Perceived proposer personality characteristics and gender differences in acceptance of casual sex offers.

In a highly influential paper, Clark and Hatfield (1989) demonstrated that, whereas men were quite likely to accept a casual sexual offer from a confederate research assistant, women never did so. The current research provides a more in-depth explanation of gender differences in acceptance of casual sex offers via 4 (quasi-) experiments. First, using a person-perception paradigm, I assessed people's impressions of women and men who proposed a casual sexual encounter in the same manner that confederates in Clark and Hatfield did. Women and men agreed that female proposers were more intelligent, successful, and sexually skilled than men who made the same proposals. Second, I demonstrated that the large gender differences from the original Clark and Hatfield study could be eliminated by asking participants to imagine proposals from (attractive and unattractive) famous individuals, friends, and same-gender individuals. Next, I assessed factors associated with likelihood of agreeing to the casual sex proposal. The extent to which women and men believed that the proposer would be sexually skilled predicted how likely they would be to engage in casual sex with this individual. Finally, I examined these factors in the context of actual encounters from the participants' previous experiences, and the results were replicated in this context. Overall findings suggest that the large gender differences Clark and Hatfield observed in acceptance of the casual sex offer may have more to do with perceived personality characteristics of the female versus male proposers than with gender differences among Clark and Hatfield's participants and that sexual pleasure figures largely in women's and men's decision making about casual sex. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-concept differences in relation to identification, religion, and social class.

"This study focused on the relationships between… three socialization variables of parental identification, religious affiliation, and social class to two aspects of the self-concept, dominance and love… . No significant differences in self-concept scores as a function of parental identification were observed… . Catholic subjects have significantly higher love scores than do Jewish subjects, and the former have significantly higher love than dominance scores… . Upper class subjects have significantly higher dominance scores than lower class subjects, and upper class subjects are significantly higher on dominance than on love." From Psyc Abstracts 36:01:3GC94B. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Patterns of authority and affection in two generations.

Using data gleaned from a normative longitudinal study of more than 200 families by workers in the Institute of Child Welfare of the University of California at Berkeley, the research was devised to answer the question as to whether the perception of one's own parents influences parental attitudes towards one's own children. These relationships were studied through the media of 3 variables, viz., authority, affection, and involvement, and their intercorrelation. The "characteristic" or modal family pattern which emerges from the data is described and discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Parental acceptance, postpartum depression, and maternal sensitivity: Mediating and moderating processes.

Mothers (n=92), fathers (n=84), and their infants (60% male) participated in a longitudinal study of postpartum depression and maternal sensitivity. Mothers completed questionnaire measures of remembered parental acceptance, depressive symptoms, and infant distress to novelty and limits. Mothers and partners reported on marital aggression and avoidance. Maternal sensitivity was observed in the laboratory at 6 months. Characteristics of mothers, partners, and infants combined to predict postpartum depression and maternal sensitivity. Remembered parental rejection predicted postpartum depressive symptoms with prenatal depression controlled; self-esteem mediated this effect. Paternal acceptance buffered against postpartum depression when infants were highly reactive and when partners were aggressive. Paternal acceptance reduced the impact of postpartum depression on maternal sensitivity; having an aggressive marital partner exacerbated the effect. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Individual differences in early adolescents' beliefs in the legitimacy of parental authority.

Adolescents differ in the extent to which they believe that parents have legitimate authority to impose rules restricting adolescents' behavior. The purpose of the current study was to test predictors of individual differences in legitimacy beliefs during the middle school years. Annually, during the summers following Grades 5, 6, and 7, early adolescents (n = 218; 51% female, 47% African American, 73% in 2-parent homes) reported their beliefs regarding the legitimacy of parents' rules that restrict and monitor adolescents' free time activities. Cross-lagged analyses revealed that legitimacy beliefs were bidirectionally associated with independent decision making, psychological control, antisocial peer involvement, and resistance to control. Legitimacy beliefs declined more rapidly during the middle school years for boys than for girls and for adolescents who were older relative to their classmates. More independent decision making in Grades 5 and 6 predicted larger than expected declines in legitimacy beliefs in Grades 6 and 7. In sum, legitimacy beliefs weaken developmentally, and weaker legitimacy beliefs relative to same-grade peers are anteceded by premature autonomous experiences, psychological control, and adolescent attributes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex-related differences in event-related potentials, face recognition, and facial affect processing in prepubertal children.

Thirty-five prepubertal children, 17 boys and 18 girls, between the ages of 8 and 11 years, were studied to examine electrophysiological and cognitive sex differences during a face-recognition-memory (FRM) task and a facial-affect-identification task (FAIT). All participants were prepubertal, as determined by J. M. Tanner's (1962) staging and endocrine evaluation. Sex-dependent event-related potential (ERP) amplitude asymmetries were found during FRM. Boys displayed greater right versus left ERP amplitude to auditory tone probes during the task, whereas girls displayed the opposite pattern. In addition, positive correlations were obtained between ERP amplitude during FRM and FAIT accuracy scores for boys, but not for girls. Results suggest that girls and boys may use different neuronal systems in the processing of faces and facial affect. Findings are consistent with developmental theories regarding sex differences in visuospatial processing. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Age-related differences in the course of cognitive skill acquisition: The role of regional cortical shrinkage and cognitive resources.

This study examined the impact of age-related differences in regional cerebral volumes and cognitive resources on acquisition of a cognitive skill. Volumes of brain regions were measured on magnetic resonance images of healthy adults (aged 22-80). At the early stage of learning to solve the Tower of Hanoi puzzle, speed and efficiency were associated with age, prefrontal cortex volume, and working memory. A similar pattern of brain-behavior associations was observed with perseveration measured on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test. None of the examined structural brain variables were important at the later stages of skill acquisition. When hypertensive participants were excluded, the effect of prefrontal shrinkage on executive aspects of performance was no longer significant, but the effect of working memory remained. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Situational differences in leader behavior.

Two types of leaders have been contrasted in the child study literature since the early 1930's, one group-oriented, the other, self-oriented. In the present research, systematic observations of boys of each type are made on the school playground, where these patterns have been observed in the past, and in the more intimate, less competitive situation of the back yard. Six group-oriented leaders and six self-oriented leaders were selected from the third grades of four New England public schools on the basis of a teacher's rating and ratings by two previous observers of the boys. During the winter and spring of 1954 these twelve nine-year-old boys were observed on the playground during a free play period and in the neighborhood, using the set of categories for interaction process analysis developed by Bales. The clinical judgments of teachers and social scientists are not entirely validated since boys of both leader types show the same amount of aggression on the school playground, although the self-oriented leader is more aggressive in the neighborhood. Other expected differences appear since the self-oriented leader gives fewer suggestions and shows more tension in both situations. The major finding of this research is that there are more differences between situations than between the two leader styles. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

How do health and biological age influence chronological age and sex differences in cognitive aging: Moderating, mediating, or both?

Much research on cognitive competence in normal older adults has documented age and sex differences. The authors used new cross-sectional data from the Victoria Longitudinal Study (VLS) (n = 386; age 61 to 95 years) to examine how health and biological age influence age and sex differences in cognitive aging. The authors found evidence for both moderating and mediating influences. Age differences were moderated by health status, such that the negative effects of age were most pronounced among participants of relatively better health. Sex differences were moderated by health and were more pronounced among participants reporting comparatively poorer health. Although health mediated a notable amount of age-related cognitive variation, BioAge mediated considerably more variance, even after statistical control for differences in health. A complex pattern emerged for the mediation of sex differences: Although BioAge accounted for sex-related variation in cognitive performance, health operated to suppress these differences. Overall, both health and BioAge predicted cognitive variation independently of chronological age. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Parental corporal punishment predicts behavior problems in early childhood.

Using data from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (Research Triangle Institute, 2002), this study examined the impact of corporal punishment (CP) on children's behavior problems. Longitudinal analyses were specified that controlled for covarying contextual and parenting variables and that partialed child effects. The results indicate that parental CP uniquely contributes to negative behavioral adjustment in children at both 36 months and at 1st grade, with the effects at the earlier age more pronounced in children with difficult temperaments. Parents and mental health professionals who work to modify children's negative behavior should be aware of the unique impact that CP likely plays in triggering and maintaining children's behavior problems. Broad-based family policies that reduce the use of this parenting behavior would potentially increase children's mental health and decrease the incidence of children's behavior problems. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Conforming behavior under two conditions of conflict in the cognitive field.

It was concluded that the creation of a frame of reference permitting the interpretation of the majority of subjects' responses as being in error can reduce the amount of conforming behavior on the part of other subjects. 23 references. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Parental evaluations of children and children's self-evaluations.

"Two self-evaluative measures, labelled Self-Favorability and Self-Acceptance, were derived from self-ratings by 74 8th- and 9th-grade children. Analogous measures of parental Favorability and Acceptance with respect to the child were derived from ratings by parents of 51 of the children. Sociometric information was available for the children. Although the measures of Favorability and Acceptance had adequate reliability, correlations between the two variables were low in both parents and children. Correlations between parental evaluations and children's self-evaluations tended to be small but consistently positive." From Psyc Abstracts 36:01:1FG90H. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Individual differences in rates of change in cognitive abilities of older persons.

The authors examined change in cognitive abilities in older Catholic clergy members. For up to 6 years, participants underwent annual clinical evaluations, which included a battery of tests from which summary measures of 7 abilities were derived. On average, decline occurred in each ability and was more rapid in older persons than in younger persons. However, wide individual differences were evident at all ages. Rate of change in a given domain was not strongly related to baseline level of function in that domain but was moderately associated with rates of change in other cognitive domains. The results suggest that change in cognitive function in old age primarily reflects person-specific factors rather than an inevitable developmental process. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex differences in the genetic and environmental influences on childhood conduct disorder and adult antisocial behavior.

Sex differences in the genetic and environmental influences on childhood conduct disorder and adult antisocial behavior were examined in a large community sample of 6,383 adult male, female, and opposite-sex twins. Retrospective reports of childhood conduct disorder (prior to 18 years of age) were obtained when participants were approximately 30 years old, and lifetime reports of adult antisocial behavior (antisocial behavior after 17 years of age) were obtained 8 years later. Results revealed that either the genetic or the shared environmental factors influencing childhood conduct disorder differed for males and females (i.e., a qualitative sex difference), but by adulthood, these sex-specific influences on antisocial behavior were no longer apparent. Further, genetic and environmental influences accounted for proportionally the same amount of variance in antisocial behavior for males and females in childhood and adulthood (i.e., there were no quantitative sex differences). Additionally, the stability of antisocial behavior from childhood to adulthood was slightly greater for males than females. Though familial factors accounted for more of the stability of antisocial behavior for males than females, genetic factors accounted for the majority of the covariation between childhood conduct disorder and adult antisocial behavior for both sexes. The genetic influences on adult antisocial behavior overlapped completely with the genetic influences on childhood conduct disorder for both males and females. Implications for future twin and molecular genetic studies are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex differences in problem-solving performance as a function of attitude differences.

Men make significantly higher scores than women on a scale of attitudes toward problem solving. Attitude scores "have some positive relationship to performance scores." From Psyc Abstracts 36:01:1GD56C. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex and anxiety differences in eyelid conditioning.

Data concerning the relationship between eyelid conditioning performance and 2 S variables, Ss' sex, and scores on the MA scale, are examined. In studies employing standard procedures, high-anxiety Ss were superior to low-anxiety Ss in 23 of 27 comparisons, and females superior to males in 18 of 19 comparisons. In contrast, the direction of the differences was split approximately equally between high- and low-anxiety Ss and between males and females in studies in which conditioning was presented within the context of masking probability-learning task. (31 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Thirty years of research on race differences in cognitive ability.

The culture-only (0% genetic-100% environmental) and the hereditarian (50% genetic-50% environmental) models of the causes of mean Black-White differences in cognitive ability are compared and contrasted across 10 categories of evidence: the worldwide distribution of test scores, g factor of mental ability, heritability, brain size and cognitive ability, transracial adoption, racial admixture, regression, related life-history traits, human origins research, and hypothesized environmental variables. The new evidence reviewed here points to some genetic component in Black-White differences in mean IQ. The implication for public policy is that the discrimination model (i.e., Black-White differences in socially valued outcomes will be equal barring discrimination) must be tempered by a distributional model (i.e., Black-White outcomes reflect underlying group characteristics). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Application of stochastic modeling to the assessment of group and individual differences in cognitive functioning.

This article begins with a guiding schema of relations among cognitive science, clinical science, and assessment technology. Emphasis is placed on stochastic modeling of cognitive processes. Basic models are adjusted so as to parsimoniously accommodate performance deviations occurring with psychopathology. Modified portions of models indicate functions affected by disorder, whereas portions remaining intact indicate spared functions. Findings from clinical cognitive science are applied to the individual case using Bayesian procedures. Methods are instantiated with respect to cognitive psychopathology of paranoid schizophrenia. The authors address observations and issues arising from this application, including integration of these methods with current assessment practices. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Gender differences in cognitive development.

The potential effect of gender on intellectual abilities remains controversial. The purpose of this research was to analyze gender differences in cognitive test performance among children from continuous age groups. For this purpose, the normative data from 7 domains of the newly developed neuropsychological test battery, the Evaluación Neuropsicológica Infantil [Child Neuropsychological Assessment] (Matute, Rosselli, Ardila, & Ostrosky-Solis, 2007), were analyzed. The sample included 788 monolingual children (350 boys, 438 girls) ages 5 to 16 years from Mexico and Colombia. Gender differences were observed in oral language (language expression and language comprehension), spatial abilities (recognition of pictures seen from different angles), and visual (Object Integration Test) and tactile perceptual tasks, with boys outperforming girls in most cases, except for the tactile tasks. Gender accounted for only a very small percentage of the variance (1%–3%). Gender × Age interactions were observed for the tactile tasks only. It was concluded that gender differences during cognitive development are minimal, appear in only a small number of tests, and account for only a low percentage of the score variance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex differences in 2- and 3-years-olds: Mother-child relations, peer relations, and peer play.

This paper examines the different behavior patterns utilized by boys and girls as they form peer relationships and engage in peer play; the nature of their relations with their mothers is also reported. Girls manifested more intense involvement with their mothers, engaged in less peer play than boys, showed lower mood, lower levels of play, less direct aggression, and more controlling play with peers. Furthermore, their mothers handled their requests for contact and aggressive behavior differently than did mothers of boys. Boys were slower to become aware of separateness but once aware, they came to terms with it faster than girls. The boys took longer to pay attention to peers; once peers were focused on, the play moved more quickly to high levels than did the play of the girls. Qualitative findings were supported by quantitative findings-boys showed more contact and more involvement with their peers than did girls. The hypothesis is tentatively offered that the reaction to the awareness of psychological separateness from their mothers is more intense in girls than in boys partly because girls experience this awareness earlier, owing to their more rapid cognitive maturation. . . (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)