Gambling behavior and information processing biases

Humans tend to exhibit rather consistent biases when cognitively processing information. In a gaming environment, these biases can affect participation in games of chance. The availability bias reduces complex probalistic judgments to simpler ones through the ease to which relevant instances can be brought to mind. The representativeness bias improperly attributes characteristics to an entity or process based on evidence received in a limited setting. Biasing factors appear to be affected by individual differences and situational factors. The effect on gambling may manifest itself in terms of duration of play, money played, and satisfaction or dissatisfaction with play. Implications for treatment of pathological gamblers are discussed.     

Change resistance moderates existence and longevity biases

Evidence has been found for existence and longevity biases—inferences of goodness from prevalence or longevity. We argue these biases actually emerge among change-resisting individuals. Our evidence suggests change-accepting individuals can even demonstrate a reversal of these biases. In two studies, change-resisting individuals’ attitudes were suggestive of existence and longevity biases while change-accepting individuals significantly reversed this pattern by evaluating long-standing or prevalent objects less favorably. Finally, we reanalyzed data from the existence and longevity biases literature previously reported in Social Influence. We found Americans identifying as more Republican—thus theorized as more change-resisting—were those who favored a long-standing practice. Altogether, we argue that existence and longevity biases emerge depending on individuals’ change resistance, indicating an important theoretical expansion.     

Character work in social movements

Social movements carry out extensive character work, trying to define not only their own reputations but those of other major players in their strategic arenas. Victims, villains, and heroes form the essential triad of character work, suggesting not only likely plots but also the emotions that audiences are supposed to feel for various players. Characters have been overlooked in cultural analysis, possibly because they often take visual, non-narrative forms. By focusing on characters within movements, we illuminate some cultural dilemmas that both organizers and their opponents face as they try to influence players’ reputations.     

Children's standards for judging their own facial expressions of emotion

This study examined three- to seven-year-old children's abilities to recognize and label their own facial expressions of emotion. Each child posed four facial expressions (Happy, Sad, Angry, and Scared) which were photographed with a Polaroid camera. The child then selected each expression from the array of his/her own photos and labeled the facial expression of each photo. In addition to children's self-evaluations, the photo set's expressive content was evaluated by a panel of adult raters. Happy was the expression easiest for children to pose; Scared was the most difficult. Abilities involved in evaluating one's own facial expression (i.e., recognizing and labeling) appear not to be acquired simultaneously with the ability to pose the expression. Not all children conformed to adult standards in evaluating their own expressions. Nearly one-fifth of the children studied exhibited evidence of an idiosyncratic expressive scheme for at least one of their facial expressions.     

The accuracy and biases of diary communication data

A study to determine the accuracy and reliability of telephone communications data obtained via self-recording diaries was undertaken. The methodology involved comparing data obtained from the diaries to the more objective data provided by the recording capabilities of a PBX (Private branch Exchange). Two questions formed the basis for the analysis. First, what is the level of accuracy of diary data, and, second what biases are inherent in data obtained from self-recorded diaries. The findings indicate that diary data significantly understate the actual frequency of communications. There were also several biases inherent in the diary data. One involved a significant understatement of very short communications (i.e. those lasting less than 90 seconds). The others showed an under-recording of received calls and a likelihood to record internal rather than external cals. The conclusion drawn is that in the absence of objective data (i.e. data obtained from machine recording) diaries can provide usable data as long as one pays attention to the biases inherent in their use.     

Measuring hand movements

Hand movements were classified into speech illustrators, body manipulators, and actions which convey precise symbolic information. The behavioral code noted whether the action involved the left, right, or both hands, and the manipulator code also included the part of the body manipulated. The application of this code to videotapes of conversations provided data to examine a number of methodological issues. Reliability was inspected in a number of ways; each showed high intercoder agreement. Little redundancy was found among the various hand measures, although scores for the frequency of an activity and for the duration of an activity were highly intercorrelated for most classes of hand actions. An economical method for coding hand activity was compared with the standard, more time-consuming method. Similar results were obtained, although the economical method appeared to be more vulnerable to measurement error.This research was supported by a grant from NIMH, MH 11976. The preparation of this report was supported by a grant from the Harry F. Guggenheim foundation.     

Commitment and agency in social movements

Any movement that hopes to sustain commitment over a period of time must make the construction of a collective identity one of its most central tasks. Social relationships that embody values of participation and community in their concrete practices contribute to empowering people. But such arguments need additional specification before their theoretical potential can be realized. I have taken the coincidence of this talk with the anniversary of the first teach-in against the war in Vietnam and the assassination of Archbishop Romero in El Salvador as a directive for examining these two cases—with an eye toward learning more about how identity building and social relationships in social movement practice foster long-term commitment and agency.An earlier version, titled Democratic Participation in Social Movements, was presented as a presidential address to the Eastern Sociological Society, March 24, 1990.     

Intersectionality and social movements: Intersectional challenges and imperatives in the study of social movements

Intersectionality emerged in the border space between social movements and academic politics as a means of better understanding and confronting interlocking systems of oppression. For scholars studying social movements, it offers a framework for better understanding the power dynamics of movements (the inclusions and exclusions). It is also something to be studied. Women of color, and other groups at the intersection of multiple marginalities conceptualized intersectionality as not only a type of integrated analysis or heuristic, but as an active political orientation to be put into practice. In this essay, I review and discuss the benefits and challenges of studying social movements intersectionally (an analysis that might be applied to the study of any movements), as well as the growing literature focused on social movement intersectionality, that looks for and at intersectionally oriented movements and the praxis of intersectionality within movements. This developing area of study provides new ways of understanding and troubling social movement solidarity.     

Racial-ethnic biases, time pressure, and medical decisions

This study examined two types of potential sources of racial-ethnic disparities in medical care: implicit biases and time pressure. Eighty-one family physicians and general internists responded to a case vignette describing a patient with chest pain. Time pressure was manipulated experimentally. Under high time pressure, but not under low time pressure, implicit biases regarding blacks and Hispanics led to a less serious diagnosis. In addition, implicit biases regarding blacks led to a lower likelihood of a referral to specialist when physicians were under high time pressure. The results suggest that when physicians face stress, their implicit biases may shape medical decisions in ways that disadvantage minority patients.     

Intrinsic and extrinsic effects on behavioral tax biases in risky investment decisions

Individuals often do not take taxes correctly into account, which results in distorted or unexpected investments. We shed further light on the discussion of such behavioral tax perception biases by analyzing intrinsic and extrinsic effects on investment decisions. We study two dimensions: (1) the influence of emotions and perceived risk (individual dimension, intrinsic effects) and (2) the influence of available tax information by varying tax complexity and salience (tax system dimension, extrinsic effects). In our laboratory experiment, we construct the payoff structure such that the subjects are confronted with exactly the same choices in net terms in a situation with or without a capital gains tax. This design allows us to identify pure tax perception biases. We show that both dimensions are able to explain tax perception biases. In particular, we find evidence that perceived risk is lower and consequently willingness to take risk is higher with a capital gains tax (with full loss offset provision) than without taxation. Furthermore, this positive effect on risky investment is higher in a situation with a rather low level of tax information in which tax complexity is high and tax salience is low.     

Sex and sexual orientation as variables in therapists' biases and therapy outcomes

The extent to which the variables of sex and sexual orientation are factors in therapy efficacy and therapist bias are examined through an extensive review of the literature. Data analysis based on a large sample of lesbian women indicate that female therapists, either heterosexual or lesbian, were assessed to be more beneficial than male therapists. However, the author suggests that therapists' sex role ideology may be a more salient factor than sex or sexual orientation in positive therapy outcomes with lesbian women.     

Toward an integrated analysis of social movements and new religious movements research

Despite calls from researchers for intersectional studies between religion and social movements over the past few decades, scholars have not engaged in fruitful conversation about integrating the two disciplines. This article aims to facilitate such discussion by examining the topic of new religious movements (NRMs). I first review the existing literature on NRMs and discuss why NRM research has been neglected in social movement studies. Then, I explore a few research areas where both NRM studies and social movement research could intersect and benefit from a synthetic approach. Specifically, I suggest that social movement studies could advance through the examination of some relatively ignored subjects of research, such as persistent participation and disengagement, by drawing on empirical cases of NRMs. I also propose ways in which the application of social movement theories would enhance our understanding of different aspects of NRMs, such as their leadership and coalition practices. In making these arguments, I refer to one of the prominent, long-term NRMs, the Unification Church or Movement, to help illustrate my ideas.     

Criteria for judging the credibility of children's statements about their sexual abuse

One hundred and three cases of child sexual maltreatment, where offenders confessed to some level of their abuse, were examined to determine the extent to which the children's statements about their victimization contained three widely accepted clinical criteria of a true sexual abuse allegation. The results support clinical assumptions that the criteria in question were valid ones for determining the truth of a sexual abuse allegation in cases involving confessions of abusers.     

Refugee movements and Turkey

There has been a long tradition in the Ottoman Empire and the Turkish Republic of receiving refugees. There were Jewish refugees from the Spanish Inquisition, Hungarians and Poles fleeing revolts in 1848-9, and those of Turkish descent and usually from the Balkans. Concurrent with this trend is the history of refugees and immigrants leaving Turkey, such as many Armenians, Greeks and Jews leaving at the turn of the century, and after 1923 and the Treaty of Lausanne. Little is currently published on the topic. This article defines a refugee; provides an overview of the refugee problems of the 1980's due to Bulgarian, Kurdish, and Turkish refugees; and the legal and political aspects. As a country of origin, there is discussion of the political and economic aspects of Turkish asylum seekers in Europe. The potential refugee flows to and from Turkey are also examined. I) For this study, refugees are victims of political violence and are persecuted for political or religious beliefs, ethnic or racial background, or war. In Turkey, there are national refugees, international refugees outside the Convention, and UNHCR Convention refugees. During the 1980's all 3 groups were arriving: from eastern Europe, Iranian Kurds, Iraqis, and ethnic Turks from Bulgaria and Afghanistan. The Turkish restricted acceptance of the 1951 Convention on Refugees creates serious humanitarian and security consequences for refugees other than those from eastern Europe and of Turkish ethnicity. Political considerations play an important role in treatment where security threats outweigh humanitarian need. The case is given for Kurdish refugees. II) Asylum seekers from Turkey in Western Europe was determined between 1986-90 to be 185,000 from applications. These figures have risen steadily due to the political instability and military activity of areas bordering Iraq and Syria, the Emergency Region. In addition there are economic and employment problems, and there has been a suspension of human rights. Europe in return has tightened legislation and procedures to differentiate economically motivated refugees from authentic political asylum seekers. Further research is needed to investigate refugee problems. Further refugees may come due to the promotion of a Black Sea Cooperation Region and easier crossings of borders to the former Soviet Republics. Ethnic Turks in Moldavia or Romania or Bulgaria may leave due to unrest. Factors affecting asylum seekers are improvements in Turkey's human rights record, repeal of bans of the Kurdish language, completion of the South Eastern Development Project, and the European government policy on asylum.     

Community and urban movements

Empirically and theoretically, this paper considers the link between the urban community, as a social base, and the emergence of urban movements. It examines whether different urban communities lead to different urban movements, specifically whether cohesive communities lead to powerful movements. Using an Australian case study, the first part of the paper tests this relationship empirically. The findings given raise doubts about whether cohesiveness is a necessary pre-condition for widespread mobilisation, as well as questioning the theoretical validity of ‘urban community’and ‘community’as sociological concepts. There is an apparent need to discard these concepts when referring to contemporary Western societies and a concomitant need to develop concepts which more appropriately identify the social organisation of urban households and residential areas. The second part of the paper discusses these theoretical issues. It presents an argument on the way household and residential organisations change as the city changes and how they differ if urbanisation differs between regions and between nations. This argument provides a more appropriate framework for examining the nature of the relationship between social bases and urban movements and it contributes a more useful explanation for the case study.     

Illegality of international population movements in Poland

Until the beginning of the 1990s Poland did not receive foreign migrants. Thereafter, the situation changed dramatically. A large part of the inflow proved to be illegal migrants, many of whom were in transit to Western Europe. Although these movements gradually declined in the second half of the decade, some became increasingly identified with relatively sophisticated smuggling of people. Foreigners smuggled from the South to the West, together with the international criminal networks assisting them, became typical of the migratory movements of people in Central and Eastern Europe during the 1990s. This article seeks to describe illegal migration from the perspective of Poland, a country often perceived as a major transit area in the smuggling of persons to Western Europe. The conclusions draw on the findings of several surveys recently carried out in Poland. Basic concepts related to illegal migration are defined and juxtaposed, and various myths and stereotypes concerning it that most often stem from the paucity of empirical evidence are examined. Finally, the trends observed in Poland are interpreted within the larger context of contemporary European migration.