Menstrual hormone changes and instinctual tendencies in dreams

Seventeen female college students completed dream questionnaires for every dream recalled over two menstrual cycles. Scales were devised to measure obvious and symbolic maternal and heterosexual dream content. Menstrual cycles were divided into follicular (progesterone-absent) and luteal (progesterone-present) phases for comparison within each subject. There were higher obvious and symbolic maternal scores in the luteal phase. It was concluded that hormones influence instinctual tendencies as expressed in dreams.     

Ambient temperature and the occurrence of collective violence: the "long, hot summer" revisited

Archival data pertaining to 102 instances of serious collective violence were examined in order to study the relationship between ambient temperature and the occurrence of such events. Results indicated that the frequency of collective violence and ambient temperature were curvilinearly related. Specifically, ambient temperature was directly associated with the frequency of collective violence through the mid-80s (degrees Fahrenheit). Beyond this point, however, further increments in temperature were associated with a decreasing incidence of such events. Additional findings indicated that ambient temperature increased significantly during the 7 days preceding the outbreak of collective violence, remained stable during its occurrence, but then decreased significantly in the 3 days following its termination. Possible implications of these findings, as well as their relationship to the results of previous laboratory studies, are discussed.     

The aggression-inhibiting influence of nonhostile humor

Forty undergraduate students participated in an experiment designed to investigate the hypothesis that prior exposure to nonhostile humor would markedly reduce the level of aggression directed by angry individuals against the person who had previously provoked them. In order to examine this suggestion, subjects were first angered or not angered by a confederate of the experimenter, then exposed to either humorous cartoons or nonhumorous pictures, and finally provided with an opportunity to aggress against this individual by means of electric shock. Results indicated that exposure to the nonhostile cartoons significantly reduced the duration of the shocks delivered to the confederate by subjects in the angry condition, but failed to influence the level of aggression demonstrated by subjects in the nonangry group. These findings were discussed in terms of the elicitation, by the cartoons, of responses and emotional states incompatible with anger or overt aggression. Possible implications of the aggression-inhibiting influence of humor for the prevention and control of human violence were also considered.     

Semantic components and conceptual development

Several phenomena in the acquisition of word meanings may be accounted for by a theory of component-by-component acquisition, a mechanism analogous to that proposed for phonological development. By defining a concept as an habitual plan, and a component as a subplan, we may extend this theory to acquisition of concepts in general. This theory may be applied to logical concepts, physical reasoning and moral reasoning as well as verbal concepts. The ideas of component-by-component acquisition and of transfer of learning between concepts sharing components thus provide an alternative to developmental stage theories.     

The development of implicit gender attitudes

The development course of implicit and explicit gender attitudes between the ages of 5 and adulthood is investigated. Findings demonstrate that implicit and explicit own‐gender preferences emerge early in both boys and girls, but implicit own‐gender preferences are stronger in young girls than boys. In addition, female participants' attitudes remain largely stable over development, whereas male participants' implicit and explicit attitudes show an age‐related shift towards increasing female positivity. Gender attitudes are an anomaly in that social evaluations dissociate from social status, with both male and female participants tending to evaluate female more positively than male.     

Accidental Truth and Accidental Justification

The presence of accidentality in a subject's holding a belief is generally thought to be incompatible with that belief7apos;s being an instance of know-ledge. Epistemologists have tended to focus on the accidentality of the truth of a belief. I argue (a) that it is also possible that there be accidentality in the justification of a belief, and (b) that the consequences of this type of accidentality are potentially much more harmful than accidentality only in the truth of a belief.     

Workplace violence and workplace aggression: Evidence on their relative frequency and potential causes

Recent news reports have focused attention on dramatic instances of workplace violence—extreme acts of aggression in work settings. It is suggested here that such actions, while both tragic and frightening, are only a small part of a much larger problem of workplace aggression—efforts by individuals to harm others with whom they work or the organizations in which they are employed. The present study investigated two major hypotheses with respect to such aggression: 1) contrary to what media reports suggest, most aggression occurring in work settings is verbal, indirect, and passive rather than physical, direct, and active; 2) recent changes in many organizations (e.g., downsizing, increased workforce diversity) have generated conditions that may contribute to the occurrence of workplace aggression. A survey of 178 employed persons provided partial support for both predictions. Verbal and passive forms of aggression were rated as more frequent by participants than physical and active forms of aggression. In addition, the greater the extent to which several changes had occurred recently in participants' organizations, the greater the incidence of workplace aggression they reported. © 1996 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

The Humpty Dumpty blues: Disaggregation bias in the evaluation of tax systems

Three experiments carried out on the World Wide Web assessed the consistency of attitudes toward various tax regimes that differed in their overall levels and degrees of tax rate graduation in the presence of framing manipulations. The regimes had two components: an income and a payroll tax. One frame involved aggregation. Subjects were asked either to design a single, global tax system or to vary one component of a tax system (payroll or income tax) with the other component held constant. The idea was to replicate the effects of income tax reform given a constant payroll tax system. Consistent with the experimental hypothesis—though not with “rational” decision making—subjects focused on the component they were asked to manipulate and did not respond fully to changes in the other component, across conditions, reflecting an under-adjustment bias as well as a framing effect. The results are akin to Thaler’s “mental account” model for personal financial behavior. A second manipulation involved a “metric” frame: whether putative tax burdens were given in dollars or percent terms. Once again consistent with the experimental hypothesis, subjects preferred higher rates of graduation when matters were stated in percent terms. The results point to the lability of public opinion about important questions of public finance, and they illustrate a specific category of biases concerning disaggregation.