A cognitive psychology of mass communication

Sample

Mary Zey

Prevailing, highly conservative rational choice theories are challenged in this illuminating volume. Mary Zey and other outstanding contributors expand our understanding of decision-making theory by presenting evidence that points to the wide range and complexity of human decision making. Labeled deviations from formal rationality, other models of decision making--habit, emotion, and moral and ethical values--are shown to be alternative and dominant, not deviating motives behind decision making. Written at an accessible level, this volume examines criticisms of rational choice models (rational choice, public choice, neoclassical economic theories) from a wide range of perspectives within and external to the rational choice model. In Parts II and III, the chapters concentrate on micro and macro alternatives to rational choice models, including a balance of theoretical and empirical pieces. This is the first volume to assemble and further legitimize the alternative models of decision making. Decision Making is essential reading for scholars and students of organization studies, socio-economics, management, sociology, economics, psychology, political science, business ethics, and policy studies.

Sample

Shelton A. Gunaratne

"The Dao of the Press attempts to de-Westernize communication theory. It interprets press theory from the perspective of Eastern philosophy - particularly Buddhism, Hinduism, Daoism, and Confucianism - and the emerging theory of living systems, which combines the Santiago School's interpretation of cognition and autopoiesis, and the Brussels School's interpretation of dissipative structures. It also draws from quantum physics, post-Parsonsian systems thinking, and world-systems analysis to derive a more humanocentric theoretical framework that reflects the integration of Eastern ontology with Western epistemology."--Jacket.

Sample

Katrina Karkazis

What happens when a baby is born with "ambiguous" genitalia or a combination of "male" and "female" body parts? Clinicians and parents in these situations are confronted with complicated questions such as whether a girl can have XY chromosomes, or whether some penises are "too small" for a male sex assignment. Since the 1950s, standard treatment has involved determining a sex for these infants and performing surgery to normalize the infant's genitalia. Over the past decade intersex advocates have mounted unprecedented challenges to treatment, offering alternative perspectives about the meaning and appropriate medical response to intersexuality and driving the field of those who treat intersex conditions into a deep crisis.

Sample

Lawrence M. Friedman

"The book concerns a fundamental question in the study of the relationship between law and society: under what conditions does a law, rule, decision, or doctrine actually make a difference in the behavior of those who are subject to this aspect of the legal system. There is a large body of scholarship which, in one sense or another, deals with this issue. The two main sources of scholarship on impact are, first, studies in criminal justice; and second, studies of business regulation. The goal of the book is bring some conceptual clarity to an awkward, unwieldy, and unruly subject. In any discussion of impact, one has to begin with the issue of communication; a rule or law that never reaches its audience, or which is vague, or difficult to understand, will have no impact. The book discusses some of the factors that influence the process of communication. But once a rule is communicated, what happens then? Sometimes the subjects comply; sometimes they fail to comply; sometimes they adjust or evade. There are three clusters of motives that affect the reaction of subject: first, deterrence (rewards and punishments); second, peer group influence; and third, issues of conscience, legitimacy, and morality. When all of these move in the same direction, the effect is quite powerful; if they conflict, it is impossible to predict which will prevail"--