INVESTIGATION OF EMPIRICALLY DERIVED PRISONER VALUES

• NCJ Number: 18943
• Author(s): R J UNDERWOOD
• Date Published: 1967
• Length: 123 pages
• Sale Source: UMI Dissertation Services
• Publication Type: Thesis/Dissertation
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: DISSERTATION - PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY

Annotation

INVESTIGATION OF THE UTILITY OF THE CONCEPT OF VALUES FOR THE DESCRIPTION AND CLASSIFICATION OF PRISONERS USING 80 MALE INMATES AT THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION AT ROCKVIEW.

Abstract

THE STUDY WAS CARRIED OUT IN THREE MAJOR PARTS, DEALING WITH THE GENERATION OF A POOL OF PRISONER VALUE STATEMENTS, THE IDENTIFICATION OF PRISONER VALUE TYPES, AND THE COMPARISON OF PRISONER VALUES WITH THOSE OF COLLEGE STUDENTS. IN PART ONE, A LARGE POOL OF VALUE WHICH THEY FELT ARE IMPORTANT IN THE CONDUCT OF LIFE. FROM THIS POOL, 73 DIFFERENT STATEMENTS WERE IDENTIFIED WHICH WERE THEN ADMINISTERED UNDER INSTRUCTIONS TO SORT THEM ALONG A DIMENSION OF IMPORTANCE. PRISONER VALUES AND STUDENT VALUES WHICH HAD BEEN IDENTIFIED BY A SIMILAR PROCEDURE WERE COMPARED BY USING VALUE STATEMENTS FOUND TO BE HELD IN COMMON BY BOTH POPULATIONS, AS A BASIS FOR CORRELATING THE FACTORS OF THE RESPECTIVE GROUPS. RESULTS INDICATE THAT PRISONERS' VALUES ARE IN GENERAL SOCIALLY POSITIVE, ENCOMPASSING SUCH POPULAR THEMES AS GOD, COUNTRY AND COMMUNITY, WHILE EXCLUDING THE MORE POLITICAL, HUMANITARIAN AND PHILOSOPHICAL VALUES. (AUTHOR ABSTRACT)