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Title
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MULTIPLE ROLE BEHAVIOR AND PERCEPTION OF AMBIGUOUS PICTURES IN MIDDLE-AGED WOMEN: SATISFACTION, FLEXIBILITY, AND CONTROL.
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Identifier
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AAI8120758
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identifier
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8120758
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Creator
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GERVER, JOAN MENKIN.
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Contributor
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Prof. Florence Denmark
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Date
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1981
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Psychology, Social
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Abstract
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Women face various role changes between the ages of fifty and sixty, yet relatively few studies focus on this age group. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between (a) preference for, and capacity to cope with, multiple roles, and (b) flexibility and control in perceptual responses to ambiguous pictures. Both require shifting between conflicting perspectives, and were assumed to reflect personality.;College-educated women, with a mean age of 55 years, volunteered to participate in a study of role satisfaction and role shifts among women in their middle years. All were, or had been, married, with at least one child.;The 100 subjects were divided into four groups on the basis of their scores on two independent variables: (a) number of roles and role shifts, and (b) role satisfaction. These data were obtained from mailed questionnaires and structured interviews. The groups were composed as follows: (I) more roles, higher satisfaction (N of 27); (II) more roles, lower satisfaction (N of 23); (III) fewer roles, higher satisfaction (N of 23); (IV) fewer roles, lower satisfaction (N of 27).;The dependent variables involved perceptual tasks using ambiguous pictures. They were: (1) time taken to recognize and report the second image; (2) number of voluntary fluctuations between the two images when set to shift; (3) number of involuntary fluctuations between two images when set to hold; (4) difference between Variables 2 and 3. The first two were measures of flexibility; the latter two, measures of control.;It was hypothesized that Group I, compared to Group III, would take less time to recognize the second image, fluctuate more rapidly when told to shift, and hava a larger difference between voluntary and involuntary fluctuations; Group III would have fewer fluctuations when told to hold set. These were based on the premises that women who are satisfied with many roles are flexible, and can shift easily as needed; those satisfied with fewer roles can maintain original set longer, but cannot change point of view quickly. The less satisfied women were viewed as operating over or under capacity, so Group II was expected to respond perceptually like Group III, and Group IV like Group I.;The expected interaction of number of roles and satisfaction was not upheld. Groups above the median in number of roles, I and II, regardless of satisfaction, took significantly less time on Variable 1, but only for one picture. Higher satisfaction Groups I and III, regardless of number of roles, had more voluntary fluctuations on Variable 2, and a wider spread on Variable 4. There were no significant differences on Variable 3.;Issues discussed included consistency in perceptual responses; influences on the rate of fluctuation; relation between rigidity, flexibility, and satisfaction; differences in satisfaction among sub-groups of widows, separated and divorced, and still married women; number of children and satisfaction with motherhood; changing daughter, wife, and mother roles; the role of self; behavior during the interview; and methods used to shift roles.;Two kinds of flexibility emerged: recognition of something novel, and ease in shifting between two known things. Women who perceived themselves as having more roles seemed more open to new things in certain situations. Evidence was stronger that higher satisfied women found it easier to shift between identified aspects of a picture, and perhaps among familiar roles. Qualitative differences in responses to interview questions suggested that (a) voluntary control in perception may be related to internal locus of control; and (b) the higher satisfied women tended to display flexibility in their reactions to expected and unexpected role shifts.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
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Program
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Psychology
