How the Lack of a Universal Definition of Childhood Neglect is Negatively Impacting U.S. Families

Social Judgment Theory can be a useful tool in understanding the ways in which judgment plays a role in how Child Protective Investigators determine if a child has been neglected. In most States, more children are removed by charges of ‘neglect only’ than for any other reason. A close examination of the States’ definitions of childhood neglect may offer insight as to how the writing of laws allows for discernment among case workers and further how their judgment is impacted by their own personal beliefs. In an effort to ensure child safety and prevent future traumas, the utilization of Social Judgment Theory should be considered in the social and psychological research of child welfare. Varying definitions of how neglect may propose a new variable in the differing outcomes of child removal between the states are discussed.

The influence of different advertisement messages and levels of religiosity on attitude and purchase intention

Purpose Although religiosity and advertising messages have been extensively examined in the existing literature separately, studies which correlatively examine both these aspects are very limited. This paper aims to reveal the influence of the widely used religious messages on consumer attitudes and of purchase intentions on subjects with different levels of religiosity. Design/methodology/approach In this study, four different printed advertising messages with and without religious messages were developed for two different products. In this respect, the consumer attitudes toward advertisements and the degree to which purchase intention changed were measured. Findings The attitude and purchase intention toward the advertisements with religious messages was found to have a higher mean value compared to the advertisements without religious messages, and a statistically significant difference was found between the two. The highly religious participants’ attitudes and purchasing intention toward the advertisements with religious messages differed as compared to the participants with low levels of religiosity. Research limitations/implications Indeed, it was observed that the attitude toward different advertising messages and purchase intention differed regarding the level of religiosity. In the last section of the study, the influence of the level of religiosity on purchasing intention and consumer attitudes has been discussed with academic and practical results. Practical implications This study has also extended the practical implications of social judgment theory, which suggests that the further the consumers’ initial position to the new message the less is the acceptance of that message, and it contributes to its methodological and theoretical development. Whether a religious advertisement message is considered more or less acceptable depends on the level of religiosity and the positioning strategy adopted in the advertisement. In the present study, it is observed that as the level of religiosity increases, purchase intention and the attitude towards the advertisement with religious message increase in permissible(halal) goods. However, when prohibited (haram) services are considered, an increase in the subjects' level of religiosity brings about a decrease in the purchase intention and the attitude towards the advertisement with religious message. Therefore, this study validates social judgment theory. Social implications A significant implication for the marketing practitioners is that religiosity could be one of the criteria in segmenting market. A religiously prohibited product might gradually feel more irritating as the intensity of religious message increases in an advertisement. Thus, it is an important consideration for an organization offering faith-based products in mono-religious societies. Clearly, marketers need to be very careful when they use religious symbols in the secular marketplace, which raises the question – What factors underlie a positive response to religious message use in advertisement? Originality/value Religion was a taboo subject in society in the recent past; it has not been comprehensively investigated in marketing literature; moreover, it is evident that this situation continues to exist at present. It can, therefore, be said that the efforts to conceptualize religion’s influence on marketing and consumer behavior have been scarce.

The paradoxical thinking ‘sweet spot’: The role of recipients’ latitude of rejection in the effectiveness of paradoxical thinking messages targeting anti-refugee attitudes in Israel

The current research examined whether for a message that is based on the paradoxical thinking principles—i.e., providing extreme, exaggerated, or even absurd views, that are congruent with the held views of the message recipients—to be effective, it needs to hit a ‘sweet spot’ and lead to a contrast effect. That is, it moderates the view of the message's recipients. In the framework of attitudes toward African refugees and asylum seekers in Israel by Israeli Jews, we found that compared to more moderate messages, an extreme, but not too extreme, message was effective in leading to unfreezing for high morally convicted recipients. The very extreme message similarly led to high levels of surprise and identity threat as the extreme message that was found to be effective. However, it was so extreme and absurd that it was rejected automatically. This was manifested in high levels of disagreement compared to all other messages, rendering it less effective compared to the extreme, paradoxical thinking, message. We discuss these findings’ practical and theoretical implications for the paradoxical thinking conceptual framework as an attitude change intervention, and for social judgment theory.

IMPLIKASI LITERASI MEDIA DALAM MENGUBAH PERILAKU MASYARAKAT KOTA PONTIANAK TERHADAP KABAR BOHONG

Whether consciously or not, social media users are active spreaders of fake/false news. Those who have an understanding of media literacy should be able to overcome the spread of fake/false news. This study intended to examine how media literacy values acquired beforehand by individuals can compete with stimulus in the form of potentially fake/false news before it is finally decided to be disseminated or not. This research rests on the principles of social judgment theory and uses in-depth interviews to collect data. The result shows that there is an attitude of restraint when the characteristics of fake/false news on a message are successfully marked. In addition, the mismatch of value references possessed by individuals with ideas offered by fake/false news lead to 3 types of behavior: muting, compromising, or actively rejecting.

Detecting the Boundaries of Disposition Bias on Moral Judgments of Media Characters’ Behaviors using Social Judgment Theory

eople continuously morally judge the behaviors of media characters. This informs people’s dispositions toward characters. Their dispositions bias their subsequent moral judgments of behavior. Affective disposition theory (ADT) contends that limits to disposition bias exist, but empirical evidence is absent. Three experiments tested the utility of using the ordered alternatives procedure (OAP) from social judgment theory to observe character disposition bias boundaries. Studies 1 and 2 explored and refined methods for detecting the bounds of disposition biases on moral judgments. Study 3 observed the boundaries using preregistered hypotheses, analyses, and sampling. Findings reveal the pragmatic nature of disposition bias, indicating a dependency on the magnitude of moral violation. This outcome interacted with role (average person vs. hero-based roles), schema (pure heroes vs. morally ambiguous characters), and exemplification (prototypes vs. exemplars). Findings corroborate ADT, Raney’s extension of ADT, and Sanders’ character impression formation model, and demonstrate the OAP’s utility for broader communication research.

Study Abroad: Factors Lending to the Decision

In a world that is becoming more globally connected, universities in the United States of America are pushing for more students to participate in study abroad opportunities. The researcher looked to answer the following questions: What factors influence student involvement in study abroad programs? What influence does the study abroad office exert over a student’s decision to study abroad? What conceptions or circumstances do students have prior to college that stimulate them to decide one way or another? The results where then analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively paired with Social Judgment Theory. The data suggests that females, non-athletes, those that have traveled outside of the country before, and students who had a parent attend college are more likely to study abroad. The study also discusses a financial aspect, GPA, and traveling outside the country as additional factors.