Showing papers on "Situational ethics published in 1985"

Situational ethics: An empirical study of differentiators of student attitudes

Abstract: This paper reports the results of a questionnaire administered to 1,178 undergraduate students and discusses how they responded to ten situations which asked them to assess their personal evaluation of the ethical acceptability, how society would similarly assess the situation and how business persons would respond. Multiple versions of the instrument were developed to investigate if the sex of the person involved in the situation would influence the respondents’ perception of the ethical action involved. No differences were identified. Further, the image of business persons as less ethical than society in general seems to have evaporated.

The Effects Of Negotiator Preferences, Situational Power, And Negotiator Personality On Outcomes Of Business Negotiations

Abstract: A laboratory experiment was used to investigate the joint effects of preferences, personality, and situational power on the outcomes of business negotiations. Results show that preferences vary acr...

Language and Social Situations

Abstract: 1. Language and Social Situations: An Introductory Review.- The Background to the Study of Language and Situations.- The Psychological Tradition.- Cognitive Approaches.- The Sociological Tradition.- The Evidence for Links Between Language and Social Situations.- Summary and an Outline of the Volume.- I. Situational Factors in Language Development.- 2. The Role of Interaction Formats in Language Acquisition.- Two Conflicting Views of Language Acquisition.- Initial Cognitive Endowment.- Support for Language Acquisition.- Shared Formats and Language Acquisition.- Some Conclusions.- 3. Situational Variations Within Social Speech Registers.- The Nature of Speech Registers.- Situational Variations in the Baby-Talk Register.- Some General Considerations.- II. Psychological Factors in Situated Language Use.- 4. Cognitive Situation Models in Discourse Production: The Expression of Ethnic Situations in Prejudiced Discourse.- Situation Models in Memory.- Situation Models in Discourse Production.- The Expression of Ethnic Prejudice.- Conclusions.- 5. Speech and Situation: A General Model for the Process of Speech Production.- The General Model.- Situational Influences.- Comparing the Model With Schlesinger's Approach.- Applying the Model to the Production of Requests.- The Situation Features Studied.- The Experimental Paradigms.- Conclusions: The Present Status of the Model.- 6. Situational Conventions and Requests.- Social Context and the Understanding of Requests.- Convention and Context in the Use of Requests.- Processing and Remembering Indirect Requests.- What Makes Some Requests Conventional?.- Summary and Conclusions.- III. Social and Cultural Aspects of Language and Social Situations.- 7. The Language of Requesting in Israeli Society.- The Background to Studying Requests.- Requesting as Strategic Interaction.- Design of the Research.- Results.- Discussion: Situational Variations in Requesting.- The Nature of the Ethos of Directness in Israeli Society: A Case of Solidarity Politeness?.- Summary.- 8. In-Group/Out-Group Deixis: Situational Variation in the Verbs of Giving and Receiving in Japanese.- Social Deixis.- Group Identification in Japan: "Uti" and "Soto" Situations.- The Verbs of Giving and Receiving.- Situational Variations in Group Boundaries.- Deictic Projection.- Conclusion.- 9. Situational Influences on Perceptions of Accented Speech.- Situational Influences on the Perception of Speech.- The Macrolevel Situation in Australia.- Situational Context, Ethnicity, and Gender: Three Australian Studies.- Perceptions of Accented Speech in Person-Centered Situations.- Integration and Conclusions.- 10. Situational Rhetoric and Self-Presentation.- Language and Self-Presentation.- Aggro-Talk: The Rhetoric of Aggressive Situations.- Gossip: The Rhetoric of Situational Control.- File-Speak: The Rhetoric of Character Transcription.- Situational Rhetoric in Science.- Conclusions.- IV. Situational Influences on Communication Problems.- 11. A Situational Theory of Disqualification: Using Language to "Leave the Field".- Background.- Theory and Measurement of Disqualification.- Experimental Research.- Conclusions.- 12. Slips in Interaction: The Psychopathology of Everyday Discourse.- Slips of the Tongue Versus Slips in Interaction.- Slips and the Components of a Speech Situation.- The Sequential Organization of Conversation.- The Content of Conversation.- The Interplay of the Interactants.- Slips and Discourse Planning.- Conclusion.- 13. Situational Variation in Speech Dysfluencies in Interpersonal Communication.- Towards a Model of Situational Variation in Speech Dysfluencies.- The Social Character of Stuttering.- Situational Variations in Stuttering.- Psychological Aspects of Situational Difficulty in Everyday Interaction.- Subjectively Perceived Characteristics of Situations.- Speech Dysfluency in Normally Fluent Speakers.- Communication Responsibility, Need for Control, and Speech Dysfluencies.- Conclusions.- 14. Epilogue: On the Situational Nature of Language and Social Interaction.- How Is Language Situational?.- Methodological Eclecticism.- The Search for a Theory Linking Language and Situations.- Future Prospects for a Theory of Situated Language Use.- Conclusions.- Author Index.

The Pursuit of Self-Defining Goals

Abstract: The cognition-behavior relation central here is the human pursuit of self-definitions. The striving after such self-definitions as child-rearer, parent, musician, or humanitarian is treated as a goal-oriented enterprise, such that the cognized goal (e. g., to be a humanitarian) brings forth numerous behaviors directed toward the individual’s trying to realize that self-defining goal. In the course of spelling out some of the dynamics of self-completion processes, we will show how the pursuit of self-completion has the side-effect of interfering with a variety of other types of cognition-behavior relations. For example, the relation between attitude and behavior, between intention and behavior, and even that between situational cues for behavior and actual behavior can all suffer demise or even elimination owing to the person’s pursuit of a self-defining goal.

Reference Person Influence on Career Women's Dress:

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to investigate the mediating effect of situational and personality characteristics on the acceptance of normative and informational influence by career women from refe...

Judicial Mediation: Techniques, Strategies, and Situational Effects

Abstract: This paper investigates the mediation techniques and strategies used by judges to facilitate the out-of-court settlement of civil cases, and it discusses the circumstances under which judicial mediation is mostly likely to occur. The first of two studies reveals that judges, when using mediation techniques, employ them in three strategies-logical, aggressive, and paternalistic-and that the logical strategy is most effective. Study 2 unearths another strategy-a client-oriented approach-but it does not corroborate the effectiveness findings of Study 1. A final section speculates about the situational factors that influence judicial intervention.

Situational Conventions and Requests

Abstract: The competent use of language lies in knowing how to use words to get listeners to make the right inferences about what is meant. Simply knowing the meanings of individual words, along with the rules for concatenating them into grammatical sentences, is not sufficient to ensure the proper understanding of speakers’ messages. People need to know additional information about the social setting, the particular roles that speakers and hearers play in conversations, the interaction of speakers’ and hearers’ beliefs, and their presuppositions about each other’s plans and goals in different discourse situations. This pragmatic information constitutes the shared or mutual knowledge that allows speakers and hearers to achieve successful communication.

THE VICE-PRESIDENTIAL SUCCESSION EFFECT: Individual or Situational Basis?

Abstract: Simonton (1981) found that “accidental” presidents do not perform as well as duly elected chief executives. Though this vice-presidential succession effect may be due to individual factors, such as some deficiency in personality or political experience, it might be due instead to situational factors, most notably the failure to be perceived as having legitimate power by those already in power positions. Three studies investigated the relative plausibility of individual and situational explanations. Study 1 examined 49 president-vice-president teams to determine the criteria by which running mates are selected. Study 2 looked at 69 leaders who served as either president, vice-president, or both, in order to discover if accidental presidents can be differentiated on biographical and political background variables. Study 3 scrutinized 100 congressional units in a time-series design to gauge the impact of serving an unelected term as president. The results most support a situational interpretation based on the attribution of legitimate power.

Toward a Theory of Situational Structure

Abstract: The independent variables for all studies published in odd-numbered volumes of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology were recorded. The variables were then sorted on the basis of resemblance into an emerging scheme of categories. This procedure resulted in a list of 51 categories; this list arguably contains all dimensions of situational structure that have been shown to exert a significant effect on behavior. The 51 categories were then organized into a scheme of situational structure. The following 5 aspects of situational structure were suggested: the stimulus environment, which is comprised of the physical environment and the situation's temporal and spatial structure, as well as any social structure that is external to the subject; characteristics of the subject, which involve all relevant attributes of the subject as well as relevant prior experience; cognitive and affective dynamics, which involve the subject's attentional, interpretive, and emotional states and processes, as well as the...

Situational Rhetoric and Self-Presentation

Abstract: The situational use of language is a major vehicle of strategic self-presentation. It is now some 25 years since Goffman first brought to the attention of social scientists the importance of the ways that we present ourselves in social interaction. In his Presentation of self (1959), he clearly distinguished between the performances by which certain practical ends were achieved and the supplementary, or stylistic qualifications of those performances by which the actors displayed the kinds of persons they wished to be taken to be. Going on from his early work, Goffman explored the conventions of language, behavior, costume, and so on, by which that presentation is achieved. However, it has become increasingly clear that the role of language in social interaction is often far more important than that of more visible forms of display (Goffman, 1981). In this chapter I propose to sum up and then develop the work that has been done in recent years on the central role of language in the creation of social order, and the links between language and the social situations within which it is used.

Decision-making in extramarital relationships

Abstract: A model was constructed and used to generate hypotheses regarding situational determinants, motives, and restraints affecting extramarital decision-making. Statistically significant differences between males and females were found on factors influencing extramarital sexual relationships. It was concluded that men have a greater expectation of personal involvement, are strongly influenced by perceived payoffs, and are more likely to respond to what they regard as justifications for their behavior. Women are more responsive to risks which they see as more likely to occur and to be more destructive. Avoiding hurt for themselves and others is an important consideration. Counseling implications are discussed.

The Catalytic Situation in the Violence Equation1

Abstract: This paper discusses views of violence that point to situational impingements on the aggressor as precipitants of his or her aggression. The view (situational determinism) is illustrated through excerpts from a trial that was concerned with police responsibility for incidents of police-citizen violence. The excerpts high-light the exonerating and antipsychological corollaries of the situational view and its emphasis on victim-related variables. This deterministic scenario (violence situation) is contrasted with an interpersonal emphasis (violence transaction) and an offender-centered perspective (violence opportunity). In contrast to the latter's emphasis on aggressor motivation, situational determinism implies the generic motivation ("normalcy") of aggression. As a corollary, the view rejects the possibility of introducing deescalating options into evolving violence transactions.

Clinical judgement in context: a review of situational factors in person perception during clinical interviews.

Abstract: — The literature on the clinical interview and clinical judgement has generally tended to ignore relevant research in social psychology. It is argued that the basic psychological processes involved in clinical judgement can be compared with those involved in everyday social judgement. This review summarises evidence on the sophistication and complexity of clinical judgement and on the likely impact on it of a number of factors: the judge's personality, the stimulus background, institutional norms, objectives in the interview, and the interaction process as influenced by situational factors. It is suggested that a model of clinical judgement is required that can encompass, interpret and find value in the artifacts of the clinician's situation.

Dispositional and situational moderators of female and male causal attributions

Abstract: To increase understanding of the relationships between gender and causal attributions, dispositional and situational variables were examined to determine if they affected causal attributions differently if the subjects were females or males. Four dispositional variables—locus of control, neuroticism, achievement motivation, and self-esteem—and five situational variables—expectancy of success, self-reported commitment, perceived productivity, perceived task complexity, and actual performance—were examined for their moderating effects on the gender-causal attributional relationships. The dispositional variables did not moderate any causal relationships. By comparison, four situational variables—performance, commitment, productivity, and complexity—moderated at least one of the gender-attribution relationships. It was concluded that more attention should be directed to the identification of situational moderators.

Situational Position and Student Choice Criteria

Abstract: The student in choosing a particular university to attend does so within a particular university-student situational context. This paper demonstrates that the situational context significantly influences the evaluative criteria used by students in deciding which university to attend. Using a Canadian university as a case study, the authors develop an analytical framework for understanding the relationship between the particular university-student situational context and the student choice of university decision criteria.

Lessons at the Bottom Worker Nonparticipation in Labor Management Committees as Situational Adjustment

Abstract: Nonparticipation is the modal response of workers to worker participation schemes. Four case studies are analyzed to demonstrate how situational and role constraints in organizations make this the most practical adjustment. Organizational settings are viewed as socializing contexts that teach workers what is expected, what is valued, and what actually pays off. Lessons leading to nonparticipation include (1) “You're on the outside”; (2) “Don't look to work for satisfaction”; (3) “You don't know what's going on here”; (4) “You do what you're paid for”; and (5) “Participation costs.” The implications of this theoretical view for other forms of worker participation are outlined. Situational adjustment theory is argued to be a stronger explanation of organizational behavior than theories relying on “imported” values and needs.

Love and Justice in Christian Biomedical Ethics

Abstract: My task is to identify and analyze some major themes in biomedical ethics from a Christian standpoint. In particular, I want to indicate the importance of the distinctions and relations between the principles of love and justice in several different areas of biomedical ethics, to suggest that more careful analytical and constructive attention to these norms — their content, their distinctions, and their relations — would clarify and perhaps resolve some of the debates in biomedical ethics, and to underline the impossibility of either clarifying or resolving these disputes without attention to their broader theological, metaphysical, and anthropological contexts. My analysis of both problems and theologians will be selective. Although I will mention several problems and identify several major issues in schematic form, I will concentrate on debates about the relation of agape (neighbor-love) to justice in the distribution of the bur-dens of research involving human subjects and the benefits of medical care. I will concentrate on the writings of Paul Ramsey, Richard McCormick, S.J., and Gene Outka, with some attention to discussions by Arthur Dyck and Joseph Fletcher, among others.

Patient rights, professional ethics, and situational dilemmas in mental health services.

Abstract: Patient rights, professional ethics and situational dilemmas in mental health services are discussed in terms of their interrelationships, with a major focus on voluntary clients and community-based services. Vignettes are provided under the headings of: I. The rights to respect, dignity, and non-discrimination; II. The rights to appropriate treatment, to consent and to refuse; III. The rights to least restrictive, least intrusive intervention; IV. The rights to confidentiality of personal information, to consent to or refuse release of records, and the right to peruse personal records. The author stresses that the rights and responsibilities of various parties must be balanced to arrive at the best decisions.

Sex and position differences among predictors of perceived work-related competence

Abstract: Many previous articles have suggested that social cues and situational information contribute differentially to perceptions of work-related competence of women versus men. Certain theorists have concluded that the perceived competence of women is more dependent upon social cues and less upon situational information than is the competence of men, while other theorists have concluded that the opposite is true. The present study empirically examined the relative contribution of these two classes of variables to the perceived competence of 583 employees of social service organizations in 23 states. In addition, the study investigated a rival hypothesis that occupancy of a supervisory position, not sex, is a more likely modifier of the relationship between competence and either social or situational factors. Contrary to all hypotheses, the results suggest that (a) there are no practically significant sex differences in sensitivity to social cues or situational information, and [b] occupancy of a supervisory position may have a direct impact on perceived competence, but position occupancy does not moderate [to a practically significant degree] the relationships between competence and social cues or situational information.