The Spectacular Showing: Houdini and the Wonder of Ethnomethodology

This essay is about Houdini’s escapes and ethnomethodology’s studies.¹ By accomplishing what appears to be impossible, Houdini leaves his audience considering not only how did he manage to do that, but also just what is it that we consider to be possible. Magicians and escapologists warn us off an interest in the mechanics of their tricks that might spoil the thrill of what they dramatically present to us: a sense of the limits to whatwe can apprehend as an audience. While marking out the differences in their projects, this essay brings out the sharedurge of escapologists and ethnomethodologists to question our senses, openmembers to particular phenomena, and awaken us tothe wonder of the world.In reflecting on what happens when magicians reveal the devices that constitute their tricks, I ask whether the purpose of studying methodologies canonlyreside in revealing how they are practically produced as intelligibleactions. What more might ethnomethodology’s invitation be?     

Emotional Reactions While Watching Graphic Medical Procedures: Vocational Differences in the Explicit Regulation of Emotions1

We examined the role of occupation in how people regulate emotional responses. Graduate nursing students were compared to undergraduate psychology students on self‐reported emotional reactions to videos depicting graphic medical procedures. Skin conductance was also recorded. Overall, nursing students reported less disgust and fear, but more sadness while watching the clips, compared to psychology students. The 2 groups did not differ in skin conductance activity when watching a video with no specific instructions. When instructed to suppress or reappraise their emotional reactions to the videos, however, the psychology students showed increases in skin conductance arousal, whereas the nursing students did not. The results are discussed within the context of research on strategies to regulate one's emotions in the workplace.     

Does Weather Actually Affect Tipping? An Empirical Analysis of Time‐Series Data1

Prior literature has found evidence that pleasant weather (namely, sunshine) leads to higher tipping rates, presumably because it improves the moods of either servers or patrons. However, studies examining the relationship between pleasant weather and tipping behavior have involved relatively small samples of participants and daily observations. In addition, only one such study ( Cunningham, 1979 ) used actual weather data to examine this relationship. We address these shortcomings by testing empirically the weather–tipping relationship on 2 years of actual sales data from a busy restaurant. We found no statistically significant relationship between sunshine and tipping. Tipping appears to be better explained as an institutional standard or norm, rather than as a prosocial behavior that can be modulated by weather‐induced changes in mood.     

The antecedents and consequences of interpersonal forgiveness: A meta‐analytic review

This article examines the antecedents and outcomes of forgiveness. The interpersonal forgiveness literature is qualitatively reviewed. Antecedents to forgiveness are classified by their proximity to forgiveness based on M. E. McCullough and colleagues, (1998) framework. From most distal to most proximal these antecedents are personality, relationship factors, offense‐specific factors, and social‐cognitive factors including empathy. The association of these antecedents and several consequences of forgiveness are quantitatively examined in meta‐analyses. All investigated variables were significantly related to forgiveness. Empathy was a stronger correlate of forgiveness than any other non‐social‐cognitive antecedent except for trait agreeableness. Methodological factors and the average age of subjects moderated the relationship between forgiveness and some of its correlates. Implications and future directions are considered.