Social Psychology and Interaction Commons^™

Establishing The Essential Building Blocks For Understanding Collective Behavior, Janet L. Heitgerd

Masters Theses

It has been argued by researchers that collective behavior, as a field of study in sociology, lacks important theoretical and methodological developments. This has resulted in limited empirical knowledge of collective behavior. There exist many inadequacies in our present theoretical development. These include a failure to not only specify a social dimension of collective behavior, but also, to separate cause and effect, and to describe collective behavior. Scholars have argued that in the study of collective behavior, we are lacking sound, theoretical perspectives and definitions of collective behavior, which have resulted in poor and unsystematic observations of phenomena.

As a …

The Relative Contribution To Meaning Of Verbal And Nonverbal Channels Of Communication: A Meta-Analysis, Jeffrey S. Philpott

Department of Communication Studies: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The current study is grounded in the psychological approaches to the mechanics of communication, somewhere between cybernetics and attribution.

The integration of information available in different channels is the focus of the present study. To what extent do people rely on the different channels of communication to assign meaning to their world? More specifically, what is the relative importance of the verbal and nonverbal channels of communication in the meaning creation process?

This question of channel reliance is of central import to the study of the role of information in social/psychological systems. If it can be assumed that meaning is …

The Social Context Of Pedestrians’ Rights, Michael R. Hill

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Pedestrians' rights are now problematic only as a result of the relatively recent socio-technological development of motor vehicles and their widespread socioeconomic adoption as a transportation mode. Prior to the advent of motor vehicles, the “pedestrian problem” as we know it today did not exist, This is not because pedestrians did not exist, but because it was not yet politically necessary to define pedestrians and their behavior as a “Problem”. To drive home the point, a survey of state statutes in this country reveals that the legal definition of a “pedestrian” is uniformly found within the Motor Vehicle Code of …

Review Of Contexts Of Behavior: Anthropological Dimensions, By Robert J. Maxwell, Michael R. Hill

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

This book is a massive disappointment. The well-designed dust jacket indicates that Maxwell, "Describes the interaction between humans and their environments, drawing upon a wide range of ethological and anthropological research to form a comprehensive, integrated picture of human cultural ecology." This is only partially true. Maxwell describes a substantial amount of research, but his review is neither comprehensive nor well-integrated.

Maxwell throws out a bibliographic fishing net and cleans his variegated catch in slip-shod fashion. Unfortunately, his net also has gaping, unexplained holes. The best that one can say about this book is that the bibliography would have been …

Social Action Organization Participation And Personal Change In The Poor: Part I, Robert D. Herman

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Evidence bearing on the hypothesis that participation by the poor in social action organizations results in personal change is inconsistent and open to diverse interpretations. This paper first reviews that evidence and then takes the first step toward a substantive reconciliation of the apparently inconsistent evidence - the development of a typology of social action organization forms. The typology, which is derived from the literature on poverty and organizational analysis, incorporates the elements of (1) inclusion of the poor, (2) resource base of organizational sponsors, and (3) output goal orientation. The typology will be used in Part I I to …

The Origins Of The Occupational Safety And Health Act Of 1970, Patrick G. Donnelly

Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work Faculty Publications

This paper analyzes the emergence of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 and finds previous explanations of its origin inadequate. I trace the roots of this law to the protests of rank-and-file workers across the United States at a time when the support of these workers was particularly important to the two main political parties. The protest was directed not only at those employers who operated unsafe and unhealthy workplaces, but also at union officials who paid little or no attention to safety and health issues in negotiating new contracts.

A Strategy For Dog-Owner Education (Response), Ian Dunbar

Pets Collection

I have read with interest the response by Graham Henderson of the Toronto Humane Society (lnt J Stud Anim Prob 2(6):305-309, 1981). I agree with many of his statements and am pleased that he, in turn, agreed with most of mine, although at first, this was not entirely apparent. In fact, I found Mr. Henderson's letter to be somewhat confusing, and it contained a number of inaccuracies and contradictions. So, please bear with me if I go into some detail to try to unravel the confusion.

Attitudes Toward Animal Suffering: An Exploratory Study, John Braithwaite, Valerie Braithwaite

Attitudes Towards Animals Collection

A total of 302 undergraduates in the social sciences and the humanities, at two Australian universities, were given a questionnaire designed to explore public attitudes toward animal suffering. The results, though preliminary, strongly suggest that attitudes may be in great part supportive of animal welfare and animal rights. However, as reflected in the answers to the questionnaire, actual behavior does not always follow suit. The recommendation is made that the animal welfare/animal rights movement should perhaps place more emphasis on raising people's awareness of the inconsistencies between their attitudes toward animals and their behavior concerning them.

The Social Psychology Of Imitated Jaywalking: An Extension Of Model Sex And Social Status, Edward W. Gregory Jr.

Masters Theses

A field experiment is designed and conducted to examine what effects the presence of a model who jaywalks (i.e., crosses a street against a "Don't Walk" light) has on inducing jaywalking by unknowing pedestrians who are on the street corner with the model. Two models are used, one male and one female, and their perceived social status is varied by changing their attire from one day to the next to determine what effects sex and social status of models have on initiating jaywalking in other pedestrians.

The review of related literature discusses the findings of a number of studies which …

Social/Behavioral Science Contributions To Our Understanding Of The Pedestrian Experience: A Brief Review, Michael R. Hill

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Social/behavioral research of the last decade has set the stage for major advances in our understanding of pedestrians and their world. Many of these ideas could radically change our approach to planning for pedestrians. However, full-scale realization of these perspectives during the next ten to twenty years will depend, in very large part, on our receptivity as practitioners to new goals, motivations, and research methodologies which are presently gaining momentum within the social/behavioral disciplines. The discussion here reviews the. emerging outlines of this happy renaissance in pedestrian research and. underscores the philosophical, ideological, and methodological issues which are so central …

Cuban Women In Popular Culture, Mary Jo Deegan

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Popular culture is, by and large, a disruptive influence on the Cuban goal of equality for women. This rather strong statement is based on a short visit to Cuba, but fairly extensive data sources. These include daily bombardment by muzak, two evenings at nightclubs, five Cuban long-playing record albums, three women's magazines and a popular music booklet, visits to the Bay of Pigs Exhibition, and the viewing of national-sponsored television. In other words, during even a brief stay, the visitor is in frequent contact with Cuban popular culture.

There are two origins of Cuban popular culture: foreign and indigenous. The …

Walking Into The Night – An Exercise In Integrated Pedestrian-Oriented Facilities Design, Michael R. Hill

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Several of the ideas and approaches outlined in the sections above were implemented as exercises in a joint, graduate-level community planning/landscape architecture design seminar at Iowa State University during the 1980/81 winter academic quarter. Students were challenged to approach the environments utilized by pedestrians in an integrated, holistic manner. A specific focus was required for the course, however, and the co-instructors chose to concentrate on the character of the pedestrian environment as it is experienced when walking at night.

A review of the literature would lead the planner/designer to conclude that the pedestrian environment largely disappears after dark. With the …

Child Abuse In A Small City: Social Psychological And Ecological Correlates, Robert D. Gingrich, James R. Hudson

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Child abuse has become a growing national concern. Its current status can be linked to the research by Kempe who identified the "battered child syndrome". Two models of explanation have been advanced; a medical and a social psychological. This study of 134 cases of child abuse in a small city employes the social psychological model and tests the hypothesis that social isolation is correlated with child abuse. Support for that hypothesis leads to an elaboration of the dynamics of social isolation with an emphasis on the absence of other persons with children from the milieu of the child abuse perpetrator …

A Strategy For Dog-Owner Education, Ian Dunbar

Animal Welfare Collection

By conservative estimates, the humane societies and societies for the prevention of cruelty to animals in the United States euthanize over 15 million pets each year. It is a great shame that people who have devoted their lives to animals should be forced to destroy the majority of animals that pass through their hands. In addition, the Pet Food Institute's 1975 Survey revealed that a high percentage of pet owners were unsatisfied with their animals and ended up giving them away, taking them to animal shelters, or losing them in accidents. It would appear that only a minority of pets …

People At Zoos: A Sociological Approach, Edward G. Ludwig

Zoos and Aquariums Collection

This is a participant observation study of animal/human relationships at zoos. Both zoo personnel and zoo visitors were observed intensively over a period of four months and less intensively for two years. While young zoo employees tended to be naturalistic, ecologistic and scientistic in their value orientation toward animals, these attitudes were often frustrated by the day to day routines of the job involving hosing and feeding, and the realities of limitations placed upon zoos by strained budgets and antiquated buildings. The public tended to be an additional source of frustration due to their apparent lack of sensitivity and desire …

A Comparison Of Social Psychological Views Among Youthful And Aged Persons: An Empirical Assessment Or Marginally Differentiated Attitude Measures, Dennis L. Peck, David L. Klemmack

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Four related but marginally differentiated sociological and psychological attitude measures are evaluated through analysis of survey data. Generated from a statewide random sample (N=322), four measures of maladjustment/well-being -- the anomie, alienation, fatalism, and powerlessness scales -- are evaluated as being similar in nature. The moderately high correlations between the scale items comprising the four distinctive conceptual world-views suggest that the scales overlap considerably. The results of an oblique solution factor analysis, however, suggest that the scales being considered may be at least marginally differentiated. Comparisons between distinctive age groups of the sample of adults age 18 to 84 using …

The Denying Of Death: A Social Psychological Study, Henry H. B. Chang, Carla Kaye Chang

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Cultural studies indicate the existence of a ubiquitous death fear This fear is usually manifest through the defense mechanism of denial. In American society, the contradiction between life-oriented cultural themes and the death theme intensifies the denial of death.

Past studies indicate that a host of social and psychological variables are associated with death denial. The present study consisted of a survey of death attitudes. The results showed that death denial is associated with age, marital status, death of a parent, feeling of nervousness, and participation in dangerous activities. On the other hand. sex, health, and religious activity were not …

Sociological Precedents And Contributions To The Understanding And Facilitation Of Individual Behavioral Change: The Case For Counseling Sociology, Clifford M. Black, Richard Enos

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

This article clarifies the distinction between clinical and counseling sociology and provides some direction for the practice of counseling sociology. This is accomplished by a consideration first, of sociological contributions to the understanding and facilitation of individual behavior and its change, and second, of historical precedents in the field.

Marxist Paradigm And Academic Freedom, Dmitri N. Shalin

Sociology Faculty Research

The Russian October Revolution dealt a devastating blow to Marxism from which Marxist sociology did not begin to recover until recently. Stalin's "contributions" to Marxist theory and practice had a particularly adverse effect on the fate of Marxism in the West. Whatever hopes were generated by the de-Stalinization campaign in the Soviet Union proved short-lived. By the time Soviet tanks entered Prague and Soviet authorities resumed show trials, few intellectuals in the capitalist West could speak of Soviet Marxism without acute resentment or at least tacit embarrassment.

In Mills's words, ". . . marxism-leninism has become an official rhetoric with …

Aspects Of The Sociology Of Psychiatry, Hans S. Falck

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

There can be little doubt that for the social scientist interested in the case of psychiatry there is much to learn. Not only is psychiatry a specialty in medicine, with a variety of subspecialities, is also enjoys links to other professions such as clinical psychology, psychiatric nursing and psychiatric social work. While in some sense this provides psychiatry the opportunity to be the renaissance man in medicine -- a situation which might elicit envy from others less universal and catholic -- it also causes it great difficulties and troubles. Nooone seems to know where psychiatry begins and ends; it suffers …

Benign Uses Of Wildlife, Victor B. Scheffer

Conservation Collection

During the Age of Environmental Awareness, which dawned in the late 1960's, Americans turned to using wild animals more benignly (or in ways harmless both to individuals and populations) and less exploitatively. The evidence includes: new federal legislation reflecting a public shift toward benign uses, growth of interest in 'nongame' wildlife, growth of interest in wildlife watching (rate of increase in number of camera safaris estimated at 32% per annum in 7 recent years), growth in membership of animal-interest organizations (rate of increase estimated at 7.7% per annum in 15 recent years), and growth of interest in animal rights. Per …

The Psychological Relationship Between Dairy Cows And Dairy Cowmen And Its Implications For Animal Welfare, Martin F. Seabrook

Human and Animal Bonding Collection

While no one could ever say that the conditions for animals and people were ideal in the days of hand milking, the question of animal welfare was less pressing as man was at ease and in balance and harmony with nature. Only as units became larger, and machine milking took the place of the cowman's or dairy maid's hand, did we have to worry about whether man was exploiting this animal species.

Attitudes Of Secondary School Students In Israel Toward The Use Of Living Organisms In The Study Of Biology, Pinchas Tamir, Aliza Hamo

Attitudes Towards Animals Collection

The study deals with attitudes and views of 456 Israeli students in grades 7, 9, and 11 regarding the use of living animals in research and biology instruction. It was found that most students are interested in studying Jive animals through direct observation and experiment and feel that this kind of learning is superior to learning from secondary sources. At the same time, however, most students exhibit concern for and affection toward living organisms in general and higher animals, especially pets and "beneficial" animals, in particular. The need to consider both sides of the issue is highlighted, and practical implications …

Alienation Under The Rainbow: A Survey Of Oregon Graduate Students, Robert Michael Travis

Dissertations and Theses

Nisbet's theory of alienation entails three propositions: 1) alienation is a unidimensional phenomenon; 2) alienation is a generalized phenomenon; and 3) power relations foster loss of community which engenders alienation. All three propositions were tested on a population of graduate students at a university in the Pacific Northwest.

A Study In The Relationship Between Eye Gaze And World View, Ray Reuel Mosely Ii

Masters Theses

A careful search of the literature in the areas of anthropology, psychology, and sociology has failed to bring to light more than a very few empirical studies confirming or denying the existence of a relationship between eye gaze patterns and individual's view of the world around and within them. Our study is designed to address this social psychological question.

The seminal work of Silvan Tomkins in the area of ideology has had a great effect on this study. For introductory purposes, we have used his definition of the concept of ideology: "By ideology I will mean any organized set of …

“Sociology At Nebraska: 1884-1929,” Together With “A History Of Sociology At The University Of Nebraska,” By J.O. Hertzler, Joyce O. Hertzler, Mary Jo Deegan

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

At the turn of the century the University of Nebraska was one of the four leading centers of sociology in the United States. Despite this auspicious start, Nebraska has remained relatively obscure in the accounts of the history of Sociology. This is partially a result of its size: until 1959 the faculty consisted of only five members and was oriented to a small but quality graduate program. The document which follows is an original manuscript recording the early history of the department. It was written by Joyce O. Hertzler in the Winter of 1929. This rough draft, now yellowing and …

Black Attitudes Towards Social Affiliation With Whites And Its Influence On Academic Achievement, Alvin Finderson

Masters Theses

If blacks are to compete successfully in white academia, they must be able to communicate and interact with white students and professors. Acceptance of middle-class white students with an academic achievement orientation, as friends and equals, should enable or assist blacks in developing positive attitudes toward academic achievement. This in turn should positively affect scholastic performance. The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between black attitudes toward social affiliation with whites and successful academic performance on integrated campuses.

This hypothesis was tested by measuring the association between black self-reported grade point averages and their responses to an …

The Autobiography Of W.E.B. Dubois: An Analysis, Michael R. Hill

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

The Autobiography of W.E.B. DuBois: A Soliloquy on Viewing My Life from the Last Decade of Its First Century tells the impressive and inspiring story of an individual’s struggles, defeats and accomplishments, as well as his major ideas developed during ninety years of a life dedicated to promoting racial equality and the sociological study of African- American realities in the United States. The Autobiography presents a view of American life distilled through the perceptive, analytical eyes of this country’s foremost African- American intellectual, William Edward Burghardt Dubois. Progressing from the reconstruction era at the end of the U.S. Civil …

Geronomie And Social Policy, Roger A. Lohmann

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Does qualitative sociology have anything positive to offer those who seek personally and professionally adequate resolutions of the troubles and social problems of old age? The purpose of this review essay is to examine a sampling of recent books published in social gerontology with regard to: 1) formulations of the problems of geranomie - rolelessness, loneliness, social isolation, etc.; and 2) general solutions to these problems.

The Genesis Of Social Interactionism And Differentiation Of Macro- And Microsociological Paradigms, Dmitri N. Shalin

Sociology Faculty Research

This paper presents an historical outlook on the macro-micro distinction in modern sociology. It links the genesis of social interactionism and microsociology to the rise of Romantic philosophy and attempts to elaborate methodological principles dividing macro- and microscopic perspectives in sociology. Six ideal-typical distinctions are considered: natural vs. social universality, emergent properties vs. emergent processes, morphological structuralism vs. genetical interactionism, choice among socially structured alternatives vs. structuring appearance into reality, structural vs. emergent directionality, operational vs. hermeneutical analysis. The complementarity of the languages of macro- and microsociological theories is advocated as a foundation for the further elaboration of conceptual links …