A hypothesized need to form and maintain strong, stable interpersonal relationships is evaluated in light of the empirical literature. The need is for frequent, nonaversive interactions within an ongoing relational bond. Consistent with the belongingness hypothesis, people form social attachments readily under most conditions and resist the dissolution of existing bonds. Belongingness appears to have multiple and strong effects on emotional patterns and on cognitive processes. Lack of attachments is linked to a variety of ill effects on health, adjustment, and well-being. Other evidence, such as that concerning satiation, substitution, and behavioral consequences, is likewise consistent with the hypothesized motivation. Several seeming counterexamples turned out not to disconfirm the hypothesis. Existing evidence supports the hypothesis that the need to belong is a powerful, fundamental, and extremely pervasive motivation.

The need to belong: Desire for interpersonal attachments as a fundamental human motivation.

Co-Planar Stereotaxic Atlas of the Human Brain—3-Dimensional Proportional System: An Approach to Cerebral Imaging, J. Talairach, P. Tournoux. Georg Thieme Verlag, New York (1988), 122 pp., 130 figs. DM 268

Introduction 1. Woman's Place in Man's Life Cycle 2. Images of Relationship 3. Concepts of Self and Morality 4. Crisis and Transition 5. Women's Rights and Women's Judgment 6. Visions of Maturity References Index of Study Participants General Index

In a Different Voice. Psychological Theory and Women’s Development. Cambridge, MA (Harvard University Press) 1982.

The present historical moment may seem a particularly inopportune time to review Bowling Alone, Robert Putnam's latest exploration of civic decline in America. After all, the outpouring of volunteerism, solidarity, patriotism, and self-sacrifice displayed by Americans in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks appears to fly in the face of Putnam's central argument: that \"social capital\" -defined as \"social networks and the norms of reciprocity and trustworthiness that arise from them\" (p. 19)'has declined to dangerously low levels in America over the last three decades. However, Putnam is not fazed in the least by the recent effusion of solidarity. Quite the contrary, he sees in it the potential to \"reverse what has been a 30to 40-year steady decline in most measures of connectedness or community.\"' As an example of how the current \"war on terrorism\" could generate a durable civic renewal, Putnam points to the burst in civic practices that occurred during and after World War II, which he says \"permanently marked\" the generation that lived through it and had a \"terrific effect on American public life over the last half-century.\" 3 If Americans can follow this example and channel their current civic

Bowling alone: The collapse and revival of American community

Past research has generated mixed support among social scientists for the utility of social norms in accounting for human behavior. We argue that norms do have a substantial impact on human action; however, the impact can only be properly recognized when researchers (a) separate 2 types of norms that at times act antagonistically in a situation—injunctive norms (what most others approve or disapprove) and descriptive norms (what most others do)—and (b) focus Ss' attention principally on the type of norm being studied. In 5 natural settings, focusing Ss on either the descriptive norms or the injunctive norms regarding littering caused the Ss* littering decisions to change only in accord with the dictates of the then more salient type of norm.

/pdf/a-focus-theory-of-normative-conduct-recycling-the-concept-of-4roc0d02sp.pdf

A focus theory of normative conduct: Recycling the concept of norms to reduce littering in public places.

https://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1004&context=appc

Conspiracy theories as barriers to controlling the spread of COVID-19 in the U.S.

Individual differences in impulsivity underlie a good deal of the risk taking that is observed during adolescence, and some of the most hazardous forms of this behavior are linked to impulsivity traits that are evident early in development. However, early interventions appear able to reduce the severity and impact of these traits by increasing control over behavior and persistence toward valued goals, such as educational achievement. One form of impulsivity, sensation seeking, rises dramatically during adolescence and increases risks to healthy development. However, a review of the evidence for the hypothesis that limitations in brain development during adolescence restrict the ability to control impulsivity suggests that any such limitations are subtle at best. Instead, it is argued that lack of experience with novel adult behavior poses a much greater risk to adolescents than structural deficits in brain maturation. Continued translational research will help to identify strategies that protect youth as they transition to adulthood.

https://oohctoolbox.org.au/sites/default/files/downloads/Romer-2010-Developmental_Psychobiology.pdf

Adolescent risk taking, impulsivity, and brain development: Implications for prevention

Television ads can be classified as either arguments or dramas or hybrids of these forms. We claim that form dimension influences how ads are processed. An argument backs its claims with appeals to objectivity and is processed evaluatively. A drama appeals more to subjective criteria and is processed empathically. A study is reported in which 40 television commercials were classified on a dramatization scale. They were shown to 1,215 people, and measures of evaluative and empathic processing were taken. The measures were found to be weighted differently for arguments and dramas, supporting the contention that form influences processing.

/pdf/using-drama-to-persuade-z529qoj5i8.pdf

Using Drama to Persuade

Why has the public persisted in believing that violent crime is a widespread national problem in the U.S. despite declining trends in crime and the fact that crime is concentrated in urban locations? Cultivation theory suggests that widespread fear of crime is fueled in part by heavy exposure to violent dramatic programming on prime-time television. Here we explore a related hypothesis: that fear of crime is in part a by-product of exposure to crime-saturated local television news. To test this, as well as related and competing hypotheses, we analyzed the results of a recent national survey of perceived risk; a 5-year span of the General Social Survey (1990‐1994); and the results of a recent survey of over 2,300 Philadelphia residents. The results indicate that across a wide spectrum of the population and independent of local crime rates, viewing local television news is related to increased fear of and concern about crime. These results support cultivation theory’s predicted effects of television on the public. Violent crime was among the American public’s most important concerns during the 1990s. According to the 1994 Gallup Poll, concern about crime reached its highest point in history in that year. Nevertheless, both police arrest records (Fox & Zawitz, 2000) and annual victimization studies (Rennison, 2000) show that violent crime declined throughout the 1990s. Although it has since dipped in importance, crime continues to show up on surveys as a cause for national concern. Moreover, fear of crime is widespread despite the fact that violent crime tends to occur in low-income urban areas and not in the suburbs that house the majority of the population (Scheingold, 1995). Our research asks whether these polling data reflect the mugging of America not by violent crime but by television news accounts of it. In this research, we test several competing theories for the public’s persistent belief that violent crime is a widespread national problem.

Television News and the Cultivation of Fear of Crime

Research continues to demonstrate that vulnerable youth are susceptible to the influence of reports and portrayals of suicide in the mass media. The evidence is stronger for the influence of reports in the news media than in fictional formats. However, several studies have found dramatic effects of televised portrayals that have led to increased rates of suicide and suicide attempts using the same methods displayed in the shows. Recent content analyses of newspapers and films in the United States reveal substantial opportunity for exposure to suicide, especially among young victims. One approach to reducing the harmful effects of media portrayals is to educate journalists and media programmers about ways to present suicide so that imitation will be minimized and help-seeking encouraged. Recently released recommendations for journalists are attached as an appendix. Similar initiatives with the entertainment industry would be highly desirable.

/pdf/media-contagion-and-suicide-among-the-young-1m9b0sirnr.pdf

Daniel Romer

Papers

Conspiracy theories as barriers to controlling the spread of COVID-19 in the U.S.

Adolescent risk taking, impulsivity, and brain development: Implications for prevention

Using Drama to Persuade

Television News and the Cultivation of Fear of Crime

Media contagion and suicide among the young.