Perceived Academic Competence and Overall Job Evaluations: Students' Evaluations of African American and European American Professors

Despite the fact that few people appear to endorse negative stereotypes of Blacks, such stereotypes are widely disseminated in our culture. Consequently, such stereotypes can have pervasive consequences on one's impressions of African Americans, even by low-prejudice Whites and by Blacks themselves. Thus, we predicted that student judgments of intellectual competence would be more important when students were making global performance evaluations of Black faculty than of White faculty. Furthermore, to the extent that intellectual competence is more salient in the judgment of Black faculty, such judgments should be essentially the same among Black and White students, and for low- and high-prejudice students. For the most part, analyses of instructor evaluations at a major American university supported these expectations.     

Level of instigation and model similarity as determinants of aggressive behavior

A study was conducted to replicate and extend a finding by Wheeler and Levine [1967] indicating that a dissimilar model was more effective in inducing the contagion of aggression than a similar model. On the basis of recent findings suggesting the circumstances under which dissimilar others are more influential than similar others, the following predictions were derived: When subjects are highly instigated, dissimilar models can influence subjects to be more aggressive than can similar models; when subjects are under a low degree of instigation similar models will influence subjects to be more aggressive. Subjects presented their point of view on a case study in a three-person group discussion setting. Then subjects heard the second person (instigator) attack their position in a highly abusive or slightly abusive manner (High vs Low Instigation). Next subjects heard a third person, whom they had been led to believe was similar or dissimilar to themselves, attack the instigator (Similar vs Dissimilar Model). Finally subjects had an opportunity to express their feelings to the instigator. The results supported the predictions.     

Rhesus plasma cortisol response at four dominance positions

Adrenocortical function and social behaviors were measured in 48 laboratory-born juvenile monkeys in stable (original) groupings at rest, in the same groupings in competition for drinking water, in newly formed groupings each composed of animals from the same original dominance position, and upon return to the original groupings, always in groups of four. In newly formed groupings, plasma cortisol measured higher with each step down in the new dominance hierarchy, the effect attenuating by day 8. Although the partial correlation between frequencies of hostility behavior and plasma cortisol level was low (r = 0.05) when holding fear constant, the partial correlation between cortisol and fear behaviors, holding hostility behavior constant, was 0.86. The data provide evidence that corticosteroid elevations during social stress are related to behavior suggestive of fear and not aggression and are dependent upon dominance rank, the level of dominance competition, and previous dominance history.     

How certain boundaries and ethics diminish therapeutic effectiveness

When taken too far, certain well-intentioned ethical guidelines can become transformed into artificial boundaries that serve as destructive prohibitions and thereby undermine clinical effectiveness. Rigid roles and strict codified rules of conduct between therapist and client can obstruct a clinician's artistry. Those anxious conformists who go entirely by the book, and who live in constant fear of malpractice suits, are unlikely to prove significantly helpful to a broad array of clients. It is my contention that one of the worst professional/ethical violations is to permit current risk-management principles to take precedence over humane interventions.