The Ambivalent Sexism Inventory: Differentiating hostile and benevolent sexism.

The authors present a theory of sexism formulated as ambivalence toward women and validate a corresponding measure, the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory (ASI). The ASI taps 2 positively correlated components of sexism that nevertheless represent opposite evaluative orientations toward women: sexist antipathy or Hostile Sexism (HS) and a subjectively positive (for sexist men) orientation toward women, Benevolent Sexism (BS). HS and BS are hypothesized to encompass 3 sources of male ambivalence: Paternalism, Gender Differentiation, and Heterosexuality. Six ASI studies on 2,250 respondents established convergent, discriminant, and predictive validity. Overall ASI scores predict ambivalent attitudes toward women, the HS scale correlates with negative attitudes toward and stereotypes about women, and the BS scale (for nonstudent men only) correlates with positive attitudes and stereotypes about women. A copy of the ASI is provided, with scoring instructions, as a tool for further explorations of sexist ambivalence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceptions of stressful life events and depression: A test of attributional models.

Tested the attributional models of depression proposed by L. Y. Abramson et al (see record 1979-00305-001), using 278 undergraduates who had recently experienced a stressful event and 51 55–79 yr old adults who sought treatment for problems with depression. Three questions were addressed: (a) the validity of the hypothesized independent and direction relation between each of the dimensions of internality, stability, controllability, intentionality, and globality and depression; (b) the causal relation between attributions and depression in a 2-mo prospective study; and (c) evaluation of the model on the 2 disparate samples. Ss were administered a battery of depression measures; students completed an attribution questionnaire, while adults completed a measure of life stress attributions. Causal modeling statistical procedures were applied to both the question of concurrent relations and causal relations between cognitions and depression. Results suggest minimal support for the attributional model: The dimensions were not each independently and directly associated with depression in the manner predicted, and the model that best fit the data was generally congruent for both the normal and clinical samples. In terms of direction of causality, the data were more consistent in indicating that depression causes cognitions than in indicating the reverse. (45 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Counseling expectations as a function of fee for service.

Two studies investigated the hypothesis that counseling on a fee-for-service basis might affect client evaluation of counseling, client motivation to change, and client willingness to seek help. In Study 1, 80 male and 80 female undergraduates completed a questionnaire, which required Ss to estimate the probability of their using university counseling-center services for varied concerns, and an expectations-about-counseling questionnaire. Ss were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 experimental conditions representing fee structures: no fee, a modest fee ($5), a modest fee but knowing others pay more for the same services, and a substantial fee ($25). Results show that fee condition did not affect willingness to seek help or counseling expectancies. Although there were some differences between sexes on expectancies, there was no interaction effect for sex and fee condition. In Study 2, 12 male and 31 female 15–54 yr old former clients of a psychology clinic were asked to compare satisfaction under no-fee and fee ($5 and $25) conditions. Again, fees did not affect Ss' evaluations of, expectations for, or willingness to seek counseling. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Individual differences in 16-year memory changes.

The authors analyzed the role of individual differences in age, gender, and 16-year declines in reasoning and vocabulary as predictors of 16-year changes in text and list recall and recognition in 82 adults aged 55–81 years at baseline. Declines in reasoning as well as being older at baseline predicted declines in text recall. Male gender and declining in vocabulary predicted declines in list recall. There were no reliable predictors of declines in recognition. The findings suggest that changes in abilities, as well as age and gender, predict declines on memory tasks. However, the specific predictors varied across tasks. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Application of the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child to the United States.

This article raises and reviews the Constitutional and political issues likely to be considered as the Convention on the Rights of the Child (U.N. General Assembly, 1989) moves toward ratification within the U.S. Senate. After reviewing four key areas of potential conflict with U.S. law (provisions related to juvenile justice, education, religious freedom, and definitions of the child), the authors conclude that political rather than genuine Constitutional issues pose the greatest barrier to ratification. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Ethical decision making and psychologists' attitudes toward training in ethics.

Discusses the inadequacy of old, and the lack of new guidelines for the protection of the rights of individuals in psychological treatment. A questionnaire containing vignettes of clinical and research situations that required decision-making processes was completed by 113 members of the Division of Clinical Psychology of the American Psychological Association. Data suggest that there is inconsistency in decision making. Suggestions for improving the decision-making process and enhancing consistency are presented. (8 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effectiveness of cotherapists versus single therapists and immediate versus delayed treatment in behavioral marital therapy.

Evaluated the overall effectiveness of behavioral marital therapy (BMT) in aiding distressed couples, and explored the relative effectiveness of (a) cotherapists vs single therapists and (b) immediate treatment vs delayed treatment, which resulted from placing couples on a waiting list. 30 maritally distressed couples (aged 19–59 yrs) were randomly assigned to 1 of 6 treatment conditions, with 5 couples per condition: (a) immediate treatment by Therapist A; (b) immediate treatment by Therapist B; (c) immediate treatment by Therapists A and B as a cotherapy team; (d) delayed treatment by Therapist A; (e) delayed treatment by Therapist B; or (f) delayed treatment by Therapists A and B as a cotherapy team. Ss were administered a battery of tests that included the Marital Adjustment Test and Areas-of-Change Questionnaire. Results indicate that BMT was more effective than no treatment on both self-report measures and 1 of 2 behavioral measures, thus affirming the overall effectiveness of the treatment. A cotherapy team and single therapists were equally effective in producing treatment changes. In addition, overall there were no significant differences between couples receiving therapy immediately and couples treated after a 10-wk waiting period. (37 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Poisoning and conditioned drinking.

Produced conditioned drinking in 73 male Sprague-Dawley albino rats by conditioned stimuli paired with hypertonic procaine, isotonic procaine, and hypertonic saline, in that order of effectiveness. When these solutions were paired with the taste of saccharin, they produced taste aversions in the same order of effectiveness. Lithium chloride, a well-known poison, produced taste aversions but, in contrast, conditioned decreases in drinking. Like taste aversions which develop after 1 trial, conditioned drinking also developed in 1 trial. Results suggest that procaine and hypertonic saline may be poisons, since the malaise they produce is relieved by drinking, can be classically conditioned, and is indexed by conditioned drinking. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Students' aptitudes and their reports of cognitive processes during direct instruction.

72 5th- and 6th-grade students were randomly assigned to 1 of 6 classes using a factorial assignment of ability level crossed with attitude. Each class was taught a 2-day unit on probability, using the direct instruction model. Ss were videotaped during the lesson and afterward were interviewed about their thought processes using a stimulated-recall procedure. Independent of ability, Ss' reports of their understanding of the lesson were significantly related to achievement. Also, Ss who reported using specific cognitive strategies, such as relating the information being taught to prior knowledge, did better on the achievement test than those who did not report such strategies. (26 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On the criteria for instrumental autonomic conditioning: A reply to Katkin and Murray.

In their recent review of instrumental conditioning of autonomic functions, E. S. Katkin and E. N. Murray (see 42: criticized most of the existing studies on the human level as artifactual on 1 or more grounds. The criteria they employed for rejecting these demonstrations are themselves open to criticism, however. Specifically, it is argued that (1) peripheral or cognitive mediation hypotheses are unlikely alternative explanations of the obtained results; (2) an increase in response frequency over a preconditioning operant level is not a necessary condition for demonstrating an increase in response probability with contingent reinforcement; and (3) yoked-control designs, frequently used in this research, do not automatically invalidate experiments in which they are employed. It is concluded that the strongest hypothesis to account for the existing data remains the direct instrumental strengthening of autonomic activity. (35 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)