Erik Eriksen is a remarkable individual. He has no college degrees yet is Professor of Human Development at Harvard University. He came to psychology via art, which explains why the reader will find him painting contexts and backgrounds rather than stating dull facts and concepts. He has been a training psychoanalyst for many years as well as a perceptive observer of cultural and social settings and their effect on growing up. This is not just a book on childhood. It is a panorama of our society. Anxiety in young children, apathy in American Indians, confusion in veterans of war, and arrogance in young Nazis are scrutinized under the psychoanalytic magnifying glass. The material is well written and devoid of technical jargon. The theme of the volume is that it is human to have a long childhood which will leave a lifelong residue of emotional immaturity in man. Primitive groups and

Childhood and Society.

Do people behave differently when they are lying compared with when they are telling the truth? The combined results of 1,338 estimates of 158 cues to deception are reported. Results show that in some ways, liars are less forthcoming than truth tellers, and they tell less compelling tales. They also make a more negative impression and are more tense. Their stories include fewer ordinary imperfections and unusual contents. However, many behaviors showed no discernible links, or only weak links, to deceit. Cues to deception were more pronounced when people were motivated to succeed, especially when the motivations were identity relevant rather than monetary or material. Cues to deception were also stronger when lies were about transgressions.

Cues to deception

Sexual Behavior in the Human Male

The problem of which cues, internal or external, permit a person to label and identify his own emotional state has been with us since the days that James (1890) first tendered his doctrine that \"the bodily changes follow directly the perception of the exciting fact, and that our feeling of the same changes as they occur is the emotion\" (p. 449). Since we are aware of a variety of feeling and emotion states, it should follow from James' proposition that the various emotions will be accompanied by a variety of differentiable bodily states. Following James' pronouncement, a formidable number of studies were undertaken in search of the physiological differentiators of the emotions. The results, in these early days, were almost uniformly negative. All of the emotional states experi-

"Cognitive, social, and physiological determinants of emotional state": Erratum

This survey of sexual practices in the United States has been combed by the media for items of interest to the public: monogamous sex is much more widespread in this country than has been thought; infidelity is less frequent than presumed; vaginal intercourse is the defining experience of heterosexual behavior; watching one's partner undress is stimulating to many people; married couples have more sex than single people (unmarried, cohabiting couples have the most sex of all); the majority of couples experience sex twice a week to several times a month; 2.8% of men identify themselves as homosexual and 1.4% of women do so, but a higher percentage of people consider a same-gender experience to have some appeal; 75% of men always experience orgasm compared with 28.6% of women, but more nearly equal numbers of men and women declare themselves satisfied with their sexual experiences. The book is, in fact, a

The Social Organization of Sexuality: Sexual Practices in the United States

To assess the relationship between different facets of conservative ideology and ambivalent sexism, 246 residents of two towns in southern Michigan completed a social dominance orientation scale (SDO), a right-wing authoritarianism scale (RWA), a Protestant work ethic scale (PWE), and the Glick and Fiske (1996) Ambivalent Sexism Inventory via a mail survey. Zero-order correlations revealed that SDO, RWA, and PWE were each related to both components of ambivalent sexism (hostile and benevolent sexism). Hierarchical regressions revealed that SDO and PWE most strongly predicted hostile sexism, whereas RWA most strongly predicted benevolent sexism. Results are discussed with respect to different facets of conservative ideology and why SDO, RWA, and PWE each tend to be associated with prejudice toward different groups.

Conservative ideology and ambivalent sexism

Recent research has emphasized the effectiveness of excuses in protecting the self from the implications of failures and transgressions. The disadvantages of excuses have been relatively neglected. The triangle model of responsibility provides a conceptual framework to analyze how excuses disengage the self from events and the conditions under which advantages and disadvantages accrue. On the disadvantage side, excuse-makers risk being seen as deceptive, self-absorbed, and ineffectual; they are viewed as unreliable social participants with flawed character These undesired consequences result when excuses are used in ways that lower credibility (e.g., fail to receive corroboration), lower goodwill (e.g., blamefailures on team members), and produce long-term disengagement (e.g., lead to failures to correct personal deficiencies). It is proposed that excuses are effective in the long run only if they balance short-term disengagement of the self and long-term engagement. Excuses are especially problematic whe...

Excuses and Character: Personal and Social Implications of Excuses

The Immediate Insertion of a Penile Prosthesis for Acute Ischaemic Priapism

Previous research has established an inverse relationship between materialism and psychological well-being (e.g., Belk, 1984). To test the hypothesis that the link between materialism and affect is due in part to an individual's level of self-presentational concern, American college students ( N = 297) completed the Richins and Dawson (1992) measure of materialism, the Brief Fear of Negative Evaluation Scale (FNE), the Social (SAI) and Personal (PAI) Identity Subscales of the Aspects of Identity Questionnaire, and the Brief Measures of Positive and Negative Affect Scales. Results indicated that the significant relationship between materialism and negative affect disappeared when FNE or SAI were statistically controlled, and that the significant relationship between materialism and positive affect disappeared when FNE was statistically controlled. Results are discussed in relation to other research that has explored reasons why materialism is related to lower level of psychological well-being.

Andrew N. Christopher

Papers

Conservative ideology and ambivalent sexism

Excuses and Character: Personal and Social Implications of Excuses

The Immediate Insertion of a Penile Prosthesis for Acute Ischaemic Priapism

Materialism and Affect: The Role of Self-Presentational Concerns

The impact of perceived material wealth and perceiver personality on first impressions