Effects of group decision rules on decisions involving continuous alternatives: The unanimity rule and extreme decisions in mock civil juries

Two experiments examined the effects of majority and unanimity decision rules on group decisions involving continuous alternatives. Each experiment used mock civil juries to test three hypotheses related to the claim that when the distribution of group members’ initial preferences is skewed, the group’s decision will be influenced more by the presence of outlier members under unanimity rule than under majority rule. Experiment 1 tested the hypotheses using a punitive damages case and positively skewed preference distributions. Experiment 2 tested the hypotheses using a compensatory damages case and manipulating the skewness of preference distributions in a 2 (group decision rule) × 2 (valence of skewness) factorial design. In both experiments, the extreme (outlier) member’s individual preference was significantly correlated with the group decision only under unanimity rule. A simple thought experiment based on the experimental results is suggested regarding the implications of using unanimity or majority rule for making decisions in civil juries.     

Environmental representations of local communities' spokespersons in protected areas

Despite the popularization of the environmental discourse, rural environmental belief‐systems should not be viewed as homogenous. Focusing on the largest protected area in Greece, we examined heterogeneity in local environmental views. Local spokespersons elicited word associations to two stimulus terms, namely, ‘environmentalists’ and ‘protected area’. Based on association categories for both terms, we identified two sample segments. ‘Naturalists’ appealed to a naturalistic image, which shaped the core compartment of their representations. On the other hand, ‘skeptics’ provided both environmentalist claims and critical accounts. Our findings revealed that the environmental discourse was widely diffused among local spokespersons. Issues of power and participation in decision‐making processes within protected areas are discussed. For instance, dimensions of power and legitimacy were reflected in the frequency of association categories and their allocation among sample segments. Specifically, environmentalist accounts were overtly expressed by both ‘naturalists’ and skeptics, while a more socially, politically and critically inclined view was revealed by a small percentage of associations that were all elicited by ‘skeptics’. We conclude that appreciating the heterogeneity of rural environmental views can reinforce the democratic mandate in environmental policy‐making. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Piercing the Veil: Ethical Issues in Ethnographic Research

It is not unusual for researchers in ethnography (and sometimes Institutional Review Boards) to assume that research of “public” behavior is morally unproblematic. I examine an historical case of ethnographic research and the sustained moral outrage to the research expressed by the subjects of that research. I suggest that the moral outrage was legitimate and articulate some of the ethical issues underlying that outrage. I argue that morally problematic Ethnographic research of public behavior can derive from research practice that includes a tendency to collapse the distinction between harm and moral wrong, a failure to take account of recent work on ethical issues in privacy; failure to appreciate the deception involved in ethnographers’ failure to reveal their role as researchers to subjects and finally a failure to appropriately weigh the moral significance of issues of invasion of privacy and inflicted insight in both the research process and subsequent publication of research.

Mixing against culture vs mixing against nature: ontologization of prohibited interethnic relationships

In this paper, we develop the theory of ontologization: Social representations that prevent members of minority and majority groups who are living in contact with each other to mingle. The process of ontologization consists of separating some humans from their own species, and anchoring them in another environment, that of an animal, for example. We propose that underlying the famous slogan “equal but separate” is the social representation of interracial mixing as a “counter‐nature” phenomenon. It is predicted that a sexual relationship between people of different “races” leads to a greater degree of ontologization, and, as such, this miscegenation will be explained in terms of biologistic thinking, like an instinctive nature or atavistic animal impulse. An experiment (N = 360) features the case of a woman who, though already in a stable relationship, is unfaithful to her partner. In a 2×3 factor design, the ethnic‐national identity of this woman (in‐group: Spanish/Italian vs out‐group: Senegalese) and the ethnic‐national identity of her lovers (in‐group: Spanish/Italian vs out‐group: Rumanian vs out‐group: Senegalese) were manipulated. In general, results fit the hypothesis of ontologization in interracial conditions better, rather than the customary in‐group favouritism and/or out‐group discrimination bias. We then go on to discuss the way in which a biologistic way of thinking enables a differentiation at the human level, in terms of culture groups and nature groups, in “races,” so that an interracial sexual relationship is seen as evidence of a wild and irrepressible impulse, which stigmatizes the people involved in these relationships.     

“I Feel Your Pain”: The effects of observing ostracism on the ostracism detection system

Ostracism—being ignored and excluded—is a painful experience with negative psychological consequences. Social psychologists ( [Kerr and Levine, 2008] and [Spoor and Williams, 2007] ) argue humans have an evolved system for automatically detecting cues of ostracism and exclusion. Detection elicits pain and threats to fundamental needs. We hypothesize simply observing ostracism will cause negative affect and need threat in the observer. Participants observed a three-player Cyberball game; a target player was included or ostracized, and participants were either instructed to take the perspective of this player or given no such instructions. Participants observing ostracism reported negative affect and need threat. Our results indicate that ostracism detection is even more powerful than previously suggested, because vicariously, we feel the pain of others’ ostracism as our own.     

Does Discussion Group Composition Affect Policy Preferences? Results from Three Randomized Experiments

We report the results of three randomized experiments designed to assess whether participants' political attitudes are affected by the prediscussion opinions of their discussion mates. The experiments took place during three multisite Deliberative Polls in 2004 and 2005. Participants discussed current political issues within 330 groups of approximately 10 people each. Because the composition of the groups was determined randomly within each location, the demographic and ideological complexion of the discussion groups varied randomly. This paper examines the effects of randomly varying group composition on political opinions expressed after daylong discussion. We find only sporadic evidence of group composition effects. These results run counter to—or at least qualify—a substantial body of theory and laboratory evidence on the influence of group discussion.     

The origins and function of the reference point in risky group decision making the case of the Cuban missile crisis

This case study explores reference level effects on group decision making during the Cuban missile crisis of 1962. The group is composed of American President John F. Kennedy and his advisers. The results are consistent with much experimental evidence showing that reference levels play an important role in determining preferences. The results also extend the notion of reference-dependent risky choice to the group level, where the group consists of seasoned experts who each have a different role to play within the group and who are dealing with an issue of great importance.     

Presidential Character Revisited

This study attempts to bring a fresh perspective to the study of presidential personality. Critics of the personality approach doubt that personality really has much impact on presidential leadership, and they question whether the approach will contribute to the development of a presidential leadership theory. Critics also see problems with the conceptualization of personality variables in particular studies, such as James David Barber's much-praised, much-maligned The Presidential Character . The study proposes the use of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) to analyze the relationship between presidential personality and presidential leadership. Administered to about 1.7 million people annually by psychologists, career counselors, and business managers, the MBTI makes possible the classification of each president as one of 16 personality types, and it offers predictions about many characteristics of leadership style for each type. The study concludes with an extensive MBTI analysis of President Clinton's leadership style.     

Event-related potentials in phonological matching tasks

Two experiments investigated Event-Related Potentials (ERPs) in matching tasks. In Experiment 1 subjects judged, in separate conditions, whether two words rhymed or were written in the same case. The CNV developing between the two words was larger in the latter task compared to the former at the right temporal site. In the rhyme judgment task, an increased late negativity differentiated the ERPs to nonrhyming words from those that rhymed with the previously presented word. This difference was maximal at the midline and over the right hemisphere. Experiment 2 further investigated ERPs in the rhyme judgment task, increasing memory demands with an extended interstimulus interval (ISI) and varying the number of items subjects had to hold in memory during this period (one vs. three). Irrespective of memory load, CNVs during the ISI were more negative from the left hemisphere, and the ERPs to the rhyming and nonrhyming words showed the same differences as in Experiment 1. The CNV asymmetries are interpreted as being associated with the engagement of lateralized short-term memory processes. The rhyme/nonrhyme differences are possibly related to the “N400” component elicited by semantically incongruous words. Possible reasons for their scalp distribution are discussed.