Compensatory nonconformity: Self-uncertainty and low implicit self-esteem increase adoption and expression of minority opinions

The present studies tested whether people, particularly those who are most vulnerable to self-threats as indicated by low implicit self-esteem, adopt and express minority opinions to compensate for self-uncertainty. In Studies 1 through 3, low implicit self-esteem participants who were made to feel uncertain about themselves as individuals (versus uncertain about a self-irrelevant issue in Study 1, certain about themselves in Study 2, or uncertain about their group memberships in Study 3) expressed more disagreement with others' opinions. Additionally, Study 3 demonstrated that this effect is specific to minority opinions and does not emerge on majority opinions. In Study 4, the relation between self-uncertainty and disagreement with others' opinions was strongest among participants with both low implicit and high explicit self-esteem, who respond to self-threats in particularly defensive ways.     

When what you have is who you are: self-uncertainty leads individualists to see themselves in their possessions

Four studies tested whether uncertainty about the self-concept can motivate people, particularly individualists who define themselves in terms of their personal traits and characteristics, to perceive their material possessions as extensions of themselves (i.e., as self-expressive). In Study 1, European American participants rated their favorite pair of blue jeans as more self-expressive after being induced to feel self-uncertain, whereas Asian American participants did not. In Study 2, participants who scored high on a measure of individualism rated their cars as more self-expressive following a self-uncertainty manipulation. In Study 3, individualists (but not collectivists) rated their favorite possessions as more self-expressive after being subject to self-uncertainty; a manipulation of self-irrelevant uncertainty did not produce these results. In Study 4, thinking about a self-expressive (relative to utilitarian) possession bolstered self-certainty among individualists, but not collectivists. Implications for research on culture, the self-concept, and possessions are discussed.     

The Catholic Church,moral doctrine,and HIV prevention in Recife,Brazil: Negotiating the contradictions between religious belief and the realities of everyday life

Religious beliefs have had a key role in shaping local responses to HIV and AIDS. As the world's largest Catholic country, Brazil is no exception. Yet little research has been conducted to document how religious doctrine is enacted in practice among its lay leaders and followers. In this article, we present ethnographic research from Recife, Brazil, conducted to understand the way in which religious doctrines are interpreted at a local level. Contextualised within the sociology of contemporary Brazilian Catholicism, we draw on interviews with clergy members, lay leaders, and parishioners to discuss how the Catholic Church's vision of sexuality translates into everyday lives of its followers. We explore the disjuncture between the Catholic ideals of fidelity and delaying sex until marriage with the everyday reality of the Church's followers, highlighting the role that gender plays in defining sexual roles and expectations. We conclude by posing questions for future research and HIV prevention strategies considering the formal institutional response of the Brazilian Catholic Church to AIDS on the one hand, and the social and cultural contexts in which Catholics live their daily lives on the other.     

How Do U.S. Christians and Atheists Stereotype One Another’s Moral Values?

Moral conflict between Christians and atheists is becoming increasingly heated amidst the U.S. “culture wars,” yet research has been mostly silent regarding how these groups stereotype one another’s moral values and beliefs. We used moral foundations theory to better understand the nature of such stereotypes. In Study 1, U.S. Christian and atheist participants completed measures of moral values from their own perspective as well as the perspectives of typical atheists and typical Christians. Whereas atheists believed their ingroup endorsed fairness/justice values more than Christians, Christians believed their ingroup endorsed all moral values more than atheists. Moreover, both groups held (often extremely) inaccurate stereotypes about the outgroup’s values. In Study 2, participants wrote explicitly about outgroup morality. Atheists typically described Christians more negatively than Christians described atheists, regardless of the moral foundation of concern. Also, Christians’ negative impressions drew primarily from the Authority foundation, and both groups drew heavily from the Care foundation in both their positive and negative depictions. Implications for addressing the growing conflict between Christians and atheists in the United States are discussed.     

Improving an optimization‐based framework for sensitivity analysis in multi‐criteria decision‐making

The framework for sensitivity analysis in discrete multi‐criteria decision analysis developed by Rios Insua and French allows simultaneous variation of all parameters and applies to many paradigms for decision analysis. However, its computational load may inhibit use, particularly in the context of a decision conference where results are required in near real time. In order to improve on the current algorithm and its implementation, we investigate, on the one hand, an opportunistic approach aimed at reducing the number of optimization problems solved in the original framework and, on the other, an alternative framework based on distance analysis. Computational results on linear and bilinear models are reported. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Evaluating the Impact of Careless Responding on Aggregated-Scores: To Filter Unmotivated Examinees or Not?

When examinees' test-taking motivation is questionable, practitioners must determine whether careless responding is of practical concern and if so, decide on the best approach to filter such responses. As there has been insufficient research on these topics, the objectives of this study were to: a) evaluate the degree of underestimation in the true mean when careless responses are present, and b) compare the effectiveness of two filtering procedures in purifying biased aggregated-scores. Results demonstrated that: a) the true mean was underestimated by around 0.20 SDs if the total amount of careless responses exceeded 6.25%, 12.5%, and 12.5% for easy, moderately difficult, and difficult tests, respectively, and b) listwise deleting data from unmotivated examinees artificially inflated the true mean by as much as .42 SDs when ability was related to careless responding. Findings from this study have implications for when and how practitioners should handle careless responses for group-based low-stakes assessments.     

The Weak Normalization of the Simply Typed {lambda}se-calculus

In this paper, we show the weak normalization (WN) of the simply-typeds_e-calculus with open terms where abstractions are decoratedwith types, and metavariables, de Bruijn indices and updatingoperators are decorated with environments. We show a proof ofWN using the _e-calculus, a calculus isomorphic to . This proof is strongly influenced by Goubault-Larrecq'sproof of WN for the -calculus but with subtle differences whichshow that the two styles require different attention. Furthermore,we give a new calculus '_e which works like s_e but which iscloser to than _e. For both _e and '_e we prove WN for typedsemi-open terms (i.e. those which allow term variables but nosubstitution variables), unlike the result of Goubault-Larrecqwhich covered all open terms.     

Movement patterns of persons with HIV receiving treatment in public clinics in the Southern Health Region,Puerto Rico

A survey conducted among 187 HIV-infected patients from publicly supported HIV clinics in the Puerto Rican Southern Health Region (SHR) failed to substantiate health planners' concern that this group travels frequently to the US to receive medical services. Respondents were questioned about all places of residence and all sites of HIV treatment in the past 12 months. Movement was defined as being anywhere outside of the SHR for 2 weeks or longer. 7% of the sample had moved at least once in the past year; 4% had moved outside the SHR but within Puerto Rico, while 3% had been in the continental US. Compared to the heterosexual risk group, intravenous drug users and men who have sex with men were 7-8 times more likely to have moved. The attainment of at least a high school education was also significantly and independently associated with increased probability of movement. Medical care was not identified by any of these respondents as the primary reason for travel. 58% indicated they were in their current place of residence to be near family, friends, and relatives. Both the small sample size and the low socioeconomic status of respondents may have limited the ability of this study to identify the so-called "air bridge," however.