Showing papers in "Journal of Social Issues in 1983"

A Theoretical Perspective for Understanding Reactions to Victimization

Abstract: Although specific victimizations may differ, there appear to be common psychological responses across a wide variety of victims. It is proposed that victims' psychological distress is largely due to the shattering of basic assumptions held about themselves and their world. Three assumptions that change as a result of victimization are: 1) the belief in personal invulnerability; 2) the perception of the world as meaningful; and 3) the view of the self as positive. Coping with victimization is presented as a process that involves rebuilding one's assumptive world. Introductions to the papers that follow in this issue are incorporated into a discussion of specific coping strategies adopted by victims.

It Could Be Worse: Selective Evaluation as a Response to Victimization

Abstract: A theory of victims' responses to their victimization, termed Selective Evaluation, is proposed. It is maintained that the perception that one is a victim and the belief that others perceive one as a victim are aversive. Victims react to this aversive state by selectively evaluating themselves and their situation in ways that are self-enhancing. Five mechanisms of selective evaluation that minimize victimization are proposed and discussed: making social comparisons with less fortunate others (i.e., downward comparison); selectively focusing on attributes that make one appear advantaged; creating hypothetical, worse worlds; construing benefit from the victimizing event; and manufacturing normative standards of adjustment that make one's own adjustment appear exceptional. The theory is integrated with the existing literature on victimization, and possible functions of selective evaluation are discussed.

Searching for Meaning in Misfortune: Making Sense of Incest

Abstract: A critical feature of many undesirable life events is that they often shatter the victim's perception of living in an orderly, meaningful world. Many authors have suggested that following such outcomes, the search for meaning is a common and adaptive process. This paper explores the validity of that claim by considering data from a recent study of 77 adult women who were victimized as children: survivors of father-daughter incest. In the process, several central questions regarding the search for meaning are addressed. How important is such a search years after a crisis? Over time, are people able to make sense of their aversive life experiences? What are the mechanisms by which individuals find meaning in their negative outcomes? Does finding meaning in one's victimization facilitate long term adjustment to the event? Finally, what are the implications of an inability to find meaning in life's misfortunes?

Perceptions of Vulnerability to Victimization

Abstract: Individuals who have not been victimized by negative life events, such as serious illness, accidents, or crime, tend to perceive themselves as “uniquely invulnerable,” as less vulnerable to victimization than others The actual experience of victimization, however, appears to shatter this illusion of invulnerability, creating in victims a new and unfamiliar sense of vulnerability often accompanied by psychological distress This article reviews literature documenting nonvictims' perceptions of unique invulnerability and victims' heightened perceptions of vulnerability, and addresses the potentially adaptive versus maladaptive consequences of these perceptions It is argued that victims who have the most difficulty coping with their misfortune may be precisely those individuals who initially felt least vulnerable prior to being victimized Therefore, how victims cope may depend in part on their prior beliefs about risk In addition, a distinction is made between victims who feel “uniquely vulnerable” (more vulnerable than others) and those who feel “universally vulnerable” (equally vulnerable as others) to future misfortune It is proposed that perceptions of universal vulnerability may be a more adaptive reaction to victimization than are perceptions of unique vulnerability

Learned Helplessness and Victimization

Abstract: The learned helplessness phenomenon is proposed as a model for the emotional numbing and maladaptive passivity sometimes following victimization. Victims may learn during the victimization episode that responding is futile. This learning is represented as an expectation of future response-outcome independence (helplessness). Causal interpretations of the episode affect the chronicity and generality of deficits resulting from this expectation, as well as the involvement of self-esteem loss. We discuss several problems in applying the helplessness model to victimization, but we conclude that the theory may be useful in explaining why some victims become numb and passive.

Coping with Victimization by Technological Disaster

Abstract: Technological catastrophes, defined as mishaps involving breakdown in human-made systems, appear to differ in the nature of threats that they pose. Coping with chronic stress associated with these events was examined by considering response to the Three Mile Island nuclear accident. Using the Ways of Coping Inventory (Folkman & Lazarus, 1980), use of emotional regulation, problem-oriented coping, and the assumption of responsibility or blame for problems associated with living near the damaged plant were considered. Patterns of response at TMI were compared to those of a control group, consisting of people living near an undamaged nuclear plant more than 100 miles from TMI. Stress was assessed by making simultaneous measurements of symptom reporting, task performance, and urinary catecholamines (epinephrine and norepinephrine). Findings suggested that both emotionally-focused coping and self-blame were associated with less stress than were problem-focused coping and denial. Further, emotional regulation and assumption of responsibility for encountered difficulty were related to one another and to perceived control as well. This suggested that a control-oriented coping style, in which the perception of control is actively created or maintained, can be effective in reducing distress associated with technological catastrophes.

Self-Blame in Victims of Violence

Abstract: This article focuses on self-blame in victims of violence Various types of victim self-blame are delineated (eg, blame for causing the violence, blame for not being able to modify the violence and blame for tolerating the violence) and speculations are offered as to how each of these might be related to the affective state and coping ability of victims Additional distinctions are made between the acts of: 1) blaming oneself for being a cause vs simply being an occasion for the violence and 2) blaming one's abuse on personal characteristics about which one feels positively vs characteristics about which one feels negatively The implications of these distinctions for an understanding of the victimization process are discussed

The Impact of the “Cult of True Womanhood” on the Education of Black Women

Abstract: This paper compares the primary purposes and functions of educating black and white women in the 19th century For white women, education served as a vehicle for developing homemaker skills, for reinforcing the role of wife and mother, and a milieu for finding a potential husband For black women education served as an avenue for the improvement of their race or “race uplift” The economic, political and social conditions which contributed to these purposes are discussed within a historical context

Coping with Victimization: Conclusions and Implications for Future Research

Abstract: The papers in this issue reflect an exciting new direction in social psychology that has been emerging for the past decade. Since the 1960's, social psychologists have devoted a great deal of attention to understanding reactions to outcomes that are stressful or uncontrollable. Until recently, the majority of these studies were conducted in laboratory settings. Subjects have been exposed to a variety of aversive outcomes such as electric shocks, noise bursts, or failure at problem-solving tasks. Some of these studies were designed to determine whether certain factors, such as predictability or control, minimize a person's subjective distress when an aversive event is experienced (see Thompson 1981, for a review). Others have focused on the aftereffects of stress–that is, whether people continue to show deficits in their performance and motivation once the stress has terminated (see, e.g., Glass & Singer, 1972; Hiroto & Seligman, 1975).

Counteracting the Deviance of Depression: Peer Support Groups for Victims

Abstract: Early laboratory research has shown that when people are faced with a stressfull situation they prefer the company of those facing the same unpleasant event. In this paper we extend this work by examining the impact that peer support group membership has on the mental health of participants, individuals who have sought the help of similarly afflicted others. We present a theoretical argument which proposes that needs for evaluating the appropriateness of one's emotional reactions to victimization are not likely to be met through normal social interactions, leading to feelings of perceived self deviance which could contribute to depression. We suggest that needs for validation, however, could be fulfilled when a victim is able to share emotional reactions with those having similar experiences in peer support groups. Indirect evidence from other research and relevant data from our pilot study on peer support for rape victims indicates that feelings of deviance do tend to decline after group participation. The findings on the reduction of negative affect of group members are rather limited, but positive outcomes generally have been obtained in groups facilitated by professionals. We conclude by suggesting some of the functions that peer support groups may serve for participants in the hopes of increasing their general effectiveness as vehicles for depression reduction.

Through Women's Eyes: Defining Danger in the Wake of Sexual Assault

Abstract: Most women who have been sexually assaulted see at least some situations in the world as being more dangerous following their assault experiences. Based on in-depth interviews with 94 women who were either raped or avoided being raped during an attack, this study examines the effect of the events that occurred during the attack and the circumstances surrounding the attack as factors that determine later perceptions of danger. Women who have been raped are more likely to change their perceptions of the safety of the world in radical ways than women who have avoided being raped, although women who avoid being raped often make substantial reassessments as well. For both raped women and avoiders, one's likelihood of making a radical change in one's perceptions of dangerousness depended to a large degree on the sort of situation in which the attack took place. Women were less likely to change their perceptions of dangerousness if the attack took place in a situation where they believed they were in some danger before the attack. If the attack took place in circumstances which the women defined as safe, however, a much more extreme reaction was likely to occur.

Citizens' Images of Nuclear War: Content and Consequences

Abstract: An exploratory study was conducted to examine the contents of ordinary citizens' conceptions of nuclear war and the possible consequences of those mental conceptions or images for political activity. Previous data suggested the feasibility of measuring cognitive images and their emotional concomitants in surveys of the general public. Existing survey research also suggested that cognitive images of nuclear war and their affective concomitants might precipitate political action. Existing laboratory data suggested specifically that the images' concreteness and their availability to memory might precipitate action. The content of nuclear war images was mainly abstract and secondarily concrete. Both abstract and concrete content included primarily physical destruction, as well as death, disease, and injury. References in a 1954 survey to the quality of life after an attack have been replaced in the current survey with comments about sheer survival. Antinuclear activity indeed was significantly related to the concreteness of people's nuclear war images, beyond the effects of antinuclear attitudes and general levels of political activity. The emotionality and availability of images did not predict antinuclear activity. Both image contents and their behavioral consequences cut across demographic lines, such as sex, race, social class, and political ideology; only age and education bore modest relation to images and action. Images of nuclear war appear to be highly consensual. When they are especially concrete, they can motivate antinuclear activity.

The Threat of Nuclear War: Risk Interpretation and Behavioral Response

Abstract: This study examines the psychological antecedents of behavioral responses to the threat of nuclear war. Two groups known to have responded behaviorally to the threat of nuclear war—nuclear freeze activists and survivalists—are compared to a sample of members of the general public. The influence of four types of psychological antecedents was explored. The antecedents studied were: judgments of risk, efficacy judgments, attributions of causality and moral responsibility, and general political orientations. The results suggest that citizens' behaviors in response to the threat of war are influenced by rational factors, i.e., by judgments of the potential efficacy of actions and by judgments of their potential causal role in preventing war. In addition, judgments concerning citizens' moral responsibility for preventing war exercise an independent effect upon behavior. These results suggest the importance of exploring citizens' psychological interpretations of social and political events as a means of understanding behavioral reactions to those events.

Discrimination and Coping in the Lives of Black Women: Analyses of Oral History Data

Abstract: The present study was designed to explore the multiple effects of institutional discrimination on individuals by examining the distinctive and interactive effects of racial and sexual prejudice and/or institutional discrimination on the coping styles of a small sample of older black women. The existence of the Black Women Oral History Project provided a unique opportunity to examine the perceptions and experiences of discrimination among a set of American black women 70 years of age and older who have made a significant contribution to the improvement of the lives of black people, especially in the 1940s and the 1950s. Examples from these accounts are presented and analyses discussed which suggest that direct instrumental coping may not be the strategy of choice in coping with experiences of discrimination. Rather, selected situational variables (the racial composition of the workplace and the type of discrimination identified) and personal factors (perceptions of the control of the outcome and of the source of the problem) interact and differentially predict either direct instrumental coping or flexibility in coping styles. The findings suggest further that in some contexts a less direct coping strategy may be more effective than a direct instrumental strategy in creatively confronting discrimination.

Black Women in Black and White College Environments: The Making of a Matriarch

Abstract: The social science literature portrays conflicting images of black women: as dominant and assertive, and as the victims of the “double jeopardy” of being both black and female. This paper discusses how predominantly black or predominantly white college environments differentially encourage characteristics associated with each image. Samples of over 500 black females who were freshman or seniors, in one of two all black or four predominantly white colleges, were given a large battery of questionnaires to assess the impact of college. The results show that the adverse conditions of predominantly white colleges were more likely to encourage self reliance and assertiveness, characteristics reminiscent of the “matriarchal” image in social science literature. In contrast, the supportive conditions of predominantly black schools were more likely to encourage a social passivity that may undercut the simultaneous greater academic gains at black colleges. This suggests a dilemma that is characteristic for white women, and perhaps also suggests the image of black women as the victims of double discrimination.

Attitudes Toward Nuclear Weapons and Nuclear War: 1945–1982

Abstract: This paper examines responses to nuclear-related survey items from 1945 through April, 1982, which are on file at the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research. A content analysis of the wordings of the 498 items identified a number of themes which have appeared in many items across time. These include questions about criteria for the production and use of nuclear weapons, perceptions of the nuclear arms race, and personal fears and apprehensions. Analysis of response data for a sample of the items revealed a modest increase in personal fears across time, and a sharper increase in disenchantment with both the arms race and U.S. readiness to use nuclear weapons in response to Soviet invasion of Western Europe. These trends are tentatively explained in terms of altered perceptions of the strategic balance, with the Russians now seen as having reached or even exceeded parity with the U.S. An agenda is suggested for increasing our understanding of nuclear-related public opinion in the future.

Policy-Makers' Images of International Conflict

Abstract: Growing evidence indicates that foreign policy is not simply the product of purely rational, Realpolitik calculations. In making key decisions, national leaders often rely on highly simplified images of the international scene. Focusing on the long-standing debate over American-Soviet relations, I distinguish two basic images that have dominated much of this debate: the deterrence and conflict spiral images. What counts as a “rational” policy toward the Soviet Union depends critically on which image one believes best describes American-Soviet relations. I argue that although the psychological research literature does not tell us who is right in this controversy, the literature does identify a variety of factors (including cognitive, social and personality variables) that are threats to the validity of images underlying policy decisions. I discuss these potential sources of error and bias as well as possible approaches to minimizing their impact on the policy-making process.

Black Women's Sex Roles: The Social Context for a New Ideology.

Abstract: This paper proposes a paradigm for understanding black women's sex role ideology. Using interview data the study explores the sex role integration and synthesis of 54 single and two parent families. Variables such as labor force participation patterns, early and present sex role attitudes, role models, and strategies for coordinating family work and paid employment were considered. Results show an integration of traditional and non-traditional roles in the sex role ideology of black women. The findings are discussed in light of role theory and the concept of role strain.

Rights Consciousness and Victimization Prevention: Personal Defense and Assertiveness Training

Abstract: In personal defense and assertiveness training women learn how to avoid being victimized. The actual behaviors the students learn are not very novel. What is novel for them is engaging in those behaviors in situations where they previously felt afraid or felt they had no right to resist someone else's requests or demands. As they practice the new behaviors, they also reassess their rights and learn to identify intrusions, potential assaults, or violations of their will. They develop an awareness of rights they had not previously felt were theirs—rights of refusal in particular.

Nonverbal Communication Among Black Female Dyads: An Assessment of Intimacy, Gender, and Race

Abstract: Research in the area of the effects of gender and race on social and psychological behavior has been limited in its approach, only reporting differences between blacks and whites or males and females. This paper expands race and gender effects to include both within and between race comparisons as well as gender comparisons across race. Using the results of a naturalistic observation of nonverbal cues between same sex dyads, the behavior of black women is compared to white women and black men. Similarities and differences among the groups provide further evidence for previously reported race and gender effects. Other examples from the nonverbal literature are discussed using this “simple effects” comparative strategy.

Sex Differentiation in Two High School Environments: Implications for Career Development Among Black Adolescent Females

Abstract: This study, based on a secondary analysis of data, involved the comparison of 127 black males and females on career-related variables at two high schools, one a predominantly white liberal arts high school and the other a racially more integrated vocational high school. Based on a review of literature regarding institutional and racial differences in attitudes towards career development in women, it was hypothesized that more sex differences would exist among the black students at the liberal arts school than at the vocational school, and that these differences would favor the males. The hypotheses were confirmed. While females attending the liberal arts high school had lower aspirations, less vocationally relevant self-concepts, and lower self esteem than their male counterparts, they were also less likely to perceive events as the result of either internal forces or of external forces. It was concluded that black females may experience environments differently than do black males, due to the combined and independent effects of racism and sexism. Clearly studies involving the effects of different settings on minority group behavior should examine relationships separately by gender.

Strategic Policy Preferences: A Behavioral Decision Theory Perspective

Abstract: A decision theory perspective is used to analyze how individuals form preferences among competing strategic defense policies. It is argued that these preferences can be usefully conceptualized as the product of deliberative logical thinking. There are, however, a number of obstacles that may prevent people from making decisions in their own best interests or from reaching agreement with others who share those interests. Some of these obstacles are internal or psychological (e.g., difficulties in understanding probabilistic processes); some are external or institutional (e.g., limited access to relevant information). Some are encountered with even mundane problems (e.g., being overconfident in one's knowledge); some are particular to novel and consequential decisions (e.g., not knowing how to make tradeoffs among those consequences). Some seem restricted to the lay public (e.g., failure to understand technical terms); some may afflict technical experts (e.g., failure to acknowledge or question widely shared assumptions). The possibilities for research into the extent of these problems is discussed, along with the possibilities for action to alleviate them.

Aspects of Social Context as Determinants of Black Women's Resistance to Challenges

Abstract: In the past, social psychological researchers have generally treated sex and race as independent status characteristics. The utility of this unidimensional model is questioned. Literature examining sex and race differences in status which then predict behavior (specifically resistance to influence) is reviewed to demonstrate the inadequacy of separating the effects of these characteristics. The importance of sex and race as both personal and contextual characteristics is then discussed.

The Evaluation of Prevention Programs

Abstract: Throughout the past decade I have been involved in various preventionoriented programs. These projects have ranged from research and evaluation on crime prevention, to projects dealing with preventing illness, to ones dealing with home fire prevention. I have maintained a strong belief in the efficacy of a prevention approach to dealing with social problems, as opposed to more traditional treatment approaches. However, we do not really have good evidence that such prevention programs are effective (Kelly, Snowden, & Munoz, 1977; Heller, Price, & Sher, 1980). We need to create bodies of knowledge that help us understand the workings of and the theories behind prevention programs. But there are many barriers to doing so. This paper is about those barriers, and about ways we might cope with them.

Conceptual Models, Judgment, and the Treatment of Uncertainty in Nuclear Threat Assessment

Abstract: This paper describes and evaluates the four approaches to nuclear threat assessment that are most commonly employed by U.S. national security analysts: (1) comparisons of U.S. and Soviet expenditures on nuclear forces; (2) comparisons of static indicators of nuclear capability, such as number of weapons or measures of the destructive power of these weapons; (3) using deterrence theory and battle simulations to predict nuclear war outcomes and evaluate the deterrent capability of U.S. nuclear forces; and (4) analyzing official Soviet military doctrine to make inferences about Soviet goals, images, and plans for nuclear war. The analysis of each approach begins with a brief description of how the approach is implemented. Next the conceptual bases of the approach—both theoretical and empirical—are examined. Then applications of the method are evaluated in terms of how well they deal with the uncertainties inherent in any attempt to assess nuclear capability or threat. Finally, applications of each method are evaluated in terms of how they incorporate subjective judgment, how well they document critical assumptions, and the extent to which they use sensitivity analysis to assess the impact of varying critical assumptions.

Images of Nuclear War and the Public in British Civil Defense Planning Documents

Abstract: British civil defense plans for nuclear war embody selective and misleading images of nuclear war and of the public Official documents intended for public mass consumption depict nuclear war as survivable, without discussing the meaning of “survival” Planners' internal documents show more detailed and realistic appreciation of probable effects, but survival is still imagined in predominantly physical terms, and social or psychological impact is not seriously analyzed Attempts at planning for administration of post-attack society present contradicting conceptions of the public: as a pro-social “us” and an anti-social “them” Together with a series of elisions among such concepts as law, order, life, property, control and persuasion, this enables planners with limited imagination to assume the role of guardian of the public interest There are potential anti-democratic consequences for present-day British society as plans are enacted in civil defense exercises and preparations Civil defense planning is not just about saving lives in the future, but is also closely linked to national defense policy now

Social Science and the Politics of the Arms Race

Abstract: Folks don't often try to mix psychology and politics. When they do, there are a number of reasons, including the hunt for interesting data, the wish to be useful to society, and the desire to influence political events. Political involvement itself can assume a number of forms, including helping to shape a political program, helping to sell the program, uncovering the subtle ways in which the opposition has structured public discussion of the issues, and doing battle with opposition experts. Often, political involvement is viewed as the irreconcilable enemy of good science. Yet, the two seem to be very intertwined, with political considerations shaping science in many ways and science helping to shape society in return. By confronting the interdependence, it is possible to create a more deliberate science and one more effectively applied to social problems. In the context of studying people's images of nuclear war, several of the key issues are the degree of respect that psychology implicitly affords to the judgments of experts and of laypeople, as well as the role that it envisions each filling in the determination of defense policy.