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Overweight and obesity are associated with significant health problems and rates of obesity are high among Latino men. This paper describes the design, rationale and participant characteristics of the key demographic variables assessed in an NIH-funded study (R21-CA143636) addressing culture and several obesity-related variables (diet, physical activity, and body image) among Mexican and Puerto Rican men using a community-based participatory research framework. Participants completed objective measures (height, weight, body fat, hip, waist), a health and culture interview, a diet questionnaire, and used an accelerometer to measure their level of physical activity. A total of 203 participants completed the measures and the health and culture interview and 193 completed all study components. Puerto Ricans were older than Mexicans (p<.0001) and there were significant differences in marital status (p<.05), country of birth (p<.05), smoking (p<.05) and work status (p<.001). There were no significant differences in religion, education, health insurance, Body Mass Index (BMI), body fat, hip and waist measurements, and the language preference of the interview. Results have implications for the development of a future intervention that incorporates the role of cultural factors into a community participatory obesity intervention for Latino men.

Past research has shown that minorities arguing in favor of the majority opinion within a given population (i.e. the ‘Zeitgeist’) are more powerful sources of social influence than minorities arguing against the normative population opinion (i.e. Clark & Maass, 1988a and b; Paicheler,1977). We studied the Zeitgeist effect within the context of freely interacting groups discussing the death penalty. In direct contrast to past research, minorities arguing against the death penalty Zeitgeist were more powerful sources of social influence than those arguing in favor of it. Analyses of conversation content and thought-listing data suggest that minorities arguing against the death penalty may have been more influential because they were appealing to a superordinate shared belief system within their respective groups.

Much of the research on small group performance shows that groups tend to outperform individuals in most task domains. However, there is also evidence that groups sometimes perform worse than individuals, occasionally with severe negative consequences. Theoretical attempts to explain such negative performance events have tended to point to characteristics of the group or the group process that were different than those found for better performing groups. We argue that typical group processes can be used to explain both good and bad group performance in many instances. Results from a pair of experiments focusing on two different task domains are reported and used to support our arguments.

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of ethical climate on the use of deception during negotiation for both individuals and groups. It aims to focus on the use of "ethical climate" as a shared task representation at the group level. Design/methodology/approach -Participants were 458 undergraduate students who earned course credit. Participants engaged in a simulated negotiation task about the selling/purchase of a new car, via an instant messenger program. Those assigned to the "seller" role either negotiated individually or as a three-person group, and received one of three ethical climate manipulations (honesty, competitive, or control). The main dependent variable was whether the seller(s) disclosed information about a possible defect. Findings -As predicted, groups were less honest than individuals. Participants in the honesty condition were most likely to be honest while those in the competitive condition were the least likely to be honest, although this difference was not statistically significant. Finally, there was a significant interaction effect between size of negotiating party and ethical climate indicating that groups' "default" response was to lie, but they lied significantly less often in the "honesty" condition. Alternatively, individuals' default response was to be honest. Practical implications -Decision-making groups have a tendency to compete even if it means being dishonest. However, organizations can help to overcome this tendency by establishing an ethical climate. Originality/value -While there have been studies published on the effects of ethical climate on decision making at the individual level, there is a gap in the literature on these effects at the group level. Decisions are made at the group level too often to not pay attention to these differences.