Threatening Communications and Behavior: Perspectives on the Pursuit of Public Figures

Description:

Today's world of rapid social, technological, and behavioral change provides new opportunities for communications with few limitations of time and space. Through these communications, people leave behind and ever-growing collection of traces of their daily activities, including digital footprints provided by text, voice, and other modes of communication. Meanwhile, new techniques for aggregating and evaluating diverse and multimodal information sources are available to security services that must reliably identify communications indicating a high likelihood of future violence.

In the context of this changed and changing world of communications and behavior, the Board on Behavioral, Cognitive, and Sensory Sciences of the National Research Council presents this volume of three papers as one portion of the vast subject of threatening communications and behavior. The papers review the behavioral and social sciences research on the likelihood that someone who engages in abnormal and/or threatening communications will actually then try to do harm. The focus is on how the scientific knowledge can inform and advance future research on threat assessments, in part by considering the approaches and techniques used to analyze communications and behavior in the dynamic context of today's world.

The papers in the collection were written within the context of protecting high-profile public figures from potential attach or harm. The research, however, is broadly applicable to U.S. national security including potential applications for analysis of communications from leaders of hostile nations and public threats from terrorist groups. This work highlights the complex psychology of threatening communications and behavior, and it offers knowledge and perspectives from multiple domains that contribute to a deeper understanding of the value of communications in predicting and preventing violent behaviors.

Source: National Academies Press

Link to download publication at NAP

Understanding Society: Early findings from the first wave of the UK’s household longitudinal study

Understanding Society is a world leading study of the socio-economic circumstances and attitudes of 100,000 individuals in 40,000 British households.

It is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and run by the Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER). The study allows for deeper analysis of a wide range of sections of the population as they respond to regional, national and international change. Understanding Society will greatly enhance our insight into the pathways that influence peoples longer term occupational trajectories; their health and well-being, their financial circumstances and personal relationships.

Understanding Society also breaks new ground with its interdisciplinary focus. The study will capture biomedical data on 20,000 participants and place this alongside rich social histories, helping us weigh the extent to which people's environment influences their health.

Source: Economic and Social Research Council.

Download full pdf publication: Understanding Society:Early findings from the first wave of the UK’s household longitudinal study

Link to site where downloads are available by chapter.

RAND Report: A Worksite Parenting Program That Works

Summarizes research on Talking Parents, Healthy Teens, a worksite-based parenting program designed by RAND and University of California at Los Angeles researchers that improves communication between parents and their adolescents on sexual health.

Source: Rand Corporation

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Peer Review in Academic Promotion and Publishing: Its Meaning, Locus, and Future

From the abstract:

The challenges of assessing the current and future state of peer review are exacerbated by pressing questions of how the significant costs of high-quality scholarly publishing can be borne in the face of calls for alternative, usually university-based and open access, publishing models for both journals and books. There is additionally the insidious and destructive “trickle down” of tenure and promotion requirements from elite research universities to less competitive and non-research-intensive institutions. The entire system is further stressed by the mounting—and often unrealistic—government pressure on scholars in developed and emerging economies alike to publish their research in the most select peer-reviewed outlets, ostensibly to determine the distribution of government funds (via research assessment exercises) and/or to meet national imperatives to achieve research distinction internationally. The global effect is a growing glut of low-quality publications that strains the efficient and effective practice of peer review, a practice that is, itself, primarily subsidized by universities in the form of faculty salaries. Library budgets and preservation services for this expansion of peer-reviewed publication have run out. Faculty time spent on peer review, in all of its guises, is being exhausted.

Source: Center for Studies in Higher Education, UC Berkeley

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status of women in science and engineering at MIT

From MIT News

Follow-up to previous reports shows improvement, but that still more can be done.

In the last decade, there has been a near doubling in the number of women faculty in science and engineering at MIT, and those women have an increasingly positive experience at the Institute, according to a new report released today. However, there are still issues that need to be resolved to increase the recruitment, retention and equity of women faculty members at the Institute, the report notes.

A follow-up of two previous MIT reports, from 1999 and 2002, this new study examined the status of women faculty in the School of Science and the School of Engineering. It was commissioned as part of MIT's 150th anniversary, and coincides with an upcoming symposium, "Leaders in Science and Engineering: the Women of MIT," which will take place at Kresge Auditorium on March 28 and March 29.

The 1999 and 2002 reports showed that women faculty members at MIT felt professionally marginalized — through access to fewer resources and exclusion from departmental decision-making, for example. The reports had remarkable impact both at MIT and nationally, identifying several areas that needed to be addressed: the low number of women faculty, their exclusion from administrative decisions and the difficulty for them in combining work and family responsibilities.

Download full pdf publication | Link to MIT News Item

How Many Hispanics? Comparing Census Counts and Census Estimates

The number of Hispanics counted in the 2010 Census has been larger than expected in most states for which the Census Bureau has released detailed population totals so far, according to an analysis by the Pew Hispanic Center, a project of the Pew Research Center. The gap between the Census 2010 count and Census Bureau population estimates has been widest in states with relatively small Hispanic populations.

Source: Pew Hispanic Center

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Debunking the Myth of the Overcompensated Public Employee

The research in this paper investigates whether state and local public employees are overpaid at the expense of taxpayers. This research is timely. Thirty-seven states are struggling with substantial budget deficits. Several governors have identified excessive public employee compensation as a major cause of their states’ fiscal duress. The remedies they propose include public employee pay freezes, benefits reductions, privatization, major revisions to the rules of collective bargaining, and constitutional amendments to limit pay increases, each as a necessary antidote to the supposed public employee overpayment malady.

Source: Economic Policy Institute

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Did We Overestimate the Role of Social Preferences? The Case of Self-Selected Student Samples

Abstract:

Social preference research has received considerable attention among economists in recent years. However, the empirical foundation of social preferences is largely based on laboratory experiments with self-selected students as participants. This is potentially problematic as students participating in experiments may behave systematically different than non-participating students or non-students. In this paper we empirically investigate whether laboratory experiments with student samples misrepresent the importance of social preferences. Our first study shows that students who exhibit stronger prosocial inclinations in an unrelated field donation are not more likely to participate in experiments. This suggests that self-selection of more prosocial students into experiments is not a major issue. Our second study compares behavior of students and the general population in a trust experiment. We find very similar behavioral patterns for the two groups. If anything, the level of reciprocation seems higher among non-students suggesting that results from student samples might be seen as a lower bound for the importance of prosocial behavior.

Source: Institute for the Study of Labor

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The State of the World’s Children 2011: Adolescence – An Age of Opportunity

The State of the World’s Children 2011: Adolescence – An Age of Opportunity examines the global state of adolescents; outlines the challenges they face in health, education, protection and participation; and explores the risks and vulnerabilities of this pivotal stage. The report highlights the singular opportunities that adolescence offers, both for adolescents themselves and for the societies they live in. The accumulated evidence demonstrates that investing in adolescents' second decade is our best hope of breaking the intergenerational cycle of poverty and inequity and of laying the foundation for a more peaceful, tolerant and equitable world.

Source UNICEF | United Nations

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Recognizing Creative Leadership: Can Creative Idea Expression Negatively Relate to Perceptions of Leadership Potential?

Abstract:

Drawing on and extending prototype theories of creativity and leadership, we theorize that the expression of creative ideas may diminish judgments of leadership potential unless the charismatic leadership prototype is activated in the minds of social perceivers. Study 1 shows creative idea expression is negatively related to perceptions of leadership potential in a sample of employees working in jobs that required creative problem solving. Study 2 shows that participants randomly instructed to express creative solutions during an interaction are viewed as having lower leadership potential. A third scenario study replicated this finding showing that participants attributed less leadership potential to targets expressing creative ideas, except when the “charismatic” leader prototype was activated. In sum, we show that the negative association between expressing creative ideas and leadership potential is robust and underscores an important but previously unidentified bias against selecting effective leaders.

Source: Knowledge @ Wharton ( University of Pennsylvania )

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Sociocultural Data to Accomplish Department of Defense Missions: Toward a Unified Social Framework

Sociocultural Data to Accomplish Department of Defense Missions: Toward a Unified Social Framework summarizes presentations and discussions that took place on August 16-17, 2010, at a National Research Council public workshop sponsored by the Office of Naval Research. The workshop addressed the variables and complex interaction of social and cultural factors that influence human behavior, focusing on potential applications to the full spectrum of military operations.

The workshop's keynote address by Major General Michael T. Flynn, U.S. Army, provided critical context about the cultural situation and needs of the military operating in Afghanistan. Additional presentations were divided into four panels to address the diverse missions encountered by the U.S. military worldwide. The workshop concluded with a final panel to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of different methods of acquiring and using relevant data and knowledge to accomplish these missions. The panel topics and presenters are listed below:
Conflict Is Local: Mapping the Sociocultural Terrain David Kennedy, Hsinchun Chen, and Kerry Patton
Bridging Sociocultural Gaps in Cooperative Relationships Robert Rubinstein, Alan Fiske, and Donal Carbaugh
Building Partner Capacity with Sociocultural Awareness Jeffrey Sanchez-Burks and Shinobu Kitayama
The Art of Sociocultural Persuasion Jeanne Brett, James Dillard, and Brant R. Burleson
Tools, Methods, Frameworks, and Models Mark Bevir, Laura A. McNamara, Robert G. Sargent, and Jessica Glicken Turnley

Source: National Academies Press

Link to online Publication

Violence in UK schools: what is really happening?

From the Introduction

Newspaper reports frequently tell us that behaviour in UK schools is getting worse. Bullying is commonplace, they say, and teachers are harassed and abused on a daily basis. Internationally, according to some experts, violence in schools is a serious and growing problem. But what is the evidence? Are schools in the UK really becoming more violent places? And what do we actually mean by this?

This Insight review assesses the up-to-date information on this controversial topic. There is a wealth of relevant material, but it comes from a variety of sources and disciplinary perspectives. We have brought it together in order to provide a broad, coherent and, where information is available, an accurate picture of what is happening. Some pupils, parents and teachers say that they worry a great deal about bullying and safety in schools. While these are understandable concerns, they nevertheless should be tempered by the evidence.

Source: British Educational Research Association (BERA)

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Neuroscience: implications for education and lifelong learning

This report highlights advances in neuroscience with potential implications for education and lifelong learning. The report authors, including neuroscientists, cognitive psychologists and education specialists, agree that if applied properly, the impacts of neuroscience could be highly beneficial in schools and beyond.

The report argues that our growing understanding of how we learn should play a much greater role in education policy and should also feature in teacher training. The report also discusses the challenges and limitations of applying neuroscience in the classroom and in learning environments throughout life.

Source: The Royal Society

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Peer-to-Peer Healthcare

The internet gives patients and caregivers access not only to information, but also to each other.

Many Americans turn to friends and family for support and advice when they have a health problem. This report shows how people's networks are expanding to include online peers, particularly in the crucible of rare disease. Health professionals remain the central source of information for most Americans, but "peer-to-peer healthcare" is a significant supplement.

This report is based in part on a national telephone survey of 3,001 adults that provides an estimate of how widespread this activity is in the U.S. All numerical data included in the report are based on the telephone survey. The other part of the analysis is based on an online survey of 2,156 members of the National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD) who wrote short essays about their use of the internet in caring for themselves or for their loved ones.

Source: Pew Research Center

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Statistical Portraits of the Hispanic and Foreign-Born Populations in the U.S.

The Pew Hispanic Center recently updated its statistical profiles of Hispanics and foreign-born people in the U.S. The profiles are derived from the Census Bureau's 2009 American Community Survey (ACS), the most recent available.

The two profiles-Hispanics in the United States, 2009 and Foreign-Born Population in the United States, 2009-are national in scope. These profiles focus on the demographic and economic characteristics of Hispanics and the foreign born in the U.S. Topics covered include racial self-identification, age, geographic dispersion, nativity, citizenship, origin, language proficiency, living arrangements, marital status, fertility, schooling, health insurance coverage, earnings, poverty and other labor market outcomes. Comparisons with the white, black and total populations are also available in the statistical profiles.

Link to online reports:
Hispanics in the United States, 2009
Foreign-Born Population in the United States, 2009

Latinos and Digital Technology

Latinos are less likely than whites to access the internet, have a home broadband connection or own a cell phone, according to survey findings from the Pew Hispanic Center, a project of the Pew Research Center. Latinos lag behind blacks in home broadband access but have similar rates of internet and cell phone use.


Source: Pew Hispanic Center

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Generations and their gadgets

Overview

Many devices have become popular across generations, with a majority now owning cell phones, laptops and desktop computers. Younger adults are leading the way in increased mobility, preferring laptops to desktops and using their cell phones for a variety of functions, including internet, email, music, games, and video.

Download full pdf publication | link to online summary | Download pdf questionnaire

Unauthorized Immigrant Population: National and State Trends, 2010

As of March 2010, 11.2 million unauthorized immigrants were living in the United States, virtually unchanged from a year earlier, according to new estimates from the Pew Hispanic Center, a project of the Pew Research Center. This stability in 2010 follows a two-year decline from the peak of 12 million in 2007 to 11.1 million in 2009 that was the first significant reversal in a two-decade pattern of growth. Unauthorized immigrants were 3.7% of the nation's population in 2010.

Source: Pew Hispanic Center

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Mexico's Drug Trafficking Organizations: Source and Scope of the Rising Violence

From Summary:

In Mexico, the violence generated by drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) in recent years has been, according to some, unprecedented. In 2006, Mexico's newly elected President Felipe Calderón launched an aggressive campaign--an initiative that has defined his administration-- against the DTOs that has been met with a violent response from the DTOs. Government enforcement efforts have had successes in removing some of the key leaders in all of the seven major DTOs. However, these efforts have led to violent succession struggles within the DTOs themselves. In July 2010, the Mexican government announced that more than 28,000 people had been killed in drug trafficking-related violence since December 2006, when President Calderón came to office.

Source: Congressional Research Service

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findings from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) spring 2010 data collection.

Enrollment in Postsecondary Institutions, Fall 2009; Graduation Rates, 2003 & 2006 Cohorts; and Financial Statistics, Fiscal Year 2009

This First Look report presents findings from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) spring 2010 data collection. This collection included five components: Student Financial Aid for full-time, first-time degree/certificate-seeking undergraduate students for the 2009-10 academic year; Enrollment for fall 2009; Graduation Rates within 150 percent of normal program completion time for full-time, first-time degree/ certificate-seeking undergraduate students beginning college in 2003 at 4-year institutions or in 2006 at less-than-4-year institutions; Graduation Rates within 200 percent of normal program completion time for full-time, first-time degree/certificate-seeking undergraduate students beginning college in 2001 at 4-year institutions or in 2005 at less-than-4-year institutions; and Finance for fiscal year 2009.

Source: National Center for Education Statistics

Download full pdf publication | Link to online description at NCES