flying objects. These gender differences were not found in the samples of nonscience undergraduate students. Nonscience males showed the same high levels of belief as the females. The gender differences were also absent in the science program graduate students, where females had the same low levels of belief as the males. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A brief feedback intervention for diagnostic overshadowing.

Clinical decision-making errors are well-documented among both experienced clinicians and students. One robust clinical decision-making error is called diagnostic overshadowing (DO), which occurs when the presence of one diagnosis interferes with the detection of other diagnoses. This study tested whether two types of instruction and brief feedback interventions reduced the likelihood of DO. Specifically, content-based feedback and principle-based feedback significantly reduced the likelihood of DO among doctoral students in clinical and counseling psychology (N = 220). An intervention effect was found when the training task and the target task were highly similar. Recommendations for improving diagnostic decision-making among trainees in professional psychology are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Birth cohort differences in self-esteem, 1988–2008: A cross-temporal meta-analysis.

Three meta-analyses find increases over the generations in Rosenberg Self-Esteem scale (RSE) scores between 1988 and 2008 among American middle school (d = 0.78, n = 10,119), high school (d = 0.39, n = 16,669), and college students (d = 0.30, n = 28,918). The changes are consistent with an increasing emphasis on self-worth in American culture and, for high school students, with small increases in academic competence over time. College students' scores change only when the RSE is administered with a 4-point Likert scale with no midpoint. By 2008, a score of 40 (perfect self-esteem) was the modal response of college students, chosen by 18% of participants; 51% scored 35 or over. Given these shifts in responses, the possibility of revising the RSE is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Research in effective teaching: Implications for school psychologists.

The purpose of this miniseries is to review research on effective instruction and to discuss the contributions of this research knowledge to the practice of school psychology. Effective schooling involves the development of optimal learning environments, sensitivity to the diversity of teacher skills and teaching styles, and the accommodation of instruction to variable characteristics among individual students, all of which lead to the provision of adaptive instruction. Thus, four general areas have been selected as the focus of the articles in this miniseries: teacher behaviors, instructional environments, individual differences among learners, and practices of adaptive education. This miniseries attempts to delineate some of these "lines within which the rules of the art" of teaching fall. Understanding conditions that affect children's learning and knowing how instructional principles and research findings operate in everyday schooling situations are important objectives for all school psychologists. It is with these objectives in mind that the following articles are presented. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Internship placements: Similarities and differences between clinical and counseling psychology programs.

Internship matches among students within clinical (n = 2,130) and counseling (n = 450) psychology doctoral training programs were examined for a complete cohort of intern applicants. The overall rates of successful internship matching, as well as the rankings of those matches, were similar for the 2 specialties. The settings of those internship matches revealed significant differences, however. Clinical psychology students matched at higher rates to a range of medical facilities, for example, whereas counseling psychology students matched at higher rates to counseling center settings. These and other differences were examined in relation to the historical and enduring differences between the 2 specialties and their implications for education, training, and practice within the field of professional psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sexual intimacy in psychology training: Results and implications of a national survey.

In a nationwide survey of members of American Psychological Association Division 29 (Psychotherapy), which had a 48% return rate (N=481), 10% of the respondents reported sexual contact as students with their educators; 13% reported entering sexual relationships as educators with their students. However, only 2% believed that such relationships could be beneficial to trainees and educators. Gender differences were significant: 16.5% of the women, compared with 3% of the men, reported sexual contact as students; however, 19% of the men, compared with 8% of the women, reported such contact as psychology educators; and 12% of the males, compared with 3% of the females, reported sexual contact as psychotherapists with their clients. Sexual contact in psychology training programs seems to be increasing: 25% of the recent female graduates had had sexual contact, compared with only 5% of those with degrees for more than 21 yrs. The literature on ethics, standards, research, theory, and practice leaves both psychology graduate students and those psychologists responsible for their education without clear expectations, information, or guidelines concerning sexual intimacy in psychology training. This article represents an attempt to raise the issue and to present some initial information. (29 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Biological psychology's relationships to psychology and neuroscience.

Biological psychology originally had a central role in psychology, but many psychologists who perform research traditionally done within the realm of biological psychology are shifting to the new discipline of neuroscience. We document this shift by showing that biological psychologists have a larger relative representation in the Society for Neuroscience (SN) than in the American Psychological Association (APA). They make up the third largest group within the SN, and psychology has the single largest departmental representation among SN student members. Investigations assessing behavior are reported at annual meetings of the SN and in the Society's official journal at a level consistent with psychologists' representation in the Society. A survey of graduate students training in biological psychology shows a strong affiliation with the discipline of neuroscience. These students indicate a greater likelihood of joining the SN than the APA; they believe the SN better represents their individual interests and the discipline of biological psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Characteristics and perceptions of beginning doctoral students in school psychology.

A national sample of 251 1st- and 2nd-yr doctoral students in school psychology responded to a questionnaire measuring demographic characteristics, preferences among applied specialties in professional psychology, graduate program applications, anticipated internship setting, preferred client population, personal interests, professional goals, and satisfaction with current training. Survey responses showed a clear preference for working directly with children and adolescents following graduation, a high degree of correspondence between training program emphases and student interests and goals, and a moderate degree of student satisfaction with training experiences. Results are interpreted with respect to training trends and standards in school psychology, the relationship between school and clinical psychology, satisfaction of students in clinical and counseling psychology programs, and methodology limitations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Building academic partnerships in psychology: The Psychology Partnerships Project.

The increased number and mobility of psychology students, the need for a more coordinated curriculum and a more diverse student population in psychology programs, and the need to prepare students for a changing marketplace pose serious challenges for psychology educators. Partnerships among psychology teachers in high schools, community colleges, 4-year colleges and universities, and graduate programs in research universities can help teachers address these challenges effectively. This article outlines how academic partnerships across educational levels can help psychology teachers address educational challenges, examines factors that facilitate the formation and maintenance of these partnerships, and presents the American Psychological Association's successful Psychology Partnerships Project: Academic Partnerships to Meet the Training and Learning Needs of the 21st Century, describing the organizational features that enhanced its success. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interest in psychology at the high school level.

Comments on the apparent low interest in psychology among bright high school students as being attributed to the absence of contact with psychologists or psychology as a science in the usual high school curriculum. The author reports that during the past three years at the annual Southern Appalachian Science Fair sponsored by the local Scripps-Howard newspaper and the University of Tennessee, exhibits and studies dealing with psychology have received their due share, if not more, of the awards. This interest in psychology is noteworthy on several accounts. These are expounded upon. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)