EMPLOYEE AFFECTIVE RESPONSES TO ORGANIZATIONAL STRESS: MODERATING EFFECTS OF JOB CHARACTERISTICS

This research examines (a) the relative importance of each of three role variables—role conflict, ambiguity, and overload—as sources of stress and dissatisfaction among managerial-level personnel, and (b) the moderating effects of job enrichment characteristics on the relationships between role stressors and intrinsic job satisfaction, involvement, and anxiety. Data were collected from a sample of 89 managerial personnel of a large, heavy-equipment manufacturing company in the Midwest. Results show that role ambiguity has the strongest relationships with role responses in the predicted directions. Further, significant interactions are obtained between each of role ambiguity and role overload, but not role conflict, and job characteristics. The two role stressors tend to be more aversive for individuals on low-enriched rather than high-enriched jobs. Implications of the findings for work design and the management of stress are discussed.     

AN ANALYSIS OF AND INTERVENTION IN THE SEXUAL TRANSMISSION OF DISEASE

Sexually transmitted diseases are a serious threat to the public health. Indeed, when an individual seeks medical treatment for a sexually transmitted disease, health authorities frequently attempt to identify, procure, and treat that individual's sexual contact(s). We conducted a comparative analysis of three alternative approaches to tracing the sexual partners of individuals diagnosed as having a sexually transmitted disease. The first approach involved counseling individuals (n = 27) infected with either gonorrhea or nongonococcal urethritis and exhorting them to procure their sexual partners for treatment. In addition to counseling, the second and third approaches involved distributing “occasion cards” for patients to use when informing sexual contacts of the need for treatment. Moreover, in the second approach, the counselor (a nurse or physician) informed infected patients (n = 19) that they and their partners could waive the $3 clinic fee contingent upon the partners seeking treatment within 1 week. In the third approach, the counselor asked infected persons (n = 19) to accept a follow-up telephone contact if their sexual partners failed to seek treatment within 1 week. The third approach was most effective. Ninety percent of the partners identified through this approach sought treatment, versus only about 60% of the partners in the other two conditions. The third approach was also the least expensive, costing about $2.95 to procure each partner for treatment.     

THE EFFECTS OF FRAME OF REFERENCE ON RESPONSES TO QUESTIONS ABOUT SEXUAL ASSAULT VICTIMIZATION AND PERPETRATION

Self-reports of sexual assault are affected by a variety of factors including the number of questions, question phrasing, and context. Participants (307 women, 166 men) were randomly assigned to one of two forms of a questionnaire. One form had the tactics used to obtain forced sex as the initial frame of reference, whereas the other form had the type of sex that was forced as the initial frame of reference. Seventy-five percent of the women who received the tactics-first version reported that they had at least one victimization experience since the age of 14, as compared to 62% of the women who received the type-of-sex-first version. Sixty-nine percent of the men who received the tactics-first version reported that they had at least one perpetration experience since the age of 14, as compared to 36% of the men who received the type-of-sex-first version. These findings have implications for how questionnaires should be designed to maximize reporting of sexual assault incidents.     

THE MODERATING EFFECTS OF ACTIVITY LEVEL AND LOCUS OF CONTROL IN THE PERSONAL CONTROL-JOB STRESS RELATIONSHIP

The present study examines the moderating effects of two personality types in the personal control-job stress relationship. Individuals with a high activity level and belief in powerful others (dimension of external locus of control) had the strongest negative relationship between personal control and psychological anxiety. In addition, individuals with a high belief in chance or fate (dimension of external locus of control) had the strongest negative relationship between personal control and pulse rate. The findings suggest that employees with a high activity level and/or external locus of control benefit the most from having control over their work environment.     

ACQUISITION OF EXPRESSIVE SIGNING BY AUTISTIC CHILDREN: AN EVALUATION OF THE RELATIVE EFFECTS OF SIMULTANEOUS COMMUNICATION AND SIGN-ALONE TRAINING

Two methods of training autistic children to use manual signs were compared. Two children, one mute and one capable of some verbal imitation, were taught to use signs as expressive labels for pictures of objects. Using an alternating treatments design, speed of sign acquisition was compared across two training conditions in which signs were presented either accompanied by, or without, the corresponding verbal label. In both conditions, the training procedure incorporated reinforcement, modeling, prompting, fading, and stimulus rotation. The efficacy of training in both treatment conditions was demonstrated by the use of a multiple baseline control across signs, but no clear differences in acquisition speed across conditions were apparent. Posttests conducted to assess stimulus control of signing, and learning of verbal labels when these were present in training, showed that the behavior of the imitative, but not the mute, child was controlled by the verbal stimuli. The implications of the results both for understanding deficits characteristic of autistic children and for developing appropriate language training procedures are discussed.     

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN THE THEOLOGY OF INTERRELIGIOUS DIALOGUE: FROM SOTERIOLOGICAL OPENNESS TO HERMENEUTICAL OPENNESS

In this article I will reflect on interreligious dialogue and the tensive relation between openness and identity from a theological perspective. First, I consider the so‐called theology of religions and the threefold soteriological typology of exclusivism, inclusivism and pluralism. Second, I address one of the main criticisms of this approach, namely that the soteriological approach amounts to a perversion of the virtue of openness. This critique is articulated especially within particularism, a model which sets out to move beyond the soteriological fixation of the classical theology of religions. Because this relatively new model has not yet been analyzed systematically in the relevant literature, I will analyze some of its main tenets. I focus especially on the way this model sets out to alter the terms of the discussion on the dialogical tension between openness and commitment by claiming that hermeneutical openness should precede soteriological appreciation. Third, I turn to comparative theology as a fertile expression of particularism. Comparative theology presents itself as a genuinely adequate way to understand and appreciate the otherness of the religious other without losing sight of one's own identity. Moreover, comparative theology gives a new twist to the discussion on the dialogical tension between openness and commitment. Whereas the classical theology of religions seems to be actuated by the conviction that it is both possible and necessary to come to a final and definite soteriological appreciation of the religions, comparative theology sees interreligious encounter first and foremost as an ongoing conversational process, which can yield preliminary results only. It is my contention that this marks the nature of real and authentic dialogue.     

THE EFFECTS OF CONFLICT AND STRESS ON SEXUAL AND AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOUR IN MALE MICE

LAGERSPETZ, K. & HYVARINEN, S. The effects of conflict and stress on sexual and aggressive behaviour in male mice. Scand. J. Psychol. , 1071, 12, 119–127. –A conflict consisting in a conditioned response performed in order to drink, coupled with electric shocks, did not affect aggressive and sexual behaviour in a neutral environment. Conditioning only or shocks only also did not have any effects. When tested in the shuttle box, the groups showed differences in behaviour. A generally higher level of activation was shown by the experimental groups. The results are discussed in terms of the concept of 'experimental neurosis'.     

UNDERSTANDING REACTIONS TO JOB REDESIGN: A QUASI-EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF THE MODERATING EFFECTS OF ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT ON PERCEPTIONS OF PERFORMANCE BEHAVIOR

Redesigning jobs from a traditional workgroup structure to a semi-autonomous team structure has become increasingly popular, but the impact of such redesigns on employee effectiveness criteria has been mixed. The present longitudinal quasi-experimental study showed that although such a redesign had positive effects on 3 performance behaviors (effort, skill usage, and problem solving), its effectiveness also depended on aspects of the organizational context. In conditions where the organizational reward and feedback and information systems were effective, redesigning work into a semi-autonomous team structure had no discernible effect on performance behaviors. In conditions where these systems were poor, however, such a redesign produced large positive benefits. This suggests that work redesigns that enhance worker autonomy are most effective in contexts where other supportive management systems are absent.     

STAYING IN THE CLOSET VERSUS COMING OUT: RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN COMMUNICATION ABOUT SEXUAL ORIENTATION AND WORK ATTITUDES

The threat of job discrimination causes many gay men and lesbians to keep their sexual orientation secret at work. This study investigates the relationships between extent of communication about sexual orientation and critical work attitudes. We hypothesize that "closeted" gay workers will experience more negative work attitudes than will either "openly" gay or heterosexual workers. The sample consisted of 900 lesbian, gay, and heterosexual workers identified from the mailing list of a civil rights group focused on homosexual rights. The hypothesis is supported for affective organizational commitment, job satisfaction, belief in support of top management, role ambiguity, role conflict, and conflict between work and home issues, but not for continuance commitment. Although causal relationships are not specified, we conclude that work attitude levels of gay and lesbian workers are predicted in part by the amount of communication about their sexual orientation in which these workers engage.     

THINKING ABOUT FEELINGS: WORKING WITH THE STAFF OF AN EATING DISORDERS UNIT

I would like to share with colleagues some thoughts about the fascinating and disturbing states of mind and body that I found when working in an Eating Disorders Unit, and try both to describe and to think further about how these impact on the work of the staff and upon my task.

Some recurrent themes are: splitting and projection, showing up in many areas as either/or states of mind, which can affect the whole team at times; the refusal to let anything in, which seems linked to disastrous unconscious muddles between food and love, love and hate, etc; a great unconscious terror that, given the slightest acknowledgment, need will emerge as greed; horror of fatness, and body dysmorphic confusions; enactment in place of feeling/thinking; antagonism to change and growth.

Despite common themes and ways of behaving that can make these patients seem superficially very alike, it is their differences that are so striking; it seems clear that there is unlikely to be a single identifiable precursor. We have to keep reminding ourselves that the search for meanings is not always the same as seeking after causes, and that neither is the same as blame, often a difficult balance to hold where splitting is so prevalent a defence.     

SELF-PERCEPTION IN WRITING: THE EFFECTS OF WRITING WORKSHOP AND TRADITIONAL INSTRUCTION ON INTERMEDIATE GRADE STUDENTS

This study compared the self-perception - specifically in terms of writing - of fourth- and fifth-grade students whose teachers used a writingworkshop approach with those whose teachers used a traditional approach. The measure used was the Writer Self-Perception Scale (Bottomley, Henk, & Melnick, 1997/1998). No significant differences were found between the scores of students who had been taught by the two teaching approaches. The findings of this study suggest that individual teachers are more important than strategies or approaches in affecting the writer self-perception of intermediate-grade children.     

ADAPTABILITY TO CHANGING TASK CONTEXTS: EFFECTS OF GENERAL COGNITIVE ABILITY, CONSCIENTIOUSNESS, AND OPENNESS TO EXPERIENCE

We examined the extent to which cognitive ability, Conscientiousness, and Openness to Experience predict decision-making performance prior to and after unforeseen changes in the task context. Seventy-three undergraduates made decisions on a series of 75 problems during a 3-hour computerized simulation. Unbeknownst to participants, the rules used in determining correct decisions changed after problems 25 and 50. Effects of the individual differences on decision-making performance became significantly stronger after the changes. Only cognitive ability explained variance in prechange performance. Individuals with higher cognitive ability made better decisions. After the change, the cognitive ability effect increased and the effects of Conscientiousness and Openness became statistically significant. As expected, those with high Openness made better decisions. Unexpectedly, those with low Conscientiousness made better decisions. Subsequent analyses revealed that this surprising effect for Conscientiousness was due to the traits reflecting dependability (i.e., order, dutiful-ness, deliberation) rather than volition (i.e., competence, achievement striving, self-discipline).     

GENERALIZED LANGUAGE LEARNING BY CHILDREN WITH SEVERE MENTAL RETARDATION: EFFECTS OF PEERS' EXPRESSIVE MODELING

In this study, we investigated the conditions that contribute to observational learning of generalized language in children with severe mental retardation. Matrix-training strategies were used to teach 6 children with mental retardation to combine known words into two- or three-word utterances consistent with syntactic rules. Subsequently, the children learned two or more unknown words concurrently, inducing word-referent relations consistent with these word order rules. Generalized learning of responses not taught directly was shown to be under experimental control using a multiple baseline design across submatrices. Expressive modeling of only four or five responses was sufficient to promote recombinative generalization in the expressive and receptive modalities. Thus, 95% to 98% of subjects' learning was attributed to generalization processes. This study demonstrates how the efficiency of language training with children with mental retardation might be enhanced by coupling observational learning and matrix-training strategies.     

THE EFFECTS OF VIDEO MODELING ON STAFF IMPLEMENTATION OF A PROBLEM‐SOLVING INTERVENTION WITH ADULTS WITH DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES

We investigated the effects of video modeling on the percentage of correctly implemented problem‐solving steps by staff in a group home for adults with developmental disabilities, using a nonconcurrent multiple baseline design across participants. The treatment consisted of staff watching a video model demonstrating the correct implementation of a problem‐solving intervention (i.e., teaching clients to identify problems, possible solutions, and consequences to each solution, and to choose the best solution). The percentage of correctly implemented problem‐solving steps increased for all participants, and the effect was maintained over time, generalized to novel problems, and generalized from role play with a researcher to actual clients.     

CAREER SELF-MANAGEMENT: A QUASI-EXPERIMENTAL ASSESSMENT OF THE EFFECTS OF A TRAINING INTERVENTION

A growing trend is to encourage employees to become actively involved in the management of their own careers. Career self-management, the degree to which one regularly gathers information and plans for career problem solving and decision making, includes two main behaviors: developmental feedback seeking and job mobility preparedness. Although career self-management training is a commonly used employer intervention to re-socialize individuals to increase their own career management activity, it is rarely rigorously evaluated. Relying on an expectancy theory framework, the goal of this study was to evaluate the general effects of career self-management training using a quasi-experimental design. Based on data from several hundred professionals at a major U.S. employer, the results showed formal training efforts were generally not successful in resocializing people to engage in career self-management activities, and when done as an isolated human resource strategy, decreased trainees' likelihood of engaging in career self-management behaviors. To the extent that Time 2 expectancy perceptions got worse, the results showed that an individual's attitudes toward feedback seeking mediated the relationship between the training intervention and the level of preparation for job mobility conducted 6-8 months following the training.     

INTIMATE PARTNER VIOLENCE AND INFANT SOCIOEMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT: THE MODERATING EFFECTS OF MATERNAL TRAUMA SYMPTOMS

The aim of the present study was to investigate the impact of intimate partner violence (IPV) on infant regulatory difficulties at 3 months of age and infant socioemotional problems at 12 months of age. Maternal trauma symptoms were explored as potential moderators of these associations. Participants included 120 primarily low‐income, ethnically diverse women and their infants. Results revealed that infants whose mothers experienced IPV during pregnancy did not have significantly more regulatory difficulties at 3 months than did infants whose mothers did not experience prenatal IPV. However, infants whose mothers experienced IPV during the first year after birth displayed significantly more socioemotional problems at 12 months, as evidenced by both maternal report and observational data. Furthermore, maternal posttraumatic stress avoidance symptoms served as a moderator of the association between prenatal IPV and infant regulatory difficulties at 3 months whereas maternal posttraumatic stress hyperarousal and reexperiencing symptoms served as moderators of the association between IPV during the first year after birth and infant socioemotional problems at 12 months. The findings highlight the detrimental impact that IPV can have on very young children and the importance of maternal trauma symptoms as a context for understanding the effect of IPV on young children's functioning.     

NATURAL SELECTION AND THE PROBLEM OF EVIL: AN EVOLUTIONARY MODEL WITH APPLICATION TO AN ANCIENT DEBATE

Abstract. Since Darwin, scholars have contemplated what our growing understanding of natural selection, combined with the fact that great suffering occurs, allows us to infer about the possibility that a benevolent God created the universe. Building on this long line of thought, I develop a model that illustrates how undesirable characteristics of the world (stylized “evils”) can influence long‐run outcomes. More specifically, the model considers an evolutionary process in which each generation faces a risk from a “natural evil” (e.g., predation, disease, or a natural disaster) subsequent to a basic resource allocation game. This allows both resource allocation and the natural evil to influence the number of surviving offspring. As the model shows, when the risk from the natural evil can be mitigated through the benevolent behavior of neighbors, the population may have increasing benevolence as a result of (1) greater risk from the natural evil and (2) a greater degree to which selfish individuals transfer resources to themselves in the resource allocation game. The main implication is that a world with evolutionary processes (in contrast to a world of static design) can allow two factors that have traditionally been considered “evils”—namely, the indiscriminate cruelty of the natural world and the capacity for humans to harm each other—to promote desirable long‐run outcomes.