Examining Individual Differences in Interpersonal Influence: On the Psychometric Properties of the Generalized Opinion Leadership Scale (GOLS)

Opinion leadership describes an individual's tendency to informally influence others’ attitudes and overt behaviors. In contrast to contemporary views of opinion leadership as a highly domain-specific trait, this paper introduces a multi-faceted personality trait, generalized opinion leadership (GOL) that characterizes exceptionally influential individuals independent of a specific subject area. Two studies report on the psychometric properties of a scale to assess GOL. Study 1 is based on three independent samples (N = 1,575, N = 1,275, and N = 231) and demonstrates the factorial structure of the instrument and its measurement invariance across sex, age, and educational levels. Study 2 (N = 310) analyzes multitrait-multiinformant data to highlight the scale's discriminant validity with regard to innovativeness and trendsetting.     

Identifying the Culprit: An International Perspective on the National Academy of Sciences Report on Eyewitness Identification Evidence

The recent National Research Council report on eyewitness identification evidence includes fifteen recommendations intended to improve the procedures used to obtain eyewitness identification evidence, strengthen its value in court, and improve the scientific basis of research. The report includes some important insights on the applied research and makes some novels proposals, which are critically reviewed. It is argued that the report is limited by a lack of international comparison and by its focus exclusively on lineups rather than a wider range of methods available to identify perpetrators from their face.     

Toward a Psychodynamic Approach to Bioethics

Although many first-generation bioethicists were psychiatrists and some received psychoanalytic training, the field of bioethics has developed largely in isolation from psychodynamic theory. While much has been written regarding the ethics of psychoanalysis, only a few scholars have attempted to explain bioethical phenomena in psychodynamic terms. This paper argues for the development of a comprehensive theory of "psychodynamic bioethics" that attempts to explain individual and collective attitudes toward bioethical controversy in psychodynamic terms.     

Hispanics' Self‐Esteem,Acculturation, and Skepticism of Women's Work1

This study investigated the relationships among Hispanics' self‐esteem, acculturation, and skepticism of women's employment. Using a sample of Hispanic students, mediated regression analysis was initiated to determine whether acculturation mediated a proposed negative relationship between self‐esteem and traditional gender attitudes. The results indicated that self‐esteem and acculturation were positively related; self‐esteem and employment skepticism were negatively related; and self‐esteem was unrelated to employment skepticism in the presence of acculturation, which supported full mediation. Organizations should consider using a combination of diversity training, employee assistance programs, career counseling, and job‐enrichment policies to facilitate Hispanics' self‐esteem and acculturation, and these efforts might lead ultimately to greater acceptance of women's employment.     

Development of a Brief Multidimensional Aversion to Women Who Work Scale

A brief multidimensional measure of aversion to women who work (MAWWWS) was developed using data collected from 175 predominantly lower income Anglo American undergraduate and graduate students attending a medium-sized university located in the southern United States. Findings indicated that the 10-item measure exhibited acceptable reliability, as well as adequate convergent and criterion validities. Consequently, the MAWWWS may be a useful measure of employment-related gender attitudes.