STATED WILLINGNESS TO PAY FOR PUBLIC GOODS:

Abstract— In the contingent valuation method for the valuation of public goods, survey respondents are asked to indicate the amount they are willing to pay (WTP) for the provision of a good. We contrast economic and psychological analyses of WTP and describe a study in which respondents indicated their WTP to prevent or to remedy threats to public health or to the environment, attributed either to human or to natural causes. WTP was significantly higher when the cause of a harm was human, though the effect was not large. The means of WTP for 16 issues were highly correlated with the means of other measures of attitude, including a simple rating of the importance of the threat. The responses are better described as expressions of attitudes than as indications of economic value, contrary to the assumptions of the contingent valuation method.     

Extending Holland's Hexagon: Procedures,Counseling Applications,and Research

Since its introduction nearly 25 years ago, Holland's (1985) hexagon has remained in skeletal form. The hexagon is used to depict similarities and differences among occupations—but only six general types of occupations. The authors show in this article how to extend the basic concepts embodied in the hexagon. Procedures for locating counselees and occupations on the hexagon are illustrated. These procedures, which are compatible with scores from a wide variety of assessment instruments, can help counselees identify and explore occupational options. The authors also report research on the hexagon locations of 27 career groups.     

Benefits of humor in reduction of threat-induced anxiety

The benefits of humor in reducing anxiety were investigated in a laboratory study, in which subjects were falsely led to believe that they would receive a shock in 12 min. Participants were 53 undergraduate students with either high or low sense of humor as measured by the Situational Humor Response Questionnaire of Martin and Lefcourt (1984). During the anticipatory period, subjects listened to either a humorous tape, a nonhumorous tape, or no tape. Dependent variables were repeated measures of self-reported anxiety, heart rate, and zygomatic facial activity. Anxiety increased over the anticipatory period, as predicted. A significant interaction between condition and time indicated that subjects from the humor condition consistently rated themselves as less anxious and reported less increase in stress as the shock approached. A three-way interaction concentrating on the final 3 min. indicated a tendency for subjects with low sense of humor to have higher heart rates in the no-tape condition than in the humorous or nonhumorous tape conditions. Analysis for zygomatic activity indicated more smiling by subjects with high sense of humor and by subjects in the humor condition. Also, the humorous tape elicited more smiling by subjects with high sense of humor.     

Maladjustment in statistical minorities within ethnically unbalanced classrooms

Ascertained if being a member of a statistical minority influences children's adjustment in school, as measured by the AML, a teacher-administered adjustment rating scale. Teachers from a southwest school district evaluated elementary students on aggressive, acting-out behaviors, moody-internalized behaviors, and learning difficulties. Analyses conducted on 376 students revealed significant effects of statistical minority status on certain dimensions of adjustment ratings for both Hispanic and Anglo students. Hispanic students in the statistical minority received poorer ratings on the moodiness dimension of the AML than nonminority Hispanic students. Anglo students in the statistical minority received poorer ratings on the aggression dimension of the AML than nonminority Anglo students. These results were interpreted in terms of cultural differences in coping with statistical minority status. Traits commonly exhibited within a culture may intensify and be perceived as maladaptive when stress resulting from being a minority occurs. Implications of the finding that statistical minority status within the school environment influences adjustment are discussed.     

Are FACES-II ‘family satisfaction’ scores valid?

It has been suggested that family satisfaction can be measured by having a person complete the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scale (FACES-II) twice: once as the person essentially sees the family (actual version), and once as they wish the family to be (ideal version). The discrepancy between the actual and ideal scores is contended to be a measure of satisfaction with family. Though conceptually attractive, this measurement strategy was not verified, as assessed in the present study by correlating the actual-ideal discrepancy scores with family discord (Index of Family Relations) scores. Clinical adoption of the actual-ideal discrepancy-score as a measure of family satisfaction is thus seen as premature, until more supportive evidence is demonstrated.     

A further validation of the bem sex role inventory: A multitrait-multimethod study

The present study used a multitrait-multimethod technique [D.T. Campbell and D. W. Fiske (1959) “Convergent and Discriminant Validation by the Multitrait-Multimethod Matrix,” Psychological Bulletin, 56, 81–105] to examine Bem's [(1974) “The Measurement of Psychological Androgyny,” Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 42, 152–162] use of an instrumental-expressive dichotomy to conceptualize the Masculinity and Femininity scales of the Bem Sex Role Inventory as statistically orthogonal constructs. Results indicate that while perhaps reliable, masculinity and femininity lack clear convergent and discriminant validity. Therefore, Bem's contention that masculinity and femininity are orthogonal constructs is questioned. Results are discussed in light of trait- vs. method-driven research.     

The Association of Disease Severity, Functional Status, and Medical Utilization with Relationship Satisfaction among Asthma Patients and Their Partners

The association of relationship satisfaction to asthma-related illness factors was examined among 46 couples in which one person had asthma of mild-to-moderate severity. The asthma-related illness factors included measures of disease severity, functional status, and medical utilization. More asthma severity and greater use of asthma medications accounted for 27% of the variance in relationship satisfaction. These results diverge from the general notion that more illness should be associated with more relationship distress. The findings are discussed in the context of the potentially buffering effects of the relationship satisfaction among the couples in the present sample against the stress of a chronic illness.     

Object identification without foveal vision: Evidence from an artificial scotoma paradigm

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the degree to which foveal information is necessary for object identification. To explore this question, we used an artificial moving scotoma paradigm to eliminate a region of a currently viewed display in real time as a function of eye position. Subjects examined linear arrays of four line drawings of objects while their eye movements were recorded. Immediately following each array, a test probe was presented to test the degree to which the subject had identified those objects. Three conditions were compared, one in which a central foveal scotoma was created, one in which an extrafoveal scotoma was created, and a control condition in which the scotoma was absent. The main result was that identification accuracy was very good, but eye-movement behavior was disrupted when a foveal scotoma was present. These results suggest that foveal information is not necessary but is beneficial for perceptual encoding during object identification; the loss of foveal information can be overcome as long as compensatory extrafoveal processing is possible.