bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Subsistence Adaptation Among Homeless Adults in the Inner City of Los Angeles
Authors: Koegel Paul , Burnam M. Audrey , Farr Rodger K.
Published: April 2010

This article describes the subsistence‐related activities of homeless adults in Los Angeles' downtown area, and examines whether homeless people with chronic disorders such as major mental illness and/or substance abuse differ from those with no chronic disorder in their subsistence adaptation. Findings indicate that homeless people use multiple resources over short periods of time. While minor differences between those with and without disorders were apparent, the general lack of differences between these two groups was most striking, suggesting the leveling quality of homelessness. Differences between individuals with various chronic disorders indicated that those with chronic substance abuse, and particularly those with both substance abuse and chronic mental illness, were most distinctive in their adaptation.
Pathways to Homelessness Among New York City Families
Authors: Weitzman Beth C. , Knickman James R. , Shinn Marybeth
Published: April 2010

This article uses survey data to identify three pathways followed by homeless families in the period before they requested emergency shelter. The analysis groups 482 New York City families who were new entrants to homelessness into those whose longest residence in the year prior to the shelter request was as primary tenants in their own living quarters (43% of the sample), those who lived with others last year but who had once been primary tenants for a year or more (13%), and those who had never had a stable place of their own (44%). The demographic, social, and housing characteristics of these three groups vary significantly, indicating that homeless families are not a monolithic and homogeneous population. Consequently policies must be made specific to the needs of these families.
Toward a Longitudinal Analysis of Homelessness
Authors: Sosin Michael , Piliavin Irving , Westerfelt Herb
Published: April 2010

This paper reports on the methods and findings of a six‐month panel study of homeless individuals in a Midwest city. Patterns of homelessness are described, focusing on exits from and returns to homelessness as well as the types of dwellings obtained upon exit. The findings call into question (a) the commonly accepted proposition that homelessness involves the lack of a dwelling and ends as soon as a dwelling is attained, (b) prevalent characterizations of the typical length of homelessness, and (c) the claim that experience with homelessness profoundly alters the probability of a stable escape. Although a minority of individuals were able to locate and retain a dwelling, homelessness was most often part of a pattern of residential instability that also included frequent and relatively brief stays in dwellings.
Alternative Models for Sheltering Homeless Families
Authors: Shinn Marybeth , Knickman James R. , Ward David , Petrovic Nancy Lynn , Muth Barbara J.
Published: April 2010

This study assessed costs, quality of life, services, length of stay, and clienteles in 9 nonprofit shelters for families in New York City. It compared different types of nonprofit shelters and used published data to compare the nonprofits as a class to welfare hotels and city‐operated congregate shelters. The nonprofit models provided a reasonable quality of life, and both more and better coordinated services than the welfare hotels at a slightly lower cost. Projected costs for expanding these models were slightly higher than costs projected by the city for welfare hotels, but substantially lower than for the congregate shelters. The average length of stay in particular shelters was affected by family size, advocacy efforts, and regulations, but only an increase in the stock of permanent housing was judged likely to change the average length of stay in the full shelter system.
Affirmative Action and the Issue of Expectancies
Authors: Crosby Faye , Clayton Susan
Published: April 2010

The goal of affirmative action policies, the elimination of racial and sexual inequality, generates at least public agreement among most Americans, but affirmative action methods remain controversial, even among their intended beneficiaries. Affirmative action programs are criticized for reinforcing rather than dissolving racial and sexual barriers, and for making social categories salient. Further, if affirmative action programs appear to involve a lowering of standards, negative expectancies will be attached to minority status, some people will believe that those who were hired under affirmative action are less qualified than those who were not, and these beliefs may elicit corresponding differences in performance. The empirical evidence shows that affirmative action can have negative effects on expectancies and behavior; such outcomes, however, are not inevitable. When compared with “equal opportunity” policies, well‐designed affirmative action programs offer clear advantages to the members of target groups.
Expectancy Effects and Negotiation
Authors: Rubin Jeffrey Z. , Kim Sung Hee , Peretz Neil M.
Published: April 2010

Expectations are a natural and necessary element in all negotiation. As one of the most important approaches to the settlement of conflict, negotiation necessarily entails the exchange of ambiguous information—about both one's adversary and the problem at hand. It is precisely because of this ambiguity that expectations, both intrapersonal and interpersonal, come to play an important role. While such expectations can be helpful in bringing about conflict settlement through negotiation, they can also contribute to the escalation of conflict and can move conflict in destructive directions. This article outlines both the beneficial and harmful effects of expectations in negotiation and speculates about some possible approaches to overcoming the negative effects of expectations.
Religion as an Instrument of Psychological Warfare
Authors: Martín‐Baró Ignacio , Sloan Tod
Published: April 2010

Since the beginning of the civil war in El Salvador in 1980, a significant movement toward conversion to evangelical, pentecostal churches has occurred. Social psychology tends to analyze religious conversion on three dimensions: process, motivation, and generality. This article proposes the need for a fourth dimension—an ideological one, which is explicitly psychosocial—and this approach is demonstrated for the case of religious conversion and affiliation of Salvadorans. Without denying the personal meanings of conversion, this article hypothesizes that conversion to pentecostal movements is an objective in the psychological warfare carried out in the strategy called “low‐intensity conflict.” With data obtained from various studies, relationships between religious affiliation and sociopolitical attitudes are examined. The data show that almost all the members of the Catholic base communities tend to assume active and critical postures toward the social order, while a significant portion of the evangelical and Catholic charismatic church members tend to adopt individualistic attitudes favoring passive submission to the social order. For the latter, social change is left in the “hands of God.” On the basis of this analysis, brief reflections on the state of social psychology are offered.
Housing and Health: Psychosocial and Situational Effects in a Rural Disease Control Program
Authors: Briceño‐León Roberto , Gonzales Silverio , Phelan Mauricio
Published: April 2010

Rural housing conditions in Latin America often encourage the presence of an insect that transmits Chagas disease, an illness that will kill or shorten the lives of 24 million currently infected individuals. We studied 556 families in rural Venezuela to determine the situational and psychosocial variables that predict the housing conditions leading to colonization by the insect. Then, in an action research program, a community of 23 families participated in a housing improvement program. The data show that both situational and psychosocial factors are important in accounting for participation in the improvement of housing, but that the relationship is complex. In this case, psychosocial changes seem to depend on situational factors, leading us to conclude that, given concrete opportunities, the poor are able to overcome the psychological inertia that results from their extended experience with lack of opportunities.
Therapy with Victims of Political Repression in Chile: The Challenge of Social Reparation
Authors: Becker David , Lira Elizabeth , Castillo María Isabel , Gómez Elena , Kovalskys Juana
Published: April 2010

This article describes the work of a mental health team confronting the individual and social consequences of human rights violations by the military government in Chile from 1973 through 1989. It examines three forms of repression—torture, disappearance, and death—and the consequences these have had for victims and family members. Damage to victims is conceptualized in terms of “extreme traumatization,” and psychotherapeutic work with the victims has required radical rethinking of the nature of the therapeutic bond that is necessary with these patients. Grief processes have special relevance in this work, as does the relationship between the personal experience of repression and the sociopolitical context. An illustrative case study of therapy with a torture victim is presented. Finally, the article emphasizes the importance of societal reparation for the psychological recovery of the victims and the consolidation of a stable democracy in Chile.
Human Rights and Mental Health in the United States: Lessons from Latin America
Authors: Lykes M. Brinton , Liem Ramsay
Published: April 2010

During the past 10 years a small but growing number of mental health researchers and practitioners have developed collaborative relationships with Latin American colleagues working in the area of human rights and mental health. Illustrative programs include public opinion surveys to give voice to the victims of government and military repression in El Salvador, and creative workshops for children of the disappeared in Argentina. It has been especially troubling for those in the United States to discover repeatedly that U.S. foreign policy has often played a direct or indirect role in creating the conditions necessitating these kinds of interventions. This article briefly summarizes selected human rights and mental health activities in which U.S. psychologists are engaged. Psychological insights and examples of specific political and professional practice that have emerged from collaboration with Latin American psychologists are described. A partial list of groups and organizations that belong to a growing human rights and mental health network in the U.S. is also included to provide readers with opportunities to become involved in this work.
Satisfaction with Child Care: Perspectives of Welfare Mothers
Authors: Sonenstein Freya L. , Wolf Douglas A.
Published: April 2010

Approximately 11% of U.S. children have mothers on Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC). In 1988 this program was reformed to require mothers with children over the age of 2 years to participate in employment programs, and child care subsidies were guaranteed. This paper examines AFDC mothers' perspectives on their child care in 1983–1984, before welfare reform, to explore the characteristics of care that mothers are likely to seek. Mothers' ratings of their child care on quality, convenience, dependability, and cost showed that no particular arrangement—care by relatives, sitters, family day care, or centers—was superior across all these dimensions. Each type had strengths and weaknesses. Multivariate analyses of mothers' satisfaction revealed that convenient hours and adequate adult supervision were valued for all preschool children. Low child‐to‐adult ratios and convenient location were important for children under age 3; the child's learning opportunities and happiness, and lower levels of caretaker experience, were important for older preschool children. The type of care used was not directly associated with satisfaction. It is concluded that a diverse range of child care options should be developed.
Quality and the True Cost of Child Care
Authors: Culkin Mary , Morris John R. , Helburn Suzanne W.
Published: April 2010

Professionals in early childhood care and education often claim that child care fees do not reflect the true cost of services, because of subsidies and in‐kind contributions. This paper reports results that identify the kinds of subsidies and estimate their importance in seven sites, representing four different kinds of child care settings, in the Denver‐Boulder metropolitan area. The study estimated the importance of five types of possible subsidies in the child care industry: from staff to clients due to abnormally low wages, from noncash and cash contributions, from philanthropic and government sources, and from subsidies implicit in fee schedules. In the average nonprofit center studied, resources that would cost $638 per month were reduced to a net cost (to the family) of $149 because of subsidies. Low wages were the primary factor holding down costs in child care, reducing costs an average of $186 per child per month. Contributions to the centers and subsidies to parents also played major roles. There was substantial variation among the sites, and the relations between cost, client socioeconomic status, and quality of care were complex and uneven.
Developmental Effects of Infant Care: The Mediating Role of Gender and Health
Authors: Mott Frank L.
Published: April 2010

This research used the 1986 merged child‐mother data file from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth to explore how various forms of infant care in a child's first year were linked with scores at ages 1–4 on the Memory for Location, Motor and Social Development, and Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test measures. The extent to which these linkings were mediated by an infant's health and gender was examined and important distinctions were noted. In particular, healthy infant girls received some cognitive advantage by being cared for extensively by caretakers other than their mother during infancy, whereas infant boys with health problems gained socioemotionally by spending more time with their mothers. More generally, it was concluded that usually, the average young child's ability to cope intellectually and socioemotionally (as measured on the above scales) is not affected in major ways either positively or negatively by the generic nature of his or her child care arrangement.
Child Care Policies and Programs: An International Overview
Authors: Kamerman Sheila B.
Published: April 2010

Child development research is more extensive and more sophisticated in the U.S. than in any other country. U.S. policymakers have access to more and better information about the factors known to enhance or impede good child development than those in almost any other country. Nonetheless, the U.S. lags far behind almost all the major advanced industrialized countries with regard to the supply, quality, and affordability of out‐of‐home child care services for children under compulsory school age. This article documents the availability and quality of child care services and related policies, primarily in northern and western European countries, the leaders in the field. It identifies and describes the policy choices that the Europeans have made regarding child care for young children of different ages, and it proposes a brief agenda for future comparative child care policy and program research.
Regulating Product Risks Through Consumer Information
Authors: Hadden Susan G.
Published: April 2010

Information provision, the favored means of consumer protection in the United States at least since 1906, is an attractive public policy for two primary reasons: (a) information provision allows more choice in the marketplace than does direct regulation, and (b) it is less costly both for the regulators and the regulated. Unfortunately, information policies have unconsidered side effects. First, their effectiveness rests on assumptions that people will read labels, understand them, and act on them. These assumptions are called into question by a wide range of experimental and field data. Second, information policies are generally regressive in impact. Consumers with fewer monetary resources typically also have fewer of the kinds of resources needed to understand and use information. Short‐term solutions include applying results of research to label design, especially using symbols along with words to aid nonreaders of English. Longer term solutions include widespread consumer education concerning labels and product risks as well as decreasing the inequalities among U.S. citizens that contribute to their different abilities to utilize product information.
Participation and Leadership in Consumer Movement Organizations
Authors: Herrmann Robert O.
Published: April 2010

Drawing on social movement theory, supporters of a social movement can be divided into those seeking benefits for themselves, and those seeking benefits for others or the public at large. In addition, organizational leaders can be divided into volunteers and professionals. Using these distinctions, four organizational categories were created. When this typology was applied to the organizations of the consumer movement, the four categories of organizations were found to differ in their agendas, tactics, and future prospects.
Human Sociobiology: Basic Concepts and Limitations
Authors: Archer John
Published: April 2010

Principles underlying the sociobiological, or functional evolutionary, approach to behavior are outlined, and the following specific theories and concepts are described: reciprocal altruism, inclusive fitness, reproductive value, parent‐offspring conflict, and alternative reproductive tactics. Applications of sociobiological principles to topics in psychology, such as altruism, homicide, child abuse, and socialization, are outlined. Problems with the functional approach are identified, notably limitations to the assumption of the adaptiveness of behavior, and confusion of functional and causal explanations. Advantages of the functional approach include providing an integrated viewpoint concerning behavior and aiding studies of the mechanisms controlling behavior. Sociobiology's predictive hypotheses are as yet limited.
On Metaphors, Animals, and Us
Authors: Krementsov Nikolai L. , Todes Daniel P.
Published: April 2010

Metaphorical concepts have always played an important role in scientific thought. Through these metaphors, social and cultural conditions, ideological preconceptions, and everyday experiences influence ideas about nature. This article discusses two examples from the history of ideas about evolution and animal behavior: Darwin's “struggle for existence,” and the rise and fall of zoopsychology. It also describes sociobiology as a current example.
Scientific Racism: The Cloak of Objectivity
Authors: Fairchild Halford H.
Published: April 2010

This article reviews an application of sociobiological perspectives on “racial” differences, focusing on the work of J. P. Rushton. Rushton has concluded that, as a result of evolutionary processes, the three major “racial” groups may be hierarchically ranked such that Mongoloids > Caucasoids > Negroids. The assumptions and evidence presumably supportive of Rushton's sociobiological perspective are reviewed and critiqued. The concept of “race” is politically defined; the Darwinian arguments are teleological; theoretical constructs are flawed; and the empirical data bases are frequently misrepresented. This area of research is discussed in terms of the ideological underpinnings of social science inquiry, and the goals and functions of scholarship in contemporary society.
Reviving Evolutionary Psychology: Biology Meets Society
Authors: Caporael Linnda R. , Brewer Marilynn B.
Published: April 2010

This summary article discusses the impoverishment of biological reductionism and the limitations of genetic explanations for complex social arrangements. Because there are no direct links between evolutionary history and present behavior, theories of human evolution must be multidisciplinary. To escape the competitive individualism of sociobiological perspectives, we propose a new basis for evolutionary psychology that focuses on the group as the selection environment for the evolution of human sociality. Finally, we discuss the reasons for attempting to build a socially and scientifically responsible evolutionary psychology.
Maladaptive Achievement Patterns in Students: The Role of Teachers' Controlling Strategies
Authors: Boggiano Ann K. , Katz Phyllis
Published: April 2010

Guided by a theoretical model of academic achievement, the studies described here employed a multimethod approach to explore the interplay of factors that lead some children to strive harder in the face of failure and others to exhibit a maladaptive “helpless” response pattern. Converging evidence from laboratory and field research demonstrates that children with extrinsic motivational styles are more susceptible to helpless behavior, particularly when adults teach by use of controlling strategies (e.g., rewards, exhortations, evaluative cues). Autonomy‐inducing techniques that focus the child more upon intrinsic aspects of the task, however, elicit better performance, more persistence, and greater preference for challenge. Nevertheless, parents and teachers paradoxically believe controlling strategies are more effective. The implications of this disparity between empirical findings and adult beliefs are discussed.
Perceived Control Over Memory Aging: Developmental and Intervention Perspectives
Authors: Lachman Margie E.
Published: April 2010

Age differences in control beliefs were examined for several domains, including intellectual aging and memory, with a sample of 200 adults (ages 20–89). There were no age differences in control beliefs for the interpersonal or political domains. For the domains of health and intellectual aging, however, the older adults had lower internal control and higher external control beliefs than young and middle‐aged adults. The implications of these control beliefs are considered in the context of memory aging and memory training programs. A program of research is described that involves teaching older adults memory strategies in conjunction with cognitive restructuring of beliefs about the controllability of memory. The goal of the program is to optimize memory performance and attitudes about memory, as well as to identify some of the self‐appraisal and motivational mechanisms involved in memory aging.
Unwanted Pregnancy and Abortion: Definitional and Research Issues
Authors: Adler Nancy E.
Published: April 2010

In studying psychological responses following abortion, one necessarily encompasses responses to the entire experience of becoming pregnant and of terminating the pregnancy. Many assumptions are made about the nature of pregnancies that are terminated, but little research has examined the relationship between characteristics of the pregnancy and responses following abortion. Indirect evidence is available about the association of aspects of pregnancy with responses after abortion. This article considers the definition of different types of pregnancy: unplanned pregnancy, unintended pregnancy, unwanted pregnancy, premarital pregnancy, and adolescent pregnancy. Although these concepts are all related, each implies a different set of dynamics regarding the pregnancy, and each may have different implications for a woman's response following abortion. A full understanding of responses following abortion must take into account all of these variables.
Psychosocial Predictors of Adjustment to Abortion
Authors: Major Brenda , Cozzarelli Catherine
Published: April 2010

Psychosocial factors that may serve as “risk factors” for the experience of short‐term distress following induced abortion are reviewed. Factors found to be predictive of affective distress include blaming the pregnancy on one's character, low preabortion coping expectancies, low levels of perceived social support from important others, and a difficult abortion decision. Social conflict over the abortion decision, the nature of the woman's relationship with her partner, the coping strategies that she employs, her pre‐pregnancy level of psychological functioning, and life events occurring subsequent to the abortion are also suggested as potentially important predictors of adjustment. Coping expectancies are proposed to be the most proximal and important predictor of short‐term postabortion adjustment. Implications for clinical practice and public policy on abortion are discussed.
U.S. Abortion in Context: Selected Characteristics and Motivations of Women Seeking Abortions
Authors: Russo Nancy Felipe , Horn Jody D. , Schwartz Robert
Published: April 2010

The implications and effects of restrictive abortion laws depend on the characteristics and motivations of women obtaining abortions. Using secondary analysis of abortion patient data, this article documents substantial diversity in reproductive histories, family responsibilities, resources, and reasons for abortion among minors and adults who differed in marital and parental status. Abortion patients had substantial family responsibilities; nearly half were mothers. Reasons for abortion were related to internal, personal characteristics as well as to external circumstances, but for adult women, external circumstances were particularly salient. Women's abortion decisions reflected a desire to optimize the quality of marriage and childbearing, and to reduce risk of physical, psychological, social, and economic disadvantage for themselves and their existing and future children.
Gender, Ethnicity, and Sexual Assault: Findings from a Los Angeles Study
Authors: Sorenson Susan B. , Siegel Judith M.
Published: April 2010

This paper examines the influence of gender and ethnicity (Hispanic compared to non‐Hispanic White) on the probability of experiencing sexual assault, the circumstances surrounding the assault, and its sequelae. Based on a sample of over 3000 adult community residents, Hispanics and men reported significantly lower rates of assault than non‐Hispanic Whites and women. Once individuals were assaulted, however, neither ethnicity nor gender were related to their probability of being victimized again. Assaulted persons were more likely than nonassaulted persons to have a mental disorder; however, this association did not differ by gender or ethnicity. Women were more likely than men to report specific emotional and behavioral reactions to an assault. Sexual assault was associated with significantly greater use of mental health and general health services, regardless of gender or ethnicity. Provision of services for sexual assault victims is discussed in light of these findings.
Sociocultural Factors in Sexual Assault: Comparison of Two Representative Samples of Women
Authors: George Linda K. , Winfield Idee , Blazer Dan G.
Published: April 2010

In previous research, the lifetime prevalence of sexual assault among U.S. women ranges from less than 15% to more than 50%. Much of this variability is due to methodological differences across studies, but some of the inconsistency may be substantively meaningful, reflecting the effects of social context on the risk of sexual assault. This paper provides a profile of sexual assault victims from a representative sample of urban and rural southern women. The profile includes information about the prevalence and characteristics of sexual assault, demographic correlates, self‐reported effects of sexual assault, and sources of help seeking. This profile is compared with results from a representative, urban, and ethnically diverse sample of sexual assault victims in Los Angeles. Differences across and within the samples highlight the effects of social context on the risk, correlates, and consequences of sexual assault.
Environmental Hazards and the Public
Authors: Cvetkovich George , Earle Timothy C.
Published: April 2010

Effective management of environmental hazards requires knowledge of both physical environmental systems and the psychosocial processes affecting responses to environmental conditions. This journal issue focuses on understanding individual and social group responses to environmental hazards. This article suggests that hazard managers and others are often perplexed by the diversity of people's conclusions about environmental hazards because they adopt an objectivist perspective, which views risk only as a physical characteristic. The constructivist perspective adopted by the social sciences holds that risk assessment reflects human judgments, which are influenced by various psychological and social factors reviewed herein. We conclude that the effective management of many environmental hazards depends on reconciliation of the objectivist and constructivist perspectives. This can be accomplished by recognizing that risk communication, the exchange of information and opinions about hazards, should integrate technical information about hazards with the interests and values of affected parties including the public, in order to develop common solutions to environmental problems.
NIMBYs and LULUs: Stalking the Syndromes
Authors: Freudenburg William R. , Pastor Susan K.
Published: April 2010

The issue of public responses to technological risks has attracted attention from social and behavioral scientists, and also from policy spokespersons. Three main viewpoints can be discerned: the public asignorant/irrational, selfish,andprudent.These three perspectives are different in their implications for policy as well as for empirical research, and it has often been easier to see the influence of policy preferences on the existing research literature than to see the influence of empirical research on policy debates. The ignorance/irrationality perspective, once widely held (particularly by policy spokespersons), has repeatedly failed to be supported by empirical research. The selfishness and prudence perspectives both change the focus fromblamingthe citizen opponents of technology to attempting tounderstandthe differences between citizens and specialists, albeit using different explanations. We argue that a more fruitful approach may be to focus on understanding the broader system that creates such conflicts in the first place, and to seek greater balance in the frames of reference used in discussions.
Social Distrust as a Factor in Siting Hazardous Facilities and Communicating Risks
Authors: Kasperson Roger E. , Golding Dominic , Tuler Seth
Published: April 2010

Conflicts regarding the siting of hazardous facilities in the U.S. have often led to an impasse due to numerous problems, particularly including social distrust. To address this situation, this article proposes a multidimensional conception of trust, including cognitive, emotional, and behavioral aspects, and involving themes of expectations about others, subjective perceptions of situations, and awareness of taking risks. Four key dimensions of trust are perceptions of commitment, competence, caring, and predictability. Distrust arises from violations of expectations that people have in social relations. Research has shown a broad loss of trust in leaders and in major social institutions in the U.S. since the 1960s, together with growing public concern over health, safety, and environmental protection. These trends combine to make hazardous‐facility siting highly controversial. This article recommends key steps in risk communication and hazardous‐facility siting that are aimed at dealing as effectively as possible with social distrust.
Life‐Sustaining Technologies: Value Issues
Authors: Kapp Marshall B.
Published: April 2010

This article examines life‐extending technologies such as resuscitation, mechanical ventilation, antibiotics, dialysis, and artificial nutrition and hydration. It considers these technologies in terms of the value issues of (1) equity of access, (2) equity of allocation, (3) cost‐effectiveness and appropriateness of use, (4) legal concerns, and (5) determination and control of the application of technology. How we resolve these issues tests our character as individuals and as a society—it plays a key role in determining who shall live and what kind of society we shall become.
Moral Reasoning in Social Context
Authors: Murray Thomas H.
Published: April 2010

Scholarly thinking about morality has been deeply affected by the confrontation with practical moral problems epitomized by bioethics. Attention to social context is increasingly seen as vital to sound moral reasoning. The dominant model in bioethics assumes that moral reasoning proceeds downward, from fundamental principles to specific cases. This top‐down model, deductivism, is flawed both as a description of moral reasoning, and as a prescription for how moral reasoning should be done. In recent years, another model known as casuistry and based on case‐centered moral reasoning has emerged to challenge deductivism. Casuistry suggests new lines of empirical and conceptual research into the history of moral disputes and the practice of moral reasoning and debate.
A Coherence Model of Cognitive Consistency: Dynamics of Attitude Change During the Persian Gulf War
Authors: Spellman Barbara A. , Ullman Jodie B. , Holyoak Keith J.
Published: April 2010

We describe Co3 (Coherence Model of Cognitive Consistency), a computational model that we used to simulate attitudinal shifts toward various factors related to the Persian Gulf War. Co3 is based on “parallel constraint satisfaction,” a mechanism that revises a set of attitudes so as to maximize overall coherence, with each attitude simultaneously influencing every other related attitude. The Gulf War provided a naturalistic case study for examining the dynamics of attitude change. A survey of attitudes toward U.S. military involvement was administered to 129 students at the University of California, Los Angeles, first during the initial two days of the war, and again two weeks later. At each time, support for U.S. military action was highly correlated (either positively or negatively) with factors indicative of attitudes toward pacifism, the legitimacy of U.S. intervention, isolationism, and President Saddam Hussein of Iraq. A within‐subject analysis revealed that shifts in support for the war were correlated with consistent shifts in all four of the major predictors, including those (e.g., pacifism) that would not seem to have been directly affected by events over the intervening time period. This pattern of attitude change demonstrates cognitive consistency. Co3 was used to model how a shift in one attitude due to external inputs (e.g., media reports) can trigger correlated shifts in related attitudes. Computational methods of the sort exemplified by Co3 may be useful in modeling various social psychological phenomena.
The Politics of Women's Health
Authors: Shumaker Sally A. , Smith Teresa Rust
Published: April 2010

This article begins by discussing the recent emergence in the United States of women's health as a major public policy issue. The central question posed in the article is, How can the public's and government's interest in women's health be used to maximize health benefits for all women? Two arenas of women's health, childbearing and heart disease, are explored to further our understand of the possible costs and benefits to women of being a priority within the national public policy agenda. Three factors are proposed as crucial for maximizing women's health benefits within the current health policy climate: (a) broadening the definition of health benefits, (b) involving more women in the process of determining the hierarchy of health needs, and (c) involving more women in both the research and clinical aspects of medicine.
Constructive Conflict Management and Coping in Homeless Children and Adolescents
Authors: Horowitz Sandra V. , Boardman Susan K. , Redlener Irwin
Published: April 2010

In this largely exploratory study of the conflict management and coping behavior of homeless adolescents, the authors interviewed 176 families (mother‐adolescent dyads) living in New York City welfare hotels. Results indicated that peer conflict was the “worst” problem of the previous month as reported by approximately 50% of these youth. Homeless adolescents demonstrated conflict management and coping patterns that differed in certain respects from adolescent patterns previously described in the literature. The implications of these differences as well as directions for future research are discussed.
Promoting Joint Thinking in International Conflicts: An Israeli‐Palestinian Continuing Workshop
Authors: Rouhana Nadim N. , Kelman Herbert C.
Published: April 2010

This article reviews the development of interactive problem solving as an unofficial approach to the resolution of international conflicts, especially as we have applied it to the Israeli‐Palestinian conflict. The article describes the concept of the continuing workshop, which represents our latest attempt to maximize the political impact of interactive problem solving. After presenting the goals, terms of reference, and ground rules of such workshops, the paper examines their potential contribution to the larger process of conflict resolution. The principles of the continuing workshop have been applied in a series of meetings between high‐ranking Israeli and Palestinian participants. The paper discusses some of the practical issues confronted in this effort, such as preparation, selection of participants, and the third‐party role; and assesses the contribution of this continuing workshop to transforming the relationship between the two societies in conflict.
Predicting Protection: Scope of Justice and the Natural World
Authors: Opotow Susan
Published: April 2010

Our attitudes and behavior toward the natural world depend on our scope of justice, the psychological boundary within which considerations of fairness and moral rules govern our conduct. Because the natural world is often excluded from the scope of justice, “depletion” resulting from the economic utilization of land, water, air, and animal and plant “resources” is perceived as acceptable and inevitable. To examine the prediction that perceived similarity, utility, and neediness will indirectly affect environmental protection, mediated by the scope of justice, 432 high school students allocated a resource to a beetle and rated attitudes that delineated their scope of justice. Multiple regression mediation analysis indicated that the scope of justice mediated the effect of neediness and one aspect of similarity, perceived intelligence, on environmental protection. Perceived neediness predicted inclusion and protection but, contrary to expectation, intelligence predicted exclusion from the scope of justice and an unprotective environmental stance. A second aspect of similarity, perceived complexity, predicted inclusion in the scope of justice but not environmental protection. Utility had a strong, direct influence on environmental protection. Implications for justice theory and for policy are discussed.
The Role of Values and Ethical Principles in Judgments of Environmental Dilemmas
Authors: Seligman Clive , Syme Geoffrey J. , Gilchrist Rae
Published: April 2010

In this article, we explore generally the extent to which individuals apply values and ethical principles in a consistent way across different environmental ethical issues. In the first study, it was shown that the context in which one's values are assessed is important. Specifically, values assessed in the typical abstract way, as guiding principles in one's life, showed a different pattern of association with factors of environmental dilemmas than did values assessed with regard to their use as guiding principles for the environment. In the second study, respondents, who were experienced in making water allocation decisions, were asked to rank the importance of 16 ethical considerations as they applied to five different, current water allocation problems in Australia. The results showed that the importance ratings of the ethical considerations were similar for all the water allocation case studies. The results were discussed in terms of the effects of context on values/ethical criteria and environmental dilemmas.
By Way of Introduction
Authors: Borgida Eugene , Flske Susan T.
Published: April 2010

In this article, readers are introduced to the special JSI issue on gender stereotyping, sexual harassment, and the law via examination of a hypothetical yet infamous expert witness, Professor Fiske Borgida. Fiske Borgida survives the rigors of courtroom testimony and manages to educate the court about (1) the definition and measurement of sexual harassment, (2) the intrapersonal and interpersonal forces contributing to harassment, (3) individual and organizational reactions to harassment, and (4) utilization of research on gender stereotyping and sexual harassment by the courts. The presiding judge qualifies Fiske Borgida as an expert but then adjourns the proceeding in order to carefully read the contents of the special issue.
How Basic Can You Be? The Evolution of Research on Gender Stereotypes
Authors: Deaux Kay
Published: April 2010

The study of gender stereotypes evolved from earlier research on racial and ethnic beliefs. Moving from an initial focus on the descriptive characteristics associated with women and men, investigators of gender stereotypes have used the framework of social cognition to analyze structure and process. The utility of this research for understanding sexual harassment is discussed in terms of (a) gender subtypes that emphasize sexuality, and (b) contextual factors that prime gender stereotypes and subtypes. An understanding of these basic phenomena can inform organizational policies and legal efforts aimed at “taming” the hostile work environment and reducing the occurrence of sexual harassment.
A Social Psychological Model for Predicting Sexual Harassment
Authors: Pryor John B. , Giedd Janet L. , Williams Karen B.
Published: April 2010

This article presents a Person X Situation model of sexual harassment. In the tradition of Lewin (1951), this model suggests that sexually harassing behavior may be predicted from an analysis of social situational and person factors. Sexual harassment is a behavior that some people do some of the time. The social norms in specific organizational settings may “permit” sexual harassment. Certain individuals may possess proclivities for sexual harassment. When individuals with a proclivity for sexual harassment are placed in social situations that permit or accept this sort of behavior, the behavior is most likely to occur. From a review of research relating social norms in organizational settings and sexual harassment incidence, women are found more likely to experience sexual harassment in workplaces where men perceive the social norms as permitting such behavior. Research on sexual harassment proclivities in men also is reviewed. A profile of men who are high in the likelihood to sexually harass (LSH) is developed through an examination of correlations between the LSH scale and (1) standard self‐report inventories, (2) social cognitive measures, and (3) social behaviors measured in laboratory settings. Possible applications of the Person X Situation analysis to different forms of sexual harassment are discussed.
The Naive Misuse of Power: Nonconscious Sources of Sexual Harassment
Authors: Bargh John A. , Raymond Paula
Published: April 2010

Sexual harassment is considered from the perspective of power abuse in general. Recent research on sexually aggressive men has underscored the importance of power and dominance as a motivator of their behavior toward women. One striking feature of both sexual harassment and the misuse of power is the lack of awareness offenders often show regarding the inappropriateness of their actions. This lack of awareness is similar to automatic or nonconscious effects demonstrated in social perception and judgment research, such as the unintentional influence of one's stereotypes informing impressions of others. The possibility that having power within a situation automatically and nonconsciously triggers a sexuality schema, just as racial or gender features automatically trigger stereotypes of that group, is discussed and supporting research is described. It is shown, for example, that for men likely to sexually harass, merely activating the concept of power without their knowledge causes them to find the same woman more attractive. The possible origins of the automatic power → sex link, and its implications for preventing sexual harassment behavior, are discussed.
Why Didn't She Just Report Him? The Psychological and Legal Implications of Women's Responses to Sexual Harassment
Authors: Fitzgerald Louise F. , Swan Suzanne , Fischer Karla
Published: April 2010

The last few years have seen an increasing awareness of sexual harassment as an important social problem with serious implications for individuals and organizations alike, leading to increased attempts to understand how victims respond to this stressful and sometimes traumatic experience. The present article reviews the behavioral science research on responses to sexual harassment, including their links to outcomes and consequences. We then present an alternative to the frequently invoked assertiveness paradigm, derived from the cognitive‐behavioral stress and coping framework. We examine our paradigm in the context of legal proceedings that, in effect, hold the victim responsible for responding appropriately; explore the more general implications of placing the burden of noncom‐sent on the victim; and conclude with a discussion of this research for an emerging legal theory of sexual harassment.
Social Analytic Jurisprudence in Sexual Harassment Litigation: The Role of Social Framework and Social Fact
Authors: Wiener Richard L.
Published: April 2010

This article discusses an approach for resolving sexual‐harassment litigation that relies on valid social scientific findings. The approach applies social analytic jurisprudence, which utilizes social fact and social framework information to assist the courts in recognizing when social‐sexual misconduct rises to the level prohibited by Title VII law. The paper describes how social fact and social framework evidence can assist judges and juries in determining whether the alleged misconduct is so severe and pervasive that it creates a hostile work environment from the perspective of a reasonable victim of harassment. The paper argues that the courts need social science evidence to apply the reasonable woman test in a just and consistent manner. It gives examples of how social framework and social fact information can address relevant issues in hostile work environment disputes and concludes with some comments on how research can be conducted to address these issues.
The Development in Japan of the Performance‐Maintenance (PM) Theory of Leadership
Authors: Misumi Jyuji
Published: April 2010

Beginning with replications of the experimental study by Kurt Lewin et al., the PM Theory of Leadership has been developed in Japan as an extensive interdisciplinary and intercultural approach to leadership. The performance leadership function (P) is oriented toward goal achievement or problem solving, and the maintenance leadership function (M) oriented toward preserving group social stability. Any concrete leadership behavior reflects varying degrees of each function. By using our new paradigm, the validity and reliability of PM leadership measurement were examined not only in specific, particular situations but also in more universal situations, not only in descriptive, phenotypic studies of leadership infield research but also in genotypic studies of leadership conducted in laboratory situations.