Reliable Sex Differences Research Articles

Isolation-induced social pecking in domestic chicks: Contemporary correlates and sequelae

Aspects of the social pecking of domestic chicks in a free response situation were examined in a series of experiments. It was proposed that a dual pattern of responses involving (a) a preponderance of pecks at the head of a conspecific, and (b) heightened emotionality (as indicated by the emission of distress calls) might be taken to reflect an aggressive tendency, and evidence was reviewed that showed that a brief period of isolation was a sufficient condition to elicit such a pattern. The main questions asked in this paper are: (a) whether the gender of a chick had a material influence on the incidence of such social pecking, and (b) whether orders established in pecking exchanges reflected a unidimensional social ordering among chicks. In the 1st set of studies the effect of the sex of subject on rates of social pecking was tested. While an isolation procedure clearly produced the dual pattern of heightened head pecking and calling, reliable sex differences were not in evidence. In a 2nd study, concerned with the generality of social orders as observed in social pecking exchanges, the isolation procedure again was sufficient to produce apparently aggressive reactions but the resulting peck orders between chicks did not predict success in later tests when the same 2 subjects were pitted against one another in either approach or avoidance competitive tasks. These results are discussed in terms of the relationship of infant aggression to adult aggression, and suggestions are made for a revised view of the development of the aggressive behavior of fowl.

Sampling autobiographical memory

An empirical procedure for probing autobiographical memory was assessed. Words designating common objects, activities, and feelings were used as guides for recall of discrete experiences. Four properties of the recollections were assessed: latency, age of occurrence, temporal specificity of memory report, and type of experience. The three results of most general interest were: (1) consistent differences in properties of reports elicited by affect terms and those elicited by object and activity words; (2) a curvilinear relationship between latency and event age; and (3) reliable sex differences. Several proposals regarding the organization of autobiographical memory, and voluntary recall of personal experiences are discussed.

Sex differences in the eyes of expert personality assessors: unwarranted conclusions.

In a recent paper, Haan and Livson reported sex differences between male and female psychologists in their evaluations of adult men and adult women. Their conclusions have implication for the validity of clinical assessments and were interpreted in terms of stereotypic sex role perceptions. However, their statistical analysis was in fundamental error. When the data they employed were reanalyzed, no reliable sex differences between men and women psychologists were found, a finding in accord with a number of previous investigations of this problem.

Diagnostic implications of WISC Digit Span scores.

Some meaningful (significantly different from zero) correlations between Digit Span and other WISC variables were obtained for a sample of 324 children in 9 diagnostic groups. There is no evidence of reliable sex or diagnostic differences in these correlations.

Risk-taking by retarded and nonretarded children.

The present study examined the risk-taking propensities of 30 boys and 30 girls of mildly retarded intelligence (Mia = 68) in special education classes, and equal numbers of nonretarded youngsters of comparable mental ages in Grades 3 to 5. Predictions based on Atkinson and Feather's (1966) achievement-motivation model, a presumed low expectancy of success among the retarded, and Cromwell's (1963) review, suggesting failureavoidance behaviors bv the retarded. were that retarded children would take fewer risks than the nonretarded in a simple game of chance involving no motor skill. A praise condition was included as it was of interest to determine if social reward for performance would increase the number of risks taken. A switch game similar to that employed by Slovic (1966) and West, Fretz, and MacDonald (1970) was used to measure risk-tahng. The device consisted of a vertical panel with 10 horizontally positioned toggle switches, nine of which were said to be good, and a tenth (unspecified) was designated bad. A penny could be won for each good switch flipped on, but if the bad switch was hit a buzzer was to sound and all pennies won so far lost. Ss were told that they could stop playing whenever they wished and keep the pennies they had accumulated. Two practice trials were given and for each the bad switch was randomly selected by E. Each S was encouraged to flip the switches until the buzzer sounded as there were no pennies to lose. The buzzer was thereafter disconnected (unknown to the child) and two test trials were given. For the first trial, no youngster received praise, but on the second trial one-half of the Ss from each IQ group wrrc glveri social praise for each good switch flipped on while the remaining Ss were not prased, as in Trial 1. Scores could range from 0 to 9 (9 good switches). Surprisingly, the results indicated extremely high levels of risk-taking by both IQ groups. The mean risk-taking score over the two trials was 8.5 for the nonretarded and 8.8 for the retarded. Only 32% of the nonretarded and 15% of the retarded children voluntarily quit on at least one of the two trials before flipping on all nine switches. No significant effects of IQ were obtained for Trial 1 (no praise) nor did analysis of difference scores (Trial 2 minus Trial 1) indicate reliable main effects or interactions with praise, perhaps due to ceiling effects. Pooled Trial 1 and Trial 2 data, however, did indicate significantly higher risk-taking scores for the retarded than for the nonretarded (F = 4.8, df = 1/119, p < .05). Further, comparison of the number of Ss who voluntarily quit on at least one of the two trials versus those who did not showed that the nonretarded quit more often than the retarded (x3 = 4.6, df = 1, P < .05). No reliable sex differences were obtained in any analysis. Thus, in certain risk situations, retarded boys and girls take as many or more risks than do the nonretarded of equal mental age. A potentially fruitful direction for research is the manipulation of magnitude of reward for risk-taking.

Sex differences in open-ended responses to Dogmatism Scale items.

The open-ended responses of male and female college students to 11 items of the Rokeach Dogmatism Scale were content analyzed. Three statistically reliable sex differences were found. Since these could have occurred by chance, the Dogmatism Scale is hypothesized to measure the same factors in both sexes.

A Two‐Phase Analysis of THE SUMMER ON TRIAL PROGRAM at the University of Georgia

The problem of the study was to evaluate the success of borderline inadmissible students to the University of Georgia who elected to attend the Summer On Trial Program. The method consisted of statistical comparisons of males and females according to predicted success and actual success in terms of grade‐point averages and three academic statuses. The S's were 58 boys and 30 girls. At the end of 3 quarters of academic work 80 per cent of the 88 original S's had either withdrawn or were ineligible to continue their university studies. Reliable sex differences were not found. It was concluded that the odds were heavily against eventual college success for the type S studied.

AN EVALUATION OF THE P.Q. (PERSONALITY QUOTIENT) TEST*

SUMMARY The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the P.Q. test in a homogeneous community and to determine some of the relationships of this test to environmental factors and other measures of ability, achievement, and personality. Test results for 146 boys and 113 girls attending high school at Mooseheart, Illinois, comprise the data upon which this study is based. The results may be stated as follows: 1. Raw scores on parts of the test were found to become larger with increasing age and progress through the grades. The fact that the relationship between raw extroversion scores and age is greater than the relationship between extroversion scores and grade suggests that, for this group at least, P.Q.'s based on age rather than grade norms may be more accurate. 2. Chance correlations were found for boys between part scores on the test and both intelligence and academic achievement as measured by the Morgan Mental and Sones-Harry Achievement tests, respectively. Slight positive correlations were found for the girls. A statistically reliable sex difference was found between the correlation for self-determination and both achievement and intelligence. A statistically reliable sex difference is approached between correlations for extroversion and both achievement and intelligence. 3. Slight positive correlations were found between some of the part scores on the test and class ranks indicating that individuals with high P.Q.'s have a slight advantage in academic competition. 4.The correlation between the P.Q.'s of fifty-four pairs of siblings was found to be .04 ± .067, while the correlation between their I.Q.'s was found to be .35 ± .059. This may, perhaps, be interpreted to mean that the P.Q. is more dependent upon environmental influences than upon hereditary factors. 5.On the basis of the available data and with the age factor only partially controlled, no statistically significant difference was found between the average P.Q. of children who had been at Mooseheart for less than six years when compared with children who had been at Mooseheart for more than twelve years. This may be interpreted to mean that the Mooseheart environment has set up no handicaps to freedom of personality development, as measured by the P.Q., in comparison to that of the average home. 6. Mooseheart children made significantly lower scores than criterion groups on the sub-trait tests for social aggressiveness, economic self- determination, and adjustment to the opposite sex. No significant differences were found on the sub-trait test for self-determination. Such differences as do exist can be explained on the basis of the differing environments for the Mooseheart and criterion groups. 7.Intercorrelations between the sub-trait test scores indicate that there is no dear-cut distinction between self-determination and extroversion scores and that self-determination correlates least well with other sub-traits as measured by this test. This accounts for the fact that Mooseheart children are significantly below the average on three sub-trait tests but not significantly below the average on total score. 8.With the exception of economic self-determination, sub-trait and extroversion scores were found to be in essential agreement with ratings by the Dean of Men in selecting boys with the greatest and least amount of each trait. Similar ratings by the Dean of Women for the girls did not agree so well with test scores, probably because of the less overt behavior of the girls. The results of these ratings indicate that low X. scores may be thought of as high introversion scores. 9. In so far as this group is concerned at least, an apparent tendency for low P.Q.'s to be associated with problem boys does not prove to be statistically reliable. No evidence was available to indicate a relationship between P.Q. and behavior problems among girls.