The ACA Code of Ethics is clear in that sexual/romantic relationships with current clients, clients’ partners, and/or family member are prohibited (A.5.a). However, the most recent liability claims against counselors involve inappropriate sexual/romantic relationships with clients or partners/family members of clients. Join us to discuss clinical and supervision implications.

Powerful people perform observable agentic behaviors (e.g., directing tasks), and people expect powerful people to act in these agentic ways. Furthermore, Role Congruity Theory predicts that people are disliked when their behavior contradicts such expectations. To this end, we examined perceivers’ romantic liking for opposite-sex targets depending on whether or not the targets conformed to a powerful role. Participants interacted with two opposite-sex partners in brief, recorded sessions. We manipulated (a) which of the opposite-sex partners was actually given power and (b) participants’ perceptions of which opposite-sex partners was given power. Participants reported the most romantic liking for partners who actually were given power, but only when this reality matched participants’ perceptions of who had power. This interaction effect on liking was mediated by the time the opposite-sex partner directed the conversation; that is, when perceptions of power were shared, the powerful partner behaved more agentically and was better liked.

Thesis (Ph.D.) -- McMaster University, 2005. / Supervisors: Martin Daly and Margo Wilson. Includes bibliographical references (p. 60-74).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 1998. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 125-143). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 1998. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 125-143). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--York University, 2004. Graduate Programme in Psychology. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/yorku/fullcit?pNQ99167

This study applies the act paradigm to identify, explain, and compare persuasiveness of sex among generation-Y in China and generation-Y in Poland, to provide insights for communication practitioners, and to enhance future scientific research. In the conceptual part of the thesis, persuasion, sex, and culture were reconceptualized under the act paradigm. Sex was defined as a form of interpersonal involvement. It was measured in reference to its four stages: attraction, courtship, arousal, and allegiance. Culture was defined as a form of group involvement. It was measured in reference to the country’s ideology (parents and teachers) and religion. Persuasion was defined as a form of communication aiming at involvement. It was measured in reference to sex ideas at generation-Y and culture levels. The ideas were examined and selected as persuasive based on their strength and pressive relations with other ideas. For the purpose of collecting data, a structured interviewing protocol was designed and pilot-tested. Analytical methodology using in-depth interviews was conducted. Thirty-four generation-Y males and females, 17 from China, 17 from Poland, were interviewed during November and December 2013. In addition to culture, intimacy was also found to shape individuals’ sexual conduct. This new finding required further extension of the conceptual framework. Along with it, intimacy was defined as a form of conceptual involvement between two people that primarily occurred through verbal disclosure. Sex was further defined as a form of biological involvement between two people that primarily occurred through interactional touch. It was found that in China, ideology (parents and teachers) primarily shaped sexual conduct of young people. In Poland, the role was in the hands of religion (the Roman Catholic Church). In both countries, ideas about sex and intimacy were expressed through the same actions and artifacts; intimacy dominated over sex, which was attributed to cultural influence. While intimacy was stronger in China than in Poland, sex was stronger in Poland than in China. Conflict between the Church and generation-Y was identified in Poland. The only issues identified in China were the results of past tensions. The dissertation introduced and applied a new paradigm for social sciences— Langerian act-theory. In addition, the study initiated the building of previously nonexistent knowledge of Poland, and enriched the already growing knowledge of China. As a result, the application of its findings was provided for various communicators and academic disciplines. Keywords: Persuasion, sex, sex appeal, intimacy, culture, religion, ideology, China, Poland, generation-Y, Langer, act theory, act paradigm

In this thesis, I aimed to explore vocal attractiveness from an evolutionary perspective: how listener's preferences for vocal qualities of potential partners could increase mating success and reproductive success. Chapters 1-4 outline the background to the thesis, reviews acoustics, sexual selection theory, and human mate-choice. In chapter 5, I correlated attributions made to voices to the acoustic properties of the voices. In men's voices, pitch negatively predicted vocal attractiveness. Attributions of masculinity, size, age, health and vocal attractiveness were all positively correlated. In women's voices, pitch, formant dispersion and perceived health positively predicted vocal attractiveness. Masculinity, size and age negatively predicted vocal attractiveness. In chapter 6, I measured the effect of manipulating fundamental and/or formant frequencies (apparent vocal-tract length) on vocal attributions. Women found men's voices with lowered voice pitch and decreased formant dispersion more attractive, masculine, large, older and healthier. Women's size predicted preference for male vocal- tract length. In chapter 7, I explored attitudes to voices speaking vowels and whole sentences using a correlation design and acoustic manipulations. Women's self-rated attractiveness positively predicted vocal masculinity preferences. Most of the remaining studies focus on how hormones relate to vocal production and perception. Women with less oestrogen showed the biggest menstrual cycle shifts in vocal masculinity preferences, preferring masculinity most in the fertile phase (chapter 8). Men's testosterone levels predicted the size of changes in attributions of dominance to men's voices (chapter 9). Women's voice pitch correlated with facial-metric masculinity and facial attractiveness (chapter 10). Men preferred women's voices with raised pitch to lowered pitch at multiple levels of starting pitch (chapter 11). These findings indicate men preferred femininity to averageness. In chapter 12, I relate the work in this thesis to other work and the broader evolutionary perspective.

M.A. (Clinical Psychology) / Initial romantic attraction is a universal social phenomenon and can broadly be defined as the awareness for the potential of a long-term romantic relationship or the positive regard an individual has for another. In essence, it is the initial feelings an individual has toward a potential mate. Due to the significance of romantic relationships it is a well-researched topic however, most existing studies on the topic are quantitative in nature focusing on testing specific theories or principles. Consequently a qualitative study focusing on the experience of initial romantic attraction would add great value in terms of facilitating a better understanding the phenomenon. Furthermore, no qualitative studies pertaining to initial romantic attraction have been done using South African participants. Initial romantic attraction starts with an awareness of a potential partner. Previous studies have indicated that there are many different factors that influence who an individual may be attracted to once awareness of a partner has been established. The current study hopes to identify the factors leading to initial romantic attraction for white heterosexual South African men. Three white heterosexual South African men were sourced as participants. Openended interviews were conducted with each participant. The interviews were then transcribed verbatim and analysed according to specific descriptive phenomenological steps. The analyses yielded central themes pertaining to initial romantic attraction that could be organised into three broad categories namely, personal characteristics, interpersonal characteristics and external factors. Common personal characteristics leading to initial romantic attraction were physical attractiveness, hair, eyes, petiteness, slim physique, cleanliness and teeth. Common personality traits leading to initial romantic attraction were sense of humour, confidence/independence, mysteriousness, intelligence and good conversation skills and common interpersonal characteristics were reciprocal attraction, similarities, contrasting qualities and eye contact. The only common external factor that led to initial romantic attraction was novelty.It is hoped that the results of the current study will lead to a richer understanding of the factors that lead to initial romantic attraction for white heterosexual South African men.

[Truncated abstract]Judgements of physical attractiveness are thought to reflect evolved preferences for a high quality mate. The central aim of this thesis was to investigate the hypothesis that female preferences are adaptations for finding good quality mates and that faces and bodies signal honest information about mate quality. To date, most human mate preference studies have examined face or body attractiveness alone, and many have created stimuli using computer graphic techniques. Throughout these studies, I endeavoured to maximise the biological relevance of my studies by incorporating both face and body attractiveness, and using photographs of individual participants. Most research on attractiveness has focused on faces or bodies separately, while our preferences have evolved based on both seen together. A fundamental requirement of studying face and body attractiveness independently is that there is no interaction between the two. My first study confirmed that the face and body did not interact when an overall attractiveness judgment was made. I also investigated the independent contributions of rated attractiveness of the face and the body to ratings of overall attractiveness. Face and body attractiveness each made significant independent contributions to overall attractiveness in males and females. For both sexes, facial attractiveness predicted overall attractiveness more strongly than did body attractiveness, and this difference was significant in males. ... This study indicates that although current levels of T covary with male mating success, this effect may not be mediated by women's preferences for visual cues to T levels conveyed in static face or body features. The fourth study in this thesis investigated the phenotype-linked fertility hypothesis, which proposes that females obtain reliable information on male fertility from male expression of sexual traits. A previous study of Spanish men reported that facial attractiveness was positively associated with semen quality. I aimed to determine whether this effect was widespread by examining a large sample of Australian men. I also extended my study to determine whether cues to semen quality are provided by components of attractiveness: masculinity, averageness, and symmetry. I found no significant correlations between semen quality parameters and attractiveness or attractive traits. While male physical attractiveness may signal aspects of mate quality, my results suggest that phenotype-linked cues to male fertility may not be generalised across human populations. Together, these studies challenge current methodologies and theories of preferences for secondary sexual traits as honest signals of mate quality. The findings show that it is important to study human mate preferences in biologically relevant contexts, for example by using photographs of both faces and bodies, to maximise the real life application of results. In addition, the findings suggest that male attractiveness does not signal cues to testosterone or semen quality, although testosterone is associated with mating success. The implications of these findings and possible avenues for future research are discussed.