Sorting between dimensions: conditions of cognitive flexibility in preschoolers

The Dimensional Change Card Sorting task frequently is used to measure extradimensional shifting abilities in preschool children. In two studies, we investigated what makes this extradimensional shifting task difficult. In Study 1 with 61 2- to 4-year-olds, we showed that extradimensional shifts from one dimension to another are more difficult than reversal shifts within a dimension (even with irrelevant variation on a second dimension). Study 2 with 77 3- and 4-year-olds further confirmed this finding using a computerized paradigm and showed that sorting instructions are critical for 3-year-olds' difficulties with extradimensional shifts. This finding is taken to suggest that 3-year-olds have particular problems with spontaneously classifying one object in two different ways.     

The influence of psychological flexibility on work redesign: mediated moderation of a work reorganization intervention

This quasi-experiment tested the extent to which an individual characteristic, psychological flexibility, moderated the effects of a control-enhancing work reorganization intervention in a call center. Results indicated that, compared with a control group, this intervention produced improvements in mental health and absence rates, particularly for individuals with higher levels of psychological flexibility. Findings also showed that these moderated intervention effects were mediated by job control. Specifically, the intervention enhanced perceptions of job control, and hence its outcomes, for the people who received it, especially for those who had greater psychological flexibility. Discussion highlights the benefits of understanding the processes (e.g., mediators, moderators, and mediated moderators) involved in work reorganization interventions.     

Soteriological dimensions in the work of Heinz Kohut

A framework of theological inquiry is utilized to illuminate soteriological dimensions implicit in Heinz Kohut's psychology of the self as expressed in his most recent work,The Restoration of the Self. Kohut's new formulations involve the unfolding of a saving approach that through its broad application seeks to overcome “the psychological danger that puts the psychological survival of modern Western man into the greatest jeopardy.” The theological inquiry employed asks: What is the essential nature of man? How has man fallen away from his essential self? By what means is he to be saved from his broken condition? Kohut's implicit and explicit “answers” are summarized by dealing with four cardinal issues in his book: definitions of the self: the relationship of a psychology of the self to other psychologies; theory concerning the selfs structure, development, and restoration; and the centrality of the empathic response.     

Negative priming is stronger for task-relevant dimensions: Evidence of flexibility in the selective ignoring of distractor information

The finding that in selective attention tasks responses to previously ignored stimuli are usually retarded is known as negative priming (NP). In previous studies it has been suggested that NP can depend on behavioural goals—that is, NP was observed only for task-relevant object dimensions. We extend these findings with two experiments demonstrating that stronger NP can be observed for task-relevant dimensions than for task-irrelevant dimensions (a) even if participants' tasks vary blockwise within an experiment and (b) if behavioural goals vary from trial to trial. These results suggest that selective NP is a much more flexible process than previously assumed.     

The dimensions of career and work orientation in college women

The purpose of this study was to clarify the meaning of the construct, career orientation. Fourteen presumed measures of career orientation as well as Super's Work Values Inventory were administered to college women. Analysis of the relationships among these variables identified two relatively independent clusters. The first cluster most closely approximated the usual definition of career orientation. Career-oriented women were found to be highly career motivated and perceived the career role as primary in their adult lives. The second cluster was called work orientation. This orientation characterized women with well-defined occupational aspirations who placed a high value on both the career role and marriage-family responsibilities in their future. Work-oriented women tended to choose traditionally feminine occupations in contrast to the career-oriented women whose aspirations included higher level and less traditional occupations.     

Suicidal behavior and cognitive flexibility: design and verbal fluency after attempted suicide

Aspects of problem solving were measured in nine male psychiatric patients, hospitalized after attempted suicide. Testing took place within 3 weeks (except for one patient) of the suicide attempt. Controls were patients with chronic idiopathic pain and healthy volunteers. Suicidal patients had significantly lower scores on general intellectual tests and in verbal and design fluency. No differences in problem solving (the Perceptual Maze Test and the Wisconsin Card-Sorting Test) and flexibility (the Uses of Objects Test and the Stroop Test) were found. The results are interpreted as indicating a decreased ability of suicidal patients to generate new ideas, when no alternatives are provided.     

When flexibility helps: Another look at the availability of flexible work arrangements and work-family conflict

Despite the positive press given to flexible work arrangements (FWA), empirical research investigating the link between the availability of these policies and work-family conflict is largely equivocal. The purpose of the present study was to begin to reconcile these mixed results through more precise measurement and the examination of moderators. Using a sample of employed women, we found that FWA relate more highly to work interference with family (WIF) than to family interference with work (FIW) and that temporal flexibility (flextime) has a stronger relationship with WIF than does spatial flexibility (flexplace). Additionally, we found family responsibility significantly moderated these relationships, such that the relationship was stronger for those with greater family responsibility. Practical and theoretical implications are discussed.     

Basic psychological needs and work motivation: A longitudinal test of directionality

Most work-related studies of self-determination theory (SDT) have focused either on satisfaction of basic psychological needs or on types of work motivation when studying motivational processes at work. The few studies that have considered both mechanisms have usually assumed that satisfaction or frustration of basic psychological needs is a prerequisite of different types of work motivation. Nevertheless, the directionality of this relation has not been explicitly tested in previous studies of the workplace. The current study explored the relations among managerial need support, basic psychological need satisfaction at work, and work motivation. It tested competing sets of hypotheses regarding the directionality of these three core constructs within SDT’s model of work motivation. A longitudinal analysis suggested that managerial need support was positively directly related to basic psychological need satisfaction but not directly related to work motivation. Further, results indicated that basic psychological need satisfaction was related to work motivation over time and not the other way around. In addition, it was found an indirect relation between in managerial need support and in work motivation through in basic psychological need satisfaction. These findings have important implications for future SDT research testing process models in the workplace.     

Tenure, satisfaction, and work environment flexibility of people with mental retardation

In the Theory of Work Adjustment (TWA), Dawis and Lofquist (1984) hypothesize that Employee satisfaction (ES) and flexibility of the work environment moderate the functional relationship between satisfaction in the work environment (WS) and the correspondence between job requirements and employees’ abilities. In addition, they hypothesize that tenure in a job is a joint function of ES and WS. This Person-Environment Fit framework has not been tested to support job placements of candidates with mental retardation (CMR), except for Melchiori and Church (1997), whose results partially support other aspects of the TWA. Fifty-two CMR were placed in 53 natural work settings. In total, 61 matches based on commensurate measures were made and data were collected for 16 weeks after job placement. Results show that ES is a mediator while flexibility of the work environment is not. ES and WS together contribute to predict tenure.     

Integrating motivational, social, and contextual work design features: a meta-analytic summary and theoretical extension of the work design literature

The authors developed and meta-analytically examined hypotheses designed to test and extend work design theory by integrating motivational, social, and work context characteristics. Results from a summary of 259 studies and 219,625 participants showed that 14 work characteristics explained, on average, 43% of the variance in the 19 worker attitudes and behaviors examined. For example, motivational characteristics explained 25% of the variance in subjective performance, 2% in turnover perceptions, 34% in job satisfaction, 24% in organizational commitment, and 26% in role perception outcomes. Beyond motivational characteristics, social characteristics explained incremental variances of 9% of the variance in subjective performance, 24% in turnover intentions, 17% in job satisfaction, 40% in organizational commitment, and 18% in role perception outcomes. Finally, beyond both motivational and social characteristics, work context characteristics explained incremental variances of 4% in job satisfaction and 16% in stress. The results of this study suggest numerous opportunities for the continued development of work design theory and practice.     

Towards new work arrangements: The case of telecommuting

Telecommuting is an example of novel ways of organizing work now being implemented in technologically advanced nations. It is the major industrialized countries that have provided the circumstances and the incentives to experiment with new approaches. These approaches were created within, and co‐exist with these models of social organization. They also embrace some elements that undermine basic tenets of industrial models. Telecommuting is discussed below as an example of newly evolving work arrangements which illustrates the interplay of tensions between existing models of work organization and innovative ways of ordering tasks. This paper is based upon graduate research in Rural Extension. The conceptual framework was created by synthesizing material from interdisciplinary sources and primary data collection included in‐depth interviews with key informants engaged in telecommuting.     

Influences of cognitive complexity on the dimensions underlying perceptions of the work environment

The literature on cognitive processes suggests that individuals differ in the dimensions they use to describe the work environment and thus the behavioral implications they attach to characteristics of that environment. Using the technique described by Bem and Allen (1974), navy enlisted personnel were separated into subgroups with high, medium, and low cognitive complexity scores. Responses about perceived characteristics of the work environment produced six components for the high complexity group versus four for the low group. Questions about supervisor behaviors, role characteristics, and work group interactions yielded similar dimensions for all groups, although differences were found for responses about macroorganizational characteristics. Significant but low relationships were found between complexity scores and global indices of job performance.This article is Report Number 79-2, supported by Naval Medical Research and Development Command, Department of the Navy, under Research Work Unit MF58.524.022-0011. The views presented are those of the authors. No endorsement by the Department of the Navy has been given or should be inferred.     

Categorical flexibility in children: Distinguishing response flexibility from conceptual flexibility; the protracted development of taxonomic representations

This research explored the development of children's use of multiple conceptual organizations (thematic, taxonomic) in sorting sets of pictures. Experiment 1 revealed that between 5 and 9 years, two forms of categorical flexibility can be distinguished: response and conceptual flexibility. It appeared that children's multiple sorts do not necessarily reflect the use of different conceptual organizations. Such a lag was mainly due to a difficulty in accessing taxonomic representations, specifically in the younger age groups. Therefore, Experiment 2 investigated the development of taxonomic representations using an original approach requiring participants to decide whether new items could be included into an existing taxonomic sort. This approach showed that taxonomic representations were only gradually differentiated from thematic and perceptual ones over the 5 to 10 years period. The discussion raises new hypotheses about the interaction between developing executive control (specifically, increasing resistance to interference of irrelevant information) and increasing conceptual knowledge in accounting for the development of conceptual flexibility.     

Transitioning between work and family roles as a function of boundary flexibility and role salience

This study investigates the manner in which people separate their work and family roles and how they manage the boundaries of these two important roles. Specifically, we focus on how role flexibility and salience influence transitions between roles. Results indicate that the ability and willingness to flex a role boundary and role salience are important predictors of transitions between roles. The joint effects of role flexibility and salience on transitions provided interesting results regarding the importance of role boundary flexibility and of the increasing importance attached to the family role. Limitations, suggestions for future research, and implications are discussed.     

A harbor seal can transfer the same/different concept to new stimulus dimensions

We investigated the formation of an abstract concept of same/different in a harbor seal by means of a two-item same/different task. Stimuli were presented on a TFT monitor. The subject was trained to respond according to whether two horizontally aligned white shapes presented on a black background were the same, or different from each other, by giving a no-go or go response. Training comprised of four stages. First, the same/different task was trained with two shapes forming two same problems (A–A and B–B) and two different problems (A–B and B–A). After the learning criterion was reached, training proceeded with new pairs of shapes. In the second experimental stage, every problem was presented just five times before new problems were introduced. We showed that training to criterion with just two shapes resulted in item-specific learning, whereas reducing the number of presentations to five per problem led to the formation of a same/different learning set as well as some restricted relational learning. Training with trial-unique problems in the third stage of this study resulted in the formation of an abstract concept of same/different which was indicated by a highly significant performance in transfer tests with 120 novel problems. Finally, extra-dimensional transfer of the concept was tested. The harbor seal showed a significantly correct performance on transfer tests with 30 unfamiliar pattern and 60 unfamiliar brightness same/different problems, thus demonstrating that the concept is not restricted to the shape dimension originally learned, but can be generalized across stimulus dimensions.