Cognitive Biases and Political Party Affiliation in Intergroup Conflict

Employing the motivational basis of the false consensus bias, this study hypothesized that the degree of assumed similarity to in-group attitudes would differ among supporters of various political groups in intergroup conflict. We defined a conflict-maintaining bias, the adversary's extremity bias, and examined how the degree of the bias would also differ among supporters of various political groups. Data were gathered from Arab and Jewish high school and university students in Israel. Our hypotheses, that in intergroup conflict assumed similarity to in-group attitudes and the adversary's extremity bias would be greater among supporters of less conciliatory political parties than among supporters of more conciliatory political parties, were supported for one group in the conflict but not the other. Explanations of our findings are based on the differential power status of the 2 groups in the particular conflict.     

ACADEMIC EFFECTS OF PROVIDING PEER SUPPORT IN GENERAL EDUCATION CLASSROOMS ON STUDENTS WITHOUT DISABILITIES

We studied the academic effects on peers without disabilities of serving as peer supports for students with disabilities in general education classrooms. Three peers were studied using a range of indicators, including academic engagement, coursework performance, and social validity assessments. Peers assisting a student with disabilities via curricular adaptation, assignment completion, and social facilitation constituted the multicomponent independent variable. We used withdrawal or multiple baseline designs to demonstrate positive benefits for peers for all measures used. In addition, follow-up data for 2 peers indicated that the positive changes associated with serving as a peer support were maintained for up to 2 months. Our results are discussed in relation to the possible academic and social effects of providing peer supports in general education classrooms for students with and without disabilities.     

Social Dominance Orientation, Hierarchy Attenuators and Hierarchy Enhancers: Social Dominance Theory and the Criminal Justice System

This study investigated differences in social dominance orientation between incumbents of different social roles (police officers vs. public defenders) and ethnic groups known to differ in general social status (i.e., whites vs. blacks and Hispanics). Consistent with theoretical expectations: (a) Police were significantly more social-dominance oriented than either jurors or public defenders. (b) Public defenders tended to be less social-dominance oriented than jurors. (c) Euro-Americans were significantly more social dominance oriented than Afro- and Hispanic-Americans, (d) Euro-American police officers had, by far, the highest levels of social dominance orientation. Furthermore, all of the effects above held even when controlling for demographic factors such as gender, social class, age, education, and ethnic group. The theoretical implications of these findings are discussed.     

Determinants of Condom Use Among High-Risk Heterosexual Adults: A Test of the Theory of Reasoned Action1

The research presents tests of traditional and augmented versions of Fishbein and Ajzen's Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA), applied to condom use among adult clients of a sexually transmitted disease clinic. In a longitudinal survey, predictor variables suggested by Ajzen and Fishbein (1980), plus gender and condom use self-efficacy, were measured at Time 1. Condom use at Time 2, 3 months later, was regressed onto these variables. The traditional TRA worked well to predict condom use intentions and behavior. Support was also found for inclusion of gender and self-efficacy in the prediction of intention to use condoms, but not behavior. Implications for interventions to increase condom use among those at high risk for AIDS and other STDs are discussed.     

Public knowledge,attitudes, and beliefs about homeless people: Evidence for compassion fatigue?

Media reports suggest that the public is becoming impatient with the homeless—that so-called “compassion fatigue” has gripped the nation. This characterization of public sentiment could have important policy consequences—restrictive measures can be justified by growing public impatience, and progressive housing policies seem infeasible within a hostile climate of opinion. But evidence to support the compassion fatigue notion is anecdotal. We examine the issue by tracking the results of public opinion polls and by reporting detailed evidence from a nationwide random-digit dial telephone survey (N=1,507) concerning knowledge attitudes and beliefs about homeless people. To be sure, the public sees homelessness as an undesirable social problem and wants something done about it. However, although the homeless are clearly stigmatized, there is little evidence to suggest that the public has lost compassion and is unwilling to support policies to help homeless people.     

BLAMING THE PERPETRATOR Language that Distorts Reality in Newspaper Articles on Men Battering Women

In an earlier article, Lamb (1991) showed that journal authors, when writing about men battering women, wrote in a way that avoided assigning responsibility to men as perpetrators, and that this kind of writing was more common among male authors as well as female authors who wrote with men. This study examines first whether this kind of writing occurs in newspaper articles on men battering women, and whether two problematic styles of writing have an effect on the reader. Three versions of a newspaper article were developed to differentiate active voice, passive voice, and writing that implies shared responsibility for a man's violence. One hundred and eighty subjects read one of the three versions and endorsed one of five possible punishments for the man in the story who had been violent. Results showed that subjects did not differ in their selection of punishments for the active voice versus the passive voice version, but were much more lenient towards the man after reading the shared responsibility version.     

THE RELATIONSHIP OF GENDER AND ETHNICITY TO SELF-SILENCING AND DEPRESSION AMONG COLLEGE STUDENTS

This study expands on the initial work with the Silencing the Self Scale (STSS; Jack, 1991) by presenting data using a more diverse, nonclinical sample. Included were both men and women ( n = 604) who were African American, Asian, Caucasian, and Hispanic. It was expected that women would be more self-silencing than men, and that there would be ethnic differences. There were three principal findings: (a) men were more self-silencing than were women on the STSS; (b) there was a main effect for ethnicity on the STSS, with Asians expressing the highest levels of self-silencing; and (c) there was a positive correlation between self-silencing and depression for all ethnic/gender groups.     

Stereotyped movement disorder in an adult following acquired brain injury: Effect of environmental stimulation

In the present study, a naturalistic functional analysis procedure was used to assess the effect of environmental stimulation on the stereotypic behavior (body rocking) of an adult whose stereotypy appeared to be induced by an acquired brain injury. Environmental stimulation, operationalized in terms of both physical and social characteristics, resulted in only minimal changes in the occurrence of body rocking. Body rocking occurred in excess of 50% of the observations in all environmental stimulation conditions and in a naturally occurring baseline condition. To our knowledge, this is the first published report of a functional analysis of stereotypy associated with acquired brain injury.     

护士职业的人格特质研究

采用Ｙ－Ｇ性格测验问卷,对临床护士和在读护生共３９０人,进行了心理测评,展开了护士职业的人格特质研究。研究结果表明：优秀护士群体的性格类型和某些人格特质显著地优于一般护士群体;优秀护士与一般护士间所显现出显著差异的人格特质,对于护士角色人格的构成具有决定性影响;Ｙ－Ｇ性格测验的Ａ型性格类型评定对于护士职业的心理选拔显现特异性趋势;整个测评研究结果,基本支持＂护士个体人格特质与角色人格特质的匹配模式＂等理论假设．     

缺陷儿童人格诊断量表的修订

缺陷儿童人格诊断量表是日本特殊教育领域的一种专门用于测量缺陷儿童人格的著名量表。作者用三年时间对其进行了修订,建立了包括弱智、聋哑、盲等缺陷儿童的中国常模。该量表具有较高的信度与效度,是一个较好的心理测量工具。