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Presents a narrative analysis of heterosexuality in New York, between the period of 1931-1941. Origins of sexual binary in the American culture; Primary reason for the construction of sexual identities in American culture; Why homosexual activists were disappointed at the publication of the `Sex Variants' monograph.

This article provides an overview of the articles featured in the December 1, 1992 issue of the "Journal of Homosexuality." The author notes that this special volume of the journal has been enlarged to encompass both lesbian and gay studies as well as the issue of whether this is one integrated discipline or two separate ones. A topic on the generational and intellectual shifts that have characterized the post-Stonewall movement of gay and lesbian studies is featured in the journal. Another topic focuses on the experience and issues involved in teaching courses and developing programs in gay and lesbian studies. Likewise, a story of how the first Gay and Lesbian Studies Department at American college or university was established is presented. The last two articles deal with special issues. In these two articles, the question of what lesbian studies is and how it relates to gay studies and women's studies is explored and the role of community-based historians in reclaiming the lesbian and gay past is analyzed.

Examines homosexuality in the U.S. in the 1930s. Distinction between masculine and feminine roles; Gross-gender identification; Gender deviation.

Honmosexual identity is conceptualized as a life-spanning developmental process that eventually leads to personal acceptance of a positive gay self-image and a coherent personal identity. J. Habermas' theory of ego development is utilized to provide a synthesis and understanding of the literature on the construction and maintenance of the homosexual idenity. It is concluded that the homosexual idenity generally emerges in a three-stage process in which the person progresses from an egocentric interpretation of homoerotic feelings to an internalization of the normative, conventional assumptions about homosexuality to a post-conventional phase in which societal norms are critically evaluated and the positive gay identity is achieved and managed.

The distress level of parents who had infants with Down syndrome (study parents) was compared to that of control parents of infants without disability (infants were all less than 2 years of age). Data were collected in two independent surveys. We matched subjects case-by-case on socioeconomic status. Analysis of pooled data indicated significantly greater depression for the study parents. However, effect sizes were small, and the prevalence of clinical depression was 5.56% (n = 108) among matched study parents and 4.26% (n = 188) among unmatched study parents. Parenting an infant with Down syndrome may cause less distress than previously thought. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the 1990s, queer theory has emerged as an influential mode of thought in the ongoing debate about empowerment issues. Queer theory is concerned with the non-essentializing nature of sexual identities and is premised on the notion of resistance to forms of domination, such as heterosexism and homophobia. The historical roots of queer theory are traced from the homosexual rights movement through the gay liberation movement. This history of homosexual resistance focuses on the grass roots efforts of the homosexual community to gain control from scientific experts in representing their own experience. This contextualist history provides a perspective for considering the contemporary relevance of queer theory for psychological theorizing and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The history of American psychology and the study of human sexuality is traced from its emergence out of the science of sexology. The pioneering contributions of Hall, Watson, and Terman are reviewed, and the impact of the Kinsey studies is considered. The modern period of research expansion and theoretical development is discussed in the context of the sexual revolution of the 1960s. Approaches to the psychology of human sexuality are viewed as reflecting a historical shift from an essentialist to a constructionist model. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article focuses on a study which discusses the internal versus external attribution of task performance as a function of locus of control, initial confidence, and success-failure outcome. The internal-external control construct (I-E) is conceptualized as a generalized expectancy related to a person's belief concerning the locus of causality for events. The utility of the I-E construct in predicting the direction of blame assignment has been tested directly several times. The notion that internals would attribute blame for either success or failure to internal sources and that externals would tend to blame success or failure to external sources was not empirically validated. Internals tended to attribute responsibility for success to their ability, a stable internal source, while externals tended to attribute responsibility for success to good luck, a variable external source. Under failure, the opposite but non-significant trend was found. Internals tended to be more external in their attribution for failure than were externals.

Kimball Young in his graduate education was exposed to two diametrically opposed scientific worldviews. He received his M.A. in sociology under W. I. Thomas and his Ph.D. in psychology under Lewis M. Terman. His interest was in social psychology as reflected by his doctoral study on racial differences in intelligence. His initial commitment to Thomas's position of cultural relativity was superseded by his adoption of Terman's perspective of biological determinism. However, once he forged his own career as a social psychologist, Young recanted the hereditarian views he had voiced in his dissertation. Implications about the development and current status of American social psychology are drawn from Young's conceptual shifts. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

It is argued that the crisis in social psychology over the past decade has historical roots in J. F. Brown's social psychology of the 1930s. Brown's approach was based on an integration of Lewin, Marx, and Freud, and is seen as especially relevant to current suggestions to reconstruct the discipline in terms of understanding social behavior in its political, ideological, and historical context. An evaluation of Brown's contribution is considered within the context of the 1930s and within the contemporary context. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article reports reliability and validity data for a scale designed to measure attributed power (AP). The AP scale has been employed in four studies and correlated significantly with chauvinistic nationalism, dogmatism, competition in non-zero sum game behavior, low self-esteem, sex, and campus conflict resolution questions. The reported relationships form a consistent and predictable pattern. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]