Sex role identity and sex-stereotyped tasks in the development of learned helplessness in women.

Eighty undergraduate females participated in a study investigating the relation of sex role identity and sex-stereotyped tasks to the development of learned helplessness in women. Half of the women from four sex role identity groups received bogus feedback and were forced to fail on a concept formation task described to them as either a male- or a female-stereotyped task; the other 40 women succeeded on the task. Failure on the concept formation task produced dysphoric mood in the women, regardless of their sex role identity and regardless of how the concept formation task was described.

Peer ratings of males and females possessing different sex-role identities.

Two investigations were conducted to explore peer ratings of males and females exhibiting different sex roles. In the first study, 160 males and females representing four sex-role groups were rated by close, same sex friends on Gough's Adjective Check List. The results indicated that for both males and females, the four sex-role groups were perceived differently by their friends.

Cognitive influences on the development of learned helplessness.

College students (N = 120) participated in experiment concerning the influence of self-statements following failure on subsequent symptoms of learned helplessness. One third of the students were given solvable concept-formation problems (nonhelpless condition) and two thirds were given unsolvable concept-formation problems (helpless condition). A multivariate analysis of variance revealed a significant difference between helpless and nonhelpless students on cognitive/motivational and affective measures of learned helplessness and on self-statements regarding performance.

Interview behavior of and impressions made by mentally retarded adults.

Interviews were held with 88 mentally retarded institutionalized adults in order to identify types of verbal and nonverbal behavior that are associated with making positive or negative impressions on others and that, therefore, might be priority targets for communication-training efforts. Video-taped segments of the interviews were shown to panels of 4 graduate students in special education and 6 students in rehabilitation counseling, who recorded ratings of personality and competence for each interviewee. Ten predictors were found to account for 69 percent and 68 percent of the variance in overall ratings given by the special education and rehabilitation groups, respectively.