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Differential association has been the most widely disseminated of the criminological theories, yet has remained untested. An innovation in the intellectual life of the theory has suggested a means of testing its adequacy but not its validity. Recent papers have suggested that the theory is inadequate by its failure to consider nonsocial (noninteractive) determinants of behavior. This paper reports a review of empirical studies which allow the effects of social and nonsocial independent variables to be contrasted and a randomized two-factor design experiment of the effect of a social and a nonsocial variable on theft behavior. Both the experiment and the literature review suggest that nonsocial variables should be considered by theories of human behavior. The evidence does not support differential association theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The age-old question of the generalizability of the results of experiments that are conducted in artificial laboratory settings to more realistic inferential and decision-making situations is considered in this paper. Conservatism in probability revision provides an example of a result that (1) has received wide attention, including attention in terms of implications for real-world decision making, on the basis of experiments conducted in artificial settings and (2) is now apparently thought by many to he highly situational and not at all a ubiquitous phenomenon, in which case its implications for real-world decision making are not as extensive as originally claimed. In this paper conservatism is considered in some detail within the context of the generalizability question. In a more general vein, we discuss some of the difficulties inherent; in experimentation in realistic settings, suggest possible procedures for avoiding or at least alleviating such difficulties, and make a plea for more realistic experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to assess the utility of the transactional model of individual stress. According to the logic of the model, whether persons manifest stress is a multiplicative function of both situational and individual characteristics. The paper briefly discusses possible advantages of the perspective over other frames of reference. Then it describes a pilot study designed to determine whether hypotheses based on the transactional model could be supported empirically. Utilizing interview data from a small probability sample of all adults in the state of Missouri, scales were constructed by an improved method of item analysis for use as indicators of variations in stress and the situational and individual factors. Comparing stress scores by situational and individual variables produced results indicative of a multiplicative relationship and thus supportive of theories derived from the transactional perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent research and theory relative to the lower class adolescent male peer group has focused largely on the culture and behavior of group members. Further, the focus has been on the different types of behavior characteristic of different groups. While this analysis has been quite fruitful, it has led us away from attempting to place all such groups on any single continuum which might involve structure as well as culture. Specifically, the concept of "gang" has either been used loosely to include all groups of lower class male adolescents or has been omitted altogether. This paper maintains that the concept of gang still has considerable utility as a category for research. This paper will be presented in five parts: (1) an analysis of the concept as used in the past into a set of empirical variables; (2) a description of a method used to get data on these variables; (3) a presentation of data relative to these variables; (4) an analysis of the correlation of these variables; and (5) an attempt to place gangs on continue representing variables found in small groups in other contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Culture and Social Character, several authors have written essays primarily devoted to a criticism of The Lonely Crowd. An unfortunate aspect of the former book is that it is most difficult to ascertain whether the total impact of the criticism is to destroy the concepts of inner- and other-directedness or whether the analysis has enhanced their meaningfulness by correcting flaws in methodology and emphasis. Also, if the latter is true, there is the further problem of a consistent use of the Riesman topology. In the first part of this paper I will bring together various statements from Culture and Social Character that put the question of the validity of the concepts in better perspective, define the terms inner- and other-directedness more rigorously, and show the usefulness of the concepts in their sociological context as action (behavior) patterns coming about in response to differing structural settings. The first section of the paper will in a sense establish benchmark of meaning for the concepts by solidifying the argument for their use in describing particular types of action patterns. In later sections I will speculate as to the psychological and historical bases of the Riesman topology relying on work that has been published after The Lonely Crowd. Since my discussion will range over several areas, it seems appropriate to offer first a rather lengthy sketch of my entire argument. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Collective behavior has been a long standing focal point of sociological interest. From its earliest use by Robert E. Park, the concept has been an expression of the sociologist's concern with various dramatic processes of social control, especially those manifesting rapid social change. While the work of specialists in collective behavior has emphasized the study of very specific and delimited events such as crowds, fashions, and fads, the subject matter of collective behavior has come to include the most crucial society-wide movements and upheavals. Moreover, empirical work in this field has reflected a sophisticated understanding of the difficulties of observing and recording complex aspects of social reality which envelop the observer and resist simplified coding and data-reduction techniques. By contrast, the theoretical relevance of the collective behavior framework has been problematic until recently and open to extensive debate. In fact, there was a period of time, after the initial contributions by Robert E. Park, in which the theoretical disputations about the nature of collective behavior appeared to divert creative energies. As a specialized orientation collective behavior became encapsulated and immune to the theoretical developments in other aspects of sociological thinking. In recent years, say the last five years, there has been a renewed interest in the collective behavior approach. The following papers by Neil Smelser and Ralph Turner, which provided the basis for an American Sociological Association panel, give expression to the search for a new balance between theory and empirical enterprise. These papers and the immediate discussion they provoked indicate that some sociologists are using the rubric to focus on crucial substantive issues of contemporary social change. In part, the dramatic events of the civil rights movement in the United States and the equally dramatic transformation of social structure in the new nations have contributed to this renaissance. In part, the response is defensive against the persistent criticism from outside disciplines concerning the excessive expenditure of intellectual energies on trivial processes of social control. What is important in any case is that collective behavior, although strictly sociological in its approach, supplies a link to the interests of political scientists and historians who have long been concerned with revolutions and mass movements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years a substantial body of research findings (based almost solely on responses to the Dilemmas-of-Choice instrument as the measure of risk), commonly referred to as the "risky shift" phenomenon, has suggested that groups take greater risks than individuals. This interpretation, if generalizable. would replace the commonly held belief that groups make decisions that are more conservative than. or the average of, individual decisions. This paper examines, empirically and analytically, some major limitations of the generalizability of the risky shift phenomenon. The major concerns of this paper are analysis of (1) the conventional method of statistically analyzing the data generated in risky shift studies, and (2) the measure of risk almost universally used by investigators of the risky shift phenomenon. In order to accomplish this task several experiments were designed. The conventional statistic used in the risky shift literature is analyzed and inferences appropriate to it are explored. The conventional test supports the risky shift findings. A revised measurement scale and alternative statistical testing procedures are discussed. The revised scale permits a continuum of response rather than the discrete choices permitted with the Dilemmas-of-Choice instrument. Results using the alternative methods of statistical analysis and the revised scale are presented. These results do not support the previous findings that groups accept a level of risk significantly greater than that acceptable to the average group member deciding alone. These findings strongly suggest that generalization of the risky shift phenomenon may be limited to individuals and groups using the Dilemmas-of-Choice instrument as the measure of risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper first reviews the descriptions and structural explanations for variations, in urban population densities in the United States over several decades. The research reviewed focuses on shifts in the technology and economics of travel as being the major influences on urban density distributions. These variables appear to be somewhat less adequate as explanations of the process in recent decades. After reviewing these findings and suggesting several research questions, we attempt to assess the evidence relating variations in population density to several other aspects of human behavior. A review of the research relating high population densities to various "social pathologies" indicates that little of the variance in rates of these pathologies can be attributed to density independently of other social structural variables. Some important consequences of population density have been reported, however, and possible research directions are outlined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information on the work of sociologist Vilfredo Pareto. The paper attempts a conjunction of the two perspectives in the case of Pareto's sociology. The first refers to Pareto's role in relation to the crisis of the utilitarian-positivistic model of social action and the second concerns the "subjectivistic" crisis of both social and "natural" sciences. Pareto's recognizing the predominance of the non-logical element in human action has counterparts, even if couched in different terms, in the works of diverse scholars. More than any one else, Pareto then endeavors a super-historical generalization. It is this effort that allows him to recognize the importance of the immutability of the domination of some men over others and also to direct attention to the cyclical nature of human affairs, precisely at a time when the fashion was the search for linear directions in human evolution. The contradictions that may easily be brought to light through a reading of Pareto are, however, the very same one find in more recent authors.

This paper examines in brief the relative significance which has been attached by social scientists to motivational accounts. Particular emphasis is placed upon the early work by C. Wright Mills and the attenuation of his theoretical statement is traced through to contemporary interactionist perspectives. An empirical study is reported which considers two elements in motivational theory: (a) the range of available motives for a particular type of deviancy-in this case sexual deviancy, (b) the relative acceptability of the available motives to powerful others--in this case magistrates. The results are discussed in terms of the significance for the actor of being effectively deprived of the opportunity to describe his behaviour in other than a deterministic vocabulary of motives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes principles and assumptions which underlie an experimental special class for conduct problem children which has been developed cooperatively by an interdisciplinary university research center and a public school. A conceptualization of the nature of children's behavior disorders is offered, and some principles of behavior modification and remediation of academic deficiencies are discussed. Some particular characteristics of the conduct problem child relevant to the education process are outlined. Also considered are factors relevant to remediational efforts within the public school setting, including the problem of group versus individual techniques, the role of mental health professionals, the place of other than classroom treatment, the goals of the special class, and the utilization in the regular class of techniques developed in the special class. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dance is a natural manifestation of inner dynamic processes, closely related to man's psychic functioning. Its primordial roots, its universality, its numinous affect, reveal its archetypal quality. The dance is a part of the phylogeny of man and the impulse lives on within him. To dream of the dance is not unusual. Even those whose lives have brought them no contact with this activity may nevertheless turn dancers in their dreams. This research paper is an attempt to analyze the psychological factors of dance dreaming in order to facilitate an understanding of this ever-living impulse in man's psychic life.

This paper is not offered, even by implication, as an explanation for urban riots and confrontations. It is an exposition of a point of view, a methodology, and a body of evidence which hopefully may shed some light on this complex and pressing social problem. Within the social sciences several levels of analysis exist, each appropriate to the study of a certain type of problem (Devereaux, 1963; Bendix, 1963). Experimental approaches to social psychology have been particularly valuable in the analysis of individual behavior in a social context; emphasis has been on finding both the social determinants and the social implications of the behavior of an individual. While we believe that part of the explanation of collective phenomena, such as urban revolts, lies in the analysis of the behavior of individuals (cf. Brown, 1965), we do not advocate naive reductionism. We propose only to use data from the laboratory to form some operational definitions and hypotheses to guide further study and interpretation of collective events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Small group research has dealt at some length with the phenomena of competition and cooperation. Task performance and, to a lesser extent, group structure have been examined under different conditions of competition and cooperation. The two group-types most frequently encountered in the literature are the intra-competitive group in which the members of a group compete with each other for a reward which only one of them may obtain, and the intra-cooperative, inter-competitive group in which the members are competing as a unit against another group. In the course of a recent experiment, the behaviors and attitudes of two additional group-types have also been studied. One of these types, the Intra-Aud-Inter-Competitive Group shall be the focus of this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is not unusual, in fact, it is commonplace, that in the development of a body of knowledge a particular mode of thought, while responsible for the discovery and ordering of important facts, is at the same time responsible for the obstruction of equally important truths. This appears especially to be the case in the sociological study of criminal behavior. There has been the overwhelming conception of criminal behavior (and deviant behavior in general) as behavior that is produced by a variety of impersonal, deterministic forces rather than by voluntaristic, purposive action. The former perspective found in much of criminology today results from a particular conception of man and society. The object of this paper is to explore the possibility of an alternative conception of man and society for criminology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper I shall set down a few ideas that I consider central in the study of collective behavior and conflict, and indicate a few similarities and differences between my views on these subjects and the views of others. I shall organize my remarks around the following questions. (1) What are the defining characteristics of collective behavior? In addressing this question I shall simultaneously be talking about what I consider to be the scope of the field. (2) What are the central problems in this field? (3) What are the ways in which these problems can be most adequately handled? Here I shall outline the "value-added" approach to explaining collective outbursts and movements. (4) To conclude, I shall focus on social movements with political aims, and ask two questions: When is a movement likely to become revolutionary? When is a revolutionary movement likely to become violent? In discussing these final questions, I shall apply some of the variables of the value-added scheme, and introduce the subject of conflict explicitly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The title of this study is that given to the review of a book in a recent issue of Commentary. It also refers to an important contemporary social movement, namely, mental illness. This is a movement that accords to irrationalism a constantly increasing respectability. An enormous increase in the kinds of conduct classified as irrational has resulted in the past few decades from the work of some of the most highly educated and intellectual students of human behavior. One corollary is a decrease in the kinds of behavior classified as rational. This has been accompanied by a violent attack upon the concepts of reason and individual responsibility, and by attempts to substitute the concepts of irresponsibility and exculpation. These attempts have been successful to a great degree. This paper will concern itself with two problems that mark this social movement. The first problem is that of definition and counting. The second is that of resolving the paradox of irrationalism. It would be tedious to summarize the studies of the past twentyfive years that show that the interest in mental illness is a social movement rather than a scientific development. One of the first, by Kingsley Davis, showed that it possesses a characteristic essential to any social movement. Its proponents conceive it to be a panacea. As a social movement it is in many respects the functional equivalent of religion in the system of traditional middle-class values. The movement is today continuing to propagate middle-class values and ethics under the guise of science. It presents the prototype of the middle-class or upper-class person as being in all important respects equivalent to that of the mentally healthy person. Thus it is not to be wondered at that when psychiatrists and other clinicians (who are professional and upper class ) interview and otherwise "examine" lower-class children, especially delinquent boys, they find that the boys are "emotionally disturbed" or "mentally ill" in some form and to some degree. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The vocational psychologist has long emphasized the importance of the study of temperament. In this paper Mr. Rodger discusses the meaning of the term, and describes how the vocational psychologist daily tackles the problem of investigating the elusive characteristics which it covers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents various abstracts related to the field of human health and behavior. The first one is "Sociological Aspects of Aging," by Howard E. Jensen. The author stresses the disparate, though complimentary, biological and sociological problems of aging. The aging of an individual, as a sociocultural phenomenon, is defined not by physical deterioration or by time but by the value system of his society. The author points out that the simplest part of the sociological problem of aging is to ascertain the objectively determinable physical needs of the aged and to provide for them. The next abstract is "The Sentence Completion Test As a Predictor of Continuation in Psychotherapy," by E. Wesley Hiler. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the Michigan Sentence Completion Test as a predictor of a patient's prematurely terminating therapy. Another abstract is "Decision-Making in a Mental Hospital: Real, Perceived, and Ideal," by Mark Lefton, Simon Dinitz and Benjamin Pasamanick. This paper attempts to examine the decision-making process in a small, institute type of psychiatric hospital in terms of differences in real, perceived and ideal influence patterns of 53 mental health specialists.

The article discusses social knowledge in medicine. An appreciation of the importance of social knowledge is growing among physicians. Papers by physicians in the first issue of the "Journal of Health and Human Behavior," emphasize this fact. Awareness of the social factors in health and disease in the minds of doctors, however, is not universal. Social knowledge in the medical setting is important not only for doctor, nurse, and interne. It is important in the patient. The patient's understandings, misunderstandings, loves, hates, fears, and reassurances, which grow out of his appreciation, or lack of appreciation, of his life situation, obviously affect his food and drink habits, his attitude toward medical care and convalescence, and his motivation to stay well. Research in medical care, in the minds of the respondents, should be directed toward the social structure and its influence on the practice of medicine, doctor-nurse-patient relations, medical settings and institutions, the personalities of doctor, patient, nurse, and the ecology and economics of medical care.

This paper is a secondary analysis of the data from two risk taking gambling experiments to test the value of risk hypothesis. The value of risk hypothesis is said to be true if the value of taking a risk is positive and if the level of risk at maximum expected value shifts towards greater risk for groups compared with individuals. Based upon the task, a method for imputing the value of risk is presented and then used to test the hypothesis. Data support the assumption of a positive value for risk taking but do not support a shift in maximum expected value risk. Therefore, the data do not support; the value of risk hypothesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information about this special "Medical Care Issue," which presents reports of several specific programs that illustrate contributory streams in this larger movement of medical care organization. The variety in the movement derives from locality as well as content. One report in this issue comes from the Appalachian coalfields, where new forms of consumer-sponsored prepaid group medical practice are evolving. Another comes from the nation's capital, where a long established health insurance plan has added drugs to its benefits. Another comes from New York City, where organized "home care" has been explored, for the first time as a feature of hospitalization insurance. Another comes from Southern California, where efforts are being made to up-grade the quality of nursing homes. Another comes from a college town in Kentucky, where a great new medical center is being established. Two papers of generic orientation are then presented: one is on the economic characteristics of health services and how they differ from other services or commodities. The final paper offers a review of sociological research conducted on the organization of medical care over the years.

The article presents an account of the book "Assessment of Human Motives," edited by Gardner Lindzey. The book summarizes the 1957 conference held at Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York, consisting of nine important papers by eminent psychologists.