Interpersona (E-Journal - PsychOpen)
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An Investigation of Demographic Correlates of the Celebrity Attitude Scale
No full textThe Celebrity Attitude Scale (CAS) has been widely used in the last 15 years, but little is known about how ethnicity and socioeconomic status relate to scores on this scale. In the first of two studies, we showed that a sample of African-American college students had more favorable attitudes toward their favorite celebrities than a sample of White college students. However, there was no control for the possibility that the two samples were unequal with respect to socioeconomic status. The second study controlled for that possibility, and added samples of Hispanic and Asian college students. Results showed that African-American participants again had more favorable attitudes toward their favorite celebrities than Whites did, with Hispanic and Asian-American participants falling in between the two extremes. Socioeconomic status was unrelated to CAS scores. African-Americans tended to select African-American celebrities as their favorites, and Whites tended to choose Whites, with Hispanic and Asian-Americans showing no ethnic preferences. Strength of identification with one’s ethnic group was unrelated to ethnic concordance in choosing a favorite celebrity, but strength of identification with one’s ethnic group decreased as favorable attitudes toward one’s favorite celebrity increased. We discussed why African-American participants might report more attachment to their favorite celebrities than White participants
Profile of Prosocial Behaviors of Institutionalized Children at a School Yard
No full textProsocial behavior refers to actions directed to the welfare of the others and it is influenced by physical and social aspects of the environment. This study objected to investigate chiefly the occurrences of care behavior among institutionalized children. Four boys and one girl took part in this study, with ages between four and six years old, who were observed in the yard of the school. A total of ten sessions of twenty-five-minute were recorded for each focal subject, summing 250 minutes of recordings. At total, 26 behavioral events which denoted care with the others were identified and organized into the following categories: Helping, Care-taking playing, Establishing affectionate contact, and Entertaining. The results indicate that while participants are at the school yard, the most demonstrated behavior subcategory involves cooperation attitudes (Helping subcategory). The data also show that male focal subjects who were older than five years old and were at school for less than 15 months would emit more care behaviors. Concerning receivers, it was found that the girls who were studying at school, younger children and the ones who had less time in the institution received more prosocial behavior. It is expected that the results of this study may contribute to future researches while investigating prosocial behavior in educational settings, especially when they involve special populations, such as children who live in shelter institutions. Similarly, studies like this can encourage the development of (pedagogic-political and other) projects in institutions for children in order to stimulate prosocial behavior among peers
Loving Unconditionally: Demographic Correlates of the Agapic Love Style
No full textAlthough passionate or erotic love continues to receive the most attention from relationship scholars, there is a growing interest in a variety of love variously referred to as altruistic, compassionate, self-giving, or agapic love. Because this type of unconditional, other-oriented love appears to have important implications for the interpersonal dynamics and overall quality of close romantic relationships, there has been increased interest in delineating its correlates and possible causal antecedents. The goal of the present empirical investigation was to explore three potential demographic correlates of unconditional or agapic love – age, gender, and ethnicity. A large, multi-ethnic community sample of adult men and women (N = 697) individually completed the 7-item Agapic subscale of the Love Attitudes Scale (Hendrick & Hendrick, 1990). Although age was not associated with agapic love scores, a significant overall gender difference was obtained such that men scored higher than women. Ethnic differences also were found. Specifically, African American participants reported lower levels of agapic love than did Latino/a, Asian/Pacific Islander, and non-Hispanic White participants
Predictors of Love Attitudes: The Contribution of Cultural Orientation, Gender Attachment Style, Relationship Length and Age in Participants From the UK and Hong Kong
No full textThe aim of this research was to explore whether a model including psychological predictors at the individual, interpersonal and cultural level could predict romantic attitudes. Attachment style, cultural orientation, gender, and relationship length were tested as predictors for each of the six love styles conceptualized by Lee (1977). Adults from Britain (N = 56) and Hong Kong (N = 52) who were in a romantic relationship completed four self-report measures; a demographic questionnaire, The Individualism and Collectivism Scale (IC-S), The Experiences in Close Relationship Scale-Short Form (ECR-S) and The Love Attitude Scale short form (LAS). The model successfully predicted each love style and in one case (Mania) accounted for 52% of the variance in this love style. Each love attitude had a different profile, and no one predictor dominated any one style which supports Lee’s original idea that the styles are qualitatively different
Naive Realism in the Unmarried Cohabitation Controversy in the United States
No full textWe explored the role of “naïve realism” in perceptions of attitudinal differences between proponents and opponents of unmarried cohabitation (UC) in the United States. Participants were presented with UC vignettes, asked to describe their own impressions of the couple in each scenario, and then to speculate about the impressions of the typical UC proponent and opponent. A comparison of these impressions yielded a pattern of false polarization in their perceptions, such that partisans’ self-reported sympathy was reliably more similar than the degree of sympathy either side attributed to the other. Partisans also exhibited egocentric bias regarding the basis for each side’s stances on UC. The relevance of this misperception and faulty assumptions toward the resolution of the debate over unmarried cohabitation is discussed
Intimate Relationships and Attitudes Toward Celebrities
No full textPrevious research indicates that persons who self-report a high level of preoccupation with celebrities tend to have lower levels of well-being. We administered the “Romantic Partner Conflict Scale”, the “Love Attitudes Scale”, the soulmate subscale from the “Relationship Theories Questionnaire”, and the anxiety subscale from the “Experiences in Close Relationships Scale” to 330 students from four universities to see how well scores on these measures would predict scores on each of the three subscales from the “Celebrity Attitude Scale” (CAS). We predicted that persons whose scores on these measures of intimate relationships indicated a troubled, anxious, or poor quality relationship would have higher scores on the CAS, especially on its two problematic subscales. In three multiple regressions, specific measures of behavior during conflict with a romantic partner and certain love styles significantly predicted scores on all three of the CAS subscales. We discuss the implications of being a celebrity worshiper on one’s relationship with an intimate partner
Family Cohesion: A Study on Caregiving Daughters of Parents With Alzheimer’s Disease
No full textIn this regard, investigating these aspects might facilitate the evaluation of family relations and the development of interventions that create, keep, restore, or enhance the skills families need to better deal with the disease. Based on this information, the objective of this chapter is to present and discuss investigative research on family cohesion and hierarchy from the perspective of caregiver daughters of elderly with Alzheimer’s in four situations: before the disease, currently, in conflict, and ideally. 32 women caretakers and their respective parents (6 fathers and 26 mothers) diagnosed with possible or probable AD participated in the survey. The instruments used were the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) in an Open Interview with a Semi-Structured Script, and the Family System Test (FAST). We observed that before onset of the disease, the caregivers generally perceived themselves to have more hierarchy than their siblings, χ²(2) = 4.92, p < .10. The current situation showed a greater number of caregivers in higher hierarchical positions than their siblings (72%), and a lesser number of siblings than expected in higher hierarchical positions than the caregivers, χ²(2) = 18.32, p < .001. The ideal representation showed that most caregivers did not want themselves or any of their siblings to have more power than the other (66.7%), χ²(2) = 14.89, p < .001. Comparing conflict representations to ideal representations showed that family members demonstrated lower cohesion in conflict situations than in ideal situations, z = -2.86, p < .01
Who Does the Work? Partner Perceptions of the Initiation and Maintenance of Romantic Relationships
No full textThe contributions and effort that partners perceive each other to have made to the initiation and maintenance of their relationship may have significant individual and interpersonal consequences. Yet relatively little empirical research has explored such perceptions. The primary goal of the present investigation was to examine how both members of a sample of heterosexual romantic couples (N = 96 couples) perceived the balance of work in regard to both the initiation and the maintenance of their relationship. A second goal was to examine gender differences and similarities in perceptions of relationship work. A third goal was to explore relational outcomes (i.e., satisfaction and commitment) associated with these perceptions, and whether the link between perceptions and relationship outcomes differs as a function of partner gender. As expected, most participants (approximately 70%) perceived balance (equal sharing) in the work of maintaining the relationship. However, a majority (approximately 64%) perceived the work of relationship initiation as imbalanced (i.e., one partner contributing more than the other). Perceptions of balance versus imbalance in the work of relationship maintenance (but not initiation) were associated with satisfaction and commitment to the relationship. Interestingly, the pattern of association was different for men and women. The findings are discussed in terms of equity theory, as well as other theoretical frameworks
School Inclusion of People With Physical Disabilities: The Role of Social Interactions
No full textThis study sought out to understand the process of school inclusion of a student with physical disabilities in a public school in the Federal District of Brazil (Distrito Federal), with an emphasis on social interactions. Under this perspective, it was retrospectively analyzed the student's social position relative to their peers in order to identify elements that could contribute to the process of school inclusion of a physically disabled student. The theoretical reference had as input the bioecological model of human development followed by fundamental concepts of disability, social and educational inclusion. The social position of the person with disability related to her classmates in the classroom context was identified by means of sociometric test. The main results showed unfavorable social position of the student related to her peers and the lack of cohesion of the group as hindering her process of inclusion in the school. It was concluded that attitudinal barriers made it impossible her full integration in school. The possible impact of the poor quality of social interactions of the student for the student's development was discussed