Do changes in the stereotypic depiction of a lesbian couple affect heterosexuals' attitudes toward lesbianism?

This study tested the hypothesis that heterosexuals with traditional sex role values would be less negative toward lesbians after reading a nonstereotypical description of a lesbian couple as opposed to a stereotypical description. Two experiments were conducted to assess stereotypes of lesbian couples and to test the hypothesis. Consistent with the hypothesis, traditional males showed significantly more positive attitudes toward lesbians as a result of exposure to less stereotypical depictions of couples. For nontraditional males treatments were ineffective, as expected. Counter to the hypothesis, exposure to nonstereotypical depictions of lesbian couples had no significant effect on traditional or nontraditional females' attitudes toward lesbians.

Motivational effects of anxiety on psychomotor performance.

The Hull-Spence theory of anxiety drive (A) was tested in a psychomotor learning situation in which both correct responses (R+) and competing responses (R-) were evoked by the task. Measures of A-Trait and A-State were obtained from 151 women and 52 men, all of whom were then exposed to a sequence of 16 trials on a mirror-tracking task presented either continuously or with 2-min. intertrial intervals. Analyses of the effects of A were then performed on samples of 68 women and 16 men drawn from the tails of the A distributions. Theoretical predictions about the effects of A on initial scores and performance trends of both R+ and R- were strongly supported, somewhat more so within the A-State classification than within the A-Trait classification owing to the larger amount of variance accounted for. Analyses involving intermediate levels of A showed that R+ was a monotonic and essentially linear function of A.