Discusses how Scott O'Dell's books that deal with pre-Columbian Hispanic cultures reveal his limited views of those cultures and his use of stereotypes in describing the pre-Columbian, Mexican, and Spanish people.

In 1992, a review of research in adventure therapy offered a perspective that utilized work in psychotherapy as a lens to view the current state of the field. From that review, recommendations were made to gain respect within the field of traditional mental health. This update examines the 1992 recommendations and updates them based on recent…

The Visual Communication section of the proceedings contains the following 8 selected papers: "Affect and Emotion: Eliciting Compassionate Response via Facial Affect in Visual Images" (Courtney Bennett); "A Study of the Persuasiveness of Animation When Used as Forensic Demonstrative Evidence" (Benjamin Allyn Meyer);…

Results indicate that using the generic pronoun "she" can negatively affect perceptions of social attractiveness for all speakers; it particularly affects a male speaker's perceived competence. The generic "they," however, did not hinder perceived credibility in any way; in fact, it enhanced females' perceived competence. (PD)

Presented is a lesson plan to be used in middle school social studies courses to help students assess whether a statement made by an alleged authority is credible. The plan also shows how teachers can use information processing strategies to design lessons to promote learning of other critical thinking skills. (RM)

Asserts that the ineffectiveness and lack of credibility of the university in developing countries results from its incapacity to shake off its traditional colonial image and become an indigenous institution, while maintaining a global perspective. Suggests that the "multiversity" model is not suited for developing nations. (Author/MJL)

Subjected Strong's theory of counseling as a social influence process to further validation using a correlational field study and college students. Factor analysis of both preintake preferences for counselor attributes and postintake perceptions of actual counselors resulted in extraction of three factors corresponding to expertness,…

Suggests that counselors should be aware of verbal cues which promote distrust and prevent effective counseling of American Indians. Indians rated attempts to show affinity, use of stereotypes, and denial of ethnic differences as indicators of perceived insincerity. Urges further research on minority clients' preferred verbal response style. (JAC)

Evaluated differences in group cohesion, trust, attraction, and perceptions of feedback due to interpersonal feedback. Undergraduate groups experienced intimacy-building exercises and then exchanged varied interpersonal feedback. Results indicated response mode did not affect feedback ratings or cohesion ratings; the valence of the feedback…

Of the critical elements of presidential responsibility, the first is that the president must not only articulate the institution's overall mission but also stand as an honest conscience in judging how well the mission is being fulfilled. (MSE)

The American media has done an inadequate job of reporting on higher education in part because educators are ineffective communicators. Problems outlined include poor listening and lack of clarity in the content of news releases. The role of the effective public relations specialist is outlined, emphasizing content and credibility. (JMF)

Twenty audiotapes, containing lies or true statements, were recorded and judged by 100 subject-listeners, aged 15-30. As a group, subjects displayed better-than-chance accuracy in judging veracity, which confirms previous studies. A tentative profile is drawn of an individual adept at detecting lies. (SJL)

Explores associations among student perceptions of instructor aggressive communication, perceived understanding, instructor credibility, and instructor evaluations. Affirms the importance of instructor communication behaviors that facilitate understanding and allow students to communicate successfully with their instructors. Supports the notion…

Presents a cross-cultural study of immediacy, with samples of students drawn from a university in the U.S. and a university in Kenya. Identifies positive relationships between verbal immediacy, nonverbal immediacy, credibility, and cognitive learning for both samples, further supporting research done in the U.S. and elsewhere suggesting that…

Explores six potential barriers to an effective public image of counseling psychology; reviews several remedial strategies; and advocates the development of a vigorous, centrally coordinated public image agenda to enhance the profession's future viability and social impact. (TE)