Real and perceived attitude agreement in social networks.

It is often asserted that friends and acquaintances have more similar beliefs and attitudes than do strangers; yet empirical studies disagree over exactly how much diversity of opinion exists within local social networks and, relatedly, how much awareness individuals have of their neighbors' views. This article reports results from a network survey, conducted on the Facebook social networking platform, in which participants were asked about their own political attitudes, as well as their beliefs about their friends' attitudes. Although considerable attitude similarity exists among friends, the results show that friends disagree more than they think they do. In particular, friends are typically unaware of their disagreements, even when they say they discuss the topic, suggesting that discussion is not the primary means by which friends infer each other's views on particular issues. Rather, it appears that respondents infer opinions in part by relying on stereotypes of their friends and in part by projecting their own views. The resulting gap between real and perceived agreement may have implications for the dynamics of political polarization and theories of social influence in general. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Health and social inequality in Europe: changes of the basic conditions for municipal health services

Good health is not distributed equally, neither in life conditions--including the individual ability to act--nor according to the supply grid. These interrelations, shown in several empirical investigations, assume more importance in view of the groving tendency to social polarisation in the countries of Europe, different in fact in the single countries, but clear in respect of tendency: social exclusion does not only mean to have less financial resources but also social disadvantages in other realms of living, especially in health. Migration, not only from East to West, but also inside and between the countries of the European Union and inside of Eastern Europe too, is only an especially dear expression that social problems have their origin in international problems and casualities, but become visible in local and regional structures and thus in the responsibility of the municipalities. Globalisation, Europe etc., terms mostly connected with positive connotations, have not only a positive side, but also another one, namely, the re-regionalisation of social problems especially in the municipalities. Normally the municipalities have to counterbalance and to regulate the negative consequences of these European--and moreover international--changes of the structures, although their financial means are declining. The municipal health service is integrated in this contradictory constellation. To prevent irrational social and/or political developments, the reasons and possible strategies of reform policy will have to be discussed carefully.     

Canadian psychologists for social responsibility.

The report in Canadian Psychology from "Canadian Psychologists for Social Responsibility" (P. R. Johnson, October 1984, pp. 336-337; see record 2007-03848-001) requires comment. First, we are amazed at the arrogance of the assumption that one political position is socially responsible, and all others presumably are irresponsible. Aside from that, the annual report of the section in effect says that evidence is unnecessary as long as in our heart we know we're right. Furthermore, the position attacked in the report is a straw man. Who has denied "that people are afraid of a nuclear holocaust"? Rather than attacking a claim that CPSR's critics have not made, its spokesman could try to deal seriously with the response made to another article emanating from this new section (O. Johnson, 1983). If the denigration of the need for objective evidence, and the ignoring of basic distinctions, are characteristic of CPSR's approach, there seems to be no difference between them and any other political group. In that case, the question naturally arises: Why should this political group constitute a section of CPA? (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Complications of pediatric craniofacial surgery in the Orient: analysis of a 10-year experience

Numerous reports on the complications of craniofacial surgery have been published in the western world. However, relatively little such information concerning Oriental populations has been documented. We therefore set out to provide a retrospective analysis of all the complications of craniofacial surgery encountered during the 10-year period of 1986 to 1995 at Seoul National University Children's Hospital, the only children's hospital in Korea. Forty-nine children underwent 57 consecutive craniofacial procedures at our institution during 1986 to 1995. A retrospective chart analysis of the frequency and types of complications was performed. Mantel-Haenszel chi-square tests were then calculated for several factors, including age at surgery, duration of surgery, intraoperative losses of hemoglobin and hematocrit, total amount of blood transfusion, and the number of complications according to year, diagnosis, and operative procedure to find any significant correlation with the incidence of complications. Mortality was 1.8%. The major complication rate was 7.0% and included cases of visual loss and persistent cerebrospinal fluid leak. Analysis revealed the presence of several trends, including an increased incidence of complications with increased patient age at surgery, duration of surgery, and intraoperative loss of hematocrit. The number of complications was also noted to increase in cases with complex craniofacial synostosis syndromes (Crouzon's, Apert's Antley-Bixler, etc.) and tumors of the orbit and cranium. Finally, complications were noted to decrease in recent years, most likely due to the increased experience of our craniofacial team. Nevertheless, statistical analysis revealed that the incidence of complications correlated significantly only with increased duration of surgery (p < 0.05). The results of our study indicate that although craniofacial surgery in the Orient carries an inherent risk for significant complications, the risk can be minimized and the rate of mortality and major complications kept to an acceptable level by a careful and experienced craniofacial team. Groups at most risk for complications are those with a long duration of surgery.     

Perceived sources of social power.

A cross-cultural analysis of the concept of power was conducted, comparing the attitudes of boys 12-14 years old in a camp for underprivileged and disturbed children and a group of female school teachers enrolled in a graduate extension course. A significantly high correlation for the 2 groups was found between the rankings of 6 traits related to the source of social power. Helpfulness and fairness were ranked highest, fearlessness and physical strength least important in regard to perceived capacity for social manipulation. From Psyc Abstracts 36:04:4GF39R. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Some mental impediments in the collaboration of social pedagogy and adolescent psychiatry

Different mental attitudes sometimes hinder needed synergy. "Sozialp?dagigik" is based on humanities, unlike psychiatry, which is just as well due to the sciences of neuropsychology, neurology, finally biology. These "induce" their theories from empiricism, those "deduce" from principles. What might stand a good chance for completion, ever so often goes bad to merely distinguishing self-assessment. The author of this contribution is occupied in introducing students of "social-pedagogics" to the problems, and to the ways and difficulties of treatment, especially in child and adolescent psychiatry, showing them at an associate hospital. It seems to be successful and gaining more agreement.     

Additional observations on the social perceptions of authoritarians and nonauthoritarians.

The perceptions of authoritarians (highs) by other authoritarians and nonauthoritarians (lows) by other nonauthoritarians are investigated by placing 12 pairs of highs and 12 pairs of lows in a social situation and instructing them to discuss the neutral topics of radio, television, and the movies. Each S had previously responded to the F scale along with some buffer MMPI items. After the discussion was completed, each S was again given the questionnaire, but was instructed to respond to it as he felt his partner would answer it. The combined data of this, and a previous study show that highs tend to estimate peers as having high attitudes, whether these peers are high or low. The estimates by lows of peers are less uniform than those of highs. The social perceptions of highs appear to be influenced by a "same-stereotype" while those of lows by an "other-stereotype." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Intergroup relations and South African social psychology: Historical ties.

Seven research themes in South African social psychology are identified and sketched historically: the use of psychological tests to make comparisons between groups; attitudes; authoritarianism; the "marginal personality"; the contact hypothesis; a state-sponsored investigation into intergroup relations; and social identity theory. It is argued that the development of these themes has to be examined in conjunction with changes in the political discourse in South Africa about "race." (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Patient attitudes as related to social class and other variables concerned with hospitalization.

Attitude scores from a factor analytically developed scale were obtained from 55 psychiatric inpatients. These were related to measures of social class, treatment, and demographic variables testing the hypothesis that upper social-class patients would be more in accord with "good mental health" values than would lower social-class patients. It was predicted that these class related attitudes would further relate to type of treatment the patient would receive. Attitudes toward mental health are related to social class and to diagnosis. Some treatment predictions were not testable, but it is clear that somatic treatment is associated with lower social class. The higher the social class the more psychologically oriented the attitude, and conversely, the lower the social class the more rigid and resentful of hospital procedures are the person's attitudes. Attitudes appear to be an important variable in acceptance of and cooperation with current mental-health procedures. These findings are consistent with Hollingshead and Redlich's (1958) contentions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Authoritarian ideology and attitudes on parent-child relationships.

"The relationship between authoritarian ideology and attitudes about parent-child relationships was investigated by testing 172 native-white, Christian university students." Findings indicate a relationship in females that could be related to personality dispositions. It was proposed that strong authoritarian beliefs may be maladjustive in a democratic society since such beliefs are associated with attitudes similar to those held by parents of problem children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Behavior instrumentation and social technology.

Analyzes the influences of electromechanical technology on traditional concerns of social and clinical psychology in terms of principles of behavior control (e.g., negative or positive reinforcement, information feedback, and stimulus discrimination), i.e., traffic lights, clocks, behavioral prosthetics, etc. A discipline of "psychotechnology" is advocated, and ethical and professional issues relative to such a development are discussed. (43 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perception of social distributions.

Examined the accuracy of individuals' beliefs about the distributions of attitudinal and behavioral dimensions in 2 experiments with 350 undergraduates. It is noted that accurate representation of the distribution of social attitudes and behaviors can guide effective social behavior and is often essential for correct inferences. In Exps I and II, the actual attitudes and behaviors of Ss were measured, and their beliefs were assessed by asking Ss to estimate the distribution of 100 students on these dimensions. The accuracy of Ss' perceptions of the means, standard deviations, and distribution shapes were examined. Results indicate that Ss showed a number of systematic biases, including overestimation of dispersion and overestimation of the means of behavioral distributions and a false consensus bias, but their overall accuracy was evident. Findings are discussed in terms of biases in the perception, accuracy, and construction of social distributions. (34 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Some personal and social attitudes of habitual traffic violators.

"The results indicate that the negligent operators do not constitute a homogeneous group with respect to either the personal variables or the attitudes expressed toward the law, the police, or themselves… [they] therefore, fail to support the common belief that drivers who have unfavorable attitudes toward self or society become serious traffic violators and that such violators have developed unfavorable attitudes toward traffic laws, enforcement agencies, or themselves as a result of frequent apprehension for traffic violations… . In conclusion, it appears that the drivers used in this study are not different from other drivers in the characteristics considered, except in the frequency of traffic violations on their records." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Automatic social behavior as motivated preparation to interact.

The authors propose that automatic social behavior may result from perceivers preparing to interact with primed social group members. In Study 1, participants primed with a disliked outgroup (gay men) showed evidence of interaction preparation (aggression) rather than direct stereotypic trait expression (passivity). In Study 2, participants with implicit positive attitudes toward the elderly walked more slowly after "elderly" priming, but participants with negative attitudes walked more quickly, results consistent with a preparatory account; the reverse was found priming "youth." Study 3 demonstrated that the accessibility of a primed category follows a pattern more consistent with that of goal-related constructs (including post-goal-fulfillment inhibition) than that of semantically primed constructs. Implications for the function of stored knowledge are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Leftist sexual politics and homosexuality: a historical overview

For almost a full century now, the revolutionary prospect of socialism has fuelled opening forays first of the homosexual emancipation and later of the gay liberation movements, both in Europe and in North America. It inspired Edward Carpenter and Magnus Hirschfeld at the turn of the century; André Gide and Richard Linsert in the post-World War I years; Harry Hay and Jim Kepner in the post-World War II era; and the British and American Gay Liberation Front, the Italian Fuori!, the French FHAR, the German "Rotzschwule," and the Dutch Red Faggots following the Stonewall rebellion. While the official socialist parties of Northwestern Europe may have made only limited contributions to homosexual emancipation, they certainly have a better record than conservative and Christian parties and even the liberals, who have consistently, if contradictorily, underlined the freedom of private life. Even so, parties across the entire political spectrum have gradually come to endorse at least some of the movement's goals. As it has advanced, the gay movement has changed as well, and it now finds itself pulled in divergent directions. Gay leftists who still subscribe to the ideals expressed in Marxist and utopian socialist writings now find themselves at demonstrations shoulder-to-shoulder with members of ACT UP and Queer Nation, to say nothing of gay conservatives and gay Christians. The successes achieved by the contemporary gay movement despite or precisely because of its diversity support Foucault's argument that "there is no single locus of great Refusal, no soul of revolt, source of all rebellions, or pure law of the revolutionary. Instead there is a plurality of resistances, each of them a special case...." At the close of the twentieth century, the welfare state has reached its apogee in Northwestern Europe. As blue-collar workers historically committed to class struggle have become relatively well-to-do and minoritarian, socialist parties have increasingly lost their traditional base of support and been forced into the defensive. Depending only on the socialists would mean relying on an ineffectual partner, for nowhere are they in a stable position of power. Long before the collapse of "really existing socialism" in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, gay and lesbian movements began developing their own autonomous politics independent of parties. They moved in this direction in part because the coalition with leftism so frequently led to disappointment, particularly when gays and lesbians working within socialist parties were called upon to subordinate or abandon their own goals in favor of party platforms. In other cases the gay-left coalition failed to yield results because a single-minded reliance on one party placed limits on lobbying other parties and entering compromises. We have reached a time when inherited ideologies are no longer capable of laying claim to the undivided loyalty of the gay movement, if indeed they ever were. As it has developed autonomous theories and practices, the gay movement's choice of coalition partners has increasingly come to be based on pragmatism and success in advancing the gay agenda. Indeed, the roles of the gay movement and political parties have undergone a notable switch in recent years, with parties currying the support of the gay movement rather than vice versa. This signals a shift from the desire for politics to a politics of desire, going far beyond traditional socialist ideologies.     

Neuro-osteology

Neuro-osteology stresses the biological connection during development between nerve and hard tissues. It is a perspective that has developed since associations were first described between pre-natal peripheral nerve tissue and initial osseous bone formation in the craniofacial skeleton (Kjaer, 1990a). In this review, the normal connection between the central nervous system and the axial skeleton and between the peripheral nervous system and jaw formation are first discussed. The early central nervous system (the neural tube) and the axial skeleton from the lumbosacral region to the sella turcica forms a unit, since both types of tissue are developmentally dependent upon the notochord. In different neurological disorders, the axial skeleton, including the pituitary gland, is malformed in different ways along the original course of the notochord. Anterior to the pituitary gland/sella turcica region, the craniofacial skeleton develops from prechordal cartilage, invading mesoderm and neural crest cells. Also, abnormal development in the craniofacial region, such as tooth agenesis, is analyzed neuro-osteologically. Results from pre-natal investigations provide information on the post-natal diagnosis of children with congenital developmental disorders in the central nervous system. Examples of these are myelomeningocele and holoprosencephaly. Three steps are important in clinical neuro-osteology: (1) clinical definition of the region of an osseous or dental malformation, (2) embryological determination of the origin of that region and recollection of which neurological structure has developed from the same region, and (3) clinical diagnosis of this neurological structure. If neurological malformation is the first symptom, step 2 results in the determination of the osseous region involved, which in step 3 is analyzed clinically. The relevance of future neuro-osteological diagnostics is emphasized.     

Child care for the 21st century: An overview and commentary.

Contends that the problem of alternative child care in modern society touches on social, cultural, religious, and political attitudes and ideals. In considering proposed solutions, scientists and social policy makers are realizing that providing alternative child care for individual families produces complex repercussions in nearly all spheres of social, economic, and political life. Views are explored on the issue of child care as presented by E. Zigler and P. Ennis; S. Scarr et al; and A. R. Pence (see PA, Vol 76:36300; 36294; and 36288). Prominent psychological trends in the debate on child care, including the decline of the "main effect mentality," the "education vs care" controversy, and the resurgence of the early experience debate are noted. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The problem of measurement in the psychology of the eighteenth century.

Hitherto "largely unknown opinions of a number of eighteenth century philosophical and nonphilosophical writers regarding the possibilities and methods of psychological measurements" are considered in approximately chronological order. Writers mentioned include Christian von Wolff, Andrew Michael Ramsay, Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten, Christian August Crusius, Pierre-Louis Moreau de Maupertuis, Friedrich Johann Buck, Moses Mendelssohn, Gottfried Ploucquet, Charles Bonnet, Hans Bernhard Mérian, Johann Heinrich Lambert, Johann August Eberhard, Gottlieb Friedrich Hagen, Johann Gottlieb Krüger, and Christian Albrecht K?rber. "The question of the measurement of mental phenomena did not by any means remain alien to the inquiring genius of the eighteenth century." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

That "vision thing": The state of theory in social and personality psychology at the edge of the new millennium.

Social psychology's status as a theoretical discipline is assessed. Whereas it has excelled as an experimental science, the field has generally eschewed broad theorizing and tended to limit its conceptualizations to relatively narrow, "mid-range" notions closely linked to the operational level of analysis. Such "theory shyness" may have spawned several negative consequences, including the tendency to invent new names for old concepts, fragmentation of the field, and isolation from the general cultural dialogue. Recently, steps have been taken to encourage greater theoretical activity by social psychologists, and there are now several major outlets for theoretical contributions. Further initiatives are needed, however, to instigate theoretical creativity, including ways of overcoming disciplinary risk aversion and the training of young social psychologists in ways and means of theory construction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)