bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Age, Race, and Sex Similarity to Candidates and Voting Preference1
Authors: Piliavin Jane Allyn
Published: August 2006

One thousand five hundred and seven voters aged 18 to over 75 from many different geographical areas were presented with pairs of candidates in a simulated mayoral election who differed in sex, race, or age and were asked to “vote.” Results confirmed the conclusions of previous research on undergraduate students (Sigelman & Sigelman, 1982), which found a stronger effect of the age of candidates than of either their sex or their race on voting, and also demonstrated race and sex similarity effects in voting preference. The present study also demonstrated a significant age‐similarity effect. Voters over 65 showed a marked “reverse ageism” effect, actively preferring the older of any pair of candidates that differed significantly in age. Complex effects of the race and sex of experimenters on voting preference, interpreted as salience effects, were also obtained. Implications for actual electoral outcomes in the situation of an aging population are discussed.
Getting More by Asking for Less: The Effects of Request Size on Donations of Charity1
Authors: Weyant James M. , Smith Stephen L.
Published: August 2006

In the context of an annual fundraising drive for the American Society, two field experiments were conducted to test the relative effectiveness of suggesting either small or large contributions. In experiment 1, as part of a door‐to‐door campaign 300 people were randomly assigned to: (a) a standard request for contributions (control); (b) the standard request plus the words, “even a penny will help”; or (c) the standard request plus the words, “a generous contribution would really help.” As hypothesized, asking for a generous contribution significantly decreased the percentage of people who donated and failed to increase the average size of contribution by those who gave. Inconsistent with previous findings, the even‐a‐penny condition did not increase donating. In the second experiment conceptually similar requests were made in a mail‐out campaign: 6,000 requests were made—2,000 suggested relatively small amounts (options beginning at $5); 2,000 suggested large amounts (options beginning at $5); and 2,000 were unspecified with regard to recommended amount (control). As expected, compared to the control condition, asking for small amounts increased the proportion of donors to nondonors without decreasing the average size of contributions, while asking for large amounts decreased the proportion of donors to nondonors without increasing the size of contributions. It is suggested that the findings have important implications for charitable fundraising.
The Reciprocity‐Arousing Potential of the Requester's Occupation, its Status and the Cost and Urgency of the Request as Determinants of Helping Behavior
Authors: Yinon Yoel , Dovrat Michael
Published: August 2006

In a 2×2×2×2 field experiment, 240 subjects were contacted by phone and asked by an experimenter to make a phone call for him notifying his wife that he would be late. The experimenter presented himself as a (1) physician vs. accountant (high social status occupations) or (2) fireman vs. gas‐station attendant (low social status occupations), and made it clear that the request was urgent vs. non‐urgent. The cost of helping was also manipulated (low vs. high). It was found that subjects more frequently helped requesters in occupations of high potential for reciprocity‐arousing behavior (e.g., a physician) than in occupations of low potential for reciprocity‐arousing behavior (e.g., an accountant), regardless of the social status of the occupations. Urgent and/or low‐cost requests were met more frequently than non‐urgent and/or high‐cost requests. No interactions between or among any combination of the independent variables were obtained.
Public Opinion on the Psychological and Legal Aspects of Televising Rape Trials1
Authors: Swim Janet , Borgida Eugene
Published: August 2006

Public opinion about electronic media coverage of rape trials was examined using a cross‐sectional random probability survey sample of the Minneapolis‐St. Paul metropolitan area. Public beliefs about the legal and constitutional issues, the psychological effects of the media on trial participants, and the extended effects of media coverage on the public were examined. Descriptive results indicated that the public generally disapproved of electronic media coverage of courtroom trials. More importantly, women reported that they would be less likely to report a rape knowing that other rape trials had been televised. A multiple regression analysis relating beliefs to approval of televising rape trials showed that disapproval was most closely related to respondents' views of the symbolic constitutional issues. A second multiple regression analysis indicated that believing that “televising rape trials would increase a rape victim's trauma” was most highly related to women's behavioral intention to report a rape.
Sex Bias in Educational Software: The Effect of Designers' Stereotypes on the Software They Design1
Authors: Huff Charles , Cooper Joel
Published: August 2006

Why is the computer more alluring to boys than it is to girls? One answer to this question is drawn from a social psychological model of human interaction. Social psychological research indicates that the expectations an individual has about another person can shape his or her interaction with that person. We hypothesized that, in a similar manner, the expectations software designers hold about the users of the software they design are central in determining the way the software they design interacts with the user. In order to test this notion, we had 43 educators with programming experience design software for either boys, girls, or students, and found that programs for girls were classifiable as “learning tools,” whereas programs for both boys and students were most like “games.” These differences occur as a function of the designers' expectations of the characteristics of potential users of the program and result in sex stereotyped software. We conclude that it is not the computer, or even the software, that is at the root of the sex bias in software, but the expectations and stereotypes of the designers of the software.
Psychosocial Predictors of Young Adolescent Cigarette Smoking: A Sixteen‐Month, Three‐Wave Longitudinal Study1
Authors: Collins Linda M. , Sussman Steve , Rauch Jill Mestel , Dent Clyde W. , Johnson C. Anderson , Hansen William B. , Flay Brian R.
Published: August 2006

Understanding the psychosocial factors that predict cigarette smoking onset in young people is of crucial importance for prevention efforts. The present study examined prospective psychosocial predictors of smoking in a three‐wave longitudinal data set. Similar in design to an earlier study by Chassin, Presson, Sherman, Corty, and Olshavsky (1984), the present study replicated their work, and extended it by (a) using composite predictors derived from exploratory factor analysis, (b) including prior behavior as a predictor, (c) using a design extended over three waves of data collection, and (d) using a sample composed primarily of urban teenagers. Subjects were 3295 7th‐grade students at the beginning of the study. The subjects completed a questionnaire containing items tapping cigarette smoking behavior and psychosocial items that have previously been shown to predict smoking behavior. Forty‐one psychosocial items on the Wave 1 (initial) questionnaire were factor analyzed, and five factors were retained. Subscale scores were constructed based on these factors and were used as predictors. Regression analyses were performed using the subscales and pretest smoking frequency to predict a continuous measure of smoking, and discriminant analyses were performed to predict transitions between qualitative levels of smoking. Prior smoking behavior was the most important predictor of future smoking. Four of the subscales, Social Disapproval, Risk Taking/Rebelliousness, Perceived Smoking Prevalence, and Motivation to Comply, were significant predictors. One subscale, Physical Consequences from Smoking, was not predictive of smoking in any of the analyses. The effect sizes cross‐validated well. It is suggested that an integrative model of smoking initiation developed by Flay, d'Avernas, Best, Kersell, and Ryan (1983) best summarizes the results of the present study.
Life Stress, Hassles, and Self‐Efficacy in Aging: A Replication and Extension1
Authors: Holahan Carole K. , Holahan Charles J.
Published: August 2006

This study examines the roles of life stress, hassles, and self‐efficacy in the prediction of adjustment in aging. Twenty‐six men and 26 women between the ages of 65 and 75 participated in an initial structured interview and a follow‐up interview one year later. Measures of negative life change events, daily hassles, and self‐efficacy were used to predict depression, psychosomatic symptoms, and negative well‐being both in concurrent and time‐lag designs. Frequency of hassles was the strongest predictor, showing significant relationships with depression and psychosomatic symptoms both concurrently and one year later, even when initial distress was controlled. Perceived self‐efficacy was also shown to be predictive of current and subsequent depression, even after initial depression was controlled. Frequency of negative life events was a weak predictive factor. The only area where life events related significantly to health was in time‐lag analyses with negative well‐being, even when initial distress was controlled.
Applied Social Psychology
Authors: Streufert Siegfried
Published: August 2006

The manuscript considers the historical and definitional relationship between social psychology and applied social psychology. It is concluded that a sharp distinction was an artifact of a temporary orientation of basic social psychology and that, at present, a definitional separation is unnecessary and unwise. Applied social psychology is viewed as the application of social psychological science at its best toward the understanding and potential resolution of social and societal problems.
The Equity‐Control Model as a Predictor of Vandalism Among College Students1
Authors: DeMore Sylvia Warzecha , Fisher Jeffrey D. , Baron Reuben M.
Published: August 2006

The equity‐control model of vandalism (Baron & Fisher, 1984; Fisher & Baron, 1982) is used to conceptualize vandalism among college students. The model predicts that vandalism is most likely where there are low perceived equity (perceived lack of fairness in one's social or environmental arrangements) and low to moderate perceived control (perceived inability to effectively modify outcomes and arrangements). To test the model, university students were given questionnaires which measured perceived equity and control as these factors relate to the university and to dormitory living. Using multiple regression analysis, the interaction of equity and control was predictive of vandalism: Subjects with low perceived equity and control were most likely to report they engaged in vandalistic acts.
Cognitions, Attitudes and Decision‐Making in Search and Seizure Cases 1
Authors: Casper Jonathan D. , Benedict Kennette , Kelly Janice R.
Published: August 2006

This study investigated decision‐making in a search and seizure context. Specifically, the study examined the viability of a tort remedy for deterring police from illegal searches. The decision is made in a context common in legal settings: the decision‐maker is supposed to ignore available information (in this case, knowledge about the outcome of the search). This type of judgment allows for the operation of many cognitive influences, such as a hindsight bias‐like process and the influence of attitudes and cognitive schemas. A search scenario was presented to 377 subjects; each scenario had one of three different endings—drugs were found (guilty), no evidence was found (not guilty), or no mention was made of the outcome (neutral). The results showed that knowledge of the outcome of the search influenced damage judgements, such that a guilty outcome led to lower damage awards. Outcome knowledge also influenced reconstruction of the events in the scenario, such that a guilty outcome led to a distortion of information in the direction of incriminating the defendant. The results also showed that well‐organized and coherent ideological belief systems exert an independent influence on both awards and reconstruction of events.
Predicting the Performance of Dental Hygiene Behaviors: An Examination of the Fishbein and Ajzen Model and Self‐Efficacy Expectations1
Authors: Mccaul Kevin D. , O'Neill H. Katherine , Glasgow Russell E.
Published: August 2006

This study examined the value of the Fishbein and Ajzen model of behavioral intentions and Bandura's concept of self‐efficacy expectations as prospective predictors of the dental hygiene behaviors of young adults. All participants (73 males and 58 females) completed self‐report measures of the predictor variables and 60% of that group (N = 77) then recorded brushing and flossing behaviors over a four‐week period. The Fishbein and Ajzen model accounted for a significant proportion of the variance in intentions to brush (R2= .32) and intentions to floss (R2= .30). Intentions were in turn related to self‐monitoring records of brushing and flossing frequency (rs= .52 and .61). Introducing self‐efficacy expectations into the Fishbein and Ajzen model failed to improve the prediction of brushing and flossing frequency. However, self‐efficacy was predictive of behavioral intentions, adding significantly to the variance accounted for by the attitudinal and subjective norm components of the Fishbein and Ajzen model. These data suggest that self‐efficacy expectations are important in understanding protective health behaviors and that the inclusion of a self‐efficacy component in the Fishbein and Ajzen model deserves consideration.
Job Function, Sex, and Environment As Correlates of Work Perceptions and Attitudes1
Authors: Zalesny Mary D , Farace Richard V.
Published: August 2006

The present study examined job function and sex differences in perceptions of the physical and social work environment and the relationship of the work environment to work perceptions and attitudes when function and sex are controlled. Research indicated that job function, but not sex, was related to environment perceptions for 426 employees in a state government agency. The social environment also emerged as a significant predictor of work involvement, trust, and satisfaction. Significant interactions between job function and environment indicated that the social environment was negatively related and the physical environment positively related to work perceptions for managerial employees. The reverse was found for employees in other job functions.
Pornography's Impact on Sexual Satisfaction1
Authors: Zillmann Dolf , Bryant Jennings
Published: August 2006

Male and female students and nonstudents were exposed to videotapes featuring common, nonviolent pornography or innocuous content. Exposure was in hourly sessions in six consecutive weeks. In the seventh week, subjects participated in an ostensibly unrelated study on societal institutions and personal gratifications. On an especially constructed questionnaire, subjects rated their personal happiness regarding various domains of experience; additionally, they indicated the relative importance of gratifying experiences. Exposure to pornography was without influence on the self‐assessment of happiness and satisfaction outside the sexual realm (e.g., satisfaction deriving from professional accomplishments). In contrast, it strongly impacted self‐assessment of sexual experience. After consumption of pornography, subjects reported less satisfaction with their intimate partners—specifically, with these partners' affection, physical appearance, sexual curiosity, and sexual performance proper. In addition, subjects assigned increased importance to sex without emotional involvement. These effects were uniform across gender and populations.
Health and Well‐Being in Highly Cohesive Units of the U.S. Army1
Authors: Manning Frederick J. , Fullerton Terrence D.
Published: August 2006

A large civilian literature on the role of social support in health and well‐being suggests that military units high in unit cohesion should provide their members both significant protection from physical and mental illness and high levels of job satisfaction. This hypothesis was tested with a questionnaire survey of soldiers in Special Forces “A‐teams”, generally viewed as the U.S. Army's most cohesive permanent units. As predicted, A‐team soldiers reported greater physical and psychological well‐being and greater satisfaction with job and career than did soldiers in conventionally organized units, be they Special Forces, airborne, or mechanized infantry. The best predictors in our battery of demographic, personality, and cohesion measures were ratings of social support from and satisfaction with one's Army unit, and relatively more “internal” scores on the Rotter locus‐of‐control scale. From these data and extensive participant observation we conclude that unit cohesion provides the soldier considerable protection from the stresses of military life, even in peace, and that it is organizational rather than individual variables that are primarily responsible for the very high levels of cohesion and/or social support in Special Forces A‐teams.
Perceptions of Fair Pay and the Gender Wage Gap
Authors: Jackson Linda A. , Grabski Severin V.
Published: August 2006

The present research examined the extent to which the wage gap between men and women is perceived as “fair”. Based on research on distributive justice behavior, it was hypothesized that recommendations of fair pay would depend on the employee's gender and on occupational gender‐linkage and that female respondents would recommend a lower fair pay than male respondents. Results indicated that perceptions of fair pay were influenced by the employee's gender, but only in the moderate‐status occupations where lower pay was perceived as fair for female employees compared to gender‐unspecified employees. Similar fair pay recommendations were made for occupations irrespective of their gender‐linkage. As predicted, female respondents recommended a lower fair pay than male respondents. Implications of the findings for future research are discussed in terms of subtle, rather than blatant forms of gender wage discrimination that are attributable to the concentration of females in moderate‐status occupations and to the weaker connection between work and pay among females than among males.
Increasing Women's Calcium Intake: The Role of Health Beliefs, Intentions, and Health Value1
Authors: Wurtele Sandy K.
Published: August 2006

Undergraduate women who varied in how much they valued health were exposed to written communications persuading them of their vulnerability to osteoporosis and of the effectiveness of a recommended action in preventing this disease. Vulnerability had a significant main effect on intentions and subsequent behavior. This effect was obtained regardless of how much the subjects valued their health or whether the coping response was effective. Intentions to perform the recommended behaviors proved to be the best predictors of self‐reported and actual behavior change, in support of the Ajzen‐Fishbein (1980) model. Intentions, in turn, were predicted from recipients' beliefs regarding their ability to perform the behavior, their vulnerability to the health threat, and the effectiveness of the recommended threat‐reducing response. Implications of these findings for health promotion campaigns are discussed.
Socializing Attribution: Generalization to “Real” Social Environments1
Authors: Howard Judith A. , Leber B. Douglas
Published: August 2006

Social status variables have been shown to influence attributional judgments, but their effects have been demonstrated almost entirely in experimental settings. The influence of such statuses in experimental settings may differ from their influence in natural settings. We examined the influence on attributional judgments of the status characteristics of both subjects and actors in conjunction with variations in the degree of “real world” characteristics of both subjects and social context. These comparisons were drawn through a partial replication of earlier research investigating the effects of a social status variable, victim sex, and a situational variable—type of assault—on attributions about an assault victim. The social status characteristic, victim sex, had less influence on attributions in an adult juror sample than in a student sample and testimony‐related characteristics were more influential in the adult juror sample than in the student sample. Thus, the categories of variables that influence attributions appear to depend on the context of judgment and on the breadth of subjects' life experience. These findings are discussed and we conclude with the caution that careful identification of the differences produced by context and subject characteristics is necessary to support generalization of laboratory‐based research.
Predictive Characteristics of Type A Behavior Among Working Men and Women
Authors: Chusmir Leonard H. , Hood Jacqueline N.
Published: August 2006

This study examined which motivation needs and job variables are associated with Type A/B behavior pattern for working women and men, and to what degree, if any, can these variables be used as predictors of Type A/B behavior pattern for each sex. Subjects were 797 working men and women (female, n= 439; male, n= 358) in 34 organizations in a metropolitan city in the West. Results showed that for both Type A women and men, the most significant factors were high levels of need for power, job commitment and hierarchical position. Job satisfaction was a significant predictor of Type B behavior pattern for both sexes. Need for achievement was a significant predictor of Type A behavior pattern for women but not for men. Age, working for a profit or nonprofit company, and level of education were significant predictors of Type A/B behavior for men but were not important contributors for women. Substantial differences between managers and nonmanagers were reported both within and between genders.
Self‐Efficacy and Training for Strength in Adolescent Girls1
Authors: Holloway Jean Barrett , Beuter Anne , Duda Joan L.
Published: August 2006

To test the hypothesis that a gain in self‐efficacy about strength training could generalize to other areas of life and positively affect self‐esteem, untrained adolescent female volunteers were tested before and after participation in 12 weeks of strength training and compared with nonactive and mildly active volunteer controls. Pretest‐posttest results for the treatment group showed improvement in strength (+40%), weight training efficacy, confrontation efficacy, and total efficacy summed over 11 tasks. There were related positive changes in perceived physical ability, physical self‐presentation confidence, and general effectiveness in life. The treatment group improved posttest over controls on all these variables; controls did not change or worsened. These findings offer preliminary support that weight training for strength can improve confidence about a variety of life tasks in adolescent girls and could provide the basis for new modalities of therapy for low self‐esteem.
Drinking and Driving: Perceptions and Evaluations as a Function of Level of Intoxication and Weather
Authors: Turrisi Robert J. , Suls Jerry , Serio Stephen , Reisman Stephen
Published: August 2006

Over the past decade, drinking and driving has been a major social problem causing deaths and injuries. The present study examined factors that may encourage this potentially self‐destructive behavior. Three hundred and seventy‐eight subjects were presented with scenarios describing a night of drinking with friends. Scenarios differed with respect to three levels of intoxication (not at all, slight, and very) and two levels of weather (clear and rain). Subjects were asked to estimate the proportion of their peers who would drive home or choose an alternative form of transportation. Subjects were also asked to evaluate the target who drove home or took an alternative in terms of likability, cautiousness, skillfulness and independence. Driving home was found to be the most common mode of transportation, regardless of state of drunkenness or weather conditions. Alternatives to driving home were seen as being utilized only under extreme conditions (e.g., very intoxicated and rainy weather). Moreover, persons taking one of the more cautious alternatives were perceived as overly cautious and also low in skillfulness. The practical implications for the findings are discussed with respect to enhancing education efforts.
Expectancy‐Value Models of Attitude: Measurement and Combination of Evaluations and Beliefs1
Authors: Hewstone Miles , Young Louis
Published: August 2006

Two studies investigated methodological issues arising from the use of the Fishbein‐Ajzen expectancy‐value model of attitudes. Different expectancy‐value models— based on manipulations of scoring procedure (bi‐polar vs. uni‐polar scoring of beliefs) and combinatorial rule (multiplication vs. addition of value and expectancy components) ‐were explicitly compared. Although they used different attitudinal items and samples, both studies obtained significantly lower correlations with overall attitude by using the multiplicative/bi‐polar belief model than by using multiplicative/uni‐polar belief and additive models. Linear transformations of the belief component had a dramatic effect on the multiplicative model, but had no impact on the additive model. The findings are discussed in terms of their practical and theoretical importance.
Cross‐Racial/Ethnic Eyewitness Identification: A Field Study1
Authors: Platz Stephanie J. , Hosch Harmon M.
Published: August 2006

Using a method similar to that of Brigham, Maass, Snyder, and Spaudling (1982), 86 adult convenience store clerks were asked to identify 3 confederate/customers, one Anglo‐American, one black‐American, and one Mexican‐American who had visited their stores 2 hours earlier. Wilcoxon matched pairs signed‐rank test showed that clerks were superior at identifying customers of their own racial or ethnic group, Z= 2.84, p < .002. For clerks who made an identification, the correlation between the recognition accuracy and confidence in their identification was not significant, rpbis (56)= .05. The results of this field study paralleled those found in most laboratory experiments of cross‐racial/ethnic identification and demonstrated that Mexican‐Americans are subject to the own/other groups identification accuracy phenomenon as well.
Effects of Work and Play Signals on Task Evaluation1
Authors: Sandelands Lloyd E.
Published: August 2006

An experiment was conducted to investigate how tasks are evaluated when signalled to be “work” or “play”. A simulation of managerial problem solving found that when a task was signalled as work it was evaluated primarily on the basis of information about its End, whereas when it was signalled as play it was evaluated primarily on the basis of information about its Means. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.
Community Reactions to Attempted and Completed Child Suicide1
Authors: Range Lillian M. , Kastner Joseph W.
Published: August 2006

In order to assess community reactions to attempted and completed child suicide, 180 shoppers were asked to read a short newspaper article about a 10‐year‐old who either (a) attempted suicide, (b) completed suicide, (c) completed suicide after having previously attempted, (d) was psychiatrically hospitalized, (e) died of a viral illness, or (f) died of an accident. Subjects then completed a 9‐item Likert scale designed to assess their reactions. A2 × 6 (Gender of Victim × Type of Incident) multivariate analysis of variance indicated a significant effect only for type of incident. Families of psychiatrically hospitalized adolescents received milder reactions than families of suicide attempters, in terms of (a) other's assessment of their psychological health, (b) how long they were expected to be sad and depressed after the incident, and (c) how tense respondents expected to feel while visiting them. Apparently, families of suicide attempters must face many of the same negative community reactions as families whose loved ones actually die by suicide, whereas families who have a loved one psychiatrically hospitalized face less problematic reactions from others in the community.
Moral Judgment in Extreme Social Contexts: Soldiers Who Refuse to Fight and Physicians Who Strike?1
Authors: Linn Ruth
Published: August 2006

This paper compares two examples of moral action within extreme social contexts: the refusal of Israeli reserve soldiers to perform their military service during the war in Lebanon (1982–1983), and the refusal of Israeli physicians to provide medical care during a “labor war”, that is a strike. This paper examines the cognitive developmental premise that with an increase in the actors' stage of moral development there will be a greater consistency between hypothetical and actual moral reasoning (Kohlberg, 1984). Blasi's (1983) concept of personal integrity, that is, the consistency between the actors' judgment concerning the morality of an action and the action that was actually performed, is examined as well. The findings show that the “refusing” soldiers manifested stage consistency in their action, whereas the physicians failed to justify their action in line with their moral competence. Whereas the soldiers viewed their action as highly moral, the physicians viewed their strike action as unfortunate but necessary. The motivation of the two groups of actors to act in line with their behavioral choices is discussed.
Assumed Similarity of Attitudes About AIDS Among Gay and Heterosexual Physicians
Authors: Marks Gary , Richardson Jean L. , Lochner L. Thomas , McGuigan Kimberly A. , Levine Alexandra
Published: August 2006

Heterosexual and gay physicians indicated their own attitudes on several issues related to the AIDS epidemic and attributed a position on each issue to the target group “most people.” The heterosexual physicians' attitudes were more negative than the gay physicians' attitudes. Both groups judged that “most people” hold attitudes more negative than their own. The distance between own and attributed position as much greater for the gay individuals. This distance effect was due primarily to differences in self‐ratings between the two groups. Own and attributed position correlated positively for each group of physiaans. Additionally, the tendency to assume similarity was marginally stronger for heterosexuals with high than low homophobia. Theoretical interpretation is presented.
Actual and Perceived Group Performance as a Function of Group Composition: The Moderating Role of the Type A and B Behavior Patterns1
Authors: Strube Michael J , Keller N. Rand , Oxenberg Julie , Lapidot Daphna
Published: August 2006

This study examined the moderating influence of the Type A and B behavior patterns on group performance and group functioning. Type As and Bs were assigned to different roles in groups given the task of deciding what items to transfer from a sinking ship to a life raft. Results indicated that groups with Type A leaders in conflict with a Type A group member arrived at relatively poor decisions. Type A leaders, however, also were perceived by their groups to be more competent than were Type B leaders. These results suggested that the Type A behavior pattern can have the paradoxical effects of hindering group problem‐solving and of leading others to view Type As as more competent than Type Bs because of their active dynamic style.
Psychology and Law: The Last 15 Years
Authors: Davis James H.
Published: August 2006

The modern initiative for psychologists becoming involved in research relevant to law can be more or less traced to developments approximately 15 years ago, although earlier roots are evident. The period of this review thus roughly coincides with the publication life of the Journal of Applied Social Psychology. A few major research trends were discussed from this historical perspective, and problems and projections briefly noted.
An Examination of Young Adolescents' Knowledge of and Attitude Toward Sexuality According to Perceived Contraceptive Responsibility1
Authors: Reis Janet , Herz Elicia J.
Published: August 2006

A total of 442 ninth‐grade, black, inner city adolescents participated in a survey of their knowledge of human reproduction, level of self‐esteem, and attitudes toward birth control and sexual intercourse. Ninety‐two percent of the females and 33% of the males responded that they or they and their partner were responsible for using birth control. The 148 males perceiving contraceptive responsibility as belonging to their partner or no one were most accepting of sexual intercourse and agreed that teenage parenthood is an index of adulthood. Girls were nearly unanimous in their low level of acceptance of sexual intercourse. Annual birth statistics from their high school indicate, however, that a minimum of 13% of these ninth‐grade girls will become pregnant in the ensuing academic year. The apparent contradictions of young adolescents' knowledge of and attitudes toward sexuality are discussed in the context of developmental theory.
Clusters of Behavioral Coronary Risk Factors in Employed Women and Men1
Authors: Weidner Gerdi , Istvan Joseph , McKnight J.D.
Published: August 2006

Clusters of psychosocial variables related to coronary heart disease (CHD) were examined in a sample of 412 university employees. Psychosocial coronary risk was found to vary along three independent dimensions: Anger Suppression, Type A/Anger Expression, and Coffee/Cigarette Use. Women scored lower on Anger Suppression, but higher on Coffee/Cigarette Use than men. When grouped by occupational category, maintenance workers tended to score higher on the dimensions of Anger Suppression and Coffee/Cigarette Use than other categories of workers. These findings show that behaviors related to coronary risk form independent clusters and may need to be considered by interventions designed to reduce CHD morbidity and mortality.
Gender Differences in Self‐Serving Attributions About Sexual Experiences1
Authors: Maass Anne , Volpato Chiara
Published: August 2006

Two studies investigated sex differences in attributions about sexual experiences. Subjects were asked to provide causal explanations for satisfying and unsatisfying past experiences. Men were expected to display a greater self‐serving bias than women. This hypothesis was supported for unsatisfying but not for satisfying experiences. In both experiments, males were found to blame their partners more for unsatisfying experiences than females. Males used self‐serving attributions, assigning more responsibility to the partner than to themselves (Experiment I), whereas women displayed self‐derogatory attributions, attributing negative outcomes more to themselves than to their partners (Experiment II). Furthermore, self‐derogatory attribution patterns were correlated with unsatisfactory sexual histories in women but not in men. Implications for the treatment of sexual dysfunctions via reattribution training are discussed.
Emotional Reactions to Interracial Achievement Outcomes1
Authors: Stephan Walter G. , Stephan Cookie White
Published: August 2006

Students interacted with a White or a Black partner on an achievement task. It was predicted that the anxiety elicited by interacting with an outgroup member would lead to amplified emotional reactions to achievement outcomes. Consistent with this prediction, emotional reactions to success were more positive with a Black partner than with a White partner, whereas emotional reactions to failure were more negative with a Black partner than with a White partner. In addition, under conditions of low public self‐awareness, Black partners were given less credit for success and blamed more for failure than White partners. This prejudicial pattern of attributions disappeared under conditions of high public self‐awareness.
Choice, Control, and Adaptation Among Elderly Residents of Sheltered Care Settings1
Authors: Timko Christine , Moos Rudolf H.
Published: August 2006

This study examined how elderly residents' adaptation is affected by naturally occurring levels of choice and control in sheltered care facilities. A representative sample of 244 residential care facilities was assessed with the Multiphasic Environmental Assessment Procedure, which measures the quality of residential settings for older people. Overall, facility policies allowing more choice and control were associated with better rated resident well‐being, less use of health, daily living assistance, and social‐recreational services, and more integration in the community. Policy clarity and the facility social climate factors of independence, influence, and organization mediated the relationship between choice and control and adaptation, and also independently affected residents' adaptation. In addition, in facilities with functionally able residents, more choice and independence were associated with less use of services; in facilities with residents of poor functional ability, choice and independence were unrelated to use of services. Thus, policies that promote more choice and independence may improve adaptation among functionally able residents of sheltered care facilities, without having a detrimental influence on poorly functioning residents.
Promoting Safety Belt Use on a University Campus: An Integration of Commitment and Incentive Strategies1
Authors: Geller E. Scott , Kalsher Michael J. , Rudd James R. , Lehman Galen R.
Published: August 2006

Safety belt use on a university campus was substantially increased by offering faculty/ staff and students who signed and returned “buckle up” pledge cards the opportunity to win prizes donated by community merchants. The 28,000 pledge cards, committing signers to buckle up for an academic quarter, were distributed during the spring and fall of 1985. One portion of the card was designed to be hung from a vehicle's rearview mirror as a reminder of the pledge to buckle up. The other portion served as a sweepstakes ticket and was deposited in boxes located throughout the campus community. Each quarter, winners were drawn from the returned pledge cards during three consecutive weeks. Although a relatively small proportion of the pledge cards were signed and turned in (i.e., 11.9% during spring and 9.4% during fall), those who signed and returned a pledge card (n = 3117) increased their safety belt use significantly. Across both quarters, faculty/ staff pledgers went from a high pre‐pledge belt use level of 32.2% to a post‐pledge level of 46.7%, and students increased their belt use from a pre‐pledge use of 21.4% to a post‐pledge level of 36.6%.
Organizational Image Assessment in the Health and Human Services Sector1
Authors: Mudd Samuel
Published: August 2006

Five studies were conducted from 1976 to 1984 in southcentral Pennsylvania to evaluate the potential of bipolar ratings by adult user populations for assessing the general agency and/ or specific program image of service organizations in the not‐for‐profit sector. Statistically reliable differences in mean ratings on scales such as staff qualifications, physical accessibility, and so forth were found to distinguish image profiles and the clarity of image of three human service agencies within the same region of service, to detect change over a 6‐year period in the image of individual agencies, and to be sensitive to the effects of management actions designed to modify the image of an in‐patient psychiatric facility within a region. The demonstration that specific management interventions over a 2‐year period were detectable by ratings along specifically relevant dimensions encourages the immediate application of this inexpensive feedback device by managers of human service agencies and the further investigation of user image ratings as a system output potentially amenable to control system analyses.
Contextual Effects in Judgments of Crimes, Criminals, and the Purposes of Sentencing1
Authors: Roberts Julian V. , Edwards Don
Published: August 2006

Content analyses of crime coverage in the news media (e.g., Graber, 1980) consistently demonstrate the overrepresentation of crimes of violence. It was hypothesized that in addition to direct effects upon members of the public (e.g., leading people to overestimate the number of violent crimes) this would also have several indirect effects. Reading about crimes of high seriousness might lead the public to (a) view other offenses more seriously, (b) regard other offenders more negatively, (c) punish other offenders more severely, and (d) emphasize the importance of retribution as a sentencing goal. Two experiments were conducted, using 90 members of the general public as subjects, to test these hypotheses. In Experiment I, subjects first read a news story about a crime that was of high, medium, or low seriousness. Later they rated an unrelated offender and offense more negatively, and were more punitive in their sentences, if the earlier offense had been very serious. There was equivocal support for the hypothesis that changes in punitiveness are caused by subjects shifting to a punishment‐oriented sentencing strategy. Rather, it would appear that harsher penalties resulted from changes in perceptions of offense seriousness. These findings are discussed, as are future research directions.
The “Championship Choke” Revisited: The Role of Fear of Acquiring a Negative Identity1
Authors: Heaton Alan W. , Sigall Harold
Published: August 2006

The contribution of fear of failing to paradoxical performance decrements under pressure (choking) before a supportive, home team audience was explored. A further analysis of archival baseball data presented by Baumeister and Steinhilber (1984) was undertaken. Home teams that took the lead, and for whom achieving a positive identity was therefore salient, and home teams that fell behind, and for whom fear of acquiring a negative identity was salient, choked in the decisive seventh game of the World Series. Choking was reflected by both a relative inability of the home team to maintain a lead or overcome a deficit in game 7 and by increases in the rate at which fielding errors were committed by home teams which had taken the lead or fallen behind in game 7. The findings are interpreted in light of recent research on self‐attention and self‐presentation.
Violent Men In Intimate Relationships: An Analysis of Risk Markers1
Authors: Sugarman David B. , Hotaling Gerald T.
Published: August 2006

In the family violence literature, a number of risk markers associated with men's use of violence against women have been identified. Using the 1975 National Family Violence Survey, a multivariate analysis was performed to examine which risk markers best differentiated among nonviolent men, verbally aggressive men, men who exhibit minor physical violence, and severely physically violent men. High levels of marital conflict, lower socioeconomic status, and greater exposure to violent role models in the home of origin emerged as primary correlates of levels of violence between intimates. Theoretical and research implications are discussed.
Ask and You Shall be Given: Request Size and Donations to a Good Cause1
Authors: Doob Anthony N. , McLaughlin Danielle S.
Published: August 2006

In an attempt to replicate the findings reported in this Journal by Weyant and Smith (1987), members or recent donors to a Canadian civil liberties organization were asked to donate money under one of three conditions: (a) In the control condition, they were simply asked for a donation; (b) in the “smaller request” condition, they were asked to make a donation, but amounts of Canadian $30 to $100 were suggested; and (c) in the “larger request” condition, amounts of $50 to $250 were suggested. Unlike the Weyant and Smith studies, we found no difference in the proportion of respondents making a donation, but significant differences in the size of the donations made by those making donations. In our study, the most effective way of getting large donations was to ask for a large amount. It was suggested that the most likely explanations for the differences in the results of the two studies were the following: First, our target population were previous donors to the organization, whereas those in the Weyant and Smith studies were not likely to have been. Previous research suggests that those who had been donors previously are influenced, positively, by requests for a specific large donation, whereas those not previously approached are, if anything, negatively influenced. Second, our “larger request” appears to be within a plausible range for donations, whereas the larger request in the Weyant and Smith study may have been seen as being outside of the plausible range. In any case, however, we would recommend caution in drawing a conclusion about the most effective request size to encourage people to donate money to charity.
Effects of Salience of Consciousness‐Raising Information on Perceptions of Acquaintance versus Stranger Rape
Authors: Johnson James D. , Russ Inger
Published: August 2006

In the present study the effects of salience of consciousness‐raising information on the perception of acquaintance vs. stranger rape were focused on. One half of the subjects were exposed to information which emphasized the inappropriateness of sexual inequality (salient condition), while the other half were exposed to no such information (nonsalient condition). Subsequently, subjects read a passage which depicted an acquaintance rape or a stranger rape. The results indicated that those subjects in the salient condition perceived the victim more favorable and reported a lesser likelihood to commit rape (male subjects) than those in the nonsalient condition. Additionally, those in the stranger rape condition perceived the victim more favorably and reported a lesser likelihood of committing rape (male subjects) than those in the acquaintance rape condition. Finally, there was a significant interaction between salience and type of rape. To amplify, when subjects read the stranger rape passage, perceptions did not vary as a function of salience. On the other hand, when subjects read the acquaintance rape passage, those in the salient condition perceived the victim more favoraby and reported a lesser likelihood of committing rape than those in the nonsalient condition.
An Evaluation of Arizona's July 1982 Drunk Driving Law: Effects on the City of Phoenix1
Authors: West Stephen G. , Hepworth Joseph T. , McCall Michael. A. , Reich John W.
Published: August 2006

In July 1982, Arizona implemented a Driving While Intoxicated (DWI) law which mandated severe penalties for DWI convictions. Interrupted time series analyses conducted using data from the city of Phoenix showed an initial estimated reduction of 7.44 vehicular fatalities per month when the law went into effect, which then slowly returned to baseline. In a switching replication, parallel results were found in San Diego for the effect of a similar January 1982 California law. No changes in fatalities corresponding to the implementation of the Arizona or California laws were found in the El Paso comparison series. Time series analyses of DWI‐related law enforcement activity in Phoenix showed no change associated with the implementation of the Arizona DWI law. Analyses of newspaper coverage in Phoenix suggested that another substantial decrease in fatalities occurred prior to the implementation of the law, coinciding with the beginning of intense media coverage of the DWI issue.