David C. Lundgren

Trainer Style and Patterns of Group Development

Developmental trends in two lo-man training groups were studied by checklist and rating scale techniques throughout a four-day laboratory. In one group, the trainers were inactive and nondirective at the outset. This elicited substantial negativism from the group, and an increasing confrontation of the trainers occurred over the next several sessions. As the challenge of the trainers grew, participants simultaneously showed increasing solidarity and openness with one another. After an apparent resolution of the authority crisis, the later sessions of this group were marked by high cohesiveness and productivity. In the second group, the trainers were relatively active and directive from the outset. While this approach resulted in an immediate encounter and more favorable initial attitudes between members and trainers, the succeeding sessions were characterized by low confrontation of the trainers. Moreover, this group subsequently showed significantly less solidarity, openness, and productivity than the first. The differences in the developmental patterns of the two T Groups are interpreted as consequences of the contrasting approaches of the trainers.

Black Consciousness, Self-Esteem, and Satisfaction with Physical Appearance Among African-American Female College Students

There is little doubt that American women are concerned with their appearance. Americans spend billions trying to improve their health, bodies, and appearance. In general we are healthier and more fit than ever, but less satisfied with the way we look (Cash, Winstead, & Janda, 1986). Despite their efforts to attain what is often an unattainable image, many women are dissatisfied with their own appearance. Psychological researchers have rigorously addressed the issue of physical appearance and its importance to women, namely White women. Notwithstanding the importance of such research, much of it has failed to examine these issues among African-American women. Failure to incorporate African-Americans as subjects in research on appearance detracts from the generalizability of prior findings to this group. The current research investigates the extent to which two variables, Black consciousness and self-esteem, are associated with satisfaction with physical appearance among African-American women. It is unclear who African-American women use as their reference group in defining their own attractiveness: the larger society, the

Female and Male College Students' Responses to Negative Feedback from Parents and Peers.

We examine whether female and male collegestudents differ in their tendencies to reject negativeevaluative feedback in transactions with parents andwith male and female peers. The predominantly white respondents described specific,“real-life” instances of negative feedbackfrom each of four sources (mother, father, female peer,male peer), rating their relationships with eachfeedback sender (closeness, interaction frequency),characteristics of the feedback itself (importance,negativity, directness), their own emotional response(degree of negative affect), and their rejection (vs.acceptance) of the feedback. Participants also completed aglobal self-esteem measure. Though no simple directeffects of gender upon rejection of feedback wereobtained, women showed an overall pattern of greater rejection of feedback as a consequence ofseveral indirect effects. Women reported receivingfeedback on more important topics, and greaterimportance of feedback was related to less rejection.However, women also tended to receive more negativefeedback from others and tended to respond with strongernegative feelings, both of these variables being linkedto greater rejection of feedback. The results challenge various common assumptions in thegender roles literature.

Perceived appraisals by others, self-esteem, and anxiety.

Questionnaire data from 595 male and female college students were used to test four hypotheses regarding interpersonal sources of anxiety--i.e., that high anxiety occurs as a function of (a) low subjective public-esteem (perceived negative appraisals of self by others); (b) low self-esteem; (c) discrepancies where subjective public-esteem is more negative than self-esteem; and (d) absolute discrepancies between subjective public-esteem and self-esteem, regardless of evaluative direction. The results suggested that level of self-esteem and absolute discrepancies between subjective public-esteem and self-esteem are important and relatively independent factors in anxiety.

Sex Differences as Artifact in the Prisoner's Dilemma Game

Female subject pairs have often been found to compete more than either male pairs or mixed sex pairs in the Prisoners Dilemma (PD) game. It was hypothesized that sex differences in the PD were in part a function of the sex of the experimenter. Three males and three females served as experimenters. The hypothesis was supported for, although females evidenced higher competition with male Es, no sex differences were found with female Es. Female subject pairs were, however, the only pairs which evidenced significant differences in level of competition under male and female Es. Results were discussed in terms of greater sensitivity on the part of female Ss than male Ss to characteristics of both the partner and the E. Implications for the design of experimental investigation of sex differences were also considered.

Birth Order, Perceived Appraisals by Significant Others, and Self-Esteem

Two studies examined relationships between birth order, perceived evaluations of self by others, and self-esteem of college students (Ns = 164 and 308). Taken together, the studies suggest that firstborns tend to be higher in self-esteem than laterborns, that these trends are more characteristic of females than of males, and that perceived appraisals of significant others are important in accounting for such birth-order differences. In addition, it appears that the perceived appraisals of close authority figures and particularly of fathers are most influential for firstborn females, while perceived appraisals of close peers are especially important for firstborn males.

The Impact of College on Students: Residential Context, Relations with Parents and Peers, and Self-Esteem.

The college years, for many individuals, are a period of change and pers.onal growth. In particular, “going to college” in American society is a specific point of departure from intensive involvement in the family unit and the transition to a more independent status. Thus, the central issues of late adolescence -dilemmas regarding dependence and autonomy-reach a culmination in the early years of college. The impact of college, of course, can vary substantially. One hypothesis (Feldman and Newcomb, 1969) is that change will be greater for students for whom the college experience is more discontinuous with previous life experiences. The present research examines one variable likely to be associated with such discontinuity: students’ residential context. Comparisons are made between students living at home (commuters) and those living on campus. Prior work on differences between commuter and noncommuter college students, while limited, generally supports the

Feedback Processes in Sensitivity Training Groups

Characteristics of interpersonal feedback and responses to feedback, as a function of time (early versus later sessions), sender (trainers, male members, female members), and individual group, were studied in four NTL Bethel Tgroups. Over time, member feedback became more expressive and less focused upon here-and-now events, while trainer feedback became more nondirective. During early sessions, trainer feedback was less expressive, less focused upon self-other relationships, less here-and-now, more negative and confronting, more abstract, and more interpretive than member feedback, although these differences diminished by later sessions. No significant differences were apparent between male and female senders. Group differences outweighed their similarities. Acceptance versus rejection of member feedback was related only to the extent to which feedback was positive and supportive.

Group Size, Member Dissatisfaction, and Group Radicalism

The study explores the thesis that group size, as it influences interaction patterns and attitudes of members within the immediate group situation, will affect the orientations toward societal change which become adopted by members. Twenty large (15-member) and twenty small (5-member) groups were compared. The groups were instructed to discuss and reach consensus on a set of conservatism-radicalism items. The findings supported hypotheses concerning: (1) a positive correlation between group size and member dissatisfaction; (2) a positive correlation between member dissatisfaction and group radicalism; and (3) a positive correlation between size and group radicalism. In addition, differences in these trends were observed as a function of sex composition of the groups.

UNDERGRADUATE MEN'S AND WOMEN'S RESPONSES TO POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE FEEDBACK ABOUT ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE

Similarities and differences between the sexes in response to evaluative feedback about academic performance were examined from a symbolic interactionist standpoint. Undergraduate mens and womens (ns = 117 and 123) affective reactions and tendencies to accept high and low course grades were compared Women and men were similar in assimilation of positive feedback and rejection of negative feedback. Only women showed significant relationships of scores on self-esteem with positive affective responses and rated acceptance of positive feedback.