Merna Dee Galassi

The effects of role playing variations on the assessment of assertive behavior

The effects of role playing variations on the assessment of assertive behavior were investigated with 48 untrained low assertive college students. The effects of stimulus presentation (taped vs. live) and the number of subject responses required (single vs. multiple) were assessed on three dependent variables—assertive content, response length, and anxiety level. Results indicated that mode of stimulus presentation significantly influenced the level of subjective anxiety, while number of subject responses required significantly affected response length. Role playing variations did not significantly affect the content of responses.

Are cognitive assessment methods equal? A comparison of think aloud and thought listing

The comparability of data generated by think aloud and thought listing was investigated. High math-anxious students completed two sets of mathematics problems. During one set they thought aloud while problem solving and during the other they listed their cognitions after completing each problem. Assessment method order and problem set order were counterbalanced in a split-plot design. The dependent variables included 11 cognitive content variables, subjective anxiety, number of problems correct, and amount of time for each problem set-assessment phase. Students were significantly more anxious and took longer to list thoughts than to think aloud. Differences on number of problems correct approached significance. On the average, think aloud produced about twice as many thoughts as thought listing and significantly more thoughts in four categories: review of information, strategic calculations, conclusions, and attention control. Thought listing produced significantly more positive problem-solving evaluations and more positive self-evaluations. An analysis on proportions revealed the same differences plus a significantly greater proportion of thoughts in five other categories for thought listing. The implications for cognitive assessment were discussed.

A comparison of the factor structure of an assertion scale across sex and population

The factor structure of the College Self-Expression Scale (CSES), a measure of assertion, was investigated in two large universities and one womens college. For each population, a principal axis solution with squared multiple correlations on the diagonals and a varimax rotation of factors with eigenvalues greater than one was used. Factor structures were compared statistically within and across populations. Although only a modest percentage of total variance was extracted, the results indicated that the CSES is multifactored, that the factor structure is relatively stable within the same population, and that sex differences influenced the factor structure less than population differences.

Modification of Heterosocial Skills Deficits

This chapter is concerned with heterosocial skills, which are those skills necessary for social interchange between members of the opposite sex. Although these skills are relevant across the life span, the bulk of existing research has been concerned with the skills that are important in the early stages of dating relationships between college students. Unfortunately, these skills represent somewhat a will-o’-the-wisp. When globally defined, effective skills can often be distinguished from ineffective ones. However, relatively little success has been enjoyed in identifying the specific behaviors that comprise them.

Relationship between Assertiveness and Aggressiveness

The College Self-expression Scale, a measure of assertiveness, and the eight aggression-hostility scales of the Buss-Durkee Inventory were administered to 100 female and 71 male college students to establish further construct validity for the former test. The only significant and positive correlation was between the assertiveness scale and the verbal aggression scale for the female sample. The other Buss-Durkee scales were either unrelated or inversely related to assertiveness. In most instances, the amount of shared variance between the scales was small.

Effects of role-playing instructions on assertive behavior: A methodological study

The effects of instructional variations during a role-playing assessment on the assertive behavior of untrained, low assertive college students were investigated. Based on the responses of 1,392 students, 80 students who indicated a moderate-to-severe problem in refusing requests and expressed interest in an assertion training workshop were randomly assigned to one of eight assessment groups in a 2×2×2 factorial design. The instructions varied on three dimensions: knowledge of type of assertive behavior (situational knowledge), knowledge of criteria for effective behavior, and instructions on how to act (normally vs. effectively). Results indicated that situational knowledge affected pulse and self-reported anxiety. Knowledge of effective behavior affected a posttest self-report measure of refusal behavior. Assertive (refusal) content was not affected.