A network centrality bias: Central individuals in workplace networks have more supportive coworkers

Combining the results of two empirical studies, we investigate the role of alters’ motivation in explaining change in ego’s network position over time. People high in communal motives, who are prone to supportive and altruistic behavior in their interactions with others as a way to gain social acceptance, prefer to establish ties with co-workers occupying central positions in organizational social networks. This effect results in a systematic network centrality bias: The personal network of central individuals (individuals with many incoming ties from colleagues) is more likely to contain more supportive and altruistic people than the personal network of individuals who are less central (individuals with fewer incoming ties). This result opens the door to the possibility that the effects of centrality so frequently documented in empirical studies may be due, at least in part, to characteristics of the alters in an ego’s personal community, rather than to egos themselves. Our findings invite further empirical research on how alters’ motives affect the returns that people can reap from their personal networks in organizations.     

Drawing a connection from victim to victimizer.

1. The biological basis of the altered alarm/dissociative process during and after sexual trauma impedes the development of information processing essential for discerning intention, personal responsibility, sense of control over events, and trust in others. 2. Once this imbalance occurs, the child is restricted in developing cognitive schema to deal with interpersonal intimacy. This in turn results in secondary patterns of aggressiveness or avoidance. 3. The implication of this biological understanding of trauma and information processing for treatment underscores the necessity of reducing arousal, thus lessening the dissociative process. Drawings of the criminal act and the victim experience elicit cues connecting the two events, facilitating an increase in personal control over repeated aggressive acts.     

The influence of contextual variables on interpersonal spacing

Four studies examined the effects of contextual variables on interpersonal spacing. Contextual variables were defined as transitory factors that involved the setting in which an interaction occurs; these variables were delineated from personal and interpersonal characteristics. In each experimental setting, white male subjects were allowed to choose the distance at which they interacted with a stranger. The first study found that subjects who had experienced social isolation prior to the interaction chose greater distances than subjects who had not been isolated. The second study found that subjects chose greater distances when they believed their interaction would be observed by others than when the interaction was private. Results from the third study yielded an interaction between topic of conversation and expected length of conversation with greatest distance being chosen when subjects expected a long conversation to focus on a personal topic. In the final study, room size and shape influenced interpersonal distance; the interaction indicated that room size affected distance only in rectangular rooms. The results are discussed in terms of equilibrium model (Argyle & Dean, 1965). It is argued that contextual variables affect intimacy, and that the equilibrium model can explicate the effects of contextual as well as personal and interpersonal variables.The help of the following people in conducting the research and analyzing the data is gratefully acknowledged: Elizabeth Brown, Brad Reeves, Michael Satir, Sheryl Vaughn, Mary Holland, Quig Lawrence, William Webb, and Kerry Marsh. Thanks are also in order for an unusually thorough reviewer who raised a number of important issues.     

The Impact of Service-Learning on Student Development

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of the personal, professional, interpersonal, social, and academic development of students who complete a 15-hour service-learning assignment as part of the requirements for a family diversity course. A content analysis of 36 students' reflection papers revealed that service-learning was extremely beneficial, even when the experience was brief. Numerous valuable lessons were learned by the students about themselves and their future careers. Specifically, they became more accepting of others, and they realized the importance of service to one's community. In addition, they were able to process and synthesize the information they learned in the classroom by experiencing the course content in a real-world setting.     

Decision making for others involving risk: A review and meta-analysis

Are choices for others riskier than choices people make for themselves? This question has been asked by economists, psychologists, and other researchers in the social sciences – which has generated a diversity of research accounts and results. For example, a number of studies have found strong instances of a risky shift in choices for others, while other studies have found no such effect or have found that choices for others instead generate a cautious shift. In a meta-analysis of 128 effects from 71 published and unpublished papers (totaling 14,443 observations), we found a significant though small effect size (d = 0.105) in favor of a risky shift when people choose for others. Moreover, we found considerable variance between studies (Q = 1106.25), suggesting that the net effect is susceptible to moderating factors or study characteristics, which we identify and discuss as well (viz. choice recipient, decision frame, decision reciprocity, theoretical perspective, study design). Thus, we document not only whether decisions for others are riskier, but when (and when such decisions are less risky). We further discuss what is distinctly unique about decision making for others – how such choices are not just different in degree from personal choices but different in kind.     

Self-deception in public relations. A psychological and sociological approach to the challenge of conflicting expectations

The paper enquires into the role of self-deception in public relations struggling with discrepancies between heterogeneous stakeholder expectations and organizational interests and particularly between normative expectations of truthfulness and practical temptations of deception. Drawing on theoretical foundations of evolutionary psychology and sociology, we propose a framework for the origins, drivers, and functions of self-deception in public relations. The analysis reveals that under specific conditions self-deception can be an essential mechanism in public relations because it relieves practitioners from tensions driven by conflicting perceptions of truth and legitimacy. Self-deception is most likely to occur in situations of cognitive dissonance for practitioners to balance internal information processing and in situations of normative pressure when practitioners seek to comply with external expectations.     

EDITORIAL

Abstract

This exploratory, qualitative research was conducted to obtain the perspectives of people with significant physical disabilities regarding factors that have facilitated and hindered the development of a positive self-concept, participation in the broader society, and the formation of interpersonal relationships. The sample was high achieving in terms of education and/or career and attributed positive self-perceptions and their success in the broader society and interpersonal relationships to the attitudes and perceptions regarding their abilities, talents, and potential modeled in supportive family relationships. Females reported the influence of significant others most often, and males the effectiveness of their personality characteristics. Societal barriers, both practical and attitudinal, were reported along with the process for developing a positive self-perception despite these.     

Open adoption records,the human rights of adopted people,and discrimination: the case of Odièvre v France 2003

The recent judgement by the European Court of Human Rights in the Odièvre v France case has denied some adopted people the right to access identifying information about their family of origin. Yet, in the UK, adopted people have enjoyed the right to access identifying information for many years. The evidence from practice and research has demonstrated the positive benefits adopted people and their birth and adoptive relatives have gained from an open record policy. In this paper, the authors argue that denying some adopted people access to information that could enhance their personal identity creates an act of discrimination.     

Diana Gittins. The Child in Question. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1997. 231 Pages

Abstract

Does occupation-level information reflect what people actually do at work and thus influence individuals? I examine whether there is an effect of occupation-level complexity on individuals' sense of personal control, and if there is, whether the effect is a proxy for the actual work people do on their jobs. I analyze a national probability sample of 1,450 employed persons interviewed by telephone in 1995. Without adjustment for worker's reports of autonomy, creativity, authority, and social interaction in their daily work, an index of DOT occupational complexity of work with data and people correlates with the sense of personal control. Adjustment for job-level autonomy, creativity, authority, and social interaction renders the occupation-level measure insignificant and shows significant effects of autonomous work, creative work, and social interaction at work on the sense of personal control.     

Defining the mobile-digital situation within perpetual telecopresence: An exploratory study of the impact of mobile phones on the life-world

ABSTRACT

This study explores the impact of mobile phone use on the structure of the life-world and the process of defining the situation. The findings from data collected from five focus groups (N = 38) and 26 in-depth interviews (N = 28) suggest that, as mobile phones become normalized within personal relationships, people develop a sense of perpetual telecopresence with their significant others (i.e., best friends, romantic partners, close family members). Additionally, since the mobile-digital situation is dislocated, very little empirical information is available for defining the situation; consequently, definitions of the mobile-digital situation are based upon imagined-empirical information relative to the relational identities of the interlocutors. Moreover, cognitive involvement becomes a central dynamic for any definitions of the mobile-digital situation.     

Risk,Protection, and Resilience Among Youth Residing in Public Housing Neighborhoods

Constructs of risk, protection, and resilience were examined from the perspectives of 20 ethnically diverse elementary and middle school children residing in urban public housing neighborhoods. Participants attended an afterschool program at locations in each of the neighborhoods. Analyses generated five themes: (1) challenges (community-neighborhood, peer, school, family, and personal); (2) coping (behavioral, emotional, spiritual, and cognitive); (3) health (community-neighborhood, peer, school, family, and personal); (4) connection (relationships that provide companionship, esteem, information, and instrumental support); and (5) aspirations. Implications of the findings for preventing problem behavior and promoting healthy development among young people in public housing settings are identified.     

Behavioral implications of providing real incentives in stated choice experiments

This paper explores the potential impacts of introducing real economic incentives in choice experiments (CE). While many others have investigated such impacts before, the majority of the literature has focused solely on mitigation of hypothetical bias. We contribute to this literature by widening the scope of research to other behavioral aspects where consumers in CE are often found to deviate from homo economicus. We develop a theoretical model where not only Willingness to pay (WTP) measures but also decision processing can be affected by the introduction of an economic incentive. Specifically, our model allows for differential impacts on attribute processing, depending on the character of the attribute as well as self-image effects. In an empirical CE survey, we find some, though not unequivocal, support of our model. Even though we find no impact on WTP from introducing an economic incentive, we find marked benefits in relation to a number of behavioral aspects that together would favor the use of an economic incentive regardless of hypothetical bias being present or not.     

PERCEIVED IMPACT OF DEFAMATION: AN EXPERIMENT ON THIRD-PERSON EFFECTS

This paper explores the intersection of libel law and communicationtheory that occurs when libel juries assess the effect of adefamatory communication on others. The third-person hypothesissuggests that people often assume others will be more affectedby potentially persuasive communications than they are themselves.An experiment was conducted in which students were exposed toa variety of defamatory newspaper articles. The results confirmedseveral predictions. First, readers estimated that others wouldbe more affected by defamatory messages than the readers themselveswould be. Second, this effect was magnified as the "others"became progressively more distant from these readers. Third,when the defamation was attributed to a negatively biased sourcethe effect was also accentuated: readers themselves discountedthe message, while assuming others would be even more influenced.It is suggested that courtroom assessments of the effects ofdefamatory communications on others may be influenced by suchthird-person perceptions.     

Clientelism and guanxi: Southern European and Chinese public relations in comparative perspective

This paper compares and analyzes the practice of public relations between Southern European countries (Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Spain) and China. The author argues Western countries are not a monolithic entity and there are a number of similarities, mainly focused on the importance of personal relationships, that shape the public relations field in Europe and Asia. A review of the concepts of guanxi and clientelism, both based on the asymmetrical character of relationships based on the abdication by the client of any potential autonomous access to the use of resources and to the setting up of public goods and services, revealed the importance of personal relationships and the emphasis of government relationships at the expense of other publics. Despite the consideration of the Anglo-Saxon symmetrical public relations model as a normative ideal among professionals, persuasive models are prevalent in the public relations practice in these societies.     

ROLE‐REVERSAL CONSISTENCY: AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF THE GOLDEN RULE

We report an experiment that asks whether people in a strategic situation behave according to the Golden Rule, that is, do not treat others in ways that they find disagreeable to themselves, a property that we call role‐reversal consistency. Overall, we find that over three quarters of the subjects are role‐reversal consistent. Regression analysis suggests that this finding is not driven by players maximizing their subjective expected monetary earnings given their stated beliefs about their opponents' behavior. We find that subjects' stated beliefs and actions reveal mild projection bias. (JEL C78, C91)     

Signs,Symbols, and Interaction Theory

Abstract

People may attribute their success in life to their own hard work and ability or to forces external to themselves like luck, chance, God, or other people. These attributions have social causes and emotional consequences (Seeman 1959; Wheaton 1980). Theory and research indicate that belief in personal control is associated with low levels of psychological distress compared to the belief that outcomes are determined by forces external to oneself. Less is known about the varieties of these external forces. If people do not attribute success to pesonal control, they may attribute it to luck, family background, connections, or God I examine the relationship of various attributions of success with distress, as measured by symptoms of depression and anxiety. I find that attributing success in life to luck and to good connections with others significantly increase distress. However, attributing success to God and to family background are not significantly associated with distress. The internal attribution of success to personal control significantly decreases distress. I discuss possible reasons why some external attributions increase distress, while others do not.     

Intergroup Behaviour and Ethnicity: A Social Psychological Perspective

Humans exist not only as unique individuals, but also as members of social groups that are formed on the basis of ethnicity, gender, age and so forth. Reflecting this duality are interpersonal and intergroup modes of behaviour, respectively. Thus, humans can act in terms of their personal self and treat others as individuals (interpersonal behaviour); they can also act in terms of group membership and relate to others as members of this or that group (intergroup behaviour). In a mixed marriage, for example, the couple's behaviour toward each other is ‘normally’ interpersonal, but can become intergroup when war breaks out between their respective ethnic groups. Contrary to common sense, factors more minimal than a war are often sufficient to trigger intergroup behaviour. Indeed, seemingly interpersonal encounters are in fact intergroup. How does behaviour shift from interpersonal to intergroup, and with what consequences? To address these questions, I outline a social psychological perspective based on social identity theory and conclude with a discussion on the enigmas of ethnicity.     

Explaining individual differences in infant visual sensory seeking

Individual differences in infants’ engagement with their environment manifest early in development and are noticed by parents. Three views have been advanced to explain differences in seeking novel stimulation. The optimal stimulation hypothesis suggests that individuals seek further stimulation when they are under‐responsive to current sensory input. The processing speed hypothesis proposes that those capable of processing information faster are driven to seek stimulation more frequently. The information prioritization hypothesis suggests the differences in stimulation seeking index variation in the prioritization of incoming relative to ongoing information processing. Ten‐month‐old infants saw 10 repetitions of a video clip and changes in frontal theta oscillatory amplitude were measured as an index of information processing speed. Stimulus‐locked P1 peak amplitude in response to checkerboards briefly overlaid on the video at random points during its presentation indexed processing of incoming stimulation. Parental report of higher visual seeking did not relate to reduced P1 peak amplitude or to a stronger decrease in frontal theta amplitude with repetition, thus not supporting either the optimal stimulation or the processing speed hypotheses. Higher visual seeking occurred in those infants whose P1 peak amplitude was greater than expected based on their theta amplitude. These findings indicate that visual sensory seeking in infancy is explained by a bias toward novel stimulation, thus supporting the information prioritization hypothesis.     

Deaf identity construction in Malaysia

This paper focuses on the identity creation processes of Deaf people in Malaysian society using an intersectionality approach to issues of identity, disability, and Deaf studies. Deaf people belong to a marginalized community and typically experience stereotyped, prejudiced, and stigmatized treatment from the hearing community, which has a serious impact on their social and personal identity development. Without sufficient information about the process of identity creation for Deaf people, the hearing community cannot reduce inequality nor can it increase social integration and stability for the Deaf community. There is a paucity of research about this identity creation process in Malaysia, and few studies have used identity-related theories and Deaf studies to examine the issue. This study uses a constructivist point of view, employing an interpretive phenomenological epistemology in order to construct insightful accounts of participants’ personal and interpersonal experience in mainstream society. The data was analyzed using methods associated with grounded theory and constant comparative analysis in order to reveal the extent to which they identify themselves, that is linguistic minority or PWD. The findings suggest that, on the one hand, mainstream society categorizes Deaf people as Persons with Disabilities rather than as a linguistic minority; on the other hand, without realizing it, Deaf people typically accept society's evaluation by identifying with it and playing the expected roles of PWD.     

Assessing child abuse: the TRIADS checklist

Although all types of abuse injure children, psychological abuse is most elusive and damaging on many levels, particularly levels of attachment, affective development, and the evolution of empathetic capacities that allow a child to receive and transmit, in an appropriate manner, emotional information between people. Some think that this type of psychological abuse coupled with neglect and perhaps early physical abuse impairs the child's total capacity to respond emotionally (Brothers, 1989). Essentially, empathy is a matter of a complex informational processing activity. Alexithymia, an inability to perceive the emotions of others, has been linked in primate studies to deprivation (Sackette, 1966). This awareness of the impact of environmental factors on the development of critical emotional and ultimately interpersonal regulating mechanisms underscores the need to attend to all aspects of child abuse.