Thinking about Mutual Influences and Connections across Cultures Relates to More Positive Intergroup Attitudes: An Examination of Polyculturalism

Polyculturalism is an ideology focusing on the many ways that racial and ethnic groups have interacted, exchanged ideas, and influenced each other's cultures throughout history and into the present. In this paper, we first briefly review the introduction of and research on polyculturalism by historians. Then we summarize numerous studies with racially and ethnic diverse college students and adult community members in the United States, which have found that greater endorsement of polyculturalism is significantly associated with more positive racial/ethnic intergroup attitudes (less support for social inequality, greater interest in, appreciation for, and comfort with diversity and differences, greater interest in intergroup contact, and greater support for liberal immigration and affirmative action policies) and lower sexual prejudice (lower affective prejudice toward gay men and lesbians, traditional heterosexism, and denial of discrimination against homosexuals, and more positive attitudes toward gay men and lesbians). We conclude by discussing several future directions of this work.     

Changes in Experimental Hypotheses as Determinants of Experimental Results

Two experiments are reported in which changes in Es' (N = 11) experimental hypotheses led to changes in the data they obtained from their Ss-(N = 87). Monitoring of Es' experimental procedure sometimes led to an increase, sometimes to a decrease in the effects of Es' expectancies. For both experiments male. Es significantly exerted the expected biasing effects upon both their male and female Ss. Female Es similarly influenced their female Ss but obtained data from their male Ss significantly opposite to the direction of their hypotheses.     

Experimenter Behavior as an Unintended Determinant of Experimental Results

Sound motion pictures were made of 19 Es conducting a person perception experiment with 53 Ss. Ss' task was to rate the degree of success or failure of people pictured in photos. From some of the Ss, Es had been led to expect ratings of success and from some ratings of failure. Actually, Ss were assigned at random to the “success-perceiving” or “failure-perceiving” group, Es showed significant behavioral variation in the way in which they conducted the experiment, Es whose experimental behavior reflected greater interpersonal involvement or warmth obtained ratings of the photos as more successful, Es whose experimental behavior reflected a greater task orientation, greater competence, and a more professional manner obtained ratings significantly more in accordance with their expectancy, regardless of the particular nature of that expectancy.     

Attitudes toward women's right to self-determination

Abstract

After briefly describing the purpose, structure, and functions of a typical family planning center, the paper suggests and gives support for a more relationship-centered service delivery system. The major thesis of the paper is that these centers should adopt a system which recognizes and promotes intimate human relationships, and that marriage and family counselors would be highly valuable resources in such a system. The paper stresses the importance of attending to the myriad relationship issues involved in the entire process of enabling individual couples to more effectively plan and control their own fertility. Several ways in which the marriage and family counselor can work with and within the family planning center are outlined.