Examining the role of cognitive dissonance in crisis fundraising

Fundraising scholarship has focused on the application of public relations theory to the process particularly in exploring the predictive power in applying relationship management theory to the non-profit organization–donor relationship. However, people often are impacted by catastrophic events and want to donate to relief efforts even though they may not be connected to the region. A survey of two American Red Cross chapters’ donors revealed that individuals who contributed to the December 2004 tsunami relief efforts were more likely to experience feelings of cognitive dissonance than non-donors, and their donations resulted in a consonance restoration. These results support an argument for non-profits, particularly those in crisis response, to have an active crisis communication plan in place that deals not only with responding to the event but also having a proactive plan established to publicize how to donate to relief efforts. Highlighting the consonance restoration, non-profits should also discuss the positive aspects of donating to their efforts, such as the work being done for the disaster victims.     

Origins of the epithet ‘government by public relations’: Revisiting Bruce Catton's War Lords of Washington, 1948

While it might make public relations professionals and faculty cringe, the term ‘government by public relations’ is a negative one, implying that governmental decision-making is guided by appearances rather than on the merits. This tag line is a relatively common American put-down of politicians and senior civil servants. This article examines the origins of the term, locating its usage in the WWII memoirs of Bruce Catton, then a government public information officer and later a renowned popular historian of the American Civil War. Catton's use of the term, his 1948 book War Lords of Washington, and his philosophy of government public information are examined in more detail to give context to the phrase ‘government by public relations.’     

An examination of the role of online social media in journalists’ source mix

Using telephone surveys of business/financial journalists in the United States (n = 200), this research investigates the agenda-building role of social media content in journalists’ work. Understanding that more non-public relations content from user-generated and social network sites, like YouTube and Twitter, are fast becoming resources for journalists to get story ideas, break scandals, and find sources, we began this scholarly work to determine the frequency of such uses of social media. Overall, findings indicate very little use of social media by these business journalists. Results and implications for public relations practitioners are discussed in detail.     

Family involvement in the institutional eldercare context. Towards a new understanding

This article focuses on family involvement and its various patterns and expressions in the context of end-of-life care in a nursing home. Based on analyses from an ethnographic study carried out at a nursing home ward, the aim is to describe and analyze the conditions of aging and dying for the old residents, as well as effects on their visiting families and relatives. As in similar research findings, it became clear from the study that families continue to visit and contribute to the care of the old resident throughout the years, from the time of placement to their demise, but that this involvement might vary both in content and in extent. However, it was found that families' involvement (as well as their changing relationships and roles) is particularly shaped by the very process of dying and lingering aura of death on the ward. The analysis presented in the article evinces the difficult — and in many ways impossible — role of the family in the institutional end-of-life setting, and discloses the various patterns and manifestations of family involvement in this environment. Different meanings and implications of family involvement are discussed and highlighted.     

MA and doctoral public relations research in Turkey (1984–2007): A quantitative study of dissertations contribution to public relations field

In this article, MA and doctoral dissertations (673) on public relations written at Turkish universities (1984–2007) are examined in order to gain an understanding of the level of the theses within the discipline and that subjects are studied, too. The conclusion is that their contribution to public relations’ improvement and especially theory building has been negligible. Written theses are standing out the practical or operational, and no existence any dissertations related to public relations theory.     

A cross-cultural study on surrogate mother's empathy and maternal–foetal attachment

BackgroundTraditional and gestational surrogate mothers assist infertile couples by carrying their children. In 2005, a meta-analysis on surrogacy was conducted but no study had examined empathy and maternal–foetal attachment of surrogate mothers. Assessments of surrogate mothers show no sign of psychopathology, but one study showed differences on several MMPI-2 scales compared to a normative sample: surrogate mothers identified with stereotypically masculine traits such as assertiveness and competition. They had a higher self-esteem and lower levels of anxiety and depression.Research objectiveTo determine if there is a difference in empathy and maternal–foetal attachment of surrogate mothers compared to a comparison group of mothers.MethodsThree groups of European traditional and gestational surrogate mothers (n = 10), Anglo-Saxon traditional and gestational surrogate mothers (n = 34) and a European normative sample of mothers (n = 32) completed four published psychometric instruments: the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (empathy index), the Hospital Anxiety and Depressions Scale and the MC20, a social desirability scale. Pregnant surrogate mothers filled the Maternal Antenatal Attachment Scale (n = 11). Statistical non-parametric analyses of variance were conducted.FindingsDepending on cultural background, surrogate mothers present differences in terms of empathy, anxiety and depression, social desirability and quality of attachment to the foetus compared to a normative sample.ConclusionsEnvironment plays a role for traditional and gestational surrogacy. Surrogate mothers of both groups are less anxious and depressed than normative samples. Maternal–foetal attachment is strong with a slightly lower quality of attachment. Surrogate mother's empathy indexes are similar to normative samples, sometimes higher.     

An intuitive risk factors search algorithm: usage of the Bayesian network technique in personalized medicine

The article focuses on the application of the Bayesian networks (BN) technique to problems of personalized medicine. The simple (intuitive) algorithm of BN optimization with respect to the number of nodes using naive network topology is developed. This algorithm allows to increase the BN prediction quality and to identify the most important variables of the network. The parallel program implementing the algorithm has demonstrated good scalability with an increase in the computational cores number, and it can be applied to the large patients database containing thousands of variables. This program is applied for the prediction for the unfavorable outcome of coronary artery disease (CAD) for patients who survived the acute coronary syndrome (ACS). As a result, the quality of the predictions of the investigated networks was significantly improved and the most important risk factors were detected. The significance of the tumor necrosis factor-alpha gene polymorphism for the prediction of the unfavorable outcome of CAD for patients survived after ACS was revealed for the first time.     

Analysis of social innovation on social networking services

ABSTRACT

Social network services are allowing more social connectivity and making possible sharing information and knowledge of a different nature. This article analyses if social workers related to active social policies from Malaga province (Spain) are using social network services to share information and knowledge and if there is a mirror between online and offline relationships. Since it is an experimental model, through virtual ethnography and through social network analysis methodology, we observed the presence, connectivity and analysed the structure of relationships that keep 235 professionals from 52 organizations in Facebook®. Moreover, the model uses the statistical technique of modularity for detecting online communities, which are compared with distribution of professionals in their organizations. Results show how social network services applied to social intervention are massively and frequently used by professionals. On the other hand, the detected communities reflect existence of analogy between online and offline relationships. The online structure shows a high degree of cohesion and how certain professionals have higher capacity of influence and diffusion depending on position in the online structure. It argues about the opportunity to incorporate social network services towards social intervention as a manner of social innovation to improve cooperation and diffusion of information and knowledge.     

Armchair detectives and the social construction of falsehoods: an actor–network approach

ABSTRACT

This paper examines two large-scale cases ? the 2013 Boston bombing and the 2015 Bangkok bombing, each of which spurred an online investigation conducted by concerned citizens to find the bombers. While both bombing cases had different cultural discourses, the processes and outcomes of the online investigation were similar: there were rampant speculation and rumor-mongering, as well as false accusations and harassment of innocent suspects. The aim of the paper is to understand how such acts of mob justice happened. Using actor–network theory, a theoretical and methodological tool for mapping out the networks human and non-human interactions, I discuss two types of networks found in both investigations. The two network types demonstrate how a claim can be construed as fact or fiction through such networks of interaction. In light of debates on the proliferation of fake news and alternative facts, the findings have implications for the current and precarious state of truth in today’s society.     

The structure and vulnerability of a drug trafficking collaboration network

Prior research has established that collaboration networks exhibit heavy-tailed degree distributions, assortative degree mixing, and large clustering coefficients. Using court record data, we assess these properties in a collaboration network among heroin traffickers. Consistent with prior research, we find an exponential degree distribution and strong local clustering. However, the traffickers mix dissortatively by degree rather than assortatively. Using a graph sampling method, we show that a consequence of dissortative mixing is that targeted vertex removals have a greater impact on the connectivity and cohesion of the trafficking network. We also note the importance of degree mixing for characterizing and identifying topological weaknesses.