Doing Psychology,Doing Inequality: Rethinking the Role of Psychology in Creating and Maintaining Social Inequality*

The relationship between psychological disciplines and inequality has been a subject of great scholarly interest in the last several decades. Most works on the subject analyze macro features of psychological disciplines (mainly their evaluative tools, theoretical assumptions, and disciplinary power) and criticize them as biased against minorities. This paper re‐examines the relationship between psychology and inequality from a micro, face‐to‐face standpoint. Drawing on close observations of 33 placement committees in which professionals from various psychological fields (psychology, social work, school counseling, etc.) discuss children’s eligibility for special education services, it portrays the actual doing of psychology as an inconsistent and malleable endeavor. In contrast to the macro‐oriented research on the relationship between psychology and inequality, it shows that in actual face‐to‐face interactions, professionals use different types of folk concerns that often exchange formal evaluative criteria, theoretical assumptions or professional authority in final placement decisions. By revealing the different folk considerations professionals use to sort and analyze working‐ versus middle‐class parents, this project adds an essential layer to scholarly understanding of the relationship between psychological practice and inequality.     

The plan of enrichment designs for dealing with high placebo response

To deal with high placebo response in clinical trials for psychiatric and other diseases, different enrichment designs, such as the sequential parallel design, two‐way enriched design, and sequential enriched design, have been proposed and implemented recently. Depending on the historical trial information and the trial sponsors' resources, detailed design elements are needed for determining which design to adopt. To assist in making more suitable decisions, we perform evaluations for selecting required design elements in terms of power optimization and sample size planning. We also discuss the implementation of the interim analysis related to its applicability.     

Beyond the Disciplinary Role of Governance: How Boards Add Value to Spanish Foundations

Due to the significant role of non‐profit organizations in the development of modern societies, these organizations must adjust their boardrooms. Since traditional theories of corporate governance appear to be limited in explaining the changing non‐profit world, we propose an extended model of governance that integrates the traditional arguments of agency theory with a cognitive dimension. Based on a sample of Spanish foundations, we present evidence on the effect of the board composition on foundations' organizational efficiency. We show that board size and independence do not have a definitive effect on the entity's efficiency. Instead, the knowledge diversity inside the boardroom and the active character of trustees have a positive influence on resource allocation. The cognitive dimension of the extended model of governance is critical to explaining how boards impact on organizational performance.     

THE IMPACT OF GENDER ON VOLUNTARY AND INVOLUNTARY EXECUTIVE DEPARTURE

We examine the frequency and conditions of executive departure from S&P 1500 firms. Based upon published news reports, we find that female executives are more likely than male executives to depart their positions voluntarily and involuntarily in the presence of controls for firm performance, firm governance, and human capital. We also find that women are less likely than men to depart voluntarily as firm size increases or board size decreases but more likely to be dismissed as the board becomes more male dominated. (JEL G30, G32, G34, J44)     

Tests on the Equality of Two Multiple Correlation Coefficients

Asymptotic tests are suggested for testing the equality of two multiple correlation coefficients calculated from a single sample from a multivariate normal distribution. An F test is possible only when the two dependent variables coincide and one set of independent variables is a subset of the second set. Tests are compared by simulation for situations in which the F test is inapplicable. Special attention is paid to cases in which asymptotic normality of the test statistics does not hold.