Suchergebnisse

The Family-of-Origin Scale (FOS) is a 40 item, ten-subscale, Likert instrument founded upon psychodynamic models of family functioning. The FOS is based upon two subordinate constructs - Autonomy and Intimacy - associated with positive individual adjustment. The original FOS was designed
to assess adults' retrospective views of their family. The scale has been recently modified to assess adolescents' perceptions of current family functioning. The present study involved administering the FOS to 664 adolescents. No significant differences were obtained between the
adolescents and the published adult FOS norms. The FOS appears to be appropriate for adolescents.

Considerable research has investigated the effects of social facilitation on either positive or neutral behaviors, but little if any research has examined whether the presence of others can lead to greater levels of negative behavior. The purpose of this project was to explore the influence
of social facilitation on patterns and severity of offenses committed by juvenile delinquents. Study l compared the severity of crime (as measured by the offense classification) as a function of 130 currently incarcerated juvenile delinquents' self-reports of whether their crime was committed
alone or with others. Results suggested that juveniles tend to act in concert with others in delinquent acts. White females tended to act in concert with others more than African-American female adolescents in the commission of delinquent acts. However, no significant effects were found for
social facilitation and severity of crime, even when controlling for MMPI lie scores. Study 2 addressed the same question, but used an archival approach. Data was obtained for criminal charges and whether the crime happened in the presence or absence of others from random sample of
30 records from a juvenile delinquency home. The best predictor of severity of crime from this sample was the number of people involved with the crime. The study therefore provides limited support for Zajonc's drive theory that suggests social facilitation can have a non-directional effect
on behavior.

The present research investigated event-related, contextual, demographic, and dispositional predictors of the desire to punish perpetrators of immoral deeds in daily life, as well as connections among the desire to punish, moral emotions, and momentary well-being. The desire to punish was reliably predicted by linear gradients of social closeness to both the perpetrator (negative relationship) and the victim (positive relationship). Older rather than younger adults, conservatives rather than people with other political orientations, and individuals high rather than low in moral identity desired to punish perpetrators more harshly. The desire to punish was related to state anger, disgust, and embarrassment, and these were linked to lower momentary well-being. However, the negative effect of these emotions on well-being was partially compensated by a positive indirect pathway via heightened feelings of moral self-worth. Implications of the present field data for moral punishment research and the connection between morality and well-being are discussed.