Testing the reactance vs. the reciprocity of politeness explanations for the effectiveness of the “but you are free” compliance-gaining technique

Two studies were conducted to assess whether reactance or politeness offers a better explanation of the effectiveness of the “but you are free” (BYAF) technique of gaining compliance. The first was conducted with an online survey in the US (N = 131) and found that the BYAF was associated with lower perceived freedom threat than a control or polite request. The second was a field study and collected data in France (N = 372), Norway (N = 360), and the US (N = 108) to test a 3 (direct request, polite request, or BYAF) × 2 (requester benefits or 3rd party group benefits) design. The BYAF was associated with higher compliance than the other two messages.     

The identifiable victim effect: a meta-analytic review

The identifiable victim effect (IVE) refers to individuals’ tendency to offer greater help to specific, identifiable victims than to anonymous, statistical victims. A random-effects meta-analysis was conducted to determine the overall weighted effect of IVE. Overall, 41 studies were included. Results indicated an overall significant yet modest IVE (r = .05). In addition, findings showed that IVE appears reliable mainly when there is a single identified or a single unidentified victim, and/or when study characteristics include elements of the following: a photographed child suffering from poverty, bearing little responsibility for the need, and/or associated with monetary requests. The implications of the findings and directions for future research are discussed.     

A meta-analytic review of the effect of guilt on compliance

Meta-analytic procedures were used to estimate the effect of experienced guilt on compliance. Examination of 47 effect sizes indicated that inducing guilt is an effective means by which to increase compliance, ρ = .26. Moreover, despite coding for numerous substantive and methodological moderators, there was no evidence of moderation in these data. Instead, correcting for measurement error in the independent variable and restriction in range in the dependent explained all variance in effect sizes, yielding a corrected effect size of ρ′ = .35.     

Derogating benevolent behavior of deviant in-group members: group processes within a real-life sample of heterosexual Christians

How do people evaluate potentially good and desirable behavior by others? We investigate how participants (N = 154) evaluate a couple that wants to adopt an orphan that would otherwise die. We collected data from heterosexual Christians in two cities in the Dutch Bible belt. We manipulated whether the adoptive-parents-to-be were a heterosexual couple or a lesbian couple and whether the couple self-identified as devout Christians or not. Using a subjective group dynamics account, we predicted and found that participants evaluated the lesbian couple in more negative terms than the heterosexual couple, especially when this couple was also Christian. These findings illustrate how positive behavior is derogated when displayed by in-group deviants.     

Gender-Specificity of Women's and Men's Self-Reported Attention to Sexual Stimuli

Men's sexual arousal is largely dependent on the actor's gender in a sexual stimulus (gender-specific), whereas for women, particularly androphilic women, arousal is less dependent on gender (gender-nonspecific). According to information-processing models of sexual response, sexual arousal requires that attention be directed toward sexual cues. We evaluated whether men's and women's self-reported attention to sexual stimuli of men or women were consistent with genital responses and self-reported arousal. We presented gynephilic men (n = 21) and women (n = 22) and androphilic men (n = 16) and women (n = 33) with audiovisual stimuli depicting men or women engaged in sexual activities. Genital responses were continuously recorded and, following each stimulus, participants reported the amount of attention paid to the video and feelings of sexual arousal. Self-reported attention was gender-specific for men and gender-nonspecific for women, and generally mirrored genital responses and self-reported arousal. Gender-specificity of genital responses significantly predicted gender-specificity of self-reported arousal; however, for men only, this effect was significantly mediated by gender-specificity of self-reported attention. Gender differences in gender-specificity of sexual arousal may be partially accounted for by differences in gender-specificity of self-reported attention, although attention may play a greater role in men's sexual arousal than women's.     

Priming Resistance to Persuasion decreases adherence to Conspiracy Theories*

Research in the field of Resistance to Persuasion (RP) has demonstrated that inoculating individuals with counter arguments is effective for lowering their levels of adherence to conspiracist beliefs (CB). Yet, this strategy is limited because it requires specific arguments tailored against targeted conspiracist narratives. Therefore, we investigated whether priming Resistance to Persuasion would reduce individual adherence to CB among undergraduate student samples. A first study (N = 81) demonstrated that participants primed by filling a RP scale had lower CB scores than control participants. This effect was directly replicated twice (N = 205 and N = 265) and confirmed by a mini meta-analysis (N = 519; d = .20). Practical and theoretical implications are then discussed.     

The Role of the Environment in Sedentary Behavior in Community-Dwelling Older Adults

To compare amounts of sedentary behavior and physical activity in adults residing in planned group residential settings to those residing in private homes, this study recruited 31 older adults who resided in planned group residential settings (n = 13) and in private homes (n = 18). Daily activities were measured using the SenseWear Armband for 7 days. Estimates of the duration of daily activities performed across sedentary, light, and moderate-to-vigorous intensities were captured. It was found that participants in planned group residential settings were older (age 85.9 ± 3.5 vs. 78.3 ± 7.2; p = 0.001) and spent more time in sedentary behaviors (12.7 ± 1.5 vs. 11.3 ± 1.6; p = 0.02) than participants in private homes. The difference was attenuated slightly after controlling for age and wear time (adjusted difference 1.2 ± 0.6 hours, p = 0.06). Thus, adults residing in planned group residential settings, which provide supportive services, were more sedentary than adults residing in private homes. The environment in which older adults live may contribute to sedentary behavior.     

Associations between gambling,substance misuse and recidivism among Canadian offenders: a multifaceted exploration of poor impulse control traits and behaviours

Moderate correlations among gambling, substance use and crime suggest these three behaviours may each be indicators of a single underlying problem trait, such as poor impulse control. We tested whether self-reported traits prospectively predicted future criminal recidivism, when accounting for incarcerated adult offenders' past criminal behaviour, substance use and gambling behaviour. We took a multi-construct approach to measuring components of impulse control, utilizing three questionnaires that assess sensation seeking, poor premeditation, and reward sensitivity. Male participants incarcerated in two federal institutions were invited to complete self-report booklets; participation was self-selected and fully voluntary. Results indicated moderate correlations between measures of trait impulse control, self-reported drug use, and official criminal history (N = 140). Gambling problems prospectively predicted post-release criminal recidivism (n = 83), even when accounting for past criminal behaviour, impulse control traits and substance misuse. Although they represent a small percentage of this sample, results suggest offenders with high gambling problems represent a particularly at-risk group for future crime, who were more than four times likely to reoffend compared to offenders without problem gambling. These results suggest there may be mutual impact of problem behaviours on life outcomes above the contribution of poor impulse control.     

Comparing the efficacy of electronic-tablet to paper-based surveys for on-site survey administration

This study compares cost, completion times, and percent completion of electronic tablet (n = 244) to paper-based (n = 398) questionnaires administered to participants of scenic raft trips on the Snake River, Grand Teton National Park. We hypothesized e-tablet questionnaires would (1) cost less (2) be completed faster and (3) be completely filled more frequently than paper-based questionnaires. Our survey resulted in a greater per unit cost of e-tablet compared to paper-based questionnaires ($4.17 and $1.80, respectively). Although e-tablets were completed faster (230 [±66] s) than paper questionnaires (235 [±57] s), the difference was not significant (t₍₆₄₁₎ = 1.97, p = 0.39). E-tablets were filled completely more frequently than paper questionnaires (80% vs. 51%, respectively; χ² = 3.84, p < 0.01). We suggest that for multi-year projects with a sample size target of ≥100, and length ≥ 5 pages, e-tablets are more cost effective and efficient than paper-based surveys.     

Influential factors in the choice of public transportation or cars as the mode of transportation in habitual commutes / Factores que influyen en la elección del transporte público o el automóvil como modo de transporte en los desplazamientos habituales

The goal of this study is to analyse the differences in attitudes towards habitual modes of transportation among users of public and private transportation. The explanatory capacity of attitudes when determining the mode choice, along with the structural and sociodemographic factors, are also verified. The study was performed in three Spanish cities with 742 participants. The results revealed that cars are better rated than public modes of transportation in the attributes associated with immediate advantages (i.e., speed and availability) and convenience. Subways are highly rated in both immediate and deferred advantages (environment, safety, cost and health). Buses are the mode rated the lowest of the three. Using logistic regression, it was verified that the variance explained by a model that includes attitudes (R² = .639) is higher than the variance explained by a model based solely on variables related to infrastructures (R² = .489). The discussion of these results includes proposals aimed at decreasing car use.     

Does affective forecasting change motivation for disaster preparedness? Motivation one month after a hypothetical earthquake / ¿Influye la predicción afectiva en la motivación para la preparación ante las catástrofes? La motivación un mes después de un terremoto hipotético

The present study examined how disaster preparedness would change after people predicted their affective reactions in the event of a major earthquake. In Study 1, participants (N = 255) completed an assessment of disaster preparedness. One week later, participants predicted their thoughts and feelings if a major earthquake were to strike, and then responded to the motivation measure. Study 2 (N = 129) examined the status of participants’ motivation after one month. The results showed that greater motivation was only seen immediately after affective forecasting, and the same level of motivation was not maintained after one month. When people imagine a potential earthquake the expected negative affective reactions are overestimated. Disaster preparedness allows people to mitigate their future negative affective reactions. In order to avoid these affective reactions, affective forecasters had greater motivation for disaster preparedness.     

Does Race Matter? Implicit and Explicit Measures of the Effect of the PR Spokesman's Race on Evaluations of Spokesman Source Credibility and Perceptions of a PR Crisis' Severity

One rationale offered for why there are fewer people of color in public relations is that publics would respond less positively if racial minorities represented the public face of an organization. To determine the plausibility of this rationale, this study employed a 2 (race: Black vs. White spokesman) × 2 (performance history: with prior crisis vs. no prior crisis) × 2 (crisis type: sports vs. product recall) within-subjects experiment (N = 64), using both implicit (reaction time) and explicit (self-report) measures. Contrary to expectations, participants rated Black spokesmen as significantly more credible than White spokesmen using explicit measures. Most significantly, implicit tests, using response time measures, revealed that heuristic cues, such as the spokesman's race, have an influence on perceptions in the absence of a performance history, i.e., when no other information must be cognitively processed. But in cases where there is a crisis history, i.e., when there is more pertinent information, racial cues play less of a role.     

Temporal Closeness Promotes Imitation of Meaningful Gestures in Face-to-Face Communication

The present research investigated how temporal distance affects imitation of gestures during a conversation. According to construal level theory, psychological closeness (vs. distance) leads to preference for more pictorial and embodied (vs. symbolic and amodal) forms of communication as well as to greater context sensitivity. We thus hypothesized that people are more sensitive to the contextual meaning of gestures and show more imitation of meaningful (vs. meaningless) gestures when primed with temporal closeness (compared to distance). Participants (N = 91) were assigned to the role of a job interviewer for an internship that would begin in 1 week (vs. in 1 year) and interacted with an ostensible applicant who displayed various meaningful and meaningless gestures. When the internship was to start in 1 week, participants imitated meaningful gestures more often than meaningless gestures. When the internship was to start in 1 year, participants imitated both gesture types equally frequently. This finding indicates that people are more likely to embody verbal statements of an interaction partner when feeling psychologically close to the subject of the conversation.     

Individual relationship education program as a prevention method for intimate partner violence

ABSTRACT

Intimate partner violence (IPV) can have detrimental effects on the lives of partners and children. The authors examined the effectiveness of a relationship education program, titled Within My Reach (WMR), to prevent IPV in a naturalistic nonrandomized adult sample. The sample included participants who endorsed no physical violence in their relationship and no to very low controlling behaviors at pretest. At 6-month follow-up the participants in the WMR group reported statistically significant fewer controlling behaviors than the comparison group (d = .45). Although there were no statistically significant differences between the WMR and comparison group in physical violence at 6-month follow-up, the findings were in still favor of the WMR group (d = .15).     

Measuring warmth and competence at inter-group,interpersonal and individual levels / Medición de la cordialidad y la competencia en los niveles intergrupal,interindividual e individual

Abstract

Warmth and competence are universal dimensions of social perception that articulate the perception of other individuals and social groups. However, there are no scales that have systematically been used in psychosocial research. The purpose of this study is to construct two scales, one on warmth and another on competence, which could be used at the inter-group, interpersonal and individual levels. To accomplish this, we performed two studies. In Study I (N = 578 students and N = 540 general population), we tested the scales at the intergroup level (immigrant groups and Spaniards), the interpersonal level (people close to the participants) and the individual level (the participants themselves). In Study 2 (N = 184 students), the two scales were tested at an interpersonal level by evaluating 16 public figures. The results of both studies show that both the warmth scale (kind, pleasant, friendly, warm) and the competence scale (competent, effective, skilled, intelligent) achieved a high degree of reliability when reflecting the perception of groups, individuals and oneself.     

Quality indicator survey versus traditional survey in New York State: a comparison of results from annual nursing home surveys

Despite the passage of OBRA’87 for nursing home reform, concerns about care in facilities continue. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid developed new regulations and the Traditional Survey (TS) process for annual nursing home survey. The survey is conducted by state regional offices to determine facility compliance with federal regulations. Despite the regulations and new survey process, the TS inconsistently identified problems. A computerized process called the Quality Indicator Survey (QIS) was subsequently developed. This study was designed to compare results from TS and QIS on overall deficiencies, select quality indicators, high-severity deficiencies, and severity differences of seven quality indicators in New York State over a 6-year period from 2010 through 2015. Results of t-tests determined a significant difference in the overall mean number of deficiencies (p < .001), and on four indicators: choices (p < .001), nursing staff (p < .001), dental (p < .001), and dignity (p < .05). Facilities using the TS showed a higher mean number of harm level or higher deficiencies (p < .001). Chi-square tests for severity levels showed significantly more higher severity deficiencies on two quality indicators: nutrition (p < 0.001) and hydration (p < 0.05). Thus, the QIS produced a greater mean number of deficiencies, while TS produced more higher severity deficiencies in New York State.     

The relationship between explicit and implicit learning processes and probable pathological gambling

This paper reports the findings of a study of explicit and implicit learning and gambling with non-problem (n = 107), sub-clinical problem gamblers (n = 13), and probable pathological gamblers (n = 46). Two probability learning tasks modeled after gambling games and an artificial grammar task were used to explore how people learn patterns. In each of the two probability learning tasks, the outcome of the game was biased during the first part (learning phase) of the task. The results showed that many of the participants in the experimental conditions learned the bias and gradually unlearned the bias during the extinction phase of the study. Probable pathological gamblers showed less retention of the bias during two probability tasks and repeated the same errors during the artificial grammar task suggesting that they emphasize explicit learning strategies rather than implicit learning strategies. The results are consistent with the idea that pathological gamblers are more likely to utilize explicit rules than implicit rules.     

Cultures of the soul: spiritual beliefs about organ donation in China and the United States

Spiritual beliefs shape ideas about the meaning of life, the moment of death, and the care that must be taken to deliver the body of the loved one to the spiritual realm. This study investigated spiritual beliefs about organ donation for participants in China (n = 364) and the United States (n = 384). Results showed that spiritual connection with the transplant recipient, spiritual concern about removing organs, and attitudes toward organ donation significantly predicted willingness to become an organ donor for participants in both countries. Americans reported being significantly more religious compared to Chinese. However, altruism and religiosity were not significant predictors of willingness to donate organs. Chinese participants showed significantly higher levels of spiritual connection with the potential recipient of transplanted organs. Even so, Chinese participants exhibited more reluctance to become organ donors compared to Americans. Gender differences in organ donation behaviors are also reported. The study discusses the implications of the findings for structuring organ procurement campaigns that will address spiritual beliefs about organ donation.     

The prevalence of elder abuse and neglect in Iran: a systematic review and meta-analysis

ABSTRACT

Objective: The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of elder abuse and neglect in Iran.

Methods: We searched PubMed, Embase, Scopus, and PsycINFO by the end of 2017. The prevalence was calculated based on the percentage or the amount reported in the studies. Heterogeneity was assessed by the I² statistic, and the data were combined using random effects model. The results were reported as the pooled estimates and the 95% confidence intervals (CIs). The review protocol was registered in PROSPERO (CRD42017070744).

Results: A total of 16 studies involving 6,461 participants aged 60 years and over were included. The pooled prevalence for overall elder abuse was 45.7% (95% CI: 27.3–64.1, p < .001).

Discussion: The prevalence of elder abuse and neglect is substantial in the Iranian population aged 60 years and over. More research is needed to investigate the actual prevalence of elder abuse at the national level.