The decoy effect as a covert influence tactic

The purpose of this research was to determine whether individuals could use the decoy effect to influence others' choices. In study 1, undergraduates (n = 50) and executive master's of business administration (EMBA) students (n = 24) read an employee selection scenario in which they were randomly assigned to prefer one of two candidates that were equal in overall attractiveness, but that had different strengths and weaknesses. They were then asked to choose one of three inferior candidates to add to the choice set that would make their preferred candidate more likely to be chosen by other decision makers. The “correct” inferior candidate was asymmetrically dominated—dominated by one of the two existing candidates, but not the other. Participants chose the “correct” decoy candidate at better than chance levels. In study 2, undergraduates and EMBA students (total n = 66) completed a set of four decision tasks, in which they were asked to choose from potential decoy alternatives that would highlight their preferred job candidate or the product they preferred to sell to a customer. Participants again chose the correct option at better than chance levels. When participants provided free‐response reasons for their choices, these responses indicated a fairly strong recognition of the influential nature of creating a dominating relationship. Implications for understanding this effect and how it may be used by hiring managers, sales personnel, and others who attempt to influence others people's decisions at work, are discussed. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Acknowledgment of handicap as a tactic in social interaction

Nonhandicapped people often report discomfort and uncertainty when interacting with handicapped individuals. The three studies reported here investigated a possible tactic that handicapped people could use to reduce a fellow interactant's discomfort and uncertainty. Nonhandicapped subjects watched two videotapes of handicapped individuals being interviewed. Each subject then chose the handicapped person with whom he would prefer to work on a cooperative task. Results of all three studies supported the hypothesis that a handicapped person acknowledging his handicap will be preferred to a handicapped person who does not acknowledge his handicap. In Study 1, subjects significantly preferred a handicapped person who acknowledged his handicap to a handicapped person who did not disclose anything personal. In Study 2, subjects significantly preferred an acknowledging person over one who made a personal disclosure other than about his handicap. In Study 3, subjects preferred the individual acknowledging a handicap over one who disclosed something else personal even when the acknowledging individual was clearly nervous about doing so. These results suggest that acknowledging the handicap may be a promising tactic.     

Fallow deer tactic to compete over food with red deer

Small ungulates may compete with larger species through higher mobility, greater aggressiveness, and/or by larger group sizes. We observed a herd of approximately 100 red deer (Cervus elaphus) and 130 fallow deer (Dama dama) at the Žehušice Deer Park during supplemental feeding to determine whether fallow deer can displace red deer at feeding sites and to describe strategies used for displacement. Data were analyzed during the antlered period (AP) when males of both species had hard antlers and the cast period (CP) when all red deer stags had cast antlers, but fallow bucks were still in a hard antler. We conducted 41 observation sessions, 29 during the AP and 12 during the CP. In both periods red deer were more numerous than fallow deer at the feeding sites. Fallow bucks initially waited until red deer arrived at the feeding site, after which they attacked any red deer. Fallow bucks were more aggressive than red deer stags or hinds. When stags retaliated, the bucks turned their attacks toward hinds. During feeding sessions, attacks against hinds intensified, while bucks avoided encounters with stags. As a result, in most cases (90%), red deer vacated the feeding site before the supplementary food was depleted. In contrast, fallow does not compete with the larger red deer and selected other sources of food in the park. © 1996 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Gender,Interpersonal Orientation,and manipulation tactic use in close relationships

Investigations have focused on influence tactic pattern use in relation to socialized power differences due to gender. We carried Swap and Rubin's (1987) Interpersonal Orientation (IO) variable into the Buss, Gomes, Higgins, & Lauterbach (1987) framework for manipulation tactic use. Subjects were male and female undergraduates (N= 53) who scored either in the upper or lower quartiles of the IO scale. At testing, high and low IO subjects completed a demographic questionnaire and the Manipulation Tactics index with regard to a close, opposite-sex friend. We found that high IO females reported more frequent use of manipulation tactics than low IO females. Males' reported use of manipulation tactics was unrelated to their IO status. The results were discussed in terms of possible adaptive patterns developed by females to deal with perceived chronic powerlessness.     

The effects of a response cost treatment tactic on hyperactive children

In a pilot study, a multielement design was used to assess the effectiveness of a response cost procedure on a 7-year-old child's hyperactive behavior and academic performance across days. The procedure was effective in reducing off-task behavior and in increasing academic assignment completion. In Experiment 2, three strategies were compared to a no-treatment baseline in treating an 8-year-old hyperactive child: drug (Ritalin) alone, response cost alone, and drug plus response cost. The cost program alone and the cost program combined with medication were effective in reducing off-task behavior and in increasing academic performance. In both studies, the procedure was viewed by the teachers as practical and effective for use in a classroom setting. The subjects liked the cost system and believed that they completed more academic work when it was operative.     

Maintaining social initiations of withdrawn handicapped and nonhandicapped preschoolers through a response-dependent fading tactic

The effects of a teacher-implemented intervention and fading package on the social initiations of three withdrawn preschool children were investigated. Subjects' social initiations and any peer responses were recorded sequentially during free play. Intervention involved teacher prompting and contingent praise of specific social initiations (sharing, assisting, verbally organizing play) by each subject toward an available peer. Results indicated that (a) teacher prompts and praise increased the frequency of subjects' target initiation, (b) target initiations typically received a positive peer response, (c) subjects' extended interactions with peers also increased, (d) abrupt, complete removal of teacher prompting resulted in similarly abrupt reductions in subjects' social initiations, whereas response-dependent fading maintained subjects' initiations and interactions above baseline levels. Follow-up data 2 1/2 months later showed that the social initiations and interactions of two of the children remained above baseline levels.This research was supported in part by Grant No. 007802088, U.S. Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services, and by Grant No. HD15051 from the National Institute of Child Health and Development. The authors wish to thank John Aiken, Gwen Beegle, Evelyn Parker, and Luis Olivera for their asistance in data collection, and Paula Goodroe, Kathy Green, and the children of the Experimental School for their cooperation in conducting this study.     

Lateral display as a combat tactic in richardson's ground squirrel Spermophilus richardsonii

During fighting, adult ground squirrels frequently face each other laterally, arch the back, and piloerect the tail. In a diurnal species, such distinctive visual cues seem consistent with the suggestion that the lateral display serves a communicatory function. However, a detailed analysis of videotaped sequences of free-living Richardson's ground squirrels from two consecutive mating seasons suggested that the lateral maneuver has a functional role in combat. Because most agonistic encounters involve chasing, the rump is the principal body area bitten. When stationary, however, the opponent's rump is bypassed, and bites are targeted at the shoulders. Defensively, a hip thrust is used to block such attacks to the shoulder by pushing the opponent's head away. Offensively, the lateral maneuver is used to push against the opponent, providing a vantage point from which to lunge at the opponent's shoulders. In addition, the defender can launch counterattacks at the side of the head. The lateral orientation provides the attacker with a means of evading such attacks, by swerving laterally away. In some encounters, both the offensive and defensive variations of the lateral maneuver were used by both opponents, often simultaneously. Therefore, irrespective of the signalling function of the lateral display, much of its occurrence during combat can be explained in terms of its role as a combat tactic. © 1996 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Responding to negativity: How a risky tactic can serve a vigilant strategy

Regulatory focus theory distinguishes between two motivational systems—a promotion system concerned with nurturance and advancement and a prevention system concerned with security and safety [Higgins, E. T. (1997). Beyond pleasure and pain. American Psychologist, 52, 1280-1300]. In signal detection terms, a preference for eager strategies within the promotion system has been equated with a “risky” bias, whereas a preference for vigilant strategies within the prevention system has been equated with a “conservative” bias. However, we propose that when prevention-focused individuals face negative input, they should be willing to incur false alarms to ensure that negative stimuli are correctly identified. Across six studies, we found for negative stimuli a reversal of the traditional finding that prevention participants show a conservative bias in information processing. In these studies, prevention participants consistently exhibited a risky bias when the input was negative. We suggest that this new tactic—a risky bias in response to negativity—best serves the prevention strategy of vigilance.     

Infanticide in rural male cats (Felis catus L.) as a reproductive mating tactic

Here we report six cases of infanticide in the domestic cat directly observed in populations located in the rural environment. This is the first time that infanticide in domestic cats has been witnessed directly and described. All infanticidal males were fully adult and sexually mature unknown males. All kittens killed were within their first week of life. The killing pattern was generally the same as that described in lions. All females reacted aggressively but could not prevent the infanticide. Three hypotheses are discussed : (1) infanticide is a remnant of cat male reproductive strategy selected in the original environment; (2) the conditions of the rural environment have created a selection pressure encouraging a polymorphism of infanticidal and noninfanticidal males to evolve; (3) infanticide is an abnormal behaviour caused by environmental conditions such as human disturbance. Aggr. Behav. 25:445–449, 1999. © 1999 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

"精英症候群":社会病理分析及对策 --医学社会学的解释视角

转型期中国社会的精英群体普遍面临着身体与精神的双重危机.从医学社会学的独特解释视角来看,这一非正常的"精英症候群"实质上是反复循环状态下生产与再生产的一种"社会病".在社会病理分析的基础上,从社会结构、社会评价体系、预防与保障机制诸方面为"精英症候群"会诊.     

Seeing and hearing and space and space and time

A previous experiment had shown spatial location to be judged in terms of the framework provided by the modality in which stimuli were presented. In the present study, digits were either auditorally or visually presented, and in either form the three digits appeared successivly to the left, in the center, and to the right of the S. The digit which occurred temporally in the middle of the sequence was never central from the spatial viewpoint. The S was asked to indicate which digit was the middle one. Ss were blind, deaf, or normal. The deaf and two control groups saw visual displays, and the blind and their controls heard auditory displays. The former groups predominantly chose the spatially middle digit and the latter groups the temporally middle. It was concluded that modality of presentation was the trigger which switched in the coding dimension of time or space.     

Law and Gospel,and Youth and Family Ministry

Abstract : If “faith comes through hearing” the word of God comprised in law and gospel, how do the imperatives that characterize ‘Youth and Family Ministry’ make such hearing possible? Here, literature delineating ‘Youth and Family Ministry’ is analyzed in light of its biblical foundations. The primary lens implemented in this analysis is the law/gospel hermeneutic advocated by Martin Luther and other reformers.     

Extremes of self-esteem and narcissism and the experience and expression of anger and aggression

This study examined the level of self-esteem and narcissism as personality variables involved in the disposition to experience and express anger. Three hundred thirty-eight subjects were sampled across two higher education centres and one student teaching programme in the United Kingdom. It was reasoned that individuals with both high self-esteem and narcissism would report especially high tendencies to experience and express anger and aggression and that those with high self-esteem and low narcissism would report the lowest. These predictions were influenced by theories that emphasise the role of threats to high self-esteem in the production of aggression and violence. Results indicate that groups defined by their extreme scores on self-esteem and narcissism scales produced levels of anger expression in the predicted direction. The importance of considering extreme levels of self-esteem and narcissism (in conjunction with other factors) in an analysis of anger is discussed with reference to currently influential theories in the field. Aggr. Behav. 24:421–438, 1998. © 1998 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Bob and Carol and Tess and Ali

Conflicting religious experiences in different traditions do not necessarily defeat the rationality of conflicting beliefs sustained by those experiences in those traditions. The circularity that protects religious beliefs from such mutual defeat is not vicious. Moreover, the lack of ‘epistemological humility’ exhibited by such believers poses no threat to world peace. In fact, a campaign for compulsory humility would itself constitute a much greater threat.     

Yin and Yang,and the Hot and the Cold

Yin and Yang are important concepts in ancient Chinese philosophy.Western scholars have become more familiar with these two concepts recently,but for a long time almost no one considered comparing them with their own tradition such as the ancient Greek philosophy,and especially with the ideas of the Hot and the Cold in Presocratic philosophy.In this paper,I make an attempt to do exactly that,and especially make a detailed comparison between the thoughts of two ancient thinkers:Laozi and Anaximander.I discuss the thought of Yin and Yang in Laozi-who was the earliest philosopher making use of the concepts Yin and Yang-to express his cosmological thought in ancient Chinese philosophy.Comparatively,I discuss the ideas of the Hot and the Cold in Anaximander,the earlier among Presocratic philosophers referring to the Hot and the Cold as fundamental concepts used to establish his cosmological system.Through this comparison,I indicate that the similarity between ancient Chinese and Western traditions is far more significant than what people are used to imagining.     

Perversion and infancy and adolescence

Abstract

Studying the works of Freud and Lacan, the authors carried out research on perversion in childhood. Their work covered the perverse polymorphism of infantile sexuality and the perception of the anatomic difference between the sexes that leads the child to create sexual theories and fantasies. The phallic mother and the fetish are viewed as imaginary solutions directly related to the Oedipus and castration complexes. In perversion, a particular position is taken in relation to the Oedipus complex: a serious flaw occurs in the symbolization of the law, and the mechanisms of denial and disavowal take form. Sexuality requires a second “logical time,” separated from infancy by the latency period, in order to confirm (in action) that a fixed position of jouissance (enjoyment) has actually been established. This can only happen in a period after adolescent enhancement. The distinction between perverse traces and a perverse structure is made, taking into account the fact that, in the case of child analysis, the analyst should free the child from the family fantasy and help him/her to build his/her own fantasy.

Campos Santoro V. et al. Perversion und Kindheit und Adoleszenz.

Im Studium der Arbeiten von Freud und Lacan haben die Autoren Forschung über Perversion in der Kindheit gemacht. Die Studien behandeln den perversen Polymorphismus der infantilen Sexualität und die Wahrnehmung des anatomischen Unterschiedes zwischen den Geschlechtern, welche das Kind dazu führt, Sexual-Theorien und Phatasien zu schaffen.

Die phallische Mutter und der Fetisch werden als imaginäre Lösungen angesehen, die sich direkt auf den Ödipus- und Kastrations-Komplex beziehen. Bei der Perversion wird eine besondere Position in Bezug auf den Ödipus angenommen; ein ernsthafter Mangel tritt bei der Symbolisierung des Rechts auf; die Mechanismen der Verneinung und der Verleugnung bilden sich. Sexualität erfordert eine zweite “logische Zeit”, von der Kindheit durch die Latenz Periode getrennt, um (in der Handlung) zu bestätigen, daß eine fixierte Position der jouissance (Vergnügung) sich tatsächlich etabliert hat. Das kann sich nur in einer Periode nach der adoleszenten Verstärkung ereignen.

Es wird die Unterscheidung zwischen perversen Spuren und einer perversen Struktur gemacht, in Rechnung stellend, daß im Fall der Kinder-Analyse der Analytiker das Kind von der Familien-Phantasie befreien sollte und ihm/ihr helfen sollte, seine/ihre Phantasie auszubilden.

Campos Santoro V. Perversión e infancia y adolescencia.

Estudiando los trabajos de Freud y Lacan, los autores han investigado la perversión en la niñez. Los estudios cubren la sexualidad infantil perversa polimorfa y la percepción de la diferencia anatómica entre los sexos, que llevan al niño a crear teorías sexuales y fantasías.

La madre fálica y el fetiche son vistos como soluciones imaginarias relacionadas directamente con el complejo de Edipo y de castración. La perversión, toma una posición particular en relación al Edipo; un fallo importante tiene lugar en la simbolización de la ley; los mecanismos de negación y repudio toman forma. La sexualidad requiere un segundo “tiempo lógico” separado de la infancia por el periodo de latencia, para confirmar (en acto) que una posición fija de jouissance (goce) se ha establecido. Esto solo puede ocurrir en un periodo posterior a la intensificación adolescente.

La distinción entre las huellas perversas y la estructura perversa se ha hecho, teniendo en cuenta que, en el caso del análisis de niños, el analista debe librar al niño de la fantasía familiar y ayudar a el/ella a construir su propia fantasía.     

Human Dignity and the Ethics and Aesthetics of Pain and Suffering

Inasmuch as unmitigated pain and suffering areoften thought to rob human beings of theirdignity, physicians and other care providersincur a special duty to relieve pain andsuffering when they encounter it. When pain andsuffering cannot be controlled it is sometimesthought that human dignity is compromised.Death, it is sometimes argued, would bepreferred to a life without dignity.Reasoning such as this trades on certainpreconceptions of the nature of pain andsuffering, and of their relationships todignity. The purpose of this paper is to laybare these preconceptions. The duties torelieve pain and suffering are clearly mattersof moral obligation, as is the duty to respondappropriately to the dignity of other persons.However, it is argued that our understanding ofthe phenomena of pain and suffering and theirrelationships to human dignity will be expandedwhen we explore the aesthetic dimensions ofthese various concepts. On the view presentedhere the life worth living is both morally goodand aesthetically beautiful. Appropriate``suffering with' another can help to maintainand restore the dignity of the relationshipsinvolved, even as it preserves and enhances thedignity of patient and caregiver alike.