‘When Would You Do It?’ An Investigation into the Effects of Retaliation,Seriousness of Malpractice and Occupation on Willingness to Blow the Whistle

A questionnaire study involving white collar workers (n=48) investigated the effects of the threat of retaliation, seriousness of malpractice and occupational status of the observer on the likelihood and method of whistle-blowing chosen. In line with previous whistle-blowing and bystander intervention research, the likelihood of whistle-blowing was greater for serious malpractices and where threatened retaliation was low. The effect of retaliation was only significant for serious white collar malpractices and in every situation internal whistle-blowing was more likely than external. The general likelihood of whistle-blowing was positively correlated with the perception that reporting the malpractice would result in change.     

Facilitating Performance with Cued Wording: An Examination of Reasoning in the Tax Context

Researchers have consistently found increased accuracy for reasoning tasks that involve permission and obligation situations; however, little is known about the task characteristics that aid the reasoning processes in these situations. This study investigates the ability of cued wording (i.e., ‘is permitted’ or ‘is required’) to increase the accuracy of subjects' reasoning. Specifically, two experiments were conducted using versions of the Wason selection task to present tax rules involving permission and obligation situations. Results of both experiments generally support the use of cued wording to increase reasoning accuracy, especially for those subjects with no experience with the rule. These results have implications for rule-driven fields like taxation, where taxpayers must comply with numerous provisions containing permission and obligation situations. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Morphic Fields

Formulation of a general model of evolution is presented which is based upon the recognition of the “biosocial” entity, that is the biosphere and human society, as a component‐system. It can be demonstrated that the interactions of the components (moleculas, cells, organisms, ecosystems in the biological realms and people, artifacts and ideas in the societies) have replicative organization. We suggest an explanation for the spontaneous emergence of replicative function and organization, a process called autogenesis. During autogenesis, hierarchical levels of replicative organization emerge and compartmentalization and convergence of replicative information occurs. Questions of the origin and evolution of life are discussed.

The replicative paradigm can also be applied to the processes of cultural evolution, in which complex replicative networks of people, ideas, and man‐made artifacts show all stages and phenomena of autogenesis. Finally, the present state of evolution of the whole global biosocial system is discussed.