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ABSTRACT. The authors explored attitudes of young women in the United Kingdom (n = 108) and the United States (n = 91) toward (a) the possession and use of guns through the Attitude to Guns Scale (N. R. Branscombe, J. A. Weir, & P. Crosby, 1992) and (b) guns' perceived functional and symbolic significance through the Symbolic Nature of Guns Scale (C. A. Cooke & J. E. Puddifoot, 1997). There were significant differences in beliefs concerning the fight to own a gun and the protective effect of guns but not in the perceived contribution of guns to crime. Although neither group strongly equated guns symbolically with power or control, the U.S. women were more likely to perceive guns as expressions of freedom or independence, and the U.K. women were more likely to view guns as expressions of danger and violence. The findings were contextualized by comparison with samples of male control participants of similar ages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The reaction of residents of a small district in the Northeast of England to the perceived compromising of existing community boundaries was examined in the light of Tajfel and Turner's (1986) social identity theory. Social identity theory was found to provide a useful framework for explaining specific psychological reactions of residents and spokespersons to the perception of ingroup status inferiority. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the results of a secondary analysis of two surveys that were conducted to analyze issues concerning persuasive communication. The features of the survey on preferred options for local governments in the context of the discussion in the article are provided. The article further throws light of social characteristics of respondents who changed their preferences after briefing. The actual briefing procedure involved the face-to-face provision of information to each respondent by trained interviewers. The briefing had a standard format but contained specific details about each survey area and was intended to present impartially each of the reorganization options for that area. The briefing contained details about the proposed area and population, estimated start-up costs, and estimated longer term annual savings for each option, with the assumption that Service provision would remain at the existing level. In the present study the researchers used a secondary analysis of two large surveys that were conducted for the LGC, to determine the underlying factors that distinguished the changers (those who changed their views) from the nonchangers.