Samuel Roll

SOLOMON'S MOTHERS: A Special Case of Pathological Bereavement

Giving up a child for adoption presents a serious emotional and psychological challenge for the mother. Using the components of normal grieving, this paper illustrates the ways in which the bereavement process was distorted and delayed in 22 women seen in psychotherapy who had earlier given up a child. Recommendations are offered for facilitating a healthy mourning process in the relinquishing mother.

Stereotypes of Scalp and Facial Hair as Measured by the Semantic Differential

36 male and 44 female college students were presented with a series of 15 stimuli which were designed to represent the variables of hair color, hair length, quantity of scalp hair, hair quality and amount of facial hair. Each stimulus was rated on scales representing the Evaluative, Potency, and Activity dimensions. The proposition that stereotypes are identifiable was strongly confirmed. Of 18 specific predictions 15 were also confirmed. Explanation in full of these findings was not effected.

Relationship between Acculturation, Cognitive Style, and Intelligence A Cross-Sectional Study

The relationship of degree of Anglo-American acculturation to analytic cognitive style, nonverbal intelligence, and verbal intelligence was investigated using a cross-sectional development design. The results suggest that cognitive style does not play a particularly important role in an individuals performance on intelligence tests. In this study Mexican-Americans were no different from Anglos in nonverbal intellectual ability, but they performed less well on the vocabulary subtest. Overall this suggests that a relatively lower verbal facility, rather than analytic ability or cognitive style, contributed to the poorer performance of Mexican-Americans on standardized verbal intelligence tests. However, when Mexican-Americans become similar to Anglos in acculturation there is no significant difference between the groups on these important reference tests.

Effects of fantasy behavior, level of fantasy predisposition, age, and sex on direction of aggression in young children

The effect of fantasy behavior, fantasy predisposition, age, and sex upon direction of aggression in children was assessed in 57 kindergarten boys and girls. Ss from low to high levels of assessed fantasy predisposition were randomly designated as experimental or control. All Ss were exposed to an imposed frustrating condition. The experimental group was then exposed to a condition designed to elicit spontaneous fantasy behavior; the control group was exposed to a condition designed to be incompatible with fantasy. All Ss were then assessed for direction of aggression. Children who engaged in fantasy behavior following frustration were significantly more extrapunitive than control Ss (p less than .05); the findings did not support either the premise that fantasy results in drive-reduction or that fantasy results in the turning inward upon the self of hostile drive manifested by increased intropunitiveness. Age was found to be significantly but negatively correlated with extrapunitiveness (p less than .05).

Cultural and Gender Differences in Moral Judgment: A Study of Mexican Americans and Anglo-Americans

Kohlberg’s theory of moral development regards justice concerns as developmentally more advanced than interpersonal considerations. Men tend to score as more morally developed than women on existing measures. Gilligan suggested that this is because women rely more on “care” considerations in moral dilemmas, whereas men rely more on “justice” issues. Snarey noted similar bias in the cross-cultural realm. The authors studied moral judgment in Mexican American (n = 40) and Anglo-American (n = 40) college students. On the care measure, as expected, females scored higher than males (p < .05), and Mexican Americans scored higher than Anglo-Americans (p < .01) Contrary to expectation, no differences were obtained on the justice measure. The role of socialization in moral development is discussed.

Chicano and Anglo Dreams of Death A Replication

To replicate an earlier study in which Chicanos reported having more dreams of death than did their Anglo counterparts, we solicited dream reports from eighty Chicanos (forty males and forty females) and eighty Anglos (forty males and forty females). The dreams were scored for the presence of death-related dream content. Chi-square tests revealed a statistically higher number of Chicano females reporting dreams of death (p < .005), but the significance between Chicano males and Anglo males was not significant. The results were linked to the greater phenomenological emphasis on death in Chicano culture and the greater tendency for Chicano women to carry the influences of the culture.

Conformity and cooperation in chicanos: The case of the missing susceptibility to influence

Two hypotheses with regard to Chicano versus Anglo susceptibility to influence were examined: that Chicanas are more cooperative (less competitive), and that they are more conforming than female Anglos. The subjects were 281 female university students. “Cooperation group” and “Conformity group” subjects completed modified versions of the Holtzman Inkblot Technique (HIT), with instructions designed to elicit cooperation or conformity. Control group subjects were given standard instructions. An unequal-N design was submitted to an analysis of variance with four factors: Subject Ethnicity (Chicano or Anglo), Experimenter Ethnicity (Chicano or Anglo), Experimental Condition (Control, Cooperation, Conformity) and Order (Hostile Content first and Living Things Content second or vice versa). Conrary to previous findings, Chicanas were not more conforming or more cooperative than female Anglos. The results were discussed in light of methodological problems in previous studies.

EFFECTS OF SHARING A SECRET ON SUBSEQUENT LEVEL OF OPENNESS

A wholistic model of openness is described. Shifts in openness were studied in 48 college women following the telling of a secret. Whereas the act of sharing a secret per se did not have an effect different from a control procedure, the intimacy of the secret was predictive of increased openness in a curvilinear fashion. Implications of these findings are discussed in terms of understanding the factors that contribute to sustained openness. The present methodology holds promise for further research in this area.

ADOLESCENT MALES' RATINGS OF BEING UNDERSTOOD BY FATHERS, BEST FRIENDS AND SIGNIFICANT OTHERS

An adolescent males relationship with his father and his best friend is investigated. 413 male college students filled out a rating scale in which each reported how much he felt understood by his father, mother, by best male friend, best female friend, by favorite teacher, and by any additional person he wished to designate. The ratings were on a 7-point scale, ranging from “virtually a total stranger” to “complete understanding.” The mean ratings for a sons feeling of being understood by significant others was analyzed by a procedure for the multiple comparison of means described by Games (1971). The sons felt relatively more understood by their best friends than they did by their fathers. Implications of the findings for a theory of friendship and for psychotherapy with adolescent males are discussed.

Arrow-Dot Measures of Impulse, Ego, and Superego Functions in Noncheaters, Cheaters and Supercheaters

Impulse, Ego, and Superego scales of the Arrow-Dot test and the Psychopathic Deviance scale of the MMPI were correlated with a measure of resistance to temptation. Using 76 college males, positive correlations (p < .05 and p < .001) were found between the Impulse scores and yielding to temptation and the Ego scores and resistance to temptation. The correlations of the Psychopathic Deviance scale with both the Arrow-Dot test and the behavioral measure were not significant. The study provides evidence for the predictive validity of the Arrow-Dot test.