THE JAPANESE MEANING OF WORK AND SMALL GROUP ACTIVITIES IN JAPANESE INDUSTRIAL ORGANIZATIONS

Japan has modernized itself by using Western countries as its model of development. Japanese management is, however, not necessarily an imitation of European or American management. It is unique and deeply rooted in the tradition of Japanese society, which has nourished such practices as periodic recruitment of employees, life-time employment, seniority wage system and company unions. In this paper, the meaning of Japanese working life, work motivation and values will be discussed first. This is followed by a review of Japanese manager—employee relations from the standpoint of the author's PM leadership theory. Finally, organizational development experience in the Nishitetsu Railroad Company and the Mitsubishi Shipyard will be presented to illustrate intervention schemes in solving accident and safety problems with special reference to leadership development and small group activities.     

TOWARD AN EVOLUTIONARY ECOLOGY OF MEANING

Abstract. I will discuss some of the implications of the ongoing Darwinian revolution for theology as a constructor and interpreter of human meaning. Focus will be directed toward the following issues: How should we best understand ourselves in the new, evolutionary cosmos? What are the problems with the kind of genetic reductionism espoused by neo-Darwinism? How are those problems resolved by the “relational” understanding of life made available by thermodynamics and ecology? How do we generate meaning-structures in this relationally-constituted cosmos? Finally, how do these developments enrich our understandings of responsibility—to each other and to our private conceptions of God?     

WHAT MAKES EXTINCTION WORK: AN ANALYSIS OF PROCEDURAL FORM AND FUNCTION

We examined methods for determining how extinction should be applied to different functions of self-injurious behavior (SIB). Assessment data indicated that the head banging of 3 children with developmental disabilities was maintained by different reinforcement contingencies: One subject's SIB was positively reinforced by attention from adults, the 2nd subject's SIB was negatively reinforced by escape from educational tasks, and the 3rd subject's SIB appeared to be automatically reinforced or “self-stimulatory” in nature. Three functional variations of extinction—EXT (attention), EXT (escape), and EXT (sensory)—were evaluated, and each subject was exposed to at least two of these variations in reversal or multiple baseline designs. Reductions in SIB were observed only when implementation of “extinction” involved the discontinuation of reinforcement previously shown to be responsible for maintaining the behavior. These results highlight important differences among treatment techniques based on the same behavioral principle (extinction) when applied to topographically similar but functionally dissimilar responses, and further illustrate the practical implications of a functional analysis of behavior disorders for designing, selecting, and classifying therapeutic interventions.     

小学高年級学生参加农业劳动中所表現的一些心理特点的初步分析

一、問題的意义和研究的方法 党的教育方針提出后,全国学校普遍地存在着一个新的問題:如何組織学生参加生产劳动,如何把参加生产劳动和对学生的教育工作結合起来。 我們的这一項工作是想分析一下小学高年級儿童参加农业劳动过程中,表現在劳动情况本身、认識劳动中的行为准則、評价自己和別人的劳动情况当中的一些特点,从而对如何通过参加生产劳动对小学高年級儿童进行思想教育提供一些材料。 我們选定北京市蓝靛厂小学的五年級二班作实驗班,与学校合作,共同进行研究。     

THE INTERACTION OF ABILITY AND MOTIVATION IN PERFORMANCE: AN EXPLORATION OF THE MEANING OF MODERATORS1

It was hypothesized that one possible explanation of moderator effects is that they are due to different degrees of homogeneity with respect to a causal variable among different subgroups. This hypothesis was tested in a laboratory experiment in which performance was predicted from ability using motivation as the moderator. Ability was measured with a work sample and motivation was varied by assigning goals with different degrees of difficulty and specificity. It was found that ability predicted performance better in groups which were homogeneous with respect to motivation that in those which were motivationally heterogeneous. A moderated regression analysis showed that most of the differential validity was reducible to main effects, but significant interaction effects were found. One of them was caused by the fact that in one low motivation condition the variance in performance was reduced, thus decreasing the slope of the regression line.     

THE NORMATIVITY OF MEANING

Philosophical Studies -     

THE ELUSIVENESS OF POETIC MEANING

Various aspects of poetic meaning are discussed, centred on the relation of form and content. A C Bradley's thesis of form-content identity, suitably reformulated, is defended against criticisms by Peter Kivy. It is argued that the unity of form-content is not discovered in poetry so much as demanded of it when poetry is read 'as poetry'. A shift of emphasis from talking about 'meaning' in poetry to talking about 'content' is promoted, as is a more prominent role for 'experience' in characterising responses to poetry and its value. It is argued that the key to poetic meaning lies less in a theory of meaning, more in a theory of poetry, where what matters are modes of reading poetry. Content-identity in poetry is said to be 'interest-relative' such that no absolute answer, independent of the interests of the questioner, can determine when a poem and a paraphrase have the same content. Interpretation of poetry need not focus exclusively on meaning, but on ways in which the experience of a poem can be heightened.     

THE MEANING OF MS.

When Ms. was first introduced as an alternative to Miss or Mrs. it was perceived as a radical feminist innovation. Today, its use is unremarkable, even normative. This study examines two aspects of the meaning of Ms.: changes in its connotative meaning over time, and its current comparability to other titles. Female (n = 83) and male (n = 54) college students rated courtesy titles (Ms., Miss, Mrs., Mr.) on a set of bipolar adjective pairs composing a semantic differential scale in an exact replication of a 1978 study. Of the four titles, the largest change in meaning over time was for Ms., and the direction of the change was positive. These results document the social assimilation of a new gender-related concept.     

AN ANALYSIS OF THE REINFORCING PROPERTIES OF HAND MOUTHING

Hand mouthing often has been described as a stereotypic response that is maintained by non-social (automatic) reinforcement; however, data supporting this conclusion can be found in relatively few studies. This series of studies presents an experimental analysis of conditions associated with the maintenance of hand mouthing. In Experiment 1, a functional analysis was conducted for 12 individuals who engaged in chronic hand mouthing to determine whether the behavior is usually maintained independent of social contingencies. Results obtained for 10 subjects were consistent with an automatic reinforcement hypothesis; the remaining 2 subjects' hand mouthing was maintained by social-positive reinforcement. Based on these results, Experiment 2 was designed to identify the specific reinforcing properties of hand mouthing. Each of 4 subjects was provided with a toy that substituted for hand mouthing, and preference for a specific topography of toy manipulation (hand-toy contact or mouth-toy contact) was measured. Results indicated that hand stimulation was the predominant reinforcer for all subjects. Experiment 3 provided an extension of Experiment 2 in that the same responses were measured across a variety of toys presented to each of 5 subjects. Results again indicated that hand stimulation was the predominant reinforcer for all subjects. Implications of these results are discussed with relevance to treatment.     

试析现代西方心理学的文化转向

西方心理学正在展现出对文化影响日渐增加的关注。这种文化转向既有科学哲学和历史的原因,也受到世界范围内心理学本土化运动的影响。文化转向的主要表现是：(1)对心理学自然科学模式的反思与诘难;(2)多元文化心理学的兴起;(3)跨文化心理学面临的批评及其转变;(4)认知心理学、发展心理学和健康心理学等分支领域对文化影响的关注。作者认为,文化的转向对于西方心理学的发展具有积极的意义。     

微山湖区儿童智力状况分析

本文依据环境与儿童智力发展关系的理论对微山湖区船、陆两地生活的2318名5～16岁儿童少年进行了智力状况调查。并对其中298名儿童进行了较详细的影响因素调查,发现生长、生活在陆地儿童的智商明显高于生长、生活在船上的儿童,又一次证实了生活环境对儿童智力发展有直接影响.