The impact of religion on men's blood pressure

Most clinical studies examining the relation between religion and blood pressure status have focused on church attendance, finding lower pressures among frequent attenders. The present study examines the effect on blood pressure status of a religious meaning variable, importance of religion, both by itself and together with frequency of church attendance. The relation between blood pressure, self-perceived importance of religion, and frequency of church attendance was examined among a rural sample of 407 white men free from hypertension or cardiovascular disease. The data confirmed an interaction between the effects of both religious variables on blood pressure status, with importance of religion having an even greater association with lower pressures than church attendance. Diastolic blood pressures of persons with high church attendance and high religious importance were significantly lower than those in the low attendance, low importance group. These differences persisted after adjusting the analyses for age, socioeconomic status, smoking, and weight-height ratio (Quetelet Index). The difference in mean diastolic pressures based on response to the religious importance variable alone was statistically and clinically significant, particularly among men aged 55 and over (6 mm) and among smokers (5 mm). These findings suggest that both religious attitudes and involvement may interact favorably in their effects on cardiovascular hemodynamics.     

A method of successive cumulations for the scaling of pair-comparison preference judgments

The present model treats the scaling of pair-comparison preference judgments among a unidimensional set of stimuli across a population of individuals. Given a setS ofn stimuli,S = {S ₁,S ₂, ,S _n }, the model yields a partially ordered metric on the interstimulus distances which may be used to construct an interval scale of values forS. Obtained also are a set of predictionsP = {P ₁,P ₂, ,P _n } whereP _i is the proportion of individuals in the population whose first choice among the elements ofS isS _i . A numerical illustration is offered and comparisons are drawn with Coombs' unfolding technique.This work was supported in part by Grant GB 2345 from the National Science Foundation. An earlier version of this paper was prepared while the author was a consultant to Proctor & Gamble Co. during the summer of 1964.Now with Proctor & Gamble Co.     

Evidence for processing of constituent singleand multiletter codes: Support for multilevel coding in word perception

This investigation assessed whether constituent codes are activated during word processing. In two experiments, a priming procedure was used to test whether printed word primes facilitate skilled readers’ identification of subsequently presented letter and letter bigram targets appearing in the primes (present condition), relative to the same targets not appearing in the primes (absent condition). Experiment 1 demonstrated the priming of single-letter targets and indicated that priming effects are facilitative and not inhibitory. In Experiment 2, high- and low-frequency bigram targets appearing in word primes were shown to have a processing advantage over bigram targets not appearing in word primes. Single-letter constituents in low-frequency bigrams also benefited from priming; however, single letters in high-frequency bigrams showed no such benefit. The results in general suggest that both single- and multiletter constituents are available during word processing, and hence support multicomponent models of word perception.     

Proneness to romantic jealousy and responses to jealousy in others

An experiment was conducted to assess the relationship between dispositional proneness to experience romantic jealousy and perceptions of jealousy in others On the basis of cognitive and motivational constructs, it was hypothesized that (1) Persons high in proneness to jealousy perceive healthy jealous couples as more in love than healthy nonjealous couples, (2) persons high in proneness to jealousy perceive unhealthy jealous couples as less in love than unhealthy nonjealous couples, and (3) persons low in proneness to jealousy perceive healthy jealous couples as less in love than healthy nonjealous couples The latter two hypotheses were supported Results were discussed with regard to the roles of beliefs about jealousy and threats to the perceiver in individuals reactions to jealousy in others     

The effect of an overheard ethnic slur on evaluations of the target: How to spread a social disease

An experiment was conducted to assess the effects of an ethnic slur on evaluations of a targeted minority group member by those who overheard the slur. White subjects plus four confederates participated in a study ostensibly concerned with debating skills. Two of the confederates, one of whom was black, were always picked to engage in a debate which the others were to evaluate. The black debator either won or lost the debate. After the debate, one confederate-evaluator criticized the black in a manner that either did or did not involve an ethnic slur; in a control condition, no such comment was made. Based on the notion that ethnic slurs activate negative schemata regarding members of the targeted minority group, it was predicted that when the black debator lost the debate, the ethnic slur would lead to lower evaluations of his skill. This hypothesis was supported. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings were discussed.     

Global precedence and response activation: Evidence from LRPs

Lateralized readiness potentials (LRPs) were measured in left/right/no-go tasks using compound global/local stimuli. In Experiment 1, participants responded to local target shapes and ignored global ones. RTs were affected by the congruence of the global shape with the local one, and LRPs indicated that irrelevant global shapes activated the responses with which they were associated. In Experiment 2, participants responded to conjunctions of target shapes at both levels, withholding the response if a target appeared at only one level. Global shapes activated responses in no-go trials, but local shapes did not. The results are consistent with partial-output models in which preliminary information about global shape can partially activate responses that are inconsistent with the local shape. They also demonstrate that part of the global advantage arises early, before response activation begins and probably before recognition of the local shape.     

Rule breakers and attention seekers: Personality predictors of integrity and accountability in leaders

Unethical leadership behavior can encourage follower CWBs and have costly organizational impacts. In this meta-analysis, we use data from 3,000 managers and executives to identify antecedents of ethical behaviors: integrity and accountability. Results suggest that many five factor model (Big Five) personality scales, personality derailers (dark side attributes), and values predict integrity and accountability. Leaders who are more conscientious, professional, and rule following and less attention seeking receive higher ratings of integrity and accountability. The strongest relationships were often for personality derailers (Excitable, Leisurely, Mischievous, Imaginative). Values and preferences (Aesthetics, Hedonism, Recognition) also had notable relationships. We discuss our results and their implications for organizations seeking to reduce CWBs, promote OCBs, or establish a climate of ethical behavior.