bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Mediator Behavior and the Outcome of Mediation
Authors: Shapiro Debra , Drieghe Rita , Brett Jeanne
Published: April 2010

This research tests the notion that mediation is an art and thereby reflects mediators' unique interpretation of case characteristics and their intuitive resolution skills. Self‐report data were collected from 327 grievance mediation conferences. Specifically, five mediators reported whether or not they encouraged a compromise settlement, proposed a concrete settlement, encouraged the parties to discuss a compromise settlement, separated the parties during the mediation conference, and/or advised the parties in private how they thought the grievance would be resolved by an arbitrator. In addition, mediators were asked to report the duration of the conference and the type of conference outcome. The findings show that although four of the five mediators varied their behavior across conferences, all were about equally successful in settling grievances. The kind of settlements the mediators achieved, however, varied according to their behavioral choices. It is suggested that mediators choose behavioral tactics based on the kind of outcome they wish to achieve. Mediator behavior is less reactive and more proactive and systematic than popularly thought. It may thus be time to recognize that mediators are skilled practitioners of a learned craft‐not innately intuitive artists.
Mediating Public Disputes: Obstacles and Possibilities
Authors: Susskind Lawrence , Ozawa Connie
Published: April 2010

Mediated negotiation has recently been used to supplement traditional methods of resolving complex public resource allocation disputes in the United States. Although many of these efforts have apparently been successful, procedural concerns have been raised by a number of analysts. In this paper, we focus on five of these concerns: (1) problems of representation, (2) the difficulties of setting an appropriate agenda, (3) obstacles to joint fact finding, (4) difficulties of binding parties to their commitments, and (5) obstacles to monitoring and enforcing negotiated agreements. Our discussion builds on three cases: a negotiated investment strategy undertaken by the state of Connecticut; a dispute over the siting of a low‐income housing project in Forest Hills, New York; and an environmental dispute involving energy production facilities along the Hudson River. These experiences indicate that the difficulties associated with mediation can be overcome with the application of innovative techniques, and the assistance of a skillful and astute mediator.
Issues in Mediation: Rhetoric and Reality Revisited
Authors: Roehl Janice A. , Cook Royer F.
Published: April 2010

The rapid growth of mediation programs in the past decade has been accompanied by substantial research and commentary. Although most studies of mediation find it to be effective and satisfying for resolving disputes outside the courts, questions remain about its processes, effectiveness, and broad impact. This article examines both long‐standing and newly emerging issues in light of the varied programs established since 1969 (and with regard to the accompanying research and commentary). These issues include the appropriateness of mediation for different types of disputes; concerns about power disparity, coercion, and state control; public knowledge and use of mediation; the affiliation of mediation programs with government agencies or communities; and their impact on the justice system, and on neighborhood development and empowerment.
Does Self‐Help Help?
Authors: Hinrichsen Gregory A. , Revenson Tracey A. , Shinn Marybeth
Published: April 2010

This study evaluates the impact of participation in self‐help groups for people with scoliosis and their families. In a cross‐sectional study, adolescents with scoliosis, their parents, and adult scoliotics who attended scoliosis clubs (n=245) were compared with nonparticipants (n=495) who inquired about joining clubs. Although most members reported considerable satisfaction with the clubs, participation had no discernible impact on the psychosocial adjustment of the adolescent patients or their parents. Self‐help groups appeared to be most beneficial for adult patients, especially those who had undergone the most demanding medical treatment.
School Desegregation and Black Assimilation
Authors: Braddock Jomills Henry
Published: April 2010

Many changes in American race relations have occurred in the three decades since the Brown v. Board of Education decision. Some of these changes are related to school desegregation and have been extensively studied—e.g., changes in racial attitudes among both blacks and whites, and changes in black self‐esteem and achievement‐test performance. In contrast, relatively little is known about the long‐term effects of school desegregation on assimilation—full and equal participation of blacks in the social, economic, and political life of the society. When school desegregation is viewed in the context of the long‐term functions of education, it seems important for researchers and policy makers to ask whether it promotes the social integration of blacks and whites in adult life and enhances the career attainments of blacks. These important issues have recently begun to receive empirical research attention. This article reviews recent research on the long‐term effects of school desegregation on black assimilation, emphasizing evidence from several national surveys. Implications for social policy, intergroup relations, and interracial equity are discussed.
Cooperative Interaction in Desegregated Settings: A Laboratory Analogue
Authors: Miller Norman , Brewer Marilynn B. , Edwards Keith
Published: April 2010

Several cooperative heterogeneous team‐learning interventions have been developed to promote improved intergroup relations in desegregated school settings. Despite their positive effects, little or no evidence demonstrates any generalization to new children or to children outside the classroom setting. Furthermore, social‐categorization theory suggests that some procedural aspects of these interventions interfere with these intended benefits. Data from an experimental laboratory paradigm structurally paralleling these small‐group cooperative‐learning interventions, and testing hypotheses derived from social‐categorization theory show that a generalized increase in outgroup acceptance will be produced by (a) an interpersonal as opposed to a task orientation toward team members, and (b) the assignment of persons to teams on the basis of their unique personal attributes rather than attributes that explicitly exemplify their category.
The Values of Academe: Sexism as a Natural Consequence
Authors: Fuehrer Ann , Schilling Karen Maitland
Published: April 2010

The status of women in modern American society may be understood by examining cultural values created and transmitted by educational institutions. Examination of the effectiveness of educational institutions at the individual, organizational, and societal levels reveals a variety of forms of sex discrimination that have profound effects on all women. Although some forms of discrimination have been declared illegal, other forms continue unchecked. Recent developmental theories of sex differences in the valuing of social relationships and individual achievement help in understanding the nature of sex discrimination in educational institutions. These theories also help to identify ways in which such discrimination may be eliminated.
The Devaluation of Women's Competence
Authors: Lott Bernice
Published: April 2010

Research on the evaluation of competent women is reviewed in the context of the experiences of some eminent academic women with the objectives of bridging the distance between these two sources of data, and of identifying some of the conditions under which competent women are likely to be evaluated less favorably than comparable men. Findings generally support the hypothesis that the typical responses (of men, primarily) to a competent woman include prejudice, stereotyped beliefs, and overt or subtle discrimination, unless competing responses are evoked by other features of the situation or by the stimulus person's unique qualities. Thus, a competent woman is most likely to be devalued when judgments are elicited in realistic contexts in which there are potential consequences for the evaluator (e.g., a real employer) and when the woman is unfamiliar.
Legal Perspectives on Sex Equity in Faculty Employment
Authors: Gray Mary W.
Published: April 2010

Faculty women have had limited success in winning redress for employment discrimination in hiring, salary, promotion, and tenure. Courts have shown little consistency but have in general been unwilling to interfere in academic decision making. The narrowing of time periods for liability, the redefining of evidentiary burdens, the tightening of rules for class certification, and the subjecting of statistical evidence to detailed scrutiny have slowed even further any progress towards equality of opportunity. The burdens in time and money faced by those seeking remedies make litigation accessible to only a few, leaving internal institutional reform as the only means of moving towards sex equity.
Reviewing 50 Years of the Psychology of Social Issues
Authors: Harris Benjamin
Published: April 2010

In commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI), selected histories of psychology are reviewed for information on SPSSI and the social context of its early development. Differences in method and perspective in the historical literature are noted. Contradictions in SPSSI's political, professional, and scientific character are attributed to its purpose of supplying scientific expertise in the service of social reform.
The Psychological Insurgency: 1936–1945
Authors: Finison Lorenz J.
Published: April 2010

The materials for this paper come from extensive archival research and oral histories conducted from 1973 to 1985. The materials are used to show how and why the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI) and related organizations developed as they did. I argue that these organizations developed in four principal contexts: first, the employment crises of social scientists during the thirties; second, the central contradiction between social scientists' self‐perception as “value free” and their perceived responsibility to respond to the economic and cultural crises of the period; third, the relative positions of various leftist political groups of the time, their sectarian strife, and the influence of the Popular Front; and fourth, connections to power elites during World War II.
Reminiscences About the Founding of SPSSI
Authors: Stagner Ross
Published: April 2010

Widespread unemployment in the United States and the rise of fascism in Europe provided a stimulus for young social psychologists to form a support group within which ideas could be exchanged, and which would also try to protect academic freedom and opportunities to do research on social movements and institutions. The experiences of the SPSSI Committee on Peace and War are used to document the thesis that social psychologists bring their attitudes and value systems into such studies.
From the Social Gospel to the Psychology of Social Issues: A Reminiscence
Authors: Hilgard Ernest R.
Published: April 2010

The prosopography by James Capshew (1986) I find very interesting, well conceived and carried out, and genuinely thought provoking. My comments are more like free associations than a formal essay, but they represent my reflections on the past presidents of SPSSI.
The Small Group and Participatory Democracy: Comment on Graebner
Authors: Lippitt Ronald
Published: April 2010

I believe Professor Graebner (1986) has made a well‐designed intervention to manipulate us readers into a rather one‐sided understanding of some of the blends of Deweyian education, social group work, Lewinian applied group dynamics, and industrial personnel work that lived side‐by‐side and were intermeshed in the practices of many professional and “amateur” (e.g., parents) practitioners. Although some of this mixture that he calls “democratic social engineering” includes the ideas of “objects of control” and group decision with a predetermined influence objective, for many others it includes the idea of coparticipants in a problem‐solving process in which, as Douglas MacGregor formulated it, “the member will be open to influence from the leader to the degree he perceives the leader is open to influence from him.” In other words, it assumes reciprocity of influence, with an emphasis on listening, seeking, and using feedback from each other as peers and member‐leader relations. Mary Follett, Edward Lindeman, John Dewey, and Kurt Lewin all subscribed to this basic assumption about the meaning of interpersonal democracy. And the National Training Laboratory (NTL) was founded on these tenets. Accordingly, I believe several issues of social influence dynamics are somewhat confused in Graebner's paper.
“We would not take no for an answer”: Women Psychologists and Gender Politics During World War II
Authors: Capshew James H. , Laszlo Alejandra C.
Published: April 2010

This essay explores the complex relationship among gender, professionalization, and ideology that developed as psychologists mobilized for World War II. Upon being excluded from mobilization plans by the male leaders of the profession, women psychologists organized the National Council of Women Psychologists to advance their interests. But while their male colleagues enjoyed new employment opportunities in the military services and government agencies, the women were confined largely to volunteer activities in their local communities. Although women psychologists succeeded in gaining representation on wartime committees and in drawing attention to their professional problems, they were unable to change the status quo in psychology. Situated in a cultural milieu that stressed the masculine nature of science, women psychologists were hampered by their own acceptance of a professional ideology of meritocratic reward, and remained ambivalent about their feminist activities.
A Participant's View of the National Council of Women Psychologists: Comment on Capshew and Laszlo
Authors: Bryan Alice I.
Published: April 2010

In their perceptive and closely reasoned attempt to delineate “the complex relationships between gender, professionalization, and ideology” that evolved within the American psychological profession during World War II and to “further expose the processes that produce and legitimate separate spheres of activity for men and women,” Capshew and Laszlo (1986) provide a fresh, thought‐provoking perspective from which to view “the woman problem,” as it was initially dubbed by E. G. Boring (1951). They present data drawn from historical, statistical, and autobiographical sources, assess the relative influence of possible causal factors, and draw conclusions consonant with their basic assumptions.
The Role of Personality Development and Experience in Shaping Political Commitment: An Illustrative Case
Authors: Stewart Abigail J. , Healy Joseph M.
Published: April 2010

This paper highlights some complex relationships between personal experience and political behavior through a detailed analysis of the emergence and consolidation of political beliefs in one individual's life. We argue that conceptualization of the relationship between personal experience and political action should take account of (1) the centrality of political values in an individual's identity; (2) the individual's life stage and life history; and (3) the individual's current situation, including the reference group that frames the individual's perception of the situation. In an analysis of Vera Brittain, we find that political events taking place in adolescence shaped her broad ideological commitments, and that political events in later life were experienced as demanding expression of beliefs formed earlier. Finally, with the appearance of a need to be “generative,” or to contribute to the future, Brittain experienced a strong need to translate her beliefs and values into responsible political action.
From House to Haig: Private Life and Public Style in American Foreign Policy Advisers
Authors: Elms Alan C.
Published: April 2010

Personal history may determine the individual's style of expressing political beliefs as much as or more than it influences the beliefs themselves. Connections between private life history and public political style have most often been studied in U.S. presidents. However, studies of prominent foreign‐policy advisers can be just as useful for an understanding of how individual life history shapes the expression of political beliefs. This paper examines areas of apparent linkage between private life and public style in four of the most prominent American foreign policy advisers of the 20th century: House, Dulles, Kissinger, and Haig. Three styles of dealing with foreign policy issues—Machiavellianism, ego‐idealism, and authoritarianism—are considered in relation to the public and private behavior of each man.
Male Sympathy with the Situation of Women: Does Personal Experience Make a Difference?
Authors: Crosby Faye , Herek Gregory M.
Published: April 2010

Opinions and feelings about the situation of working women were assessed among a sample of men in high‐prestige and low‐prestige occupations interviewed in 1979 and 1980. The men varied considerably in how much sympathy they felt with working women. Men in high‐prestige occupations were reliably more aware of and upset about the true extent of sex discrimination than were men in low‐prestige occupations. Men's attitudes were not connected to the employment status of their wives or mothers, or to the experiences of women in their own lives.
The Instrumentality of Attitudes: Toward a Neofunctional Theory
Authors: Herek Gregory M.
Published: April 2010

This paper proposes that attitudes should be viewed as strategies for meeting personal needs; they serve psychological functions. After reviewing the early functional attitude theories proposed by Katz and by Smith, and some of the problems associated with them, a new functional approach is outlined. This neofunctional approach distinguishes two principal sources for the benefit related to attitudes: the attitude's object and the attitude's expression. Within these two major categories, specific functions are described based on the author's research and that of earlier functional theorists. The personality, situational, and domain characteristics likely to influence the functional value of attitudes are also discussed. Strategies suggested by this approach for changing attitudes are briefly considered.
The Effects of Media Violence on Attitudes, Emotions, and Cognitions
Authors: Rule Brendan Gail , Ferguson Tamara J.
Published: April 2010

This review specifies mediating factors between the viewing of violent media and aggressive behavior. The role of cognitive and emotional arousal processes are discussed, as is the interplay among these factors and attitudes toward aggression. Included in these discussions are attention and comprehension of the viewed media, as well as attributions and moral evaluations of the perpetrators of violence. Finally, the effects of media exposure on arousal, emotional desensitization, and the excitement of the observer's aggressive inclinations are presented.
Sexual Violence in the Media: Indirect Effects on Aggression Against Women
Authors: Malamuth Neil M. , Briere John
Published: April 2010

We present a model hypothesizing indirect effects of media sexual violence on aggression against women. It suggests that certain cultural factors (including mass media) and individual variables interact to affect some people's thought patterns and other responses that may lead to antisocial behavior, including aggression. Two streams of current research are relevant to the model. The first shows connections between exposure to sexually violent media and the development of thought patterns that support violence against women. The second reveals links between such patterns and various forms of antisocial behavior in the laboratory and in naturalistic settings. Suggestions for further research are discussed.
SPSSI and Race Relations, in the 1950s and After
Authors: Klineberg Otto
Published: April 2010

SPSSI's activities in connection with the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education, particularly in the preparation of the social science statement submitted with the legal brief, represent a major contribution in the area of race relations in the United States. The background of this contribution is briefly recounted, together with some developments in the convergence between SPSSI and the APA. Special attention is given to Kenneth Clark's role in this connection. This is followed by comments on some recent, not always favorable, developments. One positive phenomenon in both race relations and international relations is nonpsychologists' increasing use of psychological concepts and research. This is regarded as a hopeful sign of an increasing influence of psychology and of SPSSI in the analysis of significant social issues. This is seen as a ray of light in a somber picture of some recent developments.
SPSSI Council: A Collective Biography
Authors: Unger Rhoda K.
Published: April 2010

A collective biography of the members of SPSSI Council from 1936–1986 was done and a comparison made to findings about SPSSI presidents of the same period [J. H. Capshew (1986), “Networks on Leadership: A Quantitative Study of SPSSI Presidents, 1936–1986,” Journal of Social Issues, 42(1), 75–106]. The results for the two groups are remarkably similar. Relatively few nonwhites and, until recently, few women have been elected to leadership positions. Clusters were found for geographic location as well as institutional affiliation. A distinct demographic trend was also found in terms of increasing identification with social psychology as both an area of training and major field of interest. These data suggest that professional networking has been a major factor in the emergence of SPSSI leadership at all levels.
SPSSI's Publication History: Some Facts and Reflections
Authors: Perlman Daniel
Published: April 2010

This article begins with a discussion of the functions that publications serve, and ends with speculations on the future of SPSSI's publication programs. The five main sections of the article describe the SPSSI book publishing program, separately review the history of both SPSSI‐sponsored books and SPSSI's journal publications, provide a citation analysis of the Journal of Social Issue (JSI), and comment on recurrent themes in SPSSI's publishing activities. Included in tables are lists of all SPSSI‐sponsored books, all JSI editors, the most frequent contributors to JSI, the most cited JSI articles (1965–1979), and the most cited JSI issues (1965–1979). Oriented toward academics and students, SPSSI publications have typically either focused on such social issues as prejudice and peace or been social psychological textbooks. A small set of elected SPSSI officers have played a key role in organizing and guiding the Society's publication program. The intellectual roots of JSI articles are primarily in psychology, but the journal's impact is multidisciplinary. Despite the difficulties inherent in the publishing process, JSI and SPSSI‐sponsored books have contributed greatly to SPSSI's identity and economic well‐being.
The Epidemiology and Causes of Childhood Injuries
Authors: Rivara Frederick P. , Mueller Beth A.
Published: April 2010

Injuries are the leading cause of death in children and adolescents after the first year of life. For individuals of all ages, the costs from motor vehicle injuries alone, when compared to other leading causes of death, are second only to the costs of cancer. Injuries are discussed within the conceptual framework of the events surrounding the injury and the classic epidemiological parameters of host, agent, and environment. Important host factors for childhood injuries include age, sex, behavioral characteristics of the child, family background, and use of drugs and alcohol. The environment encompasses the socioeconomic environment of the child, the physical environment, and the legislative environment. Specific agents or vectors of injury are discussed, including fireworks, poisoning, flammable fabrics, hot tapwater, farm equipment, and firearms. Approaches to injury prevention are suggested, both for research investigation and child advocacy.
Process Analysis of Injury Situations: A Complement to Epidemiological Methods
Authors: Peterson Lizette , Farmer Janet , Mori Lisa
Published: April 2010

Process analysis, as described in this article, is a behavioral, fine‐grained, specific, prospective method of examining both injury and near‐injury situations. By analyzing the antecedents, stages of response, and consequences of injury‐risk situations, process analysis may improve scientists' conceptualization of injury situations. It can also provide additional methods of evaluating ongoing intervention strategies and suggest new, more appropriate modes of intervention. Process analysis is particularly well‐suited to analyzing person‐based interventions. Some examples of such a complementary assessment system and a discussion of its advantages are presented.
Structural Approach to Injury Control
Authors: Wilson Modena , Baker Susan
Published: April 2010

The goal of childhood injury control is to reduce disability and death from injury. The thesis of the structural approach is that losses due to injury can often be reduced most effectively by structural modification. Since injury results when agent and host interact in a permissive environment, preventive strategies can be aimed toward any of the factors that contribute to causation. Many injury control strategies are therefore available. To prevent or reduce injury, a strategy must work when used, and it must be used. Strategies that require frequent individual action may fail to be used when protection is needed. The structural approach, when available, embodies strategies that do not depend on the behavior of the individuals who need protection.
How Minorities Continue to Be Excluded from Equal Employment Opportunities: Research on Labor Market and Institutional Barriers
Authors: Braddock Jomills Henry , McPartland James M.
Published: April 2010

Barriers to equal occupational opportunities for minorities are examined at three stages of the employment process: the job candidate stage, the job entry stage, and the job promotion stage. Using the authors' recent survey of 4078 employers covering a nationally representative sample of jobs, four types of exclusionary barriers are investigated: “segregated networks” at the candidate stage, “information bias” and “statistical discrimination” at the entry stage, and “closed internal markets” at the promotion stage. Practical implications are drawn for equal employment opportunity policies directed toward occupational processes and employment outcomes.
Shaping the Organizational Context for Black American Inclusion
Authors: Pettigrew Thomas F. , Martin Joanne
Published: April 2010

Recent gains in black occupational status, importantly aided by such programs as affirmative action, have created new interracial job situations throughout American society. This paper reviews the problems that arise at the recruitment, entry, and promotional stages for black Americans. The problems arise from two interrelated sources: the structure of the situations themselves and the operation of antiblack prejudice in both its traditional and modern forms. A social psychological analysis is advanced that emphasizes the biases introduced by the “triple jeopardy” these new workers often endure: (1) negative racial stereotypes, (2) the solo role—when the worker is the only black in the work group, and (3) the token role—when new black workers are viewed by white co‐workers as incompetent simply because they received their jobs through affirmative action. The barriers to black inclusion created by this triple jeopardy are discussed at several levels: biased and stressful recruitment practices; assumed dissimilarity and exaggerated expectations on entry; and later polarized, biased evaluations of performance. These processes often deny the new black employee needed realistic feedback and informal social support. The results, then, can involve not only biased evaluations but actual decrements in black job performance. The analysis is illustrated by several suggested micro‐remedies. But these micro‐remedies alone are unlikely to be sufficient unless administered in the larger context of structural, macro‐remedies. Two illustrative macro‐remedies are advanced, both of which aim to prevent solo situations and enlarge the black pool of qualified workers.
Disability Beyond Stigma: Social Interaction, Discrimination, and Activism
Authors: Fine Michelle , Asch Adrienne
Published: April 2010

This article critiques the assumptions about the nature and meaning of disability advanced in social‐psychological writing, suggests the origins of these assumptions, and proposes a return to a Lewinian/minority‐group analysis of the situation of people with disabilities. It concludes by placing the articles in this issue of theJournal of Social Issuesin context and by presenting questions in need of further exploration.
The Politics of Physical Differences: Disability and Discrimination
Authors: Hahn Harlan
Published: April 2010

Although a “minority‐group” model has emerged to challenge the traditional dominance of the “functional‐limitations” paradigm for the study of disability, research on attitudes toward disabled people has not produced a theoretical orientation that reflects these developments. This paper proposes a new conceptual framework, based on the fundamental values of personal appearance and individual autonomy, for assessing the “aesthetic” and “existential” anxiety aroused by persons with disabilities. Investigations using this perspective might contribute to determining the attitudinal foundations of the competing models that are dividing research on disability.
Positive Attitudes Toward Disabled People: Disabled and Nondisabled Persons' Perspectives
Authors: Makas Elaine
Published: April 2010

This article addresses the differing perceptions that disabled and nondisabled persons may have of what constitutes ‘“positive” attitudes and behaviors toward people with physical disabilities. Quantitative and qualitative data are presented to suggest that the strain that frequently occurs during interactions between disabled and nondisabled individuals may derive more from misunderstandings of one another's expectations than from negative intentions. Suggestions are made, methodologically, for ways that these areas of misunderstanding can be isolated empirically, and conceptually, for ways that information can be exchanged to correct these misunderstandings.
Disability as Moral Experience: Epilepsy and Self in Routine Relationships
Authors: Schneidre Joseph W.
Published: April 2010

This paper draws on depth interview data from an availability sample of 80 people with epilepsy to examine the moral experience of disability (cf. E. Goffman, 1959, “The Moral Career of the Mental Patient,” Psychiatry, 22, 123–135). This concept directs attention to how those who live in the social world of epilepsy, and of disability more generally, define themselves and others in both positive and negative ways. Most discussions of the moral aspects of disability turn on the concept of stigma, and epilepsy certainly is a prime area for such study. This paper, however, focuses on the consequences of disability for the distribution of work and responsibility in routine, everyday relationships and how, in turn, this affects the way people see, think about, and feel about themselves. Particular attention is given to family, parental, and employment relationships. The paper raises the question, If disability is a social construction and has such costs, how can we best construct it for all concerned?
The Myth of Clinical Judgment
Authors: Biklen Douglas
Published: April 2010

Professions that provide services to people with disabilities typically do so from a clinical perspective. Yet evidence on the exercise of clinical judgment raises a number of questions about its influence. Other factors such as economics, bureaucratic exigency, politics, service traditions, and societal prejudice may render reliance on clinical judgment little more than a mythology. This paper examines the status of clinical judgment in two areas of policy and practice, namely, placement of students in special education settings, and residential placements and programs for people with developmental disabilities.
Parental Entrepreneurship: A Consumerist Response to Professional Dominance
Authors: Darling Rosalyn Benjamin
Published: April 2010

This article explores the development of activism among parents of disabled children. Based on research with parents using a symbolic interactionist perspective, it discusses the predisposing conditions and situational contingencies that encourage parents to become activists for their children. Parental activism is viewed as a response to the failure of society to provide sufficient or appropriate resources to meet the needs of disabled children and their families. It involves seeking information and control and challenging authority. Development of the role is nurtured by interactions with others in similar situations and may result in a careerlike pattern, or entrepreneurship, as a way of life.
The Social Psychology of Physical Disability: 1948 and 1988
Authors: Meyerson Lee
Published: April 2010

The editor of JSI's 1948 special issue on the social psychology of physical disability recalls some of the circumstances associated with its creation. He epitomizes the Zeitgeist in this field in 1948 and 1988, speculates on the influence of the JSI issue in the changes that occurred over those 40 years, and discusses several variables that may influence further developments by the year 2000.
Distinguishing between Positive and Negative Approaches to Peace
Authors: Wagner Richard V.
Published: April 2010

The distinction between positive and negative goals is important in the psychology of peace because it affects the way people respond to the threat of nuclear war. An orientation toward the negative goal of avoiding war has been a priority because of the great danger of the nuclear threat and also because negative means and goals, being primarily reactive, more concrete, and more oriented to short‐term objectives than positive goals, are more conducive to action. However, there are unfortunate consequences of too exclusive a concentration on avoiding war: inadequate conceptualization of a positive, more easily maintained goal of peace, and increased anxiety resulting in poor‐quality thinking about ways to achieve peace. Choosing positive means of working toward peace is consonant with peace as a positive goal, and it compensates for some of the disadvantages of an exclusive focus on avoiding a nuclear confrontation.
Peace Fair or Warfare: Educating the Community
Authors: de Rivera Joseph , Laird James
Published: April 2010

Psychologists who wish to promote peace and justice must investigate how to mobilize the political will of the people in order to improve the policy making of the elite. This is the second study in a program of action research designed to investigate ways of encouraging people to accept personal responsiblity for influencing governmental foreign policy. It reports an attempt to create an ideal educational experience—a peace fair—that would provide the set of conditions that the first study suggested were essential for the acceptance of personal responsibility. The fair was successful in convincing individuals that they personally could do something to help prevent nuclear war. However, it revealed a serious weakness in the current peace movement—an inability to portray convincingly a course of national action that could promote peace and justice. This is an essential component for efficient action. Suggestions are made for the next round of research.
Conflict Resolution as the Alternative to Terrorism
Authors: Cohen Stephen P. , Arnone Harriet C.
Published: April 2010

We distinguish between the typical sort of short‐range conflict management, in which governments must engage, and the long‐term processes of conflict resolution, which must include the involvement of entire societies and the replacement of adversarial relations with cooperative ones. How can third parties facilitate conflict resolution? This article discusses five principles that have evolved from attempts to facilitate conflict resolution in the Mideast: enhancement of each adversary's identity, creation of new symbols, enfranchisement of elements within each of the conflict groups, enhancement of indigenous development, and use of indigenous third parties. We argue that this nongovernmental facilitation of conflict resolution (with governmental tacit cooperation) is the real alternative to terrorism.
Specifics in a Positive Approach to Peace
Authors: White Ralph K.
Published: April 2010

An approach to peace is called “positive” here if, in addition to appearing as a realistic means toward peace, it is inherently attractive and morally unobjectionable. Positive approaches include drastic reduction of nuclear weapons (bilateral if possible, but unilateral if necessary), total elimination of first‐strike nuclear weapons, a wholehearted no‐first‐use policy in actions as well as in words, humanization of our own diabolical image of the U.S.S.R., cultivation of realistic empathy and global consciousness, drastic reduction of fear appeals by the peace movement, and cultivation of realistic hope. However, some “negative” actions are also well worth considering as paths to peace: retention of approximately 5% of our present nuclear strength, retention of “adequate” conventional strength, realistic criticism of the U.S.S.R., occasional use of fear appeals, and guarding against unrealistic hope. As a model of positive reasoning and a source of useful references, an imaginary dialogue is presented in which a peace activist answers, in a factual and two‐sided way, a number of highly skeptical hawkish questions. Learning to answer such questions effectively may add to both immediate effectiveness and long‐term hope within the peace movement.
The Psychobiology of Loss: Lessons from Humans and Nonhuman Primates
Authors: Laudenslager Mark L.
Published: April 2010

Although descriptions of the behavioral and medical consequences of bereavement are numerous, the biological links between grief and increased risk for medical illness are far from established. Our knowledge of some of the hormonal, physiological, and immunological consequences of stress has been advanced through the study of human populations and appropriate animal models. There is a growing consensus that there are measurable changes in a number of biological systems that have direct relevance to the increased risk for illness noted in the recently bereaved. However, studies of the process of bereavement in human populations are full of confounding design, measurement, and conceptual problems. A particularly relevant animal model with similarities to the grief process is available in young nonhuman primates, which have demonstrated a number of immunological, endocrine, and physiological responses to brief mother‐infant separation experiences. Many of these changes occur in the absence of some of the confounding factors noted in the human research. This paper reviews the results of some of the studies of biological correlates, particularly relevant to the bereavement process, in both humans and nonhuman primates, and it discusses potential social intervention strategies that may have a significant impact on the biological system and modulate the risk for illness.
Bereavement as a Psychosocial Transition: Processes of Adaptation to Change
Authors: Parkes Colin Murray
Published: April 2010

There are many ways of construing the psychology of loss. This paper describes one such model, which enlightens some, but not all, aspects of bereavement and needs to be used alongside other models. Loss is one aspect of psychosocial transition, the psychological change that takes place whenever people are faced with the need to undertake a major revision of their assumptions about the world. The paper focuses on the ways in which people change or fail to change their internal model of the world in the face of emergent events. Examples are taken from bereavement, loss of a limb, and the succession of losses that mark the course of terminal illness. Implications for identifying people at risk and mitigating that risk are outlined.
Support Systems of American Urban Widowhood
Authors: Lopata Helena Znaniecka
Published: April 2010

The life a woman develops in marriage becomes more or less disorganized with the death of her husband. Many characteristics of a society, a community, and a woman influence the degree of disorganization of her life with the death of her husband, and the direction and form of her life that emerges after the period of mourning and heavy grief is over. Aspects of a widow's life that I and my colleagues have studied include her support systems, social roles, lifestyle, and self‐concept. These aspects are built gradually, or changed dramatically, as a result of disorganizing events followed by reorganizing processes. This paper examines the support systems American urban women have developed in widowhood.
The Role of Social Support in Bereavement
Authors: Vachon Mary L. S. , Stylianos Stanley K.
Published: April 2010

Spousal bereavement involves a social network crisis. The individual's response is influenced by prebereavement personality factors and preexisting social network characteristics. The impact of the loss on the individual and other network members, and the presence or absence of concurrent stressors, will determine the “goodness of fit” between the support offered and the needs of the bereaved and perception of the environment as helpful or unhelpful. An inadequate social network is associated with high distress over the course of bereavement. Intervention aimed at increasing social support can decrease the distress of bereavement.
Counseling the Bereaved
Authors: Raphael Beverley , Nunn Kenneth
Published: April 2010

This paper considers many of the theoretical and practical issues underlying the provision of bereavement counseling, and discusses (a) risk factors for bereaved people, (b) therapeutic assessment of bereaved people and planning of care, (c) provision of services aimed at diminishing risk and facilitating grief and mourning, (d) key issues of family and social support in bereavement counseling, and (e) the need for further development and coordination of services for the bereaved.
Economic Recession and Mental Health: Some Conceptual Issues
Authors: Jahoda Marie
Published: April 2010

The greatest burden of economic recession falls on the unemployed. Research in this area has resulted in a general consensus that the large majority of the unemployed are psychologically impaired. From the voluminous relevant literature, three conceptual issues are singled out for discussion: the research style—that is, the dominant questions investigated and the corresponding research procedures; explanations for the mental state of the unemployed and the role of theory; and the concept of mental health as involving more than the absence of mental illness.
Economic Stress in Lives: Developmental Perspectives
Authors: Elder Glen H. , Caspi Avshalom
Published: April 2010

A major task for research on the social costs of economic stress is to trace how macrosocial changes affect increasingly smaller social units and ultimately those microsocial phenomena that directly influence children in their families. In this paper, we specify linkages between macroeconomic change and children's development by tracing deprivational effects through family adaptations in the household economy and in personal relationships. Our findings from research on children and families of the Great Depression are discussed in relation to an interactional model of the process by which families adapt to stressful times.
Personal and Aggregate Unemployment and Psychological Symptoms
Authors: Dooley David , Catalano Ralph , Rook Karen S.
Published: April 2010

Four different types of individual‐level unemployment experiences were studied in relation to psychological symptoms: (1) current unemployment following a recent involuntary job loss, (2) unemployment among students or homemakers, (3) reemployment after recent job loss, and (4) either voluntary or long‐term (greater than 6 months) unemployment. Aggregate unemployment (the prevailing rate in the surveyed community) was also studied, both alone and in interaction with each of the four individual‐level unemployment conditions. These five variables were each related positively to psychological symptoms, whether measured as a continuous variable or as a dichotomous variable simulating a case/non‐ case split, and controlling for the usual demographic variables and various other stressful life events. Little evidence was found for interactions of the unemployment conditions with aggregate unemployment or with potential moderators. A small panel study provided a partial longitudinal check for several of these cross‐sectional findings. The findings are discussed in terms of public policy options.
Applied Behavior Analysis and Social Marketing: An Integration for Environmental Preservation
Authors: Geller E. Scott
Published: April 2010

Basic principles of applied behavior analysis and social marketing are reviewed with reference to the development of action plans to protect the environment. Behavior‐change procedures that have targeted environmental preservation are categorized as antecedent interventions (including education, prompting, modeling, goal setting and commitment, and engineering and design strategies) or consequence procedures (i.e., reinforcement and punishment). Although past behavior analysis research has demonstrated environmental benefits from applying certain behavior‐change interventions, those studies were small‐scale and short‐lived. This paper offers an integrative model of applied behavior analysis and social marketing as a potential approach to large‐scale and long‐term intervention for environmental protection. The market analysis and segmentation phases of social marketing, for example, allow for the specialization of behavior‐change strategies for particular target groups. This integration requires increased collaboration between behavior analysts and environmental psychologists who study the correlation of individuals' environmental concern and action with their attitudinal, demographic, and personality characteristics. A plea is made to replace armchair theorizing with interdisciplinary and intervention‐focused environmental research.
Attitudes and Environmental Management
Authors: Heberlein Thomas A.
Published: April 2010

Attitude studies are useful for environmental managers because they provide (1) information about public support and beliefs, (2) information about goals necessary to set standards, and (3) information about the current and future behavior of relevant parties. Three cases are described to show how attitude studies can play a role in environmental management—helping to set user limits for float trips on the Colorado River, establish the feasibility of an earlier deer‐hunting season in northwestern Wisconsin, and develop a plan to clean up a polluted lake. Because of their utility, it is predicted that the demand for attitude studies as part of environmental management will increase. Information about specific attitudes and beliefs, based on actual experience, is most helpful, and experimental designs in field research can augment information from surveys. In spite of the attitudinal information, two of the projects described here were stopped by organized opposition of a particular interest group. Thus, simple user attitude studies are not sufficient, and a broader array of social science research on environmental management is needed to deal with such influences.