Interpersonal expectancies,nonverbal communication,and research on negotiation

Conclusion Research on interpersonal expectancy effects and on the processes of nonverbal communication that often play a role in the mediation of these expectancy effects may prove relevant to a better understanding of the processes and outcomes of negotiation. Psychological researchers who investigate these topics have much to learn about social interaction from social scientists who study negotiation. In return, these psychological researchers can bring some interesting bodies of literature and some interesting research methods to bear on the problems of negotiation research. Productive collaboration seems to be a natural and happy consequence. Robert Rosenthal is Professor of Social Psychology at Harvard University, William James Hall, 33 Kirkland St., Cambridge, Mass. 02138. Among his most recent publications isJudgment Studies: Design, Analysis, and Meta-Analysis (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1987).Preparation of this article and much of the research described was supported in part by the National Science Foundation.     

Planning for governmental efficiency through staffing allocation

The planning of personnel requirements for the various divisions of a government agency is a prerequisite to the preparation of reasonable operational budgets. This study describes a method for developing baseline estimates of personnel requirements in public agencies, by adpting traditional task analysis and work measurement approaches to teh broader framework of organizational theory. An application to determining the staffing requirements at the National Science Foundation for Fiscal Year 1979 - 1981 illustrates the method.     

Policy Forum: Studying Eyewitness Investigations in the Field

This article considers methodological issues arising from recent efforts to provide field tests of eyewitness identification procedures. We focus in particular on a field study (Mecklenburg 2006) that examined the “double blind, sequential” technique, and consider the implications of an acknowledged methodological confound in the study. We explain why the confound has severe consequences for assessing the real-world implications of this study.     

Older parents' expectations for filial support

A measure of general filial obligation expectations is presented. With data from a representative sample aged 70 and older, we show that generalized expectations for support from adult children are not patterned systematically by sociodemographic factors or by health needs of the older respondents. A typology is presented which relates expectations for help to judgments of the level received. This typology is meaningfully related to social indicators presumably related to need such as marital status and socioeconomic status. Whether one is dissatisfied, satisfied, or pleasantly surprised by the assistance one receives is associated with evaluative judgments of children. The parent-child bond is affected not only by exchange patterns but by the fit between expectations and exchange patterns.     

The economic impacts of the tobacco settlement.

Recent litigation against the major tobacco companies culminated in a master settlement agreement (MSA) under which the participating companies agreed to compensate most states for Medicaid expenses. Here the terms of the settlement are outlined and its economic implications analyzed using data from Massachusetts. The financial compensation to Massachusetts (and other states) under the MSA is substantial. However, this compensation is dwarfed by the value of the health impacts induced by the settlement. Specifically, Medicaid spending will fall, but only by a modest amount. More importantly, the value of health benefits ($65 billion through 2025 in 1999 dollars) from increased longevity is an order of magnitude greater than any other impacts or payments. The net efficiency implications of the settlement turn mainly on a comparison of the value of these health benefits relative to a valuation of the foregone pleasure of smoking. To the extent that the value of the health benefits is not offset by the value of the pleasure foregone, the economic impacts of the MSA will include a share of these health benefits.