Workplace Integrity: Differences in Perceptions of Behaviors and Situational Factors

Pre-employment integrity tests assume differences between honest and dishonest individuals in their perceptions of the degree of dishonesty of given behaviors. This exploratory study investigated whether individuals classified as dishonest by an overt integrity test had different perceptions of the honesty of behaviors than those classified as honest. Differences in perceptions of situational factors promoting or deterring honesty were also examined. Dishonest individuals had different perceptions of behaviors and situations than honest individuals, suggesting that the relative influence of situational interventions may vary with the general integrity of a workforce.     

Outside the Classroom Walls: Perceptions of Professor Inappropriate Out-of-Class Conduct and Student Classroom Incivility among American Business Students

Under higher education’s contemporary consumer model, students are treated as customers and professors are encouraged to increase student engagement through more personal out-of-class interactions, often in social settings. In the course of this more personal student-faculty involvement, students inevitably encounter or learn of their professors’ occasional inappropriate or unethical behavior. In the present study, we investigated the impact of 145 American undergraduate Business students’ perceptions of their professors’ inappropriate out-of-class behavior on student beliefs and in-class behavior. Results indicate that student perceptions of professors engaging in inappropriate out-of-class behavior were associated with students viewing these professors as lower in ethical character and reporting a stronger likelihood of attending these professors’ classes under the influence of alcohol and illicit drugs, swearing and using vulgarity in these professors’ class discussions, and showing disregard for these professors’ rules, time, and effort. These relationships held even when student grade satisfaction and professor in-class behavior were accounted for. Our results suggest professors’ behavior outside the classroom may impact students’ behavior inside the classroom, re-igniting dialogue regarding the professorial role and the boundaries on oversight of that role. We offer suggestions as to how higher education may address these concerns without infringing upon professors’ personal freedoms.     

Student Teachers' Classroom Management Anxiety: A Study on Behavior Management and Teaching Management

The purpose of this study is to examine student teachers' anxiety related to classroom management in terms of behavior and teaching management. The study is carried out with the participation of 700 student teachers attending Ziya Gökalp Education Faculty at Dicle University in the 2007–2008 academic year. In order to determine their anxiety levels concerning behavior management and teaching management, the scales of “behavior management anxiety” and “teaching management anxiety” are used. Data are analyzed with correlation (Pearson), t test, and analysis of variance techniques. The Scheffé test is used to test significance. According to the student teachers' participation to school experience and to their branches, significant differences are determined between all subscales of behavior management anxiety levels.     

Response Conflict and Affective Responses in the Control and Expression of Race Bias

Models of racial attitudes traditionally have assumed that individual differences in the strength of underlying, 'implicit' associations between racial categories and stereotypical traits are the primary determinant of the expression of race bias. Thus, individual differences in performance on laboratory tasks designed to assess implicit race bias tend to be interpreted in terms of association strength. Here, we argue that such associations tell only part of the story, and probably the least interesting part. We posit that response conflict and its regulation are critical to understanding the need for control, and that affect-related processes help to determine the extent to which control resources will be implemented to overcome biased associations. We present data from a number of recent behavioral and psychophysiological studies in support of this idea, as well as conceptual accounts that point toward a model of race bias regulation that depends upon processes identified as important for regulation of thought, affect and action more generally.     

Ratio Bias and Policy Preferences: How Equivalency Framing of Numbers Can Affect Attitudes

Numbers permeate modern political communication. While current scholarship on framing effects has focused on the persuasive effects of words and arguments, this article shows that framing of numbers can also substantially affect policy preferences. Such effects are caused by ratio bias, which is a general tendency to focus on numerators and pay insufficient attention to denominators in ratios. Using a population‐based survey experiment, I demonstrate how differently framed but logically equivalent representations of the exact same numerical value can have large effects on citizens' preferences regarding salient political issues such as education and taxes. Furthermore, the effects of numerical framing are found across most groups of the population, largely regardless of their political predisposition and their general ability to understand and use numerical information. These findings have significant implications for our understanding of framing effects and the role played by numbers in public opinion formation.     

Students' Quality of Experience and Perceptions of Intolerance and Bias in the Women's and Gender Studies Classroom

Student evaluations of the quality of their women's and gender studies (WGS) experience and predictors of experience quality were studied in a sample of 326 students from 23 WGS classes. Higher initial appreciation/acceptance of diversity, capacity for interpersonal relationships, and class expectations predicted more positive experience ratings. These relationships were mediated by students' alliance with their teacher and cohesion with classmates. A small proportion of students (11.6%), spread across 14 classes, did not rate their experience positively. Perceptions of teacher and classmate intolerance and bias were assessed in this subset of students. Average ratings of intolerance were slightly positive for teachers and neutral for classmates. Implications of the findings for understanding students' WGS experiences are discussed.     

Talking Dirty: Responses to Communicating a Sexual Message as a Function of Situational and Personality Factors

Situational and personality factors associated with responses to communicating a sexual message were investigated. Male (N = 101) and female (N = 89) subjects delivered a prepared speech on either a sexual or a nonsexual topic to an audience that ostensibly varied in age (peer versus older individuals) and sex (male versus female). Results indicated that communicating the sexual (versus nonsexual) message resulted in more negative perceptions of audience response. Communicating the sexual message to older audiences in general and to older female audiences in particular resulted in the most negative perceptions of audience response. Correlational analyses revealed that individual difference factors such as positive affective orientation to sex and relatively greater sexual experience were associated with less negative reactions to communicating the sexual message (all p < .05).     

The Effect of Social and Situational Factors on the Intended Response to Aggression Among Adolescents

ABSTRACT

In this study, I explored intended response to aggression among adolescents. I drew hypotheses from social identity theory, cost/benefit considerations, and social information processing model. I asked 217 Jewish and Muslim male adolescents in this study to assess their intended use of aggression in 12 hypothetical conflict situations (vignettes), in which I manipulated the opponent's religion, gender, acquaintance, and severity of aggression. I mainly found that male adolescents respond to aggression by same-religion opponents more moderately than to cross-religion aggression; their response is more moderate to cross-gender aggression than to same-gender aggression; response is more moderate to the aggression of familiar opponents than to that of unfamiliar ones; and response is less severe toward moderate than toward severe aggression.     

Responses to the Stigmatized: Disjunctions in Affect, Cognitions, and Behavior

This study examined affective, cognitive, and behavioral responses to members of a stigmatized group – homosexual men. Male participants were placed in a situation in which they anticipated interacting with a gray or a non-stigmatized conversation partner. The topic of the impending conversation was either potentially threatening or non-threatening. Participants in the gay conversation partner condition sat either farther away from the conversation partner (in the threat condition) or closer to the conversation partner (in the no-threat condition) than they did from non-stigmatized conversation partners. There were no differences in attitudes toward the conversation partner as a function of experimental condition. The results were interpreted in terms of predictions based on ambivalence-amplification theory, aversive racism theory, and the integrated threat theory.     

Bias in the Counseling Process: How to Recognize and Avoid It

Counselors' vulnerability to inferential bias during the counseling process may result in misdiagnosis and improper interventions. This article provides readers with information regarding inferential bias. The inferential biases discussed include (a) availability and representativeness heuristics; (b) fundamental attribution error; (c) anchoring, prior knowledge, and labeling; (d) confirmatory hypothesis testing; and (e) reconstructive memory. Each bias is described and illustrated through fictitious case vignettes, and suggestions concerning what precautions counselors may do to avoid each type of bias are presented.     

The Black-Sheep Effect: How Positive and Negative Advertisements Affect Voters' Perceptions of the Sponsor of the Advertisement1

Participants read a positive or negative (mock) political advertisement that was sponsored by either an in-group (subject and sponsor were members of the same political party) or an out-group (subject and sponsor were members of different political parties) member. The results found support for a black-sheep effect. An in-group sponsor of a positive advertisement was evaluated more positively than any out-group member, regardless of advertisement type, or an in-group member who sponsored a negative advertisement. However, an in-group sponsor of a negative advertisement was evaluated more negatively than either an in-group sponsor of a positive advertisement. or an out-group sponsor. regardless of advertisement type. The results are discussed in terms of social identity theory.     

Teaching the Devout Student: Faith and Scholarship in the Classroom

Increasing numbers of college students enrolling in religion courses in recent years are looking to develop their religious faith or spirituality, while professors of religion want students to use and appreciate scholarly tools to study religion from an academic perspective. Some scholars argue that it is not possible to satisfy both goals in the classroom, while authors in this journal have given suggestions on how to bridge the gap between faith and scholarship. I argue that such authors are correct and that, in my experience, historical‐critical methods can help devout students understand the original texts in their own religion better, comprehend why changes in interpretation have occurred over time, and appreciate the values in religions other than their own. Not all devout students are comfortable with an academic study of religion, but many can attain a more mature faith by such an approach.     

Evaluation Bias in the Business Classroom: Evidence Relating to the Effects of Previous Experiences

We found that teaching evaluations were assigned as a function of the professors' gender and students' previous experience with a female professor. Based on the professor's style of organization, enthusiasm, credibility, and effectiveness, and students' willingness to take a course with the professor, students assigned higher evaluations to male professors than female professors. Previous experience with a female faculty member was found to be a relevant variable influencing perceived credibility, organization, and effectiveness evaluations. The findings imply that exposure to women in positions of responsibility may reduce stereotypical attitudes regarding women's ability to function in gender-atypical roles.     

Processing of Ambiguous Facial Affect in Adolescents with Depressive Symptoms Prior to and Following Social Exclusion: The Role of Perceptual Sensitivity and Response Bias

Depressive symptoms in adolescents are an important mental health issue and are associated with adverse developmental outcomes. Impairments in facial affect processing are considered an important factor in the etiology of depression. However, studies on facial affect processing in youth with depressive symptoms are lacking. This study investigated alterations in facial affect processing and the underlying mechanisms (perceptual sensitivity vs. response bias) related to adolescent depression, as well as the potential impact of negative social experiences. Sixty adolescents (M age?=?13.24, SD?=?1.03, 66.7 % female) with high (HD) and low (LD) depressive symptoms rated the predominant affective expression in ambiguous stimuli with varying intensity (happy-sad, happy-angry, sad-angry) prior to and following a negative (social rejection), positive (social inclusion), or no social experience with the depicted model identities. There were no baseline differences between groups. The LD group exhibited an increased perceptual sensitivity to happy expressions depicted by benevolent and stranger models, whereas the HD exhibited a higher sensitivity toward happy expressions depicted by rejecting social partners. The results suggest that depressive symptoms in adolescents may be associated with an altered processing of facial affect for partners who had previously rejected them. Implications of these findings for development and maintenance of adolescent depression are discussed.     

Social Power in the Classroom: Student Attributions for Compliance

This study assessed university students' attributions for compliance after envisioning their instructors attempting to influence them through the use of social power. Differences in student attributions were hypothesized based on student gender, region of residence within the United States, and class standing (i.e., lower vs. upper division). Participants ( N = 326) completed a modified version of Raven, Schwarzwald, and Koslowsky's (1998) Interpersonal Power Inventory. The power dynamic between teachers and students differs from that of a more traditional supervisor-subordinate relationship. Support was not obtained for the hypothesis regarding student gender, while full support was obtained for the hypotheses regarding region of residence and class standing. Implications for instructors are discussed, as well as implications for future social power research.     

Fatherhood: How Differentiation and Identity Status Affect Attachment to Children

Fathers have often been misrepresented in studies evaluating the father's role and the father's relationship to his children, due to being evaluated by theories that were originally intended to study the relationship between mothers and children. The current study evaluates fathers' differentiation and identity status as predictors of their attachment to their children. We used structural equation modeling and multiple regression to evaluate the relationships among the variables. We found that differentiation predicted identity status but that neither differentiation nor identity status predicted attachment. Further, commitment significantly predicted parent attachment, relationship avoidance, and relationship anxiety, whereas crisis significantly predicted only relationship avoidance. The implications of these results for therapists are discussed.     

The Mobilization of Elite Opinion: Rabbi Perceptions of and Responses to Anti-Semitism

One of the persistent problems facing the Jewish community is anti-Semitism, which has a long, tragic history in the United States and abroad. At the same time, anti-Semitic acts are probably at their lowest ebb in American history. Using a sample of more than 400 rabbis drawn from the four great movements of American Judaism, we investigate rabbi perceptions of anti-Semitism in the United States, as well as their attitudinal and behavioral reactions to it. We test and find evidence for the notions that Orthodox rabbis, as well as those connected to and mobilized by Jewish advocacy organizations, perceive anti-Semitism as a greater problem and concern themselves with the issue more often in their public speech.