Factors Motivating Individuals to Take Precautionary Action for an Expected Earthquake in Istanbul

Istanbul is expected to experience an earthquake in the near future, but individuals show limited interest in preparing for it. This study aims to identify the factors associated with taking action to prepare for an earthquake and mitigate its effects at the individual level. A field survey was carried out in 2007 in two districts of Istanbul with different levels of earthquake risk. Within these districts, three socioeconomic levels were considered. A total of 1,123 people were interviewed face to face. Analysis indicated that the educational level of the respondents was the leading factor associated with taking at least three measures, followed by living in a higher earthquake risk area, having participated in rescue and solidarity activities in previous earthquakes, a higher level of knowledge about earthquakes, home ownership, a higher score for action‐stimulating attitudes, being younger, and a higher general safety score, in that order. The findings pointed to the role of knowledge about earthquakes and possible mitigation/preparedness measures, and thus the importance of developing effective awareness programs. Such programs should also consider the characteristics of different groups in the population. Motivated individuals, such as those who have participated in rescue and solidarity activities in previous earthquakes, could be involved in reaching other people.     

Benefit Dependency and the Dynamics of the Welfare State: Comparing Sweden and the Netherlands

In this article we analyse the dynamics of the welfare state, focusing on the Netherlands and Sweden. The basic question is whether the different social systems of these countries result in differences in persistency of benefit dependency. We conclude that although benefit dependency at a macroeconomic level is more or less the same, patterns of mobility of individuals between benefits and jobs are different. These different patterns are partly explained by overrepresentation of benefits with a high degree of persistency in the Netherlands. This overrepresentation is, however, not sufficient to account for the large differences observed in dynamics. Characteristics of the welfare state account for that.     

Reply to Tomlinson and Bisschop

The notion of the devolution of power from central to regional and local levels is gaining popularity across a wide front as a point of departure ‐ a rudimentary strategy ‐ to conceptualise ways in which South African society can be transformed. The South African government has contributed to this exercise by launching a process of establishing Regional Services Councils, new multi‐racial metropolitan and ‘areawide’ bodies outside South African ‘homelands’. This article identifies and analyses the stances of the most important opposition political actors operating legally on the South African stage to the establishment of these new bodies. These actors range from the right‐wing white parties ‐ the CP and the HNP‐to AZAPO and the UDF. Three general stances to this government‐initiated process are identified, and its chances for success are assessed.     

‘To be Free is Very Sweet’

Subject to Others: British Women Writers and Colonial Slavery, 1670–1834. MOIRA FERGUSON. New York & London: Routledge, 1992. xiii, 465pp. £12.99. ISBN O‐415–90476–5.

The Hart Sisters: Early African Caribbean Writers, Evangelicals, and Radicals. MOIRA FERGUSON. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1993. ix, 214pp. £38.00. ISBN O‐8032–1984–9.     

Objective Performance Feedback: Is Numerical Accuracy Necessary?

Performance feedback is ubiquitous in Organizational Behavior Management (OBM); yet its essential components are still debated. It has been assumed that performance feedback must be accurate, but this assumption has not been well established. Two experiments were carried out to research feedback accuracy. Experiment 1 was a single-subject design where performance feedback accuracy was manipulated. Results from Experiment 1 suggested feedback may not need to be accurate to improve performance prompting a follow-up study. Experiment 2 was a repeated measures between-groups design with three types of objective feedback: accurate, high (triple) and low (1/3) inaccurate, and no feedback control. Both accurate and tripled feedback significantly improved performance over the control and low-inaccurate feedback groups. Performance feedback may have reduced time off-task across all three feedback conditions compared to the control. Data from performance feedback research need multi-faceted analysis to fully understand how and why performance feedback changes behavior.