Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

A Furnham

Publications and source records attributed to A Furnham.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed2000

Sex, social class, and estimating IQ: middle-class male subjects rate themselves most intelligent.

153 sociology students specified parental occupation and job status before estimating their own and their parents' overall IQ. Male subjects, as predicted, gave a higher mean self-estimated score to themselves than did female subjects (113 vs 106). Fathers were awarded higher IQ scores than mothers (114 vs 107). Male subjects who had mothers in a higher social class gave themselves the highest mean score.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2000

Gender stereotyping in television advertisements: a study of French and Danish television.

Two similar, but not identical, content analyses of the portrayals of men and women in French and Danish television advertisements are reported. By partially replicating and extending past investigations conducted in America, Australia, Britain, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Italy, Kenya, and New Zealand, it was predicted that there would be more gender stereotyping in French television advertisements and less gender stereotyping in Danish television advertisements. In the first study, 165 French television advertisements were analyzed by following established coding categories (A. Furnham & E. Skae, 1997; L. Z. McArthur & B. G. Resko, 1975). Contrary to prediction, the results showed that traditional gender role portrayal on French television was no different from that found in other countries. Separate statistical analyses were carried out for visually versus aurally classified central figures, yet this yielded relatively few significant differences. In the second study, a sample of 151 Danish advertisements was analyzed; results showed that Danish television was generally less gender stereotypic than French television in its portrayal of women. Exactly half (5) of the coding categories showed significant differences. Finally, an international statistical comparison between these two studies and similar research in Australia, Britain, and Italy was carried out. The methodological implications of these results are discussed as well as the theoretical issues arising from other studies of this sort.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

Decisions concerning the allocation of scarce medical resources.

This paper aimed to determine the criteria participants use to make decisions about scarce medical resources (allocation to use a kidney machine). It varied information about patients on 4 factors (sex, smoking, employment status, community service). It also set out to see if decisions made in groups differed from aggregated decisions of those made alone. In the first study, participants completed a simple questionnaire requiring them to rank-order sixteen hypothetical patients. In the second study, a group discussion (in groups of three participants) preceded the group putting an agreed rating on the identical questionnaire. Participants favoured patients who were employed, non-smokers and participated in community service. This suggests that participants adopted a utilitarian moral ideology. Participants' smoking habits interacted with the hypothetical patients' smoking habits, indicating in-group favouritism. In the second study it was found that when the decision was made in a group of three it amplifies the decision made by an individual. In this sense there was clear evidence of group polarization.

Choice Behavior↗
PubMed1999

Overcoming the obstacles--the outsider's view.

The cost to patients, their relatives, the medical establishment and the economies of individual countries is such that compliance with, or adherence to, prescribed therapy is a major issue. There are relatively simple and systematic measures by which medical specialists can increase patient compliance and so save costs, time and lives. From a psychological perspective, the earlier these measures are instigated, for example before patients are discharged from hospital after an acute coronary syndrome, the greater is the likelihood of patient adherence to treatment.

Drug Therapy↗
PubMed1999

The role of conflict with parents in disordered eating among British Asian females.

BACKGROUND: Previous studies have found British Asian schoolgirls' EAT-26 (Eating Attitudes Test) scores to be higher than those of White schoolgirls and positively associated with parental overprotection as measured by the Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI). This study aimed to determine whether conflict with parents is associated with EAT scores in young British Asian student-aged females. METHODS: Participants completed three questionnaires. A Parent Conflict Questionnaire was devised, consisting of items regarding Role of Women, Marriage Choices, Going Out, and Choice of Friends. This was administered along with the PBI and EAT-26 to equivalent groups of 82 White and 55 Asian females. RESULTS: Contrary to hypothesis there were no significant differences between Whites and Asians on EAT scores. PBI parental overprotection scores and all conflict scores were, however, higher among the Asians. EAT scores and conflict with parents over Going Out and Choice of Friends were correlated in the Asian group. CONCLUSION: The results suggest that British Asian female conflicts with parents over socializing may be one factor that leads to the development of eating disturbances in this population. However, limitations of the study concerned with sampling, self-report and cross-sectional rather than longitudinal data gathering suggests further work needs to be done to examine socio-cultural correlates of eating disorders.

Adult↗
PubMed1999

Health beliefs and preferences for medical treatment: a comparison between medical and social science students.

OBJECTIVE: This study looked at the relationship between beliefs in 'scientific medicine', personal health beliefs, attitudes to complementary medical practitioners and medical treatment preferences in two different groups: medical and non-medical (mainly social science) students. It extended the previous work of looking at patient groups. DESIGN: Once the psychometric properties of the four short questionnaires (53 items in all) were established as satisfactory in terms of their factor structure, the two groups were compared. RESULTS: By means of analysis of variance it was established that there were fewer differences between medical and non-medical students than might be expected by chance. A 'higher order' factor analysis revealed three clear factors underlying attitudes to complementary medicine: pro complementary medicine; pro orthodox medicine; and satisfaction with general practitioner. All the students appeared to have a sceptical but positive attitude to complementary medicine.

Adult↗
PubMed1999

The health beliefs, experiences and personality of Japanese patients seeking orthodox vs complementary medicine.

OBJECTIVE: This study compared the personality traits, health beliefs and 'medical experiences' of Japanese patients of both orthodox (OM) and complementary medicine (CM). DESIGN AND OUTCOME MEASURE: Altogether, ninety-eight Japanese patients completed a questionnaire. This looked at the types of illness they had had, medical history, satisfaction with GP, general health beliefs and three personality dimensions. RESULTS: No differences were seen between the two medical groups on medical history and general health beliefs. However, significant differences on present illness, satisfaction with their GP and two personality traits (agreeableness, conscientiousness) were found between the groups. The CM patients appeared to be less satisfied with orthodox medicine, less agreeable and more conscientious compared to the GP group. CONCLUSION: The results imply that the combination of the type of illness, the level of patient's satisfaction and their personality tendency in part determines their choice of practitioner. This study based in Japan replicated many of the findings already established in the West. It also uniquely added an examination of personality differences.

Adult↗
PubMed1999

Attitudes of medical and nonmedical students toward orthodox and complementary therapies: is scientific evidence taken into account?

Medical and nonmedical students completed a questionnaire indicating how willing they would be to try various therapies for treatment. Both groups assessed more traditional complementary practices such as homeopathy and acupuncture as similar to more orthodox treatments such as physiotherapy or prescribed diets. Both groups appeared not to differentiate between established techniques (physiotherapy) and less tested techniques (yoga). Furthermore, neither group seemed particularly concerned about the scientific evaluations of treatments.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMed1999

Ignorance about homeopathy.

Three hundred and three (303) adults selected by a research consultancy were asked six open-ended questions about homeopathy to ascertain their beliefs, knowledge, and behavior. Just over 40% said homeopathy meant to them "natural or herbal medicine"; while approximately one third said they do not know how homeopathy "works." Just under one third believed that homeopathy was available on the British National Health Service, while two thirds agreed that it was quite easy to get homeopathic treatment. Despite its popularity, people remain surprisingly ignorant about homeopathy.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1999

Sex differences in self-estimates of lay dimensions of intelligence.

260 participants rated themselves on 12 items that made up the three types of intelligence as noted by Sternberg, et al. in 1981. There were sex differences on two of the three standardized scores with men rating themselves higher than women on practical and verbal intelligence. This confirms previous studies of sex differences in the ratings of over-all (g) and multiple intelligences.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

Lay theories of etiology and "cure" for four types of paraphilia: fetishism; pedophilia; sexual sadism; and voyeurism.

The current study set out to investigate the structure, determinants, and relationship between lay theories of the etiology and efficacy of "cures" for four types of paraphilia: fetishism, pedophilia, sexual sadism, and voyeurism. One hundred and five participants completed a four-part questionnaire, which was divided into (a) demographic details, (b) perceptions of the etiology, (c) ratings of cure for each paraphilia, and (d) the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire. Previous studies of lay theories have demonstrated a clear and interpretable factor structure similar to that of explicit academic theories, as well as a clear and logical relationship between perceived etiology and cure. A similar structure was expected to emerge in this study, together with positive correlations between the various factors and personality type. A factor analysis revealed a clear and logical factor structure for etiology and cure items. Further, etiology and cure factors correlated strongly with each other but only moderately with demographic details and personality differences. These findings are discussed in relation to growing literature in the field.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

Psychiatric labelling, sex role stereotypes and beliefs about the mentally ill.

This study aimed to investigate the effect of two main variables on specific attitudes and beliefs about mental illness. The first variable tested the labelling theory proposal that the label of mental illness per se is stigmatizing for those so labelled. The second tested the proposal of Rosenfield (1982) that males and females receive a more severe societal reaction for deviance when the deviant behaviour is inconsistent with traditional sex role norms. Questionnaires with vignettes describing four behaviour types were given to young adult respondents. The expected effect of a psychiatric diagnosis and of deviance from sex role stereotypes were not confirmed. It was concluded that while several variables combine to influence specific attitudes and beliefs about the mentally ill, the type of behaviour displayed is the crucial factor.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1998

Factors affecting nonmedical participants' allocation of scarce medical resources.

This study was designed to determine the factors that affect nonmedical participants' judgments in constructing a ranked waiting list for kidney patients requiring dialysis. Participants (N=167) were given a questionnaire that provided minimal demographic data about 16 hypothetical patients. Participants were requested to rank patients in order of priority for treatment. Each participant's personal demographic details were also obtained. Patients differed on four dimensions: gender, income, alcohol consumption, and religious beliefs, yielding a 2x2x2x2 design. The participants favoured for treatment included females over males, "poor" over "rich," nondrinkers over drinkers, and Christians over atheists. Results are discussed in terms of establishing democratic criteria and informing medical personnel on explicit factors which may affect their decision making, thus guarding against biases in judgment.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1997

Perception of body shapes by anorexics and mature and teenage females.

Three groups of females-Anorexic (mean age 28). Teenage (mean age 16), and Mature adults (mean age 27)-were shown four male and four female body drawings ranging from very thin to very fat and asked to rate them on four categories (attractive, healthy, confident, and popular) using a 10-point bipolar scale. A predicted and consistent pattern occurred, namely that the anorexics rated fatter women less attractive, less healthy, less confident and less popular than teenagers and mature females, while at the same time rating male body shapes more attractive than did the two other female groups. Both anorexic and teenage groups rated the thinner women as more attractive, healthy, confident, and popular than the mature females. Both mature and teenage females rated the fat female body shape more positively than did the anorexics. The implications of these findings are discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1997

Overcoming neuroses: lay attributions of cure for five specific neurotic disorders.

This study was concerned with lay beliefs about the importance of 24 different contributors towards overcoming five neurotic disorders. In this study, subjects (n = 113) completed a questionnaire indicating how effective 24 factors were to overcoming five specific problems: social phobia, panic disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, generalized anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder. Factor analysis revealed almost identical clusters for each problem, and a factor structure very close to Furnham and McDermott (1994). Three factors emerged and were labeled self-reliance, seeking help, and external control. The perceived relevance of only seeking help differed significantly between problems, with seeking help rated as most important and self-reliance least important overall. Some individual difference factors (sex and religion) were found to predict certain factor attributions for specific disorders. Post-traumatic stress disorder was considered most in need of help and social phobia/panic disorder least. Females believed more in seeking help than males, who stressed external control more than females. Religious respondents rated external control more highly than nonreligious respondents. The clinical relevance of studying attributions for cure is also considered.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1997

A study and meta-analysis of lay attributions of cures for overcoming specific psychological problems.

Lay beliefs about the importance of 24 different contributors to overcoming 4 disorders that constitute primarily cognitive deficits were studied. A meta-analysis of previous programmatic studies in the area was performed so that 22 different psychological problems could be compared. In the present study, 107 participants completed a questionnaire indicating how effective 24 factors were in overcoming 4 specific problems: dyslexia, fear of flying, amnesia, and learning difficulties. Factor analysis revealed almost identical clusters (inner control, social consequences, understanding, receiving help, and fate) for each problem. The perceived relevance of those factors differed significantly between problems. Some individual difference factors (sex and religion) were found to predict certain factor attributions for specific disorders. A meta-analysis of the 5 studies in this series yielded a 6-factor structure comparable to those of the individual studies and provided results indicating the benefits and limitations of this kind of investigation. The clinical relevance of studying attributions for cure is considered.

Adult↗