This paper presents the elements of a theory of measurement for communication and cognitive processes, along with specific operationalization of rules and procedures. Longitudinal data taken from a large sociology department are presented to illustrate the use of the method and show its relationship to commonly used procedures. These data show that the new procedures provide scales whose precision of measurement exceeds typical practice while at the same time saving considerable time and effort.

During the 1980s many state legislatures enacted laws to address domestic violence cases, including mandatory arrest and warrantless arrest in a misdemeanor domestic violence incident. The domestic violence arrest decision has been extensively examined, but this is not the final decision point for officers. This research examined police officers’ decisions when listing criminal charges in domestic violence incidents. Using a vignette research design, data come from 267 police officers in a large department. Most police officers listed the criminal charge that would be expected based on the conditions described in the vignette. Specific factors increased the likelihood of misdemeanor and felony level criminal charges being listed.

Multidimensional attitude change models propose that (1) stimuli defining the domain of attitudes may consist of a multidimensional rather than unidimensional pattern; (2) stimuli associated with each other in the persuasion process will converge with each other in the multidimensional attitude domain. These two propositions receive clear support from three of the hypotheses tested in four-panel cohort data, which analyses show to be multidimensional. The sources of a persuasive message converge on the position they advocate. Multiple sources converge on each other. The findings provided partial support for two other hypotheses on the convergence of self-ccncept with advocated position and with sources of a persuasive message. A final, somewhat tangential hypothesis also receives clear support: existential associations of concepts are more effective than hortatory associations. These results support further development of multidimensional attitude change models.

Based on data taken from 412 adult education students in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, this research attempts to show that attitudes toward French Canadian Separatism by the sample members can be accounted for by differentiaf communication processes. Results show that attitudes held by sample members are well explained (R 2 = .64) by a weighted average of the information they received from interpersonal and media sources. The resultant attitude shows substantial effects on behaviors related to separatism for the same respondents.hile the role of communication processes in the w formation of radical political movements has been considered fundamental even by scholars predating Aristotle, contemporary communication researchers have generally left the investigation of these processes to other disciplines. One of the most widely propounded explanations of these movements contends that they are populated essentially by the alienated lower classes who are seeking to modify the conditions of their alienation. Marx is undoubtedly the most well known exponent of this view. One of the more recent sociological theories in this genre, which has become to be known as the mass society theory of extremism, was at UNIV CALGARY LIBRARY on May 26, 2015 crx.sagepub.com Downloaded from

Past work has shown that professionals have different patterns of interpersonal contacts in different settings. Verbal defining constitutes one unstudied aspect ofsuch contacts. This article uses certam attributes of a juvenile court setting to formulate hypotheses on the relative importance of 6 measures of professional identity and 10 kinds of defining. Pearson and canonical correlations support 14 of the 16 hypotheses in that juvenile court. These results point to the utility of a situational approach to professional identity and defining.