Stories: Spain, Lovers and Crazy Old Ladies is a collection of short stories about relationships, traumas, memories and change.

Although third-party meta-perception--one's perception of how another person perceives a third person--plays an important role in how people pick up social cues about others, it has received virtually no attention in the organizational behavior literature. In this thesis, we investigate the significance of third-party meta-perception to the interpersonal processes involved in socialization. Integrating uncertainty reduction theory with research on heuristic information processing, we develop a new theory of third-party meta-perception. Our theory suggests that at an early stage of socialization, person's perceptions of how a significant other (e.g., leader or mentor) perceives the traits of an interacting target will affect the assessment of the ability and integrity of that target. We develop two models to examine our theory. Model 1 describes the initial interaction between a newcomer and a coworker and examines the newcomer's perceptions of how a leader perceives the coworker. We propose that newcomer's third-party meta-perceptions of the coworker's agentic qualities (agency; e.g., competence, efficiency, and cleverness) and communal qualities (communion; e.g., sincerity, honesty, and fairness toward others) based on the leader's view have an indirect positive influence on the newcomer's feedback and information seeking from the coworker through perceptions of the coworker's ability and integrity. Model 2 describes the initial interaction between a leader and a newcomer, and examines the leader's perception of how a mentor perceives the newcomer. We propose that leader's third-party meta-perceptions of the newcomer's agency and communion based on the mentor's view have an indirect negative influence on the leader's directive behavior and an indirect positive influence on the leader's delegating behavior toward the newcomer through the leader's perceptions of the newcomer's ability and integrity. We also propose that the effects of third-party meta-perception are contingent on team size. Using four-wave longitudinal data on 439 newly hired employees and their supervisors at four companies, we find support for the hypothesized indirect impact of third-party meta-perceptions on feedback and information seeking in Model 1, and support for the hypothesized indirect impact of third-party meta-perceptions on delegating behavior in Model 2. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings of the thesis are discussed.

Although third-party meta-perception--one's perception of how another person perceives a third person--plays an important role in how people pick up social cues about others, it has received virtually no attention in the organizational behavior literature. In this thesis, we investigate the significance of third-party meta-perception to the interpersonal processes involved in socialization. Integrating uncertainty reduction theory with research on heuristic information processing, we develop a new theory of third-party meta-perception. Our theory suggests that at an early stage of socialization, person's perceptions of how a significant other (e.g., leader or mentor) perceives the traits of an interacting target will affect the assessment of the ability and integrity of that target. We develop two models to examine our theory. Model 1 describes the initial interaction between a newcomer and a coworker and examines the newcomer's perceptions of how a leader perceives the coworker. We propose that newcomer's third-party meta-perceptions of the coworker's agentic qualities (agency; e.g., competence, efficiency, and cleverness) and communal qualities (communion; e.g., sincerity, honesty, and fairness toward others) based on the leader's view have an indirect positive influence on the newcomer's feedback and information seeking from the coworker through perceptions of the coworker's ability and integrity. Model 2 describes the initial interaction between a leader and a newcomer, and examines the leader's perception of how a mentor perceives the newcomer. We propose that leader's third-party meta-perceptions of the newcomer's agency and communion based on the mentor's view have an indirect negative influence on the leader's directive behavior and an indirect positive influence on the leader's delegating behavior toward the newcomer through the leader's perceptions of the newcomer's ability and integrity. We also propose that the effects of third-party meta-perception are contingent on team size. Using four-wave longitudinal data on 439 newly hired employees and their supervisors at four companies, we find support for the hypothesized indirect impact of third-party meta-perceptions on feedback and information seeking in Model 1, and support for the hypothesized indirect impact of third-party meta-perceptions on delegating behavior in Model 2. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings of the thesis are discussed.

This thesis is the fourth in a series of empirical investigations concerned with symbolic interaction in marriage. Its basic assumption is that personal predispositions of marital partners as well as the social context of their marriage influences marital intimacy particularly the partner’s readiness to communicate verbally with each other about important attitudes and feelings. Fifty married graduate students attending Portland State University School of Social Work and their spouses comprised the sample. The subjects responded to three instruments: (1) a personality scale (Authoritarian Family Ideology – AFI) developed by Jane Loevinger, (2) a measure of verbal accessibility (VA), and (3) a measure of social network based on the works of Elizabeth Bott. Four hypotheses were tested: (1) the greater an individual’s authoritarian family ideology (AFI), the less will be his verbal accessibility (VA). (2) the greater a married couple’s AFI, the less will be the marital VA. (3) the greater the connectedness of the couple’s social network, the less will be the marital VA. (4) the greater the connectedness of a couple’s social network, the greater will be the spouses’ combined AFI. The Pearson Product Moment Correlation was used in the data analysis. The data supported the first and second hypotheses, with moderately low correlations being found. Results obtained were statistically significant at least at the .05 level and the hypotheses of inverse relationships between AFI and VA for both individuals and couples were accepted. The data did not support the hypotheses concerned with the relationship between a couple’s social network, marital VA, and marital AFI. Generally, the study revealed that marriages in which spouses displayed less willingness for reciprocal verbal exchanges appeared to be more authoritarian in structure. Whereas those marriages in which spouses had a greater proclivity for mutual self-disclosure appeared less rigid and conventional. The study did not provide evidence of a relationship between the social context of marriage and ideological preferences. This raised a question regarding the validity of the instrument used to measure social network. A more precise instrument would have provided more definitive results.

From the Oregon coast to the steppes of Mongolia, the seven short stories in this collection take the reader on a journey through the landscape of human experience. In the high desert of southeast Idaho, a mammalogist confronts his own predatory instincts. A sister laments the distance between herself and a brother studying climate change in Antarctica. A caregiver for an aging botanist learns the value of forgiveness. Love, loss and redemption--the relationships that define our lives--are here juxtaposed with the beauty and implacability of the natural world.

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