Toward a More Expansive Understanding of Family Communication: Considerations for Inclusion of Ethnic-Racial and Global Diversity

Building off essays by Gudykunst and Lee (2001) and Turner and West (2003), the purpose of this essay is to emphasize the need to be more inclusive in family communication research in terms of ethnic-racial and global diversity. After discussing the current state of scholarship, we outline important considerations for the field of family communication to achieve this goal.     

Discrete Effects of Religiosity and Spirituality on Gay Identity and Self-Esteem

Previous research has indicated that although spirituality may bolster development of a positive gay identity, religiosity may prove detrimental. Because the majority of this research confounds these constructs, there is little evidence as to the discrete roles religiosity and spirituality may play in LGB identity development. The present study endeavored to tease apart the unique effects of religion and spirituality on positive and negative gay identity and self-esteem. A sample of 376 self-identified sexual minority adults were given measures of religiosity, spirituality, LGB identity, and self-esteem. Models were built to evaluate the effects of religiosity (independent of spirituality) and spirituality (independent of religiosity), understanding that the constructs are greatly overlapped, on identity and self-esteem. Results included a positive association between spirituality and identity affirmation, identity superiority, and self-esteem. Religiosity was negatively associated with identity affirmation and self-esteem and positively associated with internalized homonegativity and heteronormativity. Limitations and implications are discussed.     

ON TWO-SOURCE FACTOR PURCHASING

Two-source purchasing at differing factor-unit costs is a common real-world phenomenon. So too are uncertainty and risk aversion which, as this paper demonstrates, provides one explanation for why firms on occasion purchase from high-cost sellers.     

UNCERTAINTY AND THE LOT-SIZE REORDER-POINT MODEL

Noori and Keller [1] recently proposed a lot-size reorder-point model in which the quantity received is a random variable. The authors failed, however, to explore the full implications of their initial definitions. This oversight leads to some misleading inferences that we try to correct in this note.     

Race,Religion, and the Social Integration of New Immigrant Minorities in Canada1

The social integration of Canada’s new religious minorities is determined more by their racial minority status than by their religious affiliation or degree of religiosity, according to results from Statistics Canada’s 2002 Ethnic Diversity Survey. Interview questions tap life satisfaction, affective ties to Canada, and participation in the wider community. Muslims, Sikhs, Buddhists, and Hindus are slower to integrate socially, mainly because they are mostly racial minorities. Degree of religiosity affects social integration in the same ways as ethnic community attachments in general, positively for some dimensions, negatively for others, and similarly for different religious groups. Patterns are similar in Quebec and the rest of Canada; results carry implications for the debate over “reasonable accommodation” of religious minorities in Quebec, and parallel debates in other provinces and countries.     

Ranking Rates of Return to Education: Legitimacy and an Explicit Diagnostic

Rankings of internal rates of return to education have significantly influenced education expenditures within developing countries and lending priorities of multilateral institutions. It is widely suspected, however, that estimated education returns are subject to systematic bias. The direction and magnitude of this bias are hotly contested. This paper demonstrates that in the presence of systematic bias, idiosyncratic properties of the internal-rate-of-return mapping may cause a ranking reversal. An explicit analytical test of return-ranking legitimacy is developed and applied to select African and Asian countries.     

A test of the Core,Bargaining Set,Kernel and Shapley models in n-person quota games with one weak player

n-person (n – 1)-quota-games where the quotas are positive for certain n – 1 (strong) players and negative for the remaining (weak) player, are discussed. Normative solutions predicted by the Core,the Kernel, the Bargaining Set, the Competitive Bargaining Set, and by the Shapley Value are presented and exemplified.Each of twelve groups of subjects participated in a four-person and a five-person (n – 1)-quota games with one weak player. The weak player was always excluded from the ratified coalition. The division of payoffs among the strong players was more egalitarian than the Kernel solution but less egalitarian than the Shapley value. The Core and the Bargaining Sets were fully supported for the two strongest players, but less supported for the other players. Analyses of the bargaining process confirmed a dynamic interpretation of the Bargaining Set Theory.This research was performed while the author was at the University of North Carolina. The research was partially supported by a PHS Research Grant No. MH-10006 from the National Institute of Mental Health. The author thanks Professor Amnon Rapoport for helpful advice in the design of this study.     

The Effects of Hindsight Bias on Jurors' Evaluations of Auditor Decisions*

Hindsight bias refers to the tendency of individuals with outcome knowledge (hindsight) to alter their perception of an event such that, ex-post, one's assumed ability to predict an event is greater than one's ex-ante ability. Auditors must make decisions without knowledge of an eventual outcome, but auditor liability is determined from a perspective that includes outcome knowledge. A behavioral experiment was conducted with 92 prospective jurors. Jurors were presented with a case in which auditors performed an audit of a client company and subsequently issued the standard, favorable audit report. Outcome knowledge was manipulated as: (1) no outcome (control group), (2) negative outcome (bankruptcy and subsequent lawsuit), and (3) negative outcome with a debiasing strategy. Results indicate that outcome knowledge biased jurors' evaluations of the auditor's judgment. Additional analysis revealed that the results are consistent with a cognitive interpretation of hindsight bias. The debiasing strategy was found to be effective in mitigating hindsight bias.     

Patterns in autobiographical reminiscing among early adults: Implications for forgiveness and self‐compassion

The ways early adults recount autobiographical experiences are associated with adjustment. Most prior research on autobiographical reminiscing has taken a variable‐oriented approach to examine relations of reminiscing variables with outcomes. The present study takes a person‐oriented approach to (a) identify systematic within‐individual patterns of reminiscing across multiple autobiographical memories; and (b) examine whether these patterns of reminiscing are uniquely related to self‐compassion and forgiveness. Participants were early adults (18 to 24 years) from undergraduate (n = 221) and community (n = 145) contexts. Participants self‐reported forgiveness and self‐compassion and described three autobiographical memories about past challenges: (a) a time they hurt someone else; (b) a time they were hurt by someone; and (c) a time they experienced a personal setback. Each memory was rated for positive self‐meaning (personal growth) and distancing of the current self from the past event (subjective distancing). Cluster analyses showed three subgroup patterns for personal growth and five subgroup patterns for subjective distancing. Participants displaying a pattern of higher personal growth across memories reported the highest forgiveness. Findings point to meaningful heterogeneity in autobiographical reminiscing and support the utility of a person‐oriented approach in providing a holistic view of early adults’ approaches for recollecting lived experiences.