Differences in the usefulness of communication channels,as experienced by gender and ethnic groups during their university selection process

Abstract

Recruiting students to enrol at a particular institution is becoming a competitive and challenging process for higher education institutions. Therefore, institutions should create efficient and effective ways of providing relevant information to prospective students during their process of selecting an institution. The major communication channels that prospective students consult during their selection process, and the usefulness thereof for students, are important knowledge imperatives for higher education institutions. In this study, 12 different channels of communication, considered by students during a typical higher education institution selection process, were investigated. A non-probability convenience sample of 1 241 first-year students from six higher education institutions in South Africa was drawn. Findings suggest that female students attach a significantly higher value to nine of the 12 communication channels, compared to their male counterparts. There were also differences between the ethnic groups in terms of the usefulness of events on campus, high school teachers, open days and campus visits, as well as university publications. Higher education institutions can use the results to develop communication strategies that are more student oriented, in order to reinforce their image and to reach students more effectively through the appropriate communication channels.     

‘Narcoballads’: The Psychology and Recruitment Process of the ‘Narco’

There have been several studies conducted about racist groups, gangs, cults, terrorist and other criminal organisations, but very little has been written about the psychology and recruitment process of the ‘narcotrafficker’. This is because like most criminal organisations, they tend to be secretive and difficult to penetrate by law enforcement, academics and others who wish to study them. Using an audio‐recorded content analysis of ‘narcocorridos’ — ballads glorifying the activities of the ‘narcos’ and describing their successes' — as well as Social Identity and Group theories, the author describes some of the techniques used to recruit individuals into drug cartels; the labels, stereotypes and images of the in-group versus the out-group and the similarities in the socialisation and recruitment process of other criminal organisations. This study shows the recruitment of individuals into drug cartels follow similar patterns to other criminal organisations including the need for power, belonging, respect, security and pride.     

地方党政领导班子和领导干部实绩考核研究

建立并完善促进科学发展的地方党政领导班子和干部实绩考核评价体系,对于推进地方党政领导干部工作的科学化、民主化、制度化,具有十分重要的意义。本文从地方党政部门的工作实际出发,在中央相关文件的指导下,运用“平衡计分卡”这一绩效管理工具构建了适用于地方党政领导班子和领导干部实绩考核的框架模型。用北京市延庆县的实例阐述了地方党政领导班子和领导干部实绩考核从绩效目标到绩效指标的转承过程,以期为地方党政领导班子和领导干部的实绩考核提供借鉴。     

大学生团体心理辅导教学实践探析

团体心理辅导作为大学生心理健康教育的一个重要手段,是构建和改善大学生社会支持系统的最有效途径,它能够为大学生提供情感上的支持、认知性支持和人际交往支持等。将讲授式团体心理辅导和体验式团体心理辅导结合进行教学,更能充分发挥团体心理辅导的作用,能起到有效提高大学生心理健康水平的效果。     

The broadcast media: A persuasive institution

At present, the broadcast media (radio and television) because of their pervasive presence in society are a “taken‐for‐granted” part of the social environment, as natural as the air one breathes. The persuasive power of the media is not so readily ascertained by all who watch and listen. Looking at the growth and spread of the media in three highly industrialized countries, namely Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States, each with its own particular broadcast system, one can see the variety of emphasis on commercial and public broadcasting. Since the media have more in common with interpersonal communication than they have differences, the public is constantly open to media messages, continuously processing as well as responding to information received via media sources. The persuasive effect of these broadcast media in terms of the latent function of commercial messages needs deep and careful analysis.     

Excavating Concealed Tradeoffs: How Russians Watch the News

Citizens in democracies are expected to make better decisions if they understand policy tradeoffs. However, politicians rarely have incentives to communicate them; citizens are uncomfortable choosing among valued outcomes; and devising a common metric is difficult. It is not surprising that in the United States the environment provides relatively little cuing or priming of tradeoffs in television news. Russian citizens, on the other hand, face a media environment in which tradeoff cuing is intentionally suppressed by owners' agendas, yet viewers detect concealed tradeoffs even in the absence of tradeoff priming and viewpoint diversity. Analysis of discourse among ordinary Russians in 16 focus groups convened in four cities, differentiated by political reform and media market environments, showed that when watching news in which tradeoffs are thoroughly concealed, viewers challenge stories by offering a broad spectrum of uncued tradeoffs. Tradeoffs come from diverse policy domains and represent a range of cognitive strategies, some of which are considerably more abstract than others and link elements of their observations and assumptions (together with what they can extract from the stories) into complex reasoning outcomes.     

Intervention with sexually abusive young people in Australia and New Zealand

Abstract

Research into the treatment of sexual offenders with an intellectual disability has increased over the past decade. This research can be used to investigate the efficacy of treatment; however, empirical limitations of the research make generalizations difficult. Marques has provided a framework for examining treatment efficacy that emphasizes the contribution of researchers and clinicians to report treatment outcomes rather than a strict reliance on rigorous empirical investigations, such as controlled outcome research. This review uses Marques’ framework to present an overview about group treatment for sexual offenders with an intellectual disability using nine identified studies. This paper attempts to consolidate our knowledge about specific treatment issues, while demonstrating the varied outcomes that are reported in the literature. In employing this framework, the literature suggests that our knowledge can be substantially improved by research addressing specific areas of treatment.     

Using wilderness therapy in treating adolescent sexual offenders

Abstract

This article describes a follow-up study of 14 adolescent sexual offenders who had attended a community treatment programme. A core component of their treatment included outdoor wilderness group therapy. Interviews were conducted with adolescents and parents and tapped several areas including social skills and peer relationships, victim empathy, cognitive distortions, safety plans and coping with high risk situations, sexual offending cycle, perceived level of risk, intimacy and sexuality. The study also examined the child protection service records of the It adolescents. Data from child protection service computer records showed that none of the adolescents had reoffended. Interviews with adolescents and families focusing particularly on the wilderness component of the programme showed positive changes.     

Romanians’ current perception of threat from immigrants in a context of co-ethnic migration: assessing the role of intergroup conflict and active/passive contact

This paper investigates the predictors of natives’ perception of the immigrant threat in Romania, an interesting site given immigrants’ marginal presence in the total population and the sizeable proportion of co-ethnic immigrants. Yet the interplay between nationalism and religion shapes an ideological frame that favours unwelcoming attitudes towards immigrants that challenge the Romanian identity forged along ethnic and religious ties. The authors used regression to analyse immigrant threat according to several dimensions: cosmopolitanism, group conflict and intergroup contact. In order to reflect specificities of this particular context, the latter dimension is conceptualized so as to include active and passive contact with immigrants. This distinction is relevant because of immigrants’ low presence in Romania. Findings suggest that variables from conflict theory explain more of the variation in the perceived threat, while indirect contact through mass-media exposure to immigrant content has the potential to reduce the perception of immigrant threat.     

论聚众犯罪的特征——以群体性事件为视角

在社会矛盾不断深化的当下,部分群体性事件演变、升级为一些聚众犯罪,这不仅是部分群体性事件的极端表现形式,也是当前社会矛盾的必然反应。这些由群体性事件演变而来的聚众犯罪与传统的聚众犯罪相比,呈现出"行为发生的偶发性与情绪性,行为方式的公然行与暴力性,行为主体的多元性与复杂性,行为演变的预谋性与组织性,危害后果的严重性与难控性"等一些自身的鲜明特点。对这些鲜明特征的理解和把握,不仅有利于对此类聚众犯罪的分析和判断,也有利于化解和处置群体性事件背后的深层次社会矛盾,从根源上寻求群体性事件的消解与控制之道。