Suchergebnisse

"How do people react to wartime dangers? How do they adjust to threats of impending attack? How have survivors responded? ... What needs to be done in the United States to reduce psychological vulnerability to the A-bomb threat? This book casts light on these pressing questions in a comprehensive analysis of all existing reports of the psychological aspects of air war--with detailed descriptions of the psychological effects of atomic bombing, and conventional air attacks"--Jacket. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).

A presentation of 'a set of theoretical constructs developed for the purpose of analyzing the psychol'al causes & consequences of decisional conflicts.' Decisional conflict (DC) is defined as the 'opposing tendencies within an individual which interfere with the formulation, acceptance, or execution of a decision.' The problem of the DC's of any leader who is in the role of negotiator & has the power to use his own judgment in his attempts to arrive at a peaceful settlement with a rival nation through arbitration in a face-to-face conference is considered; the roles of President Wilson &. Count Bernstorff during the events immediately preceding the entry of the US into WWI are examined. Through delineation of the anticipated consequences & sources of motivation re decisional conflict a 3 (mean - average) 3 schema for representing the main factors that enter into decisional conflicts is constructed of the following components: (1) type of anticipation - (a) utilitarian gains or losses, (b) soc approval or disapproval, & (c) self-approval or disapproval; & (2) sources of motivation - (a) verbally mediated incentive value (conscious goals), (b) preconscious affective charge, & (c) unconscious affective charge. Cognitive restructuring, persuasive efforts, compensating actions, private condemnation of disapproved decision & of other persons who support it, substitute-seeking orientation, & disaffiliation from the disapproving group are considered as modes of conflict resolution. The following general factors are seen as determining the mode of resolution: personality factors, perceived status & vulnerability, energy-consumption, & availability of pertinent information. Hyp's re the influence of these factors are offered. It is suggested that for each of the 9 primary types of DC presented in the schema, the following res questions can be posed: (i) 'what antecedent conditions determine the probability that a high conflict of this type will arise?' (ii) 'what is the repertoire of resolutions for this type of conflict?' (iii) 'how & to what extent is each mode of resolution in the repertoire likely to have a disruptive effect?' & (iv) 'what types of information & what forms of psychol'al preparation have the effect of reducing the occurrence of the most disruptive modes of resolution for this type of conflict?' I. Taviss.

Scores on 3 diff anxiety scales were obtained from a self-rating personality questionaire given to M Coll S's. Each scale was studied in relation to a behavioral measure of persuasability obtained by observing the opinion changes shown by 53 S's after each was exposed to a series of 5 persuasive communications. (1) Comparisons of persons with high & low scores on neurotic anxiety were made to test the following hypo's derived from an earlier investigation. Persons with a high degree of neurotic anxiety are predisposed to be relatively resistant to persuasive communications. The present findings, though in the predicated direction, cannot be regarded as adding any substantial confirmation to the hypo because the diff's between S's who obtained high & low scores on neurotic anxiety do not approach statist signif. (2) Results on a scale of socially oriented anxiety were used to test a hypo that persons with relatively strong feelings of personal inadequacy are predisposed to be relatively highly influenced by persuasive communications. The present findings tend to confirm this hypo. The diff between S's who are high & low in socially oriented anxiety is in the predicted direction & statist signif at slightly beyond the 10% confidence level. A signif second-order diff was found between socially oriented anxiety & neurotic anxiety with respect to the degree of relationship with persuasability. The former personality measure was signif'ly more predictive of high persuasability than the latter. (3) The relationship between test anxiety & persuasability was also investigated. The results showed that S's with low were more likely than S's with high test anxiety to remain uninfluenced. Plausibility of interpreting the finding as a further indication of the + relationship between feelings of personal inadequacy & persuasability is discussed, taking account of the way in which test anxiety is related to the 2 other anxiety measures. I. Gerver.

An examination of 'some of the new & promising areas of res in the field of soc psychol that are suggested by various ethical propositions concerning methods of reducing intergroup hostilit & enhancing mutual adherence to a shared set of ethical norms.' Some key variables are suggested, both the ethical means (independent variables) & the intended or unintended effects (dependent variables). 'Investigating positive ethical means may lead to the discovery of a number of diff mediating processes, some of which may tie in with broad sectors of theory & res in the human sci's.' 3 phases for the development, refinement, & testing of hyp's re the peaceful resolution of intergroup conflicts are predicted: (1) use of the existing data at 2 levels, documentary evidence & primary-source data, (2) field studies of current & developing instances of soc & pol'al struggles in which the given action policies are & are not being employed, & (3) field & laboratory exp's. Sample hyp's & problems in the following areas are examined: (a) general propositions re the influence of instrumental actions on group goals & the role of leadership in using means consistent with the goals, (b) some of the major psychol'al changes that might account for the 'corrupting' effects of using violence, (c) explanatory hyp's re the `constructive' effects of abstaining from violence, & (d) hyp's re the attitude changes produced by positive ethical means which involve consistently treating the members of opposing groups as potential allies. The following consequences of the institutionalization of violence are considered: the release of latent hostilities under conditions of soc sanction of violence, the apathetic condoning of any institutionally approved practice, & the perpetuation & intensification of institutional violence. I. Taviss.

An experiment on the effectiveness of two types of communication in preparing individuals to resist the influence of subsequent propaganda. 4 groups (several classrooms each) were used so that 2 groups received one-sided (I), and 2 received two-sided (II) communications. A week after both groups were given questionnaire, with group II receiving an intervening broadcast of a 'counterpropaganda' type. The findings were that, under conditions where the audience is subsequently exposed to counterpropaganda arguing for the opposing position, a persuasive communication advocating a definite position is more effective in the long run if it presents and discusses opposing arguments than if it presents only the arguments that support the communicator's conclusions. L. P. Chall.