Thelma Mccormack
Biographic Data
| ID | 94430 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Thelma Mccormack |
| GIVEN NAMES | Thelma |
| FAMILY NAME | Mccormack |
| SIGNATURE | MCCORMACK T |
| AFFILIATIONS | Queen's University Belfast |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-5370-4496 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 72 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 59 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 72 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1950 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Discounting past experience and the utility of memory: An empirical study
It has been argued that adult humans are absolutely time biased towards the future, at least as far as purely hedonic experiences (pain/pleasure) are concerned. What this means is that they assign zero value to them once they are in the past. Recent empirical studies have cast doubt on this claim, suggesting that while adults hold asymmetrical hedonic preferences – preferring painful experiences to be in the past and pleasurable experiences to li…
An experimental investigation of the effects of anticipating regret and relief on intentions and decisions to get the influenza vaccination
The results provide the first evidence that prompting participants to anticipate counterfactual relief increases intentions to be vaccinated compared to controls. These findings reinforce claims that the anticipation of both negative and positive decision-related counterfactual emotions may improve health-related decision-making
A collective action approach to improving attitudes and self-efficacy towards gender equality among male STEM academics
Despite the implementation of equality interventions within higher education, progress towards gender parity in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) remains slow. Male educators often exhibit poorer engagement with diversity initiatives, potentially contributing to persisting gender disparities in STEM given men’s longstanding dominance in these programs. Two experiments investigate how equality interventions should be designe…
Intertemporal choice and temporal discounting in children: A review and synthesis
We review existing research on intertemporal choice in children that has used delay choice tasks, a type of delay gratification task that typically involves choosing between a smaller reward now and a larger reward later. We align developmental research with some of the large body of empirical and theoretical work in this area that has been conducted with adults, with a focus on methodological appropriateness, the effectiveness of experimental ma…
Past-future preferences for hedonic goods and the utility of experiential memories
Recent studies have suggested that while both adults and children hold past-future hedonic preferences – preferring painful experiences to be in the past and pleasurable experiences to lie in the future – these preferences are abandoned when the quantity of pain or pleasure under consideration is greater in the past than in the future. We examined whether such preferences might be affected by the utility people assign to experiential memories, si…
The effects of cueing episodic future thinking on delay discounting in children, adolescents, and adults
From Brexit to Biden: What Responses to National Outcomes Tell Us About the Nature of Relief
Recent claims contrast relief experienced because a period of unpleasant uncertainty has ended and an outcome has materialized (temporal relief)—regardless of whether it is one’s preferred outcome—with relief experienced because a particular outcome has occurred, when the alternative was unpalatable (counterfactual relief). Two studies ( N = 993), one run the day after the United Kingdom left the European Union and one the day after Joe Biden’s i…
The “wets” and the “drys”: Binary images of women and alcohol in popular culture
The “wet”/’dry” dichotomy is seen as embedded in broader sets: insider and outsider; youth and age; autonomy and dependency; private and public; mind and body. The findings indicate that whether women are alcoholics or teetotalers, drinkers or non-drinkers, they fall below men on attributes that relate to credibility, judgment and the sharing of authority. This chapter suggests a coding system for analyzing popular culture texts which locate the …
Relief in everyday life
Despite being implicated in a wide range of psychological and behavioral phenomena, relief remains poorly understood from the perspective of psychological science. What complicates the study of relief is that people seem to use the term to describe an emotion that occurs in two distinct situations: when an unpleasant episode is over, or upon realizing that an outcome could have been worse. This study constitutes a detailed empirical investigation…
Prosocial risk taking and interpersonal regret in children: An individual differences study
The relations between prosocial risk taking (taking a risk to benefit another person; PSRT) and interpersonal regret (regret that one's choices have caused a poor outcome for another person) were examined in 192 children aged 7–9. PSRT was measured by children's choices within a gambling task in which one choice guaranteed participants a good prize whereas the other involved risking this prize to help a peer also win a good prize. Interpersonal r…
More Later: Delay of Gratification and Thought About the Future in Children
We investigated whether individual differences in future time perception and the detail with which future events are imagined are related to children’s delay of gratification. We administered a delay choice task (real rewards), a delay discounting task (hypothetical rewards), a novel future time perception measure, an episodic future thinking (EFT) interview and IQ measures to a sample of 7- to 11-year-olds (N = 132) drawn from a urban predominat…
Exploring people’s beliefs about the experience of time
Philosophical debates about the metaphysics of time typically revolve around two contrasting views of time. On the A-theory, time is something that itself undergoes change, as captured by the idea of the passage of time; on the B-theory, all there is to time is events standing in before/after or simultaneity relations to each other, and these temporal relations are unchanging. Philosophers typically regard the A-theory as being supported by our e…
The effect of episodic future thinking on young children’s future-oriented decision making
We investigated whether the developmental emergence of episodic future thinking (EFT) is associated with performance on a type of delay of gratification task: a delay choice task that involved choosing between a small reward now or a larger reward the next day. In Study 1, 4- to 5-year-olds' (N = 99) EFT as measured by a tool saving task was significantly associated with performance on the delay choice task, but this was not the case for other EF…
Causality influences children’s and adults’ experience of temporal order
Although it has long been known that time is a cue to causation, recent work with adults has demonstrated that causality can also influence the experience of time. In causal reordering (Bechlivanidis & Lagnado, 2013, 2016) adults tend to report the causally consistent order of events rather than the correct temporal order. However, the effect has yet to be demonstrated in children. Across four preregistered experiments, 4- to 10-year-old children…
Examining children's ability to delay reward: Is the delay discounting task a suitable measure
Discounting the value of delayed rewards has primarily been measured in children with the delay of gratification task and in adolescents and adults with the delay discounting task. In the present study, we assessed the suitability of the delay discounting task as a measure of temporal discounting in children. A sample of 7‐ to 9‐year‐olds ( N = 98) completed a delay discounting task, a delay of gratification task, a sensation seeking measure, and…
The prevalence of specific learning disorder in mathematics and comorbidity with other developmental disorders in primary school-age children
Mathematics difficulties are common in both children and adults, and they can have a great impact on people's lives. A specific learning disorder in mathematics (SLDM or developmental dyscalculia) is a special case of persistent mathematics difficulties, where the problems with maths cannot be attributed to environmental factors, intellectual disability, or mental, neurological or physical disorders. The aim of the current study was to estimate t…
Planning in young children: A review and synthesis
Cue competition effects and young children’s causal and counterfactual inferences
The authors examined cue competition effects in young children using the blicket detector paradigm, in which objects are placed either singly or in pairs on a novel machine and children must judge which objects have the causal power to make the machine work. Cue competition effects were found in a 5- to 6-year-old group but not in a 4-year-old group. Equivalent levels of forward and backward blocking were found in the former group. Children's cou…
Temporal Decentering and the Development of Temporal Concepts
This article reviews some recent research on the development of temporal cognition, with reference to Weist's (1989) account of the development of temporal understanding. Weist's distinction between two levels of temporal decentering is discussed, and empirical studies that may be interpreted as measuring temporal decentering are described. We argue that if temporal decentering is defined simply in terms of the coordination of the temporal locati…
Feminism And The New Crisis In Methodology
As Time Goes By
Published in 1955, Personal Influence is a study of how middle America made political and consumer decisions in small primary groups and how ordinary people were both influenced and influencing. The Vietnam War challenged the paradigm as a new generation of scholars turned to larger units—state and society—and the power the media might have in reinforcing class structure. Part II of this article examines the application of the paradigm in voting …
Children's Reasoning About the Causal Significance of the Temporal Order of Events
Four experiments examined children's ability to reason about the causal significance of the order in which 2 events occurred (the pressing of buttons on a mechanically operated box). In Study 1, 4-year-olds were unable to make the relevant inferences, whereas 5-year-olds were successful on one version of the task. In Study 2, 3-year-olds were successful on a simplified version of the task in which they were able to observe the events although not…
Memory and Temporal Perspective: The Role of Temporal Frameworks in Memory Development
Fetal Syndromes and the Charter: The Winnipeg Glue-Sniffing Case
The relationship between scientific knowledge and legal discourse is raised once again by a recent decision of the Supreme Court of Canada, a case involving a young Aboriginal woman who was pregnant and ordered by the court to remain in a drug treatment program at a health center until the baby was born. Her glue-sniffing habit was deemed dangerous to the normal development of the fetus. The Court held that her solvent-dependency did not justify …
Developmental changes in time estimation: Comparing childhood and old age
Participants from ages 5 to 99 years completed 2 time estimation tasks: a temporal generalization task and a temporal bisection task. Developmental differences in overall levels of performance were found at both ends of the life span and were more marked on the generalization task than the bisection task. Older adults and children performed at lower levels than young adults, but there were also qualitative differences in the patterns of errors ma…
The Druggists' Dilemma: Problems of a Marginal Occupation
Pharmacy, a marginal occupation between business and profession and currently undergoing major economic and technological changes, creates identification problems for its traines. Findings based on a questionnaire given to a group of pharmacy students suggest a general pattern of conflict avoidance, idealizing both small business protected from competition and medical careers. Comparison with Hatt-North data indicate greater prestrige given to me…
Exploring people’s beliefs about the experience of time
Philosophical debates about the metaphysics of time typically revolve around two contrasting views of time. On the A-theory, time is something that itself undergoes change, as captured by the idea of the passage of time; on the B-theory, all there is to time is events standing in before/after or simultaneity relations to each other, and these temporal relations are unchanging. Philosophers typically regard the A-theory as being supported by our e…
Military Experience and Attitudes Toward Authority
The effect of military experience on attitudes toward authority was measured by testing a group of Air Force cadets in their first week of training and again one year later and by comparing populations with varying periods of military experience. Contrary to expectation, authoritarianism and orientation toward superiors decrease with increasing military experience. The principal measures used were the F-scale measure of authoritarian personality …
The Motivation of Radicals
Assumptions about motication are implicit in theories of social chang. Who deviates from established political, social, and economic norms and why are basic problems for an analysis of social movements. A critical review of studies of the political deviant suggests that though the data are incomplete for any final appraisal, it is type of personality which characteristically urgs reforms. The major weakness of the studies is that thy ignore the s…
Temporal Decentering and the Development of Temporal Concepts
This article reviews some recent research on the development of temporal cognition, with reference to Weist's (1989) account of the development of temporal understanding. Weist's distinction between two levels of temporal decentering is discussed, and empirical studies that may be interpreted as measuring temporal decentering are described. We argue that if temporal decentering is defined simply in terms of the coordination of the temporal locati…
Children's Reasoning About the Causal Significance of the Temporal Order of Events
Four experiments examined children's ability to reason about the causal significance of the order in which 2 events occurred (the pressing of buttons on a mechanically operated box). In Study 1, 4-year-olds were unable to make the relevant inferences, whereas 5-year-olds were successful on one version of the task. In Study 2, 3-year-olds were successful on a simplified version of the task in which they were able to observe the events although not…
Developmental changes in time estimation: Comparing childhood and old age
Participants from ages 5 to 99 years completed 2 time estimation tasks: a temporal generalization task and a temporal bisection task. Developmental differences in overall levels of performance were found at both ends of the life span and were more marked on the generalization task than the bisection task. Older adults and children performed at lower levels than young adults, but there were also qualitative differences in the patterns of errors ma…
Hollywood's Prizefight Films: Violence or 'Jock' Appeal
Many psychological experiments on aggression use prizefight films as their stimuli. This paper questions the use of such films for studies of media agression. Examining prizefight films from 1939 to 1982, it is suggested that they are primarily about 'jock' appeal rather than violence. Jock appeal is defined as male narcissism, and the 'jock' is contrasted with the professional athlete who must be a thinker and organizer as well as a doer. Hollyw…
The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Socialism
The Struggle for Recognition. The Moral Grammar of Social Conflicts
Culture and the State
The new criticism and the sick role
Poverty in Canada: The Croll Report and Its Critics1
Intellectuals and the Mass Media
Examining children's ability to delay reward: Is the delay discounting task a suitable measure
Discounting the value of delayed rewards has primarily been measured in children with the delay of gratification task and in adolescents and adults with the delay discounting task. In the present study, we assessed the suitability of the delay discounting task as a measure of temporal discounting in children. A sample of 7‐ to 9‐year‐olds ( N = 98) completed a delay discounting task, a delay of gratification task, a sensation seeking measure, and…
The prevalence of specific learning disorder in mathematics and comorbidity with other developmental disorders in primary school-age children
Mathematics difficulties are common in both children and adults, and they can have a great impact on people's lives. A specific learning disorder in mathematics (SLDM or developmental dyscalculia) is a special case of persistent mathematics difficulties, where the problems with maths cannot be attributed to environmental factors, intellectual disability, or mental, neurological or physical disorders. The aim of the current study was to estimate t…
Fetal Syndromes and the Charter: The Winnipeg Glue-Sniffing Case
The relationship between scientific knowledge and legal discourse is raised once again by a recent decision of the Supreme Court of Canada, a case involving a young Aboriginal woman who was pregnant and ordered by the court to remain in a drug treatment program at a health center until the baby was born. Her glue-sniffing habit was deemed dangerous to the normal development of the fetus. The Court held that her solvent-dependency did not justify …
The Sexual ContractCarole Pateman Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1988, pp. xi, 264
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Public Policies and Reproductive Technology: A Feminist Critique
Toward a Nonsexist Perspective on Social and Political Change
Folk culture and the mass media
Black students in North American Universities calling for 'soul' courses and the official recognition of dialect speech; small underdeveloped nations fearing the cultural encroachment of 'Americanization'; policy makers wishing to protect village traditions of handicraft from the technology of factory production; planners advocating decentralization and the preservation of regional or neighbourhood groups; minority ethnic group leaders attempting…
The Motivation of Radicals
Assumptions about motication are implicit in theories of social chang. Who deviates from established political, social, and economic norms and why are basic problems for an analysis of social movements. A critical review of studies of the political deviant suggests that though the data are incomplete for any final appraisal, it is type of personality which characteristically urgs reforms. The major weakness of the studies is that thy ignore the s…
The Motivation and Role of a Propagandist
Journal Article The Motivation and Role of a Propagandist Get access Thelma Herman McCormack Thelma Herman McCormack Columbia University Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Social Forces, Volume 30, Issue 4, May 1952, Pages 388–394, https://doi.org/10.2307/2572338 Published: 01 May 1952
The Druggists' Dilemma: Problems of a Marginal Occupation
Pharmacy, a marginal occupation between business and profession and currently undergoing major economic and technological changes, creates identification problems for its traines. Findings based on a questionnaire given to a group of pharmacy students suggest a general pattern of conflict avoidance, idealizing both small business protected from competition and medical careers. Comparison with Hatt-North data indicate greater prestrige given to me…
Military Experience and Attitudes Toward Authority
The effect of military experience on attitudes toward authority was measured by testing a group of Air Force cadets in their first week of training and again one year later and by comparing populations with varying periods of military experience. Contrary to expectation, authoritarianism and orientation toward superiors decrease with increasing military experience. The principal measures used were the F-scale measure of authoritarian personality …
Anxiety and Persuasion
Journal Article Anxiety and Persuasion Get access THELMA MCCORMACK, THELMA MCCORMACK Michigan State University Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar FREDERICK ELKIN, FREDERICK ELKIN Michigan State University Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar WILLIAM A. WESTLEY WILLIAM A. WESTLEY Michigan State University Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Schol…
Canada's Royal Commission on Broadcasting
This is a special review of the report of the Royal Commission on Broadcasting on its examination of television and radio in Canada
Social Theory and the Mass Media
This paper is an attempt to offer a functional theory of the mass media, and to suggest criteria for evaluating the media which emerge from it-criteria which are not taken from other disciplines or from the technology of the media. First, the present stage of communications research is considered; second, the contributions of Marx and Freud; and third, an alternative hypothesis is suggested. Urban sociologists ought to be parties to any discussio…
Social Change and The Mass Media
Les organes qui assurent les communications de masse peuvent‐ils maitriser les tendances totalitaires de la société de masse? L'auteur propose un modèle opérationnel pour l'analyse de cette question. Elle situe le noeud du problème comme étant la manifestation de change‐ments dans le rapport entre le journalisme politique et les institutions politiques. La nature de ce lien est cruciale pour que les organes de communication exercent leur fonction…
Intellectuals and the Mass Media
The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Socialism
Folk culture and the mass media
Black students in North American Universities calling for 'soul' courses and the official recognition of dialect speech; small underdeveloped nations fearing the cultural encroachment of 'Americanization'; policy makers wishing to protect village traditions of handicraft from the technology of factory production; planners advocating decentralization and the preservation of regional or neighbourhood groups; minority ethnic group leaders attempting…
Poverty in Canada: The Croll Report and Its Critics1
The Politics of the Family and Other Essays
Toward a Nonsexist Perspective on Social and Political Change
Mass Communication: A Sociological Perspective
The Mind Managers
Machismo in Media Research: A Critical Review of Research on Violence and Pornography
Two areas of media research, pornography and violence, are examined with a view to accounting for their discrepant findings, i.e. the effects of pornography are innocuous while those of violence are serious and warrant censorship. Both sets of research are characterized by sexist biases in the way problems are conceptualized and in their research designs. Drawing on a related field, studies of humour, I suggest that reference group theory could e…
Machismo in Media Research: A Critical Review of Research on Violence and Pornography
Sex, Violence and the Media. H. J. Eysenck , D. K. B. Nias
Good theory or just theory? Toward a Feminist Philosophy of Social Science
The new criticism and the sick role
Studies in Communications: A Research Annual, Vol. 1: 1980
Culture and the State
Hollywood's Prizefight Films: Violence or 'Jock' Appeal
Many psychological experiments on aggression use prizefight films as their stimuli. This paper questions the use of such films for studies of media agression. Examining prizefight films from 1939 to 1982, it is suggested that they are primarily about 'jock' appeal rather than violence. Jock appeal is defined as male narcissism, and the 'jock' is contrasted with the professional athlete who must be a thinker and organizer as well as a doer. Hollyw…
Media Power Politics. David L. Paletz , Robert M. Entman
Sociology (39 works) · Political science (38 works) · Psychology (37 works) · Law (28 works) · Social Psychology (21 works) · Law (16 works) · Computer Science (15 works) · Politics (15 works) · Cognitive psychology (14 works) · Developmental psychology (14 works)