Ordinal position learning and remote anticipation

Rats were runway trained on each of two 3-trial series of reward outcomes. The series are labeled XNY and ZNN, for which X represents a trial that was rewarded with Noyes pellets and N represents a trial that ended with no reward. Units of distinctively flavored breakfast cereals served as reward on trials labeled Y and Z. One group (Floor) had each series occur with a correlated runway floor, either smooth and black or rough and white. For a second group (Memory), the floor cue was uncorrelated with series. Animals in both groups learned to approach the goal rapidly on the 1st trials of the 2 series and slowly on the 2nd trials, but only Group Floor learned to differentiate the 3rd trials of the series. These results recommend a view of serial learning that emphasizes the role played by information about the ordinal position of series items.     

Narcissism and career success: Occupational self-efficacy and career engagement as mediators

Narcissism is a personality trait that has potentially important effects on career development outcomes, yet empirical research on this issue is sparse. The present study explored the relationships between narcissism and two indicators of career success (i.e., salary and career satisfaction) among a group of young professionals (N = 314). We assessed a model proposing that the effect of narcissism on career success is mediated by increased occupational self-efficacy beliefs and career engagement. While correlations between narcissism and the two indicators of career success were minimal, the results showed a significant indirect effect on salary via occupational self-efficacy and indirect effects on career satisfaction via self-efficacy and career engagement. We discuss the results regarding insights into why narcissism may lead to career success.     

Linking calling to work engagement and subjective career success: The perspective of career construction theory

Drawing on career construction theory, this study examined the relationship between calling and work engagement and subjective career success (i.e., career satisfaction) and the mediating role of career adaptability with a sample of 832 Chinese employees. Results from a time-lagged survey study showed that: (1) calling (measured at time 1) positively related to an employee's career adaptability, work engagement, and career satisfaction (measured at time 2), and (2) career adaptability mediated the relationship between calling and work engagement and career satisfaction. Based on the findings, theoretical and practical implications of this study and directions for future research are discussed.     

Ordinal Position Learning and Remote Anticipation

Rats were runway trained on each of two 3-trial series of reward outcomes. The series are labeled XNY and ZNN, for which X represents a trial that was rewarded with Noyes pellets and N represents a trial that ended with no reward. Units of distinctively flavored breakfast cereals served as reward on trials labeled Y and Z. One group (Floor) had each series occur with a correlated runway floor, either smooth and black or rough and white. For a second group (Memory), the floor cue was uncorrelated with series. Animals in both groups learned to approach the goal rapidly on the 1st trials of the 2 series and slowly on the 2nd trials, but only Group Floor learned to differentiate the 3rd trials of the series. These results recommend a view of serial learning that emphasizes the role played by information about the ordinal position of series items.     

Ordinal consistency and ordinal true scores

This paper argues that test data are ordinal, that latent trait scores are only determined ordinally, and that test data are used largely for ordinal purposes. Therefore it is desirable to develop a test theory based only on ordinal assumptions. A set of ordinal assumptions is presented, including an ordinal version of local independence. From these assumptions it is first shown that the gamma-correlation between two tests is the product of their gamma-correlations with the true latent order. The theory is generalized to allow for heterogeneous tests by defining a weighted average local independence. The tau-correlations between total score and the latent order can be found in both homogeneous and heterogeneous cases, and a system of differential item weighting to maximize the tau-correlation between weighted items and the latent order is provided. Thus a purely ordinal test theory seems possible.Part of this work was done while the author was a Visiting Fellow at Macquarrie University. The paper has benefitted from discussions with Professors Thomas J. Reynolds and Roderick P. McDonald and from the comments of several anonymous reviewers.     

Innovations in marriage counseling

Love is the result of reciprocity of one's deepest desires and needs (DDN) being met to a reasonable degree. Marriage is the legalizing of the relationship, with the understanding that the contract to satisfy each other is binding and modifiable from time to time. Marital therapy proceeds in an orderly and logical fashion. The mutual complaints are listed in some detail. To reduce the list as much as possible is the goal of therapy. Some complaints are learned to be ignored, others require confrontation. If comfort is not achieved with these options, separation or divorce is the most frequently used option and calls for RET techniques to reduce reliance on neurotic methods. Several strategies crucial to facilitate change are discussed.     

Supervision in marriage counseling

Abstract

The objective of this research was to explore the impact of having a schizophrenic sibling. Fourteen siblings, aged 24 to 46, were interviewed. As a group, the subjects were functioning at high levels of adjustment. All had had a period in late adolescence in which they were separated from their families in surroundings that facilitated personal growth. Among older subjects, there followed a period of reinvolvement, including assuming responsibility for the ill sibling. Guilt was a predominant emotion in their lives. Variations in the intensity of guilt were most often related to ordinal position. Younger siblings, particularly if same-sexed, expressed guilt over being well, whereas older siblings expressed guilt over earlier sibling rivalry.