'You can criticise because you care': Identification, constructiveness, and the intergroup sensitivity effect

Group criticisms judged to be reasonable in the mouth of an ingroup member are aggressively rejected when they stem from an outgroup member (the intergroup sensitivity effect). Mediational analyses suggest that this phenomenon is underpinned by an attributional bias; criticisms from insiders are more likely to be perceived as being motivated for constructive reasons than are criticisms from outsiders, thus arousing lower levels of defensiveness. But what if group members were to receive information that called into question the ingroup critic's commitment to the group? For example, if the ingroup critic was known to be a low identifier with their group, or used language to suggest that they were psychologically distancing themselves from their group, we might expect that ingroup critics will be downgraded as strongly as outgroup critics. Furthermore, it might be possible for people to turn an outgroup criticism into an ingroup criticism by making salient their shared identity at the superordinate level. Three experiments are described that provide support for each of these propositions.

Constructing a class of designs with proportional balance

Text serves as a sequel to 'Computational and Constructive Design Theory,' c1996; containing research papers and surveys of recent research work on design construction and computer-aided study of designs. For researchers in theory of computational designs.

Some factors affecting diagnostic accuracy

Diagnosis involves a complex and overlapping series of steps, each of which may be a source of error and of variability between clinicians. This variation may involve the ability to elicit relevant information from the client or animal, in the accuracy, objectivity and completeness of relevant memory stores, and in psychological attributes including tolerance for uncertainty and willingness to engage in constructive self-criticism. The diagnostic acumen of an individual clinician may not be constant, varying with external and personal factors, with different clients and cases, and with the use made of tests. In relation to clients, variations may occur in the ability to gain their confidence, to ask appropriate questions and to evaluate accurately both verbal and nonverbal responses. Tests may introduce problems of accuracy, validity, sensitivity, specificity, interpretation and general appropriateness for the case. Continuing effectiveness as a diagnostician therefore requires constant attention to the maintenance of adequate and up-to-date skills and knowledge relating to the animals and their diseases and to tests, and of sensitive interpersonal skills.

Thue's theorem and the diophantine equation x2 - Dy2 = ±N

A constructive version of a theorem of Thue is used to provide representations of certain integers as x(2) - Dy-2, where D = 2, 3, 5, 6, 7.

Practical scheme for quantum computation with any two-qubit entangling gate

Which gates are universal for quantum computation? Although it is well known that certain gates on two-level quantum systems (qubits), such as the controlled-NOT, are universal when assisted by arbitrary one-qubit gates, it has only recently become clear precisely what class of two-qubit gates is universal in this sense. We present an elementary proof that any entangling two-qubit gate is universal for quantum computation, when assisted by one-qubit gates. A proof of this result for systems of arbitrary finite dimension has been provided by Brylinski and Brylinski; however, their proof relies on a long argument using advanced mathematics. In contrast, our proof provides a simple constructive procedure which is close to optimal and experimentally practical.

"It's OK if we say it, but you can't": responses to intergroup and intragroup criticism

Three experiments were conducted examining group members' responses to criticism from ingroup and outgroup members. In Experiment I a, Australians read scripts of a person making either negative or positive comments about Australia. The speaker was identified as coming from either Australia (ingroup member) or another country (outgroup member). Responses indicated an intergroup sensitivity effect; that is, while ingroup criticisms were tolerated surprisingly well, outgroup criticisms were met with sensitivity and defensiveness. This pattern was replicated using the identity of,university student' (Experiment 1b). Experiment 2 demonstrated that the intergroup sensitivity effect is driven by perceptions that ingroup criticisms are seen to be more legitimate and more constructive than are outgroup criticisms. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for intragroup and intergroup relations. Copyright (C) 2002 John Wiley Sons, Ltd.