IVR Test & Survey: a computer program to collect data via computerized telephonic applications.

Several studies have demonstrated the advantages of using interactive voice response (IVR) technology to collect self-report data from research participants and recipients of psychological/medical services. IVR allows participants to phone a computer and respond to recorded questions by pressing the appropriate touch-tone keys on their telephone. Because this technology offers substantial benefits in terms of cost and efficiency, it is surprising that it has not been more widely utilized by researchers and practitioners. Along with the automation of the administration and scoring of tests or surveys, IVR provides for questioning to be adapted to the participants' responses. One possible explanation for the failure to exploit this technology is the absence of easy-to-use software that does not require programming knowledge. This article describes IVR Test & Survey, a program to facilitate the administration, scoring, and analysis of information collected with the use of IVR technology.

The relationship between adult sexual adjustment and childhood experiences regarding exposure to nudity, sleeping in the parental bed, and parental attitudes toward sexuality.

The relationship between adult sexual functioning and childhood experiences with exposure to nudity, sleeping in the parents' bed, and parental attitudes toward sexuality was examined. Although a variety of experts have provided their opinion on this issue, empirical research on this topic has been lacking. In this study, male and female college students were asked to retrospectively report on the frequency of sleeping in the parental bed as a child, the frequency of seeing others nude during childhood, and parental attitudes regarding sexuality. Information on current sexual functioning and adjustment was also obtained. The results suggest that childhood experiences with exposure to nudity and sleeping in the parental bed are not adversely related to adult sexual functioning and adjustment. In fact, there is modest support that these childhood experiences are positively related to indices of adjustment. Results also suggest that a positive attitude toward sexuality can be beneficial for a child's comfort with his/her sexuality. Finally, examination of gender differences revealed that male and female experience paternal attitudes toward sexuality differently but are similar in their perceptions of maternal attitudes.

The Mosher Forced Choice Guilt Scale as a measure of anxiety.

Women divided into two levels of sex-guilt were administered the Word Association Test under three different conditions. In the first a confederate modeled sexual responses, in the second a confederate modeled nonsexual responses, and in the third condition no confederate was present. The results indicated that both low- and high-guilt women made significantly more sexual responses when exposed to the sexual model than in the nonsexual or no-model conditions. The results were interpreted as supporting an avoidant-anxiety conceptualization of guilt as opposed to Mosher's preservation of self-esteem view.

A Multidimensional Scaling Analysis Of Sex Guilt.

Sixty males and sixty females, divided into groups of high and low sex-guilt, made all possible comparisons between fifteen descriptions of individuals. These descriptions were written to reflect characteristics felt to be important to the concept of sex guilt. Ratings of dissimilarity were analyzed by INDSCAL and an unfolding method, both of which are multidimensional scaling techniques. Results indicated that: 1) low sex guilt and high sex guilt subjects perceived the stimulus "individuals" quite similarly along the two major dimensions (sociability and positive-negative) underlying their comparisons; 2) that males and high sex guilt subjects utilized less of both the sociability and positive-negative dimensions in making their judgments concerning the interrelationships of the stimulus "individuals"; 3) that low sex guilt and high sex guilt subjects differ in evaluating themselves in relation to the stimulus "individuals"; and 4) high sex guilt subjects rated themselves as more similar to a trait sex guilty description than to descriptions dealing with trait sex anxiety, or general guilt or anxiety. It was concluded that: 1) low sex guilt and high sex guilt subjects differ in the value they place on different personal attributes; and 2) D. L. Mosher's model of preservation of self-esteem best explained the behavior of high sex guilt individuals.

Self-ideal discrepancy and acceptance of false personality interpretations.

Effects of self-ideal discrepancy and favorability of content on subjects' acceptance of personality interpretations were studied. Subjects accepted more favorable than neutral statements and more neutral than unfavorable statements. A significant effect was found for self-ideal discrepancy and for the interaction between self-ideal discrepancy and content favorability. In contrast to moderate and low discrepancy subjects, high discrepancy subjects accepted more of the interpretations, accepted more unfavorable, and rejected more favorable interpretations. High discrepancy subjects also accepted more neutral interpretations than did low discrepancy subjects. High discrepancy subjects expected to receive more negative feedback than low discrepancy subjects, and also interpreted this feedback more negatively than did low discrepancy subjects, while scores for the moderate discrepancy subjects were consistently between these two groups.

Affective guilt states in women and the Perceived Guilt Index.

Two experiments were conducted to examine the determinants of affective guilt states, and to examine the interrelationships among one measure of dispositional guilt, and two measures of affective guilt. In study 1, women who were high in affective trait guilt had higher guilt states after being required to make sexual responses to sexual double-entendre words. In study 2, high affective trait guilt women had higher guilt states after being told they would be required to make sexual responses, but before they actually made any responses. The hypothesized relationship between a measure of dispositional guilt and a measure of affective state guilt was not found in either experiment.