Showing papers on "Situational ethics published in 2012"

Breaking Rules: The Social and Situational Dynamics of Young People's Urban Crime

Abstract: PART 1 - ANALYSING CRIME AS SITUATIONAL ACTION: THEORY, METHODS, KEY CONSTRUCTS, AND BASIC FINDINGS PART 2 - THE SOCIAL DYNAMICS OF YOUNG PEOPLE'S URBAN CRIME PART 3 - THE SITUATIONAL DYNAMICS OF YOUNG PEOPLE'S CRIME PART 4 - IT'S ALL ABOUT INTERACTIONS APPENDICES

The Role of Situational Variables in Analysing Physical Performance in Soccer

Abstract: Performance analysis in sport is used to investigate the performance of teams and players across different sports. Research within this area, especially when focussing on the determinants of success, has grown rapidly in the last few years. During this time, the role of a new concept, 'situational variables' has emerged. This term includes the different game and situational conditions that may influence performance at a behavioural level. Given that soccer is dominated by strategic factors, it is reasonable to suggest that situational variables of match status (i.e. whether the team is winning, losing or drawing), quality of opposition (strong or weak), and match location (i.e. playing at home or away) may somehow influence the teams' and players' activities. These situational variables need to be analyzed in depth to understand their influence in team sports. The aim of this article was to examine the independent and interactive effects of situational variables on physical performance in elite soccer. The view that professional soccer players regulate their physical efforts according to the specific demands of individual matches and periods of the game is offered. In support of this argument results from recent studies are presented. Implications of this perspective for match analyst and coaches for evaluating performance are also considered.

What Makes People Hot? Applying the Situational Theory of Problem Solving to Hot-Issue Publics

Abstract: Using a controversial issue that has drawn massive media coverage in South Korea, the government decision to resume imports of US beef, this study tested the applicability of the Situational Theory of Problem Solving (STOPS) to the rise of a hot-issue public. A survey of 300 respondents explored the perceptual, cognitive, and motivational antecedents of active information behaviors. Results suggest that the STOPS applies well to this unique sociopolitical situation, and that the theory works cross-culturally not only in the United States, but also in South Korea. In addition, we examined the role of cross-situational characteristics in detail, looking at whether political interest, prior experience in protest, and other sociodemographics could affect situational perceptions and cognitive frames. Theoretical and practical implications for future research and practices are discussed.

Lurking as personal trait or situational disposition: lurking and contributing in enterprise social media

Abstract: We examine patterns of participation by employees who are members of multiple online communities in an enterprise communities service. Our analysis focuses on statistical patterns of contributing vs. "lurking". The majority of contributors (in one or more communities) were also lurkers (in one or more other communities). These results argue against hypotheses derived from common theories of participation and lurking. We propose that contributing and lurking are partially dependent on a trait (a person's overall engagement), modified by the individual's disposition toward a particular topic, work task or social group. Contributions include critique of theory, an analytic framework, and implications for design of community services.

Privacy Concerns in Quick Response Code Mobile Promotion: The Role of Social Anxiety and Situational Involvement

Abstract: Drawing upon utility maximization theory, this study examines the consequences of quick response (QR) code mobile promotion in terms of information privacy concerns, defensive responses (intention to protect, fabricate, or withhold), and loyalty. Two contextual variables, social anxiety and situational involvement, are hypothesized as moderators. The main survey employs the scenario method with 667 general consumers in Japan. The results indicate that most of the main effects are supported for both moderators. There are strong interaction effects of social anxiety and situational involvement in intention to protect and intention to fabricate personal information. Our study suggests that QR code promotion is a practical and useful tool for loyalty, and its use may significantly depend on its context, whether physical or psychological.

An experimental investigation of an interactive model of academic cheating among business school students.

Abstract: Using an experimental design, we examined the interactive effect of situational (explicit presentations of an honor code reminder and of a realistic course warning) and individual (self-perceived c...

Lenses of the Heart: How Actors’ and Observers’ Perspectives Influence Emotional Experiences

Abstract: This research examines how the visual perspectives that people take to appraise an event, that is, whether they view themselves as actors in the situation or observers of it, influence the intensities of the emotions they experience. We predict that in a situation that elicits emotions, greater attention to the self (if using an observer’s perspective) leads to greater intensity of self-conscious emotions such as pride, guilt, and embarrassment, whereas greater attention to the situation (if using an actor’s perspective) leads to greater intensity of hedonic emotions such as joy, sorrow, and excitement. In this way, visual perspectives can act as situational antecedents that shape the use of emotion appraisals. Three experiments support these propositions and demonstrate the mediating role of appraisals, across a variety of emotion-eliciting contexts, that were visualized as well as recalled.

Classroom Ordering and the Situational Imperatives of Routine and Ritual.

Abstract: This article contends that the problem of classroom order rests less in the roles and compositions of classrooms than in the multidimensional nature of their social situations. Classroom order aris...

The Offenders’ Perspective on Prevention Guarding Against Victimization and Law Enforcement

Abstract: Law-abiding citizens are concerned with deterring and preventing crime. One strategy to accomplish this goal is to increase the costs and reduce the benefits that particular situations present to offenders. This form of crime control is known as situational crime prevention. Like law-abiding persons, offenders must concern themselves with being victimized. Differently, however, offenders must also worry about being detected and punished by formal agents. Thus, situational prevention from the offenders’ perspective is relatively complex, encompassing efforts to block not only opportunities for victimization but also for law enforcement. Building on the work of Clarke, the present study uses qualitative data from drug dealers to illustrate how and why offenders use situational strategies and techniques to evade their adversaries. The article concludes by discussing implications for future work.

Getting to the heart of the matter: A diary study of swimmers’ appraisals of organisational stressors

Abstract: We explored sport performers' cognitive appraisals of organisational stressors. The relevant demands and transactional alternatives that athletes experience in relation to the situational properties were identified. Thirteen national standard swimmers completed semi-structured, interval-contingent daily diaries for a 28-day period. A combination of inductive and deductive content analysis was used to organise and analyse the diary entries with a focus on the following areas: organisational stressors, their underlying situational properties, and the swimmers' transactional alternatives. One hundred and thirty-one of the organisational stressors were appraised as threat, 41 as challenge, and 83 as harm/loss. Support was found for the majority of Lazarus and Folkman's (1984) situational properties with the only exception being temporal uncertainty. Imminence was associated with the greatest number of threat appraisals (47), novelty was associated with the greatest number of challenge appraisals (17), and duration was associated with the greatest number of harm/loss appraisals (22). It is concluded that appraisal plays a pivotal role in sport performers' experiences of their organisational environment. Swimmers' transactional alternatives are influenced by the situational properties of the stressors encountered.

Modification of Core Beliefs in Cognitive Therapy

Abstract: As has been seen in this volume thus far, a great deal of work in cognitive therapy is geared toward the identification, evaluation, and modification of situational thoughts (i.e., automatic thoughts) that patients experience on particular occasions and that are associated with an increase in an aversive mood state. Although they usually obtain significant relief from their mood disturbance using this cognitive restructuring process, many patients who focus only on these situational cognitions find that they continue to experience the same thoughts, over and over again, even if they have increased their ability to cope with them. One explanation for this is that these patients continue to hold unhelpful core beliefs, which facilitate the activation of these situational thoughts.

Methods and Situational Ethics in Music Education.

Abstract: The content of this article is the sole responsibility of the author. The ACT Journal and the Mayday Group are not liable for any legal actions that may arise involving the article's content, including, but not limited to, copyright infringement.

The Person-situation Debate and the Assessment of Situations

Abstract: While the person-situation debate was largely based on a misunderstanding of the magnitude of the correlations that characterize relations between personality traits and behavior, it drew much-needed attention to the importance of situations. However, few attempts have been made to understand the important elements of situations in relation to behavior. Current work developing the Riverside Situational Q-sort (RSQ) aims to provide a useful way to conceptualize and measure the behaviorally important attributes of situations. A current project is applying this method cross-culturally. New data from the US and Japan show that behavioral correlates of two elements of the situation—the presence of a member of the opposite sex and the experience of being criticized by others—have largely similar behavioral correlates between genders and across cultures. ese analyses illustrate how the RSQ illuminates the connections between situations and behavior. Future research will extend such analyses to more situational attributes and other cultures around the world.

Creativity in Its Social Context: The Interplay of Organizational Norms, Situational Threat, and Gender

Abstract: Past research has frequently made the assumptions that creativity is an individual, rather than social, behavior; that the factors shaping creative behavior influence everyone in the same way; and that these factors always have the same influence regardless of the situation. This research challenges all 3 of these assumptions. In an experiment, participants (n = 187) assumed the role of members of a business organization with either individualist or collectivist norms that was either under competitive threat or not. Results indicated that, when threat was absent, men exhibited more divergent thinking under individualist than collectivist norms. However, the reverse was true for women when threat was absent and for both sexes when their organization was under threat. Thus, a group norm emphasizing individuality can sometimes enhance divergent thinking performance. However, this influence is moderated by other situational factors such as competitive threat, and, possibly for reasons of differing socializati...

Public support for vigilantism: an experimental study

Abstract: To empirically examine the absolute and relative impact of situational characteristics and confidence in the criminal justice system on public support for vigilantism. In an experimental study with a between-subjects design, members of a Dutch household panel (n = 1,930) responded to vignettes about vigilantism that were varied across two experimental factors: (1) type of precipitating crime and (2) type of formal sentence for the precipitating offender. In the measurement of support, we distinguished between outrage at vigilantism, empathy with the vigilante, and desired punishment for the vigilante. Confidence was assessed 1 month later. Our findings show that situational characteristics have a substantial and independent influence on support for vigilantism, in addition to the role of confidence. This means that when citizens express support for those who take the law into their own hands, this is not necessarily rooted in a lack of confidence in the criminal justice system. Furthermore, all three measures of support were affected more by the situational characteristics than by confidence. Citizens are nuanced in their judgment of vigilantism and sensitive to contextual information, which is in line with other recent findings regarding public punitiveness. Future studies should assess whether the findings can be generalized to other settings where citizens cannot rely (as much) on the state to deal with crime.

Situational And Contingency Theories Of Leadership: Are They The Same?

Abstract: This paper is a positional, theoretical paper that explains comprehensively the all powerful but ambiguous concept of leadership, highlights its features and the categorization of its major theoretical approaches. It distinguishes clearly the two categorizations that neophytes and even scholars often used interchangeable as if both are the same. These broad categories are the situational and contingency theories of leadership. This distinction, it is believed, enables students to understand clearly the theories under each category but more importantly, it helps officials in Ministries of Education in developing countries to act most appropriately in a timely manner in intervening in worsening school administration with success in view. Key Concepts; Administration, Consideration, Contingency theories, Leadership, Management, Maturity level, situational models, the behavioural approach, the ‘great man’ approach, the style approach, task – oriented, initiating structure,

Mapping the Process: An Exemplar of Using Situational Analysis in a Grounded Theory Study

Abstract: An emerging offshoot of traditional grounded theory methods is situational analysis. This article presents an exemplar of conducting situational analysis within a grounded theory study that focuses on the perceptions of changing family boundaries in the process of leaving an abusive partner. Specifically, I used situational maps to supplement open coding and adapted situational mapping techniques to develop a family-level theory of the process of leaving. The practical and theoretical utility of situational analysis to supplement traditional grounded theory methods is immense, which makes the method highly adaptable to fit the needs of various qualitative research endeavors.

Evaluation as a situational or a universal good? Why evaluability assessment for evaluation systems is a good idea, what it might look like in practice, and why it is not fashionable

Abstract: Evaluability assessment is a diagnostic and prescriptive tool which helps evaluators determine whether evaluation is appropriate in a given situation Thus, evaluation is understood as a situational good Today, however, evaluability assessment is no longer particularly popular Mandatory, comprehensive and repetitive evaluation systems are gaining ground in public administration supported by general social, political and managerial norms and values, indicating that evaluation is believed to be a universal good Can a form of evaluability assessment be re-vitalized in order to pave the way for a more modest, more reflexive, and more context-sensitive belief in evaluation? The article offers a specific list of items in an updated version of evaluability assessment, and concludes with a discussion of the limitations of such approach

Perspectives on Educational Quality: Illustrative Outcomes on Primary and Secondary Schooling in the Netherlands

Abstract: Scheerens, J., Luyten, H. and Van Ravens, J. (Eds.) (2011). Perspectives on Educational Quality: Illustrative Outcomes on Primary and Secondary Schooling in the Netherlands. Dordrecht, Heidelberg, London, New York: SpringerBriefs in Education. 148 pp., ISBN: 978- 94-007-0925-6.Each time we are confronted with the quality concept in education, with its practices, goals, methods, etc., it inevitably becomes obvious that their realisation starts with, or rather is dependent upon, the accepted definition of quality itself. The notion of quality is, therefore, not without internal tensions. It is strongly dependent upon the relevant context, on the interests, values and believes of the stakeholders involved. However, as the present monograph shows, the relevance of the inter-dynamics between different factors and connected priorities, the organisational infrastructure in the orientation of goals, the choice of methods, developmental activities and the implementation of different approaches to educational quality should be kept in mind at all times. The latter also differ in their connections to particular national systems, as well as on the level of their realisation and relationships between particular levels of education (see Kos Kecojevic & Gaber, 2011).In an effort to apply this, the present monograph could be read as an analysis of the contextual factors that led to the defining and building of the Systems Model of Education. This model can be simultaneously understood as a theoretical framework and guidelines in approaching the quality of education, as well as an example of practical, applied connection to the processes of quality assurance and evaluation. In terms of their theoretical as well as practical approach to quality, the constructed definition and focal points of the Systems Model were, however, in the most part originally presented in 2004 as part of UNESCO's Education for All Global Monitoring Report (see Schereens, 2004).The first part of the monograph considers the importance of different perspectives in defining "quality" in the context of education. "When discussing the quality of education in this book there will be a strong emphasis on what is objectively measurable and practically controllable and emphasizes the importance of objectively measurable and practically controllable. Even within that inevitably reduced frame of reference there are many different perspectives" (p. 4). Attempting to establish the need for further reductionism, the authors refer to Pirsig and put further emphasis on "who, which subject, or which actor poses the quality question", bearing in mind different stakeholders, including national policy makers, school governors, parents, etc. (p. 4). Qualitative aspects of quality are recognised but "hard to grasp" and "not easily captured or measured". Considering the facts, the authors turn to the part of educational quality that can and will be defined in more objective ways and can be captured by the means of scientific methods, and that aims at improving quality through methods of planned change (p. 5).As the quality of education is likely to be defined differently by different stakeholders, the Systems Model puts forward a cross section of collective interests in terms of educational results that are important for all of the parties involved (see Scheerens, 2004, p. 3). The contextual dimension is also included and gives the model flexible and broader applicability, taking into account the situational, organisational and local context. It also includes different interpretations of quality, different anchoring points, and offers a broad set of indicators. Analytically, the model strives for a "meta-framework", using an "input-process-output" logic with regard to the functioning of education and comparing different perspectives on educational quality (p. 3, 5). In the second part of the book, the model is rendered operational through the Dutch national context on the level of primary and secondary education. …

Engaging celebrity? Measuring the impact of issue-advocacy messages on situational involvement, complacency and apathy

Abstract: Using data from an experiment conducted in the fall of 2009, the study considers the effect of exposure to celebrity issue-advocacy appeals on situational involvement, complacency and apathy. The results suggest that receptivity toward celebrity involvement in issue politics has a negative impact on complacency but no effect on issue-specific apathy. In addition, situational involvement is negatively related to both complacency and issue apathy. Finally, the results suggest that exposure to celebrity issue advocacy messages can impact issue engagement, but this impact often depends on the prior perceived importance of the issue and favourability toward the celebrity advocate.

Justice Theory and Research: A Social Functionalist Perspective

Abstract: There are at least five functionalist metaphors that have guided justice theory and research in social psychology: people as lay or intuitive (a) economists, (b) politicians, (c) scientists, (d) prosecutors, and (e) theologians. These frameworks consider what people care about when thinking about fairness by suggesting that fairness serves different needs and goals. This chapter reviews each of these broad categories of justice research, and concludes by proposing a functional pluralism model of justice. The adaptive challenges people confront in their everyday lives require the ability to move fluidly between different goal states or motives. People have to resolve the problems of (a) competing for scarce resources, such as wages or jobs (the economist), (b) how to get along with others and secure their standing in important groups (the politician), (c) making useful inferences about others' goals, behavior, and trustworthiness (the scientist), (d) defending themselves and others from harm (the prosecutor), and (e) building a meaningful sense of existence (the theologian). The functional pluralism model's position is that people are economists, politicians, scientists, prosecutors, and theologians, and how they reason about fairness depends on their frame of reference and goal states at any given time. Which orientation guides people's thinking depends on the current goal orientation of the actor and the salience of various situational cues that could activate one or another of these mind-sets. Keywords: distributive justice; procedural justice; retributive justice; fairness; deonance; morality

A study of user's acceptance on situational mashups in situational language teaching

Abstract: Situational awareness and mashups are two key factors influencing the success of situational language teaching. However, traditional situational language teaching cannot smoothly conduct relevant learning activities in changing learning context. This study developed a situational mashups system for detecting users' context and proposed a research model for evaluating users' acceptance on the situational mashups in situational language teaching. The proposed model consisted of users' individual experiences, situational learning theory and technology acceptance theory. The experimental results showed that users' experiences of using computer, Internet, mashups system and mashups-based learning, as well as users' perceived enjoyment, perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use of situational mashups are all key factors affecting users' acceptance of situational mashups in situational language teaching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]