Blind consent? A social psychological investigation of non-readership of click-through agreements

Across two studies we aimed to measure empirically the extent of non-readership of click-through agreements (CTAs), identify the dominant beliefs about CTAs contributing to non-readership, and experimentally manipulate these beliefs to decrease automatic non-reading behavior and enhance contract efficiency. In our initial questionnaire study (Study 1), as predicted, the vast majority of participants reported not reading CTAs and the most prevalent beliefs about CTAs contributing to nonreadership included: they are too long and time-consuming, they are all the same, they give one no choice but to agree, they are irrelevant, and vendors are generally reputable. Manipulating these beliefs on a simulated music website (Study 2) revealed an increase in readership. In addition, CTA comprehension and CTA rejection rates were both increased significantly by manipulating the length of the CTA. These results demonstrate support for the influence of widely held beliefs about CTAs on contract readership, provide evidence against the common "limited cognition" perspective on non-readership, and suggest that presenting CTAs in a short, readable format can increase CTA read-ership and comprehension as well as shopping of CTA terms. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).     

Dating violence perpetration and/or victimization and associated sexual risk behaviors among a sample of inner-city African American and Hispanic adolescent females

The purpose of this study is to examine the prevalence of physical and psychological dating violence victimization and perpetration reported by inner-city African American and Hispanic adolescent girls as well as associated risky sexual behaviors among this population. Participants in this study were 10th- and 11th-grade female students from seven inner-city Chicago public high schools. Participants were administered with the Safe Dates measures of physical violence victimization, physical violence perpetration, psychological abuse victimization, and psychological perpetration. Approximately half of the sample reported some psychological dating violence victimization and perpetration, and approximately one third reported some physical victimization and perpetration. Hispanic adolescents were significantly more likely to report psychological victimization, whereas African American adolescents were significantly more likely to report physical dating violence perpetration. Victimization was found to predict perpetration in this population, and adolescents who acknowledged being both victims and perpetrators of dating violence were more likely to report having had vaginal sex and a higher number of past-year sexual partners. Inner-city African American and Hispanic adolescent girls may be particularly vulnerable to dating violence victimization and perpetration, which may be due to a number of other social factors not explored within this study. Furthermore, African American adolescent girls continue to engage in behaviors that increase their risk for negative health outcomes, predominantly STIs, highlighting the need for effective interventions with this population.     

Violence against women in video games: a prequel or sequel to rape myth acceptance?

Current research suggests a link between negative attitudes toward women and violence against women, and it also suggests that media may condition such negative attitudes. When considering the tremendous and continued growth of video game sales, and the resulting proliferation of sexual objectification and violence against women in some video games, it is lamentable that there is a dearth of research exploring the effect of such imagery on attitudes toward women. This study is the first study to use actual video game playing and control for causal order, when exploring the effect of sexual exploitation and violence against women in video games on attitudes toward women. By employing a Solomon Four-Group experimental research design, this exploratory study found that a video game depicting sexual objectification of women and violence against women resulted in statistically significant increased rape myths acceptance (rape-supportive attitudes) for male study participants but not for female participants.     

The Motives Underlying Stereotype-Based Discrimination Against Members of Stigmatized Groups

We argue that the motivations that underlie stereotype-based discrimination against racial minorities and other stigmatized groups often fail to meet standard criteria for rational judgments. Stereotyping of such groups is often driven by threats to one’s self-esteem and a desire to rationalize inequality, and declines when the perceiver is motivated to be accurate. Also, Bayesian racism—the belief that it is rational to discriminate against individuals based on stereotypes about their racial group—correlates highly with negative feelings toward minorities and the desire to keep low-status groups in their place, and correlates negatively with indices of rational thinking. The motives that drive social judgments call into question whether people engage in stereotype-based discrimination for rational reasons.     

Analysing cultural proximity: Islamic Relief Worldwide and Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh

Based on fieldwork carried out on Islamic Relief's relief programme for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, this article contributes to the debate on whether Muslim aid agencies bring added value when working with Muslim beneficiaries in Muslim areas. The author explores the significance of religion in relations between actors in the aid process and argues that a common religion does not necessarily override political, social, and cultural divisions. The article questions whether it is useful to claim that Muslim solidarity exists in the aid process when in practice it is difficult to have any meaningful engagement with religion in the field.     

Agency under constraint: Ideological preferences and the politics of electricity regulation in Latin America

Whereas both the literature on globalization and the literature on regulatory diffusion stress the pressures that led to policy convergence, this article shows how the ideology of incumbents produced different regulatory outcomes, even in the face of strong financial and technological pressures that constrained policy agency. By looking at the regulatory frameworks adopted at the time of electricity privatization in Latin America, this article shows that right‐wing governments adopted regulations that eliminated barriers to entry and investment and limited the discretion of regulators (market‐conforming regulations), and that former statists who had pragmatically converted to the market creed instead chose regulations that tended to impose higher barriers to entry and investment and gave regulators wide discretion in conflict resolution and price setting (market‐controlling regulations). These findings suggest the need to look at the ideology (and ideological legacies) of government coalitions for a more nuanced understanding of the process of regulatory diffusion that took place across many sectors in most regions of the world.     

Characteristics and personality profiles of first 100 patients admitted to a secure forensic adolescent hospital

Bluebird House is a mixed-gender adolescent medium-secure forensic unit. There is a paucity of data available about this unique patient group. We aimed to explore the demographic, clinical and personality characteristics of the first 100 patients admitted to a mixed-gender adolescent medium-secure forensic unit. We used a retrospective cross-sectional study of the first 100 consecutive patients admitted to Bluebird House. Demographic and clinical data were collected from the medical notes including the Millon Adolescent Clinical Inventory. The first 100 young people admitted to an adolescent medium-secure unit have had very high incident rates, particularly amongst the females. Incident rate was correlated with a history of sexual assault in female patients. The males were more likely to have been referred from custody and more likely to have a diagnosis of psychosis or autism. We describe similarities and differences to the first 100 admissions admitted to the first secure psychiatric unit for adolescents in Manchester over 20 years ago.     

Detecting children's false allegations and recantations of a crime

This study examined adults’ abilities to detect the veracity of children's (ages 6–11) initial disclosures and their later recantations about a crime. Children (N?=?32) were asked to make a false denial or a false accusation of an alleged theft, while some were asked to tell the truth. Afterwards, children recanted their initial statements in a second interview; thus, children who initially denied the theft accused a researcher of the transgression in the second interview, and vice-versa. Adult raters (ages 18–25; N?=?108) watched both interviews and completed a questionnaire that required them to determine the veracity (i.e. whether the report was true or false) and credibility of the disclosure. Adults accurately detected the veracity of children's reports 53% of the time (55% of original reports, 50% of recantations). Raters were more accurate when detecting false denials than false accusations in the children's original and recanted reports. Despite being more difficult to detect, children's recanted denials that became accusations were rated as the least credible. Furthermore, self-reported level of experience with children and ratings confidence were not significant predictors of truth/lie detection accuracy.     

The “Fragility of Goodness”: Black Parents’ Perspective about Raising Children in Toronto,Winnipeg, and St. John’s of Canada

How does one measure ‘goodness’ when all ethical choices lead to evil outcomes? To answer this question, this essay uses Martha Nussbaum’s fragility of goodness, critical race theory, and data from a SSHRC-funded study, in which we critically examine the parenting experiences of Black families in Canada. Findings suggest how racist ideas in Canada function as “color-blind” laws and policies that affect the everyday lives of Black people including their parenting practices. Our study calls on child welfare services in Canada to develop a comprehensive understanding of Black parenting practices, perhaps enabling more Black children to remain home safely.