The game of LOTTO is the most common form of lottery participation in the U.S. Participation in LOTTO requires the purchase of a six-number lottery ticket. Individuals are allowed to select their ticket numbers, or they are assigned a randomly selected set of numbers. However, regardless of their historical persistence and geographic availability, lotteries continue to generate significant criticism and concern. Two issues dominate most public policy debate. Who plays the lottery, and why do they play? Traditionally, these questions are addressed using individualist models of social action. Such models assume that psychological internal states, such as attitudes, beliefs and processes of rationality are the primary mechanisms that facilitate participation. In contrast, structural models of social action suggest that networks of social relations, and the information and resources that flow through such relations are the primary mechanisms that facilitate participation. Using self-report survey data obtained from 245 randomly selected adults, as well as ethnographic data, I operationalize individualist and social network models, and examine two central issues: who participates in lotteries, and why do they participate. Three findings are particularly noteworthy. First, the empirically measured psychological internal states that many individual's possess about lottery participation appear inconsistent with several assumptions of the individualist model. Second, lottery participation appears to build solidarity between many participants and the members of their primary network of social relations through discussions about winning. Third, for most people the attraction of participation appears to be affective in nature rather than economic. Thus, lottery participation induces a state of positive anticipation. Further, the socially organized process that individual's initiate in order to induce this affective state is similar to, but quite different than the process of "emotion work." Thus, I label this process "emotion play."

Cognitive-experiential self-theory maintains that there are two principal ways of processing information. The first is in a rational mode; the second is in an experiential (emotional) mode. Previous research has demonstrated that when participants are motivated to process information experientially, they tend to rely on heuristic cues in their decision making. However, when participants are motivated to think in a rational mode, they devote greater attention to the information presented to them, and make more accurate decisions. This may have an impact on legal decision making. Attorneys in personal injury trials often attempt to present their case in a manner directed at either rational or emotional processing, under the assumption that emotional jurors will be supportive of the plaintiff while rational jurors will be supportive of the defendant. However, in an attempt to motivate emotional processing attorneys may inadvertently activate heuristic cues that have an impact on juror decision making, such as the defendant attractiveness bias (previous research has demonstrated that attractive defendants receive more lenient sentences than unattractive defendants). The hypothesis that an attractiveness-leniency effect would occur when individuals were in an experiential mode, but not when they were in a rational mode was tested. Mock jurors were put into either an experiential or rational mode through the use of a number of materials and trial evidence. They were then presented with a photograph of a defendant who was either high or low in physical attractiveness. Following this, a transcript of a personal injury trial and relevant jury instructions were presented. Finally, participants rendered verdicts on a number of measures including monetary damages, liability verdicts, and assessments of negligence. The results indicated that an attractiveness-leniency effect was operative when individuals were in an experiential mode, but not when they were in a rational mode. However, this effect appears to be limited to variables that are emotionally oriented, rather than ones that require analytic reasoning. The paper concludes with a discussion of the potential implications of cognitive-experiential self-theory on juror decision making in a variety of related areas.

Message-effects research has explored in some depth the effects of emotion-evoking persuasive message elements such as fear and humor. Interestingly, persuasion research has for the most part neglected the impact of sexually-oriented appeals in persuasive contexts. To address this inadequacy, this study was designed to realize two overarching goals: (1) To contribute to what little is known about the effects of sexually-oriented appeals within persuasive contexts, and (2) to determine if this type of appeal can be effective beyond the consumer product domain to more socially-relevant contexts (e.g., disease prevention, parental responsibility, art museum visitation). For the purposes of this study, sexually-oriented appeals are defined as any appeal which is perceived by the audience as sexual and subsequently evokes a sexual response. In addition, appeals of this nature are also perceived by the audience as credible, appealing, and relevant. Regarding method, this study utilized a replicated message treatment design. Thirteen pairs of matched messages were used to test the effects on the dependent variables. Important advantages gained by utilizing this method and the appropriate statistical analyses included: increased generalizability and internal validity, and the ability to inspect treatment effect magnitude and variability. Overall, the findings of this study contribute to the above-mentioned goals. First, sexually-oriented appeals were found to be more persuasive than matched nonsexual appeals for social marketing topics. Second, sexually-oriented appeals stimulated more ad execution-related thoughts, fewer message-related thoughts, and fewer counterarguments. In addition, subjects were able to recall more visual aspects of sexually-oriented appeals than nonsexually-oriented appeals but there was no difference in copypoint recall between the two appeals. These results are congruent with past emotion research and affective models of persuasion. This research provides evidence that sexually-oriented appeals can be persuasive, at least in a social marketing context, and provides insight into the impact of sexual appeals on the persuasive process.

The purpose of this dissertation is to give a constructivist account of conflict message production in romantic relationships. Two main claims are advanced. First, the degree to which partners confirm each other's identity in conflict situations results from their definition of the situation. Second, those with more sophisticated systems for construing others have more integrated and more usable situational definitions. A hierarchical multiple regression analysis reveled main effects for cognitive complexity and perceived resistance in predicting the level of identity confirmation in complaint messages. Interactions between cognitive complexity and perceived resistance, perceived dominance, perceived severity, and attributional tendency were also significantly associated with complaint message quality. Consistent with the claim that more sophisticated social cognitions have more integrated situational definitions, those with higher levels of social cognitive development were influenced by their perception of their power in the relationship, the severity of the partner's transgression, and the degree to which they tend to attribute a partner's dissatisfying behaviors to negative intentions, while only the perception of resistance predicted the identity confirming quality of the less cognitively complex participants' messages.

Research on the psychological impact of childhood sexual abuse has received a great deal of attention over the last decade. Existing literature documents in detail no specific syndrome among child sexual abuse victims. Rather, children exhibit a myriad of responses including immediate and long-term effects. Some children display no symptoms as a result of sexual abuse, while others demonstrate symptoms along developmental trends. This study investigated the database from one community's sexual abuse evaluation clinic. Specifically, this study was designed to compare the data with national data in terms of child and perpetrator characteristics in order to develop further understanding of developmental trends in symptomatology and abuse impact. Developmental trends in symptomatology were examined by comparing rates of reported symptoms (behavioral and somatic symptoms) among three defined age groups: young children (0- to 5-year-olds), middle-childhood (ages 6 to 11), and adolescents (ages 12 and older). Characteristics of the abuse experience in terms of the outcome of the physical examination were also evaluated. Due to the exploratory nature of this investigation, an overall evaluation of the database in terms of improvement in data collection was included. Although substantial proportions of data were unknown at the time of assessment, the results suggest the presence of developmental trends among symptomatology. The results provide little evidence regarding the characteristics of the abuse experience and their relationships to the outcome of the physical examination. The findings are summarized and discussed; and implications for future practice and research with the research instrument are examined.

This dissertation explores the psychological processes involved with the placement of real brands within television programming. While empirical evidence tells us that television images influence individuals, on the one hand, and that television programs contain references to specific forms of consumption, on the other hand, the psychological effect of specific references to brands has, to date, only been reasoned theoretically (e.g., Levy 1959; McCracken 1988). Because it focuses on individuals' responses to specific brands placed within a popular culture text, the technique of product placement provides an ideal context for studying the relationship between branded products and popular culture elements. Drawing from the psychology literature, I propose that the effectiveness of product placements varies depending on the specifics of the placement. Based on a Tripartite Typology of Product Placement, I make predictions regarding the processing and persuasive impact of each type and combination of placements. This conceptual framework was tested through a newly developed methodology called "the theatre methodology," which used a videotaped original screenplay as the setting for the presentation of stimuli. As predicted, the number of modalities and the degree of plot connection were shown to significantly improve memory. The study further revealed a significant interaction between plot connection and modality, caused by a stronger effect of plot connection on the visual placements than on the auditory placements. In terms of attitude, the results suggest two equally persuasive but dramatically different strategies. Indeed, product placements that were visually placed in the background were as persuasive as placements that relied on both audio and visual modalities and were highly connected to the plot. Contributions to marketing and cognitive and social psychology theory are discussed.

This dissertation consists of four analyses that examine the relationship between self-control and the likelihood of sexual harassment as deviant behavior in organizations. It was hypothesized that those men and women with lower self-control would also be more likely to engage in sexually harassing behavior. All of the analyses are based on a sample of undergraduate students and a sample of jury pool members. In the first analysis, the psychometric properties of multiple self-control measures were examined. The internal consistency and validity of three self-control measures were examined to determine which of the scales were appropriate for this research. Two of the scales were selected as suitably consistent and valid and were used in subsequent analyses. In the second analysis, the relationship between self-control and the likelihood to engage in sexually harassing behavior was explored. This exploration was conducted using two self-control measures and measures representing the likelihood of both quid pro quo and hostile work environment sexual harassment. In support of proposed hypothesis, those who reported lower self-control also reported a higher likelihood of engaging in sexually harassing behavior. In the third analysis, the predictive ability of a composite self-control measure and its components were compared. Factor analyses revealed the structure that the measure was designed to contain. The components revealed marginal reliability and were relatively ineffective predictors of the likelihood to engage in sexually harassing behavior as compared to the composite measure. And in the fourth analysis, the effectiveness of sexual harassment policies in light of self-control is studied. Policies prohibiting sexual harassment are suggested to reduce this type of behavior, but little empirical research has examined this proposed relationship. This analysis suggests that sexual harassment policies have a consistent, but weak, effect on reducing sexual harassment. Thus, this research has a number of implications. These findings inform theories of sexual harassment, which are often gender-based, and theories of deviant behavior, which are often context-based. These findings also contribute to the use of multiple self-control measures in future research. And finally, the findings suggest practical ways that managers may be able to reduce sexually harassing behaviors in organizations.

Indignation is a discrete social emotion specifying disapproval of a blameworthy action explicitly perceived as violating the objective order, and implicitly perceived as injurious to the self-concept. Two experiments were conducted to examine the effects of defensive attributions and implicit theories of moral character on indignation. Both studies attempted to influence the defensive attribution process by manipulating apparent similarity between participants and an imagined offender while exploring the relationship between people's implicit theories about moral character (ITM) and measures indicative of indignation. Two implicit attribution theory perspectives were examined: Entity theorists believe that personal moral attributes are fixed and unchanging, while incremental theorists believe that personal moral attributes are malleable. Entity theorists, who tend to base their attributions on internal characterological dispositional information, were hypothesized to show greater indignation after offensive episodes than incremental theorists, who prefer to use more external situation-relevant information in forming their attributions. Subjects in the similar conditions were expected to form more defensive attributions than those in the dissimilar conditions, thus a second hypothesis predicted that those in the similar conditions would show greater indignation after offensive episodes than those in the dissimilar conditions. Study 1 used a computer program to manipulate certain aspects of similarity while designating subjects as either entity or incremental theorists based on their responses to three ITM scale measures. It revealed a positive correlation between the presence of an entity theory and the experience of indignation. Study 2, using a cognitive response set induction to operationalize similarity while experimentally manipulating ITM, provides evidence for a causal relationship between ITM and indignation. As predicted, entity theorists in both studies responded with significantly higher levels of indignation after offensive episodes than did incremental theorists. Only modest support was found for an hypothesized relationship involving defensive attribution and indignation.

This dissertation, "Testing the Boundaries: Intimate Violence and the General Theory of Crime" is a test of the General Theory of Crime regarding intimate violence. The investigation is three pronged. I test the applicability of the General Theory to explain the causal structure of intimate violence, intimate offending risks and risks of intimate victimization. Additionally, the meaning for both learning theory and control theory in criminology concerning the link between witnessing parental violence and later delinquent acts is discussed. This current work fills two gaps in the field of contemporary criminology. First, few studies of intimate violence have been undertaken from a criminological, control perspective. Second, this investigation attempts to extend the General Theory to predict victimization risks. The results of the analyses clearly support the applicability of applying the General Theory of Crime to explain dating violence and general crime.

The psychological contract of workers has been a subject of recent interest, in both academic and practitioner organizational literature. While this attention has developed across fields, and several typologies of contracts have been developed, there are many parts of this construct that are not well understood. Among these are the predictors of the psychological contract, the outcomes of the psychological contract, the violation or fulfillment of the psychological contract, and the generalizability of the psychological contract to volunteer organizational members. In this dissertation, I look specifically at the motives of volunteer workers, the consequences of organizational justice and organization commitment, violation of the contract by the organization and by the worker, and the generalizability of the psychological contract to volunteer workers in an organization. Two studies, one field and one lab, are used to assess these relationships. Results indicate that volunteers and paid employees, regardless of motives, do not differ in their psychological contracts when they are in the same organization performing significantly similar work. In terms of consequences, relationships were found between the psychological contract and its fulfillment or violation with organizational commitment and organizational justice. Specifically, relations were found between: transactional psychological contracts and both distributive justice and continuance commitment; benefits psychological contracts and continuance commitment; good faith and fair dealings psychological contracts and distributive, interactional, and procedural justice as well as affective commitment; and intrinsic job characteristics psychological contracts and distributive, interactional, and procedural justice. Not all findings are consistent across both studies. The results have two implications. The first, that volunteers and paid employees do not differ in their psychological contracts, points to the importance of the work environment in determining psychological contracts. The second issue, the relationships between specific aspects of the psychological contract, organizational justice, and organization commitment, establishes the separateness and relatedness of these constructs. Future research will address other predictors of psychological contracts, the fulfillment or violation of specific contracts, and their effect upon job attitudes that impact worker productivity.