Higher trait- and state-anxiety in female law students than male law students.

To assess sex differences in anxiety, law students completed the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory prior to rating one-panel printed comics for humor level or copying text. Subjects completed the State-Anxiety subscale following the task. Although the humor-rating task was not more effective in reducing state anxiety than the copying task, scores on the anxiety subscales indicated that women law students scored consistently and significantly higher than men on both pretask measures and on the posttask measure. This finding is consistent with results from other studies in which other instruments were given. Analyses showed elevated anxiety and stress among preprofessional women; this supports the need for stress-management programs for law students.

Studies of free-ranging patas monkeys at La Parguera, Puerto Rico: 1977 problems and 1988 issues.

The first portion of this paper addresses problems associated with studying the free-ranging patas monkeys on the island of Guayacan (La Parguera). Problems included those of the habitat, the animal records and markings, and the behavioral characteristics of the patas. The second portion of this paper addresses the recurring question of the role of kinship as a variable that organizes patas social behavior. As mother-infant interactions comprise the largest proportion of intragenealogical interactions, the organizing effects of kinship beyond this level of relatedness need to be more extensively studied.

Play profiles of captive adult orangutans: a developmental perspective.

The social play of 6 adult orangutan heterosexual dyads was observed, and the frequencies of the component behaviors extracted. Frequencies were converted to proportions of total play outputs for each individual and for each age/sex class, and then compared to the proportions observed for the social play of juvenile and adolescent orangutans. Adult play was more stationary, and contact maintaining, in style than was the play of younger orangutans. For the females, rolling and grabbing comprised similar proportions of the play repertoires, whereas for males, slapping and biting were developmentally consistent. For adult males, little chasing was observed, although this behavior was prominant in the play of immature males. These developmental changes in orangutan social play are addressed with respect to the natural history and ecology of orangutans, the refinement of communication skills, and the influences of captivity on social play.

Allomaternal behavior in a group of free-ranging patas monkeys.

A free-ranging group of patas monkeys (Erythrocebus patas) containing 18 individually identifiable adult females was observed for approximately 400 hours, equally distributed over two two-month periods corresponding to the breeding and birth seasons, at the La Parguera facility of the Caribbean Primate Research Center. The large number of infants born in the spring and early summer (n = 14) allowed for detailed observations of alloparental behaviors, with a focus on allomothering by the adult females. Seven types of alloparental behaviors were recorded: contact, nuzzling, grooming, agonism, close visual inspection, attempted kidnapping, and kidnapping. Adult females emitted the vast majority of allomaternal behavior, the patterning and frequency of which closely resembled the patterning and frequency of inter-adult female social grooming. Relative dominance status of the participants did not consistently predict the directionality of allomothering. The most commonly observed allomaternal behaviors were contact and nuzzling, which are primarily affiliative behaviors; agonism was rare. Successful kidnapping occurred eight times. Immature monkeys (n = 22) emitted an additional 32 alloparental acts. A propensity towards allomothering by experienced females would be most beneficial to patas infants due to the patas' tendency towards dispersed foraging and rapid flight in the presence of danger. It is possible that direct competition with groups of rhesus macaques for available resources on the island served as a proximal cause for the allomothering observed in this patas group.

Cyclic proceptivity in a captive female orang-utan (Pongo Pygmaeus Abelii).

An adult male-female pair of orang-utans was observed for a 3-month period, commencing with the introduction of the animals to each other. After approximately 2 weeks, the female began to show proceptive behaviors towards the male. Two other proceptive periods were observed, occuring from 26 to 30 days apart, and lasting for 4-6 days. These female-initiated periods of sexual activity began with increased locomotor activity, solitary play, proximity to the male, following the male, and social grooming. The peak periods of proceptive behaviour included hand-genital contact, mouth-genital contact, rolling the male onto his back, both dorso-ventral and ventro-ventral mounting, and pelvic thrusting. Although hormonal levels could not be assessed in this study, it is believed that these peaks coincided with ovulation. In previous reports, the presence of proceptive behaviors was perhaps over-shadowed by highly aggressive sexual behavior on the part of male orang-utans. The visibility of proceptivity in this study is attributed to the large cage which allowed the female to escape the male's advances, enabled distance between the animals when they preferred it, and continuous exposure of the orangs to each other. This female orang-utan behavior was compared to the female sexual behaviours of the other great ape species - the chimpanzee and the gorilla.