Based on a 1974 nationwide survey, this paper describes the characteristics of 1, 669 women in consciousness‐raising (CR) groups. Most women in the survey are white, middle‐ and upper‐middle class women who joined their first CR group during the 1970's. They learned about CR groups primarily from women friends and joined a group with friends or through a women's organization. Sixty‐five percent of the women considered themselves to be members of the women's movement prior to their joining a CR group. Most women identified themselves as liberal (58%) or radical (21%). Women's primary reason for joining a CR group was to learn from, share with, and gain support from other women; they joined to examine personal issues within the context of their common social roles. Sharing experiences and feelings as women was the most salient group process. Women in this survey were highly satisfied with their CR group experience and encouraged other women to join a CR group.
This study tested the hypothesis that minimal cues from a model (i.e., information about changes in the heart rate of a model interpreted by an observer as caused by either noxious or innocuous antecedents) are sufficient to produce vicarious classical conditioning effects. The design used four groups of 12 subjects. Three groups of subjects heard the heart beats of a model who was ostensibly being shocked during a period of white noise which followed a tone. A fourth group thought the noise was caused by a slide projector. Among those subjects hearing a model being "shocked," one third heard a change of heart rate after each shock, one third heard no change in heart rate, and the remaining third were a sensitization control group. The subjects' heart rate was recorded, and a postexperimental questionnaire was administered. A pronounced and significant decelerative cardiac response was found in the interstimulus interval for the experimental condition as compared to the three control groups combined. Thus, vicarious conditioning effects were obtained using only the model's heart rate as a cue to his emotional response.1 This study is based on a dissertation submitted to the University of Michigan in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the PhD degree. The author expresses her appreciation to Robert B. Zajonc, dissertation chairman, for his support and encouragement. The author also thanks Arnie Braver and Steve Palms who acted as confederates in this study.2 Requests for reprints should be sent to Diane F.
A CENTRAL CONCERN of the women's movement has been the damage done to women's psychological well-being by traditional views of women and femininity. This paper will review some of the negative effects of social factors on women's psychological well-being and will discuss four areas in which feminists are striving to change the mental health system.
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