The effects of sex of speaker and listener on recall from a medical audiotape

Two studies are reported that examine the effects of the sex of the speaker and the sex of the listener on recall from a medical audiotape on multiple sclerosis. Previous research in other contexts has suggested that males might be more effective speakers than females, that males might be more effective listeners than females, and that there might be an interaction between the sex of the speaker and the sex of the listener so that male listeners might recall more from male speakers and female listeners might recall more from female ones.
Despite considerable differences between the two reported studies, the results from both were very similar. Both produced no evidence to support any of the above suggestions.     

An ERP study of emotional face processing in the adult and infant brain

To examine the ontogeny of emotional face processing, event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded from adults and 7-month-old infants while viewing pictures of fearful, happy, and neutral faces. Face-sensitive ERPs at occipital-temporal scalp regions differentiated between fearful and neutral/happy faces in both adults (N170 was larger for fear) and infants (P400 was larger for fear). Behavioral measures showed no overt attentional bias toward fearful faces in adults, but in infants, the duration of the first fixation was longer for fearful than happy faces. Together, these results suggest that the neural systems underlying the differential processing of fearful and happy/neutral faces are functional early in life, and that affective factors may play an important role in modulating infants' face processing.     

The differential impact of extrinsic and mastery goal orientations on males' and females' self-regulated learning

We investigated whether there were gender differences in associations between males' and females' mastery and extrinsic goal orientations and measures of self-regulated learning (self-efficacy, cognitive, and regulatory strategies) and performance. Survey data from 445 seventh- and eighth-grade students at both the beginning and end of the year indicated that males were more extrinsically oriented than females, whereas females reported greater use of cognitive strategies than males. Regression analyses indicated that for males an extrinsic goal orientation at the beginning of the year was related to decreased self-efficacy, less use of regulatory and cognitive strategies, and decreased performance at the end of the year. Females' extrinsic orientation did not affect any of those outcomes. Females' mastery orientation at the beginning of the year predicted increased self-efficacy, and increased use of regulatory and cognitive strategies at the end of the year. There were no positive effects over time for males holding a mastery orientation.     

An examination of male-female performance in a programmed achievement learning center

College students operated under different classroom contingencies. The Programmed Achievement (PA) condition required students to evidence criterion performance (100% mastery) on weekly quizzes. Failure to show mastery performance on any of the weekly quizzes resulted in course failure. The Standard Control (S-C) condition involved a more traditional college classroom structure where students took weekly quizzes with no requirement to evidence mastery. Male and female performances were analyzed to determine if different course structures interacted with sex of student. The results indicated that PA students demonstrated higher performance than controls on weekly quizzes and a major exam. It was also shown that PA females increased at a more rapid rate than PA males, while S-C males and females were not significantly different. Theoretical implications of the results are discussed.     

Self-Predictions of Emotional Response Patterns: Age, Sex, and Situational Determinants

A total of 407 males and females in 4 different age groups (M age = 8.0, 10.8, 15.2, and 20.3 years) completed questionnaires requiring self-ratings of 5 emotions (angry, happy, sad, fearful, and loving), on a 5-point scale, for 10 affect-laden sentences. Each of the 5 emotions was targeted as a key emotion by 2 sentences. The resulting patterns indicate that children as young as 8 can discriminate between affect-eliciting statements, differentially rate up to 5 concurrent emotional responses, and predict response patterns similar to those predicted by adults. Furthermore, sex differences occur during adolescence whereby males predict more varied but less intense secondary emotions, whereas females predict fewer but more intense secondary emotions.     

Fear of death and physical illness: a personal construct approach

The Threat Index, Templer's Death Anxiety Scale, and the Collett-Lester Fear of Death Scale were administered to 100 respondents in an attempt to assess their personal orientation toward death. Each respondent was a member of one of the following groups: people with no known illness; people attending their family physician for a checkup; rheumatoid arthritics; diabetics; or people recently treated for cancer. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses indicated that older respondents were significantly less death anxious, less fearful of their own death, and more integrated (that is, showed less self-death discrepancy) than younger respondents. Further analyses revealed no differences between any of the groups on fear of death or death anxiety, indicating that the current state of an individual's health was not related to his or her death orientation. Instead, correlational and regression analyses suggested that anxiety and fear were much more likely to be influenced by a respondent's level of actualization and, to a lesser extent, level of integration. The expected additive effects of actualization and integration did not emerge, a finding that was at variance with previous research.     

Independence and Non-Independence of True Scores and Error Scores in Mental Tests

A comparison of animism in college males and females was made. The test instrument was the Crowell-Dole Information Scale, a self-report questionnaire of common objects. A total of 59. 8 percent of all Ss indicated animistic tendencies. Chi-square analysis of the raw data indicated no significant difference in incidents of animism for males and females. No significant difference was found between those students having one or more college biology courses and those with no formal training in biology.     

Attachment Security Priming Decreases Children's Physiological Response to Threat

Ninety 6- and 7-year-olds (49.3% White, mostly middle class) from greater Washington, DC were randomly assigned to a subliminal priming condition (secure, happy, or neutral) to determine if attachment security priming decreases physiological, expressive, and self-reported fear reactions to threatening stimuli. Dispositional attachment security was also assessed. Secure priming and attachment security each decreased electrodermal reactivity, increased vagal augmentation, and decreased fearful facial expressions compared to control conditions. Examination of a statistical interaction between security priming and child attachment indicated that, although secure children had increased vagal augmentation and fewer fearful expressions than insecure children, the effects of priming were constant across secure and insecure children. There were no priming or attachment effects associated with children's self-reported fear.     

Do actions speak louder than words? An effect of the functional use of language on dominant sex role behavior in boys and girls

Although a number of studies document the fact that adult males interrupt females more often than females interrupt males, less is known about whether this behavior is also true of younger boys and girls. This study examined some aspects of dominant-submissive sex role behavior in preschool children and their teachers during conversation at the snack table. It asked whether there was any difference in the number of times girls and boys interrupted their teacher, and whether there was any difference in the number of times the teacher interrupted boys or girls. In succeeding observations, researchers investigated whether girls or boys were assigned the privilege of passing snack more frequently.In Investigation 1 nine boys and nine girls, 4 years of age, were observed talking with a variety of student teachers in a naturalistic snack setting, and checklists were kept of the number of teacher-child, child-teacher interruptions during conversation. In Investigation 2, tallies were kept of the number of times boys and girls assumed the dominant roles of distributing snacks and snack materials.Results indicted that during conversation, boys interrupted their teachers more frequently than the girls did (p > .03). Teachers interrupted girls more frequently than they interrupted boys (p > .02). No significant differences were found in the frequency of participation by boys or girls in passing snack. Results are discussed in relation to the teacher's role in teaching dominant-submissive sex role behaviors to children.     

Sex,Presentation Mode and Memory for Violent and Non‐violent News

A sample of 68 university undergraduates were presented with a sequence of violent and nonviolent news stories either audiovisually (via television), in audio only or in print. Subjects were tested for cued recall of story content immediately after presentation. There was a significant main effect of presentation mode: recall of news was best from print and worst in the audiovisual condition. Significant interaction occurred between sex, mode and news type: males recalled violent news better than non‐violent news, while for females the reverse was true. Males also recalled violent news much better than females in the audiovisual mode, but no such difference occurred in any other mode. Results indicate that reading the news can produce better retention than listening to or watching it. Furthermore, the presentation of violent news stories audiovisually (on videotape) can produce especially impaired memory performance among female viewers.     

The comparison of performance by sex of deaf children on the WISC-R

The Performance Scale of the WISC-R was administered to 60 female and 65 male hearing-impaired subjects. The only significant sex difference found was on the Coding subtest, with females outperforming males by a mean scaled score difference of 1.77 points (t = −3.087, p<.01). Subtest intercorrelational results suggest that deaf females possessed significantly better visual-motor coordination and speed, while males demonstrated better spatial analysis and synthesis skills. A principal factor analysis procedure yielded only one factor for each sex. The high degree of factorial similarity between the female and male samples indicated that the underlying construct being measured by the WISC-R Performance subtests does not differ by gender.     

Interpretation of emotion from facial expressions in children with and without learning disabilities

The accuracy and time required for children with and without learning disabilities to interpret emotions when restricted to information from facial expressions, and the accuracy of those interpretations, were investigated. Ninety-six children participated; an equal number of males and females were included in both learning categories and age levels. Accuracy and response time on a modified version of Pictures of Facial Affect were recorded for the emotions of fear, sadness, surprise, anger, happiness, and disgust, as well as for the entire task. Three-way ANOVAs revealed children with learning disabilities to (a) be less accurate interpreters of emotion and (b) spend more time identifying specific emotions. Both age and sex influenced response time: Younger subjects required more time to interpret the emotions of fear and anger; males spent more time interpreting happiness. Younger females with learning disabilities displayed difficulty in interpretation, and older children with learning disabilities (particularly males) were rapid, but often inaccurate, interpreters of emotion.     

The effects of immediate achievement and retention of middle school students involved in a metric unit designed to promote the development of estimating skills

Three hundred nintey-seven seventh-grade students were studied to determine the effect on immediate achievement and retention of a unit designed to promote the development of estimating skills involved in metric measurement. The study involved five teachers with a total of 15 average- or advanced-level classes divided into the reference and treatment groups. A five-day metric unit was designed so that both groups received exactly the same instruction in metric length, mass, and capacity with the exception of the treatment group's participation in activities relating to the development of estimation skills. Data collected from the Metric Application Instrument and analyzed with analysis of covariance indicated that students in the experimental group did retain significantly more of their improved metric application skills than the students in the reference group. The analysis of the main effects of race, sex, and ability indicated that white students achieved significantly more than black students and that males achieved significantly more than females. Analysis of significant race/ability and sex/race interactions indicated that (a) white students in the advanced group attained significantly greater achievement in metric application skills than black students of equal status and (b) white males significantly retained their metric applications achievement when compared to black males or black or white females.     

Minority status,sex, and school psychological services

The sex and minority status of 355 students referred for psychological services from a random sample of schools in an urban school system were examined in relation to the frequency of referral, type of problem, and the nature of subsequent psychological services. A significantly higher percentage of both minority students and males were referred for psychological services; males were referred approximately twice as often as females. When referral problems were categorized as either academic or behavior problems, there were no differences between majority and minority students nor between males and females on percentage referred for each type of problem. Parent contacts were made significantly more often for majority students and for females, and recommendations to parents of majority students were more varied than those made to parents of minority students. Special Education resource services were recommended significantly more often for minority students. Possible reasons and implications of these findings are discussed.     

Gender-related worry and emotionality test anxiety for high-achieving students

Test anxiety among academically talented high school students (N = 103) was explored in this study. Two components of test anxiety were assessed: a cognitive component (worry) and a physiological component (emotionality). The results indicated that these students suffered from test anxiety, and that higher anxiety was related to lower science performance. Overall, females reported more test anxiety than did males. Whereas females experienced higher worry than emotionality, males reported little difference between the two anxiety components. Implications for college-bound students are discussed. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Sex differences on the WISC-R for retarded children and youth

This study investigated sex differences on the WISC-R subtests for retarded males and females who were matched in terms of WISC-R Full Scale IQs. The sample consisted of 126 children and youth (63 females, 63 males) ranging in chronological age from 7–3 to 8–3, with a mean CA of 7–8. Each subject was matched in terms of Full Scale IQ score. A 2 × 10 analysis of variance with repeated measures on a single factor was used to analyze the data. Students' T and Fisher's F ratios were calculated, and differences between subtest means were analyzed by Newman-Keuls test for sample effects. Evidence from the investigation indicated that a significant interaction effect existed between sex and subtest scores.     

Some contributions to sex differences in scholastic aptitude scores

In this study no significant direct effect of sex on performance on ASAT was found. Further, sex differences in performance were found to be the result of females having a higher verbal ability as measured by English assessments, males studying more mathematics, and males having a greater confidence in success on ASAT. For this sample it was found that the female students achieved about 0.40 score points on ASAT more than males, after regressing out father's occupation, English assessment, hours spent studying mathematics, and confidence in success. The adjustment to ASAT scores in 1983 would certainly account for the positive effect of sex; i.e. being a female increased a student's score by 0.40 score points. After allowing for this adjustment of approximately 1.0 score points, being a male increased a students ASAT score by 0.60 score points.ASAT was found to favour students who scored well in English and those students who studied more hours of mathematics. English, in part, tests verbal aptitude and consequently it might be expected that there would be a significant positive effect related to English assessment. The number of hours of mathematics studied is not itself a direct measure of aptitude and consequently it may be considered that the number of hours of mathematics studied provides an advantage for performance on ASAT. However, it is not unreasonable to expect that it is those students of greater quantitative aptitude who would study more mathematics. The significant mathematics hours effect may be a result of this, since there is no control for quantitative aptitude within the model. It was, however, the very large effect which the score on the confidence in success attitude scale had on ASAT performance that was the most suprising. For some undetermined, perhaps social, reason, females had a significantly lower confidence than males.The relationship between Confidence in Success and performance might be expected since, in part, the Confidence in Success variable measures how well students thought they did on ASAT. It is still clear however, that after confidence in success is taken into account, sex has no significant effect on ASAT score. The predictors of success are English ability, hours spent in the study of mathematics, and confidence.     

Runaway youths and sexual victimization: gender differences in an adolescent runaway population

Running away from home has often been viewed as one of the sequelae to sexual abuse. Our study of 144 adolescent runaways finds that 38% of male runaways (n = 89) and 73% of female runaways (n = 55) report having been sexually abused. The impact of abuse is examined by studying, within each gender group, its relationship to the subject's perceptions of sexual activity, relationships with peers and adults, involvement with delinquent/criminal activities, and physical and emotional complaints. The results of assessing the differences between abused and nonabused adolescents show that both the victimized males and females are more likely to report anxiety and suicidal feelings than are their nonabused counterparts. Male victims of sexual abuse are more likely to report physical symptomatology and fear of adult men. Female victims of sexual abuse are more likely to be confused about sex and to engage in delinquent/criminal activities. Discussion focuses on gender differences and runaway behaviors in relation to sexual victimization with the suggestion that differences in the degree of abuse and the sex of the abuser may explain study findings.     

The effect of simulation games and worksheets on learning of varying ability groups in a high school biology classroom

High school biology students who were taught by the simulation game method had comparable achievement gains to the students who were taught using worksheets. The three simulation games used in this study were able to teach factual information as well as the worksheet activities. This effect was constant across ability and sex. There were no significant differences in the retention scores of high ability students utilizing gaming. Also, there was no significant difference in the scores of low ability students utilizing worksheets and low ability students using games. Students' sex was significantly related with retention in the three-way interaction of treatment by ability by sex. Low ability females using simulation games scored higher on retention than low ability females utilizing worksheets. Low ability males utilizing worksheets scored higher on retention than low ability males using simulation games.     

The role of sex differences in the referral process as measured by the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised and the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised

The Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised (PPVT-R) and the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R) are two tests that are often used in the assessment process for special education referrals. Sex differences apparent in these tests were examined in a sample of Arkansas school children who were first-time referrals for a psychological evaluation. The subjects' PPVT-R standard scores, WISC-R IQ scores, and WISC-R subtest scores were divided into groups according to one-year intervals from ages 6 through 16. A separate 2 × 11 (subjects' sex x subjects' age) analysis of variance was performed for each dependent variable. Results indicated significant sex differences among WISC-R Full Scale, Verbal, and Performance IQs and PPVT-R standard scores (p < .01). Several WISC-R subtests also revealed significant sex differences. Further significant sex differences were indicated at several age groups on each dependent variable, with males consistently scoring higher than females on 87%. of the dependent measures excluding the WISC-R subtest Coding, on which females scored higher. Implications concerning the referral process are discussed.