Miami University

About: Miami University is a education organization based out in Oxford, Ohio, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Poison control. The organization has 9949 authors who have published 19598 publications receiving 568410 citations. The organization is also known as: Miami of Ohio & Miami-Ohio.

The attitude polarization phenomenon : role of response measure, attitude extremity, and behavioral consequences of reported attitude change

Abstract: Four studies examined the generality of attitude polarization (C. G. Lord, L. Ross, & M. R. Lepper, 1979). Biased assimilation of essays on 2 controversial issues was substantial and correlated with reported attitude change. Polarization was observed for reported attitude change on capital punishment and generally stronger in Ss with extreme than moderate attitudes. Polarization was not indicated in a pre-post measurement design. For affirmative action, reported polarization was not observed. The hypothesis that Ss reporting polarization would subsequently write particularly strong essays was not supported, although those reporting depolarization wrote relatively weak essays. The results suggest the relevance of individual differences in reported attitude change but do not confirm the powerful inferences frequently drawn regarding the pervasive, undesirable consequences of self-reported attitude polarization. An influential, frequently cited experiment in the social cognition literature is that by Lord, Ross, and Lepper (1979). In this study, proponents and opponents of capital punishment were shown an identical set of alleged research findings containing evidence both in favor of and against capital punishment. Two important phenomena were observed. First, subjects evaluated more positively the research that agreed with their preexisting position, a result termed biased assimilation. Thus, subjects who were in favor of capital punishment rated method Xzs superior to method Y if the former yielded support for the deterrent effect of capital punishment, but rated the identical method as inferior if it refuted the efficacy of capital punishment. The converse was true for subjects opposed to capital punishment. The second, particularly intriguing finding was that subjects reported that their attitudes had become more extreme in the direction of their initial point of view after evaluating the research evidence, an effect termed attitude polarization. Thus, showing proponents and opponents of capital punishment an identical body of mixed evidence appeared "to increase further the gap between their views" (Lord et al, 1979, p. 2105). Lord et al. (1979) suggested that in the subjects' biased processing of the research information, they had emerged with an inflated sense of the amount of evidence supporting their initial belief. Correlational analyses involving the relative degree of biased assimilation and the magnitude of reported attitude change (polarization) supported this account. That subjects gave substantially higher evaluations to research that supported

Postural dynamics and the preferred critical boundary for visually guided reaching.

Abstract: How do people choose an action to satisfy a goal from among the actions that are afforded by the environment? In 3 experiments the action modes used by actors to reach for a block placed at various distances from them were observed. In each experiment, when actors were not restricted in how they could reach for the object, the transition from their reaching using only arm extension to a mode of reaching in which they used the upper torso to lean forward occurred at closer distances than each actor's absolute critical boundary, beyond which the former action was no longer afforded. In Experiments 2 and 3 actors' seated posture was varied so that the effect of postural dynamics on the distance at which actors actually chose to make the transition between action modes, the preferred critical boundary, could be examined. The results are consistent with the proposal that the preferred critical boundary reflects the relative comfort of available modes of reaching.

An online family intervention to reduce parental distress following pediatric brain injury.

Abstract: This study examined whether an online problem-solving intervention could improve parental adjustment following pediatric traumatic brain injury (TBI). Families of children with moderate-to-severe TBI were recruited from the trauma registry of a large children's hospital and randomly assigned to receive online family problem solving therapy (FPS; n = 20) or Internet resources (IRC; n = 20) in addition to usual care. The FPS group reported significantly less global distress, depressive symptoms, and anxiety at follow-up than did the IRC group after controlling for baseline symptoms. The FPS group also reported significant improvements in problem-solving skills, although the groups did not differ significantly at follow-up. Findings suggest that an online, skill-building approach can be effective in facilitating parental adaptation after TBI.

Do Racial Minorities Respond in the Same Way to Mainstream Beauty Standards? Social Comparison Processes in Asian, Black, and White Women

Abstract: Some members of stigmatized groups, such as Asian women, may be more likely to experience negative self-evaluations after exposure to a mainstream beauty standard than members of other stigmatized groups, such as Black women. In this study, 54 Asian women, 52 Black women, and 64 White women, were exposed to mainstream standards of beauty and compared themselves to these idealized images. It was hypothesized that although Black women would find these comparisons irrelevant, Asian women would see these targets as relevant for their comparisons, reflecting their striving for mainstream beauty standards. The results indicated that Black women did not find mainstream standards as relevant to themselves, and reported positive self-evaluations generally and about their bodies in particular. Asian women, on the other hand, responded differently than Black women and were more likely to endorse mainstream beauty standards in a similar fashion to White women. As predicted, Asian women also experienced greater dissat...