Three Social Dilemmas of Workforce Diversity in Organizations: A Social Identity Perspective

This paper explores the relationship among threesocial dilemmas faced by organizations wishing to attainand maintain workforce diversity: the dilemmas oforganizational participation, managerial participation, and individual participation. Functional andsocial category diversity offer benefits fororganizations (creativity, adaptation and innovation,and access to external networks), but there are costswhich deter organizations from pursuing thesebenefits. The costs associated with organizationalparticipation in diversity initiatives arise becausemanagers and their employees perceive organizationalconflicts and organize their interactions along socialidentity lines, so that temporal traps and collectivefences surround diversity. Resolving the subordinatedilemmas of managerial and individual participation provides the key to resolving the dilemma oforganizational participation. Social identity theory isused to understand the dilemmas and to develop possibleresolutions, which should make the benefits of diversity more immediately accessible toorganizations and society.     

Manipulations of the Features of Standard Video Lottery Terminal (VLT) Games: Effects in Pathological and Non-Pathological Gamblers

The present study was conducted to identify game parameters that would reduce the risk of abuse of video lottery terminals (VLTs) by pathological gamblers, while exerting minimal effects on the behavior of non-pathological gamblers. Three manipulations of standard VLT game features were explored. Participants were exposed to: a counter which displayed a running total of money spent; a VLT spinning reels game where participants could no longer stop the reels by touching the screen; and sensory feature manipulations. In control conditions, participants were exposed to standard settings for either a spinning reels or a video poker game. Dependent variables were self-ratings of reactions to each set of parameters. A set of 2(3) × 2 × 2 (game manipulation [experimental condition(s) vs. control condition] × game [spinning reels vs. video poker] × gambler status [pathological vs. non-pathological]) repeated measures ANOVAs were conducted on all dependent variables. The findings suggest that the sensory manipulations (i.e., fast speed/sound or slow speed/no sound manipulations) produced the most robust reaction differences. Before advocating harm reduction policies such as lowering sensory features of VLT games to reduce potential harm to pathological gamblers, it is important to replicate findings in a more naturalistic setting, such as a real bar.     

Contingent Gambling-Drinking Patterns and Problem Drinking Severity Moderate Implicit Gambling-Alcohol Associations in Problem Gamblers

Although problem gambling and problem drinking often co-occur, the processes underlying this association are not well understood. This study investigated the effects of contingent gambling-drinking patterns and problem drinking severity on implicit gambling-alcohol associations. Participants were 144 (34 female) problem gamblers. The South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS) measured severity of problem gambling. The Brief Michigan Alcohol Screening Test (BMAST) measured severity of problem drinking. The Implicit Association Test (Greenwald, McGhee, & Schwartz, 1998, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74, 1464–1480) measured gambling-alcohol associations. Participants who reported drinking when they won displayed faster response time (i.e., priming) on trials where alcohol words were paired with gambling win (e.g., jackpot) vs. gambling loss (e.g., forfeit) words. The tendency to drink in response to losses did not influence the priming effect of win cues or moderate the effects of Win-Drinking Pattern on priming. Severity of problem drinking on the BMAST also correlated positively the priming effects of win cues. These findings indicate that a tendency to drink in response to gambling wins and more severe alcohol problems each coincide with stronger associations between gambling win and alcohol concepts in memory. Such associations can promote drinking and its attendant effects (e.g., poor decision-making) in problem gamblers, and thus, may contribute to co-morbid gambling and alcohol use disorders.     

Adult Attachment Style and Nonverbal Closeness in Dating Couples

This study examined the nonverbal correlates of attachment style during interaction with a dating partner. Sixty-one heterosexual couples completed a self-report measure of attachment style and then were videotaped while discussing positive aspects of their relationships. The partners' nonverbal behaviors were coded for specific nonverbal cues and qualities theoretically associated with attachment style. A more secure attachment style was generally associated with more nonverbal closeness and a more avoidant style was generally associated with less nonverbal closeness. Contrary to expectations, individuals with a more preoccupied style were not found to engage in more intimate or clingy behaviors. Results provide partial support for self-reported differences between secure and insecure individuals in their preference for, and comfort with, closeness. Implications for understanding the associations between attachment style and relationship outcomes are discussed.     

Evidence-based interventions with older adults: concluding thoughts

Taken collectively, the articles in this volume provide a method to assess psychosocial outcome research in aging. Although the outcome literature on effective interventions with older adults is uneven across condition and treatment approaches, there are some particular intervention methods that have received consistent research support. This article condenses the rich analyses presented by the volume authors and summarizes the interventions for which some evidence base exists by life issue/condition (health, mental health/cognitive and social rules) and outcomes achieved.     

Fringe public relations: How activism moves critical pr toward the mainstream

The dominance of Excellence Theory in public relations theory and research may be eroding as contemporary issues in corporations, including the concern with activist challenges to reputation management and corporate social responsibility, increase in visibility and demand explanation. We argue that Excellence Theory‘s seemingly reluctant evolution has provided unsatisfactory treatments of concepts like power and activism, even though it has attempted to address some limitations of the symmetrical model's efficacy in responding to activist challenges. Excellence Theory‘s acknowledgment of once-vilified concepts like persuasion and power sets the stage for critical public relations theory and research to emerge as significantly more capable of addressing activist advocacy and concomitant issues. The paper argues that critical theory, buoyed by acceptance of its key concepts, its increasing access to presentation venues and journals sympathetic to once-marginalized, alternative perspectives, is poised to infiltrate the public relations orthodoxy. This possibility offers hope that once marginalized pluralistic approaches, especially critical public relations, may disrupt the colonization of the orthodoxy and infiltrate mainstream public relations.     

Further explorations of post-crisis communication: Effects of media and response strategies on perceptions and intentions

Crisis communication represents a rapidly growing body of research and is seeing an increased use of experimental methods. However, the experiments have relied exclusively on print stimuli resulting in little knowledge of channel effects on crisis communication. This study evaluates the effects of different response strategies and media channels on respondents exposed to a crisis. The study used a 2 (crisis response: sympathy and compassion) × 2 (media: print and video) design. We selected two similar response strategies that could differ in terms of the additional cues provided by video. Results revealed virtually no meaningful difference between the use of video versus print or sympathy versus compensation.     

Academic and Career Development of Undocumented College Students: The American Dream?

Little is known about the academic and career decision‐making process for college students with undocumented status. This study used a multiple case study approach to explore how academic and work‐related decisions were made for 2 college students with undocumented citizenship status. Participants responded to a series of questions about their academic and career development. Data collected from these interviews were analyzed by a research team. After cross‐case analysis, 6 themes emerged: (a) barriers; (b) emotional impact; (c) resiliency, supports, and coping; (d) discrimination; (e) familial and cultural influences; and (f) academic, work, and career factors. Findings suggest that counseling professionals should attend to systemic, academic, and work‐related barriers that directly affect the educational and career decisions of students with undocumented citizenship status. Future research could expand on the present study by further exploring systemic and contextual factors that influence how undocumented students make academic and career choices using varied qualitative and quantitative methodologies.     

Elder mistreatment in underserved populations: Opportunities and challenges to developing a contemporary program of research

ABSTRACT

This article provides an overview of the status of research on elder mistreatment among underserved populations in the United States, including gaps in our current knowledge base and scientific and structural barriers to growing research on the exploitation, neglect, and abuse of older people from diverse and disadvantaged ethnic/racial, geographic, sexual identity, and socioeconomic groups. High-priority areas in need of new elder mistreatment research with underserved populations are identified, and suggestions are given for how this research can be facilitated by researchers, university institutional review boards, and funding agencies.