Core self-evaluations mediate the association between leaders' facial appearance and their professional success: Adults' and children's perceptions

Although the link between facial appearance and success is well established, the mechanisms responsible for this association have remained elusive. Evolutionary theory suggests that perceived leadership characteristics should be important for men's self-concept. Drawing on implicit leadership theory and evolutionary perspectives, we therefore examined the associations between first impressions based on facial appearance, core self-evaluations (CSEs), leadership role occupancy, and career success among a sample of working men. In Study 1, we found that CSEs mediated the relationship between individuals' facial appearance and measures of their success as leaders. In Study 2, we replicated these results using children's ratings of facial appearance, thus suggesting that basic properties of the targets' faces communicated their leadership ability more than the perceivers' life experience or acquired knowledge. These results suggest that people may use facial appearance as a diagnostic tool to determine the leadership ability of others.     

ENTERTAINING MALTHUS: BREAD,CIRCUSES, AND ECONOMIC GROWTH

Motivated by the basic adage that man does not live by bread alone, we offer a theory of historical economic growth and population dynamics where human beings need food to survive, but enjoy other things, too. Our model imposes a Malthusian constraint on food, but introduces a second good to the analysis that affects living standards without affecting population growth. We show that technological change does a good job explaining historical consumption patterns and population dynamics, including the Neolithic Revolution, the Industrial Revolution, and the Great Divergence. Our theory stands in contrast to models that assume a single composite good and a Malthusian constraint. These models generate negligible growth prior to the Industrial Revolution. However, recent revisions to historical data show that historical living standards—though obviously much lower than today's—varied over time and space much more than previously thought. These revisions include updates to Maddison's dataset, which served as the basis for many papers taking long‐run stagnation as a point of departure. This new evidence suggests that the assumption of long‐run stagnation is problematic. Our model shows that when we give theoretical accounting of these new observations the Industrial Revolution is much less puzzling. (JEL B10, I31, J1, N1, O30)     

Estimation in capture–recapture models when covariates are subject to measurement errors and missing data

For capture–recapture models when covariates are subject to measurement errors and missing data, a set of estimating equations is constructed to estimate population size and relevant parameters. These estimating equations can be solved by an algorithm similar to the EM algorithm. The proposed method is also applicable to the situation when covariates with no measurement errors have missing data. Simulation studies are used to assess the performance of the proposed estimator. The estimator is also applied to a capture–recapture experiment on the bird species Prinia flaviventris in Hong Kong. The Canadian Journal of Statistics 37: 645–658; 2009 © 2009 Statistical Society of Canada     

Daring to care: the role of culturally relevant care in mentoring Black and Latino male high school students

This study seeks to challenge the uni-dimensional way care in school is written about by highlighting an often overlooked aspect of care – the kind that students do for each other. Data is drawn from focus groups conducted with the youth participants and founder of Umoja Network for Young Men (UMOJA), an all-male, school-based mentoring program for over-aged and under-credited (OA/UC) high school students. The authors draw on theories of culturally relevant pedagogy, care, and critical pedagogy to present the findings and propose a form of culturally relevant care (CRC) that entails warm demanding and building mutual trust. This study highlights the humanizing experiences of the Black and Latino male transfer students and their mentor. This focus on the experiences of young Black and Latino male participants seeks to shift the discourse from one focused on deficits to one that recognizes their agency and capacities for social and academic success.     

The Evolution of Humanitarian Action

A brief review of overall trends in humanitarian action followingthe end of the Cold War is followed by examination of UNHCR'sevolution from a narrowly focused, non-operational organizationto one with a wide field presence and whose concerns are notlimited to refugees. Three changes are highlighted: the increasein the range of UNHCR's interlocutors; the shift from neverquestioning causes to an explicit concern with them; and theimpact of the field presence. The conclusion suggests that humanitarianaction that is not accompanied by political action to addresscauses may eventually face insurmountable problems, and thatwhile UNHCR will continue operate in unstable environments andfor mixed caseloads, its unique responsibility for refugeesmust override wider interests and concerns.     

Inference in a Binary Response Model with Applications to Data Analysis*

Standard errors of the coefficients of a logistic regression (a binary response model) based on the asymptotic formula are compared to those obtained from the bootstrap through Monte Carlo simulations. The computer intensive bootstrap method, a nonparametric alternative to the asymptotic estimate, overestimates the true value of the standard errors while the asymptotic formula underestimates it. However, for small samples the bootstrap estimates are substantially closer to the true value than their counterpart derived from the asymptotic formula. The methodology is discussed using two illustrative data sets. The first example deals with a logistic model explaining the log-odds of passing the ERA amendment by the 1982 deadline as a function of percent of women legislators and the percent vote for Reagan. In the second example, the probability that an ingot is ready to roll is modelled using heating time and soaking time as explanatory variables. The results agree with those obtained from the simulations. The value of the study to better decision making through accurate statistical inference is discussed.     

Use of online crowdsourcing platforms for gambling research

Crowdsourcing platforms like Amazon’s Mechnical Turk and Crowdflower have been touted to be a cost-effective way to collect large amounts of behavioural data. Across four large-n studies, gambling-related behaviours, tendencies and traits among participants in these labour markets were examined. In Studies 1 and 2, both conducted on Crowdflower, problem gamblers (as measured by the benchmark Problem Gambling Severity Index) comprised 24.5% and 21.9% of participants, respectively. In Study 3, conducted on Mechanical Turk, problem gamblers comprised 9.0% of participants. In Study 4, a two-wave longitudinal study conducted on Crowdflower, problem gamblers comprised 13.5% of participants in wave one and 14.8% of participants in wave two. In Studies 2 and 3, strong convergent associations were demonstrated across various measures of problem gambling tendencies and general gambling involvement. Furthermore, it was demonstrated that gambling was associated with personality traits (impulsivity, sensation-seeking, self-control), risk attitudes, affect, and behavioural risk-taking consistent with previous research. In Study 4, it was demonstrated that measures of problem gambling have acceptable test-retest reliability. Online crowdsourcing platforms appear to offer access to samples with remarkably high proportions of problem gamblers. However, this characteristic means that such samples are not necessarily representative of gambling tendencies among more general populations.     

Childbearing Behavior Before and After the 1994 Population Policies in Ghana

Due to the high population growth rate in the mid-20th century, the government of Ghana introduced population policies to reduce the growth rate. Encouraging girls’ education and increasing contraceptive use were the two main policy measures to reduce population growth. In order to get a clear picture of the childbearing dynamics of Ghanaian women in response to the population policy of 1994, we analyzed individual reproductive histories from 1969 to 2003 using 2003 Ghana Demographic Health survey data to disentangle patterns by parity, calendar period, and educational groups. Exponential hazard regression models were used to estimate the relative risk of births. We find some evidence of a critical juncture in fertility trends, particularly for the fifth child. In addition, higher parity transition rates continuously declined for women with secondary or higher education and these educational levels were achieved by a higher share of the population after the policy was implemented. The 1994 population policy was successful if only by virtue of the increasing number of women with secondary or higher education. Belonging to this group is not only associated with lower fertility, but this suppressing effect strengthened in the years following the policy implementation. We also suspect that the increasing similarity between women with no education and with primary education reflects the diffusion of contraceptive knowledge and norms related to childbearing. The educational reform and contraceptive initiatives did result in increased education and contraceptive awareness and are therefore beneficial programs.     

Subjective Well-Being in China: Associations with Absolute,Relative, and Perceived Economic Circumstances

Numerous studies examining the impact of income on subjective well-being (SWB) have found significant positive relationships exhibiting decreasing marginal returns. However, the impact of economic circumstances on SWB is better captured through a combination of income, wealth (per capita net worth), and perceived and relative economic conditions. Using data from the Chinese Household Income Project, I find that within rural and urban China, wealth significantly predicts SWB, exhibiting decreasing marginal returns independent of more common measures of economic circumstances such as income and occupational status. Within urban China, these associations decrease in magnitude and significance with the addition of objective relative measures of wealth and income. Finally, I find that subjective perceptions of relative standard of living are strongly associated with SWB independent of other measures. These results highlight the importance of using multiple objective and subjective measures of economic circumstances, demonstrating potential limitations of studies that have focused exclusively on income as a predictor of well-being. Results are interpreted within the context of China’s changing social and economic structure.     

The history of public relations in Greece from 1950 to 1980: Professionalization of the “art”

The early development of public relations in Greece is explored through a focus on the period between 1950 and 1980. Specifically, the, article considers the origins and early developments, important actors, international influences, professional bodies and the field of practice. It is found that Greek business public relations were greatly influenced by American practices and through influential practitioners’ contact with the International Public Relations Association (IPRA).