Situational and personality determinants of a victim's identification with a tormentor

The effects of two situational (tormentor legitimacy and tormentor justification) and two personality (victim's belief in the just world and victim's Machiavellianism) factors on several reactions of a victim to his tormentor were explored. Greater conformity by victims to their tormentor's opinions occurred when the victims believed strongly in the just world and when the tormentor was well justified for his behavior; there was a greater conformity towards the tormentor in these conditions than towards a neutral nontormentor. The tormentor received less positive evaluations from the victim when he acquired his role illegitimately or when the victim was Machiavellian; when the tormentor acquired the role legitimately, he was liked no less than the nontormentor. The experimental variables did not affect behavioral imitation of the tormentor or the interpersonal distance maintained by the victim. The results failed to conform to any simple identification process. Several explanations for these results are explored and directions for additional research are discussed.     

Visual resolution in the periphery

Visual acuity thresholds were determined for two Os with a 3-deg square grating target presented for 0.2 sec within a steadily illuminated surround field matched in luminance to the test field. Measurements were made in the fovea, and at 10, 20, and 30 deg along the horizontal meridian of the temporal retina, at luminances between ?3.5 and 3.0 log mL. The foveal acuity-luminance functions showed a large increase in acuity up to 1 or 2 log mL, but at peripheral locations very little increase occurred above 0 log mL. The maximum acuity reached at photopic luminances dropped sharply with increasing eccentricity. Visual acuities were two to four times higher than those previously reported for the periphery; methodological and target differences are presented to account for this result.     

Self-report of right-left confusion in college men and women

Self-report questionnaires of difficulty in right-left discrimination and handedness were given to 575 male and 607 female undergraduates. Significantly more men and lefthanders reported having right-left confusion frequently or all the time. The validity of such self-report measures in predicting actual performance on right-left discrimination tasks is questioned since the results, at least as a function of handedness, depended on the question asked.     

Applicability of the Somatomorphic Matrix computer program in Japanese and Australian Caucasian males in relation to measured body composition

The Somatomorphic Matrix (SM) is a computer-based body image assessment program that allows assessment of the individual's body image in relation to known body composition values. To date, no study has compared the SM results to the measured body composition and assessed the usefulness in multi-ethnic samples. Japanese and Australian Caucasian males underwent testing to examine the SM body image results to their measured body composition. Japanese males showed significant (p < 0.01) discrepancy in their measured and the perceived ‘current’ muscularity compared with Australians. Both groups showed wide variability in the perception of their ‘current’ body composition in relation to the measured values, indicating an incomparability of the SM results to the measured results. The study also showed Japanese males to have lower consistency in the SM results than Australian males after a 12-month interval. In order to use the program in multi-ethnic populations further development of the program is recommended.     

What parents know, how they know it, and several forms of adolescent adjustment: further support for a reinterpretation of monitoring

Parental monitoring has been conceptualized as tracking and surveillance but operationalized as knowledge of daily activities. This study tested the tracking and surveillance explanation of why parental knowledge is linked to better adolescent adjustment. Participants were 1,186 14-year-olds in central Sweden and their parents. The results supported and extended a reinterpretation of parental monitoring (H. Stattin & M. Kerr, in press). Across sex and informant, high parental knowledge was linked to multiple measures of good adjustment. But children's spontaneous disclosure of information explained more of these relations than parents' tracking and surveillance efforts did. Parents' control efforts were related to good adjustment only after the child's feelings of being controlled, which were linked to poor adjustment, were partialed out. The findings suggest that parents' tracking and surveillance efforts are not as effective as previously thought.     

When Does the Honeymoon End? Electoral Cycles of Satisfaction With Democracy in Africa

Scholars have argued that multiparty elections have a profound and immediate influence on mass evaluations of political support. However, what is less clear is whether the effects of elections are short lived or long lasting. Investigating dynamic effects of elections on mass perceptions of political regimes has profound implications on popular foundations of democratic consolidation in an era of democratic backsliding. This article examines electoral cycles in citizens' satisfaction with democracy (SWD)—an important dimension of political support—in multiparty regimes. First, we argue that proximity to elections enhances SWD because campaigns and elections include several processes that reduce the costs and increase the benefits of citizen engagement with the political system. This results in a bell-shaped relationship between citizens' proximity to elections and SWD. Second, we contend that electoral cycles in SWD should vary by the quality of elections and citizens' winner/loser status. We examine these hypotheses using Afrobarometer data in 34 multiparty regimes between 1999 and 2015 finding compelling support. SWD is higher among respondents surveyed closer to elections, while electoral cycles in SWD are more prominent among winners and around low-quality elections.