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This Research Report presents an initial attempt to apply the theory of counterfactual thinking to study the cognitive processes that underlie judgments of negligence. Subjects reviewed a summary of an appellate case involving a work accident and listed all the ways in which the accident could have been undone (mutated). Participants' evaluations of the defendant's behavior were influenced by the ease of mutation of the negligent act and other mutations of the defendant's behavior, but not by the number of mutations of the plaintiffs conduct. Exploratory path analysis suggested that counterfactual thinking may have its greatest impact not as a direct influence on verdicts and damages, but rather as an indirect influence impacting verdicts through lower level judgments about the normality of the defendant's behavior and the standard of care. T h e results also suggest that contrary to the law, subjects base their negligence verdicts on assessments of normal care along with due care.Negligence is a common theory that plaintiffs use to bring causes of action in tort. Although the prima facie case of ordinary negligence is well settled law, the cognitive processes by which people evaluate negligence claims are not well understood. The purpose of the present research was to use social cognitive theory (Markus & Zajonc, 1985) to inquire about how people integrate facts to make judgments about liability.Richard L. Wiener, Ph.D., M.L.S., is a professor of psychology and public policy; Maurido Gaborit, PhD, is an assistant profasor of psychology; Christine C. Pritchard is a graduate student currently pursuing a Master's Degree in psychology; Erin M. McDonough, M.S., is an advanced graduate student in social psychology; Caryn R. Staebler, M.S., is working on her dissertation in organizational psychology; Deane C. Wiley, M.S., is an advanced graduate student working on his dissertation in psychology and law; and Kristen S. Goldkamp, M.S., is an advanced graduate student working on her disserradon in psychology and law; all authors are at Saint Louis Univeaity. Address reprint requests and correspondence to Qr. Wiener, St.

Six hundred young adolescents (11 to 16 years old) from 4 countries (Guatemala, Iceland, Mexico, and the United States) ranked the importance of 10 qualities of the opposite-sex ideal person. Those from the United States responded in an individualistic fashion; they ranked being fun, being sexy, and having considerable money as important for the ideal. Those from Guatemala responded in a collectivistic fashion; they ranked liking children as important, but being fun and good looking as unimportant. Adolescents from Mexico and Iceland reported patterns of values not clearly associated with either collectivism or individualism.

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Although adolescents of different countries often draw pictures of the ideal woman cooking or working in an office, the meaning of the images may vary cross‐culturally. In the present study, 88 adolescents from the Philippines, the U.S.A., and Guatemala interpreted drawings by their same‐nationality peers. Interpreters from all three countries described the woman working in an office as hardworking and the woman cooking as a mother cooking for her family. In addition, Filipino adolescents wrote themes of contentment and organization, Guatemalan adolescents wrote themes of betterment, family, and hope, and U.S.A. adolescents wrote themes of contentment and niceness. Similar images of women's roles may have different meanings for adolescents of different cultures, and the use of emic approaches can provide psychological researchers with increased understanding of complex social phenomena.

Following critical multiplistic epistemology, this study employed naturalistic and traditional social science models to conduct a need assessment. Thirty-five stakeholders were interviewed about their perceptions of how the crisis agency functions, how it ought to function, and the needs of the community and agency. Note cards with the need statements were presented to a planning committee to sort and assign importance weights. Using concept mapping technology (multidimensional scaling and hierarchical cluster analysis), the authors analyzed the sort data to establish need categories. A summary of results is presented along with a discussion of the merits of using this combination of methods.

This study examined how African Americans and Whites view the justice system in the United States. Three hundred and eighteen research participants were recruited from the campus of a local community college. The research participants viewed one of four different videotaped scenarios depicting an interaction between a police officer and a motorist. The scenes were identical except that the race of the motorist and the officer were varied. After viewing the videotaped scenario, the research participants were asked to rate the interaction. The results indicated that African Americans and Whites view the delivery of justice very differently. African Americans judged the police officers to be less impartial and more prejudiced than Whites. It will be useful to further explore these issues to better understand the potential impact of these negative feelings on important justice matters.

A review of studies which investigated drawings of the ideal man and the occupational aspirations of boys (ages 11-18 years) from several countries indicated that becoming a professional athlete was a popular but unrealistic aspiration for many adolescent boys. Boys who were athletes and nonathletes from diverse ethnic groups and nationalities dreamed of becoming professional athletes. In two additional studies in the United States of America, adolescents were asked why they thought boys most often selected professional athlete as a possible future occupation. Adolescents perceived professional athletes as rich, famous, and glorified. Enhancement of status and financial gain were ranked as more important than the desire to play sports.