Social comparison and persuasive arguments as determinants of group polarization

In a study of group polarization, Boster and Mayer (1984) found that social comparison information influenced perception of persuasive argument information. In their investigation, however, position of majority was confounded with other of presentation. The present study attempted to replicate Boster and Mayer while varying order of presentation. Results of the present investigation, first, support the persuasive arguments explanation of group polarization. Second, results are inconsistent with an order effect. Finally, results indicate a parallel between the group polarization literature and the cognitive response literature in persuasion.     

General Communication

James Hartley, ed. The Psychology of Written Communication (New York: Nichols Publishing/ London: Kogan Page, 1980— E12.00/$30.00)

Michael Emery and Ted Curtis Smythe, eds. Readings in Mass Communication (Dubuque, Iowa: Wm. C. Brown, 1980—price not given, paper)

Benjamin M. Compaine's A New Framework for the Media Arena: Content, Process and Format (address above—$23.40)

Rick D. Pullen's Mass Media Law in California (Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall/Hunt, 1979 —$9.50, paper)

Marshall McLuhan, Kathryn Hutchon and Eric McLuhan's Media, Messages and Language: The World as Your Classroom (Skokie, Ill.: National Textbook Co., l980—price not given, paper)

Mieke Ceulemans and Guido Fauconnier's Mass Media: The Image, Role and Social Conditions of Women–A Collection and Analysis of Research Materials (Paris: Unesco/New York: Unipub, 1979—price not given, paper)

Managers' Entertainers' and Agents' Book by Walter E. Hurst (revised ed. of No. 6 in the series, 92 pp.)

How to Be a Music Publisher by Walter E. Hurst (revised ed. of No. 11 in the series, 74 pp.)

Copyright Registration Forms PA and SR by Walter E. Hurst (this is a new title, No. 16 in the series, 73 pp.)

How to Sell Your Song by Walter E. Hurst and Don Rico (this is another revision , No. 18 in the series, 95 pp.)     

A TECHNICAL COLLEGE'S RESPONSE TO THE NEED FOR INTERNATIONALIZING EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS AND SERVICES

Part of the mission of the American Association of Community Colleges addresses the need for a curriculum emphasis on international and intercultural education (Wismer, 1994, p. 77). Considering that (a) 2‐year colleges exist primarily to prepare students for jobs, (b) many American businesses operate in an international environment, and (c) a growing proportion of companies in the United States are foreign affiliated, the internationalization of our curriculums is necessaryforthe fulfillment of institutional missions of preparing the workforce for businesses. However, to fully internationalize college programs and services, the focus must be on more than courses and curriculums. The everyday life of college students, faculty, and staff must present evidence of cultural diversity. Internationalization, therefore, must be infused at every level of college activity. Such an infusion is occurring at Florence‐Darlington Technical College in Florence, South Carolina. There are four broad categories within which activities are planned or are underway: (a) resource development, (b) awareness development and information dissemination, (c) faculty and staff development, and (d) curriculum development. The importance of the need for this South Carolina college to undertake internationalizing initiatives is underscored by the multicultural business environment that exists in the state. For many years, international investment has created record levels of new employment opportunities for South Carolinians and has contributed significantly to statewide economic and industrial growth. The economic impact of international business in the state is apparent. However, there is also a cultural impact that is less obvious, yet profound. These factors present some definite implications for the need to internationalize technical college programs and services.     

Relations Among Two Teachers’ Practices and Beliefs,Conceptualizations of the Nature of Science,and their Implementation of Student Independent Inquiry Projects

In this study we sought to understand factors that shaped teachers’ use of student inquiry projects. We examined, over 3 years, the practices and conceptions of two teachers involved in implementing student inquiry projects. Neither teacher was initially satisfied with her success at supporting student inquiry, but the two had very different responses to difficulties they faced. These responses related strongly to their ideas about how learning should be structured. There was less relation between their stated views about the nature of science and their use of inquiry than was expected. The teacher with espoused views about the nature of science generally in accord with reform documents did not support student inquiry projects that involved actual investigations. The teacher with views on the nature of science less aligned with reform documents worked hard to support student investigations in her classroom. Our findings support the claim that merely learning about the nature of science or about student inquiry may not generate changes in a teacher’s practice. On closer analysis, we found that the two teachers understood aspects of the nature of science from two quite different perspectives, the proximal and the distal. The proximal view of the nature of science was more closely aligned with implementation of actual student investigations. The efforts of these two teachers in implementing inquiry illustrate the dilemmas and challenges they faced as they attempted student inquiry projects.     

Civic learning: moving from the apolitical to the socially just

This study examines the knowledge and skills that characterize civic learning for young people. Building on a literature review, it reports an exploratory case study with students and teachers in four secondary schools in the Ottawa, Canada region. The perspectives of researchers co‐operating with educators and students against a backdrop of provincial government curricula and secondary literature on youth citizenship engagement provide an enriched understanding of the state and potential of civic learning. It concludes that current civic learning is primarily characterized by procedural knowledge and compliant codes of behaviour that do not envelope students in collective action for systemic understandings of political issues. This study argues for renewed efforts to put social justice at the heart of student learning. To present a convincing civic educational programme, schools should prepare students to analyse power relationships, investigate the ambiguities of political issues, and embrace opportunities for social change.     

The Short-Term Effects of a Computer-Based Pregnancy,STD, and HIV Prevention Program

A computer- and Internet-based intervention was designed to influence several variables related to the prevention of pregnancy, STDs, and HIV in rural adolescents. Three-hundred and thirty-eight tenth-graders enrolled in two rural public high schools participated in this field experiment. Results indicate that students in the experimental school had greater knowledge, greater condom negotiation efficacy, greater situational efficacy, and more favorable attitudes toward waiting to have sex than students in the control school. In tandem, the results suggest that computer-based programs may be a cost-effective and easily replicable means of providing teens with basic information and skills necessary to prevent pregnancy, STDs, and HIV.     

Second-order conditioning detects unexpressed morphine-induced salt aversion

Morphine failed to condition a salt taste aversion at a dose (15 mg/kg) sufficient to produce a robust aversion to a saccharin taste. Indeed, three different concentrations of salt (1%, 1.5%, and 2%) paired with the same morphine dose yielded no direct evidence for conditioned aversion. Yet, when a novel saccharin taste was paired in compound with the previously conditioned salt conditioned stimulus, we found evidence for a conditioning to the saccharin cue alone in three separate experiments. Control groups eliminated alternative accounts such as neophobia and differential exposure to morphine. Combined, these findings indicate that morphine conditioned a salt aversion. Although this aversion was not directly expressed, a second-order conditioning procedure was able to provide a more sensitive index of conditioning.