Falsificationism is not just ‘potential’ falsifiability,but requires ‘actual’ falsification: Social psychology,critical rationalism,and progress in science

Based on an analysis of ten popular introductions to social psychology, we will show that Karl Popper's philosophy of ‘critical rationalism’ so far has had little to no traceable influence on the epistemology and practice of social psychology. If Popper is quoted or mentioned in the textbooks at all, the guiding principle of ‘falsificationism’ is reduced to a mere ‘falsifiability’ and some central elements of critical rationalism are left out – those that are incompatible with positivism and inductivism. Echoing earlier attempts to introduce Popper to social psychology by Paul Meehl and Tom Pettigrew, we will argue that a discussing Popper's ideas in more depth could help social psychology to move forward in view of the ‘crisis of confidence’ (Pashler and Wagenmakers, 2012) that has emerged recently in view of the ‘Stapel affair’ and the reports of failures to replicate social psychological experiments in high‐powered replication attempts.     

Three Approaches to Understanding Self-Help Groups

With the increasing importance of self-help groups, professionals need to augment their understanding of how groups work in order to help clients make effective use of them. Three conceptual frameworks-social networks, social learning and cognitive theory-explain the basic psychosocial processes of self-help groups. Practice implications indicate how clients can benefit from self-help groups and suggest how professionals might enable their clients to realize the full benefits of participation in them.     

On the Identification and Early Warning of College Students＇ Psychological Crisis from the Perspectiveof Life Education

心理危机的识别与预警既是预防心理危机发生的重要策略,也是对危机当事人和相关人进行生命教育和促进生命成长的重要机会。心理危机产生的原因具有复杂性,发生过程具有阶段性,危机现象具有特殊性,危机爆发具有极端性,危机发生也具有一定规律性。因此,在进行生命教育过程中,需要关注不同类别的生命个体、不同阶段的生命现象、处在规律中的独特生命个体,同时要注意识别生命危机信号和生命求救信号。     

Does severity matter?: An investigation of crisis severity from defensive attribution theory perspective

Although the concept of crisis severity has existed in the crisis communication literature for two decades, it has not been theoretically tested and explained. Based on Defensive Attribution Theory (DAT), this study intends to specify the relationship between crisis severity and crisis responsibility as well as organizational reputation within the SCCT model. Through a 2 (crisis severity) × 3 (crisis type) between-subject factorial experiment (n?=?274), the study revealed that higher crisis severity causes worse reputation regardless of crisis type. For accidental crisis, higher crisis severity leads to higher intentionality, one dimension of crisis responsibility. The findings indicate that crisis severity still has value in SCCT and deserves further investigation.     

A theoretical perspective on “fear” as an organizational motivator for initiating public relations activities

This exploratory study identifies the correlation between perceived fear and the public relations activities of an organization. A survey of forty public relations professionals in Florida confirms that fear is a critical causal factor that motivates an organization to initiate or undertake public relations activities. The effect of fear on the public relations activities of an organization differed by public relations area. In addition, there was a gap between perception and actual public relations activities. Crisis and issues management were the areas most affected by perception, but in application media relations was the most practiced.     

Impression management in corporate annual reports during the global financial crisis

This paper analyses impression management (IM) during the global financial crisis (GFC). It examines the differences in multiple textual characteristics and attributions between a highly positive performance period (2002–2007) and the GFC period (2008–2012), within the setting of Spain, where these two economic cycles were extreme. In contrast to previous research, companies' extreme poor performance in our sample is driven by an exogenous event. The findings do not show clear evidence of IM based on textual characteristics specifically linked to the GFC. Companies tried not to use overt IM and, to some extent, tried to clarify the impact of the crisis on performance. They were under great scrutiny and probably preferred to tell a more careful story. However, a general pattern of IM was still present during the GFC in the form of consistent positive attributions, favourable benchmarks and enhancement practices. In essence, the crisis did not fully stop IM practices, but rather influenced the way IM was produced. Overall, our results show that IM was lower during the GFC than in the case of poor performance in normal macroeconomic conditions found by previous literature. The results also show that the narratives of firms in the finance and real estate sectors were the most reactive to the GFC, probably linked to their key role in the crisis.     

教派主义与叙利亚危机教派化机制浅析

关于教派因素在叙利亚危机中作用的现有研究多持工具论观点,忽视了教派身份认同被精英工具化的必要条件以及教派动员的微观机制。本文认为,教派因素确非叙利亚危机爆发的根本原因,但阿萨德家族统治时期叙利亚社会长期积累的教派间利益分流、社会区隔和敌对情绪,一定程度上构成了危机教派化的前提条件和大众动员的最初框架。2011年叙利亚危机爆发伊始,民间自发的地方性教派动员和暴力已然出现。叙国内外精英通过不同政策迅速直接或间接介入民间自发性的教派动员,制造或强化了历史积累和新近出现的教派敌意、利益冲突、能力、机会等因素,触发并加剧了“安全困境/暴力螺旋”和“群体内—群体间交互作用”两大机制,最终导致了危机的教派化。     

Never easy to say “sorry”: Exploring the interplay of crisis involvement,brand image,and message appeal in developing effective corporate apologies

This study examines how the interplay among crisis involvement, brand image, and message appeal impacts the effectiveness of an apology in the context of a corporate crisis. To determine apology effectiveness, a 2 (crisis involvement: high vs. low) × 2 (brand image: symbolic vs. functional) × 2 (message appeal type: emotional vs. informational) experimental design was employed. The results demonstrate that the three-way interaction is significant, especially in the low-crisis involvement condition. The study concludes with a discussion of theoretical and practical implications and directions for future research.     

Corporate statement serving as information subsidies in the product-harm crisis

This study explores the attributes of a crisis statement which influence its utility as an information subsidy in the process of product-harm crises in China. Through investigating and analyzing 92 statements released in times of product-harm crises, the results show that the form in which the statement is released, and the length of the statement have significant effects on whether the statement will be quoted fully or partially by the news media.     

Analysis of the image repair discourse in the Michael Phelps controversy

The following study reviews the image repair strategies used by Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps, his sponsors and the organizations that govern him as an amateur swimmer after a picture of Phelps allegedly smoking from a marijuana pipe appeared in a British tabloid. Additionally, the study reviews media coverage of the controversy to determine whether Phelps was successful in repairing his image. The study concludes that Phelps’ image repair campaign was a success. Implications for public relations practitioners and suggestions for future research also are discussed.