Social Identity and Perceptions of Media Persuasion: Are We Always Less Influenced Than Others?1

People typically perceive negative media content (e.g., violence) to have more impact on others than on themselves (a third-person effect). To examine the perceived effects of positive content (e.g., public-service advertisements) and the moderating role of social identities, we examined students' perceptions of the impact of AIDS advertisements on self, students (in-group), nonstudents (out-group), and people in general. Perceived self-other differences varied with the salience of student identity. Low identifiers displayed the typical third-person effect, whereas high identifiers were more willing to acknowledge impact on themselves and the student in-group. Further, when influence was normatively acceptable within the in-group, high identifiers perceived self and students (us) as more influenced than nonstudents (them). The theoretical and practical implications of this reversal in third-person perceptions are discussed.     

A partial matching theory of the mirror effect in immediate probed recognition

A set of experiments on immediate probed recognition of digit triples is reported in which the variables were list length (five, six, seven, or eight triples), the probability that a probe was old (.33, .5, or .67), and whether the digit triples were presented with an auditory component or articulatory suppression. Previous work had suggested that the false alarm (FA) rate in this paradigm was lower when auditory information was available than when it was not; this observation had led to the development of thepartial matching theory of immediate probed recognition, according to which FAs could arise not only as a result of unlucky guesses but also when new probes shared a first digit in common with a partially retained target triple. It was argued that partial memory representations were less likely following auditory presentation than following articulatory suppression. Partial matching theory is contrasted with therational response theory, according to which all FAs are unlucky guesses; partial matching theory gave a better account of the present experimental data than did rational response theory. However, a logical relationship between the two theories was suggested, a consequence of which was that rational response theory could be modified to include partial matching in such a way as to account for mirror effects, not only in unusually difficult immediate probed recognition tasks, but also in the more commonly studied mixed test list paradigm involving words of high or low frequency.     

Forgiveness: a review of the theoretical and empirical literature

This paper reviews the published literature addressing forgiveness as a therapeutic issue. The review revealed four major themes. These included: diverse attempts in the literature to define forgiveness; the presentation of models of intervention; resistance among theoreticians and therapists to examine forgiveness as a therapeutic construct, and empirical evidence of forgiveness intervention applied to clinical settings. These theoretical and empirical publications are described and critiqued. An evaluation is made as to the current state of the research, and suggestions for future directions.     

Satisfaction With Subordinates: A Neglected Research Issue Concerning Supervisors1

Satisfaction with subordinates, a relatively neglected facet of job satisfaction, was examined via questionnaires administered to both a sample of 37 retail store supervisors and a second sample of 58 bank supervisors regarding 274 of their subordinates. Functional relationships between supervisors and subordinates, in which subordinates help get things done in the workplace, were related to satisfaction with subordinates even after entity relationships (similarity between supervisors and subordinates on biodata and values) were controlled.     

Safer Sex Behavior: The Role of Attitudes, Norms, and Control Factors

A study was undertaken to assess the utility of revisions to the theories of reasoned action/planned behavior in the context of HIV-preventive behaviors. Revisions to the models incorporated the addition of group norm (behavioral norm and group attitude) to the nonnative component of the reasoned action model and the distinction among three aspects (self-efficacy, perceived behavioral control, and planning) of the control component of the theory of planned behavior. Respondents were 211 sexually experienced heterosexual undergraduates. The study employed a longitudinal design, with the proposed predictors of performing the behaviors under consideration (using a condom every time you have sexual intercourse during the next month and discussing whether to use a condom with any new partners during the next month) assessed prior to the measures of reported behavior. Consistent with expectations, group norm emerged as a distinctive predictor (in addition to attitude and subjective norm) of intentions to practice both safer sex behaviors. The data also revealed some support for the distinction among the different measures of control. The results of the study suggest that the normative component of the theories of reasoned action and planned behavior should be revised to incorporate more subtle influences of the referent group and that tests of theory of planned behavior should distinguish among the different aspects of behavioral control.     

Norms for words that rhyme

The use of rhyme in learning/memory and cognitive studies is extensive. However, there are very few normative studies for words that rhyme. The current study rectified this problem by collecting rhyme norms for 477 words from 545 subjects. Groups of subjects were given 40 words in serial order and requested, for each word, to generate as many rhymes as possible within a 30-sec interval. The data include several rhyme measures as well as measures of other word attributes that were taken from other sources. In addition, the rhyme responses to the target words were given along with their Thomdike and Lorge (1944) and Ku?era and Francis (1967) normative frequencies. Finally, the data were used to investigate various relationships including the spew hypothesis and the accessibility of rhyme sets.     

A comparison of children who receive and who do not receive permission to participate in research

In a study examining children's social competence in elementary school settings, the authors had the opportunity to compare children who received parental permission to participate to children who did not receive permission. Results indicated that children who were not involved in the study were more likely to be viewed by teachers as having unsatisfactory relationships with peers than children who were in the study. The present results suggest that investigators begin reporting the number of children who do not participate in a given study and begin examining whether minors who receive parental permission differ on important dimensions from minors who do not receive such permission. Ethical considerations of the present study are discussed.     

Use of a statistical significance criterion in drawing inferences about hemispheric dominance for language function from dichotic listening data

A dichotic listening test (composed of VCV nonsense syllables) was administered to 31 right-handed subjects. A χ² statistical significance criterion was then applied to the resulting ear differences in subjects. Fifteen subjects had ear differences significant at the p < .10 levels. Of these, 14 had right-ear advantages, an incidence consistent with the incidence of left-hemisphere language dominance derived from neurological data. Incidence for the total group of 31 subjects, however, showed the overabundance of left-ear-superior protocols typical of studies that report ear-dominance scores with no statistical criterion.     

Family therapy training—give the customers what they want

Family therapy training is an area of current interest and debate within the Association for Family Therapy. At a local level regional groups and branches have been promoting family therapy through a variety of sources and events (Bott, 1979; Haldane, 1980). The development of training has therefore been of a haphazard and ad hoc nature. More recently the Sub-Committee on Training for Family Therapy has addressed itself to establishing and co-ordinating formalized training programmes and to the attendant issues of course structure, content and accreditation.
The Workshop at Bangor looked at the rationale behind and organization involved in setting up introductory training in family therapy. Several introductory training schemes already in operation throughout the U.K. were described and the results of a recent consumer survey conducted in Northern Ireland were presented.     

Imaginal correlates of self-reported fear and avoidance behavior

Two analogue studies explored the relationship between the content of subjects' imagery and both behavioral avoidance and self-reports of fear. In the first study, reports of aversive imagery in a fearful situation were much more frequent among high- as compared to low-avoidance subjects. Reports of aversive imagery were found significantly associated with both fear and avoidance behavior. In the second study, findings were extended, indicating that imagery content is associated with fear and avoidance when subjects imagine themselves in a fearful situation as well as when they are actually in one. This suggested some degree of functional equivalence between imagined and real situations. However, no relationship was found between image clarity and either fear or avoidance. Since imagery appears to play an important role in mediating fearful behavior, manipulation of imagery might serve as an effective treatment strategy.