Preschool-aged children's responses to unfairness and subsequent sharing behavior in dyadic contexts

Recent research implicates the importance of social and contextual factors in children's fair behavior. Here, we explored the social and emotional influences that might contribute to fair behavior in young children. We examined 79 pairs of 3- to 5-year-old children (N = 158; 85 female; M = 4.3 years; Range = 3.03–5.54) in a naturalistic sharing interaction to measure their verbal, emotional, and behavioral responses to an unfair distribution of rewards, as well as their subsequent sharing behavior. Children who received fewer rewards responded verbally, behaviorally, and emotionally as predicted, protesting the unfair distribution. However, children who received more rewards either failed to notice their partner's responses, or they failed to consider these responses when given the chance to behave prosocially and correct the unfair distribution. The only cue that predicted prosociality was a negative affective response from the disadvantaged peer.     

Reflections on the Statistical Analysis of Personality and Norms in War, Peace, and Prejudice: Are Deviant Minorities the Problem?

The compelling quality of the Global Change simulation study ( Altemeyer, 2003 ), in which high RWA (right-wing authoritarianism)/high SDO (social dominance orientation) individuals produced poor outcomes for the planet, rests on the inference that the link between high RWA/SDO scores and disaster in the simulation can be generalized to real environmental and social situations. However, we argue that studies of the Person × Situation interaction are biased to overestimate the role of the individual variability. When variables are operationalized, strongly normative items are excluded because they are skewed and kurtotic. This occurs both in the measurement of predictor constructs, such as RWA, and in the outcome constructs, such as prejudice and war. Analyses of normal linear statistics highlight personality variables such as RWA, which produce variance, and overlook the role of norms, which produce invariance. Where both normative and personality forces are operating, as in intergroup contexts, the linear analysis generates statistics for the sample that disproportionately reflect the behavior of the deviant, antinormative minority and direct attention away from the baseline, normative position. The implications of these findings for the link between high RWA and disaster are discussed.     

Adult Social Bonds and Use of Internet Pornography*

Objective. Sociological theories of deviant behavior have not been systematically applied to the problem of who uses and who does not use cyberpornography on the Internet. The present study contributes to the literature by providing the first systematic application of selected sociological theories of deviance to the problem of explaining use of cyberpornography. It tests a blended theoretical perspective, which includes measures from social control and opportunity theories of deviance, as well as measures of broader deviant lifestyles, as possible predictors of use of cyberporn. A key hypothesis is that persons with the strongest ties to conventional society will be less likely than others to use cyberporn. Methods. Complete data on 531 Internet users are taken from the General Social Surveys for 2000. Social bonds measures include religious, marital, and political ties. Measures of participation in sexual and drug‐related deviant lifestyles, and demographic controls are included. Results. The results of a logistic regression analysis found that among the strongest predictors of use of cyberporn were weak ties to religion and lack of a happy marriage. However, past sexual deviance (e.g., involvement in paid sex) was also a strong predictor of cyberporn use. Overall the model explained 40 percent of the variance in porn use on the Internet. Conclusion. Traditional theoretical perspectives on deviance are apparently applicable to this new form of deviant behavior.     

Friendships and Violent Behavior During Adolescence

This study investigated the extent to which interpersonal processes within male friendships are associated with violent behavior patterns during adolescence. At ages 13-14, 15-16, and 17-18, we observed the participants (206 boys) in our laboratory discussing problem solving situations with a close friend. Although the boys typically brought in different friends for each of the three assessments, we found considerable continuity in the boys' behaviors, most notably in the topics discussed. In particular, the tendency of a dyad to engage in deviant and violent talk was uniquely associated with violence in adolescence, controlling for childhood antisocial behavior and coercive discipline practices in the home. These findings suggest that adolescent violence is embedded within enduring social interactional patterns of friendships, where the faces change but the process remains the same.     

透视食品安全问题中的社会学迷思

频发的食品安全事故让笔者反思这个病态社会的百态,阐述了当今社会是一个风险社会、社会与人都沦为单向度以及社会越轨致使社会解组三个社会学的议题。同时笔者指出价值引导、公民精神的培养和社会控制是解决当今社会失范问题的重要举措。     

Social participation,health‐related behavior,and depression of older adults living alone in Korea

This study aims to identify the effects of social participation on depression among adults over 60 years old living alone in Korea, focusing on the mediating effect of health‐related behavior on the social participation–depression relationship. The study relies on secondary data analysis using the 6th wave of the Korea Longitudinal Study of Ageing, and structural equation modeling method was employed for analyses. The findings indicate that older adults' participation in religious and social gatherings decreases depressive symptoms. The study also finds that regular eating behavior, drinking, and exercise also act as significant mediators, as older adults' participation in social gatherings is associated with those health‐related behaviors and that they also reduce depression. The results suggest that social participation by older adults who live alone is crucial not only for providing them with support but also for encouraging health‐related activities that can have direct effects on their mental health. Implications for social work practice are also discussed.     

Illustrating behavioral principles with examples from demography: the causal analysis of differences in fertility

This article evaluates the 3 general frames of reference used in analyzing the nonphysiologic origins of fertility differences: utility, normative, and drift. It is suggested that the drift model overcomes some of the limitations of the other 2 models and provides a closer approximation to behavioral realities. Implicit in the utility model is the assumption that people's behavior expresses their preferences amony available alternatives. It is further assumed that the individual has available a range of possible behaviors, means to the atgtainment of behavioral goals chosen, and reliable information concerning the likely consequences of a given choice. A weakness of this approach has been its rather parochial concentration on economic costs and benefits and its failure to take account of the ways these costs and benefits are differentially assessed and weighted by different populations. The normative model emphasizes the individual's group affiliations and social roles. A criticism of this model is that it ignores the possibility of conflict among the different norms associated with an individual's various roles or among interacting individuals such as husbands and wives. Together, the utility and normative models imply the existence of more conscious rationality in human behavior than may actually be the case. The 3rd model, drift, emphasizes the ongoing, developmental, incemental nature of human behavior. It posits a behavior that begins almost by accident at some point within the range of possible and allowable behaviors, then moves toward conslusion in a manner largely imperceptible to the actor. The idea of drift is compatible with the observation that social structures are constantly changed while at the same time providing the framework within which reproducing and changing behaviors can unfold. In contrast to the utility and normative models, which tend to be static, the drift model emphasizes both change and the manner in which change takes place.     

Research Misconduct and Crime Lessons from Criminal Science on Preventing Misconduct and Promoting Integrity

Crime is naught but misdirected energy. So long as every institution of today, economic, political, social, and moral, conspires to misdirect human energy into wrong channels; so long as most people are out of place doing the things they hate to do, living a life they loathe to live, crime will be inevitable.

Emma Goldman, Anarchism and Other Essays

For 200 years, criminologists theorized that delinquent and criminal acts arise from deviant psychological states (such as irrationality or immorality) and/or social conditions that produce these psychological states. This theoretical perspective, which is being duplicated in most efforts to understand and control research misconduct, has not been productive. More recently, criminological perspectives have emerged, emphasizing situational factors that enhance or restrict the opportunity for illegal or imprudent behavior. These so-called “opportunity” theories have been shown to have practical value in reducing crime rates. We explore the promise of these newer theories for the responsible conduct of research (RCR).     

Adolescents' Judgments of Doubly Deviant Peers: Implications of Intergroup and Intragroup Dynamics for Disloyal and Overweight Group Members

Group membership, loyalty, and weight are highly relevant for adolescent peer evaluations at school. This research tested how in‐group/out‐group membership affected judgments of peers who deviated from social norms for weight and loyalty. Two hundred and forty 11–13‐year‐olds (49 percent female; 94 percent Caucasian) judged two in‐group or out‐group peers: one was normative (loyal and average weight) and the other was non‐normative (i.e., ‘deviant’). The deviant target was overweight, disloyal to their own group (school), or both (‘doubly deviant’). Derogation of overweight relative to average weight peers was greater if they were in‐group rather than out‐group members, revealing a strong ‘black sheep effect’ for overweight peers. Disloyal out‐group deviants were judged favorably, but this effect was eliminated if they were doubly deviant, suggesting that their disloyalty was insufficient to overcome the overweight stigma. Consistent with developmental subjective group dynamics theory, effects of group membership and types of deviance on adolescents’ favorability toward peers were mediated by adolescents’ perceptions of how well the deviant members would ‘fit’ with the in‐group school. Implications for theory and strategies to reduce peer exclusion, particularly weight stigmatization, are considered.     

论道德回报

道德回报是道德的内在本质要求，是公正作为最基本、最重要的社会美德的充分彰显和具体体现，它使有序的社会伦理生活成为可能，同时也是道德自身“利益”实现的必要条件。道德回报之道德既是现实性道德与理想性道德的统一，也是道德义务与道德权利的统一。道德回报之回报包括“对道德的内在回报”和“对道德主体的外在回报”两个方面。道德回报机制的建立有赖于政府的道德化，并主要通过对行政人员的“赏善罚恶”实现政府对公平正义与和谐稳定的社会秩序的供给。     

Globalization, Inequality and Social Policy: China on the Threshold of Entry into the World Trade Organization

Over the past twenty years, social researchers have had increasingly to turn from domestic to international and global perspectives in their efforts to account for growing levels of social inequality and in their search for practical policy solutions. It is against this background that China's recent experience is to be appreciated. The combined programme of economic reform coupled with an open-door policy has achieved much, yet has been accompanied by marked increases in social inequality. Until recently, most experts seemed to believe this trend to be a mere transitional "by-product" of domestic economic reform. Further social reform, backed by sustained economic growth, would be sufficient to resolve the problem. However, the facts now suggest otherwise. Sustained economic growth and reform, especially from the later 1990s, has been accompanied by ever-widening social inequality, with no signs of an end in sight. This is a critical period. China is now on the eve of entry into the WTO, with all the anxieties as well as rewards this signals for the Chinese people. Against this background the present paper weighs up the likely impact of globalization on China's social structure and its systems of social protection. It concludes by offering suggestions for international social policy advance both "longitudinal" (between developed and developing countries) and "latitudinal" (between developing countries in competition with each other). Only by means of such "joint efforts" might China hope to escape the "social protection dilemmas" associated with entry into the WTO.     

Preservation versus motorized recreation: Institutions, history, and public lands management

The management of the public lands in the United States has been shaped by the long-running conflict between environmental and utilitarian values. Recently, changing social expectations have increased demand for motorized recreational use and access. Critics contend such use of the public lands is a threat to their ecological health. Yet even as motorized use draws increased scrutiny and challenge, some commentators conclude that the battle is already over—and recreational users have won. This article focuses attention on the U.S. Forest Service and National Park Service and contends they are predisposed as institutions to favor demands for motorized recreational use and access. It concludes that what is needed is an explanation that seeks to place motorized recreational use in a historical and institutional context that offers a more complete understanding of why such users might be winning the battle.     

Social Networks Among Incarcerated Juvenile Offenders*

This study examines the social networks and deviant behavior of 92 male and female adolescent offenders in a secure training school. Semi-structured interviews were conducted individually with the youth and repeated following a four-week interval. Record data were reviewed to assess behavioral adjustment. The Social Cognitive Map analytic technique was utilized to identify social clusters. Findings indicate that these extremely delinquent youth formed reasonably stable social networks within the institution. Social clusters were distinguished most strongly on the basis of gender, race and proximity. Individuals within clusters had similar levels of behavioral adjustment and perceptions of intimacy with peers. The processes of peer group formation are similar to those found among public school counterparts. Treatment implications are discussed.     

Policy instrument affordances: a framework for analysis

The present study uses the concept of technological efficacy derived from ecological psychology and design studies to offer an alternative way of analyzing how policy instruments affect change. Reasoning from this, the paper outlines a framework for analyzing policy instruments in terms of their affordances. We define affordances as the means through which an instrument exerts influence on its intended target audience. Using this approach, we contend that policy instruments may be analyzed as interfaces that organize social relations and create structures of opportunity and/or restrict possibilities for action. We argue that explicating the pathways through which instruments afford or constrain action is a central task for policy analysis. Our proposed framework of analysis builds on the idea that instruments yield effects by facilitating action and learning. We further contend that the actions that an instrument can facilitate or inhibit are determined by specific affordance modalities of the instrument in conjunction with contingencies of the actor and the policy environment. Examples from research policy are used to illustrate some of these effects.     

Participant roles in preschool bullying: The impact of emotion regulation,social preference,and quality of the teacher–child relationship

The present work investigated whether emotion regulation and social preference were associated with participant roles in bullying as a function of the quality of the relationship with teachers. Participants were 332 children (172 boys), in the age of 42–76 months (M = 58.74; SD = 7.84). Peer nominations were employed to assess social preference and participant roles (bullying, victimization, defending the victim, and outsider behavior). Teachers completed the Emotion Regulation Checklist, which yields the dimensions of emotion regulation and lability/negativity, and the Student – Teacher Relationships Scale, to evaluate conflict and closeness with the teacher. Multilevel models highlighted that emotional lability was positively associated with bullying and outsider behavior, emotion regulation was positively related to bullying and defending behavior, and social preference was negatively associated with bullying and victimization and positively with defending behavior. Interactions indicated that lability and low social preference were associated with bullying, and emotion regulation with outsider behavior, in children with a conflictual relationship with the teacher whereas social preference was related to defending behavior in children with a close relationship with the teacher. Results are discussed highlighting the importance of the quality of teacher–child relationship and the relevance of intervention programs aimed at promoting social wellbeing in preschool.     

Rewards and Costs in Adolescent Other-sex Friendships: Comparisons to Same-sex Friendships and Romantic Relationships

This study used a social exchange framework to examine the features of non-romantic other-sex (OS) friendships compared with same-sex (SS) friendships and romantic relationships. High school seniors (N  =  141) completed open-ended interviews about the benefits and costs of having OS friendships, SS friendships, and romantic relationships in general. As expected, perspective taking, learning about the other sex, and meeting the other sex were seen as rewards of OS friendships more often than for SS friendships and romantic relationships. Confusion about the nature of the relationship was seen as a cost of OS friendships more often than of SS friendships and romantic relationships. Intimacy, support, and companionship were mentioned less often as rewards of OS friendships than romantic relationships. Adolescents also completed questionnaires about their own specific relationships of each type. Their OS friendships were perceived as less supportive than their other two relationships; OS friendships were also seen as having fewer negative interactions than romantic relationships. Our findings expand the application of social exchange theory and lend empirical support to prior speculations about OS friendships and their importance in adolescents' social worlds.     

Primary prevention of adolescent pregnancy

Teenage pregnancy is associated with many health, emotional and socioeconomic problems including higher rates of anemia, labor complications, mortality, legal and social struggles and hhigher divorce rates. Professional social workers need strategies to help teenagers avoid early, unwanted pregnancy. This paper offers promising experential and research backing for a primary prevention group work strategy for all adolescents. Social and health programs overlook educational, cognitive anc interpersonal factors biasing youths' ability to comprehend and regulate contraception. Primary prevention to assist adolescents in thinking analytically about their sexual behavior must stress problem solving and decision-making as well as facts about human reproduction and birth control. To implement decisions, youths also need interpersonal communication skills. Small groups are ideal for delivering cognitive-behavioral primary prevention. This approach is based on the premise that youths become pregnant not because of a lack of relevant information, but because they lack cognitive and behavioral skills necessary to use information. Group work involving role-playing helps develop communication skills. Results from 2 field studies describe short-term and longitudinal benefits of the prevention strategy. Professionals can reach significant numbers of youth in this way. By treating sexual issues and the risk of pregnancy as normal in adolescence, social workers can introduce information and pertinent skills to all teenagers. No one is singled out as deviant and the group format enables young people to discuss taboo topics, discovering what the norms are and gradually learning how to deal with peers, family members, techers and others. Adolescents in primary prevention groups gained knowledge, cognitive skills and communication acumen. Improved attitudes toward family planning, increased regular contraception and less unsafe sex resulted from this cognitive-behavioral approach. Primary prevention should begin early to be most effective. Other personal and social issures such as a alcohol and drug abuse, delinquency, marital and family conflicts, parenting difficulties and money management may be dealt with effectively using a cognitive-behavioral approach.     

The Cognitive Basis of Future-oriented Prosocial Behavior

Two experiments examined the development of future-oriented prosocial behavior in relation to developing theory of mind and executive functioning. Children from 3;0 to 4;6 were given a series of trials in which they had to make a choice between immediate and delayed sticker rewards, where these rewards accrued either to self, to a play partner, or were shared. They also were presented with standard theory of mind tasks (in Experiment 1) assessing the understanding of belief and desire and an executive function task (in Experiment 2) in which the children had to inhibit pointing to a baited box in order to win the cookie within. Results showed that for 4-year-olds, the tendency to opt for delayed rewards in order to share with the partner was correlated with theory of mind. For younger 3-year-olds, the children's ability to inhibit pointing to the baited box was significantly correlated with the tendency to choose delayed over immediate sticker rewards. These results indicate that children's ability to show future-oriented prosocial or sharing behavior is linked developmentally both to the ability to imagine conflicting noncurrent mental states and the ability to inhibit responding to perceptually salient events.     

Getting hosed: Petty theft in the car wash industry and the fifth suitability criterion in routine activities theory

The present study examines the applicability of routine activities theory to petty theft. Using an experimental field research design, the researchers tested the frequency with which apparently uncounted smaller currency was stolen during full-service car wash cycles. Experimental conditions were varied so that one condition suggested a more deviant driver. A considerable amount of money was removed in thirty percent of all car washes. The number of total thefts and amount of money stolen were higher in the experimental condition in which the driver appeared to be more deviant. Findings suggest that the mere appearance of the victim as more deviant triggers the perception of targets as more suitable, and provide support for social proximity as a suitability criterion.