The Identifiable Victim Effect: Using an Experimental-Causal-Chain Design to Test for Mediation

The identifiable victim effect (IVE) refers to individuals’ tendency to offer greater aid to identifiable victims than to statistical victims. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether emotional reactions work to mediate IVE. In two experiments based on the experimental-causal-chain design proposed by Spencer et al. (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 89, 845–851, 2005), it was shown that an identifiable victim evokes stronger emotional reactions than does a statistical victim (Study 1). It was also demonstrated that the identifiable victim shown or described with a specific expression or information to evoke stronger emotional reactions elicited greater willingness to donate money in participants (Study 2). The results of two studies based on the experimental-causal-chain approach demonstrated that the underlying causal mechanism for the IVE is participants’ emotional reactions to identified victims. The theoretical and practical implications of the results are discussed.     

Acceptance patterns of retaliatory aggression among adjudicated youth by sex and race

This study investigates sex and race differences in normative beliefs about the acceptability of aggression across dimensions of severity of provocation (weak versus strong) and sex of provoker (male versus female). Students in the sample of 311 included those required to attend three Department of Youth Services schools after placement by the juvenile court system from across the state of Alabama (N=392). Results show that males were significantly more likely than females to approve of retaliation to weak provocation and against females. There were no significant differences between males and females for retaliation with strong provocation and against males. Results also show the Black group was significantly more likely than the White group to approve of retaliation to weak provocation, strong provocation, and against females.     

Predictors of suicidal ideation among "at risk" cocaine-using African American women

The focus of this study was to identify factors that differentiate women drug abusers who had experienced suicidal ideation from those who did not. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with 221 cocaine-using women in Atlanta, GA, 88 (39.8%) of whom reported thinking about committing suicide at least once during the 90 days prior to interview and 133 (60.2%) of whom did not. Multivariate logistic regression was used to identify predictors of suicidal ideation, and post hoc goodness-of-fit tests were conducted to assess the robustness of final models derived. Model 1 excluded all psychosocial functioning measures and Model 2 included these items. Both models showed that suicidal ideation was more common among women who were unemployed, had been abused sexually, engaged in sexual relations to cope with stresses, or had less helpful relatives. In addition, Model 1 revealed a heightened risk for women experiencing financial problems and those who had a previous mental health diagnosis, whereas Model 2 showed an elevated risk among women who experienced anxiety and those who had lower levels of self-esteem. These findings suggest the need for prevention and intervention programs that target at-risk women, and for such programs to include an emphasis on suicidal ideation in addition to focusing on risk factors that are addressed more commonly.     

Anticipating partners’ responses: Examining item and source memory following interactive exchanges

Within the context of an interactive anagram-solving task, the present studies tested predictions about the role of cognitive anticipation in both source and item memory. After working in pairs to solve anagram problems, participants were surprised by a source-monitoring test focused on the source of solutions (self vs. partner, Experiment 1) or a standard recognition test focused on the solutions themselves (Experiment 2). With the intention of affecting the opportunity to anticipate partners' solutions, two variables were manipulated: anagram difficulty (easy vs. hard) and the delaybetween the presentation of an anagram problem and theprompt tha t designated one member of each pair as the anagram solver. Consistent w i th predictions, asthe opportunity t oanticipate partners'solutions increased, there was a decrease in source accuracy suggesting increased confusion about whether the solution had been self- or partner-generated. Generation-effect failures were observed in item memory. However, these failures reflected increases in item memory for partners' responses rather than decreases in memory for self-generated ones. These studies suggest that when opportunities to anticipate partners' responses are available, self-generative activities may be associated with both self-and partner-generated items, influencing the expression of the generation effect.     

Contributors

The ‘imagined community’ (famously defined by Benedict Anderson) could not be created out of nothing. It built upon previously existing identities. And though nineteenth-century nationalism is often seen as essentially secular, the most powerful of these identities were frequently religious. Indeed the clergy often played a major role in promoting a national consciousness. While a ‘national church’ readily saw itself as the embodiment of the nation’s past history, present identity and future aspirations, religious minorities usually had a more ambivalent relationship with a nationalism that was always in some degree exclusive. And even in the case of a ‘national church’, the interests of politicians and ecclesiastics were not always the same. Moreover some nineteenth-century nationalisms were defined in ways to which religion was largely irrelevant, or were in explicit opposition to the Catholic Church. Nonetheless, in ways that varied in kind and degree from country to country, nationalism and Christianity came to be intertwined in nineteenth-century Europe. National identities were to an important degree defined by reference to specific Christian traditions, their history, their forms of worship, and their heroic figures. At the same time nationalism often came to be seen as an integral part of Christianity. Readiness to die for the motherland was presented as a Christian duty and, in particular, Christian preachers of this era were strongly influenced by the concept of a God-given national mission, which justified nationalist claims and might sometimes justify war.     

What Animated Cartoons Tell Viewers About Assault

Relying upon a content analysis of one specific type of medium to which young people are exposed beginning at an early age, on a regular basis, and for many years (i.e., animated cartoons), the present study examines what types of messages are provided about violence that takes the form of simple assault. Results indicate that assault is fairly prevalent in cartoons and that this prevalence has diminished over time. Most of the time, cartoons show assaults to “land” on their intended victims, but having done so, to cause few if any adverse effects. Moreover, assaults rarely backfire on the perpetrators. Anger, revenge, and inherent mean-spiritedness are the most common reasons implied for why characters commit acts of violent assault.