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Journal Article Abstracts and Reprints
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This page contains a selection of journal articles published by Professor Plous and his colleagues. To order a free paper copy of any article, simply click the relevant link below and specify (1) which reprint you would like, and (2) the postal mailing address where it should be sent. Note: Email copies are not available.
You are also welcome to read or download the full text of any articles posted in PDF format. If you do not have the software needed to read PDF files, click on the Acrobat Reader image to the left.
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Abstract: A random sample of 50 Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees participated in a study of the protocol review process. Each committee submitted three animal behavior protocols it had recently reviewed, and these protocols were reviewed a second time by another participating committee. The results showed low levels of interrater reliability on most rating dimensions. In addition, a majority of approved research protocols were disapproved or deferred by the second committee.
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Abstract: Nearly 50 years ago, a program of Lewinian "action research" explored the most effective way to respond to prejudiced comments (Citron, Chein, & Harding, 1950). This article describes a classroom adaption of that research in which students receive 10 scenarios involving a prejudiced comment and rotate playing 1 of 3 roles (prejudiced speaker, responder, or social observer) in a mock interaction. The result is a dramatic example of "action teaching" in which students learn not only about social psychology but also about ways to address an important social problem.
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Abstract: In this article I describe several benefits of using the World Wide Web for instructional purposes, and I offer 8 general tips on how to create and maintain an educational web site. Most of these tips are easy to implement if readers have a basic grasp of hypertext markup language (i.e., the language most web pages are written in, known commonly as HTML). For readers who do not yet have experience with HTML, I provide references for tutorials that cover the essentials in 1-3 days. Throughout the article, I discuss examples from my experience with Social Psychology Network, an educational web site I created in 1996.
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Abstract: The Animal Welfare Act (AWA) is the main U.S. government law regulating the use of animals in research, testing, and education, yet under this Act, laboratory rats, mice, and birds are currently excluded from coverage. In a national survey of animal care and use committees, we found that a majority of respondents favored extending AWA coverage to protect rats, mice, birds, and a variety of other unregulated species. Support for this change was quite broad and included animal researchers as well as other respondents.
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Abstract: In 1990, an attitude survey was conducted of 402 animal rights activists attending a national march in Washington, DC (Plous, 1991). The present article reports the results of a follow-up survey of 372 activists attending a similar event in 1996. A comparison of the 1990 and 1996 surveys suggests that during this time a significant shift took place in the priorities of the animal rights movement. Whereas a majority of activists in 1990 saw animal research as the most important issue facing the movement, activists in 1996 tended to identify animal agriculture as the most important issue. The 1996 survey also found a modest decline in support for laboratory break-ins, and it found majority support for a 10-point proposal to reduce tensions between activists and researchers. Although these results are subject to certain limitations, they suggest that there may be more room for dialogue between activists and researchers than previously assumed.
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Plous, S., & Neptune, D. (1997). Racial and gender biases in magazine advertising: A content-analytic study. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 21, 627-644.
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Abstract: Recent evidence suggests that racial and gender biases in magazine advertisements may be increasing. To explore this possibility, a content analysis was performed on 10 years of fashion advertisements drawn from magazines geared toward White women, Black women, or White men (N = 1,800 advertisements from 1985-1994). The results indicated that: (1) except for Black females in White women's magazines, African Americans were underrepresented in White magazines; (2) female body exposure was greater than male body exposure, and White female body exposure rose significantly during the 10 years; (3) White women were shown in low-status positions nearly twice as often as were other models; and (4) Black women wore the majority of animal prints, most of which were patterned after a predatory animal. These findings suggest that racial and gender biases in magazine advertising persisted, and in some cases increased, between the mid-1980s and mid-1990s.
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Abstract: This article discusses several methodological issues concerning two earlier national surveys on attitudes toward the use of animals in psychological research. In addition, new survey analyses are presented suggesting that respondents' knowledge of animal research regulations was unrelated to attitudes toward animal research, and that knowledge of research regulations did not increase with formal training in animal research.
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Abstract: Animal research has played a central role in psychology, yet its clinical value and ethical propriety have recently come under attack. In an effort to assess current thinking on this controversial subject, a mail survey was sent to 5,000 randomly selected members of the American Psychological Association (APA). Responses were received from 3,982 individuals, and the results showed: (1) majority support for animal studies involving observation or confinement, but disapproval of studies involving pain or death; (2) majority support for mandatory pain assessments and the federal protection of rats, mice, pigeons, and reptiles; and (3) majority support for the use of animals in teaching, but opposition to an animal laboratory requirement for the psychology major. Additional findings and policy implications are discussed.
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Plous, S. (1996). Ten myths about affirmative action. Journal of Social Issues, 52, 25-31.
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Abstract: The case against affirmative action rests heavily on myth and misunderstanding. In this paper I discuss ten of the most common myths concerning affirmative action, and I present public opinion poll data suggesting that support for affirmative action is greater than typically assumed.
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Plous, S. (1996). Attitudes toward the use of animals in psychological research and education: Results from a national survey of psychology majors. Psychological Science, 7, 352-358.
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Abstract: This article reports the results of a national survey in which psychology majors were asked about the use of animals in psychological research and teaching. In general, the attitudes of psychology majors closely resembled the attitudes of practicing psychologists. Students tended to: (1) support animal experiments involving observation or confinement, but disapprove of studies involving pain or death; (2) support mandatory pain assessments and the federal protection of rats, mice, pigeons, and reptiles; and (3) support the use of animals in teaching, but oppose an animal laboratory requirement for the psychology major. Opposition to the use of animals was greatest among women, among students at selective schools, and among students living in the Northeast/Mid-Atlantic region of the country.
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White, J. A., & Plous, S. (1995). Self-enhancement and social responsibility: On caring more, but doing less, than others. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 25, 1297-1318.
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Abstract: Self-enhancement biases have been found in a variety of self-rated skills, traits, and abilities, yet past research has not examined whether people show such biases in ratings of their social concern and activism. In the present paper, we report the results of two surveys on this question. In the first survey, 549 adults rated their level of concern and activism on one of six different issues (e.g., homelessness). The results showed a general pattern of self-enhancement in professed concern but self-deprecation in activism. In the second survey, a random-digit dialing method was used to contact a representative sample of the general public. A total of 817 respondents rated their level of concern and activism on the issues of environmental protection, animal welfare, and world hunger. The second survey also explored two techniques for debiasing self-enhancement in concern: one based on a cognitive consistency model, and one based on the salience of others' actions. Findings from the second survey replicated those of the first, and both debiasing techniques failed to reduce self-ratings of concern. Moreover, a sizable number of respondents said that they would do more if others showed more concern. These results were interpreted as contributing to a social dilemma in which citizens feel a personal sense of concern but are reluctant to act until others show greater concern.
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Abstract: The present experiments examined several strategies designed to reduce interval overconfidence in group judgments. Results consistently indicated that 3-4 person nominal groups (whose members made independent judgments and later combined the highest and lowest of these estimates into a single confidence interval) were better calibrated than individual judges and interactive groups. This pattern held even when participants were directly instructed to expand their interval estimates, or when interactive groups appointed a devil's advocate or explicitly considered reasons why their interval estimates might be too narrow. Interactive groups did not perform substantially better than individuals, although subjects frequently had the impression that group judgments were far superior to individual judgments. This misperception resembles the "illusion of group effectivity" found in brainstorming research.
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Plous, S., & Williams, T. (1995). Racial stereotypes from the days of American slavery: A continuing legacy. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 25, 795-817.
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Abstract: During the days of American slavery, many Whites held stereotypes of Blacks as inferior, unevolved, and apelike. The present study was designed to see whether such stereotypes persist in contemporary American society. A random-digit telephone survey was conducted of 1490 Connecticut residents, resulting in completed interviews with 686 respondents. Our findings suggest that negative stereotypes concerning the physical and mental endowments of Blacks are more common than previously estimated. Most respondents endorsed at least one stereotypic difference in inborn ability (e.g., Whites have greater abstract thinking ability than Blacks), and nearly half endorsed at least one stereotypic difference in anatomy (e.g., Blacks have thicker skulls than Whites). Logistic regression analyses indicated that the best predictor of stereotyping was education level. Respondents without a high school degree were roughly twice as likely to endorse racial stereotypes as were respondents with a graduate degree. The paper ends with a brief discussion of the consequences of racial stereotyping.
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Plous, S., Chesne, R. B., & McDowell, A. V., III. (1995). Nutritional knowledge and attitudes of cardiac patients. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 95, 442-446.
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Abstract:
Objective - Despite the importance of dietary factors in treating and preventing heart disease, relatively little work has explored how well cardiac patients understand the nutritional information they are given. The present study was designed to assess the nutritional knowledge and attitudes of cardiac patients.
Design - An onsite survey was administered to patients who were waiting to see their cardiologist. The survey focused on patients' medical history, attitudes toward nutrition, and knowledge of "heart-healthy" dietary information.
Setting - Cardiology practices in New England, Southern California, and the Midwest.
Subjects - A total of 606 patients completed the survey (roughly 74% of those approached).
Results - Most patients rated dietary factors as extremely important in treating and preventing heart disease, and 67.0% of heart attack victims reported feeling that diet had played a contributing role in their own heart attack. Nonetheless, nutritional knowledge was marginal. Despite the fact that 92.4% of patients reported receiving dietary literature, overall accuracy rates on nutrition questions did not exceed chance levels. Only 30.5% of the patients who were given dietary literature reported understanding it completely.
Conclusions - These findings suggest that nutritional counseling should receive higher priority -- both in medical training and in patient care -- and that cardiac patients should be referred to dieticians on a more routine basis. Physicians should not assume that patients who are given dietary information understand the materials they receive.
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Plous, S. (1993). The nuclear arms race: Prisoner's Dilemma or Perceptual Dilemma? Journal of Peace Research, 30, 163-179.
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Abstract: Traditionally, the most common game-theoretic model of the Soviet-American nuclear arms race has been an iterated Prisoner's Dilemma. According to such a model, on any given trial both superpowers are better off arming regardless of what the other side chooses, but if both sides arm, the outcome is less desirable than had both sides reduced their supply of weapons. Although Soviet and American preferences resembled a Prisoner's Dilemma throughout much of the cold war, recent evidence suggests that the arms race is now more accurately modeled by a "Perceptual Dilemma." In a Perceptual Dilemma, both sides: (1) prefer mutual arms reductions to all other outcomes; (2) want above all to avoid disarming while the other side arms; and (3) perceive the other side as preferring unilateral armament to all other outcomes. This article presents empirical evidence that the nuclear arms race is more appropriately modeled by a Perceptual Dilemma than a Prisoner's Dilemma, including new survey data in which members of the Australian Parliament and the Israeli Knesset were asked to estimate the preferences of Soviet and American leaders. The paper concludes by reviewing several factors which sustain misperception and by suggesting that a Perceptual Dilemma can be solved with a clear, time-limited series of disarmament initiatives.
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Abstract: American society uses millions of animals each day for food, recreation, and a variety of other purposes, yet psychologists -- in contrast to other social scientists -- have devoted very little attention to studying how people think about their use of animals. In this article, I propose that many factors supporting the use of animals are psychological in nature and are therefore legitimate topics for psychological research. After a brief review of research on attitudes toward the use of animals, I discuss several psychological factors that enable people to harm animals for human benefit: (1) structural variables that dissociate consumptive practices from the infliction of harm; (2) mechanisms that reduce personal conflict when dissociation is threatened; (3) ingroup-outgroup biases; and (4) factors relating to the perceived similarity of animals and humans. Throughout, the emphasis is on opportunities for empirical research rather than ideological or philosophical arguments concerning animal rights.
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Plous, S. (1991). An attitude survey of animal rights activists. Psychological Science, 2, 194-196.
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Abstract: Animal rights activism is increasing rapidly, yet no empirical research has sought to determine who the animal rights activists are, what they believe, and what they hold as their agenda. An attitude survey was therefore conducted of 402 animal rights activists who attended a recent rally in Washington. Results indicated that nearly half of these activists felt that animal research should not be the primary focus of the animal rights movement. There was also considerable disagreement surrounding the issue of laboratory break-ins. These and other findings from the survey suggest that animal rights activists hold diverse objectives and viewpoints.
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Plous, S. (1991). Biases in the assimilation of technological breakdowns: Do accidents make us safer? Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 21, 1058-1082.
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Abstract: Field surveys and anecdotal evidence suggest that supporters and opponents of a given technology tend to draw opposite conclusions from non-catastrophic breakdowns. Three studies confirmed this tendency by presenting supporters and opponents of a particular technology with identical descriptions of various technological breakdowns. As predicted, the results indicated that: (a) supporters focused on the fact that the safeguards worked, while opponents focused on the fact that the breakdown occurred in the first place; and (b) after reading about the breakdown, supporters reported feeling that the chances of a future accident were less than previously assumed, whereas opponents reported feeling that the chances of another accident were greater than previously assumed. The recommendation by Lord, Lepper, and Preston (1984) for partisans to consider opposite outcomes -- such as a serious failure in safeguards or the absence of major breakdowns -- was discussed as a way of preventing biased assimilation and attitude polarization.
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