Abstract
The previous chapters by Louise Dye, John Richardson, and Jane Ussher have confirmed the conclusion reached by Barbara Sommer in Chapter 2 that there is essentially no evidence to support a medical or psychological model of paramenstrual cognitive debilitation. Nevertheless, psychologists seem to have very little enthusiasm to investigate either why researchers should persist in putting forward such models or, despite their potentially damaging effects on women’s self-cognitions, what these models’ psychological implications might be. As Blumenthal and Nadelson (1988) commented, our knowledge of the relationship between the biology and the psychology of the menstrual cycle “must be placed into the context of understanding how the beliefs, expectations, attributions, and self-perceptions of women mediate or modify the effects of whatever biological changes occur premenstrually” (p. 472). It is, however, not just these immediate effects on women and their perceptions of their own performance through the menstrual cycle that need to be explored. These self-cognitions reflect a pervasive mythology of women, located within history and culture, that permeates popular beliefs and reinforces the reproduction of traditional conceptual models. These in turn constrain the thinking of both men and women, of both scientists and nonscientists.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Alexander, S. (1982). Women’s work in nineteenth-century London: A study of the years 1820–50. In E. Whitelegg, M. Arnot, E. Bartels, V. Beechey, L. Birke, S. Himmelweit, D. Leonard, S. Ruehl, & M.A. Speakman (Eds.), The changing experience of women (pp. 30–44). Oxford: Martin Robertson.
Allen, H. (1984). At the mercy of her hormones: Premenstrual tension and the law. m/f, No. 9, 19–44.
American Psychiatric Association (1987). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (3rd ed., rev.). Washington, DC: Author.
Asso, D. (1983). The real menstrual cycle. Chichester, England: Wiley.
AuBuchon, P.G., & Calhoun, K.S. (1985). Menstrual cycle symptomatology: The role of social expectancy and experimental demand characteristics. Psychosomatic Medicine, 47, 35–45.
Bem, S. L. (1974). The measurement of psychological androgyny. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 42, 155–162.
Bem, S. L. (1981). Gender schema theory: A cognitive account of sex typing. Psychological Review, 88, 354–364.
Benedek, E. P. (1988). Premenstrual syndrome: A view from the bench. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 49, 498–502.
Bleier, R. (1984). Science and gender. New York: Pergamon.
Blumenthal, S. J., & Nadelson, C. C. (1988). Late luteal phase dysphoric disorder (premenstrual syndromes): Clinical implications. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 49, 469–474.
Broadhurst, A. (1980). Psychological approaches to sexual problems. In S. Rachman (Ed.), Contributions to medical psychology (Vol. 1, pp. 167–188). Oxford: Pergamon.
Brooks, J., Ruble, D., & Clark, A. (1977). College women’s attitudes and expectations concerning menstrual-related changes. Psychosomatic Medicine, 39, 288–298.
Chetwynd, J., & Hartnett, O. (1978). The sex role system. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Choltern, P. (1988). The curse and crime. More, Summer, pp. 32–33.
Clarke, A. E., & Ruble, D. N. (1978). Young adolescents’ beliefs concerning menstruation. Child Development, 49, 231–234.
Crawford, M., & Maracek, J. (1989). Psychology reconstructs the female 1968–1988. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 13, 147–165.
Dalton, K. (1969). The menstrual cycle. Harmondsworth, England: Penguin Books.
Daly, M. (1984). Gyn/ecology. London: Women’s Press.
Delaney, J., Lupton, M. J., & Toth, E. (1976). The curse: A cultural history of menstruation. New York: Dutton.
Ehrenreich, B., & English, D. (1979). For her own good. New York: Pluto Press.
Evans, J. St. B. T. (1987). Beliefs and expectations as causes of judgemental bias. In G. Wright & P. Ayton (Eds.), Judgemental forecasting (pp. 120–137). Chichester, England: Wiley.
Ferguson, M. (1983). Forever feminine: Women’s magazines and the cult of femininity. London: Heinemann.
Freud, S. (1965). New introductory lectures in psychoanalysis (J. Strachey, Trans.). New York: Norton. (Original work published 1933)
Freud, S. (1977). Three essays on the theory of sexuality (J. Strachey, Trans.). London: Hogarth Press. (Original work published 1931).
Frieze, I. H., Parsons, J. E., Johnson, P. B., Ruble, D. N., & Zellman, G. L. (1978). Women and sex roles: A social psychological perspective. Toronto: Norton.
Gallant, S. J., & Hamilton, J. A. (1988). Controversy over a diagnosis of premenstrual dysphoria. Psychology of Women (Newsletter of Division 35 of the American Psychological Association), 15(4), 10–12.
Hammarback, T., Bäckstrom, T., & MacGibbon-Taylor, B. (1989). Diagnosis of premenstrual tension syndrome: Description and evaluation of a procedure for diagnosis and differential diagnosis. Journal of Psychosomatic Obstetrics and Gynaecology, 10, 25–42.
Harding, L. (1989). The reporting of premenstrual symptoms and treatments: Differences between anxiety patients and non-patients. Journal of Reproductive and Infant Psychology, 7, 147–160.
Harlow, S. E. (1986). Function and dysfunction: A historical critique of the literature on menstruation and work. In V. L. Olesen & N. F. Woods (Eds.), Culture, society, and menstruation (pp. 39–50). Washington, DC: Hemisphere.
Harvey, J. H., Turnquist, D. C., & Agostinelli, G. (1988). Identifying attibutions in oral and written explanations. In C. Antaki (Ed.), Analysing everyday explanation (pp. 32–42). London: Sage.
Hewstone, M. (1988). Attributional bases of intergroup conflict. In W. Stroebe, A. W. Kruglanski, D. Bar-Tal, & M. Hewstone (Eds.), The social psychology of intergroup conflict: Theory, research, and applications (pp. 47–71). Berlin: Springer-Verlag.
Hey, V. (1985). Getting away with murder: PMT and the press. In S. Laws, V. Hey, & A. Eagan, Seeing red: The politics of pre-menstrual tension (pp. 65–79). London: Hutchinson.
Horner, M. S. (1970). Femininity and successful achievement: A basic inconsistency. In J.M. Bardwick, E. Douvan, M. F. Horner, & D. Gutman (Eds.), Feminine personality and conflict (pp. 45–74). Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole.
Katz, A., & Taub, J. (1986). Medico-legal aspects of the premenstrual syndrome. In L. Dennerstein & I. Fraser (Eds.), Hormones and behaviour (pp. 213–221). Amsterdam: Excerpta Medica.
Kupferman, J. (1981). The mstaken body. St. Albans, England: Granada.
Laws, S. (1983). The sexual politics of pre-menstrual tension. Women’s Studies International Forum, 6, 19–31.
Laws, S. (1985). Male power and menstrual etiquette. In H. Homans (Ed.), The sexual politics of reproduction (pp. 13–29). Aldershot, England: Gower.
Lopate, C. (1968). Women in medicine. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Maccoby, E. E., & Jacklin, G. (1974). The psychology of sex differences. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Maudsley, H. (1873). Body and mind. London: Macmillan.
Mitchell, J. (1974). Psychoanalysis and feminism. Harmondsworth, England: Penguin Books.
Nicolson, P., Burns, J., & Wilkinson, S. (1990, July). Courses on the psychology of women and gender relations. Workshop presented at the Annual Conference of the Psychology of Women Section of the British Psychological Society, Birmingham.
Richardson, J. T.E. (1991). The menstrual cycle and student learning. Journal of Higher Education, 62, 317–340.
Sayers, J. (1982). Biological politics: Feminist and anti-feminist perspectives. London: Tavistock.
Shorter, E. (1984). A history of women’s bodies. Harmondsworth, England: Penguin Books.
Shuttle, P., & Redgrove, P. (1980). The wise wound. Harmondsworth, England: Penguin Books.
Snyder, M. (1984). When belief creates reality. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 18, pp. 247–305). Orlando, FL: Academic Press.
Sommer, B. (1983). How does menstruation affect cognitive competence and psychophysiological response? In S. Golub (Ed.), Women and health: Vol. 8. Lifting the curse of menstruation (pp. 53–90). New York: Haworth Press.
Stewart, D. E. (1989). Positive changes in the premenstrual period. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 79, 400–405.
Tasto, D. L., & Insel, P. M. (1980). The premenstrual and menstrual syndromes: A psychological approach. In S. Rachman (Ed.), Contributions to medical psychology (Vol. 1, pp. 153–166). Oxford: Pergamon.
Ussher, J. M. (1987). Variations in performance, mood and state during the menstrual cycle. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of London.
Ussher, J. M. (1989). The psychology of the female body. London: Routledge.
Verslyen, M. C. (1981). Midwives, medical men and “poor women labouring of child”: Lying in hospitals in eighteenth century London. In H. Roberts (Ed.), Women, health and reproduction (pp. 18–49). London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Weideger, P. (1978). Female cycles. London: Women’s Press.
Wilkinson, S., & Burns, J. (1990). Women organizing within psychology: Two accounts. In E. Burman (Ed.), Feminists and psychological practice (pp. 140–162). London: Sage.
Williams, J. H. (1987). Psychology of women: Behavior in a biosodal context (3rd ed.). New York: Norton.
Wilson, E. O. (1975). Sociobiology: The new synthesis. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Wynter, D. (1990). Why Garbo retired at 36. The Guardian, May 10, p. 38.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1992 Springer-Verlag New York, Inc.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Nicolson, P. (1992). Menstrual-Cycle Research and the Construction of Female Psychology. In: Richardson, J.T.E. (eds) Cognition and the Menstrual Cycle. Contributions to Psychology and Medicine. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-9148-7_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-9148-7_6
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4613-9150-0
Online ISBN: 978-1-4613-9148-7
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive