Another Look at Accuracy and Confidence in Social Judgments

This study examined the relationship between accuracy and confidence on the Interpersonal Perception Task (IPT-15). This version of the IPT contains 15 brief, real-life scenes on videotape for which there are objectively correct answers to questions about status, intimacy, kinship, competition, and deception. A total of 241 participants were run in a 2 (high vs. low cognitive demand) × 2 (first impression vs. nonverbal cues strategy) × 2 (sex of participant) design. Overall, no significant relationship was found when accuracy scores were correlated with two between-participant measures of confidence. There was, however, a significant relationship within-participants between accuracy and confidence. Thus, participants' rated confidence for each of the 15 scenes did predict accuracy in judgments about the scenes. In addition, a 2 × 2 × 2 ANOVA on participants' transformed accuracy-confidence correlations revealed a small, significant effect of strategy. Specifically, the accuracy-confidence correlations were higher when participants were instructed to attend to specific nonverbal cues in making their judgments than when they were told to rely on their first impressions. Although there were no differences between men and women in either their accuracy or their accuracy-confidence correlations, men rated their confidence significantly higher than did women. The factors affecting the accuracy-confidence relationship and their role in automatic judgments are discussed.     

Willingness to have unprotected sex

Little is known about people's willingness to engage in sex without protection from unwanted pregnancy. This study surveyed 1,497 women and men at 75 clinics and physician offices across California after their reproductive health care visits in late 2007 and early 2008. When asked if they would have sex without contraception, 30% said definitively that yes, they would have unprotected sex, and 20% indicated they would "sometimes" or "maybe" engage in unprotected sex. In multivariate models, compared to non-Latino White respondents, Latinos who responded to the survey in English were 52% more likely and African Americans were 75% more likely to report willingness to have unprotected intercourse. Wanting a child within the next three years was associated with increased willingness to have unprotected sex. Age, gender, parity, and relationship status were not significant in multivariate models. A considerable proportion of women and men may be willing to have unprotected sex, even with access to subsidized contraceptive services and even when recently counseled about birth control. The dominant behavioral models of contraceptive use need to acknowledge the widespread likelihood of occasional unprotected sex, even among people motivated to usually use contraceptives. Findings underscore the need to make contraceptive methods accessible, easy to use, and even pleasurable.     

Reports of Conferences,Institutes, and Seminars

This quarter's column features a report from Electronic Resources and Libraries held March 16–19, 2014, in Austin, TX; another from Potomac Technical Processing Librarians (PTPL) held in Annapolis, MD, on October 17, 2014; and several reports from ALA Midwinter held January 30–February 3, 2015, in Chicago, IL. By necessity, these reports are not exhaustive in covering the respective conferences.     

Norms and Costs of Government Domestic Violence Policies: A Critical Review

Domestic violence and governmental domestic violence policies impact many families and produce considerable economic costs. This paper reviews literature related to domestic violence including false claims of domestic violence. Domestic violence literature is considered in relation to economic literature on norm theory and the procedural justice concept. Norm theory provides a basis to understand and evaluate domestic violence policies and offer suggestions regarding those policies. Current norms may encourage overly aggressive governmental response to claims of domestic violence, provide an incentive to file false claims in some cases, and provide little if any penalty for filing false claims.     

Clergy training for effective response to intimate partner violence disclosure: Immediate and long-term benefits

ABSTRACT

This study reports findings from an intimate partner violence-training project in which 104 Seventh-Day Adventist pastors received a 4-hr training in responding effectively to intimate partner violence (IPV) disclosure. The educational endeavor targeted three areas for improvement in clergy response: (a) increasing pastors’ understanding of the unique dynamics in abusive relationships, (b) providing information on IPV resources and services, and (c) developing pastors’ abilities and motivations to be proactive in addressing IPV. Pretest, posttest and 1-year follow up data indicate that pastors who engaged in IPV training demonstrated immediate and long-term positive changes. Specifically, participants showed improvements in each of the targeted areas. Beyond the gains in knowledge and attitudes about IPV, the study results also indicate that pastors receiving training expanded their activities to positively address IPV in their congregations. Social workers can play a significant role in addressing clergy training needs by strengthening pastors’ abilities to respond appropriately to parishioners’ IPV disclosures.     

Diversifying revenue sources in Canada: Are women's voluntary organizations different?

Government policies in Canada have taken a hard right turn, and tax cuts now have priority over investing in social programming. Both federal and provincial governments have been withdrawing from direct service provision, with the expectation that the voluntary sector will fill the gap. At the same time, traditional government support for the voluntary sector has declined, which limits the ability of organizations to meet their current service demands. Using a sample of 645 organizations from across Canada, this article explores the use of revenue diversification as a response to policy changes. The findings indicate that the factors related to voluntary organizations' in Canada embracing revenue diversification to support program delivery differ for organizations run by women and nongendered organizations.     

Why Transition Countries May Specialize in Low-Quality Production

Politicians and economists of transition countries fear a low-quality trap for their economies. We present a model of international trade with two countries and two qualities of goods model where high-quality production exhibits economies of scale and low-quality production does not. Depending on transaction costs, the low-quality good will be produced either in the low-wage economy (i.e., the transition country) only or it will not be traded at all. Regarding the high-quality good, we discuss three potential reasons why transition countries may be trapped in the production of low quality when economies of scale in production prevail: (a) international trade policy (i.e., GATT / WTO); (b) external economies due to quality uncertainty; (c) external economies due to demand effects (big push). All reasons favor incumbents over entrants and thus lead to a low-quality trap for transition economies due to the existence of incumbents located in industrialized countries.