Inducing biased scanning in a group setting to change attitudes toward bilingualism and capital punishment.

Triads of 48 male and female Canadian high school students were assigned to debate either capital punishment or bilingualism. Teams were given 40 min to prepare their arguments. Half were told in advance which side of the argument they would be debating, and half were told they would be assigned at the end of their discussion. Scoring of the taped discussions confirmed that this manipulation produced biased scanning of arguments in the predetermined condition and unbiased scanning in the later-determined condition. A postmeasure of attitudes was administered either before or after the actual debate. Biased scanning led to significant attitude change in the predicted direction, and this effect was not influenced by time of presentation of the posttest. Results support the conflict theory of attitude change. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Moral judgment, personality, and attitudes toward authority.

Two studies investigating attitudes toward authority using the Survey of Ethical Attitudes (SEA) clarify the dynamics of conformity. The SEA and a semantic differential were administered to 369 college students, who rated the concepts mother, father, police, and government on 10 evaluative adjective pairs. Ss endorsing the "ethics of social responsibility" held more favorable attitudes toward authority than did those endorsing the "ethics of personal conscience." This result was replicated in the 2nd study. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Moral reasoning and judgments of aggression.

Examined the role of type of aggression, aggressor intentions, victim consequences, and stage of moral reasoning in the judgments of aggressive acts. 346 high school and college students who scored at Stages 2, 3, or 4 in L. Kohlberg's (1976) moral reasoning system read physical, verbal, or passive aggression scenarios in which the aggressor's intentions were harmful, instrumental, or altruistic and in which the victim's consequences were good or bad. Results indicate that each variable influenced ratings of aggression independently and that type of aggression and stage of moral reasoning interacted with aggressor intentions to influence the ratings. Similar results were found on ratings of inappropriateness. Victim consequences had a strong but independent influence on ratings of both aggressiveness and inappropriateness. It is concluded that stages of moral reasoning in adolescent and adult populations are important when considering judgments of aggression and that the Kohlberg framework can be usefully applied to these types of judgments. (47 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychotherapists' attitudes toward suicide.

Assessed psychotherapists' attitudes toward a number of potential suicides and their attitudes toward the concept of rational suicide in general. 186 Ss received a case scenario in which a current client of a member or the general public was considering suicide because of a terminal illness, physical pain, psychological pain, or bankruptcy. Ss also completed the Suicide Semantic Differential Scale. Ss were differentially accepting of suicidal ideation, based on precipitating circumstances, and Ss would take different amounts of action to prevent a suicide depending on why the person had decided to commit suicide. Ss who had been in practice for 30+ yrs were more accepting of suicide and would take less action to prevent a suicide than less experienced Ss. 81% of the Ss believed in the idea of rational suicide. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychological androgyny and attitudes toward feminism.

Administered the Bem Sex-Role Inventory and Spence and Helm Attitudes toward Women Scale to 50 male and 50 female undergraduates. Only males with a preference for the feminine sex role differed from the other sex and level-of-androgyny groups, in that they exhibited traditional, conservative attitudes toward the rights and roles of women in contemporary society. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Authoritarianism and attitudes toward high achievers.

In 2 studies 204 Ss completed scales measuring right-wing authoritarianism, general attitudes toward high achievers, global self-esteem, and items concerned with voting preference, causal attributions, personality characteristics, deservingness, responsibility, and affective reactions to the rise and fall of 3 political leaders. Study 1 distinguished between components of right-wing authoritarianism and showed that the nonaggressive rule-follower with high global self-esteem was more likely to favor the fall of high achievers. Study 2 showed that right-wing voting preference moderated relations between authoritarianism and Ss' affective reactions and that prediction of these variables was significantly enhanced when personality, attribution, and derservingness were added to the regression equation after controlling for the effects of age and gender, right-wing political preference, and authoritarianism. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Faculty attitudes toward Congressional investigations.

Responses to seven open-ended questions concerning Congressional investigations of faculty members or colleges given by 57 (63%) of the liberal arts faculty at the U. of Maine are tabulated. In general, the respondents gave negative responses to question of the need for, or effects of, such investigations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Educators' attitudes toward working mothers.

In an exploratory study of educators' sex-role perceptions, 411 teachers, administrators, and pupil personnel workers were administered the Attitudes Toward Working Mothers Scale. Administrators and teachers were found to have significantly less positive attitudes toward working mothers than did pupil personnel workers. Within each of the groups, males had the least positive attitudes. Marital status, maternal employment history, and child-bearing status were unrelated to these attitudes. Replication on a second sample (330 Ss) produced similar findings. (58 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dimensions of attitudes toward technology.

Administered an 80-item questionnaire measuring attitudes toward mechanization to 45 undergraduate students in physical science, biological science, social science, and fine arts. Responses were factor analyzed using a varimax rotation. Factor scores were created for 6 of the resulting factors: Global Mechanism, Mechanical Curiosity, Preference for Hand-made Goods, Alienation, Spiritual Benefits of Technology, and Human Vitalism. These factor scores were then used as dependent variables in a multivariate comparison of the students in different major fields. Most of the between-group differences in attitude toward mechanization were reflected by differences in mechanical curiosity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

American attitudes toward intelligence tests.

If one asks a representative group of Americans over 18 about the use of intelligence tests in student selection for school or college or to aid in job promotion selection "he finds that many of them are against the use of intelligence tests. High school students in the U. S. are even more strongly opposed to the use of intelligence tests." Critical attitudes toward tests involve the following issues: Inaccessibility of test data. Invasion of privacy. Rigidity in use of test scores. Types of talent selected by tests. Fairness of tests to minority groups. Among the personal and social characteristics of the critics are: Some people are distinctly hostile to any self examination. People subscribing strongly to aristocratic or equalitarian viewpoints of society may oppose testing. People who have done poorly on tests may have wounded self-esteem leading to test opposition. The punishing effects tests may have had on an individual's life chances may lead to resentment against tests. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Public attitudes toward psychotherapist-client confidentiality.

What does the general public expect of psychotherapists in terms of confidentiality and third-party access to information? A telephone survey was conducted to examine this issue. Generally, subjects believed that therapy information should not be revealed without authorization, but they nonetheless felt that confidentiality should be broken when a client reveals the occurrence of one of the following: murder (planned or confessed), suicide plans, child abuse, major theft, and treason/sabotage against the U.S. Subjects were concerned about unauthorized release of information to the courts, to a client's spouse, or to insurance companies, but felt that psychotherapists should be free to discuss clients with one another. As opposed to older subjects, younger subjects (aged 18-39) were against unauthorized disclosures to parents or the family doctor and believed that confidentiality should be maintained when a client reports illegal drug use. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Third-world managers' attitudes toward pollution.

Examined pollution awareness and concern over pollution among 120 Indian managers from several industries. Pollution attitudes were measured by questionnaire responses to the open-ended question, "What is your firm's position in regard to pollution of the environment (in your own words)?" Responses were content analyzed and coded into 3 categories: (a) nonaware (51%), (b) aware-lacking concern (30%), and (c) aware-concerned (19%). Pollution attitudes displayed significant relationships with both individual and organizational variables. It is concluded that although pollution is becoming a serious problem in India, awareness and concern are lagging compared to the more developed countries. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Moral reasoning and conduct problems in the classroom.

Assessed 60 6th-graders for their level of moral development using the Moral Judgment Interview. Ss were also rated by their teachers on classroom conduct. Two hypotheses were investigated: (a) Ss who employ lower stages of moral reasoning will display more conduct problems than those who reason at higher levels; and (b) those who reason at lower levels will display more variability in their conduct ratings than their higher reasoning counterparts. Results, both before and after the effects of sex, verbal ability, and social class were controlled statistically, support both hypotheses. (30 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychologists' attitudes toward gay and lesbian parenting.

How does the average practicing psychologist view a gay or lesbian couple wishing to adopt a child? Psychologists (N?=?388) from across the United States read and rated 1 of 6 vignettes describing a couple interested in adopting a 5-year-old child. The vignettes were identical except that the couples' sexual orientation was depicted as gay male, lesbian, or heterosexual and the child was either a girl or boy. Results indicated that participants who rated the gay male and lesbian couples with a female child were less likely to recommend custody for these couples than participants who rated the heterosexual couples. Before psychologists provide mental health services to gay and lesbian people and their children, they should complete formal, systematic training on sexual diversity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-percept and consumer attitudes toward small cars.

A random household sample of 250 adults in a metropolitan area was interviewed to determine the relationship between respondents' attitudes toward the purchase of small cars and readiness to accept challenge and innovation. It was expected that persons who saw themselves as Confident Explorers would show greater acceptance of small cars. The data did not support this relationship. On the contrary, persons who saw themselves as Cautious Conservatives were more likely to express a favorable opinion of small cars. Conservatives did not consider the small car an adventure, but rather a practical, economical convenience, Confident Explorers saw a large car as a means of expressing their ability to control the environment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Clinician attitudes toward time-limited and time-unlimited therapy.

Although the use of short-term therapy continues to increase, the impact of this trend on practicing clinicians remains relatively underinvestigated. We examined the attitude and skill patterns of licensed psychologists, psychiatrists, and social workers with regard to time-limited and time-unlimited therapy. Significant attitudinal and self-report skill differences were found between the two treatment types and across the employment setting of therapists. Implications of these differences are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Company policies and supervisors' attitudes toward supervision.

What is the relationship between policies of a democratic and an authoritarian company and supervisors' attitudes toward supervision? 2 paper and pencil inventories and an autobiographical questionnaire were administered to the 86 Ss, who were from 2 companies—one authoritarian and one democratic. Sometimes, "a democratic approach to management may be more effective, while in another situation, an authoritarian approach is preferable." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relationship between student attitudes about cooperation and competition and attitudes toward schooling.

Responses to the Minnesota School Affect Assessment made by approximately 2,400 students in grades 2-12 of a midwestern school district were submitted to correlational analyses of relationships between scales measuring attitudes toward cooperation and competition and scales measuring attitudes toward school personnel, motivation to learn, involvement in learning, self-worth as student, other students, and restraints on student behavior. Attitudes toward cooperation and competition were virtually independent across grades. Cooperativeness was consistently related to a broad range of positive attitudes toward schooling experience at all grade levels. Competitiveness changed its pattern of correlates, showing relationships to several positive attitudes only in high school. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)