Oral interpretation allows audiences to make aesthetic, rather than moral, decisions about lesbian literature. To perform lesbian literature, the interpreter should be aware of lesbian literary criticism. Three theories of lesbian criticism form part of a lesbian literary canon: (1) revision (rereading existing texts from a feminist perspective,…

The failure of the supporters of the Equal Rights Amendment to understand the rhetoric and world view of its opponents resulted in the defeat of the amendment. The opponents of the ERA had six arguments: women are not discriminated against; women will be drafted; protective labor laws will be eliminated; the ERA will destroy tradition regarding…

Although attitudes toward people who have sought psychological counseling have been characterized as negative and stigmatizing, research suggests the public holds no prejudice toward the mentally ill. To examine whether the apparent decrease in negative attitudes toward people involved in psychological treatment is more superficial than real, two…

A study to determine sex stereotyping in drug advertisements in five professional journals is reported. The first four studies examined advertisements from general medical journals; the fifth study obtained its data from a psychiatric journal. The journals are "Medical Economics,""American Family Physician,""Modern Medicine,""Journal of the…

Evidence in recent years has linked a heavy dependence on television news with lower levels of knowledge about various aspects of the political system and negative evaluations of that system (political malaise). Three different sources of data on audience dependence on television news were used (1) to examine more closely the shift toward…

Previous research has highlighted some of the problems faced by lesbian, gay, and bisexual college students. This study examined attitudes of faculty, staff, and students regarding lesbian, gay, and bisexual issues at a large public research university. Of the 1,952 faculty and staff who returned a survey on issues related to sexual orientation,…

Some research suggests reduced cooperation and collaboration among college faculty may result when annual pay increments are based on merit evaluations. Various theories and principles have been put forward to explain these effects. The overjustification theory suggests that extrinsically presented rewards become more salient than one's intrinsic…

Whether the label for teen problems is "generation gap" or "lack of self-esteem," youth are not given the respect or consideration they deserve. Loftquist (1987) reports three styles that represent the attitudes of adults toward working with youth. In style 1, adults view youth as objects. In style 2, adults view youth as…

A survey of the methods of three feminist organizations offers general explanations for the failure of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). Limited to the emergence phase (1966-70) of the organizations, the survey examines the National Organization of Women (NOW), the Feminists, and the Women's Equity Action League (WEAL) in terms of their definition…

Self-initiation of activities by individuals may have an affect on their mood. To study the relationship between the appraisal of self-initiated activities and dimensions of positive or negative affect 36 graduate students (22 female and 14 male) engaging in a total of 202 activities appraised dimensions of the activities and responded to a…

In an attempt to understand nonreader attitudes toward the daily newspaper, 576 non-newspaper reading adults were queried in three waves about their reasons for avoiding newspapers. In the first wave, the major findings were that nonreaders avoid newspapers because of lack of time, preference for another news medium, newspaper cost, and lack of…

In recent years psychological studies of homosexuality have shifted in focus from homosexually-oriented persons to individuals manifesting homophobia, the irrational fear or intolerance of homosexuals. In a pilot study, 130 college students completed a preliminary questionnaire consisting of attitudes toward homosexuals and homosexuality. Two…

The study reports on the use of the Kogan Old People (OP) scale, a 34-item Likert scale, in a variety of research applications. In the study's first phase, 59 subjects from three different training programs dealing with the elderly completed the OP scale. The results of this phase indicated that attitude toward old people became more negative as…

A telephone survey in Los Angeles County examined patterns of visitation to undeveloped natural areas by various segments of the population and perceived barriers to such visits. A total of 894 interviews were completed; the sample was representative of Los Angeles County's racial and ethnic diversity. About 40 percent of respondents had visited a…

Accountability and performance incentive plans in education are compromised by goal distortion, gaming, and corruption. Education policy makers who design such plans have paid insufficient attention to similar experiences in other fields. This paper describes institutions in health care, job training and welfare administration, and in the private…