R. Lance Shotland

Timing of First Sexual Intercourse in a Relationship: Expectations, Experiences, and Perceptions of Others

We investigated 242 college students’ expectations about when sexual intercourse would first occur within different types of relationships. Participants reported their personal expectations, experiences, and beliefs about the sexual expectations of the “average woman” and “average man” in relationships with or without strong physical attraction and emotional involvement. Results show that, in general, men expect sexual intercourse after significantly fewer dates (approximately 9–11) than women do (approximately 15–18). In addition, expectations were related to actual experiences for women, but not men. Participants also tended to exhibit pluralistic ignorance about sex, believing in a norm for the average person of their gender that was considerably more permissive than were their own standards. The average man and woman were perceived as expecting sex earlier within a relationship and irrespective of physical attraction or emotional involvement. In contrast, most men and women only expected sex when they...

Stakeholder-Based Evaluation and Value Judgments

The nature of values in stakeholder-based evaluations is discussed. One key value judgment involves the selection of stakeholder groups for participation. In the first major section of this article, the role of values in such selection is emphasized by considering two dimensions on which stakeholder groups may vary—power and legitimacy. It is shown that the selection of stakeholder groups can be based on a rationale for stakeholder-based evaluation; however, the choice of a rationale for stakeholder participation is itself a value judgment, implicitly or explicitly. Further, in implementing a rationale, value judgments are required, particularly if the rationale involves empowerment and democratization. In a second section, the consequences of stakeholder par ticipation are discussed. Although numerous commentaries imply positive effects, much is not known, such as the type or level of stakeholder involvement required for effective participation. Further, stakeholder participation may serve as a means of preempting criticism by stakeholders, or may be a form of pseudoempowerment. Ironically, the evaluator may autocratically designate which groups participate in a process meant to empower democratically. Finally, some suggestions are made about how evaluators might better deal with the value judgments inherent in stakeholder-based evaluations, and, more generally, how stakeholder-based approaches to evaluation might be improved.

Valence of anticipated evaluation and social facilitation

Abstract An expectancy-based explanation of social performance that focuses on the valence of evaluation that is anticipated from an audience was presented and tested. As was predicted, an interaction between a subjects performance expectations and whether he or she performed alone or in the presence of an evaluative audience was found. Subjects expecting to perform successfully anticipated a positive evaluation from an audience, resulting in improved performance over subjects working alone. Conversely, when subjects expected to perform poorly a negative evaluation was anticipated from an audience, although in the overall analysis social performance decrements did not reach significance. However, a comparison with a performance baseline condition, and a reanalysis of data from subjects who did not receive preliminary performance feedback, indicated that both social facilitation and impairment effects were evident. Results are discussed in terms of an expectancy-based explanation of social performance.

Emergencies: what are they and do they influence bystanders to intervene?

Social psychological research on helping has, in part, been concerned with the intervention of bystanders into emergencies. Pertinent empirical literature does not seem to be available on what factors bystanders use to define an emergency nor the effect of such a decision on the rate of helping. A series of four studies was conducted to answer these questions. We found that (a) Emergencies are a subclass of problem situation that usually result from accidents; (b) there is a high degree of agreement concerning what problem situations are definitely an emergency; (c) emergency situations are differentiated from other problem situations by threat of harm or actual harm worsening with time, unavailability of an easy solution to the problem, and necessity of obtaining outside help to solve the problem; (d) disagreement on whether a problem situation is an emergency or not results from differing perceptions of the degree to which threat of harm or actual harm worsens with time; (e) bystanders are more likely to help in emergency than in nonemergency problem situations. The results were interpreted as indicating that the need of the victim is a salient feature used by bystanders in determining whether or not to help.

Construct Accessibility and Generalizability Across Response Categories

A study of the effects of construct accessibility on impression formation was conducted to assess the generalizability of priming effects across categories of social judgments. Subjects were primed with positive or negative target-relevant trait terms and were later, in a supposedly unrelated second study, asked to rate a target individual immediately and following a 1-week delay. Priming effects were apparent only after the 1-week delay. There were no effects of prime valence on trait constructs that were related to the semantic content of the prime. Only global impressions were affected by the accessibility manipulation. The effect was discussed in terms of a model that distinguishes the semantic and affective components of constructs. External validity was also addressed. The results generalized to live targets, supporting the external validity of construct accessibility effects. Finally, new evidence was found in support of the consolidation of impressions over time.

Bystander Behavior and Kinesics: The Interaction Between the Helper and Victim

One hundred eighty subjects participated in a factorial field experiment designed to study the effects of body orientation, eye contact, and sex upon helping behavior in a situation where a male victim fell. An eye-contact x x body-orientation interaction and a sex x body-orientation interaction were found. Eye contact raised the rate of help; and women helped more often than men, but only when the victim andS were approaching each other. A severe fall produced more help than did a mild fall. The cue value of the front side of a person, eye contact acting as a plea for help, and the salience of responsibility norms were discussed. The study was interpreted as indicating the necessity of accounting for the effects of the interaction between bystanders and victims.

Increasing Charitable Contributions: an Experimental Evaluation of the American Cancer Society's Recommended Solicitation Procedures

Door-to-door fund raising campaigns in residential areas have historically been a major source of revenues for several charities, including The American Cancer Society and The American Heart Association. Such campaigns remain important, at least for the American Cancer Society, which in 1980 raised

Social science and social policy

30,172,498 from door-to-door solicitations. However, the amount raised door-to-door is not keeping pace with inflation, and has been decreasing relative to other sources of funds. For instance, the last five years have

Time Series Methods in Applied Social Research

This book examines the role of the social sciences in shaping and evaluating social policy. It considers the past, present and potential role of the social sciences in policy creation, implementation, and evaluation processes. The authors present a considerable range of opinions about the ability of the social sciences to provide useful information is presented. The common view is that the social sciences can contribute to policy-making processes to a modest extent.

Can Men and Women Differentiate Between Friendly and Sexually Interested Behavior

Time series methods represent an important research tool for applied social psychologists. Consider interrupted time series designs, in which one assesses the effect of some intervention on an outcome measured repeatedly over time. Interrupted time series designs have been employed to address such varied questions as: the effect of drunk driving laws (Hilton, 1984; Shore & Maguin, 1988; West, Hepworth, McCall, & Reich, 1989), mandatory seat belt laws (Wagenaar, Maybee, & Sullivan, 1988), and an increase in the legal minimum drinking age (Wagenaar, 1982) on traffic fatalities; the effect of incentive payment (Wagner, Rubin, & Callahan, 1988) and of merit pay (Pearce, Stevenson, & Perry, 1985) on productivity; the effect of publishing offenders’ names in a newspaper on the frequency of shoplifting and drunk driving (Ross & White, 1987); the effect of mandatory sentencing on firearms violence (Loftin, Heumann, & McDowall, 1983); the effect of TV public service announcements on inquiries to social service agencies (McAbee & Cafferty, 1982); and even the effect of introducing meditation groups on the crime in an area (Dillbeck et al., 1987). In addition, related time series methods, which focus not on the effects of some abrupt intervention but rather on the covariation between two ongoing time series, have addressed the relationship between such variables as: air pollution and psychological state (Bullinger, 1989); air pollution, weather, and violent crime (Rotton & Frey, 1985); economic conditions and alcohol-related traffic fatalities (Wagenaar & Streff, 1989); alcohol use and suicide rates (Norstrom, 1988); expenditures on cigarette advertising and cigarette consumption (Chetwynd, Coope, Brodie, & Wells, 1988); and historical economic data and lynchings (Hepworth & West, 1988). As one indication of the potential importance of time series methods, consider that Cook and Campbell (1979) dedicated two chapters of their book on quasi-experimentation to the topic of interrupted time series, and part of another chapter to methods for assessing the relationship between two ongoing time series.