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At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1999

Conservatism and defense style.

The dynamic theory of conservatism suggests that conservatism can be described as an ego-defensive behavior. Furthermore, the theory of defense style suggests that defensive behaviors are revealed in individuals' attitude structures. The present study was designed to examine the relationship between conservatism and defense style. Measures of conservatism, anal personality traits, and defense style were completed by 238 university students (103 men, 134 women, 1 unidentified). The measure of anal personality traits was included to replicate factors previously discovered with similar conservatism measures. A principal components analysis with oblimin rotation indicated that conservatism and anal personality traits loaded alongside mature defense style. The findings suggest that conservatism can be located within the theoretical model of defense style. However, it is suggested that the match between liberal attitudes and mature defense style be investigated in future research.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1995

Risk assessment: the default conservatism controversy.

EPA cancer risk assessment rests heavily on defaults. Defaults are a reduction of science to generic principles selected as a policy matter on the basis of "conservatism" for use in risk assessment. Conservatism is understood to mean a choice to avoid underestimating risk. The recent report of the National Academy of Sciences (1994) has turned the spotlight on the controversy regarding the use of generic principles as defaults and whether conservatism is the appropriate value criterion for their selection. Defaults had their origin in the early 1970s and the debate has continued regarding the scientific basis for the defaults and whether a conservatism, a value that the NAS said is "beyond science," is appropriate as a basis for the policy choices. This paper briefly examines the CAPRA recommendations to reduce the reliance on defaults, the history of the default conservatism controversy, and EPA's initial draft response to the CAPRA recommendations.

Animals↗

PubMed2001

The niche of higher plants: evidence for phylogenetic conservatism.

A species' ecological niche depends on the species' adaptations to its present habitat, but also on the legacy from its ancestors. Most authors argue that such a phylogenetic niche conservatism is of minor importance, although no quantitative analyses across a major taxon is available. Higher plants from central Europe offer a unique opportunity for such an exercise, as the niche positions along various environmental gradients are available for most species. We quantified niche conservatism by two approaches. First, we used a phylogenetic tree and quantified the degree of retention of niches across the tree. Depending on the gradient, the values ranged from 0.43 to 0.22. This was significantly greater than the null expectation. Second, we used a taxonomy and quantified the amount of variance among species that could be explained at higher taxonomic levels. The values ranged from 25 to 72%. Again, this was significantly higher than the null expectation. Thus, both approaches indicated a clear niche conservatism. The distribution of conservatism across taxonomic levels differed considerably among environmental gradients. The differences among environmental gradients could be correlated with the palaeoenvironmental conditions during the radiation of the phylogenetic lineages. Thus, niche conservatism among extant plant species may reflect the opportunities of their ancestors during their diversification.

Biological Evolution↗

PubMed1994

Measures of compounding conservatism in probabilistic risk assessment.

Concern about the degree of uncertainty and potential conservatism in deterministic point estimates of risk has prompted researchers to turn increasingly to probabilistic methods for risk assessment. With Monte Carlo simulation techniques, distributions of risk reflecting uncertainty and/or variability are generated as an alternative. In this paper the compounding of conservatism between the level associated with point estimate inputs selected from probability distributions and the level associated with the deterministic value of risk calculated using these inputs is explored. Two measures of compounded conservatism are compared and contrasted. The first measure considered, F, is defined as the ratio of the risk value, Rd, calculated deterministically as a function of n inputs each at the jth percentile of its probability distribution, and the risk value, Rj, that falls at the jth percentile of the simulated risk distribution (i.e., F = Rd/Rj). The percentile of the simulated risk distribution which corresponds to the deterministic value, Rd, serves as a second measure of compounded conservatism. Analytical results for simple products of lognormal distributions are presented. In addition, a numerical treatment of several complex cases is presented using five simulation analyses from the literature to illustrate. Overall, there are cases in which conservatism compounds dramatically for deterministic point estimates of risk constructed from upper percentiles of input parameters, as well as those for which the effect is less notable. The analytical and numerical techniques discussed are intended to help analysts explore the factors that influence the magnitude of compounding conservation in specific cases.

Algorithms↗

PubMed1977

Conservatism, openness to experience and sample bias.

Two experiments were conducted to examine the relationship between conservatism and openness to experiences. In Study I, the responses of 64 males and 60 females to the Conservatism Scale and the Coan (1972) Experience Inventory were correlated. For the total sample, conservatism was significantly related to the total score of the Experience Inventory plus six of seven of the component scales. Study II examined the relationship between conservatism and the expressed willingness to volunteer for certain psychological experiments that were assumed to require more openness. Subjects were 91 males and 114 females from introductory psychology classes. High conservative subjects were less willing to volunteer for the experiments that required more openness as compared to low conservative subjects. These results were discussed in the context of volunteer bias in psychological research.

Attitude↗

PubMed1991

Conservatism in maximally exposed individual (MEI) predictive exposure assessments: a first-cut analysis.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) sometimes applies exposure assessment models based upon the concept of a hypothetical "maximally exposed individual" (MEI) as a means of dealing with uncertainty. This concept has been described in the benzene NESHAPS rule, the proposed RCRA Corrective Action Rule, and the Clean Air Act reauthorization debate. This paper describes a first-cut analysis of the level of conservatism of the current MEI approach relative to a central estimate of exposure of the most exposed population around a source. The inherent level of conservatism of the current MEI model, which appears to be at least one order of magnitude, is usually left unstated. The significance of this conservatism is described along with some proposals for future research.

Benzene↗

PubMed2003

Political conservatism as motivated social cognition.

Analyzing political conservatism as motivated social cognition integrates theories of personality (authoritarianism, dogmatism-intolerance of ambiguity), epistemic and existential needs (for closure, regulatory focus, terror management), and ideological rationalization (social dominance, system justification). A meta-analysis (88 samples, 12 countries, 22,818 cases) confirms that several psychological variables predict political conservatism: death anxiety (weighted mean r = .50); system instability (.47); dogmatism-intolerance of ambiguity (.34); openness to experience (-.32); uncertainty tolerance (-.27); needs for order, structure, and closure (.26); integrative complexity (-.20); fear of threat and loss (.18); and self-esteem (-.09). The core ideology of conservatism stresses resistance to change and justification of inequality and is motivated by needs that vary situationally and dispositionally to manage uncertainty and threat.

Cognition↗

PubMed1999

Conservatism of ecological niches in evolutionary time

Theory predicts low niche differentiation between species over evolutionary time scales, but little empirical evidence is available. Reciprocal geographic predictions based on ecological niche models of sister taxon pairs of birds, mammals, and butterflies in southern Mexico indicate niche conservatism over several million years of independent evolution (between putative sister taxon pairs) but little conservatism at the level of families. Niche conservatism over such time scales indicates that speciation takes place in geographic, not ecological, dimensions and that ecological differences evolve later.

Journal Article↗

PubMed1975

Test of the validity of the Wilson-Patterson Conservatism Scale.

The conservatism construct has previously proved predictive of social and psychological dimensions having both practical and theoretical relavance. Its potential, however, has typically been limited by measurement imprecision due principally to the use of lengthy and potentially ambiguous verbal statements subject to either intentional or unintentional response bias. Wilson and Patterson's recently developed Conservatism Scale (C-scale) is intended to obviate the more critical sources of bias inherent in the traditional conservatism measures. In an extended test of the C-scale's validity, the present study finds 12 categories of "known groups" scoring as theoretically expected, and further shows C-scale scores consistently and significantly correlated with eight theoretically related dimensions.

Adult↗

PubMed2003

Religiosity and conservatism revisited: relating a new religiosity measure to the two main conservative political ideologies.

The relation between the two religiosity dimensions which Wulff (1997) described (Exclusion vs Inclusion of Transcendence and Literal vs Symbolic) and two conservative political ideologies (Cultural and Economic Conservatism) was investigated in a sample of 714 students, a heterogeneous sample of 262 adults, and a sample of 301 religiously affiliated adults gathered in Flanders (Belgium). Both Exclusion vs Inclusion of Transcendence and Literal vs Symbolic were expected to relate only to Cultural Conservatism. Analysis supported these hypotheses, providing further evidence for the close association between religiosity and Cultural Conservatism and the validity of the Post-Critical Belief scale as a measure of Wulff's dimensions of religiosity.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1993

Nature, nurture, and conservatism in the Australian Twin Study.

Church attendance, educational level, and six conservatism scales were the subject of a multivariate behavior-genetic analysis by Truett et al. (Behav. Genet. 22, 43-62, 1992), based on responses from a large sample of adult Australian twins. These data are here analyzed in a different way to elicit general conservatism factors in the genetic, shared environmental, and unshared environmental covariation. The general genetic factor appears mainly to reflect intellectual sophistication; the general environmental factors, religious affiliation. These factors are similar, although not identical, for men and women.

Adult↗

PubMed1993

Selective conservatism in the management of penetrating abdominal bull-gore injuries.

In a retrospective analysis it was found that not all patients with penetrating bull-gore injuries of the abdomen need exploration by formal laparotomy. A policy of selective conservatism was followed in the management of 18 out of 20 patients with bull-gore injuries of the abdomen in whom peritoneal breach was established either on presentation or by digital exploration of the wound. Formal laparotomy was reserved for specific clinical indications. Out of the 18 cases, 14 (78 per cent) were successfully treated non-operatively with wound excision, simple closure of the wound, and careful repeated clinical evaluation. There was no mortality in this group. Four cases (22 per cent) were explored; three of these had indications for exploration on presentation and the fourth was explored 4 days after admission. The latter was the only death that occurred in the series; the cause of death was probably pulmonary embolism. Omental and/or bowel evisceration occurred in 11 out of 18 cases (61 per cent). However, this was not considered an indication for exploration and all 11 cases were treated by simple replacement of omentum or bowel into the abdominal cavity. Penetrating abdominal bull-gore injuries can be managed safely by a policy of selective conservatism, reserving formal laparotomy for specific clinical indications.

Abdominal Injuries↗

PubMed1980

Aging and conservatism: cohort changes in attitudes about legalized abortion.

Cohort changes in attitudes about the availability of legal abortions are traced over a twelve year period using data from seven national surveys. Contrary to the aging-conservatism hypothesis, trends in the direction of increasingly favorable attitudes between 1965 and 1973 and general stability thereafter characterize all cohorts. On this issue, there is no evidence of growing conservatism, attitudinal rigidity, or change at a slower rate among the older cohorts.

Abortion, Legal↗

PubMed1976

Conservatism as a determinant of sexual experiences.

An examination of the relationship of conservatism to reports of sexual experiences and reasons for nonparticipation was conducted using 64 male and 50 female introductory psychology students. Conservatism was found to be inversely related to the frequency and variety of sexual behaviors. High conservative subjects gave the reason that it was morally wrong more often than any other reason for not engaging in coital activities and more intimate forms of petting. Results were in accord with previous research and were interpreted as supporting the notion that the fear of loss of control of one's impulses and hence the basis for conservative attitudes are determinants of sexual experiences.

Attitude↗

PubMed1989

Conservatism of Israeli junior high school students: interethnic differences.

The aims of the study were (a) to establish the factor structure characterizing Israeli junior high school students of Western and Oriental ethnic origin on the Children's Scale of Social Attitudes, (b) to compare the Israeli factor structure with those for school children from other societies, and (c) to examine whether the Israeli school children's factor structure resembled those for Israeli adults as well as for adults from other societies. Analysis indicated that Israeli junior high school children from both Western and Oriental ethnic groups were characterized by similar factors of general conservatism, namely, Religion, Antihedonism, and Punitiveness, although the Orientals were more conservative on these factors than the Westerners. In addition, the present factor structure resembled those for groups of school children as well as adults from other societies, reconfirming that factors of general conservatism have cross-cultural validity.

Child↗

PubMed1976

Path analysis of parents' conservatism toward sex education of their mentally retarded children.

The authors investigated three probable reasons why parents of mentally retarded children would be opposed to sex education being offered as a school subject: general sexual attitudes, specific sexual attitudes, and prejudices against the retarded child's own sexuality. A questionnnaire was given to 60 parents of retarded children and 62 parents of nonretarded children. A correlation analysis revealed evidence of all three kinds of reasons and led to a causal model of conservatism on sex education. A path analysis revealed that (a) sexual prejudices are a major obstacle to sex education, and (b) each group of parents represents a specific dynamic of conservatism on sex education. Means of pedagogical intervention to modify parents' attitudes toward sex education of handicapped children were discussed.

Attitude↗

PubMed2000

Conservatism in pesticide exposure assessment.

Three important factors are commonly encountered in exposure assessment that when combined could overestimate the exposure to pesticides by as much as two orders of magnitude. The three factors discussed are dermal absorption from laboratory animal studies, daily dose extrapolated from partial day monitoring, and nonbolus dose from dermal or inhalation exposure. Conservatism built into the process by each of these three factors is substantiated with available empirical data. The dose overestimation from these factors varies discriminatively by exposure scenarios and peculiarities of a given chemical. It is for this reason that a generic overestimation factor cannot be ascribed. Following the empirical illustrations, the authors conclude that the most effective approach for dealing with the problem is to generate the most appropriate data possible. This means producing human rather than laboratory animal dermal absorption data, conducting full-day exposure monitoring studies, and whenever feasible generating dermal rather than oral toxicology data (or alternatively data on both oral and dermal pharmacokinetics) in those cases where the dermal route predominates.

Animals↗

PubMed1981

Conservatism of the H-Y/H-W receptor.

Soluble H-Y antigen is taken up by cells of the homogametic gonad of cattle, dog, chicken and South African clawed frog. After in vitro exposure to mouse testis supernatant or male fetal calf serum, XX ovary cells or ZZ testis cells, which are normally H-Y-, acquire the H-Y+ (H-W+) phenotype and absorb mouse H-Y antibody in standard serological assays. In addition, H-Y antigens of the different species can compete for attachment to target cells of a single species. In a new competitive binding radioassay, uptake of tritiated human H-Y is blocked in XX bovine fetal ovarian cells exposed to non-labeled H-Y of mouse or fetal bull. Because of H-Y antigens of the different species are cross-reactive serologically, positive reaction of H-Y from one species with gonadal cells of another signifies structural conservatism of the H-Y/H-W gonadal "receptor". It follows that establishment of the H-Y/H-W-receptor complex is a common and critical early event in primary sex differentiation of the vertebrates, directing the initially indifferent embryonic gonad towards the heterogametic mode, which may be testicular or ovarian, depending on the species.

Animals↗