Relatively little research exists on the nature of mainstream teachers' attitudes toward ESL students, nor is much known about the predictors of these attitudes. We report on a survey of 143 junior high/middle school mainstream teachers in a community of approximately 80,000 in the Great Plains region of the United States. On average, respondents had 15.5 years of teaching experience and had worked, over the previous 6 years, with 11.2 ESL students from 3.2 distinct regions of the world. Most reported a neutral to slightly positive attitude toward the prospect of teaching more ESL students in the future. The results support a multipredictor model of teachers' ESL-related attitudes. The predictors include completion of foreign language or multicultural education courses, ESL training, experience abroad, work with diverse ESL students, and gender. We suggest that these predictors collectively tap into a teacher's exposure to cultural diversity and that this exposure underlies positive ESL-related attitudes among mainstream teachers. Thus, we argue that preservice and in-service teachers should have increased opportunities for exposure to cultural diversity.

Research on the use of threats and punishments in conflict settings suggests that their use will trigger conflict spirals, but little attention has been given in the threat literature to the nature of these spirals. However, a conceptual framework borrowed from Gouldner (1960) suggests that spirals involve two types of comparisons, that is, qualitative and quantitative. In fact, sufficient research exists from related studies to expect that spirals will involve an exchange of qualitatively similar rather than dissimilar tactics, as well as a pattern of rough, rather than exact, quantitative matching. In order to examine these patterns in threat settings, eighty subjects were used ina2x2x2x2 design that manipulated a confederate bargainer's use of frequent versus infrequent threats, large versus small threats, and large versus small punishments in a Prisoner's Dilemma game (with trials as a repeated factor). The subjects' responses were evaluated along the same dimensions. The results suggest that spirals do involve the expected patterns of matching.Numerous studies suggest that the use of threats and punishments in a conflict setting can trigger the development of conflict spirals (Deutsch & Krauss, I960, 1962;Nardin, 1968;Smith & Anderson, 1975;Tornatsky&Geiwitz, 1968), but little effort has been made to examine the nature of such spirals. Implicit in this approach is the notion that spirals are merely amorphous explosions of conflict. In contrast, theoretical work done by Gouldner (1960) over 25 years ago offers a heretofore overlooked conceptual framework within which an examination of the structure of these spirals can begin.Gouldner's (1960) concern focused on the norm of reciprocity. He suggested that the recipient of harm may actually feel a normative obligation to respond to harm with harm. More importantly, Gouldner argued that such exchanges can be analyzed along two dimensions, that is, a qualitative comparison of the types of harm exchanged and a quantitative comparison of the amount of harm exchanged. Qualitative ComparisonsSpecifically, Gouldner (1960) argued that qualitative comparisons focus on the nature of the items exchanged, and that ex-changes can range from homeomorphic to heteromorphic in form. Homeomorphic reciprocity involves the exchange of items that are concretely or objectively identical (e.g., apples for apples), and heteromorphic reciprocity involves the exchange of items that are dissimilar (e.g., apples for oranges). In threat settings, bargainers who opt for homeomorphic reciprocity might respond to threats (i.e., messages communicating the intent to do harm) with threats and to punishments (i.e., actual harm doing) with punishments, whereas bargainers who opt for heteromorphic reciprocity might respond to threats with punishments. Thus homeomorphic reciprocity would be less likely to trigger explosive spirals than heteromorphic reciprocity. Unfortunately, a review of the threat literature reveals little data on the type of reciprocity to expect.However, several studies of other ...

Patient noncompliance with medical recommendations is widespread. The theory of psychological reactance sheds light on the subject. Reactance theory posits that when an individual discems a threat to a valued freedom, a motivational state compels the individual to reassert that freedom. The present study sought evidence of reactance in the compliance behaviors of 101 patients. Participants were exposed to either an authoritative‐oriented or a partnership‐oriented advice‐giving tone, coupled with either an opportumity for the participant to select certain features of the regimen or no opportunity to do so. While neither manipulation produced the anticipated causal results, both quantitative and qualitative correlational data clearly revealed a connection between reactance and noncompliance. The investigators report findings and make suggestions for further research.

This paper explains the perceived implementation behaviour of counties in the United States with respect to the National Incident Management System (NIMS). The system represents a massive and historic policy mandate designed to restructure, standardise and thereby unify the efforts of a wide variety of emergency management entities. Specifically, this study examined variables identified in the NIMS and policy literature that might influence the behavioural intentions and actual behaviour of counties. It found that three key factors limit or promote how counties intend to implement NIMS and how they actually implement the system: policy characteristics related to NIMS, implementer views and a measure of local capacity. One additional variable-inter-organisational characteristics-was found to influence only actual behaviour. This study's findings suggest that the purpose underlying NIMS may not be fulfilled and confirm what disaster research has long suggested: the potential for standardisation in emergency management is limited.