Superior Attitude Research Articles

Visual primacy in social attitude judgement: a qualification.

Previous research has suggested that visual information has primacy over verbal and vocal information in the judgement of social attitude. However, this could be because the contextual inappropriateness of the verbal information switched attention away from the auditory channel and on to the visual. The experiment reported in this paper assesses this possibility by considering the contribution made by visual information when the verbal is appropriate. Focusing on the expression of superior and inferior attitude, it finds that visual information does not simply fail to achieve primacy. It is markedly less important than either vocal or verbal information, which both play more or less equal roles.

Types of Power Motivation, Sense of Security, and Style of Power-Seeking in Groups

Two studies examined the hypothesis that, in men, the revised nPower system of Winter measures a specific type of power orientation, which is associated with a moderate sense of security and a moderately defensive style of power-seeking. It was also hypothesized that nPower measures a less secure and a more defensive type of power orientation than the Dominance scale (Dom) of the California Psychological Inventory. High nPower (nPow) scores were associated with a moderate sense of security, whereas high Dominance scores were associated with a high sense of security, as indicated by self-report and sentence-completion personality tests and by peer ratings. In small groups, nPow predicted the development of the moderately defensive attitude of extreme superiority, whereas Dominance predicted the development of the nondefensive orientations of leadership-seeking and unsolicited helping. nPow was negatively related to unsolicited helping. Dominance but not nPow predicted the achievement of leadership and self-confident behavior. On the basis of these results and findings from other studies, it is argued that nPow, unlike Dominance, does not predict leadership-seeking and attainment in long-term small groups.

THE EFFECTS OF ATTRIBUTION AND SOCIAL CONTEXT ON SUPERIORS' INFLUENCE AND INTERACTION WITH LOW PERFORMING SUBORDINATES

Organizations need to create the conditions in which superiors use their power effectively and appropriately, perhaps especially when subordinates are performing inadequately. Ninety undergraduates became managers who interacted with a low performing worker who demonstrated either insufficient ability or motivation. The managers also believed that their goals were cooperatively, individualistically, or competitively linked to the subordinate. Results identify situational variables that moderate superiors' influence. Generally, the social context affected the orientation to the subordinate in that cooperative compared to competitive superiors expected mutual assistance, communicated supportively, and gave assistance. Attribution affected the choice of influence methods and the attitudes of superiors. Superiors used threats and came to dislike the low effort subordinate, but wanted to work again with the low ability subordinate. Cooperation fostered attraction even when the other performed ineffectively, provided the reason was inadequate ability and not inadequate motivation. Evidence also suggests that competition creates a rigid response to the low performing subordinate whereas cooperative supervisors flexibly respond to the specific shortcoming of subordinates.

Precept and Practice of Human Rights in Islam

perfectability of human beings. It also defines political, economic and cultural processes designed to promote these goals. Human rights are parts of one whole-a universal dialogue of a unity of being separated by time, environment and experience. The present global system, however, is dominated by a Western attitude of cultural superiority, usually attributed to the melding of Hebraic Messianism with Hellenic rationalism, that views human rights in its own theological and ideological context. What is right for the West is right for others. This Western moral and philosophical posture projects a parochial view of human rights exclusive of the cultural realities and present existential conditions of the Muslim World which comprises thirty-six states, nearly one-fourth of the number of countries of the world, with a population of 750 million, not very far from one-fourth of the world's population. The debate on human rights assumes that in spite of the differences which characterize the diversity of cultures, political conduct can be conceptualized by certain norms and attitudes. What has occurred is the reshaping of politics to accommodate various

Some dynamics of male chauvinism.

Male chauvinism was studied in the psychoanalytic therapy of 11 men. It refers to the maintenance of fixed beliefs and attitudes of male superiority, associated with overt or covert depreciation of women. Challenging chauvinist attitudes often results in anxiety or other symptoms. It is frequently not investigated in psychotherapy because it is ego-syntonic, parallels cultural attitudes, and because therapists often share similar bias or neurotic conflict. Chauvinism was found to represent an attempt to ward off anxiety and shame arising from one or more of four prime sources: unresolved infantile strivings and regressive wishes, hostile envy of women, oedipal anxiety, and power and dependency conflicts related to masculine self-esteem. Mothers were more important than fathers in the development of chauvinism, and resolution was sometimes associated with decompensation in wives.

The Communication of Inferior and Superior Attitudes by Verbal and Non‐verbal Signals*

Ratings were made by 120 subjects of 18 video‐tapes in which verbal and non‐verbal cues for Inferior, Equal and Superior were varied and combined in a 3 times 3 design. The typed messages (verbal alone) were rated by further subjects, as were video‐tapes of a performer reading numbers (non‐verbal alone); the two sets of cues alone had identical effects on ratings. In combination, both kinds of cue had a reduced effect, but it was found that non‐verbal cues now had 4.3 times the effect of verbal cues on shifts of ratings, and accounted for 10.3 times as most variance; verbal cues were only able to act as multipliers of consistent nonverbal cues. There was little evidence of double‐bind effects. Analysis of individual differences showed that females were relatively more responsive to non‐verbal compared with verbal cues, and that more neurotic subjects found the combination of Superior (non‐verbal) with Inferior (verbal) unpleasant, and responded more to verbal cues for Inferior‐Superior.

Social Attitudes and Sociological Enquiry

The term 'attitude', both in colloquial as well as in scientific usage, refers to the dispositions of men to view things in certain ways and to act accordingly. Attitudes are complexes of ideas and sentiments. In reality, some of the elements which are contained, or are thought to be contained in attitudes, are also those which are contained in motives; but, analytically, attitudes and motives are different. When an observer imputes a motive to someone, he asserts the existence of a conscious or unconscious goal to be realized, even when its realization fails; when one imputes an attitude one refers only to that dispositional state of a person which is regularly directed towards particular categories of persons or objects, regardless of the particular goals which he may pursue. In many situations, particularly structured social situations, the same sets of motives and attitudes are regularly mobilized together. In everyday life one infers attitudes from ordinary conduct, not from specially designed enquiries. One usually uses an attitudinal concept to cover a complex of acts and expressions, both verbal and non-verbal. From a parent's punitive reaction to a range of misdemeanours on the part of his child, from facial expressions, and scolding manner and content of speech, one infers the attitude of authoritarianism or, in layman's terms, of 'strictness'. From the reaction of an employer to the demands of his employees and from other expressions which one can observe, one infers an attitude of contempt, or consideration, superiority or relative equality. To refer to such attitudes is to impute to someone a stable disposition; and such imputation may have the role of providing a short-hand label for a complex of interrelated acts and expressions; or, it may have the additional role of providing an hypothesis for the explanation or prediction of conduct. Sociologists, one assumes, are never interested in attitudes as a final object of enquiry but always as part of an ultimate aim of studying the structure of social conduct; for them, an enquiry into attitudes must be justified by the assumptions that attitudes are predictive of conduct. A study of attitudes towards foremen, managers, workers, doctors, patients or God himself, must be presumed to enable one to predict or explain the conduct of men in their dealings with foremen, workers,

Criminal Law: The Rules of the Polity

Previous articleNext article No AccessCriminal Law: The Rules of the PolityC. W. CassinelliC. W. Cassinelli Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Ethics Volume 75, Number 4Jul., 1965 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/291548 Views: 4Total views on this site Copyright 1965 University of ChicagoPDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

Cultural Extensions in the Chol Church

A consecrated missionary desiring to identify himself with the people with whom he works may nevertheless make suggestions or comments which reveal his lack of understanding. His cultural background finds expression at inopportune occasions. Showing pictures of cars, airplanes, or bridges to the local people, or explaining new weapons of warfare or the moon satellites unconsciously gives him an attitude of superiority. Unfortunately, this unconscious attitude causes blind spots in his appreciation of a different culture. Certain elements of the culture which are different from his own culture may be legitimate ways of accomplishing common goals, but they may at first blush appeal to the missionary as in need of change or substitution. In many cases it may be best to accept these different ways and permit them to become a part of the expression or form of Christianity. On the other hand, the missionary may associate certain forms of his own religious practice so closely with true faith or with evangelical zeal that these forms are unconsciously imposed upon believers of a different culture as essential elements of Christianity. Recognizing social and thought patterns will do much toward avoiding the introduction of ideas which conflict with features of the culture. It will do much toward making one aware of those features of a culture which deserve extension into the framework of the church.

The Political Outlook in Pakistan

THE countries of the Middle East and of South Asia do not, to put it mildly, present a convincing picture of political stability. If India and Pakistan are outstanding, it is because they have inherited not only traditions of sound administration but a genuine adherence to the democratic principle. The position of Pakistan is of particular interest and importance, inasmuch as she has a footing in both areas. It must be admitted, however, that the very fact that Pakistan belongs to both the Middle East and to South Asia, though investing her with additional importance in the international field, is a prime source of internal instability. The two halves of the country, separated by a thousand miles of foreign territory, are of roughly equal importance. West Pakistan contains the Capital, comprises the larger area, and produces the great majority of trained administrators and of officers and recruits for the armed forces. East Pakistan, however, has the advantages of a population of forty-two million souls as compared with only thirty-four million in West Pakistan. Here at once is a basic cause of difficulty in reconciling the claims of the two wings. If it is asked why there should be divergent or conflicting claims, the answer is that the racial, cultural and linguistic differences between the peoples of west and east are such that friction is inevitable. The Punjabis, the Pathans and the Sindis of the west are of Aryan stock, and tend to look down on the Mongoloid races of East Pakistan. The latter resent this attitude of superiority and the remote control of Karachi; they are also devoted to their language, Bengali, and fiercely resist proposals that Urdu, the language of the west, should be adopted as the sole state language of Pakistan. Successive administrations, from the days of the first GovernorGeneral, Mr. Jinnah, and his great Prime Minister, Mr. Liaquat Ali Khan, onwards have failed to reconcile these differences and to weld the two wings into a harmonious whole. It is not that East Pakistan is any less patriotic than the other wing, or that it has the slightest desire to break away and rejoin India; but it just will not be treated as a colony. The central administration in Karachi has always done its best, if somewhat clumsily at times, to avoid offending the susceptibilities of

America at the World Fairs, 1851-1893

THE story of American participation in the international exhibitions of agriculture and has never been told.' It is story rich in human interest. The increasing American participation in world fairs reflected the expansion of American patriotism and enterprise in the last half of the nineteenth century. At these tournaments of industry our exhibits provided measuring rod for the relative status of American and European technology. They also provided mirror for the changing attitudes of the rest of the world toward American civilization. American participation in the foreign exhibits was not taken for granted until the last two decades of the nineteenth century. In the beginning participation was timid and private. The question of public support for exhibitors was threshed out in the press and in Congress, opposition being broken down only by barrage of arguments and pressures, and, as time went on, by the experiences of actual participation. Among the motives and arguments for American participation in overseas exhibitions was the desire to publicize the nation's resources, industries, and social and economic institutions. Sensitive to European prejudices and attitudes of superiority, Americans, at first haltingly, took with increasing seriousness the opportunity to proclaim at the world fairs the national achievements and potentialities. This note was struck during the discussions of the advisability of being represented at the great exhibition of I85I in Londonthe parent of all succeeding international exhibitions. In answer to the widely held view in America that the great show at the Crystal Palace was mere mammoth speculation promoted by John Bull for his own ends, it was maintained that the exhibition of specimens of American at London would give Europe a juster appreciation and more perfect knowledge of what this Republic is, than could be attained in any other way. Recalling the impression made on the world by the recent victory over Mexico, writer

The Secret Correspondence of 1867-1868: Views of Leading Chinese Statesmen Regarding the Further Opening of China to Western Influence

FOR more than three thousand years China was the cultural center of eastern Asia. Separated from India and the Western world by natural barriers which discouraged extensive intercourse, China not only developed a rich and enlightened civilization for itself but also served as the source of civilizing influences which lifted other Far Eastern peoples above the level of primitive tribalism. It was naturaln therefore, that China came to be regarded by most of its neighbors as a model and benefactor and that the Chinese themselves acquired an attitude of cultural superiority which led them to treat all who had not been nurtured in the Chinese tradi-

Discussion: A Sociologist's Point of View

The only words in the title of this symposium which do not cause difficulty are “of” and “in,” since even Latin America is a “nomer” that many protest is a “misnomer,” for some parts of the region southeast of the U.S.A., and “pathology” and “democracy” can get into water as hot and deep as any that lies under the thin ice over which the social sciences skate. The very lumping together in our discussion of twenty republics varying as they do in Latin America is a procedure of doubtful accuracy, and one which at first encounter arouses the ire of any good nationalist in these countries. The term “pathological” suggests too strongly a complacent superior attitude on our own part that may befit the propagandist or the naive and uninformed man on the street, but not the social scientist. The world does not fall so neatly into the patterns of perfect democracy and the outer darkness as Mr. Churchill has supposed. Can we not accept a certain relativity in these matters and remember the large-sized mote in our own eye?With the struggle of almost innumerable thinkers to define the direction and goal, we are surely familiar. The writer has no intention of assembling all the definitions available, for if they were all assembled, sociologists might lay the emphasis not upon forms and constitutions so much as upon something broader that earlier theologians would have called men's will and men's love. Since the development of “Mr. Tylor's science,” cultural anthropology, we would be more likely to say that the legal arrangements grow out of and express the culture; that back of them lies a slow secular growth of the idea that personality, the freedom and full development of the individual are ultimate values, not to be sacrificed to the state; that power may be necessary for survival, and that unity or consensus or conformity may be necessary to power, but that something like Albert Schweitzer's “reverence for life” is a deeper principle. These things are no sooner said than we realize that we often sin against the ideals we cherish and fear the freedom to which we give lip-service. The practice falls far short of the preaching.

Officer-Enlisted Men's Relationships

The first reaction of the enlisted man to his officers is one of envy. He is jealous of his superior's elevated position and yearns for similar status. As his training and contact with officers increase, he becomes resentful of his officer's superior attitude and special privilege. In officer candidate schools the potential officer is indoctrinated to an attitude of superiority to his troops. This attitude is fortified, upon commission, by the awareness of special privilege which is now his. Re-examination and reorganization of officer-enlisted men's relationship is necessary for the development of a more efficient army.

Notes on a Tour Made in 1835

80 BULLETIN OF FRIENDS HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION NOTES ON A TOUR MADE IN 1835 By James Kite T-1HE manuscript of the following account was found among family papers by Caroline W. Smedley. It apparently was intended as a memorandum or journal, rather than as a letter: there is no indication that it was addressed to a particular individual, though occasionally the reflections and philosophizings suggest that someone other than the writer was expected to read them. The author, James Kite (1808-1856), was a furniture maker, youngest son of Benjamin and Rebecca Walton Kite of Philadelphia, and brother of Thomas, Abi, Sarah (who died in infancy), Mary (who died unmarried), John Letchworth, Joseph, Benjamin , Jr, and Nathan. The dates as given are inconsistent. The first date, 6 mo. 5, 1835, would have been on Sixth-day, as James Kite records it ; but after the entry for 6 mo. 11 he gives another 6 mo. 11, presumably writing 11 for 12 ; and the next three dates are apparently wrong. From Fifth-day, 6 mo. 18, to the end the dates are consistent. The itinerary may be briefly given. After the departure from Philadelphia on 6 mo. 5, 1835, arrivals on the dates given are as follows: 5, Bordentown, Amboy ; 6, New York ; 8, Poughkeepsie ; 9, Nine Partners ; 10, Dover Valley, Poughkeepsie, Albany, Schenectady, a boat on the Erie Canal; 11, Little Falls; 12, Utica; 13, Montezuma (near the outlet of Cayuga Lake), Ithaca; 14, Owego, Friendsville ; 16, Montrose (in Susquehanna Co, Pa.) ; 18, Tunkhannock, Wilkesbarre; 19, Northumberland, Harrisburg; 20, Columbia; 22, Philadelphia. The account is interesting as showing modes of travel in 1835, and the somewhat superior attitude of the Pennsylvania Quaker to the ways of doing things in New York; and the comments on travel on the Erie Canal, which had been opened to traffic ten years before, in 1825, constitutes a valuable eye-witness commentary on the functioning of the Canal. ,The spelling has been compared in proof with the original MS, and may be assumed to be approximately as James Kite wrote it. ILEFT Phila with the intention of making a short tour to the North, on 6th day evening, the 5th of the 6th month 1835. My first point of destination was the City of New York, for which place I took passage in the car which carries the mail. The nominal time of starting was 5 oclock, but, with American punctuality, it was 5, plus one in reality. The car in which I travelled was a very comfortable one, furnished with rocking chairs, and drawn with regular speed by a locomotive engine. At 9 oclock we took tea at Bordentown, and Vol. 32, Autumn 1943 NOTES ON A TOUR81 reached Amboy about midnight, from which place, at 2 oclock on the morning of the 6th we embarked in a steam boat; and by 5 oclock I found myself treading the streets of the Great City of New York. I took lodging at the American Hotel in broadway, opposite the park. It was crowded, as, I believe, was the case with every other hotel in the city. The influx of strangers here is immense, indeed I have no doubt that New York has a floating population of at least 20 thousand persons. I spent the remainder of the day in perambulating the crooked streets of this modern babel. I found some handsome open lots, which had heretofore escaped my notice. These I have no doubt are among the very best Physicians New York can boast. 7th First day. This morning I took a walk with a friend of New York through one of their retail streets. I was amazed to find almost every other shop open, and shoes, hats, coats etc. hanging at the doors. I suppose they are closed before noon ; but such a state of things indicates that modern liberalism has made great advances. The malocracy[ ?], who favor these things, are the rulers of New York, so that all nominal laws against them are powerless. After tea this evening, I. W. and myself set out for an evening walk, which we extended to the distance of about 4 miles. We took a course calculated to...

What is the Best Tax-System?

SUCH a question as whether savings should be exempted from incometax cannot be considered adequately if it is discussed as a self-contained and isolated topic. It is connected with a number of other questions, notably those concerning the taxation of capital gains, undistributed profits, receipts from wasting assets (such as mines), gifts, and bequests. In order to answer all such questions, and to give answers which are consistent with one another, one must first decide what concept of income is the most suitable for purposes of taxation. In this article I shall discuss two such concepts, each of which is clear-cut and provides clear answers to all such questions. But should there be no other taxes in addition to a tax on income ? If we think so, then we must give reasons for thinking so. If, on the other hand, we think that there should be other taxes as well, we may not completely answer our various questions by considering only the' definition of income. In any event, therefore, we are compelled to discuss the wider question of what tax-system is best. This means that we must lay down criteria by which we can decide whether one kind of tax-system is better than another. All such criteria must inevitably be arbitrary. There is no way of proving that one is right and another wrong. I believe, however, that the two which I shall adopt will meet with the approval of most readers. For the purposes of this discussion, I shall leave out of account the standpoint of the Chancellor of the Exchequer. He wants to get revenue by taxes with good yields which are easy to collect and difficult to evade and which arouse relatively little discontent and opposition. He would regard old and tried revenue-producers such as the duties on beer and tobacco, to which people have become accustomed, as admirable taxes. It could be argued that it follows from the principles of democracy that his standpoint is the correct one: people get the taxes which they dislike least. But this may be because they do not realise fully the consequences of these taxes. At any rate, I shall adopt a rather superior attitude, similar to that of a democratic economist who argues for free trade wlhilst conceding that if people want protection they must have it, and shall ignore the considerations which influence the Chancellor. These must, of course, be given due weight in practice. But this article

Indian Folk-Music

“That music which in different countries serves for the enjoyment of the people according to the custom of the land is called deçï (folk-music).”Here we have the indigenous definition of folk-music, given to mark the distinction between this music and mãrga-music; that is to say, classical or art-music, a different thing altogether. This mãrga music is not primarily for the enjoyment of the people, but is considered as a means to salvation, namely, the breaking of the endless succession of birth, death and re-birth. It is of divine origin, brought down to our times by an unbroken succession of teachers, not only considered as music masters but definitely as spiritual preceptors. The superior attitude of the exponents of classical music towards deçï, popular or country-music, finds its origin in this spiritual claim of mārga-music. Nevertheless folk-music naturally is one of the parents of art-music whether the latter acknowledges this parenthood or not.

The Mind of Primitive Man

A FAMOUS psychological novelist has asserted that racial differences are irreducible, and that even when love unites two members of distinct races their life, however harmonious, is lived over a slumbering volcano of hate. There is a popular fallacy that racial antipathy is based on physiological foundations. But in so far as such antipathy is real, there is nothing physiological in its causation; and its emotional strength depends on the law that the more automatic and unconscious a habit is, the greater is the displeasure felt and the disgust aroused by infractions of the habit. The most plausible form of this racial habit is one which even scientifically trained minds find it difficult to transcend. This is the attitude of superiority consciously or unconsciously adopted by civilised men towards the semi-civilised, and among the civilised by the so-called Caucasian race. As Prof. Boas puts it, “Proud of his wonderful achievements civilised man looks down upon the humbler members of mankind.” The European looks down on the civilised Oriental. The point of interest, however, is that be claims to be of a higher type, possibly physical, but certainly psychical, on the assumption that achievement depends solely upon aptitude for achievement. The Mind of Primitive Man. By Franz Boas. A Course of Lectures delivered before the Lowell Institute, Boston, Mass., and the National University of Mexico, 1910–11. Pp. xi + 294. (New York: The Macmillan Co.; London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1911.) Price 6s. 6d. net.