Rebuilding the network: New relationships in widowhood

This study examined the formation of nonkin relationships in widowhood, using personal network data from 548 older men and women who lost a partner through death fewer than 10 years earlier. Relationships established after the death of the spouse were cited by 27.6% of the respondents. New relationships with neighbors were cited in particular. New relationships were more often nominated by women than by men. Formation of new relationships was strongly and positively associated with the duration of widowhood, the presence of a new partner, and having put effort into seeking new relationships. The findings suggest that, to gain a proper understanding of why some widowed individuals form new relationships and others do not, knowledge is required about the quality of the social network prior to widowhood.     

REACTIONS TO RESUMES AS A FUNCTION OF RESUME DETERMINATENESS, APPLICANT CHARACTERISTICS, AND SEX OF RATERS

Six male and six female personnel professionals were presented with resumes in which sex, age, marital status, and academic achievement were systematically varied. The study examined the hypothesis that resume determinateness is positively related to the evaluation given to the resume by prospective employers. The provision of ambiguous information was found to distort the evaluation process but not in a consistent manner. Married males and females were evaluated more positively than were those who were single. Also married females with high academic status were evaluated more positively than were married males with high academic status, although there were no differences for single males and females. Female raters showed a tendency to be more stringent than males in their evaluations, and this effect was pronounced for older, married applicants. The study examines the implications of these results and makes suggestions for future research.     

The consistency rule and the voice effect: the influence of expectations on procedural fairness judgements and performance

In procedural justice research it has frequently been found that allowing people an opportunity to voice their opinion enhances their judgements of the fairness of a decision-making procedure. The present study investigated how this voice effect is affected by the consistency over time rule, which dictates that, once people expect a certain procedure, deviation from the expected procedure will lead to a reduction in procedural fairness. Two experiments were conducted. In both experiments the independent variables manipulated were whether subjects were explicitly told to expect a voice procedure, were explicitly told to expect a no-voice procedure, or were told nothing about a subsequent procedure, and whether or not subjects subsequently received an opportunity to voice their opinion. The manipulations were induced by means of scenarios in Experiment 1, and by means of the Lind, Kanfer and Early (1990) paradigm in Experiment 2. In both experiments it was found that subjects who expected a voice procedure or who expected nothing judged receiving the voice procedure as more fair than receiving the no-voice procedure, but that subjects who expected a no-voice procedure judged receiving the voice procedure (inconsistency) as less fair than receiving the no-voice procedure (consistency). Furthermore, effects of the manipulated variables on subjects' task performance were found in Experiment 2.     

The Double-Edged Sword of Providing Information About the Prevalence of Safer Sex1

A group of 267 college students participated in an experiment to determine the effect of communicating different percentages (i.e., 12%, 36%, 64%, 88%) of the prevalence of safer sex in the student population on condom-use intention. A positive linear effect of prevalence information on condom-use intention was demonstrated, although the information that 64% engaged in safer sex seemed most effective in changing condom-use intention. This effect was independent of previous sexual behavior. Although prevalence information had a positive indirect effect on condom-use intention as a result of a change in perceived social norms, it had a negative indirect effect because of perceived risk. That is, information indicating a high prevalence of safer sex lowered the perceived risk of AIDS and, as a result, the intention to use condoms.     

Relativized Propositions and the Fregean Orthodoxy

This paper answer the question how propositions whose truth is relativized to times, places, asserters or assessers can, despite their relativity, be used to represent the world.     

Can Coherence Generate Warrant Ex Nihilo? Probability and the Logic of Concurring Witnesses

Most foundationalists allow that relations of coherence among antecedently justified beliefs can enhance their overall level of justification or warrant. In light of this, some coherentists ask the following question: if coherence can elevate the epistemic status of a set of beliefs, what prevents it from generating warrant entirely on its own? Why do we need the foundationalist’s basic beliefs? I address that question here, drawing lessons from an instructive series of attempts to reconstruct within the probability calculus the classical problem of independent witnesses who corroborate each other’s testimony. Starred section headings indicate sections omitted here, but available on the author’s USC website.