THE TRANSMITTER-PERSISTENCE EFFECT:

Abstract— In four studies, Boninger, Brock, Cook, Cruder, and Romer (1990) found thai altitude change following exposure to a persuasive message persisted longer if recipients were expecting to have to transmit the message to someone else. The present experiment demonstrated thai this effect obtains only if the people preparing to transmit, as was the case in the studies of Boninger et a!., are denied the opportunity to do so. It is argued, then, that the findings of Boninger et at. may be attributable to a tendency toward thought perseveration triggered hy the failure to complete the transmission task, rather than being a consequence of the preparation to transmit per se.     

Optimism,perceived control over stress,and coping

To examine the ability of the expectancy-based personality dimensions dispositional optimism and perceived control over stress to predict the ways in which people characteristically attempt to cope with stress, 420 undergraduate students completed the Life Orientation Test (LOT; Scheier and Carver, 1985), a measure of perceived control over stress, and the dispositional version of the COPE Inventory (Carver, Scheier and Weintraub, 1989). The results revealed a modest but reliable positive correlation between optimism and the perceived control measure. Principal-components analysis of the COPE revealed a factor structure which was generally in accord with prior research. Optimism was positively correlated with active coping and positive reinterpretation, and negatively correlated with focusing on and venting of emotion. Perceived control over stress was negatively correlated with behavioural disengagement. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.     

ETHNICITY,ABILITY, ASPIRATIONS AND SOCIAL STATUS ATTAINMENT

In this study longitudinal data were used to examine relationships among children's intellectual ability, adolescents' aspirations and young adults' social-status attainment. The sample included 21-year-old Australians from Anglo-Australian, Greek and Southern Italian families. Regression surfaces were constructed from hierarchical models that examined possible linear, interaction and curvilinear associations among the variables. Typically, the findings indicated that in each ethnic group adolescents' aspirations had moderate to strong associations with status attainment. For Anglo-Australian and Greek young adults the relationships between ability and attainment were, in general, mediated by adolescents' aspirations. In contrast, for Southern Italians, ability continued to be associated with the educational and occupational attainment of the young adults.     

The role of perceptions of political tactics in predicting turnover from behavioral intentions

The role of behavioral intentions in predicting turnover has received considerable attention in recent years. The purpose of the present study was to examine the potential moderating impact of a person's perceptions of political tactics (PPT) on the relationship between turnover intentions and voluntary turnover. The research sample consisted of 404 white-collar employees working for a textile manufacturing firm. Logistic regression indicated support for the hypothesized moderator effect. Results suggested that turnover intentions were less predictive of turnover for individuals who perceived political tactics to be useful in attaining organizational success as compared to those who perceived them not to be useful. Future research suggestions are provided.     

MIRRORS, PORTALS, AND MULTIPLE REALITIES

Abstract. A biogenetic structural explanation is offered for the cross-culturally common mystical experience called portalling , the experience of moving from one reality to another via a tunnel, door, aperture, hole, or the like. The experience may be evoked in shamanistic and meditative practice by concentration upon a portalling device (mirror, mandala, labyrinth, skrying bowl, pool of water, etc.). Realization of the portalling experience is shown to be fundamental to the phenomenology underlying multiple reality cosmologies in traditional cultures and is explained in terms of radical re-entrainment of the neurological systems mediating experience in the brain. Phenomenological experiments with mirror portalling devices from both the Tibetan and the Tsimshian religious traditions are reported.     

The role of appraisal purpose: Effects of purpose on information acquisition and utilization

Past research on the role of appraisal purpose in the appraisal decision-making process has concentrated on the motivational role of purpose. Research has found that raters are less willing to give poor ratings when appraisals are to be used for some purposes rather than others. The present paper describes two experiments which explore how appraisal purpose might affect rater cognitive activities as well. The first experiment investigated how appraisal purpose and outcomes affect how raters differentially utilize information to make appraisal decisions. Few differences were found. The second experiment investigated how raters differentially search for performance information to make appraisal decisions for different purposes and outcomes. Raters were found to search for more comparative information when they had to select one of several ratees for some treatment. The results also indicated a discrepancy between how information is collected and how it is used. Implications for defining the role of purpose in the appraisal process, as well as for recent process approaches to performance appraisal, are discussed.     

Experimental Philosophy of Pain

Journal of Indian Council of Philosophical Research - The standard view of pains among philosophers today is that their existence consists in being experienced. The typical line of support offered...