ADOLESCENTS' PERCEPTIONS OF SOCIAL CONFLICTS IN TELEVISION NEWS AND SOCIAL REALITY

This study examined Israeli adolescents' differential perception of social conflicts in society and of their presentation by TV news, given the assumption that TV presents a distorted picture of real social conflicts along three dimensions: complexity, intensity, and solvability. It was hypothesized that age and degree of remoteness of social conflicts from one's life experiences will account for the main differences in an adolescent's differential perception of social conflicts. The sample consisted of 492 9th-grade and 425 12lh-grade Israeli adolescents. The data indicate that the older adolescents typically differentiate between the two realms of reality to a greater degree than do the younger adolescents. This is the case for three conflicts (school integration, labor disputes, and political terrorism) across the three dimensions. Moreover, the highest degree of differentiation between the two realms of reality was found for both age groups in the school integration conflict, with which the respondents were presumed to be most familiar, and the least differentiation for the conflict concerning political terrorism, with which they were presumed to have had the least experience.     

SOCIAL DISTANCE NORMS IN CANADA: EFFECTS OF STIMULUS CHARACTERISTICS AND DOGMATISM*

The effects of stimulus person characteristics (viz., race, occupational status, religion, and nationality) and the respondent's level of dogmatism upon the social distance responses of a sample of Canadian university students were examined. Occupational status, race, and nationality of the stimulus person emerged as significant determinants, with occupational status being by far the most important. Dogmatism was also correlated with social distance responses. Highly dogmatic persons, but not those low in dogmatism, focused on occupational status in deciding acceptable bounds of intimacy with others. Several explanations for the prominence of occupational status as a social distance cue are discussed. As well, directions for future research into social distance norms in Canada are suggested.     

PROCEDURAL VARIATIONS IN GROUP CONTINGENCIES: EFFECTS ON CHILDREN'S ACADEMIC AND SOCIAL BEHAVIORS

There has been little research on the effects of the many procedural variables in applied group contingencies. In the present study, an individualized contingency and three group contingencies with different “responder” criteria (e.g., reward based on the group average, reward based on the work of a designated, low-achieving student, or reward based on the work of a randomly selected student) were applied to the academic work of primary grade children in a learning disabilities classroom. Group social interaction during each contingency was measured systematically. Although there were large individual differences in students' academic and social responses to the different contingencies, some consistent effects were observed. Two of the four low-achieving target students did their best academic work during the group contingency which focused on their performance as a designated responder. This type of contingency also produced high levels of positive social interaction in three of four groups of children observed.     

REVERSIBILITY OF PERSPECTIVE IN NORMAL AND STABILIZED VIEWING

Two hypotheses regarding the role of eye movements in reversibility of perspective were tested by having the subjects observe a reversible-perspective figure during normal and stabilized viewing. No difference in reversal rate was found between the two conditions. It is concluded that reversibility of perspective remains unaffected by the presence or absence of eye movements.     

SOCIAL STIMULUS PERCEPTION AND SELF-EVALUATION: EFFECTS OF MENSTRUAL CYCLE PHASE

Women in different phases of the menstrual cycle were compared to each other and to men in their responses to a social interaction stimulus: a videotape depicting a female nurse interacting with a hospitalized patient. Sex differences and cycle-phase differences were found for both affective and cognitive dimensions. Premenstrual women reported feeling more dominant, energetic, indifferent, negative, and somewhat more tense than women menstruating or women in the intermenstrual cycle phase. However, they did not differ from men in their affective ratings. Premenstrual women evaluated the nurse as less attractive than did men and they attributed greater responsibility for the nurse's behavior to the patient than men and intermenstrual women. Women in all groups evaluated the nurse as nicer and more pleasant, interesting, concerned and self-assured than did men. All women also felt more friendly toward the nurse and reported that they would be more comfortable asking her questions than the men did. The implications of these findings are discussed.     

IRRATIONAL BELIEFS AND SOCIAL CONSTRUCTIONISM: CORRELATIONS WITH ATTITUDES ABOUT REALITY,BELIEFS ABOUT PEOPLE,AND COLLECTIVE SELF-ESTEEM

Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) is theoretically consistent with the postmodern social constructionist assumption of a reciprocal causality between the individual and society. In a test of this claim, REBT irrationalities as measured by the Irrational Belief Scale and by the Survey of Personal Beliefs were correlated with Attitudes toward Reality, Cynicism, Beliefs in the Conventional Goodness of People, and Collective Self-Esteem. All measures of irrationality identified the postmodern social constructionism recorded by the Attitudes toward Reality Scale as rational. Especially the Irrational Belief Scale identified Cynicism and Beliefs in the Conventional Goodness of People as irrational and Collective Self-Esteem as rational. The Survey of Personal Beliefs described Collective Self-Esteem as irrational and therefore suggested that the conceptual framework of REBT can promote negative assessments of collectivistic forms of adjustment. Most importantly, however, these data confirmed that REBT includes potentials that are compatible with postmodern social constructionism. Address correspondence to P. J. Watson, Psychology/Department # 2803, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, 350 Holt Hall-615 McCallie Ave, Chattanooga, TN 37403, USA; e-mail: paul-watson@utc.edu     

THE EFFECTS OF CHILDHOOD SEXUAL MESSAGES ON AFRICAN-AMERICAN AND WHITE WOMEN'S ADOLESCENT SEXUAL BEHAVIOR

To clarify the relationship between sexual communication and sexual behavior, multiple components of sexual messages recalled from child hood were examined in a community sample of 248 African-American and White women. Respondents were matched on a predesignated set of demographic variables and were interviewed using the Wyatt Sexual History Questionnaire. We anticipated that women's recollections of messages from parents and television would differ both individually and across ethnicity, and that messages recalled from parents would be multidimensional, varying in tone (positive vs. negative) across time (childhood vs. adolescence) and form (verbal vs. nonverbal). We also expected that the presence and tone of specific types of messages re called would be associated with risk-related sexual behavior. Results confirmed predictions concerning differential interpretations of messages, and ethnicity emerged as a strong mediating variable. The implications of the specific types of parental messages influencing behavior are discussed.     

NATURE, REALITY, AND THE SACRED: A MEDITATION IN SCIENCE AND RELIGION

Abstract. Many scientists now recognize the participation of the knower in the known. Not many admit, however, that scientists rely upon intuitions about reality commonly attributed to philosophy and religion: that sensory experience relates us to an order in nature congruent with our minds and of value congruent with our fulfilled being. Nature has disclosed itself to scientists—albeit fragmentarily—as power, life, order, and unity or meaning. In science these remain limit questions, raised but unanswered. In the unity of these qualities, assumed by science, the sacred begins to appear. Addressing the limit questions, not only of scientific but of human experience, is the province of philosophy and religion.     

GROUP RESEARCH TRENDS IN SOCIAL AND ORGANIZATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY:

We report the results of an archival study of group research published in three organizational psychology journals (Journal of Applied Psychology, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, and Academy of Management Journal) from 1975 through 1994 Moreland, Hogg, and Hains (1994), in a review of three social psychology journals (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, and Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin), suggested there is an increasing enthusiasm for the social psychological study of groups However, their data relations. We tested the proposal that research traditionally viewed as intragroup (e g, group performance) has been taken up by organizational psychologists. Our data support this contention, as the publication Pattern for intragroup research topics in the three organizational journals was an inverse of that reported by Moreland et al. Results are discussed in terms of historical and interdisciplinary     

THE ROLE OF PSYCHOLOGY IN NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT: WISHFUL THINKING AND REALITY

The aim of this essay is to indicate that psychology as a science or profession has not played a significant role in the historical evolution of industrialized countries. It is further argued that the problems of developing countries are basically political and economic and to psychologize them might be both unproductive and immoral. It is suggested that psychologists might do a better service by studying ways and means of changing the behavior of people who control the material resources of the world.     

A SOCIAL ECOLOGY OF HYPERACTIVE BOYS: MEDICATION EFFECTS IN STRUCTURED CLASSROOM ENVIRONMENTS

Hyperactive boys on methlyphenidate (Ritalin), hyperactive boys on placebo, and comparison boys were observed in quasi-naturalistic classroom settings. Ambient stimulation (quiet versus noisy conditions) and source of regulation (self-paced versus other-paced activities) were varied in a 2 × 2 design. Compared to their peers, hyperactive boys on placebo showed lower rates of task attention and higher rates of gross motor movement, regular and negative verbalization, noise-making, physical contact, social initiation, disruption, and acts that were perceived as energetic, inappropriate, or unexpected. Self-paced activities resulted in increased rates of verbalization, social initiation, and high-energy episodes. High ambient noise levels reduced task attention and increased the rates of many other behaviors including verbalization, physical contact, gross motor movement, and high-energy acts. Medication-by-situation interactions emerged for both classroom dimensions, with hyperactive boys on placebo being readily distinguishable from their peers under some classroom conditions and indistinguishable under other conditions. Moderate relationships were found between teacher ratings and many individual behavior categories. Discussion focused on (a) the merits and limitations of a social ecological research perspective, and (b) the implications of these findings for the design of intervention strategies.     

READING INTERESTS OF CHINESE ADOLESCENTS: EFFECTS OF PERSONAL AND SOCIAL FACTORS*

The relation of the reading interests of Chinese adolescents to their personality (introversion), values (intellectualism and academic achievement), and the reading interests of their family members and peers was studied. A total of 2,114 secondary school students participated in the study. The hypothesized relationship was found to be positive. Specifically, the more introverted students were attracted to more literary materials, whereas the less introverted were fond of more action type of materials. Students high on the value of intellectualism were found to read in general more than those low on the value in almost any kind of materials. Compared to the low ones, students high on the value of academic achievement tended to read more but the differences were not extensive; their interest seemed to focus more on the literary and curriculum-related materials. With respect to family and peer influences, students with parents, siblings, classmates, and friends who read tended to read more and have wider reading interests.     

民主与共和：社会斗争中的包容与欲望

在以下的文字中,我们将要论证的是,包容观念与其说与共和传统有关联,不如说与民主传统有关联。为使言之有据,我们不仅要像其古希腊支持者那样将民主定义为民众（demos）的权力,而且要像其同时代的诋毁者那样将民主定义为平民（hoi polloi）的权力。     

STRUCTURAL HIERARCHY AND SOCIAL GOOD IN TZINTZUNTZAN

Social ritual in a Mexican village is described as structural hierarchy with a common semantic base. Stretches of rule-governed behavior are generated through a series of metaphoric transformations of physiological process. The concordant structure that is so-derived constitutes a semantic network that provides and reinforces cultural equilibrium and shared ideology.     

EFFECTS OF A MULTIFACETED TRAINING PROCEDURE ON THE ACQUISITION AND GENERALIZATION OF SOCIAL BEHAVIORS IN LANGUAGE-DISABLED DEAF CHILDREN

Effects of a multifaceted training procedure were assessed on the acquisition and generalization of social behaviors with 9 language-disabled deaf children. The training procedure consisted of (a) child training and (b) supervision, feedback, and goal setting directed by teachers and residential staff. Target behaviors were turn waiting, initiating interaction, and interacting with others. Procedures to promote generality of effects and to determine the social validity of the procedures were used. Data were collected within a multiple baseline design across behaviors. Results showed a functional relationship between introduction of the training procedure and increases in percentage of appropriate target behaviors for all 9 children. The effects were maintained throughout a 5- to 10-week follow-up period.