Problems in the study of interracial interaction: Pseudo-interracial dyad paradigm.

Reviews 3 lines of research that describe behavior in interracial settings in terms of hypothesis-testing, compensation strategies, or repressed affect. It is argued that the perspectives make divergent predictions about the process and outcomes of interracial interaction, but these predictions have not been tested because of the differing paradigms associated with each perspective's supporting research. An experiment employing pseudo-interracial dyads is reported that appears to resolve some of the competing hypotheses. 70 White undergraduates participated in indirect target–perceiver dyads in which the stated race of the target was varied. In 2 additional phases of the experiment, 6 undergraduates rated the target or both the target and perceiver on the basis of audiotapes. Problems with the procedure suggest that the pseudo-interracial dyads paradigm cannot answer several important questions about Ss' use of stereotypes and responses to requests to evaluate Black targets and lacks external and construct validity. (12 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

White preference in Blacks: A paradigm in search of a phenomenon.

Notes that research on white-preference behavior in Blacks (conceptualized as an operationalization of racial self-rejection) has been criticized with regard to methodological problems of internal and external validity. Based on a review of 10 studies, it is argued that a more essential weakness is revealed by the fact that the predominant Black pattern of choice behavior toward white and black stimulus alternatives has, in fact, failed to depart from chance. It is concluded that the inability to demonstrate white-preference in Blacks serves to illuminate the conceptual imprecision of a traditional trait approach to Black personality. (33 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

White children's attitudes toward Blacks and the physically handicapped: A developmental study.

Children's behavior toward adults who differed from them along 2 dimensions was examined from a developmental perspective. A total of 80 White kindergartners and 4th graders were tested individually by either a Black or a White female adult who either was or was not seated in a wheelchair. Three kinds of behavior toward the adult were measured: physical distancing, imitation, and helping. On the basis of previous findings, it was predicted that children at both age levels would show more physical avoidance, less imitation, and less helping in the presence of other-race and handicap cues, as compared with own-race and nonhandicap cues. On all 3 types of behavior, the White E was favored over the Black E in both the wheelchair and nonwheelchair conditions. In addition, there were interaction effects involving race, handicap, age, and sex that suggest the operation of complex developmental processes in the formation of attitudes toward different types of stigmatized individuals. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Congenital musculoskeletal malformation in South African Blacks: a study of incidence

Ten thousand South African Black neonates were examined on the day after delivery for assessment of the frequency of congenital malformation of the musculoskeletal system. In 15 neonates it was found that the hip joints could be dislocated by the Ortolani or Barlow techniques. This instability persisted to 1 week of age in only 3 instances. This incidence figure is approximately 10% of the average reported for White's neonates. Talipes equinovarus deformity was found in 35 infants, an incidence of 3,5/1 000, or approximately three times the incidence cited for Whites. Calcaneovalgus deformity, however, was found in 3 infants only-- a much lower incidence than that found among Whites. There was a similar infrequency in the incidence of spina bifida aperta (cystica), which was noted in 7 infants. This figure correlates with reports from North America, but is substantially lower than the cited incidence in Wales and parts of England. Polydactyly, usually consisting of a postaxial pedunculated skin tag only, was the most common deformity found, the incidence being 8,8/1 000.     

Use of discipline in an organization: A field study.

526 hourly employees working in a refinery were surveyed about their perceptions of their immediate supervisor's disciplinary behavior as well as the kinds of factors supervisors take into account when applying discipline. Factor analytic and correlational procedures were explored to (a) determine the kinds of disciplinary factors that are perceived as operating in the organization; (b) determine the relationships between these disciplinary factors and other employee variables such as satisfaction with supervisor, disciplinary history, and grievances; and (c) determine the attributions that supervisors are perceived as forming within the disciplinary process and determine the relationships between these types of attributions and selected employee variables. Several reliable supervisory disciplinary factors are identified that showed high relationships with supervisory satisfaction and the evaluation of the organizational disciplinary program but low correlations with more distant and objective variables of disciplinary history, grievances, and absenteeism. Several attributional dimensions that Ss perceived their supervisor to be using when applying discipline were identified. However, these dimensions are not consistent with the kinds of attributional elements identified in previous literature. Both reward- and punishment-oriented supervisor behavior were independently and incrementally related to satisfaction with supervision, but reward-oriented behavior was more important. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Acquisition of a problem-solving skill: Levels of organization and use of working memory.

We examined the acquisition of a problem-solving skill at three levels of organization—strategy, subgoal, and operator—and investigated changes in temporary storage, manipulation of information, and coordination of multiple representations. 6 college students practiced minimizing the simulated cost of solving diagnostic problems with digital electronic circuits for approximately 50 hr (347 problems). Ss were tested on declarative knowledge, inferential skills at the subgoal level, and ability to solve problems during working memory tasks. The working memory tasks required retention of a preload, concurrent processing, or integration of displayed information with the contents of working memory. The data support the view that restructuring is goal sensitive and strategic. The results suggest a multiple-level analysis of skill acquisition in which practice allows strategic restructuring of cognitive processes at 3 levels of organization. Implications for models of skill acquisition and working memory are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceptual organization and intelligence: A further study.

This experiment was a replication of that of Krech and Calvin (Levels of perceptual organization and cognition. J. abnorm. soc. Psychol., 1953, 48, 394-400) using modified techniques. The correlation previously reported by Krech and Calvin between intelligence and perception, did not obtain upon replication. The data confirmed their finding that progression over trials was usually from low to high perceptual organization, but did not show a correlation between perception and stimulus-exposure time from 0.01 to 1.00 second. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reactions to being helped in cooperating interracial groups: A context effect.

The respect and liking felt by a member of an interracial work group for a groupmate who provided unreciprocated help was investigated in a 3?×?2?×?2 factorially designed experiment with 84 White male US Air Force trainees. Each S participated with 2 other confederate groupmates (Black or White) in 2 management games involving a simulated railroad business. The 3-member team filled freight orders, kept records of maintenance and shipping expenses, earnings, fines, and the location of all cars. Each S was purposely overloaded with duties, and the confederate reacted with voluntary help, helping only after comments by the observing experimenter, or no help. Group task outcome was varied by arranging for half the team to experience failure and half to experience success. Ss, who were from small towns and rural areas of the southern US, developed significantly greater respect and liking for a groupmate who helped voluntarily than for one who did not help. Respect and liking for a groupmate who helped because instructed to do so by the experimenter was intermediate. There was a nonsignificant trend for Black helpers to be liked more than White helpers. Both Black and White helpers were liked as well when the group failed in its task as when it succeeded. Discussion focuses on the effect of a cooperative group context in reversing the usual decrement in liking for a similar peer who provides unreciprocated help on a task that involves the recipient's self-respect. (61 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Modern organization theory: A psychological and sociological study.

Organization theory is the study of the structure and functioning of organizations and the behavior of groups and individuals within them. It is an emerging interdisciplinary quasi-independent science, drawing primarily on psychology and sociology but also on economics and, to a lesser extent, on production engineering. The main lines of development affecting its conceptualization can be traced under 6 headings: (1) management theorists (from Henri Fayol to Wilfred Brown), (2) structural theorists (from Max Weber to Tom Burns), (3) group theorists (from Elton Mayo and Kurt Lewin to Rensis Likert), (4) individual theorists (from the Industrial Fatigue Research Board to March and Simon), (5) technology theorists (F. W. Taylor, Eric Trist, Joan Woodward), and (6) economic theorists (from Alfred Marshall to Robin Marris). Current work is surveyed and certain lessons drawn. (2 p. ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Helping and the avoidance of inappropriate interracial behavior: A strategy that perpetuates a nonprejudiced self-image.

Investigated the view that racial prejudice among White Americans today is often expressed in subtle, indirect, and rationalizable ways. Whites may therefore regard themselves as unprejudiced and nondiscriminatory as they continue to disadvantage minorities. It was hypothesized that Whites would be less helpful to Blacks only when normative guidelines within the situation suggest that the failure to help would be justifiable and not necessarily inappropriate. However, Whites would not discriminate against Blacks when the failure to help would be clearly inappropriate. In the present experiment, the normative guidelines regarding the appropriateness of helping was varied by manipulating the causal locus of the recipient's need (internal or external) and the source of the helping request (the recipient or a 3rd-party observer). Supportive of the hypotheses, Ss' (130 White female university students) helping behavior discriminated against Black recipients only in the condition in which the recipients' needs were caused by their failure to work hard and the requests were issued by the recipients themselves (i.e., when the failure to help would not be regarded as particularly inappropriate). (46 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A metabolic syndrome in whites and African-Americans. The Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities baseline study

The efficacy of microspheres made of polylactic acid polyglycolic acid copolymer mixed with blood clot as a delivery system for recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein-2 (rhBMP-2) was evaluated and the long term behaviour of rhBMP-2 in rats was studied. Twenty micro grams of rhBMP-2 in 200 microliter carrier (blood coagulum and polylactic acid polyglycolic acid porous microspheres) were implanted subcutaneously over both sides of the chest muscles in 40 5-week-old male Long Evans rats. The control group were implanted with carrier alone. Specimens were retrieved after 3 days and weekly for 9 weeks. Outcome was measured by signs of bone formation on low power radiographs, and signs of bony growth on histological examination. There were no signs of foreign body or inflammatory reactions to the carrier in either group. In the experimental group signs of bone formation had started to appear by the end of the first week, and there was a gradual increase in both radio-opacity and size during the observation period. Histologically the bony growth was beginning to mature by 4 weeks and was fully mature by 7-9 weeks. In contrast there was no sign of cartilage or bone formation in the control group and the carrier had resorbed by 4-6 weeks. It is concluded that rhBMP-2 implanted in a carrier consisting of blood clot and porous microspheres made of polylactic acid polyglycolic acid induces rapid proliferation of mesenchymal cells that lead to formation of cartilage and bone by 7 days which had matured by 9 weeks. rhBMP-2 in this carrier may be useful clinically because of its capacity to induce early formation of bone.     

Nonverbal communication of affect in interracial dyads.

Two experiments investigated the relationship between nonverbal behavior and the racial composition of a teacher–student dyad. The Multifactor Racial Attitude Inventory was used to measure prejudice. In Exp I, 36 high- and low-prejudiced White female undergraduates, acting as teachers, were led to praise successful White and Black students (confederates). Analysis of samples of nonverbal behavior showed that high-prejudiced teachers nonverbally discriminated between White and Black students (favoring Whites) significantly more than low-prejudiced teachers. In Exp II, 40 White and Black teachers (female undergraduates) taught successful White and Black students (confederates). Results show that both Whites and Blacks behaved nonverbally more positively to a student of their own race than to a student of the other race, although only same-race judges (12 White female undergraduates) could distinguish the differences in affect displayed by the Ss. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interpersonal dynamics in a simulated prison: A methodological analysis.

Analyzes the Stanford Prison experiment of P. G. Zimbardo et al (1973) and questions, on methodological grounds, various of their inferences. Empirical evidence is presented to elucidate and buttress these criticisms, and an alternative interpretation of the outcome of the Stanford experiment is proposed. (28 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A developmental study of categorical organization in short-term memory.

Studied 3rd and 4th graders and college undergraduates to investigate the development of the ability to use taxonomic, phonemic, and sense impression categories as dimensions. Results indicate that the more sophisticated the level of encoding needed to discriminate between 2 opposing classes of information, the older the child must be before he can accomplish the task. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Condemning and condoning racism: A social context approach to interracial settings.

Campus racial harassment provided the context for an experiment, replicated over 3 different campus samples, regarding the effects of social influence on Whites' reactions to racism. Hearing someone condemn racism led Ss to express significantly stronger antiracist opinions than occurred following exposure to a no-influence control condition. Furthermore, hearing someone condone racism led Ss to adopt significantly less strong antiracist positions than when no other opinions were introduced. The robust social influence effects were obtained regardless of whether the source was White or Black or whether Ss responded publicly or privately. A social context approach to interracial settings is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personality variables of Blacks participating in a prison riot.

A racial riot occurred at a federal correctional institution in which 48 Blacks, or the majority of the participants, were identified. Five categories of data were abstracted from their central jackets. A 2nd group of 50 Blacks who were selected at random from the same institution and who intentionally sought not to become involved served as the controls. The 2 samples differed significantly on a large number of variables (e.g., MMPI scores, education and vocational training completed, degree of job responsibility, drug use) when analyzed by several different statistical techniques. A tentative differential profile of the violent individual is made. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Achievement growth in children with learning difficulties in mathematics: Findings of a two-year longitudinal study.

The reading and mathematics growth of 180 children was examined over 4 points, spanning 2nd and 3rd grades. Initially, 4 achievement groups were identified: difficulties in mathematics but not in reading (MD only), difficulties in mathematics as well as in reading (MD-RD), difficulties in reading hut not in mathematics (RD only), and normal achievement in mathematics and in reading. When IQ, income, ethnicity, and gender were held constant, the MD-only group grew at a faster rate in mathematics than did the MD-RD group. In reading, the RD-only and MD-RD groups grew at about the same rate. Reading abilities influence children's growth in mathematics, but mathematics abilities do not influence children's growth in reading. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Compositions in Black and White: Determinants of interaction in interracial dyads.

Examined the initial, unstructured interactions of 40 interracial (Black–White) dyads in which 3 factors were systematically varied. These factors were the disposition of the White dyad members to either seek out or shun interaction with Blacks, the race (Black vs White) of the experimenter, and the gender composition (male–male vs female–female) of the dyads. Results show that within dyads, White dyad members displayed more interactional involvement than their Black partners but experienced the interactions as more stressful and uncomfortable. Whites predisposed to avoid interaction with Blacks looked and smiled at their partners less than those predisposed to initiate interaction. Both Black and White members of these avoidance dyads reported heightened feelings of anxiety and concern about their interactions, but the moderating influences of the Whites' approach–avoidance dispositions on interaction behavior were essentially limited to conditions in which the experimenter was Black and the White S was a "solo minority." It is suggested that Black–White partner effects are attributable to differing amounts of cross-race contact typically experienced by Blacks and Whites. Black–White experimenter effects are interpreted in terms of S. E. Taylor's (1981) hypothesis that stereotypes and related dispositions are activated in social contexts in which group membership is made salient. (38 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)