Powerline Frequency Electric and Magnetic Fields: A Pilot Study of Risk Perception

The perception of the potential risk arising from human exposure to 50/60 Hz electric and magnetic fields was studied with a quasi-random sample of 116 well-educated, opinion leaders using the risk perception framework previously developed by Slovic, Fischhoff, and Lichtenstein. These individuals rated exposure to fields from transmission lines and electric blankets on a variety of scales that have been found useful in characterizing people's risk attitudes and perceptions. These judgments allowed us to conjecture about the likely desire for regulation of these potential hazards and the likely response to a publicized problem (e.g., an accident or ominous research finding) involving these two sources of exposure. Various forms of detailed information about 50/60 Hz fields were supplied to respondents. The provision of information produced modest, but statistically significant, changes in perceptions in the direction of greater concern about the risks. In response to questions of public policy, participants desired modest regulatory control of field exposure from transmission lines and little or no control of field exposure from appliances like electric blankets.     

Small Group Studies of Regulatory Decision-Making for Power-Frequency Electric and Magnetic Fields

Three groups of lay opinion leaders were used in a group role-playing decision exercise designed to explore problems in public risk management decision-making. The application domain was possible risks from the 60 Hz electric and magnetic fields associated with high-voltage power transmission lines. While there were differences in the make-up and dynamics of the three groups, the structure and substantive content of the tasks undertaken dominated intergroup variation in terms of the factors that were most important to group members' decisions. The groups displayed sophistication in their identification of decision attributes and in many of the arguments they advanced, but experienced difficulties in structuring and making trade-offs and decisions. The groups were not good at normalizing or otherwise manipulating quantitative information, and used it largely in the form it was received. Upper-bound risk estimates were treated operationally in most group discussions as expected values. Several kinds of strong framing effects were observed in the use of cost and risk information. Specific quantitative results obtained must be treated with care but may provide a starting place for further work on the acceptable level of transmission line risk.     

Verbal and nonverbal cues as mediators of deception ability

In an extension of previous research on individual differences in deception ability, 35 undergraduate subjects were administered standardized measures of social skills and public self-consciousness and their attitudes on a variety of sociopolitical attitudes were measured. Later, subjects were videotaped while giving pro-attitudinal (truthful) and counter-attitudinal (deceptive) presentations to a videocamera. Videotaped presentations were content analyzed for various verbal and nonverbal cues, and were shown to untrained judges who rated each on a scale of truthfulness/believability. Results of structural modeling analyses indicated that socially skilled subjects were judged as believable regardless of whether they were truth-telling or deceiving. Individuals high in public self-consciousness were less successful deceivers. Most importantly, these relationships were mediated by certain behavioral cues, particularly cues of verbal fluency, which were consistently associated with judgments of truthfulness. These results have both theoretical and methodological implications for future deception research.This research was supported by intramural grants from California State University, Fullerton (CSUF) Foundation to the first author. The authors would like to thank Barbara Throckmorton, Maria Hale, Barbara Choco, Scott Johnson, Lee Salinas, and Monica Turner for assistance in data collection and coding. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to: Ronald E. Riggio, Department of Psychology, California State University, Fullerton, CA 92634.Ronald E. Riggio, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Psychology at California State University, Fullerton. His research interests include the study of individual differences in communication skills and research on deception. Requests for reprints should be sent to Dr. Riggio at: Department of Psychology, Calif. State University, Fullerton, CA 92634. Joan Tucker, M.A. received her Masters degree at California State University, Fullerton. She is currently a graduate student at the University of California, Riverside, conducting research on nonverbal communication. Keith F. Widaman, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of California, Riverside and has contributed to research on the development of human abilities and on a range of quantitative topics.     

Approaches to conflict modeling: A study of a possible USA-USSR nuclear confrontation

A possible nuclear confrontation between the USA and USSR is analyzed using five different models from game theory in order to compare the various approaches that can be taken in the analysis of conflicts. Of particular importance is an improved metagame analysis model that provides a comprehensive procedure for analyzing not only the nuclear conflict but also any other type of real world conflict that can arise in practice. When the improved metagame analysis model is linked with a new state transition model, the dynamics of the game can be thoroughly studied.     

An experimental study of centralized information in a financial organization

An experiment involving a simulated financial lending organization was used to compare subjects' decisions regarding the degree to which the organization should be informationally centralized, with that of an optimal decision rule based on a normative model. Typically, subjects overdecentralized the information structure to process small loans, and overcentralized the information structure to process large loans. Both the theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed.     

Family Therapy and Lithium Deficiency*

Lithium carbonate's usefulness in relieving the more dramatic symptoms of bipolar-affective disorder can obscure the family systems components of this illness. A compromised form of family therapy results which may stabilize the marriage but cause troubles for the larger family system. This paper offers a partial modus operandi for keeping family therapy systems oriented and avoiding the infantilization of the identified patient which occurs when the importance of purely medical treatment is overplayed.     

A resources and shaping forces model for community-based sustainable development

The Resources and Shaping Forces¹ (RSF) model is developed froma case study in Tigray, Northern Ethiopia, using modified groundedtheory. It provides a conceptual framework for identifying,describing and analysing livelihood and natural systems at thecommunity level, and helps link the principles of sustainablelivelihoods to those of community development. The shaping forcesset of institutions, interventions and perturbations describesthe influences on and determinants of resource availability(endowment) and resource access (entitlement), together withthe duties and responsibilities of various community members(entrustment). Applying the model requires community groups,households and individuals of different gender and wealth categoriesto articulate their perspectives on the dynamics of the livelihoodand natural systems.     

The role of mindfulness in romantic relationship satisfaction and responses to relationship stress

Two studies examined the role of mindfulness in romantic relationship satisfaction and in responses to relationship stress. Using a longitudinal design, Study 1 found that higher trait mindfulness predicted higher relationship satisfaction and greater capacities to respond constructively to relationship stress. Study 2 replicated and extended these findings. Mindfulness was again shown to relate to relationship satisfaction; then, using a conflict discussion paradigm, trait mindfulness was found to predict lower emotional stress responses and positive pre- and postconflict change in perception of the relationship. State mindfulness was related to better communication quality during the discussion. Both studies indicated that mindfulness may play an influential role in romantic relationship well-being. Discussion highlights future research directions for this new area of inquiry.     

Health value, perceived social support, and health self-efficacy as factors in a health-promoting lifestyle

During their college years, students may adopt healthpromoting lifestyles that bring about long-term benefits. OBJECTIVE AND PARTICIPANTS: The purpose of this study was to explore the roles of health value, family/friend social support, and health self-efficacy in the health-promoting lifestyles of a diverse sample of 162 college students. METHODS: Participants completed an Assessment Battery consisting of the following instruments: (1) a demographic questionnaire, (2) the Multi-Dimensional Support, (3) the Value on Health Scale, (4) the Self-Rated Abilities for Health Practices, (5) the Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile II, and (6) the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale. RESULTS: Correlational analyses indicated that health value, perceived family/friend social support, and health self-efficacy were significantly associated with engagement in a health-promoting lifestyle. An analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) revealed that health value and health self-efficacy significantly predicted the level of engagement in a health-promoting lifestyle. Perceived family/friend social support was not significant in the model. As age increased, level of perceived family/friend social support decreased. CONCLUSION: Present findings suggest that health interventions programs focus on assessing and increasing health self-efficacy and health value of these youth. College health professionals can design and evaluate the effectiveness of such health-promoting interventions.     

ECONOMIC PROCESS CONTROL UNDER UNCERTAINTY

The future of the global industry lies in the continuous improvement of both products and processes, a renewed commitment to competition, and an aggressive approach to satisfying customers needs in quality, quantity, and timing. In quality management, the degree of customer satisfaction for a given product may be measured in the form of the loss to society. This loss is formulated as a function of the deviation from the target for each of the product's quality characteristics. The greater the variability of uncontrolled factors during manufacturing or production the larger will be that loss. In this paper, we develop a form of the loss function that takes into account the variability of a production process, the decision loss, and the costs of sampling and inspection. Specifically, we consider monitoring a production process, which may undergo continuous mean shift and variance deterioration during a production run. We then examine decision rules for continuing production or stopping and adjusting the production process.