A technology to measure multiple driving behaviors without self-report or participant reactivity

An in-vehicle information system (IVIS) was used to videotape drivers (N = 61) without their knowledge while driving 22 miles in normal traffic. The drivers were told that they were participating in a study of direction following and map reading. Two data-coding procedures were used to analyze videotapes. Safety-related behaviors were counted during consecutive 15-s intervals of a driving trial, and the occurrence of certain safety-related behaviors was assessed under critical conditions. These two methods of data coding were assessed for practicality, reliability, and sensitivity. Interobserver agreement for the five different driving behaviors ranged from 85% to 95%. Within-subject variability in safe driving was more pronounced among younger drivers and decreased as a function of age. Contrary to previous research that has relied on self-reports, driver risk taking did not vary significantly as a function of gender. These results are used to illustrate the capabilities of the technology introduced here to design and evaluate behavior-analytic interventions to increase safe driving.     

The drug‐crime nexus among adolescents and their peers

The purpose of this paper is to determine the nature of the drug‐crime relationship by exploring the influence of friend behaviors on both adolescent delinquent and substance using behavior. The sample consists of 1381 adolescents evenly divided by gender into three age groups (12, 15 and 18 years old). In general, there is an increase in intensity of substance use from the youngest to the oldest age level with male and female levels being similar within each age group. There are both age and gender differences when examining delinquent behavior. There is a relationship between adolescent drug use and crime (especially among males), however this relationship is relatively modest. In addition, while friends’ behavior is a very strong predictor of the same type of behavior in subjects, there are no strong crossover relationships. Thus, the hypothesis that both types of behavior are part of a specific deviant peer subculture is not confirmed.     

Enhancing School Engagement in At-Risk,Urban Minority Adolescents Through a School-Based,Adult Mentoring Intervention

ABSTRACT

The current study investigated whether a 5-month, adult mentoring intervention delivered by school personnel could enhance the school engagement of ninth grade urban minority adolescents. Compared to 20 at-risk students who did not receive an intervention, 20 at-risk students who were randomly assigned to mentoring exhibited significantly less decline during the first year of high school in perceived teacher support and decision making and were less likely to enter the discipline system. The effects were stronger and included sense of school belonging for participants who were “mentored as intended.” Moreover, mentee and mentor reports of relationship quality were associated with changes in mentored participants' school-related cognitions and behaviors. The findings indicate that adult mentoring may help to prevent normative declines in urban minority youths' school engagement.     

When a product takes on characteristics of the person who created it: Sometimes it sounds sweeter

We investigated when consumers' judgments about a product reflect information about its product source (the person who creates the product). Three experiments manipulated congruence between the source's gender and the gender-typing of the source's product. When congruent with expectations (a male conductor played male-typed music), pre-trial source information had the same effect on post-trial product judgments as when source information was absent. Incongruence (a female conductor played male-typed music) distorted product attribute judgments when the source's competence was questioned. Her music was judged to be more delicate, less powerful and worse quality than his. This process of product experience being assimilated into incompetence stereotypes required minimal cognitive resources. When the incongruent source was undoubtedly competent, the amount of experiential evidence about an attribute influenced distortion. Consumers judged powerful music as powerful regardless of conductor gender, but, lacking much evidence about its delicacy, judged hers as more delicate than his. The selective effect of source gender information reflects consumers' cognitively effortful hypothesis testing of beliefs that gender expresses itself in a person's output against experiential evidence.     

Managing diversity: Using an equal opportunities audit to maximize career potential and opportunities in a uk bank

Abstract

The aim of this article is to describe an equal opportunities audit aimed at developing the career potential and opportunities of employees in a UK national bank. The major aims of the equal opportunities audit were: (1) to identify the position of employees in the bank by gender, race, disability, and age; (2) to identify the reasons (e.g. policy/structural barriers) and/or attitu-dinal barriers for job segregation and barriers to recruitment, training, and career progression (particularly into higher managerial grades); (3) to make appropriate recommendations for change to ensure equality of opportunity for all bank employees. A two-phased approach to data collection was utilized in this audit, namely the use of qualitative information in the form of in-house data/materials and group interview sessions, and quantitative data (statistically analysed) from the distribution of a large-scale sample (piloted), postal questionnaire (JV = 595, a 30.5% rate of response). The results were analysed in terms of issues associated with recruitment, promotion, training, working conditions, and the development of career opportunities. Differences were examined between personnel employed in seven UK locations and working within one of four job-grade bands. Gender, disability, and ethnicity differences in the responses were also investigated. The findings indicated that barriers to equality of opportunity and career development in the bank are likely to be localized to specific locations and impacting on those in certain grades. For these reasons, adoption of a blanket policy might not meet the needs of personnel seeking to maximize their career potential and opportunities in the bank.     

Remembering the Street Names of One's Childhood Neighbourhood: A Study of Very Long-term Retention

Life-span retention of street names was studied in a sample of former students of a Dutch elementary school. Participants were requested to recall the street names of their childhood neighbourhood and indicate their position on a map. In addition, information was gathered concerning (a) the extensiveness of the original learning experience, (b) its elaborateness, and (c) the amount of interference from similar materials occurring between original learning experience and time of recall. Retention intervals varied from 0 to 71 years. Amount of exposure, elaborateness of learning, and retroactive interference all contributed to the memorability of names. In addition, the forgetting curve showed a permastore effect (Bahrick, 1984), suggesting that memory for non-schematic, incidentally learned material is subject to processes of forgetting similar to those that affect intentionally learned material, such as subject-matter acquired in school.     

Personal Performance Plan: Application of Mental Skills Training to Real-World Military Tasks

Recently, several authors have discussed the potential benefits of interdisciplinary cooperation between the military and the field of performance psychology. The purpose of this article is to build upon their suggestions by presenting a phased approach to mental skills training grounded in performance, learning, and military literature that can be applied to a wide variety of military tasks. After discussing the basis for the model's content, structure, and training approach, details of the mental training protocol are provided, a case example involving Army Infantry Soldiers is presented, and directions for future research and lessons learned are offered.     

Are Muslims a Distinctive Minority? An Empirical Analysis of Religiosity,Social Attitudes,and Islam

Scholarly and public discourses on Muslim immigrants in Europe have questioned if Islam is an impediment to sociocultural adaptation and whether Muslims are a distinctive group in their religiosity and social values. We use a new survey of 480 British Muslims in conjunction with the British Social Attitudes Survey to examine differences between Muslim and non‐Muslim Britons on religiosity (practice, belief, salience) and moral and social issues regarding gender, abortion, and homosexuality. Muslims are more religious than other Britons, including both British Christians and religious “nones.” Muslims also are more conservative than other Britons across the range of social and moral attitudes. Multivariate analysis shows, however, that much of the difference on moral issues is due to socioeconomic disadvantage and high religiosity among Muslims. Although being a highly religious group in an otherwise secular country renders Muslims distinctive, factors that predict social conservatism among all Britons—high religiosity and low SES—apply similarly to Muslims.