Persistent versus Periodic Experiences of Social Victimization: Predictors of Adjustment

This study examined self-reports of social victimization and parent reports of adjustment for a sample followed from fourth through seventh grades. Different patterns of social victimization experiences were identified; of the 153 students (79 girls) with complete data, 24% reported chronic social victimization, 23% reported transient experiences of social victimization, and 53% reported being socially victimized at no more than one time point. We examined whether students who experienced persistent and periodic social victimization were at greater risk for internalizing problems than nonvictims. Persistently victimized children demonstrated continuously elevated levels of internalizing problems. Children who were not originally victimized by social aggression but became victimized with time did not demonstrate higher levels of internalizing problems than did nonvictims. Findings were mixed for those who escaped social victimization during this period. This research was supported by NIMH grants R01 MH63076 and K02 MH073616. We are deeply grateful for the participation of children and families in this study and for the cooperation of a local school system that wishes to go unnamed. We thank Mikal Galperin for her help with recruiting and retaining the sample.     

Visual aids and structured criteria for improving visual inspection and interpretation of single-case designs

Because behavior analysis is a data-driven process, a critical skill for behavior analysts is accurate visual inspection and interpretation of single-case data. Study 1 was a basic study in which we increased the accuracy of visual inspection methods for A-B designs through two refinements of the split-middle (SM) method called the dual-criteria (DC) and conservative dual-criteria (CDC) methods. The accuracy of these visual inspection methods was compared with one another and with two statistical methods (Allison & Gorman, 1993; Gottman, 1981) using a computer-simulated Monte Carlo study. Results indicated that the DC and CDC methods controlled Type I error rates much better than the SM method and had considerably higher power (to detect real treatment effects) than the two statistical methods. In Study 2, brief verbal and written instructions with modeling were used to train 5 staff members to use the DC method, and in Study 3, these training methods were incorporated into a slide presentation and were used to rapidly (i.e., 15 min) train a large group of individuals (N = 87). Interpretation accuracy increased from a baseline mean of 55% to a treatment mean of 94% in Study 2 and from a baseline mean of 71% to a treatment mean of 95% in Study 3. Thus, Study 1 answered basic questions about the accuracy of several methods of interpreting A-B designs; Study 2 showed how that information could be used to increase the accuracy of human visual inspectors; and Study 3 showed how the training procedures from Study 2 could be modified into a format that would facilitate rapid training of large groups of individuals to interpret single-case designs.     

Demographic and personality predictors of intelligence: a study using the Neo Personality Inventory and the Myers–Briggs Type Indicator

The aim of the present study was to investigate to what extent personality, gender, and age can predict psychometric intelligence scores. A total of 900 participants completed the Watson–Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal Test, the Graduate Managerial Assessment: Abstract, the Revised NEO Personality Inventory, and the Myers–Briggs Type Indicator. Intelligence was found to be most consistently predicted by high Openness and low Neuroticism, which has been repeatedly reported in the past (Ackerman & Heggestad, 1997 ; Kyllonen, 1997 ), as well as by low Extraversion and low Conscientiousness, which has also been previously reported (Furnham, Chamorro‐Premuzic, & Moutafi, under review). Of the demographic factors, there were no gender differences with respect to general intelligence (g), but age was found to be a significant negative predictor of g, in line with previous findings (Matthews, Davies, Westerman, & Stammers, 2000 ). Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Deliberation from Within: Changing One's Mind During an Interview

This article examines whether a public opinion survey can improve the quality of political attitudes. More specifically, we argue that simply positioning a summary attitudinal question after a balanced series of relevant items can increase people's ability to answer in a way that better reflects their underlying interests, values, and predispositions. By manipulating the location of the vote preference question in two separate national election campaign surveys, we find that there are fewer undecided respondents when the question is asked at the end of the survey rather than early on, that some people are changing their mind during the questionnaire, that a larger set of determinants is structuring late‐survey vote choice, and that voting preferences based on the later question are a better predictor of the actual vote. The findings carry important lessons for students of deliberation and of citizen decision making.     

Unbalanced triangle in the social dilemma of trust: Internet studies of real‐time,real money social exchange between China,Japan, and Taiwan

Using a dyadic game theory paradigm, three experiments on the social dilemma of trust were conducted over the Internet in real time, involving real money. It was predicted and found that in‐group favouritism in trusting behaviour was contingent on historical relationships between societies. In the China–Japan experiment, mainland Chinese but not Japanese trusted and made fair allocations to in‐group members more than out‐group members, and out‐group trust was best predicted by positive stereotypes of the out‐group for Chinese and identity for Japanese. In the China–Taiwan experiment, Taiwanese but not Mainland Chinese trusted in‐group members more than out‐group members, and in‐group trust for Taiwanese was best predicted by perceptions of current realistic threats. In the Taiwan–Japan experiment, there were slight in‐group favouring tendencies in trust, and positive stereotypes of the out‐group were the best predictors of out‐group trust. Japanese were unique in not displaying in‐group favouring behaviour at all, whereas both Chinese and Taiwanese were context specific in their in‐group favouritism. Stereotypes, social identities, perceptions of realistic threat, and historical anger made significant contributions to predicting trusting behaviour, but overall these survey measures only accounted for small and inconsistent amounts of variance across the three experiments.     

The Relation Between Place Attachment and Management Preferences of Visitors at Remote Coastal Campsites in Western Australia

ABSTRACT

Visitors who exhibit place attachment often demonstrate greater concern regarding how a place is managed. However, the extent to which the dimensions of attachment are related to management preferences has not been sufficiently investigated. Place attachment of visitors to coastal campsites along the southern Ningaloo coastline of northwestern Australia and its relation with management preferences were examined via an onsite survey. The relation was investigated using a suite of routines in the non-parametric multivariate statistics package PRIMER v6, providing the first example of the use of these types of statistical approaches in place research. Place attachment was measured using the dimensions of Place Identity, Place Dependence, and Everybody's Happy (a new, affective-based dimension). Within each dimension, significantly different groups of visitors were identified based on differences in their responses to the place attachment survey items. This was achieved using hierarchical agglomerative cluster analysis in conjunction with a Similarity Profile (SIMPROF) test. Subsequent analysis using the BVSTEP procedure showed that the pattern of differences among visitors in their responses to place attachment items produced significant though weak correlations with their level of support for various management actions. The authors conclude with a discussion of the implications of the results for future research on place and associated preferences for management actions.     

In search of the silver lining: the justice motive fosters perceptions of benefits in the later lives of tragedy victims

Past research has demonstrated that people's need to perceive the world as fair and just leads them to blame and derogate victims of tragedy. The research reported here shows that a positive reaction--bestowing additional meaning on the lives of individuals who have suffered--can also serve people's need to believe that the world is just. In two studies, participants whose justice motive was temporarily heightened or who strongly endorsed the belief that reward and punishment are fairly distributed in the world perceived more meaning and enjoyment in the life of someone who had experienced a tragedy than in the life of someone who had not experienced tragedy, but this pattern was not found for participants whose justice motive was not heightened or who did not strongly endorse a justice belief. These results suggest that being motivated to see the world as just--a motivation traditionally associated with victim derogation--also leads people to perceive a "silver lining" to tragic events.     

An extrapolation of Foucault’s <Emphasis Type="Italic">Technologies of the Self</Emphasis> to effect positive transformation in the intensivist as teacher and mentor

In critical care medicine, teaching and mentoring practices are extremely important in regard to attracting and retaining young trainees and faculty in this important subspecialty that has a scarcity of needed personnel in the USA. To this end, we argue that Foucault’s Technologies of the Self is critical background reading when endeavoring to effect the positive transformation of faculty into effective teachers and mentors.     

Predicting the Use of Complementary Medicine: A Test of the Theories of Reasoned Action and Planned Behavior1

The present study employed the theory of reasoned action (TRA) and its extension, the theory of planned behavior (TPB), to investigate the factors underlying intentions and actual use of homeopathy over a 1‐month period. The study was prospective in design; 349 respondents completed a TPB questionnaire during the first phase of data collection, and 139 respondents were contacted (by telephone) in Phase 2 to provide information regarding their use of homeopathy. The findings provided support for the TPB as a predictor of intentions and use of homeopathy, and demonstrated that the model significantly enhanced the predictive utility of the TRA. Attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived control emerged as significant predictors of intention (R²= .49), while intention predicted behavior (R²= .56). In addition, past behavior significantly contributed to the prediction of intention and behavior.