Neil Lutsky

Stigma and the Dynamics of Social Cognition

The study of how and what we think about groups and persons who are stigmatized plays a critical role in a comprehensive analysis of stigma. This is apparent if we assume that behavior in actual or symbolic encounters of the general public with persons who may be stigmatized, such as members of persecuted minorities, can be understood in terms of how and what the participants in the encounter are thinking. This chapter focuses on the study of such thought and considers its character, origins, development, functioning, and consequences from a cognitive social psychological perspective.

Undergraduate Research Experience through the Analysis of Data Sets in Psychology Courses

A method for involving large numbers of introductory psychology students as active researchers is described and evaluated. Students are assigned a project requiring them to develop research questions and to answer those questions by means of a computerized analysis of previously collected data. Results of a study of the projects effects on attitudes toward research in psychology indicate that students reported valuing research more, understanding statistical procedures better, and feeling less anxious about statistics and computers. These and other findings are taken to suggest that this assignment may be an effective way to introduce introductory students to research activities and values in psychology.

A Rubric for Assessing Quantitative Reasoning in Written Arguments

This paper introduces a rubric for assessing QR in student papers and analyzes the inter-rater reliability of the instrument based on a reading session involving 11 participants. Despite the disciplinary diversity of the group (which included a faculty member from the arts and literature, two staff members, and representatives from five natural and social science departments), the rubric produced reliable measures of QR use and proficiency in a sample of student papers. Readers agreed on the relevance and extent of QR in 75.0 and 81.9 percent of cases respectively (corresponding to Cohen’s κ= 0.611 and 0.693). A four-category measure of quality produced slightly less agreement (66.7 percent, κ = 0.532). Collapsing the index into a 3-point scale raises the inter-rater agreement to 77.8 percent (κ = 0.653). The substantial agreement attained by this rubric suggests that it is possible to construct a reliable instrument for the assessment of QR in student arguments.

A Scheme and Variations for Studies of Social Influence in an Experimental Social Psychology Laboratory

This article describes a research paradigm for use in undergraduate laboratory experiments on social influence. The method is adapted from White (1975), who compared the responses of control subjects on a survey question to those of experimental subjects who were first exposed to the contrived responses of others to the same question. I review how students in an undergraduate social psychology laboratory use this method, demonstrate the reliability of the influence effect obtained, and discuss the educational value of this research paradigm.

Review of The Chicago Guide to Writing about Numbers by Jane E. Miller

Miller, J. E. 2004. The Chicago Guide to Writing about Numbers. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. 304 pp. Cloth

When is “Obedience” Obedience? Conceptual and Historical Commentary

45 ISBN: 9780226526300, Softcover

A Negative Attitude toward a Classroom Technique Eliciting Attitudes Toward Elderly Persons.

17. ISBN: 9780226526317. The Chicago Guide to Writing about Numbers is a reference work suitable for anyone interested in understanding, using, or promoting quantitative thinking. Its primary aim is to identify and illustrate ways in which information associated with numbers can be conveyed most effectively given a particular communication purpose and context. The book is directed at writers who incorporate numbers in verbal or visual displays in documents, in oral presentations, or on the Web. The Chicago Guide to Writing about Numbers identifies overarching principles, offers concrete advice, and presents illuminating examples and models. The book can be used for instructional purposes for undergraduates, and a means of doing so is described. The review concludes by considering the book’s contributions to a wider call to help citizens write or argue more effectively by using numbers.