Individual Differences in Attitude-Behavior Consistency: The Prediction of Contraceptive Behavior

A model of individual differences that moderate attitude-behavior consistency was developed and tested in the context of predicting use consistency of the diaphragm. Variables hypothesized to moderate the attitude-behavior relationship included reactions to major life changes, the attitudes and opinions of others, sexual interest, locus of control, and the perceived susceptibility to pregnancy. Attitudes were conceptualized in terms of a Relative Contraceptive Utility (RCU), which was defined as the difference between the attitude toward the diaphragm and the attitude toward becoming pregnant. Women (N = 110) who attended family planning clinics in the New York Qty area and who used the diaphragm for an 8-month period were interviewed in the context of a 3-wave panel design. A threshold function between RCU and behavior was observed, such that when RCU was above an empirically derived cutoff, women tended to use the diaphragm consistently over an 8-month period. For women with RCUs below the cutoff, attitudes were unrelated to behavior. Inconsistency of diaphragm use for these latter women was best predicted by negative reactions to close friends' experiences with the diaphragm, low levels of perceived susceptibility to pregnancy, alcohol consumption, concern about becoming too old to have children, a preference for nonromantic sex, and the partner's unwillingness to refrain from sex if the women was not prepared.     

Leadership Perceptions in Relation to a Presidential Vote1

In the 1988 American presidential election, leadership perceptions and perceived platforms were used to predict votes for one of the two final candidates (Governor Michael Dukakis and Vice President George Bush). Both leadership perceptions and perceived platforms were found to be related to voting. However, political involvement moderated the relationship between the perceived platforms and the votes, while leadership perceptions were found to be a consistent predictor of voting across levels of political involvement. Leadership perceptions, perceived platforms, and the interaction between involvement and perceived platforms predicted voting above and beyond the voters’ political affiliations. Consistent with a categorization model of leadership perceptions, the prototypicality of perceived leader traits was found to be strongly related to a tendency to vote for a candidate who was perceived to possess those traits. In comparing general favorability of characteristics versus prototypicality with respect to an effective political leadership category, general favorability played a larger role in uninvolved voters’ decisions than in involved voters’ decisions. Differences in mean leadership prototype ratings were also explored as a function of political affiliation and political involvement. The implications of these findings for campaign strategies and for leadership in organizational contexts are discussed.     

RELATIVE EFFECTS OF WHOLE-WORD AND PHONETIC-PROMPT ERROR CORRECTION ON THE ACQUISITION AND MAINTENANCE OF SIGHT WORDS BY STUDENTS WITH DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES

We used an alternating treatments design to compare the effects of two procedures for correcting student errors during sight word drills. Each of the 5 participating students with developmental disabilities was provided daily one-to-one instruction on individualized sets of 14 unknown words. Each week's new set of unknown words was divided randomly into two groups of equal size. Student errors during instruction were immediately followed by whole-word error correction (the teacher stated the complete word and the student repeated it) for one group of words and by phonetic-prompt error correction (the teacher provided phonetic prompts) for the other group of words. During instruction, all 5 students read correctly a higher percentage of whole-word corrected words than phonetic-prompt corrected words. Data from same-day tests (immediately following instruction) and next-day tests showed the students learned more words taught with whole-word error correction than they learned with phonetic-prompt error correction.     

Shock preexposure and the reduced effectiveness of shock

In three experiments experience with shock was shown to reduce the effectiveness of shock as a reinforcer or motivator. In Experiment 1 rats were given signaled shock in a box separate from the runway where they were subsequently punished. These rats were less suppressed by shock punishment than rats that had no previous shock experience. In Experiment 2 preshocked rats were less suppressed by punishment and were slower to learn an escape-avoidance response than nonpreshocked rats, whether the preshock was signaled or unsignaled. In Experiment 3 as number of CS-shock pairings increased, fear of the CS decreased as did fear of the context. These results suggest that some central adaptation process produced by experience with shock reduces the effectiveness of shock as a reinforcer whenever shock is used repeatedly. This is independent of other effects, such as context blocking, that can affect responding after shock preexposure.     

An emerging research agenda for investigative interviewing: hypotheses from the narrative action system

The present issue of JIP-OP brings together an intriguing range of papers that cover a wide range of aspects of testimony and aspects of investigative interviewing. They show how the considerations of how testimony is obtained is broadening out from the memory improvement strategies that once dominated this area with attempts to detect deception, to cover many aspects of how testimony is obtained. This draws attention to the need for more careful examination of the variations in testimony eliciting processes that will be responsive to differences in context and crime. A research agenda is therefore proposed that draws on developments in the understanding of psychological differences between crimes. This research would study the relationship between the psychological processes underpinning offence actions and the interview behaviour of suspects or witnesses. With regard to suspects, recent developments in the modelling of offence style have indicated a narrative basis (narrative action system model) for understanding the patterns of offence actions and the perpetrator's psychological background and characteristics that can be inferred from these. It is therefore suggested that the Hero's Quest, Professional's Adventure, Revenger's Tragedy, and Victim's Irony offending narratives and the Object, Vehicle, and Person victim roles assigned within these, may provide a fruitful link to different patterns of interview behaviour, with consequent implications for approaches to interviewing. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Sources of Sex Discrimination in Educational Systems: A Conceptual Model

A conceptual model is presented which relates numerous variables believed to contribute to sexism in American education. Discrimination is viewed as intervening between two sets of interrelated independent variables and the dependent variable of sex inequalities in educational attainment. The two sets of independent variables are 1) internal psychological-cognitive structures of individuals who participate in the educational system, and 2) the educational system itself. Six internal psychological-cognitive structures are emphasized: sex-role orientation, sex difference stereotypes, ego strength, self-concept, and educational and occupational expectations. Sex-role orientation changes are viewed as the key to significant change in the total system described by the model.