Psychological Research (psychological + research)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Kinds of Psychological Research

  • social psychological research


  • Selected Abstracts


    Psychological Research on Homelessness in Western Europe: A Review from 1970 to 2001

    JOURNAL OF SOCIAL ISSUES, Issue 3 2007
    Pierre Philippot
    The rapidly growing, but still small, research literature on homelessness in Europe has often been provided by non-academics, using qualitative methods, and has been published in sources that are not widely available. This article summarizes definitions employed, observed prevalence, the socio-demographic characteristics, and the physical and mental health status of the homeless in Western Europe. Research pertaining to the causes of homelessness and the societal response to the problem are also reviewed, and the ethical and methodological questions raised by European researchers are debated. A critical analysis of the largely descriptive European research is provided, and some noteworthy exceptions are described. We also discuss a number of promising theoretical models, including those that focus on learned helplessness, social strain, and social stress. [source]


    Children's Testimony: A Handbook of Psychological Research and Forensic Practice

    CHILD & FAMILY SOCIAL WORK, Issue 1 2003
    Helen Westcott
    No abstract is available for this article. [source]


    Is Empathy Gendered and, If So, Why?

    ETHOS, Issue 4 2004
    An Approach from Feminist Psychological Anthropology
    Difference feminists have argued that women have special virtues. One such virtue would seem to be empathy, which has three main components: imaginative projection, awareness of the other's emotions, and concern. Empathy is closely related to identification. Psychological research and the author's own study of women's and men's talk about poverty and welfare use in the United States demonstrate women's greater empathic concern. However, some cross-cultural research shows greater sex differences in empathy in the United States than elsewhere. This combination of findings (women tend to demonstrate greater empathic concern, but this typical difference varies cross-culturally) requires a complex biocultural explanation, drawing on cognitive, psychoanalytic, and feminist theories. Explanation, and not just description, is a prerequisite for change. [source]


    Psychological research in educational technology in China

    BRITISH JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY, Issue 4 2010
    Ru-De Liu
    Information and communication technology (ICT) has increasingly been bringing about significant changes in education in an ongoing process. The educational reform is not a mere technological issue but rather is based on an empirical grounding in a psychological research approach to learning and instruction. This paper introduces the research work on the application of ICT in education from the psychological perspective in China in the past three decades. The introduction focuses on four important issues with systemic theoretical thinking based on continuous empirical research and innovative practices. The first is dialectic constructivism which has offered some dialectic explanation for knowledge, learning and teaching, and balanced various contradictory aspects of learning and teaching. The second is theoretical thinking and instructional practice about the principles of learning environment design which emphasises learners' higher-order thinking, deep understanding, collaboration and self-regulated learning. The third is a model for the effectiveness and conditions of Computer-Assisted Instruction. The fourth is a framework for the integration of ICT and education and a zigzag training model for teacher training for integration. [source]


    Psychology brings justice: the science of forensic psychology,

    CRIMINAL BEHAVIOUR AND MENTAL HEALTH, Issue 3 2003
    Gisli H. Gudjonsson Professor of Forensic Psychology
    In this paper the focus is on one aspect of forensic psychology: the development of psychological instruments, a social psychological model and assessment procedures for evaluating the credibility of witnesses and police detainees during interviewing. Clinically grounded case work and research has impacted on police interviewing and practice, the admissibility of expert psychological testimony and the outcome of cases of miscarriage of justice. After describing the research that laid the foundations for advancement of scientific knowledge in this area, a brief review is presented of 22 high-profile murder cases where convictions based on confession evidence have been quashed on appeal between 1989 and 2001, often primarily on the basis of psychological evidence. The review of the cases demonstrates that psychological research and expert testimony in cases of disputed confessions have had a profound influence on the practice and ruling of the Court of Appeal for England and Wales and the British House of Lords. The cases presented in this paper show that it is wrong to assume that only persons with learning disability or those who are mentally ill make unreliable or false confessions. Personality factors, such as suggestibility, compliance, high trait anxiety and antisocial personality traits, are often important in rendering a confession unreliable. Future research needs to focus more on the role of personality factors in rendering the evidence of witnesses and suspects potentially unreliable. Copyright © 2003 Whurr Publishers Ltd. [source]


    STRAIN, PERSONALITY TRAITS, AND DELINQUENCY: EXTENDING GENERAL STRAIN THEORY

    CRIMINOLOGY, Issue 1 2002
    ROBERT AGNEW
    Although Agnew's (1992) general strain theory (GST) has secured a fair degree of support since its introduction, researchers have had trouble explaining why some individuals are more likely than others to react to strain with delinquency. This study uses data from the National Survey of Children to address this issue. Drawing on Agnew (1997) and the psychological research on personality traits, it is predicted that juveniles high in negative emotionality and low in constraint will be more likely to react to strain with delinquency. Data support this prediction. [source]


    Avoiding Misconception, Misuse, and Missed Opportunities: The Collection of Verbal Reports in Educational Achievement Testing

    EDUCATIONAL MEASUREMENT: ISSUES AND PRACTICE, Issue 4 2004
    Jacqueline P. Leighton
    The collection of verbal reports is one way in which cognitive and developmental psychologists gather data to formulate and corroborate models of problem solving. The current use of verbal reports to design and validate educational assessments reflects the growing trend to fuse cognitive psychological research and educational measurement. However, doubts about the trustworthiness or accuracy of verbal reports may suggest a potential reversal of this trend. Misconceptions about the trustworthiness of verbal reports could signal misuse of verbal reports and, consequently, waning interest and missed opportunities in the description of cognitive models of test performance. In this article, misconceptions of verbal reports are addressed by (a) discussing the value of cognitive models for educational achievement testing; (b) addressing pertinent issues in the collection of verbal reports from students; and (c) concluding with avenues for a more productive union between cognitive psychological research and educational measurement. [source]


    Discussion on ,Personality psychology as a truly behavioural science' by R. Michael Furr

    EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF PERSONALITY, Issue 5 2009
    Article first published online: 14 JUL 200
    Yes We Can! A Plea for Direct Behavioural Observation in Personality Research MITJA D. BACK and BORIS EGLOFF Department of Psychology, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany mback@uni-leipzig.de Furr's target paper (this issue) is thought to enhance the standing of personality psychology as a truly behavioural science. We wholeheartedly agree with this goal. In our comment we argue for more specific and ambitious requirements for behavioural personality research. Specifically, we show why behaviour should be observed directly. Moreover, we illustratively describe potentially interesting approaches in behavioural personality research: lens model analyses, the observation of multiple behaviours in diverse experimentally created situations and the observation of behaviour in real life. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. The Categories of Behaviour Should be Clearly Defined PETER BORKENAU Department of Psychology, Martin-Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Germany p.borkenau@psych.uni-halle.de The target paper is helpful by clarifying the terminology as well as the strengths and weaknesses of several approaches to collect behavioural data. Insufficiently considered, however, is the clarity of the categories being used for the coding of behaviour. Evidence is reported showing that interjudge agreement for retrospective and even concurrent codings of behaviour does not execeed interjudge agreement for personality traits if the categories being used for the coding of behaviour are not clearly defined. By contrast, if the behaviour to be registered is unambiguously defined, interjudge agreement may be almost perfect. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Behaviour Functions in Personality Psychology PHILIP J. CORR Department of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK Philip.Corr@btopenworld.com Furr's target paper highlights the importance, yet under-representation, of behaviour in published articles in personality psychology. Whilst agreeing with most of his points, I remain unclear as to how behaviour (as specifically defined by Furr) relates to other forms of psychological data (e.g. cognitive task performance). In addition, it is not clear how the functions of behaviour are to be decided: different behaviours may serve the same function; and identical behaviours may serve different functions. To clarify these points, methodological and theoretical aspects of Furr's proposal would benefit from delineation. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. On the Difference Between Experience-Sampling Self-Reports and Other Self-Reports WILLIAM FLEESON Department of Psychology, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC, USA fleesonW@wfu.edu Furr's fair but evaluative consideration of the strengths and weaknesses of behavioural assessment methods is a great service to the field. As part of his consideration, Furr makes a subtle and sophisticated distinction between different self-report methods. It is easy to dismiss all self-reports as poor measures, because some are poor. In contrast, Furr points out that the immediacy of the self-reports of behaviour in experience-sampling make experience-sampling one of the three strongest methods for assessing behaviour. This comment supports his conclusion, by arguing that ESM greatly diminishes one the three major problems afflicting self-reports,lack of knowledge,and because direct observations also suffer from the other two major problems afflicting self-reports. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. What and Where is ,Behaviour' in Personality Psychology? LAURA A. KING and JASON TRENT Department of Psychology, University of Missouri, Columbia, USA kingla@missouri.edu Furr is to be lauded for presenting a coherent and persuasive case for the lack of behavioural data in personality psychology. While agreeing wholeheartedly that personality psychology could benefit from greater inclusion of behavioural variables, here we question two aspects of Furr's analysis, first his definition of behaviour and second, his evidence that behaviour is under-appreciated in personality psychology. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Naturalistic Observation of Daily Behaviour in Personality Psychology MATTHIAS R. MEHL Department of Psychology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA mehl@email.arizona.edu This comment highlights naturalistic observation as a specific method within Furr's (this issue) cluster direct behavioural observation and discusses the Electronically Activated Recorder (EAR) as a naturalistic observation sampling method that can be used in relatively large, nomothetic studies. Naturalistic observation with a method such as the EAR can inform researchers' understanding of personality in its relationship to daily behaviour in two important ways. It can help calibrate personality effects against act-frequencies of real-world behaviour and provide ecological, behavioural personality criteria that are independent of self-report. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Measuring Behaviour D. S. MOSKOWITZ and JENNIFER J. RUSSELL Department of Psychology, McGill University, Montreal, Canada dsm@psych.mcgill.ca Furr (this issue) provides an illuminating comparison of the strengths and weaknesses of various methods for assessing behaviour. In the selection of a method for assessing behaviour, there should be a careful analysis of the definition of the behaviour and the purpose of assessment. This commentary clarifies and expands upon some points concerning the suitability of experience sampling measures, referred to as Intensive Repeated Measurements in Naturalistic Settings (IRM-NS). IRM-NS measures are particularly useful for constructing measures of differing levels of specificity or generality, for providing individual difference measures which can be associated with multiple layers of contextual variables, and for providing measures capable of reflecting variability and distributional features of behaviour. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Behaviours, Non-Behaviours and Self-Reports SAMPO V. PAUNONEN Department of Psychology, University of Western Ontario, London, Canada paunonen@uwo.ca Furr's (this issue) thoughtful analysis of the contemporary body of research in personality psychology has led him to two conclusions: our science does not do enough to study real, observable behaviours; and, when it does, too often it relies on ,weak' methods based on retrospective self-reports of behaviour. In reply, I note that many researchers are interested in going beyond the study of individual behaviours to the behaviour trends embodied in personality traits; and the self-report of behaviour, using well-validated personality questionnaires, is often the best measurement option. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. An Ethological Perspective on How to Define and Study Behaviour LARS PENKE Department of Psychology, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK lars.penke@ed.ac.uk While Furr (this issue) makes many important contributions to the study of behaviour, his definition of behaviour is somewhat questionable and also lacks a broader theoretical frame. I provide some historical and theoretical background on the study of behaviour in psychology and biology, from which I conclude that a general definition of behaviour might be out of reach. However, psychological research can gain from adding a functional perspective on behaviour in the tradition of Tinbergens's four questions, which takes long-term outcomes and fitness consequences of behaviours into account. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. What is a Behaviour? MARCO PERUGINI Faculty of Psychology, University of Milan,Bicocca, Milan, Italy marco.perugini@unimib.it The target paper proposes an interesting framework to classify behaviour as well as a convincing plea to use it more often in personality research. However, besides some potential issues in the definition of what is a behaviour, the application of the proposed definition to specific cases is at times inconsistent. I argue that this is because Furr attempts to provide a theory-free definition yet he implicitly uses theoretical considerations when applying the definition to specific cases. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Is Personality Really the Study of Behaviour? MICHAEL D. ROBINSON Department of Psychology, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND, USA Michael.D.Robinson@ndsu.edu Furr (this issue) contends that behavioural studies of personality are particularly important, have been under-appreciated, and should be privileged in the future. The present commentary instead suggests that personality psychology has more value as an integrative science rather than one that narrowly pursues a behavioural agenda. Cognition, emotion, motivation, the self-concept and the structure of personality are important topics regardless of their possible links to behaviour. Indeed, the ultimate goal of personality psychology is to understanding individual difference functioning broadly considered rather than behaviour narrowly considered. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Linking Personality and Behaviour Based on Theory MANFRED SCHMITT Department of Psychology, University of Koblenz-Landau, Landau, Germany schmittm@uni-landau.de My comments on Furr's (this issue) target paper ,Personality as a Truly Behavioural Science' are meant to complement his behavioural taxonomy and sharpen some of the presumptions and conclusions of his analysis. First, I argue that the relevance of behaviour for our field depends on how we define personality. Second, I propose that every taxonomy of behaviour should be grounded in theory. The quality of behavioural data does not only depend on the validity of the measures we use. It also depends on how well behavioural data reflect theoretical assumptions on the causal factors and mechanisms that shape behaviour. Third, I suggest that the quality of personality theories, personality research and behavioural data will profit from ideas about the psychological processes and mechanisms that link personality and behaviour. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. The Apparent Objectivity of Behaviour is Illusory RYNE A. SHERMAN, CHRISTOPHER S. NAVE and DAVID C. FUNDER Department of Psychology, University of California, Riverside, CA, USA funder@ucr.edu It is often presumed that objective measures of behaviour (e.g. counts of the number of smiles) are more scientific than more subjective measures of behaviour (e.g. ratings of the degree to which a person behaved in a cheerful manner). We contend that the apparent objectivity of any behavioural measure is illusory. First, the reliability of more subjective measures of behaviour is often strikingly similar to the reliabilities of so-called objective measures. Further, a growing body of literature suggests that subjective measures of behaviour provide more valid measures of psychological constructs of interest. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Personality and Behaviour: A Neglected Opportunity? LIAD UZIEL and ROY F. BAUMEISTER Department of Psychology, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USA Baumeister@psy.fsu.edu Personality psychology has neglected the study of behaviour. Furr's efforts to provide a stricter definition of behaviour will not solve the problem, although they may be helpful in other ways. His articulation of various research strategies for studying behaviour will be more helpful for enabling personality psychology to contribute important insights and principles about behaviour. The neglect of behaviour may have roots in how personality psychologists define the mission of their field, but expanding that mission to encompass behaviour would be a positive step. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


    The necessity of observing real life situations: Palestinian-Israeli violence as a laboratory for learning about social behaviour

    EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 6 2004
    Dr Daniel Bar-Tal
    Social psychology emerged in the early part of the last century as a distinct discipline that focused on the study of social behaviour of individuals and collectives. Over time, however, social psychology has relatively ignored the ,social' part of the equation and has become mainly concerned with individual behaviour. The major part of social psychological research was carried out in the artificial context of the experimental laboratory. Studying social behaviour in real life contexts is essential, not only to return social psychology to its roots, but also to ensure that our contributions are both theoretically rich and socially valuable. Observation of real life situations is essential if we want to advance our understanding of how individuals and collectives behave. To illustrate the importance of a contextually rich social psychology and the usefulness of natural observations, the recent violent confrontation between the Israelis and the Palestinians is described and analysed, focusing on social behaviours of Israeli Jews. In conclusion, it is argued that social psychology should strive towards equilibrium between natural and experimental approaches, between personal and contextual emphases and between micro and macro perspectives. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


    Closing science-practice knowledge gaps: Contributions of psychological research to human resource management

    HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT, Issue 4 2004
    Michael J. Burke
    Evidence of science-practice knowledge gaps among managers (Rynes, Colbert, & Brown, 2002), coupled with major changes occurring in the workplace over the last ten years, suggest the need for human resources practitioners to become as current as possible on how research findings can assist in improving the management of HR. Nine articles in this special issue provide rich information for understanding the contributions of psychological theories and research findings to HR management and, consequently, for closing science-practice knowledge gaps. More specifically, the articles bring together pairs of scientists and practitioners to address science-practice knowledge gaps in the areas of recruiting and selecting workers, managing performance, training and developing individuals, managing groups and teams, compensating employees, leading others, assessing employee attitudes, managing diversity, and managing downsizing. We hope these articles will stimulate and promote a broader perspective concerning the relevance and value of psychological research for improving HR practices and organizational functioning. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source]


    Attracting and selecting: What psychological research tells us

    HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT, Issue 4 2004
    Ann Marie Ryan
    HR practitioners often have misperceptions regarding research findings in the area of employee selection. This article reviews research on what selection tools work, what recruitment strategies work, how selection-tool use relates to workforce diversity, and what staffing and recruiting processes lead to positive applicant perceptions. Knowledge and implementation gaps in these areas are discussed, and key research findings are presented. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source]


    An examination of the values that motivate socially conscious and frugal consumer behaviours

    INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CONSUMER STUDIES, Issue 2 2009
    Miriam Pepper
    Abstract This article extends social psychological research on the motivations for sustainable consumption from the predominant domain of ecologically conscious consumer behaviour to socially conscious and frugal consumer behaviours. A UK-based survey study examines relationships between socially conscious and frugal consumer behaviours and Schwartz's value types, personal and socio-political materialism, and demographics among the general public. Socially conscious consumer behaviour, like its ecological counterpart, appears to be an expression of pro-social values. In contrast, frugal consumer behaviour relates primarily to low personal materialism and income constraints. As such, it does not yet represent a fully developed moral challenge to consumerism. [source]


    Reporting practices of dropouts in psychological research using a wait-list control: current state and suggestions for improvement

    INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF METHODS IN PSYCHIATRIC RESEARCH, Issue 1 2007
    Josh M. Cisler M.A.
    Abstract Reporting practices regarding dropouts in wait-list control studies hold great importance for the ability to replicate, generalize, and draw conclusions from research. This concern is applicable to all psychological research utilizing wait-list controls, regardless of purpose of research (e.g., treatment outcome). The current study assessed the present state of reporting practices in this type of experimental design and discussed the limitations and implications of the insufficient reporting found. 171 articles from psychology journals utilizing wait-list control design were surveyed regarding the reporting of the number of dropouts from the wait-list control and experimental conditions, characteristics and assessment scores of the dropouts, and total dropouts. Variables that are crucial to interpreting research findings are not consistently reported. Additionally, journal impact factor and year of publication were positively correlated with the adequacy of reporting. Consistencies with previous findings were noted, and suggestions for remedying the reporting inadequacies were discussed. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


    SSSR Presidential Address Rain Dances in the Dry Season: Overcoming the Religious Congruence Fallacy

    JOURNAL FOR THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF RELIGION, Issue 1 2010
    Mark Chaves
    Religious congruence refers to consistency among an individual's religious beliefs and attitudes, consistency between religious ideas and behavior, and religious ideas, identities, or schemas that are chronically salient and accessible to individuals across contexts and situations. Decades of anthropological, sociological, and psychological research establish that religious congruence is rare, but much thinking about religion presumes that it is common. The religious congruence fallacy occurs when interpretations or explanations unjustifiably presume religious congruence. [source]


    Theoretical and Methodological Problems in Cross-Cultural Psychology

    JOURNAL FOR THE THEORY OF SOCIAL BEHAVIOUR, Issue 1 2003
    Carl Ratner
    Carl Ratner and Lumei Hui, Theoretical and Methodological Problems in Cross-Cultural Psychology, pp. 67,93. Although cross-cultural psychology has advanced our understanding of cultural aspects of psychology, it is marred by theoretical and methodological flaws. These flaws include misunderstanding cultural issues and the manner in which they bear on psychology; obscuring the relation between biology, culture, and psychology; inadequately defining and measuring cultural factors and psychological phenomena; erroneously analysing data and drawing faulty conclusions about the cultural character of psychology. This article identifies fundamental theoretical and methodological errors that have appeared in prominent cross-cultural psychological research. Suggestions for overcoming them are then outlined. [source]


    The psychic life of colonial power: racialised subjectivities, bodies and methods

    JOURNAL OF COMMUNITY & APPLIED SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 6 2005
    Damien W. Riggs
    Abstract Ongoing histories of racism in colonial nations such as Australia challenge us as academics to consider how we understand racism and its role in practices of both privilege and oppression. In this article we as two non-indigenous people living in Australia attempt to work through issues of collective responsibility by focusing on what we believe are three key issues in the study of racism: 1) methodology and researcher subjectivity, 2) subjectification as a practice of racialisation and 3) racialised embodiment and its relation to power. In exploring these three issues we utilise theoretical interpretations of subjectivity and embodiment alongside a brief examination of a speech by Prime Minister Howard in order to elaborate our claim that racism is foundational to white subjectivities in Australia. By examining colonial violence and our relation to it, we seek to develop a framework within which psychological research on racism in Australia may disturb white claims to belonging by continuing to explore how racism works in the service of the ,good nation'. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


    Violence against women: is psychology part of the problem or the solution?

    JOURNAL OF COMMUNITY & APPLIED SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 6 2002
    A content analysis of psychological research from 1990 through 199
    Abstract Previous critiques of traditional psychology portrayed a discipline that examines social problems from an exceptionalistic perspective and decontextualizes the subjects of its inquiries. We analysed 10 years of psychological research on domestic violence, sexual assault, and sexual harassment to determine whether this criticism applied to violence against women research. Specifically, we examined the purpose, level of analysis, sample, and context of 1396 PsychLit abstracts. We found that almost half reported an examination of causal factors. Only one quarter reported intervention studies. Most studies focused at the individual level of analysis and few included contextual factors. Investigators explored questions about domestic violence most frequently among samples of victims and perpetrators drawn from clinical settings. Sexual assault and sexual harassment researchers depended on victims and perpetrators to a lesser extent, but tended to rely upon convenience samples from college settings. Representative community samples were used in only 9% of studies. These findings support the view that psychological research on violence against women suffers from a heavy emphasis on exceptionalism at the expense of a universalistic perspective, the latter of which we contend is critical to advancing the field and reducing a major threat to women's health and wellbeing. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


    The relationship between history of violent and criminal behavior and recognition of facial expression of emotions in men with schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder

    AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR, Issue 3 2006
    Elisabeth M. Weiss
    Abstract Social psychological research underscores the relation between aggression and emotion. Specifically, regulating negative affect requires the ability to appraise restraint-producing cues, such as facial signs of anger, fear and other emotions. Individuals diagnosed with major mental disorders are more likely to have engaged in violent behavior than mentally healthy members of the same communities. We examined whether violent and criminal behavior in men with schizophrenia is related to emotion recognition abilities. Forty-one men with schizophrenia underwent a computerized emotion discrimination test presenting mild and extreme intensities of happy, sad, angry, fearful and neutral faces, balanced for gender and ethnicity. History of violence was assessed by the Life History of Aggression Scale and official records of arrests. Psychopathology was rated using the Positive and Negative Symptom Scale. Criminal behavior was associated with poor emotion recognition, especially for fearful and angry facial expressions. History of aggression was also associated with more severe positive symptoms and less severe negative symptoms. These findings suggest that misinterpretation of social cues such as angry and fearful expression may lead to a failure in socialization and adaptive behavior in response to emotional situation, which may result in a higher number of criminal arrests. Aggr. Behav. 32:1,8, 2006. © 2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]


    Transformative Processes in Marriage: An Analysis of Emerging Trends

    JOURNAL OF MARRIAGE AND FAMILY, Issue 2 2007
    Frank D. Fincham
    The study of conflict has dominated psychological research on marriage. This article documents its move from center stage, outlining how a broader canvas accommodates a richer picture of marriage. A brief sampling of new constructs such as forgiveness and sacrifice points to an organizing theme of transformative processes in emerging marital research. The implications of marital transformations are explored including spontaneous remission of distress, nonlinear dynamic systems that may produce unexpected and discontinuous change, possible nonarbitrary definitions of marital discord, and the potential for developing other constructs related to self-transformation in marital research. [source]


    Judgmental Discounting and Environmental Risk Perception: Dimensional Similarities, Domain Differences, and Implications for Sustainability

    JOURNAL OF SOCIAL ISSUES, Issue 1 2007
    Alexander Gattig
    Environmental risks constitute a special category of risks because they often involve consequences that are highly uncertain, strongly delayed, occurring at distant places, and,therefore,mostly borne by others. Economic, decision,theoretic, and psychological research about the way people deal with such consequences is reviewed. Two major findings are presented: first, there is evidence that discounting mechanisms are stable across different preference dimensions (uncertainty, temporal, spatial, and social distance). Second, discount rates tend to vary across different problem domains (e.g., environmental vs. health vs. financial risks). In particular, it appears that temporal discounting is less pronounced for environmental risks than in other domains. Several factors are identified that affect the nature of the risk evaluation process, and it is argued that environmental risks differ from other risks on such factors. These environmental-risk characteristics may have important implications for policy strategies to promote environmental sustainability. Contrary to other domains, appealing to the public's long-term preferences may be successful. Also in policy making, insights from standard economic decision theory to environmental decision making should be applied with caution. [source]


    Attitudes Toward the Poor and Attributions for Poverty

    JOURNAL OF SOCIAL ISSUES, Issue 2 2001
    Catherine Cozzarelli
    Prior psychological research on attitudes toward the poor has focused almost exclusively on the attributions people make to explain why individuals are poor (e.g., Smith & Stone, 1989; Zucker & Weiner, 1993). The goal of the current study was to investigate the relationships among feelings about the poor and poverty, stereotypes of the poor, attributions for poverty, and sociopolitical ideologies (as assessed by the Protestant Ethic, Belief in a Just World, and Right Wing Authoritarianism Scales). In our Midwestern college sample (n = 209), attitudes toward the poor were found to be significantly more negative than attitudes toward the middle class. In addition, participants were most likely to blame poor people them-selves for their poverty. However, attitudes toward the poor and attributions for the causes of poverty were found to vary among individuals from different sociodemographic backgrounds and by degree of endorsement of Protestant ethic, just world, and authoritarianism beliefs. Few gender differences were obtained. [source]


    The ,heuristics and biases' bias in expert elicitation

    JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL STATISTICAL SOCIETY: SERIES A (STATISTICS IN SOCIETY), Issue 1 2008
    Mary Kynn
    Summary., In the early 1970s Tversky and Kahneman published a series of papers on ,heuristics and biases' describing human inadequacies in assessing probabilities, culminating in a highly popular article in Science. This seminal research has been heavily cited in many fields, including statistics, as the definitive research on probability assessment. Curiously, although this work was debated at the time and more recent work has largely refuted many of the claims, this apparent heuristics and biases bias in elicitation research has gone unremarked. Over a decade of research into the frequency effect, the importance of framing, and cognitive models more generally, has been almost completely ignored by the statistical literature on expert elicitation. To remedy this situation, this review offers a guide to the psychological research on assessing probabilities, both old and new, and gives concrete guidelines for eliciting expert knowledge. [source]


    HAS PSYCHOLOGY DEBUNKED CONCEPTUAL ANALYSIS?

    METAPHILOSOPHY, Issue 1 2006
    PER SANDIN
    Abstract: The philosophical method of conceptual analysis has been criticised on the grounds that empirical psychological research has cast severe doubt on whether concepts exist in the form traditionally assumed, and that conceptual analysis therefore is doomed. This objection may be termed the Charge from Psychology. After a brief characterisation of conceptual analysis, I discuss the Charge from Psychology and argue that it is misdirected. [source]


    Self-Reliance and Empathy: The Enemies of Poverty,and of the Poor

    POLITICAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 3 2001
    Robert E. Lane
    Starting with a brief review of why all post-industrial societies tend to be inegalitarian, this paper develops two main themes: (1) how the idea that people are individually responsible for their own fates reduces poverty but impedes redistribution, and (2) how both the loose ties of individuals to their societies and the selective nature of their empathy and pity for others reduces compassion for the poor, making redistribution unlikely. The first theme is elaborated through psychological research on dispositional versus circumstantial attributions, showing their effects on the widely shared belief in a just world and more generally on the prevailing theory of the justice of deserts. The attribution-affect-action model is used to show how dispositional attributes evoke either anger or pity for victims and, if anger, then unwillingness to help. The development of the second theme shows how people divorce their own fates from those of their nations, how the basic tendency to favor the familiar and similar limits support for redistribution, how converting concern regarding deprivations of the self to concern for (fraternal) deprivation of people like the self excludes those who most need help, how envy fails to lead to redistribution, and finally, how people's ideas of the privileged and the disadvantaged reflect market values and often mark the poor and the different as overprivileged. [source]


    When Being Different Is Detrimental: Solo Status and the Performance of Women and Racial Minorities

    ANALYSES OF SOCIAL ISSUES & PUBLIC POLICY, Issue 1 2002
    Mischa Thompson
    Individuals experience solo status when they are the only members of their social category (e.g., gender or race) present in an otherwise homogenous group. Field studies and surveys indicate that members of socially disadvantaged groups, such as women and racial minorities, have more negative experiences as solos than do members of privileged groups, such as Whites and males (Kanter, 1977; Niemann & Dovidio, 1998). In this article, we review research showing that the public performance of women and African-Americans is more debilitated by solo status than that of Whites and males. We also show that this effect is exacerbated when negative stereotypes about the performer's social group seem relevant to their performance, and we discuss the contributing roles of lowered performance expectancies and feelings of group representativeness. We discuss how findings from social psychological research can be applied towards the goal of reducing the decrements typically associated with being the only member, or one of few members, of one's race and/or gender in the environment. [source]


    Lessons from the origins of eyewitness testimony research in Europe

    APPLIED COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 6 2008
    Siegfried Ludwig Sporer
    After 100 years of research I look back at the beginnings of the psychology of eyewitness testimony to assess the ,progress' researchers have made. Specifically, I review the origins of (experimental) psychological research at the first three decades of the 20th century in Central Europe which quickly expanded around the world. Both eyewitness errors (e.g. due to suggestive questioning) as well as intentional distortions of the truth (lies) were thoroughly studied at that time. An eyewitness statement was considered a joint product of cognitive factors and of interrogation. It is argued that many of the central issues that are at the focus of study today had already been addressed in this early period, perhaps even with a broader scope than much contemporary writing. At the end, I propose an integrative model of the psychology of testimony that may help to organise past and future research. Ten theses that address unresolved issues and suggestions for solutions after 100 years of research are outlined. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


    Retrieval-induced forgetting in eyewitness memory: forgetting as a consequence of remembering

    APPLIED COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 2 2002
    Malcolm MacLeod
    Recent psychological research on memory has demonstrated that the act of remembering can also prompt forgetting, or more specifically, the inhibition of particular items in memory (i.e. retrieval-induced forgetting). Extending this line of inquiry, this article reports the findings from two studies designed to establish whether retrieval-induced forgetting can occur for meaningful stimuli that could be experienced under eyewitness situations. In Study 1, participants were asked to recall previously presented household items that had ostensibly been stolen in burglaries, while in Study 2, participants were asked to recall descriptive details about two individuals suspected of making bogus money collections. Both studies provided unequivocal evidence that retrieval-induced forgetting can occur for such meaningful stimuli. Importantly, in each case it was demonstrated that the observed effects could not be attributed to output interference. This article considers the likely extent of the problem posed by retrieval-induced forgetting for eyewitness reliability and some of the practical and theoretical implications of this work. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


    Public trust and confidence in legal authorities: What do majority and minority group members want from the law and legal institutions?,

    BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES & THE LAW, Issue 2 2001
    Tom R. Tyler Ph.D.
    Discussions of public trust and confidence in the police and the courts often assume that the key to public feelings is the public's evaluation of the outcomes that the public receives from these legal authorities. In the case of the courts, discontent is often assumed to be linked to issues of cost and delay,instrumental concerns about the outcomes delivered to the public by the courts. In the case of the police, the inability to effectively control crime is frequently seen as driving public evaluations. This article presents an alternative procedural justice based model that links public trust and confidence to views about the manner in which legal authorities treat the public. Drawing upon psychological research about public evaluations of institutions and authorities it is argued that the key issue that shapes public views is a process based evaluation of the fairness of the procedures that the police and courts use to exercise their authority. Analyses from several studies exploring the basis of public views support this procedural justice based model of public evaluation. In addition, the results provide suggestions about the elements of procedures that are central to public judgments about their fairness. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]