bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Family in the Institutionalization of the Elderly
Authors: Tobin Sheldon S. , Kulys Regina
Published: April 2010

Family caregiving to elderly impaired members is so ubiquitous that there are more homebound than institutionalized elderly. The burden on families who provide care to impaired elderly family members can be enormous but it can be reduced through extrafamilial assistance. Institutional care is often sought when the burden becomes overwhelming; and if institutionalized, the older person cannot avoid feelings of abandonment, and the family, feelings of guilt. Family involvement persists after the elderly person enters and lives in the institution. Although it can be expected that families will continue to be committed, willingness to provide home care may diminish because of changes in family caregivers: more daughters are likely to be working and more children likely to be elderly themselves and to be members of non‐intact families who may perceive familial obligations differently. It is unlikely that community based services can reduce the need for institutional care among those residual elderly who will not have family to care for them at home and who will have virtually no potential for restoration to the activities of everyday life.
Stress and the Environment
Authors: Baum Andrew , Singer Jerome E. , Baum Carlene S.
Published: April 2010

This paper presents an overview of the literature on stress and the environment using a basic attitude change paradigm. The stress literature is organized around characteristics of source, transmission, and audience variables. Prominent models of stress are reviewed, along with classifications of stressors themselves. The appraisal of stressors is considered as a transmission variable, affected by such factors as attitudes towards the stressor, perception of risk and danger, and perceived control. Research on dispositional variables is also reviewed and the stress response is discussed.
Air Pollution and Human Behavior
Authors: Evans Gary W. , Jacobs Stephen V.
Published: April 2010

While the impacts of human behavior on air pollution are considerable, very little research has examined this relationship. Similarly, little work has ensued on the effects of air pollution on human behavior. The purpose of this paper is to review the existing literature on air pollution and behavior and present an organizational structure that demonstrates gaps in the literature and lays an initial, conceptual framework for future research. The paper discusses research on the health effects, cognitive, affective, and conative components of air pollution and human response. In addition, the important roles of mediational constructs such as controllability of pollutant and adaptation are discussed in detail.
Effects of a Rape Experience: A Longitudinal Study
Authors: Kilpatrick Dean G. , Resick Patricia A. , Veronen Lois J.
Published: April 2010

After reviewing previous work on psychological effects of a rape experience, this paper reports the results of a longitudinal investigation of victim reactions to rape. Adult victims (N = 20) were assessed at 1 month, 6 months, and 1 year postrape, and a group of matched non‐victims (N = 20) were assessed at similar intervals. Findings were that victims were significantly more anxious, fearful, suspicious, and confused than nonvictims for at least a year after their assaults. However, there was significant improvement on those as well as other measures of personality and mood state over time, particularly between 1 and 6 months. Implications of these findings with regard to both social learning and feminist theory and therapy are discussed.
A Study of Women Who Both Were Raped and Avoided Rape
Authors: Bart Pauline B.
Published: April 2010

This paper is based on interviews with a sub‐sample of 13 women who had been both raped and had avoided being raped when attacked. Both acts had to occur when the woman was an adult, and at least one attack had to have taken place not more than two years prior to the interview. These women were part of a larger convenience sample of 94 women, 18 and over, who had either been raped or had avoided being raped when threatened within two years prior to the interview. The interviews examined both background and situational variables. Because for these 13 women the background factors, except for the prior assault, were held constant since each woman was her own control, it is possible to see the impact of situational variables on the outcome—rape or rape avoidance. Women were more likely to avoid rape under the following circumstances: 1) when they were attacked by strangers, 2) when they used multiple strategies, screamed and physically struggled, 3) when the assault took place outside, and 4) when their primary concern was with not being raped. Women were more likely to be raped under the following circumstances: 1) when they were attacked by men they knew, particularly if they had had a prior sexual relationship with them, 2) when the only strategy they used was talking or pleading, 3) when the assault took place in their homes, 4) when their primary concern was with not being killed or mutilated and 5) when there was a threat of force.
Transportation Energy Conservation Policy: Implications for Social Science Research
Authors: Zerega Anne Marie
Published: April 2010

This paper examines the role that social science research plays in Federal transportation energy conservation policy; assesses the current forms and degrees of consideration of social issues in transportation energy conservation policy; and identifies additional contributions that the social sciences could make toward achieving energy conservation goals. The analysis begins with transportation energy consumption figures. It then discusses conventional techniques used to develop transportation energy conservation policy, provides an assessment of the implications of these conventional techniques, and finally, examines certain case studies to identify roles that the social sciences could play in transportation energy conservation policy. The conclusions reached include: that energy conservation policy does not consider psychological factors underlying mechanical economic realities except as evidenced by market responses to rising energy prices and other economic measures; that transportation and energy philosophy, analytical tools, and interpretive techniques do not allow for consideration of social and behavioral issues; that energy problems are causing a shift in the nature of the U.S. transportation system; and, that there is a serious need for government to identify, analyze and understand the psychological and sociological forces affected when national transportation/energy conservation policy is charted.
Evaluating Energy Conservation Programs
Authors: Seligman Clive , Hutton R. Bruce
Published: April 2010

This article examines the problems involved in conducting program evaluation in the field of energy conservation. First, we offer a view of evaluation research that highlights its similarities to basic research. Criticisms of this view are presented and it is suggested that an understanding of the issue of formative and summative evaluations may resolve some of the points of difference. Then, various stages of evaluation research are examined within the context of energy conservation programs and it is argued that experimental evaluations are desirable and feasible.
Approaches to Encouraging Conservation Behavior: A Review and Conceptual Framework
Authors: Cook Stuart W. , Berrenberg Joy L.
Published: April 2010

This paper introduces a conceptual framework aimed at integrating the conservation behavior literature and facilitating the comparison of findings across studies. Within this framework, conservation behavior is approached from the theoretical orientations of attitude change, behavior modification and behavior maintenance. Seven commonly used approaches to encouraging conservation behavior are described in terms of these perspectives. Illustrative research related to each approach is reviewed.
Thermal Comfort and Strategies for Energy Conservation
Authors: Rohles Frederick H.
Published: April 2010

Human response to the thermal environment depends on seven variables: (1) air temperature, (2) relative humidity, (3) mean radiant temperature (temperature from surfaces such as windows), (4) air velocity, (5) clothing, (6) physical activity, and (7) time. After discussing major studies in thermal comfort which served as the basis for the comfort standard, and outlining the comfort standard itself, these seven factors are discussed individually in terms of ways in which they can be modified to conserve energy. Special topics include the Federal Emergency Building Temperature Restriction Plan (65°F in winter, 78°F in summer), night set‐back, accidential hypothermia in the elderly, seasonal effects and interior decor.
Diffusion of Energy‐Conserving Innovations
Authors: Darley John M. , Beniger James R.
Published: April 2010

We suggest that people's decisions to adopt energy‐conserving processes and products is a specific instance of the decision to adopt an innovation. Drawing on previous research, we postulate a set of eight dimensions by means of which energy‐conserving innovations are evaluated. We further argue that people's perceptions of an innovation's characteristics, on these dimensions, determine their decisions to adopt that innovation. Again in keeping with past research, we suggest that information that determines people's perceptions of innovations is more likely to be transmitted via social networks rather than mass media or other channels of communication. Taken together, these propositions form a theory of the adoption and diffusion of energy‐conserving innovations. A research program is sketched that would provide support for the theory.
Historical and Political Perspective: Women and Drug Use
Authors: Gomberg Edith S. Lisansky
Published: April 2010

Societies have usually regulated the use of drug substances with differences in rules of usage for men and women. This paper explores the political and historical factors contributing to this difference. Gender is linked to the use of drugs for therapeutic or recreational purposes and there seems to be greater social sanction for medicinal use for women. Women are bigger users of psychoactive drugs. Some possible reasons discussed are women's physiology, the relative health status of men and women, different aspects of sexually assigned role, and socially determined double standards in substances prescribed and proscribed. Women and alcohol in the U.S. history are traced from colonial days through the temperance movement to the present.
Social Support and Coping: Applications for the Study of Female Drug Abuse
Authors: Tucker M. Belinda
Published: April 2010

This paper addresses two issues: (a) the utility of applying the social support‐stress‐coping paradigm to the study of substance abuse, and (b) refinements needed in conceptualization of the coping aspect of the model. A brief review of the more recent theoretical and methodological treatments of social support is followed by an examination of two limitations of current perspectives. The first limitation considered is the failure of previous work to address the behavioral components of the hypothesized connection between social support and stress reduction, and the second is the lack of “bidirectionality” in social support models. Data from a study of heroin addicted women is used to illustrate how refinements in the coping aspect of the model, in particular, may help clarify the role of social support in stress reduction. Findings included the indication that, for heroin addicted women, the absence of social support is associated with the use of non‐social, potentially dysfunctional coping strategies. A similar pattern did not exist for men.
Monitoring Social Change Via Survey Replication: Prospects and Pitfalls from a Replication Survey of Social Roles and Mental Health
Authors: Kulka Richard A.
Published: April 2010

Recent methodological criticisms of longitudinal studies employing a panel design suggest that greater care is needed in determining what can and cannot be studied best using that approach, and where other diachronic approaches may be as appropriate or more appropriate. In this paper a few of the key strengths and weaknesses of panel studies relative to one alternative approach—a sequence of cross‐sectional surveys on samples from the same population—are reviewed. That review suggests that the latter design holds considerable promise as a method for studying women and social change. In spite of this great potential, a number of possible pitfalls associated with the analysis of successive cross‐sectional surveys for that purpose are described and illustrated using examples from a recent twenty‐year replication study. Such potential problems include: (1) differences in sample design; (2) differences in response rates; (3) demographic shifts in the population; (4) problems in repeating flawed questions; (5) changes in question meanings and context; (6) problems of maintaining comparable codes; and (7) potential changes in response bias. In spite of these inherent difficulties, however, additional examples derived from the same study are used to demonstrate the great potential value of using survey replication for the examination of important research questions in the study of social change.
Using the National Longitudinal Surveys to Examine Changes in Women's Role Behavior
Authors: Macke Anne Statham
Published: April 2010

This paper explores the uses of a particular set of panel data, the National Longitudinal Surveys, to study women's issues. Women's labor force behaviors, role conceptions, and family statuses were measured at several time points. Various ways of examining the relationships among these variables are presented. The general utility of using panel data to study women's issues is also discussed.
Secondary Analysis of a Longitudinal Survey of Educated Women: A Social Psychological Perspective
Authors: Kulka Richard A. , Colten Mary Ellen
Published: April 2010

This paper attempts to illustrate the flexibility inherent in many currently archived survey data sets by suggesting how one particular data set—the Ginzberg‐Yohalem Survey of Educated Women—originally collected for a different purpose, might be analyzed to address some major themes of interest to social psychologists today, including: (1) person‐situation interaction; (2) attitudes and behavior; (3) attribution theory; (4) helping behavior; and (5) social motivation. After noting a few methodological problems that limit the use of these data, including establishing an appropriate “cohort‐defining event” and measurement interval (“causal lag”) and the problem of panel attrition, the potential relevance of these data to each of these social psychological issues is illustrated by describing both specific analyses that might be conducted using variables from this survey and a number of others that cannot be done due to particular features of these data.
Educated Women's Career Patterns: Separating Social and Developmental Changes
Authors: Stewart Abigail J. , Lykes M. Brinton , LaFrance Marianne
Published: April 2010

This paper presents a secondary analysis of selected work and family variables drawn from a longitudinal study of educated American women. In it, we attempt to separate the effects of normative social change, cohort‐specific change, and developmental or life cycle change. Comparisons within and across time indicate that some relations (for example, between marital status and number of children and labor force participation) may shift due to broad social change. Others (for example, the different relations between age at marriage and career activity) may reflect cohort changes. Finally, some relations (for example, between women's perceptions of their husband's attitude toward their careers and women's actual career achievement) may be best explained in terms of developmental change. These findings suggest that the relations between work and family variables for women are complex and are changing due to the singular and interactive effects of broad social changes, cohort‐specific changes, and processes of personal development.
Sex‐Ratios, Sex‐Role Spillover, and Sexual Harassment of Women at Work
Authors: Gutek Barbara A. , Morasch Bruce
Published: April 2010

We propose that sexual harassment of women at work is often a product of sex‐role spillover, which is defined as the carryover into the workplace of gender‐based expectations for behavior that are irrelevant or inappropriate to work. We argue that, when the sex‐ratio at work is skewed—in either direction—sex‐role spillover occurs. Thus, women in male‐dominated work experience one kind of sex‐role spillover. They are “role deviates” who are treated differently from other (male) work‐role occupants; they are aware of this differential treatment, and they think it is directed at them as individual women rather than as work‐role occupants. On the other hand, women in female‐dominated work also experience sex‐role spillover but of a different kind. Sex‐role and work‐role are practically identical. These women are treated similarly to other (female) work‐role occupants, so are unaware that their treatment is based on sex‐role. Because of this, they think the treatment they receive is a function of their job; the job itself is sexualized. Data from a representative sample survey, about sexual harassment of working women in Los Angeles County, provide some support for these ideas.
Sexual Harassment in the Workplace as a Function of Initiator's Status: The Case of Airline Personnel
Authors: Littler‐Bishop Susan , Seidler‐Feller Doreen , Opaluch R. E.
Published: April 2010

This study focuses on women's perceptions of socio‐sexual behaviors in the workplace initiated by males with varying degrees of status. Using an airline population, female flight attendants were asked to record the incidence of sexual harassment by personnel of higher, equal, and lower status. Subjects then rated their affective responses to hypothetical scenarios involving similar interactions. It was hypothesized that the lower the status of the harasser, the more negative the recipient's affective state. Results show the affective state of the recipient is most negative with lower‐status personnel engaging in moderate verbal and physical harassment. With mild harassment, status has no differential effect. Social exchange and habituation explanations are used to account for the data.
Further Beyond Nine to Five: An Integration and Future Directions
Authors: Brewer Marilynn B.
Published: April 2010

Some of the findings of the studies reported in this issue are reviewed, with particular attention to conclusions regarding perceptions of the nature of sexual harassment and the possible differential effects of status and power on responses to incidents of social‐sexual behavior in the workplace. In addition, some suggestions are made for further research in the area, with emphasis on the dyadic nature of sexual harassment and its relation to differential socialization of males and females.
Attitudes Toward Nuclear Weapons and Nuclear War: 1945–1982
Authors: Kramer Bernard M. , Kalick S. Michael , Milburn Michael A.
Published: April 2010

This paper examines responses to nuclear‐related survey items from 1945 through April, 1982, which are on file at the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research. A content analysis of the wordings of the 498 items identified a number of themes which have appeared in many items across time. These include questions about criteria for the production and use of nuclear weapons, perceptions of the nuclear arms race, and personal fears and apprehensions. Analysis of response data for a sample of the items revealed a modest increase in personal fears across time, and a sharper increase in disenchantment with both the arms race and U.S. readiness to use nuclear weapons in response to Soviet invasion of Western Europe. These trends are tentatively explained in terms of altered perceptions of the strategic balance, with the Russians now seen as having reached or even exceeded parity with the U.S. An agenda is suggested for increasing our understanding of nuclear‐related public opinion in the future.
Conceptual Models, Judgment, and the Treatment of Uncertainty in Nuclear Threat Assessment
Authors: Fischer Gregory W.
Published: April 2010

This paper describes and evaluates the four approaches to nuclear threat assessment that are most commonly employed by U.S. national security analysts: (1) comparisons of U.S. and Soviet expenditures on nuclear forces; (2) comparisons of static indicators of nuclear capability, such as number of weapons or measures of the destructive power of these weapons; (3) using deterrence theory and battle simulations to predict nuclear war outcomes and evaluate the deterrent capability of U.S. nuclear forces; and (4) analyzing official Soviet military doctrine to make inferences about Soviet goals, images, and plans for nuclear war. The analysis of each approach begins with a brief description of how the approach is implemented. Next the conceptual bases of the approach—both theoretical and empirical—are examined. Then applications of the method are evaluated in terms of how well they deal with the uncertainties inherent in any attempt to assess nuclear capability or threat. Finally, applications of each method are evaluated in terms of how they incorporate subjective judgment, how well they document critical assumptions, and the extent to which they use sensitivity analysis to assess the impact of varying critical assumptions.
Social Science and the Politics of the Arms Race
Authors: Fischhoff Baruch , Pidgeon Nick , Fiske Susan T.
Published: April 2010

Folks don't often try to mix psychology and politics. When they do, there are a number of reasons, including the hunt for interesting data, the wish to be useful to society, and the desire to influence political events. Political involvement itself can assume a number of forms, including helping to shape a political program, helping to sell the program, uncovering the subtle ways in which the opposition has structured public discussion of the issues, and doing battle with opposition experts. Often, political involvement is viewed as the irreconcilable enemy of good science. Yet, the two seem to be very intertwined, with political considerations shaping science in many ways and science helping to shape society in return. By confronting the interdependence, it is possible to create a more deliberate science and one more effectively applied to social problems. In the context of studying people's images of nuclear war, several of the key issues are the degree of respect that psychology implicitly affords to the judgments of experts and of laypeople, as well as the role that it envisions each filling in the determination of defense policy.
It Could Be Worse: Selective Evaluation as a Response to Victimization
Authors: Taylor Shelley E. , Wood Joanne V. , Lichtman Rosemary R.
Published: April 2010

A theory of victims' responses to their victimization, termed Selective Evaluation, is proposed. It is maintained that the perception that one is a victim and the belief that others perceive one as a victim are aversive. Victims react to this aversive state by selectively evaluating themselves and their situation in ways that are self‐enhancing. Five mechanisms of selective evaluation that minimize victimization are proposed and discussed: making social comparisons with less fortunate others (i.e., downward comparison); selectively focusing on attributes that make one appear advantaged; creating hypothetical, worse worlds; construing benefit from the victimizing event; and manufacturing normative standards of adjustment that make one's own adjustment appear exceptional. The theory is integrated with the existing literature on victimization, and possible functions of selective evaluation are discussed.
Perceptions of Vulnerability to Victimization
Authors: Perloff Linda S.
Published: April 2010

Individuals who have not been victimized by negative life events, such as serious illness, accidents, or crime, tend to perceive themselves as “uniquely invulnerable,” as less vulnerable to victimization than others. The actual experience of victimization, however, appears to shatter this illusion of invulnerability, creating in victims a new and unfamiliar sense of vulnerability often accompanied by psychological distress. This article reviews literature documenting nonvictims' perceptions of unique invulnerability and victims' heightened perceptions of vulnerability, and addresses the potentially adaptive versus maladaptive consequences of these perceptions. It is argued that victims who have the most difficulty coping with their misfortune may be precisely those individuals who initially felt least vulnerable prior to being victimized. Therefore, how victims cope may depend in part on their prior beliefs about risk. In addition, a distinction is made between victims who feel “uniquely vulnerable” (more vulnerable than others) and those who feel “universally vulnerable” (equally vulnerable as others) to future misfortune. It is proposed that perceptions of universal vulnerability may be a more adaptive reaction to victimization than are perceptions of unique vulnerability.
Searching for Meaning in Misfortune: Making Sense of Incest
Authors: Silver Roxane L. , Boon Cheryl , Stones Mary H.
Published: April 2010

A critical feature of many undesirable life events is that they often shatter the victim's perception of living in an orderly, meaningful world. Many authors have suggested that following such outcomes, the search for meaning is a common and adaptive process. This paper explores the validity of that claim by considering data from a recent study of 77 adult women who were victimized as children: survivors of father‐daughter incest. In the process, several central questions regarding the search for meaning are addressed. How important is such a search years after a crisis? Over time, are people able to make sense of their aversive life experiences? What are the mechanisms by which individuals find meaning in their negative outcomes? Does finding meaning in one's victimization facilitate long term adjustment to the event? Finally, what are the implications of an inability to find meaning in life's misfortunes?
Self‐Blame in Victims of Violence
Authors: Miller Dale T. , Porter Carol A.
Published: April 2010

This article focuses on self‐blame in victims of violence. Various types of victim self‐blame are delineated (e.g., blame for causing the violence, blame for not being able to modify the violence and blame for tolerating the violence) and speculations are offered as to how each of these might be related to the affective state and coping ability of victims. Additional distinctions are made between the acts of: 1) blaming oneself for being a cause vs simply being an occasion for the violence and 2) blaming one's abuse on personal characteristics about which one feels positively vs characteristics about which one feels negatively. The implications of these distinctions for an understanding of the victimization process are discussed.
The Impact of the “Cult of True Womanhood” on the Education of Black Women
Authors: Perkins Linda M.
Published: April 2010

This paper compares the primary purposes and functions of educating black and white women in the 19th century. For white women, education served as a vehicle for developing homemaker skills, for reinforcing the role of wife and mother, and a milieu for finding a potential husband. For black women education served as an avenue for the improvement of their race or “race uplift.” The economic, political and social conditions which contributed to these purposes are discussed within a historical context.
Black Women's Sex Roles: The Social Context for a New Ideology
Authors: Malson Michelene Ridley
Published: April 2010

This paper proposes a paradigm for understanding black women's sex role ideology. Using interview data the study explores the sex role integration and synthesis of 54 single and two parent families. Variables such as labor force participation patterns, early and present sex role attitudes, role models, and strategies for coordinating family work and paid employment were considered. Results show an integration of traditional and non‐traditional roles in the sex role ideology of black women. The findings are discussed in light of role theory and the concept of role strain.
Going Up for the Oppressed: The Career Mobility of Black Women Community Workers
Authors: Gilkes Cheryl Townsend
Published: April 2010

This study explores the professional careers of 23 black women who had achieved public recognition and acclaim for their involvement in organizations and programs aimed at social change in an urban black community. The women's career orientations and patterns of occupational mobility were organized around the goals of community work—empowerment of the black community and change in the quality of individual and group life and in the larger social structure. “Going up for the oppressed” or occupational and professional mobility on behalf of the community comprised three activities: (1) focused education involving innovative use of dominant culture educational institutions for black community interests and aggressive self‐education in matters concerning the community and its problems; (2) a dialectical career involving increased levels of authority, prestige, and job opportunities along with increased levels of political consciousness, social criticism, and conflict with the dominant culture; and (3) strategies to maintain commitment and ties to the community, its people, and their interests. Such an unusual career orientation highlights the conflict between dominant culture professionalism and the goals of black communities for social change, and the need for individual professionals to reorganize their criteria for success if they are to remain committed to the goals of community work. The research highlights the difficulties in predicting the behavior of members of the black middle class with reference to the combined effects of race consciousness and class consciousness or “nation‐class” consciousness.
Encountering an Alien Culture
Authors: Sproull Lee S. , Kiesler Sara , Zubrow David
Published: April 2010

This paper applies a cultural perspective to the problem of introducing novices to a new technology: computing. We suggest a general model of initial socialization composed of reality shock, confusion, and attempts at control. Cultural values and ideas contribute to the settings in which this socialization takes place, and one result of this socialization process consists of either cultural recruits or cultural dropouts. In a two‐part study exploring the nature of novice encounters with computing in one university setting, reality shock and confusion were quite high and attempts at control were often unsuccessful. In this study when novices encountered computing, they learned more than skills: they learned cultural lessons. Novices acquired perceptions of the social organization of computing; they learned “we‐they” distinctions and language; they learned values. This cultural learning, we think, will magnify differential outcomes of organizational socialization to computing.
Working at Home with Computers: Work and Nonwork Issues
Authors: Olson Margrethe H. , Primps Sophia B.
Published: April 2010

The term telecommuting refers to the substitution of telecommunications technology for physical travel to a central work location; it usually implies that the person is working in the home. This paper reviews organizational arrangements which allow employees to work at home on a regular basis as a substitute for attendance at the normal workplace. Two extreme cases of the implementation of such an arrangement are described. In the first, where the employee has a skill in demand and a job that is characterized by complexity and autonomy, work at home reinforces the individual's autonomy and self‐control over the work. In the second case, where the employee's skill is not in demand and he or she has few other work options due to nonwork (i.e., family) constraints, the job is designed to reduce individual autonomy and may involve reduced compensation relative to comparable work performed on‐site. Based on interviews with employees working at home, we examine the effects of work at home on the relationship between the employee and employer, the connection between work and nonwork domains, and gender issues. We tentatively conclude that work at home will not become a widespread trend, but there is sufficient interest in its use as a flexible work option in special cases that it should be examined more closely.
Mobile Data Access Terminals and Their Implications for Policing
Authors: Palys T. S. , Boyanowsky Ehor O. , Dutton Donald G.
Published: April 2010

Mobile data terminals, a relatively recent computer development, allow police officers immediate access to crime‐relevant data bases from within their patrol vehicles. This article summarizes the results of an investigation of the first system of this type in Canada. Through a multimethodological approach involving interviews, questionnaires, observations of the system in use, and analysis of archival data, the evaluation focused on attitudes of officers toward the system, their subjective evaluation of the system's advantages and limitations, the comparative role a system of this type plays vis‐à‐vis their other primary mode of communication, i.e., radio, and on the implications of such a system for policing. Officers were generally enthused about the system and reported increased job satisfaction as a function of its introduction, but exhibited some collective ambivalence regarding implications of the system, particularly in terms of police safety and its impact on police‐community interaction.
Evaluation of an International Scientific Computer‐Based Conference
Authors: Tombaugh Jo W.
Published: April 2010

Computer‐based conferencing is a form of computer‐mediated communication which supports group discussion. This report describes the reaction of scientists who participated in such a conference and were asked to comment on the technology itself and on the scientific value of the exercise. While 78% indicated that they would participate in other computer‐based conferences, they also identified improvements that they would like to see. Scientists from developing countries were concerned primarily with technical problems because their capability for on‐line participation was low; most received the transcript in the mail and sent their contributions by TELEX. However, the problems identified by the industralized‐country participants require social, not technical, solutions. These scientists were concerned about the lack of contribution of others, the quality of the information that was presented, and the lack of focus or direction to the conference. They saw little of value contributed by others, but were also reluctant to contribute themselves to such an open conference. These concerns are described and related to a number of topics in social psychology such as equity, leadership, and communication networks.
Assessing the Risk of Crime Victimization: The Integration of Personal Victimization Experience and Socially Transmitted Information
Authors: Tyler Tom R.
Published: April 2010

To adapt effectively to environmental hazards such as the risk of crime victimization, individuals should not rely solely upon their direct personal experience. Instead, they should use information about the environment gained from others' experiences in estimating risks and in determining the appropriate type and number of behaviors to undertake in order to avoid victimization. Such information can come either through social networks (i.e., through talking to friends, family, or neighbors) or via the mass media (newspapers, television, radio, magazines, and pamphlets). Although experiences conveyed by family, friends, and neighbors have been found to influence risk estimates and prevention behaviors, mass media experiences have not been found to influence such judgments or behaviors. This lack of mass media influence has been found both in studies of naturally occurring crime‐risk judgments and in evaluations of media campaigns, such as the recent national campaign urging citizens to “take a bite out of crime.” This paper reviews the literature concerning the influence of indirect experiences upon fear of crime, with a focus on trying to understand why citizens fail to use the mass media as a source of information about personal crime risk.
Social Influence and Crime‐Victim Decision Making
Authors: Ruback R. Barry , Greenberg Martin S. , Westcott David R.
Published: April 2010

Other people can affect a crime‐victim's decision to notify the police in at least four different ways: (a) by cuing the victim to a particular “script” or particular actions within a script, (b) by providing arguments and advice, (c) by indicating what normative standards operate within some group important to the victim, and (d) by providing socioemotional support or nonsupport. These four functions others serve can operate when the victim is labeling an event as a crime, when the victim is determining its seriousness, and when the victim is deciding what to do about it. This paper discusses these four functions in terms of relevant theoretical and empirical work.
Victim Readjustment Following Assault
Authors: Sales Esther , Baum Martha , Shore Barbara
Published: April 2010

A growing literature on the impact of assault has given little consideration to the factors contributing to variations in victim reaction. This paper reviews the preassault and postassault variables that are associated with the recovery process. Among key factors are the psychosocial resources of the victim at entry to the crisis and the violence of the assault itself; however, variables often contribute differentially at different points in the recovery process. Subsequent discussion focuses on the methodological, theoretical, and policy implications of these findings.
Crime Definition, Crime Measurement, and Victim Surveys
Authors: Block Carolyn Rebecca , Block Richard L.
Published: April 2010

Although victim surveys can generate information about characteristics of victims, precursors of victimization, effectiveness of resistance, victim‐offender interaction, effects of crime on the victim, and police response, current research has hardly begun to mine their potential. Much of the underutilization and misinterpretation of victim surveys can be understood in light of their original objective: to measure the “dark figure” of crime. Victimization estimates were originally intended to index all occurrences of crime, both crimes that become known to the police and those that do not. Because victim‐survey data and police data are products of numerous definitional decisions made by victims, other citizens, and the police, some types of crime are likely to be captured by both data sources, some by only one, and some by neither. Thus, victim surveys do not simply reveal more crimes than police statistics; they capture different crimes. This very difference makes victim‐survey data especially valuable.
Children's Testimony in Historical Perspective
Authors: Goodman Gail S.
Published: April 2010

Children have been testifying in courts of law for centuries, but not without raising questions about the value of their statements. Over the years, the legal system has proposed a host of rules to govern children's testimony, but today the value of many of these rules is being questioned. The scientific study of child witnesses by psychologists began around the turn of the century. Early studies tended to support some of the legal profession's stereotypes of children by claiming to show that children are “the most dangerous of all witnesses.” More recent studies challenge this oversimplified view and instead indicate that children are not always more suggestible than adults. In this paper, the laws, past and present, and the development of the relevant psychological literature are reviewed, with special attention placed on the early studies.
Differentiating Fact from Fantasy: The Reliability of Children's Memory
Authors: Johnson Marcia K. , Foley Mary Ann
Published: April 2010

This paper examines a set of common assumptions about children's memory. Children compared to adults are thought to notice less, omit more, forget faster, be more susceptible to suggestion, and especially to intermingle imagination and perception in remembering. These propositions are interesting from the point of view of theoretical models of memory and memory development. They also have important implications for legal practice. While children's tendency to recall less than adults is well documented, there is surprisingly little evidence for other deficits in children's memory. This paper describes a new line of research, directed at the question of whether children are worse than adults in discriminating real from imagined events in memory (reality monitoring). The results suggest that children may have difficulty with some, but not all, reality‐monitoring situations.
Distortions in the Memory of Children
Authors: Loftus Elizabeth F. , Davies Graham M.
Published: April 2010

One does not have far to go to find expressions of the belief in the extreme suggestibility of children. But are children more suggestible than adults? The memory of adults is readily contaminated; by comparison, children appear to be more easily influenced in only some instances. If an event is not encoded well, or if a delay weakens the child's memory relative to an adult's, then differences in memory may emerge. On the other hand, if an event is understandable and interesting to both children and adults, and if their memory for it is still equally strong, there may be no differences in suggestibility. If a suggestion is accomplished through the subtle use of language, or if well‐developed knowledge structures are required to comprehend the suggestion, then children may actually be less easily influenced. In short, whether children are more or less suggestible than adults probably depends on the interaction of age with other factors.
The Child as Witness to Homicide
Authors: Pynoos Robert S. , Eth Spencer
Published: April 2010

This paper describes the experiences of children who have witnessed the homicide of a parent and are then legally compelled “to tell what [they] have seen.” The witnessing of a human killing constitutes psychic trauma, and the child may exhibit symptoms of a posttraumatic stress disorder. There may also be a wide range of grief responses. Our focus is on the interplay of the child's grief and traumatic reactions, and the demands of the legal system. The horrifying loss of impulse control in the assailant, the mutilation of the victim, and the helplessness of the victim and witness continue to haunt the child. We review the issues arising from police questioning, qualification procedures, testimony in open court, and defendant sentencing. The child's efforts at mastering the trauma can be either enhanced or impeded by involvement in judicial proceedings. With more complete mastery of traumatic anxiety, the child can become a more effective witness. We argue for the usefulness of having an expert in psychic trauma to assist these young witnesses and outline legal recommendations to provide adequate mental‐health consultation.
Social Support: Methodological Issues in Design and Measurement
Authors: Depner Charlene E. , Wethington Elaine , Ingersoll‐Dayton Berit
Published: April 2010

Despite plentiful evidence of a link between social support and adaptation to stress, we still know virtually nothing about why this connection exists. This paper is designed to help the researcher plan a study that offers the optimal test of any given explanation. We assume that the research is founded on a conceptual model of the association between stress, support, and strain. The specificity of such a model will depend upon what has been established from existing knowledge. The paper focuses on key issues in measurement, design, and analysis. A fundamental problem in measurement of social support is how to select from a host of possible strategies. The measurement section introduces important considerations that should govern that choice. The design section alerts the reader to sources of bias that commonly constrain the inferences that can be drawn from social support research. It also addresses the thorny problem of timing measurement to capture a process that transpires over time. The analysis section illustrates how structural equations can be used to model specific social support effects and discusses the circumstances that would make inclusion of additional variables advisable. Finally, we consider the limitations of relying exclusively on quantitative data and illustrate ways in which qualitative research can be used to develop unique information about the role of social support in circumventing the effects of stress.
Judicial Mediation: Techniques, Strategies, and Situational Effects
Authors: Wall James A. , Rude Dale E.
Published: April 2010

This paper investigates the mediation techniques and strategies used by judges to facilitate the out‐of‐court settlement of civil cases, and it discusses the circumstances under which judicial mediation is mostly likely to occur. The first of two studies reveals that judges, when using mediation techniques, employ them in three strategies‐logical, aggressive, and paternalistic‐and that the logical strategy is most effective. Study 2 unearths another strategy‐a client‐oriented approach‐but it does not corroborate the effectiveness findings of Study 1. A final section speculates about the situational factors that influence judicial intervention.
Mediator Behavior and the Settlement of Collective Bargaining Disputes in Britain
Authors: Hiltrop Jean Marie
Published: April 2010

This article examines situational factors and mediation techniques associated with settlement and nonsettlement of collective bargaining disputes by means of mediation, using data from 260 mediation cases involving the British Advisory, Conciliation, and Arbitration Service. The results show that the nature of the issue in dispute, the source of request for assistance, and the threat or imposition of a strike during mediation all have a significant impact on the probability of settlement by mediation. The results provide support for many, but not all, of the mediation effects predicted as significant in the literature. The strongest determinants of mediated settlements were arranging preliminary meetings with the parties separately to explore the issues in dispute, assisting in the negotiators' relationships with their constituents, and threatening to quit if no progress was made in the negotiations. The use of directive mediation techniques was particularly effective when the dispute concerned nonsalary issues, or when a strike or lockout was imposed during the intervention.