bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Simple Approximations to Null Sampling Variances
Authors: Somers Robert H.
Published: March 2007

Procedures for significance testing and confidence interval estimation of several employed measures of association have been available for several years, but rarely used, possibly because of the lengthy computations entailed. Simple formulas involving the sample size and the number of rows and columns in the cross-classification have been found to closely approximate formulas suitable for significance testing under a wide variety of circumstances. Although this remarkable stability of the asymptotic variances extends to many non-null populations, the use of the simple formulas to approximate confidence intervals is not recommended.
Incomplete Corrections for Regressor Unreliabilities
Authors: WON EUGENE Y.T.
Published: March 2007

When the independent variables in a regression model are measured with error, the least squares estimates of the regression coefficients are not consistent. This article shows that correcting for the known unreliabilities may yield more misleading estimates than an ordinary (uncorrected) regression analysis because correction for attenuation uniformly improves the coefficient estimates only if all the predictor variances are adjusted for measurement error. In the absence of known reliabilities for some predictors, the analyst is well-advised to attempt an analysis of the sensitivity of the coefficient estimates to variations in the unknown reliabilities. However, some notions about the unknown reliabilities are required in order to assess the relative errors of the partially corrected and ordinary estimates.
Equilibrium and Identification in Linear Panel Models
Authors: GREENBERG DAVID F. , KESSLER RONALD C.
Published: March 2007

In this article we investigate an approach for simultaneously estimating cross-lagged and cross-instantaneous causal influences in two-variable, multiwave, linear panel models introduced by Greenberg et al. This approach requires observations over at least three time points and achieves identification by making assumptions about the consistency of parameter values across the adjacent time intervals 1-2 and 2-3. Our analysis demonstrates that multiwave models can be identified by imposing consistency constraints of this sort. However, this is a useful method only under a very restrictive set of empirical conditions.
Graphic Display for Multidimensions
Authors: FREIDHEIM ELIZABETH A.
Published: March 2007

Complex scales with three or more dimensions often tell how each piece of data relates to the others in terms of each dimension. If we want to find clusters of related data, a graphic display showing simultaneous relationships is useful. This note suggests one way to graph data along several axes at once as a first step toward interpreting data clusters within complex scales.
Whose Privacy? What Harm?
Authors: GRIMSHAW ALLEN D.
Published: March 2007

There are risks to individuals whose behaviors are recorded for use in social research; the risks are ordinarily less than those to subjects of biomedical research or even some behavioral experiments—and are phenomenally similar to those faced in all interaction. Unwarranted inferences about groups or categories of people based on examination of SIR constitute a potentially greater but less specifiable danger. The calculation of risks and benefits is not an easy one—privacy and injury are vague notions. Several examples are discussed and some issues particularly requiring specification are identified.
Family Policy Analysis
Authors: KELLY ROBERT F.
Published: March 2007

Research methodologies employed in family policy research are examined. Using three emerging concepts in family policy analysis—life status transitions, informal economic behavior, and stress mediation—recent policy research concerning low-income families is critically reviewed for its methodological adequacy. It is suggested that by integrating qualitative research methods into quantitative designs, the overall quality and cost-effectiveness of policy-relevant family research can be significantly improved. The implications of this suggestion are examined in the closing section of the article.
Multiple-Indicator, Multiple-Cause Models for a Single Latent Variable with Ordinal Indicators
Authors: BYE BARRY V. , GALLICCHIO SALVATORE J. , DYKACZ JANICE M.
Published: March 2007

A MIMIC model is developed that contains a one-dimensional latent variable measured by ordinal indicators. The latent variable can be either discrete and ordered or continuous. Parameters for both the measurement and structural components of the model are estimated simultaneously using the EM algorithm. An example of a sociological application is presented.
Statistical Analysis of Mahalanobis Distances of Students from their Fathers
Authors: COHEN AYALA
Published: March 2007

A random sample of eleventh-grade students were asked about certain work values. For a subsample of these students, their fathers were also asked about the same work values. A question raised in the study was whether eleventh-grade students were closer to their fathers or to their age group with regard to those work values. To answer this question, we suggest a method based on Mahalanobis distances; two aspects of the problem are discussed. First, how the distances are constructed; second, which statistical procedures apply for assessing significant differences among the distances. Formal statistical tests are employed, as well as graphical methods for summarizing the results. Unlike classical methods, the procedure suggested does not require distributional assumptions.
Arbitrary Metrics in Multiple-Indicator Models of Latent Variables
Authors: BIELBY WILLIAM T.
Published: March 2007

It is well known that only ratios of lambda coefficients are identified from moments among measured variables in most covariance structure models with latent variables. Typically, researchers establish a metric for latent variables by fixing the lambda coefficient for an arbitrarily selected reference indicator. This paper demonstrates that this practice can produce arbitrary calibration of latent variables, undermine interpretation of metric parameters, and lead to invalid cross-population comparisons. The problem is illustrated with hypothetical examples. Analytical results are derived, and implications for sociological research are discussed.
Practical Issues in Structural Modeling
Authors: BENTLER P. M. , CHOU CHIH-PING
Published: March 2007

Practical problems that are frequently encountered in applications of covariance structure analysis are discussed and solutions are suggested. Conceptual, statistical, and practical requirements for structural modeling are reviewed to indicate how basic assumptions might be violated. Problems associated with estimation, results, and model fit are also mentioned. Various issues in each area are raised, and possible solutions are provided to encourage more appropriate and successful applications of structural modeling.
True Score or Factor Models
Authors: SARIS WILLEM E. , VAN DEN PUTTE BAS
Published: March 2007

In the February 1987 issue of Sociological Methods and Research several articles were published that dealt with the same data set. These data focused on attitudes toward guest workers. The purpose of that study was to demonstrate the application of measurement models, especially with respect to random measurement error, on large-scale survey data. Since we think that such studies are very valuable, we want to continue the discussion on measurement models by applying alternative models to the same data. We show that quite different models fit the same data set and that these models lead to quite different interpretations. In doing so we will use some tests that we think should be applied in order to differentiate between measurement or true score models and factor analysis models. In this article we show that the resulting models and interpretations of the data can vary quite a lot depending on whether one uses a true score model or a factor model. The substantive result of these analyses is that it seems possible to distinguish two types of opinions. One type we have called the first reaction, and the other type is called a more seriously considered opinion. These two opinions differ systematically from each other and therefore the results of research using the one or the other opinion will also differ.
Strategies for the Prevention, Detection, and Correction of Measurement Error in Data Collected from Textual Sources
Authors: FRANZOSI ROBERTO
Published: March 2007

This article considers the problem of measurement error in data collected from textual sources (for example, newspapers, police records, medical records). The article discusses several levels in the strategy of both detection and correction of errors, on-line and off-line, during and after data collection. It introduces social scientists to useful concepts and tools such as performance-shaping factors and acceptance sampling, which have been developed in the field of engineering. It proposes the use of semantic text grammars in lieu of traditional content analysis schemes for the collection of textual data. Linguistics-based coding schemes yield much richer data. The article shows that these data are also more reliable, because they retain the semantic coherence of the original text.
Approximations to the Mean and Variance of the Index of Dissimilarity in 2 x C Tables Under a Random Allocation Model
Authors: INMAN HENRY F. , BRADLEY EDWIN L.
Published: March 2007

Approximations to the mean and variance of the index of dissimilarity in 2 x C tables under a random allocation model are derived, using a multivariate normal approximation to the multivariate hypergeometric distribution for the cell frequencies and the appropriate multivariate folded-normal distribution for the components of the index. To illustrate one application of these approximations, we standardize values of the dissimilarity index computed from tract-level census data to compare the levels of racial segregation in Birmingham and Richmond in 1970 and 1980, following Cortese, Falk, and Cohen (1976).
Estimation of the Network Effects Model in a Large Data Set
Authors: DUKE JAMES B.
Published: March 2007

Effects of interpersonal context are processes best represented by the network effects model. However, the size of the data matrices involved has until now prevented application of the model to large data sets containing information on individuals. The proposed adaptation of Doreian's maximum likelihood estimator substantially reduces the amount of computer core memory required for estimating the model, so that estimation can be carried out on a typical mainframe computer. An empirical illustration of the network effects model using the Adolescent Society data is presented.
Networks of Interorganizational Relations
Authors: MIZRUCHI MARK S. , GALASKIEWICZ JOSEPH
Published: March 2007

Network analysis has been used extensively in the study of interorganizational relations. This article reviews the literature over the past fifteen years and organizes it into three theoretical traditions: the resource dependence model, the social class framework, and the institutional model. It is shown that network methods have enabled researchers to describe phenomena, such as interorganizational fields, that were previously inaccessible. It is also shown how social networks help to explain the formation of interorganizational ties and how interorganizational relations, conceptualized as social networks, can explain organizational power as well as the strategies decision makers pursue.
Detrending Time Series
Authors: RAFFALOVICH LAWRENCE E.
Published: March 2007

Trends in time series may produce spurious covariation among variables. Although it is clearly necessary to model such sources of covariation, it is equally necessary to model those processes correctly. This article considers two types of processes that produce trends in time series. Trend stationary processes produce a constant rate of change in the level of a variable. Difference stationary processes produce a random rate of change in the level of a variable. Methods to detrend time series presuppose one or the other of these two basic processes. Tests to distinguish trend stationary from difference stationary processes are described and illustrated. It is shown that choice of method makes a difference and that the consequences of incorrectly detrending time series may be severe.
Expert Systems and their Role in Computational Sociology
Authors: BRENT EDWARD E.
Published: March 2007

This article examines in detail some of the principal strategies used by expert systems to represent and reason about knowledge. It identifies strengths and weaknesses of these different strategies, with particular reference to sociological knowledge as illustrated by the work of Erving Goffman. The article ends with a summary of the current status of expert systems in sociology and prospects for using expert systems to help create a systematic framework for computational sociology.
A Note on Calculating the π* Index of Fit for the Analysis of Contingency Tables
Authors: XI LIWEN , LINDSAY BRUCE G.
Published: March 2007

Rudas, Clogg, and Lindsay (1994) proposed a mixture index-of-fit approach for evaluating goodness of fit in the analysis of contingency tables. Clogg, Rudas, and Xi (1995) applied this approach to the analysis of models for mobility tables. The maximum likelihood estimate of the mixture index of fit π* can be obtained by the expectation and maximization (EM) algorithm. The objective of this article is to describe an alternative algorithm, using sequential quadratic programming (SQP). Two major advantages SQP holds over the EM algorithm are the following: (1) The speed of convergence is greatly increased and (2) SQP is more general than the EM algorithm of Rudas et al. and does not require explicit maximum likelihood estimates. The SQP algorithm is available in the MATLAB package; a sample code is provided in the appendix.
Ethnographic Contributions to Organizational Sociology
Authors: MORRILL CALVIN , ALAN FINE GARY
Published: March 2007

The authors examine the contributions of ethnography to organizational sociology in five substantive areas: (1) the elaboration of informal relations, (2) organizations as systems of meaning, (3) organizations and their environments, (4) organizational change, and (5) ethics and normative behavior. They then discuss three claims that ethnographers typically make: that ethnography provides for depth, multiple perspectives, and process. These claims permit its unique contributions but also create trade-offs in terms of control, bias, and generalizability. The authors conclude by considering the implications that the resurgent interest in organizational ethnography holds for its systematic practice and the development of standards to evaluate its cross-disciplinary usage.
Interviewer Effects in the Measurement of Personal Network Size
Authors: VAN TILBURG THEO
Published: March 2007

Methods for delineating personal networks in surveys contain complex instructions for the interviewers. It is assumed that the interviewers' experience and education influence their ability to follow these instructions. The magnitude of the interviewer effects on the personal network size has been investigated, and differences among interviewers have been explained on the basis of their experience and education. The data are from a survey among 4,059 older adults in the Netherlands interviewed in 1992 by 87 interviewers. A strong interviewer effect was observed. Furthermore, the results of a multilevel regression analysis showed that, controlled for respondent characteristics, well-educated interviewers with minor experience prior to the project and major experience within the project (i.e., the high sequence number of the interview) generated relatively large networks.
A Broader Template for Analyzing Broken Randomized Experiments
Authors: BARNARD JOHN , DU JIANGTAO , HILL JENNIFER L. , RUBIN DONALD B.
Published: March 2007

Randomized experiments suffering from missing data and noncompliance are a recurring problem for experimenters whose subjects are human. Until recently, analysts of such broken randomized experiments were largely forced to squeeze the data into the idealized template of the randomized experiment with neither noncompliance nor missing data. Such practices necessitate throwing away information and making strong, and often unwarranted, assumptions. The Milwaukee Parental Choice Program, a natural experiment, is used to illustrate the flexibility of a new template, which allows for missing data and certain forms of simple noncompliance. The generality of this new template, which is based on a formulation of causal effects called the Rubin causal model, is contrasted with existing alternatives. The multiple imputation technology needed to proceed with analyses from the framework of this template is briefly described, and technical aspects will be presented in depth in subsequent work.
Circumcision, body and community
Authors: Mehta Deepak
Published: March 2007

In analysing the significance of circumcision for the Ansaris of Barabanki, this paper draws out the discursive terrain of two terms: khatna, used to describe the ritual of circumcision; and musalmani, employed to discuss the range of meanings of circumcision in everyday life. In the process of describing the two terms, the paper shows the relationship between the everyday and the extraordinary. The two terms, khatna and musalmani, are not hierarchically ordered: they are linked through the articulation of a collective memory. Substantively, the ritual shows how the body of the person undergoing circumcision is classified and made corporeal, while with the discourse of musalmani, the body becomes an ornamental inscription in the pronouncements of men.
The female family core explored ethnosociologically
Authors: Marriott McKim
Published: March 2007

Extended family households of South Asia distinguish their core female personnel as sexually active or inactive, junior or senior, and own or other. (i) Noting similar variables in the region's classical theories and elsewhere in its ethnography, and constructing from these a paradigm to assist fur ther questioning, this paper finds (ii) eight major societal qualities generated by the same paradigm, (iii) eight corresponding domestic role-types, (iv) a common female life-course through those role-types, (v) characteristic relations of worship complementing that female life-course, and (vi) diverse related perspectives on male—female differences. So many results from questioning with this one paradigm make the common and congruent female family core a likely source of the civilisation's diversity as well as of its underlying assumptions.
The badli system in industrial labour recruitment: Managers' and workers' strategies in Calcutta's jute industry
Authors: de Haan Arjan
Published: March 2007

This paper discusses the system of badli' (substitute) labour in the jute industry of Calcutta. This is placed in the context of recent debates about the need for flexible labour markets, and against the background of the industry's deep crisis. The paper aims to con tribute to these debates by analysing the way the system of badli labour has evolved. It argues against one-sided and anachronistic interpretations that isolate employers' strate gies ; examines the specific circumstances that gave the system its particular shape; and tries to restore agency—managers' as well as workers'—into the labour historiography. Four main arguments are put forward. First, a badli system existed before it became regulated. Second, there are few signs of an employer's strategy to create a system of badli labour—though they did use it to their advantage. Third, the badli system is not accompanied by a social segmentation of the population of the industrial area. Finally, the paper re-examines the link between the badli system and the form of migration pre dominant in this industry, arguing that circular migration is the result of a complex set of circumstances, including rural conditions and socio-cultural views regarding the mobility of women.
Interrogating modernity, gendering 'tradition': Teatr tales from Goa
Authors: Robinson Rowena
Published: March 2007

This paper examines the teatr, a form of popular theatre in contemporary Goa, and the ways in which it engages with the modern, defining and 'fixing', in the same moment, a particular variant of 'tradition'. The plays of this genre revolve around questions of moder nity. In a complex articulation of the realms of the global and the local, modern culture, social mores, politics and economics, tourism and the global media are all represented, queried, even critiqued. Simultaneously, tradition, gender and family relations are viewed as requiring protection from the harmful effects of the modern. Thus, we are offered a par ticularly glorified representation of the 'traditional' Goan woman and her immurement in the family. Scholars studying cinema, theatre and the arts have spoken of similar construc tions elsewhere. Given their pervasiveness, the temptation to read these constructions as constituting a homogeneous dominant ideology are great. However, while the teatrs contain women within tradition, there are ruptures and moments when different ideas and voices surface. The paper argues that these moments are worth holding as traces of alternative, though suppressed, models, and as reminders of what the dominant ideology has to counter in establishing and maintaining its heyemony.
Economies of Time
Authors: BOOTH WILLIAM JAMES
Published: March 2007

Socrates said that leisure is the sister of freedom.

Aelian
Are there any Cultural Rights?
Authors: KUKATHAS CHANDRAN
Published: March 2007

I shall advance the thesis that if there are any moral rights at all, it follows that there is at least one natural right, the equal right of all men to be free.

H.L.A. Hart, “Are There Any Natural Rights?”
Another Justice
Authors: DILLON MICHAEL
Published: March 2007

But that from which things arise ( genesis) also give rise to their passing away ( phtora) according to what is necessary ( kata to chreon); for things render justice ( dike) and pay penalty ( tisis) for their injustice ( adikias), according to the ordinance of time.

The Anaximander Fragment
Children's and Adults' Recall of Television and Print News in Children's and Adult News Formats
Authors: WALMA VAN DER MOLEN JULIETTE H. , VAN DER VOORT TOM H. A.
Published: March 2007

Experiments comparing television and print news have shown that children learn most from television, whereas adults learn most from print. An experiment was conducted in which both 96 children (5th and 6th graders) and 96 adults (university students) were presented with a sequence of five news stories, either in their original televised form or in a printed version. Half of the participants were presented with stories taken from a children's news program (high audiovisual redundancy), whereas the other participants were exposed to corresponding stories adopted from an adult news program (low audiovisual redundancy). Results indicated that both children and adults learned most from television stories when presented in a children's news format, whereas the recall advantage of television disappeared when adult news stories were involved. The results suggest that the correspondence between verbal and visual content of television stories is decisive for the relative effectiveness of television and print.
THE PERCEIVED LEGITIMACY OF DEVIANT POLITICAL GROUPS
Authors: SHOEMAKER PAMELA J.
Published: March 2007

This article serves three purposes: (1) An explication of the concept legitimacy. Legitimacy has been measured in a wide number of ways by several researchers. By using factor analysis and correlation validation techniques, the various measures of legitimacy are grouped into four dimensions: evaluation, legality, viability, and stability. (2) an investigation of a critical hypothesis which holds that the U.S. media support the centrist political groups by delegitimizing deviant political groups. Although the deviant groups' activities are reported in the U.S. media, the hypothesis holds that the media cover deviant political groups in such a way as to make them seem ridiculous and eccentric. Two experiments yield some supporting evidence for this hypothesis. (3) A discussion of the applied effects of the findings for working journalists and journalism educators. If news articles which are written in what has traditionally been known as an “objective” style can deligitimize a political group, then the U.S. media may be contributing to the support of centrist parties to the detriment of new or different ideas.
WHEN NOBODY LISTENS
Authors: NICHOLS JOHN SPICER
Published: March 2007

All of the media flows in Latin America described previously in this volume are motivated primarily by profit-making commercial interests. In contrast, Radio Martí is a U.S. propaganda broadcasting operation intended to bring about political effects among the people of Cuba. The plan for Radio Martí ignores (1) past communication research showing that the mass media seldom have direct effects, and (2) the ineffectiveness of previous U.S. radio propaganda aimed at Cuba. If broadcasting to Cuba will not be effective in changing the attitudes of Cuban audiences, why is the U.S. government spending $14 million annually on Radio Martí? This article views Radio Martí as a system's response prompted by (1) a shift in inter-American relations, and (2) Cuban exiles and politically conservative groups in the United States who influenced the Reagan Administration to launch this project as a political symbol. Thus Radio Martí can be understood best as a political effect rather than as a cause of audience effects.
PERCEPTIONS OF COMPLIANCE-GAINING SITUATIONS
Authors: HERTZOG ROBERT L. , BRADAC JAMES J.
Published: March 2007

This study examines environmental influences on compliance gaining by focusing on situation types. Much of the research in this area has examined compliance-gaining messages or strategies while paying scant attention to the complexities of situational variation. Three respondent samples judged compliance-gaining situations in terms of their similarities. The data were submitted to multidimensional scaling analysis to determine the dimensions characterizing respondents' perceptions. Four dimensions emerged from each sample. Three of these dimensions were replicated across at least two of the samples. The relationship of the present findings to previous research is discussed along with implications for future research.
Accounting for the Process of Communicative Competence Evaluation
Authors: PAVITT CHARLES
Published: March 2007

The inferential approach to the study of competence evaluation assumes that an observer's evaluation of a communicator's competence is at least a two-stage process. First, the observer forms an impression of the communicator that is based on observed behavior, including unobserved behaviors and traits associated with the observed behavior in the observer's implicit theories of communicative competence. Second, the observer makes an evaluation of the communicator's competence, based on the implications of the entire impression. To test this approach and a series of complicating factors relevant to it, participants with known implicit theories judged an observed communicator on a set of competence-relevant characteristics and for overall competence, both immediately after observation and after a month's delay. Overall, inferential models predicted these judgments well. Traits were better predictors of competence evaluations than behaviors, and the delay resulted in predictable schematic biases. However, the addition of situation- and competence-level-specific judgments did not increase predictability.
Involuntary Attention and Physiological Arousal Evoked by Structural Features and Emotional Content in TV Commercials
Authors: LANG ANNIE
Published: March 2007

Structural features of television elicit involuntary physiological attentional responses in viewers. Mild emotional content in televised messages intensifies these responses, possibly through mediation of emotion-elicited arousal, which was also demonstrated. Heart rate data were collected and analyzed using novel techniques to show both short-term attentional responses and longer term arousal in subjects viewing commercial messages.
The Newsworthiness of International Terrorism
Authors: WEIMANN GABRIEL , BROSIUS HANS-BERND
Published: March 2007

The emergence of media-oriented terrorism has led scholars of modern terrorism to reconceptualize this phenomenon within the framework of symbolic communication theory. This study focuses on the newsworthiness of international terrorism. It relates the concept of deviance as a predictor of newsworthiness to the specific attributes of terrorist events and their impact on media selection (coverage or no coverage) and prominence of coverage (amount of space or time and location). The RAND Corporation chronology of international terrorism (1968-1980) and the coverage given to each terrorist event in the three American television networks and nine newspapers from various countries serve as the data base. By means of multivariate analysis, the effects of various attributes of terrorist events on media selection and coverage are examined. In general, the level of victimization, the type of action, the identity of the perpetrators, and an attributable responsibility were found to be the best predictors of media coverage. However, the effect of attributes on coverage varied from selection to prominence, thus suggesting a two-step process of selection in which different considerations affect each step. The impact of the various attributes was found to change over time. These findings suggest that the process of news selection is more complex than a simple relationship between attributes of events and coverage. In the case of terrorism, deviance as newsworthiness can be regarded as the guiding principle of coverage.
Elderly Viewers' Responses to Televised Portrayals of Old Age
Authors: MARES MARIE-LOUISE , CANTOR JOANNE
Published: March 2007

This study examined the effects of differently valenced portrayals of old age on the emotional responses of elderly viewers. Lonely and nonlonely elderly people (as determined in a pretest) were given a series of descriptions of television offerings and indicated the degree to which they desired to see each program. In a separate session, they were randomly assigned to view a negative portrayal (involving an unhappy, isolated old man) or a positive portrayal (involving a happy, socially integrated old man). The results indicated that lonely subjects showed greater interest in viewing negative than positive portrayals, whereas nonlonely subjects exhibited the opposite preference. In addition, lonely subjects felt better after viewing the negative portrayal than after the positive portrayal, whereas nonlonely subjects felt better after the positive than after the negative portrayal. The findings therefore indicated that elderly viewers may benefit from varied portrayals of old age more than from uniformly positive or negative depictions.
Even in Public Television, Ownership Changes Matter
Authors: LASHLEY MARILYN E.
Published: March 2007

Although there have been no “purchases of controlling shares” in public broadcasting, executive and legislative turnover has generated a type of “ownership change” that has had greater impact on public television policy than more recent ownership changes may have had on commercial broadcasting. In the following study, archival records obtained from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, congressional hearings, and presidential documents for fiscal years 1967-1989 are used to demonstrate that executive and legislative turnover is a type of ownership change that has profound consequences for public broadcasting. To this end, the policy preferences imposed during the administrations of Presidents Johnson, Nixon, Carter, and Reagan are described; the attendant modifications in organizational structure are identified; and the effects of these ownership changes on public television programming content are delineated. Specifically, it is shown that executive turnover has kept public broadcasting mired in budgetary crises that have transformed the very goals (policy preferences), structure, and programming content of public television over time.
Adolescents' Enjoyment of Graphic Horror
Authors: OLIVER MARY BETH
Published: March 2007

A study was conducted to examine the roles that adolescents' attitudes about sexuality and punishment play in their enjoyment of R-rated “slasher films.” Ninety-six high school students completed a series of attitude questionnaires and rated their perceptions of a videotaped preview of a slasher film that varied the sexuality in the portrayal (sexual, nonsexual) with the gender of the victim who was killed at the film's conclusion. More permissive sexual attitudes and lower levels of punitiveness were associated with greater enjoyment of frightening films. However, traditional attitudes toward females' sexuality were positively associated with gore-watching motivations (e.g., watching slasher films “to see the victims get what they deserve”). The manipulations of sexual behavior and gender of victim in the video preview had little effect on ratings of enjoyment overall. However, punitive attitudes toward sexuality were associated with greater overall enjoyment of the previews, and punitiveness was associated with greater enjoyment of the previews featuring sexuality. For male subjects, more traditional attitudes about females' sexuality were associated with greater enjoyment of previews featuring female victims.
Encouraging Charitable Contributions
Authors: ABRAHAMS MATTHEW F. , BELL ROBERT A.
Published: March 2007

This study tested three models of the door-in-the-face (DITF) compliance strategy—reciprocal concessions, perceptual contrast, and self-presentation. These accounts were tested in a fundraising context by manipulating the variables concession labeling, initial request size, and anticipated future interaction in a 2 × 2 × 2 factorial design with a stand-alone control group. The hypothesized mediating variable for each account—obligation, cost concerns, and image concerns—was assessed. A DITF effect was obtained. With regard to the models, concession labeling led to stronger feelings of obligation to donate, but did not affect compliance. The manipulation of anticipated interaction elevated impression management concerns, but these concerns did not motivate donating. The failure of the concession and self-presentation accounts is explained by their interaction; concession labeling facilitated charity when interaction with the solicitor was anticipated, but backfired when interaction was not expected. No support was found for the perceptual contrast explanation.
Interpersonal Effects in Computer-Mediated Interaction
Authors: WALTHER JOSEPH B. , ANDERSON JEFFREY F. , PARK DAVID W.
Published: March 2007

This study examined the effects of time restriction on social interaction in computer-mediated communication through a meta-analysis of applicable research. Time was defined as whether subjects were restricted or unrestricted in their opportunity to exchange messages. Studies were included that assessed either of two outcome variables: socially oriented (as opposed to task-oriented) communication, and negative / uninhibited communication. Hypotheses were derived from Walther's social information processing perspective. Meta-analytic tests supported the hypotheses on social communication. Although no effects were found on negative / uninhibited communication, a reexamination of original studies suggests caution regarding previous findings.
The Temporal Effects of Story and Statistical Evidence on Belief Change
Authors: BAESLER E. JAMES , BURGOON JUDEE K.
Published: March 2007

An experiment investigated characteristics of evidence that influenced beliefs across multiple time periods. Respondents, after reading one of four written messages that crossed evidence type (story or statistical) with vividness (vivid or nonvivid), completed belief measures at one of three time intervals (immediate, 48-hour delay, or 1-week delay). Statistical evidence was found to be more persuasive than story evidence. Vivid and nonvivid statistical evidence were persuasive relative to the control at 48 hours, and vivid statistical evidence remained persuasive through 1 week. Neither form of story evidence was persuasive relative to the control at delayed time intervals.
Media Impact on Fright Reactions and Belief in UFOs
Authors: SPARKS GLENN G. , SPARKS CHERI W. , GRAY KIRSTEN
Published: March 2007

Given the fact that the content of television and movies can be described as a rapidly changing stream of audio and visual information, it is puzzling that little research in mass communication has focused upon the cognitive processes relating to mental imagery. In this study, the potential role of mental imagery for media effects in two different areas is explored: (a) emotional responses to frightening mass media, and (b) the effects of the media on beliefs in UFOs. The results of the study indicate that individual differences in vividness of mental imagery may play a crucial role in moderating both types of media impact. Implications and suggestions for future research are outlined.
Priming and Media Impact on the Evaluations of the President's Performance
Authors: PAN ZHONGDANG , KOSICKI GERALD M.
Published: March 2007

The period between August 1990 and early November 1992 was characterized by two “issue regimes,” the Gulf War and an economic recession. Analysis of aggregate media content and opinion poll data shows that President George Bush's job approval ratings were closely tied to the changes in the salience of these two issues. Guided by priming theory, hypotheses were formulated and tested concerning media effects on voters' evaluations of President Bush. Results show that the pattern of forming Bush's approval ratings is related to two different issue regimes. The total dominance of the public arena by one issue during an issue regime sets the foundation of Bush's overall approval ratings. However, direct media priming effects are found limited. Implications of these results are discussed.
Switching Trains of Thought
Authors: PRICE VINCENT , TEWKSBURY DAVID , POWERS ELIZABETH
Published: March 2007

This study investigated how journalistic story frames can affect the thoughts and feelings of readers. Two hundred and seventy-eight students participated in two studies, reading and responding to a fictitious story about possible reductions in state funding of their university. Stories were presented in one of four randomly assigned versions, all containing the same information, but varying in their opening and closing paragraphs according to the frame employed: human interest, conflict, or personal consequences. A control version contained the common body only. In Study 1, thoughts listed by participants indicated that the news frames—although they had no influence on the volume of cognitive responses—significantly affected the topical focus and evaluative implications of thoughts generated. In Study 2, evaluations and opinions offered by participants indicated that the news frames also subtly could affect audience decision making about matters of public policy. Implications for shaping public opinion are discussed.
The Politics of Juvenile Awareness Programs
Authors: HOMANT ROBERT J. , OSOWSKI GREGORY
Published: March 2007

Michigan's Department of Corrections recently completed an evaluation of Project JOLT, a “Scared Straight” type of program. The evaluation was unable to uncover any benefits to juveniles from the program, and therefore the department recommended its cancellation. This, in turn, resulted in a public hearing at which this recommendation was challenged by raising a number of considerations that went beyond the evaluation study. This article clarifies the debate between the two sides and raises some theoretical, methodological, and political issues surrounding the Scared Straight approach.
Reactions and Attributes of Prisoners in Solitary Confinement
Authors: SUEDFELD PETER , RAMIREZ CARMENZA , DEATON JOHN , BAKER-BROWN GLORIA
Published: March 2007

In order to explore the effects of solitary confinement (SC) on penitentiary inmates, data were collected from volunteer respondents at five U.S. and Canadian prisons. Besides a structured interview, measures of personality, intelligence, mood, subjective stress, and creativity were administered. A questionnaire was used to identify ways of coping with the SC experience. Although the prisoners as a group differed from standardization samples on some of the tests, there were no dramatic differences between convicts who had experienced SC and those who had not. These data, which are unusual in that they were collected from actual convicts who were responding to SC as it is normally administered in their institution (as opposed to volunteer subjects under special conditions), do not support the view that SC in prisons is universally damaging, aversive, or intolerable.
Predicting Dangerous behavior in a Penitentiary Using the Megargee Typology
Authors: LOUSCHER P. KENT , HOSFORD RAY E. , MOSS C. SCOTT
Published: March 2007

This study investigates the efficacy of the Megargee typology system for classifying inmates in a penitentiary setting and for predicting institutional adjustment during incarceration. A random sample of 520 inmates from a penitentiary population of 1074 are classified into the typology groups according to procedures developed by Megargee, et al. (1977). A variety of demographic and criminal history variables are analyzed to determine subject characteristics for each of the ten typology groups. Institutional adjustment is assessed by data on inmate behavior routinely collected and recorded on each inmate by prison staff.

Analysis of the data shows that: (1) the Megargee typology could classify inmates into ten groups not proportionately different than those in a medium-security institution, (2) the groups did not differ significantly from one another on age, race, or offense type, and (3) contrary to predictions by Megargee et al. for a medium-security prison, the typology groupings are not effective in predicting which inmates would be antisocial or aggressive in a penitentiary setting.
Jack Henry Abbott, American Prison Writing, and the Experience of Punishment
Authors: ISRAEL MICHAEL
Published: March 2007

What the environment of prison does to its inhabitants can be better understood if we listen to the voices of men in prison, and the rise of the prison writer gives us a new and deeper data base for hypotheses to guide research. Jack Henry Abbott, as the best of these writers, raises disturbing questions about the functional utility of the maximum security prison. The most alarming suggestion of Abbott and others is that men being punished do not know why. No positive learning can derive from an experience so unreasonable, so lacking in compassion, as the realities of our prisons.
Utilization of an Interview-Based Classification Instrument
Authors: BONTA JAMES , MOTIUK LAURENCE L.
Published: March 2007

Presently halfway houses are not being fully utilized; this may be partly due to the unclear guidelines regarding residential placement. The reported research tested the validity of a classification instrument, the Level of Supervision Inventory (LSI), with incarcerated offenders placed into halfway houses. The LSI yielded impressive predictions of both inprogram and postprogram recidivism, it demonstrated acceptable internal reliability, and the instrument showed convergent validity. Furthermore, the LSI provided not only an assessment of risk but it also identified the needs of offenders that can be used to select treatment goals and evaluate intervention programs.
The Association between Selected Characteristics and Perceived Employability of Offenders
Authors: FINN R. H. , FONTAINE PATRICIA A.
Published: March 2007

Employment applications were prepared for 20 fictitious job applicants, and were then rank ordered by 225 undergraduate students enrolled in personnel management classes based on perceived suitability for employment in an entry-level job. Job applicants differed from each other on three treatments: type of crime allegedly committed, judicial outcome, and sex. Employability scores were derived for each applicant by converting the rank orders to a normal distribution with a given mean and standard deviation. Analysis of the data revealed a clear bias against all applicants who had allegedly committed a crime. The magnitude of the bias was related to the type of crime allegedly committed, and to the judicial outcome. Bias was not related to sex of the applicant.
The Techniques of Neutralization
Authors: AGNEW ROBERT , PETERS ARDITH A. R.
Published: March 2007

In order for neutralization to result in deviance, persons must (1) accept a technique of neutralization and (2) believe that they are in a situation in which the technique is applicable. Prior studies have confounded these two factors or ignored one of them. Employing a sample of college students, we examine the effect of both factors on cheating and shoplifting. Our central hypothesis is that acceptance of neutralizations will lead to deviance only when people believe that they are in situations in which the neutralizations apply. This hypothesis was supported for both forms of deviance. The consideration of both factors leads to an increase in the explanatory power of neutralization theory, allows us to better predict when the acceptance of neutralizations will lead to deviance, and sheds light on the mixed results of past neutralization research.
Police and Victims of Physical Assault
Authors: WIRTZ PHILIP W. , HARRELL ADELE V.
Published: March 2007

A total of 150 recent victims of physical assault were interviewed about their interactions with police officers and were assessed at approximately one month and six months postattack on three measures of psychological distress. Victims of all three crime types— rape, domestic assault, and nondomestic assault—were found to exhibit similar patterns of response to victimization, including significant declines in symptomatology on two of the three measures across the six-month period. While some police actions were approximately equally distributed across crime types, nondomestic assault victims were significantly less likely to receive information on available intervention resources than victims of the other two types of crime. Furthermore, a strong relationship was found between nature of services received and police mention of service availability, suggesting the importance of the police officer in the information dissemination process.
Avoiding Out-of-Home Placement of High-Risk Status Offenders through the Use of Intensive Home-Based Family Preservation Services
Authors: HAAPALA DAVID A. , KINNEY JILL M.
Published: March 2007

This article describes the values and program components of an intensive home-based family preservation service program called Homebuilders, which was designed to treat status-offending youths in danger of imminent out-of-home placement and their families. Data indicated that 87% of 687 youth referred to Homebuilders avoided placement for 12 months after service intake. These results are discussed with respect to program replication, other client populations, and future research directions.