Adolescents' perceptions toward the internet: a 4-T framework.

This study could be viewed as one of the initial attempts to probe adolescents' general perceptions toward the Internet. Through interviewing 40 adolescents in Taiwan, this study found the following 4-T categories for interpreting their perceptions toward the Internet, which included Technology, Tool, Toy, and Travel. Most adolescents perceived the Internet as a tool, implying that these adolescents, in general, held pragmatic views about the Internet. This paper further proposes a framework to elaborate the 4-T categories. The framework consists of the following two axes: one axis probably shows the ontology of the Internet, ranging from a "product" to a "process," whereas the other axis indicates the perceived feature of the Internet, varying from "functional" to "technical." It is finally suggested to carefully investigate the effects of people's Internet perceptions on their behaviors, as well as psychological and cognitive activities in Internet-related environments.     

The influence of positive affect on the components of expectancy motivation

The influence of positive affect on expectancy motivation was investigated in 2 studies. The results of Study 1 indicated that positive affect improved people's performance and affected their perceptions of expectancy and valence. In Study 1, in which outcomes depended on chance, positive affect did not influence people's perceptions of instrumentality. In Study 2, in which the link between performance and outcomes was specified, positive affect influenced all 3 components of expectancy motivation. Together, the results of Studies 1 and 2 indicated that positive affect interacts with task conditions in influencing motivation and that its influence on motivation occurs not through general effects, such as response bias or general activation, but rather through its influence on the cognitive processes involved in motivation.     

The impact of engineering identification and stereotypes on undergraduate women’s achievement and persistence in engineering

Women almost always comprise a minority in engineering programs and a smaller percentage of women pursue engineering than other science and technology majors. The culture of engineering departments and negative stereotypes of women’s engineering and mathematical ability have been identified as factors that inhibit women’s entry into engineering and cause them to leave the major. Even for women who stay, stereotype threat or the anxiety of confirming a negative stereotype can decrease academic performance. To more fully understand this dynamic, we examined four factors associated with stereotype threat (engineering identification, gender identification, gender stereotype endorsement, and engineering ability perceptions) to determine how they impacted women’s achievement and persistence in engineering at the end of their first year of an engineering program. Participants included 363 first-year general engineering students from a large public university. Students completed a questionnaire near the end of their first year. Results indicated that there were differences between men and women for gender stereotype endorsement and engineering ability perceptions, with men more likely to hold negative stereotypes of women’s engineering abilities and women more likely to report higher perceptions of their engineering abilities. Engineering identification was a significant predictor of persistence in engineering, and engineering ability perceptions were significant predictors of achievement; the relationships were stronger for women than men. The fact that neither gender identification nor gender stereotype endorsement were related to achievement or persistence in engineering indicated that they were less important factors for first-year women engineering students than engineering identification and engineering ability perceptions.     

The perception of ethical dilemmas in clinical practice

The empirical diagnosis presented in this paper is based on interviews with nurse practitioners and physicians designed to elicit their perceptions on the nature and role of ethical dilemmas in clinical practice. Having selected five of these perceptions or views which were common and significant, the philosophical therapy offered consists in, first, a general discussion of ethical dilemmas and, second, a critical analysis of each of the five views with the aim of pointing out confusions and errors, the recognition of which can be of applied and practical help in the clinical setting.     

More than skin deep: visceral states are not projected onto dissimilar others

What people feel shapes their perceptions of others. In the studies reported here, we examined the assimilative influence of visceral states on social judgment. Replicating prior research, we found that participants who were outside during winter overestimated the extent to which other people were bothered by cold (Study 1), and participants who ate salty snacks without water thought other people were overly bothered by thirst (Study 2). However, in both studies, this effect evaporated when participants believed that the other people under consideration held political views opposing their own. Participants who judged these dissimilar others were unaffected by their own strong visceral-drive states, a finding that highlights the power of dissimilarity in social judgment. Dissimilarity may thus represent a boundary condition for embodied cognition and inhibit an empathic understanding of shared out-group pain. Our findings reveal the need for a better understanding of how people's internal experiences influence their perceptions of the feelings and experiences of those who may hold values different from their own.     

School Perceptions of Children Raised by Grandparents

Increasing numbers of children raised by grandparents are students in schools. Their substitute family structure and precursors to the emergence of this family structure have implications for the children's school performance. Research suggests teachers view these children as at risk for difficult school functioning. The aforementioned judgment is problematic because teacher expectations, attributions, and biases are associated with stereotype threat that impacts student performance adversely. The author compares children raised by grandparents with children raised by parents and foster parents. The author examines the children's perceptions of their teachers' views of their school performance. He also examines the children's general feelings about school. Participants in the study were 6,550 students in Grades 6–8 from the nationally representative Health Behaviour in School-aged Children survey. Nonparametric statistical analyses reveal children raised by grandparents believe teachers' view their school performance negatively when compared with children living with both parents. Strategies are described to improve the children's performance in school and to foster favorable teacher perceptions.     

Perceiving stability as a means to attitude certainty: The role of implicit theories of attitudes

This research introduces the concept of implicit theories of attitude stability. Across three studies, individuals are shown to vary both naturally and situationally in their lay theories about the stability of attitudes. Furthermore, these general theories are shown to impact people's certainty in their specific attitudes by shaping their perceptions of the stability of the attitude under consideration. By affecting attitude certainty, implicit theories of attitude stability also influence the extent to which people rely on their attitude when committing to future attitude-relevant behavior. Moreover, following exposure to a persuasive attack, implicit theories are shown to interact with situational perceptions of attitude stability to determine attitude certainty. Collectively, these findings suggest that implicit theories of attitude stability have an important influence on people's attitude certainty, subsequent behavioral intentions, and resistance to persuasive messages. Future directions concerning the potential impact of these theories for other attitudinal phenomena are discussed.     

科学划界:"猴子审判"案例分析

自上个世纪后期以来,20世纪哲学四大主题之一的科学划界研究陷入了进退两难的境地。该文从科学划界的视角出发,分析了科学家和创世论者在“猴子审判”这一著名案件中的辩护与反驳,揭示了特定的社会、文化和政治因素对科学划界标准的影响,并且指出在现实社会中研究有关的科学争论,从研究科学精英的科学观转向研究社会公众的科学观,可能是有助于摆脱这一困境的努力方向。     

Differential construal and the false consensus effect

People's own beliefs, values, and habits tend to bias their perceptions of how widely they are shared. The present research examined whether this "false consensus effect" is partly due to people's failure to recognize that their choices are not solely a function of the "objective" response alternatives, but of their subjective construal of those alternatives. Study 1 provided initial support for the importance of differential construal in people's consensus estimates by showing that larger false consensus effects tend to be obtained on items that permit the most latitude for subjective construal. Study 2 replicated this effect experimentally by asking Ss either a general or specific version of the same question. Larger false consensus effects were obtained on the general version that offered more latitude for construal. Studies 3 & 4 provided further support by showing that (a) Ss who made different choices tended to interpret the response alternatives in ways that reflected the choices they made and (b) subjects who were led to construe the alternatives in the same way tended to make the same choices.     

Differential reliance on performance outliers in athletic self‐assessment

The current studies tested the hypothesis that, despite experiencing high rates of performance failure, athletes maintain positive ability perceptions by basing assessments of their ability on peak, rarely occurring performances rather than on their more typically occurring base rate averages. Findings from two studies support this assertion. Study 1 showed that collegiate baseball players perceived their best‐ever hitting performance to better represent their true hitting ability than their worst‐ever performance, despite the latter being far more reflective of their objective batting average. Study 2 replicated this effect among college softball players, and demonstrated further that low‐performing athletes were the most severely miscalibrated in their ability perceptions. Implications for coaches, trainers, and practitioners committed to helping athletes develop are discussed.     

Are Women Perceived as Engaging in More Maladaptive Worry Than Men? A Status Interpretation

Studies 1 and 2 addressed people's perceptions of women's and men's overall maladaptive worry. In Study 1, participants rated how they perceive women's and men's worry in general. In Study 2, participants rated the worry of either a woman or a man whom they know well. As expected in both studies, participants perceived women as experiencing more maladaptive worry than men. A second objective was to compare people's perceptions of women's and men's worry to their perceptions of low- and high-status individuals' worry to determine if a status model can account for the perception that women worry more than men. In Study 3, participants were presented a minimal instantiation of status (Conway, Pizzamiglio, & Mount, 1996). As expected, participants perceived low-status individuals as experiencing more maladaptive worry than high-status individuals. Findings are discussed in terms of gender stereotypes and theoretical models of gender.     

Pupils' liking for school: Ability grouping,self‐concept and perceptions of teaching

Background. Research indicates that affective aspects of development provide a basis for autonomous learning. Pupils' liking for school may be a useful indicator of their relationships with teachers and the school. Aims. The aim of the research reported in this paper is to establish the properties of a measure of pupils' liking for school and to examine associations between this measure, pupils' experiences in lessons, their self‐concepts and the amount of setting implemented in school. Sample. A stratified sample of 45 mixed secondary comprehensive schools was selected for the research. Schools represented a variety of ability‐grouping practices in the lower school (Years 7–9), from completely mixed‐ability to setting in all academic subjects. All Year 9 pupils were included in the sample. Methods. Pupils completed a questionnaire containing items on their self‐concept, liking for school, and their perceptions of teaching in English, mathematics, and science. Data on pupils' gender, ethnic origin, social disadvantage and attainment was also collected. Results and conclusions. The properties and correlates of scales indicating pupils' liking for school and their perceptions of teaching in English, mathematics, and science are established. Liking for school is greater among girls, pupils with higher academic self‐concepts, and those with more positive perceptions of teaching. Pupils are more positive about teaching they experience in English than in mathematics or science. When other variables are statistically controlled, there is no significant effect of the extent of ability grouping in the school as a whole. Affective aspects of learning should not be neglected in the drive to raise standards.     

OAKESHOTT ON SCIENCE AS A MODE OF EXPERIENCE

I offer a critical exposition and reconstruction of Michael Oakeshott's views on natural science. The principal aim is to enrich Oakeshott's modal schema by throwing light on it in terms of its internal consistency and by bringing to bear on it recent developments in philosophy in general and the philosophy of science in particular. The discussion brings out the special place reserved for philosophy, the crucial tenet of the separateness of these modes seen as Leibnizian monads as well as the special status allowed to science. It considers the possibility of combining one moment of philosophical thinking, namely ethics, with science in the midst of such modal separateness. I first offer a general introduction of how to approach Oakeshott's views on science. The next section stresses philosophy and its relation to science. This is followed by an elaboration of what the modes of experience are meant to be and how science is placed among them. An examination of Oakeshott's more particular views on science concludes the essay.     

Perception and misperception of bias in human judgment

Human judgment and decision making is distorted by an array of cognitive, perceptual and motivational biases. Recent evidence suggests that people tend to recognize (and even overestimate) the operation of bias in human judgment - except when that bias is their own. Aside from the general motive to self-enhance, two primary sources of this 'bias blind spot' have been identified. One involves people's heavy weighting of introspective evidence when assessing their own bias, despite the tendency for bias to occur nonconsciously. The other involves people's conviction that their perceptions directly reflect reality, and that those who see things differently are therefore biased. People's tendency to deny their own bias, even while recognizing bias in others, reveals a profound shortcoming in self-awareness, with important consequences for interpersonal and intergroup conflict.     

Cultural diversity in nanotechnology ethics

Along with the rapid worldwide advance of nanotechnology, debates on associated ethical issues have spread from local to international levels. However unlike science and engineering issues, international perceptions of ethical issues are very diverse. This paper provides an analysis of how sociocultural factors such as language, cultural heritage, economics and politics can affect how people perceive ethical issues of nanotechnology. By attempting to clarify the significance of sociocultural issues in ethical considerations my aim is to support the ongoing international dialogue on nanotechnology. At the same time I pose the general question of ethical relativism in engineering ethics, that is to say whether or not different ethical views are irreconcilable on a fundamental level.     

Reality at odds with perceptions: narcissistic leaders and group performance

Although narcissistic individuals are generally perceived as arrogant and overly dominant, they are particularly skilled at radiating an image of a prototypically effective leader. As a result, they tend to emerge as leaders in group settings. Despite people's positive perceptions of narcissists as leaders, it was previously unknown if and how leaders' narcissism is related to the performance of the people they lead. In this study, we used a hidden-profile paradigm to investigate this question and found evidence for discordance between the positive image of narcissists as leaders and the reality of group performance. We hypothesized and found that although narcissistic leaders are perceived as effective because of their displays of authority, a leader's narcissism actually inhibits information exchange between group members and thereby negatively affects group performance. Our findings thus indicate that perceptions and reality can be at odds and have important practical and theoretical implications.     

Perceived Control as a Moderator of the Prototype Effect in the Perception of Discrimination

Whether an individual's behavior is perceived as discriminatory has a great deal to do with the characteristics of the individual. The prototype effect refers to the finding that individuals who match people's prototypes of the typical executor of a particular kind of discrimination (e.g., the prototypical sex discriminator is male) are much more likely to receive attributions of discrimination than are nonprototypical executors. The motivated social cognition perspective, however, suggests that people's subjective needs will influence the extent to which they rely on simplified cognitive abstractions. The results of this study indicate that people's subjective perceptions of control over discrimination in their lives moderate the influence of the prototype effect on perceptions of discrimination in ambiguous situations.     

Effects of Individual Differences on Applicant Perceptions of an Operational Assessment Center

Knowing to what extent applicant reactions are related to stable individual differences and not only to characteristics of a selection procedure is important for the design and administration of the selection procedure and for dealing with applicants. The aim of this study was to explore relationships between individual differences (Big Five, core self‐evaluations, trait affectivity, and general mental ability) and applicants' perceptions of an operational assessment center (AC). Data from 294 applicants revealed that individual difference variables explained significant variance in their perceptions of the AC, even after controlling for self‐rated and actual performance. Based on these results, the nature of the applicant pool should be considered for designing selection procedures, dealing with applicants, and for research purposes.     

Gender and the Choice of a Science Career: The Impact of Social Support and Possible Selves

This study examined the relationships among perceived social support, beliefs about how one would fare in a science career, and perceptions and choice of a career in science. Participants were 48 men and 33 women from the Midwestern United States who had been identified as gifted in mathematics and science and participated in a high school science enrichment program. They ranged in age from 24 to 28?years old, and the sample was predominantly White (83.3%). Participants completed an online measure approximately 10?years after the program ended examining their sources of support and beliefs about the self as a scientist to see how these variables influence perceptions of a science career and actual career. We expected that the relationship between perceived support from people and current job held would be mediated by participants’ beliefs about their personal life as a scientist in the future. Similarly, we expected that the relationship between a perceived supportive environment and having a science career would be mediated by participants’ beliefs about their career as a scientist in the future. Findings indicated that social support contributed directly to men’s and women’s ability to envision themselves in a future science career, which, in turn, predicted their interest in and motivation for a science career. No significant gender differences were found in the predictors of men’s and women’s perceptions and choice of a science career. Implications for recruitment of students into scientific majors and careers are discussed.     

Moderating Effects of Goal Orientation on the Negative Consequences of Gender-Based Preferential Selection

Two studies examined the moderating effect of situationally induced goal orientation on the negative effects of gender-based preferential selection for women and the extent to which ability perceptions mediate the impact of selection method. Study 1 found that under a performance orientation women selected on the basis of gender evaluated their performance less favorably and reported less desire to remain in the task than women selected on the basis of merit. Under a learning orientation women's responses were not affected by selection method. Study 2 generalized this effect to task performance, examining both males and females. As hypothesized, men did not experience negative effects of preferential selection. Negative effects of preferential selection on performance for women were found only under a performance orientation. Both studies suggested that ability perceptions do not fully mediate the effects of preferential selection.