Toward an Understanding of the Influence of Cultural Background and Domain Experience on the Effects of Risk‐Pricing Formats on Risk Perception

Risk‐information framing can be a powerful tool for aiding the communication of risk and improving decision making. However, little work has investigated the extent that these framing effects depend on the characteristics of the perceiver. In our study, we examine whether the effects of different risk‐pricing formats on risky choices are the same for all individuals, no matter their domain experience or cultural background, or whether there are interactions between these factors. Survey 1 revealed that three risk‐pricing formats of the same choice problem resulted in the same individuals making different risky choices (preference reversal), suggesting that risk perception was distorted by the risk‐pricing format manipulation. In Survey 2, the effects of the risk‐pricing formats were shown to differ by the participants’ cultural background (Asian vs. European) and the extent of their domain experience. The fact that there were no differences between the cultural or domain experience groups in their overall tendency to select riskier (cf. safer) choices indicates that risk behavior differences between groups are often closely linked to perceptual, rather than simply attitudinal, cognitive processes. The results demonstrate the complex, interactive cognitive processes that are used to encode risk information, involving the framing of the information and the cultural background and previous experiences of the individual. We conclude that it is important to consider the characteristics of the individual (e.g., culture, domain experience, etc.) when manipulating risk‐information framing with the aim of improving risk communication.     

Bayesian model selection using test statistics

Summary.  Existing Bayesian model selection procedures require the specification of prior distributions on the parameters appearing in every model in the selection set. In practice, this requirement limits the application of Bayesian model selection methodology. To overcome this limitation, we propose a new approach towards Bayesian model selection that uses classical test statistics to compute Bayes factors between possible models. In several test cases, our approach produces results that are similar to previously proposed Bayesian model selection and model averaging techniques in which prior distributions were carefully chosen. In addition to eliminating the requirement to specify complicated prior distributions, this method offers important computational and algorithmic advantages over existing simulation-based methods. Because it is easy to evaluate the operating characteristics of this procedure for a given sample size and specified number of covariates, our method facilitates the selection of hyperparameter values through prior-predictive simulation.     

Women and Children First: Domestic Chaos and the Maternal Bond in the Drama of Liudmila Petrushevskaia

This article analyzes communication in the Ukrainian press from the perspective of gender linguistics, determining differences and similarities between females and males, exploring questions of genderlects in the language. The pragmatic Transactional Discourse Model is used to view divergence and approximation of the linguistic choices made by the two genders. It is argued that the language of the two genders is sensitive to situational use and the speaker’s perception of the addressee’s identity. The study evinces that women, when communicating with an imagined other, mark their language with a ‘female genderlect’ if the category of ‘closeness’ is prioritized. Linguistic output by males depends on the assessment of the gender of the addressee. The coding of both genders approximates when the ‘closeness’ factor is absent from a female speaker’s perception of the addressee and when the ‘gender’ variable does not come into play with a male speaker’s image of the addressee.     

Effects of inspection errors on curiailed dorman-type procedures

The effects of inspection error on a two-stage procedure for identification of defective units is studied. The first stage is intended to provide the number of defective units in a group of n units; the second stage consists of individual inspection until the status of all units is (apparently) established     

Rural Depopulation: Growth and Decline Processes over the Past Century

This article highlights the rise and geographic spread of depopulation in rural America over the past century. “Depopulation” refers to chronic population losses that prevent counties from returning to an earlier period of peak population size. In this article, we identify 746 depopulating counties—mostly nonmetropolitan—representing 24 percent of all U.S. counties. More than 46 percent of remote rural counties are depopulating compared to 24 percent of the adjacent nonmetropolitan counties and just 6 percent of metropolitan counties. Rural county populations often peaked in size during the 1940s and 1950s, especially in the agricultural heartland. Depopulation today reflects a complex interplay of chronic net out‐migration and natural decrease that is rooted in the past. Depopulation not only is a direct result of persistent out‐migration but also reflects large second‐order effects expressed in declining fertility and rising mortality (usually associated with population aging). Depopulation has become a signature demographic phenomenon in broad regions of rural America.     

TigerPlace, A State-Academic-Private Project to Revolutionize Traditional Long-Term Care

The Aging in Place Project at the University of Missouri (MU) required legislation in 1999 and 2001 to be fully realized. An innovative home health agency was initiated by the Sinclair School of Nursing specifically to help older adults age in place in the environment of their choice. In 2004, an innovative independent living environment was built and is operated by a private long term care company, as a special facility where residents can truly age in place and never fear being moved to a traditional nursing home unless they choose to do so. With care provided by the home care agency with registered nurse care coordination services, residents receive preventative and early illness recognition assistance that have markedly improved their lives. Evaluation of aging in place reveal registered nurse care coordination improves outcomes of cognition, depression, activities of daily living, incontinence, pain, and shortness of breath as well as delaying or preventing nursing home placement. Links with MU students, faculty, and nearly every school or college on campus enrich the lives of the students and residents of the housing environment. Research projects are encouraged and residents who choose to participate are enjoying helping with developing cutting technology to help other seniors age in place.     

The Organizational Demography of Japanese Environmentalism*

Although a macro‐organizational perspective has become increasingly commonplace in social movement analyses, few studies examine the full spectrum of organizations in any single social movement industry (SMI). Utilizing a unique source of data on Japanese environmental movement organizations, we compare characteristics of groups focused primarily on environmental issues with those for whom environmental issues are part of a larger multi‐issue focus. We then profile across distinct, and theoretically important, organizational domains to assess how local, prefectural and national groups compare on a variety of organizational attributes, including: size, membership type, tactics and activities, and issues. We conclude by discussing the implications of our findings for understanding both Japanese environmentalism and the structure of SMIs generally.