Students in a large human development course rated the accuracy of 50 developmental claims. Half of the claims were specifically embedded in the course content, but the remaining claims were not addressed in the course. Students also identified the major information source for each developmental claim rated. From the beginning to the end of the…

A conversational approach is developed to explain the ubiquitous presence of rumors, urban legends, and gossip as arising from their conversational properties rather than from side effects of cognitive processing or "effort after meaning." It is suggested that the primary function of telling rumors, gossip, and urban legends is not to impart…

This highly readable text demystifies the qualitative research process--and helps readers conceptualize their own studies--by organizing the different research paradigms and traditions into coherent clusters. Real-world examples and firsthand perspectives illustrate the research process; instructive exercises and activities build on each other so…

In this paper we ask whether individuals decide that people are generally trustworthy or untrustworthy by extrapolating from their experiences in localized interactions or whether a more fixed predisposition drives assessments of trustworthiness. These two contrasting theoretical perspectives on generalized trust can be translated into empirically…

Princeton University Press recently published the American moral philosopher Harry Frankfurt's book "On Bullshit", which quickly made the New York Times best seller list. Originally published in the journal "Raritan" in 1986, Frankfurt's book has been heralded as an important theoretical development in the study of what he (and society)…

This paper examines the effective deployment of conversational agents in virtual worlds from the perspective of researchers/practitioners in cognitive psychology, computing science, learning technologies and engineering. From a cognitive perspective, the major challenge lies in the coordination and management of the various channels of information…

This paper uses evidence from focus groups with consumers in England to consider how consumers understand and evaluate a range of proxies or intermediary organisations that offer assurance about food and consumer products, particularly voluntary certification schemes. This addresses the current concern in developed economies about providing…

This article presents an interview with Eric Barela, a K-12 school district internal evaluator who conducted the Title I Best Practices study for the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), Research and Planning Division (formerly known as the Program Evaluation and Research Branch). In this interview, the author focuses not only on the…

In this article, the authors examine the effects of style of dress, forms of address, and gender of the stimulus person on business students' perceptions of professors' attributes. Student participants (125 women, 132 men) rated the stimulus person on indexes of attractiveness, trustworthiness, credibility, and likeability. Style of dress and form…

The development and use of a research tool to guide fourth-grade students' use of information sources during a research project is described in this article. Over a period of five weeks, 21 fourth-grade students in an international school in Singapore participated in a study investigating the extent to which the use of a "research resource…

Refines the concepts of powerful and powerless speech styles by investigating evaluative reactions to hedges and hesitations in a simulated courtroom context. Indicates that a low level of hedges and hesitations produced the most positive evaluations of authoritativeness and attractiveness. Reveals that these variables affected perceptions of…

The author discusses persuasive communication and explores why some speakers are seen as credible sources of information while others are not. She covers several factors related to perceived credibility, including (1) sex, (2) size, (3) age, and (4) social status of the source. Methods of establishing credibility are discussed. (CH)

Explores the credibility of the discipline of art therapy as perceived by psychology educators across the country. Also provides information on how current faculty members in higher education perceive the usefulness and utilization of art therapy. The negative results of this study may pose a challenge to members of the profession to educate…

Discusses methods of getting results data after a training intervention and suggests involving the client as much as possible to develop an indicator of results achieved. Suggests that the more involvement the client has in results measurement, the more believable the numbers and the greater your credibility as provider of results-proven service.…

Examined two recent studies of interviews with young children. Concludes that children are neither as hypersuggestible nor as resistant to suggestions about their own bodies as some defense attorneys and prosecutors claim and that children can provide highly detailed and accurate reports of events that transpired weeks or months ago. (MDM)