INDIVIDUAL NEEDS AND SOCIAL CONSENSUS

The United States today is faced with a crisis of the liberal system stemming from a shortage of resources and ideas. Liberalism assumes that there will always be enough resources to meet all needs and that politics consists of the struggle of interest groups for resources to meet their particular needs. Liberalism is wrong on both counts: there are not enough resources and there is a common good which includes all particular needs properly understood. We must now revise our ideas and institutions in order to make the common good attainable. Various changes in ideas and institutions toward that end are suggested.     

NEEDS AND NEED SATISFACTION AMONG CLERICAL WORKERS IN COMPLEX AND ROUTINE JOBS

Reliable measurement of needs and need satisfaction on Maslow's hierarchy is possible. Clerical employees (mainly female) indicated a high need for self-actualization and autonomy. In this respect they are similar to lower level managers described by Porter (1962) and women described by Jurgensen (1949). There was no substantial difference in need satisfaction patterns between clerical employees in routine jobs and those in more complex clerical jobs. Similarly, no difference was found in the motivation of these two groups. It was concluded that jobs which appear to management as higher in responsibility and complexity, and which are commonly viewed as promotions, may not always provide additional satisfactions in self-actualization, autonomy, or esteem. This study focused on the importance of defining accurately what constitutes job enlargement. An increase in variety and responsibility does not necessarily result in increasing higher order need satisfaction or motivation. How much job enlargement makes a difference in these variables is still open to question and must be the subject of further investigation.     

CONGRUENCE OF WORK-RELATED NEEDS AND ABILITIES: TRANSITIONAL PSYCHIATRIC PATIENTS AND NORMALS1

Work-related needs and abilities appear to be significant factors in the vocational adjustment of psychiatric patients. When vocationally oriented patients were compared to a carefully matched normal sample, the patients were found to have significantly less agreement between their work needs and their work abilities. Although no difference was found to exist between the work needs of the patients and the matched normals, the work-related abilities of the patients were distinctly lower than those of the normal population, implying that the appropriate focus of vocational rehabilitation counseling is the augmentation of patient assets. Persons most likely to have incongruity vocationally between their needs and abilities are male psychiatric patients, aged 24 to 36, who have less than a high school education.     

MALE AND FEMALE PERSONAL SPACE NEEDS AND ESCAPE REACTIONS UNDER INTRUSION: A TURKISH SAMPLE

Two experiments were conducted to determine the personal space needs of Turkish males and females, and their reactions to intruders of this space in same- and opposite-sex pairings. In experiment 1, the seating distances were measured for 32 male and 32 female undergraduate students on a bench already occupied by another person of either the same or opposite sex in a bogus experiment on line judgements. In experiment 2, 60 male and 60 female library users were observed under three conditions; (a) intrusion, (b) no-intrusion, and (c) control. The results of both studies indicated that female subjects used larger distances when paired with a person of the opposite sex, and got up to leave their seats more often and earlier in the condition of intrusion by a male than a female. In same-sex pairings, males were found to use somewhat larger distances and react faster to intrusions than females, but the differences between the two sexes did not reach statistical significance.     

THE DEPENDENCY NEEDS AND PERCEIVED AVAILABILITY AND ADEQUACY OF RELATIONSHIPS IN FEMALE ADOLESCENT SUICIDE ATTEMPTERS

Traditional theories about female adolescent suicide attempters view them as experiencing difficulty in achieving adequate separation-individuation. However, recent work on female adolescence suggests that achieving greater interdependency within relationships rather than increased independence from them is an important goal for nonclinical nonsuicidal female adolescents. We investigated both dependency needs and the perceived availability and adequacy of relationships in 21 female adolescent attempters and 23 nonattempters. Dependency needs did not significantly differentiate suicide attempters from nonattempters. Attempters, however, did report both a smaller social network and fewer intimate relationships than nonattempters, as well as less satisfaction with these relationships. These preliminary results suggest that more research is required to establish whether dependency needs are indeed causally related to the female adolescents' suicide attempts. Future research should also investigate other risk factors such as relational dissatisfaction, familial suicide attempts, and abuse.     

NARCISSISM AND CONCERN: THE RELATIONSHIP OF SELF-OBJECT NEEDS AND NARCISSISTIC SYMPTOMS WITH HEALTHY AND PATHOLOGICAL CONCERN

While concern and narcissism seem to be contradictory in nature, clinical evidence and theoretical writings on pathological forms of concern—tracing their origin to deficiencies in early relationships with primary caretakers—suggest that the actual relationship between these two characteristics might be much more complicated. We respond to a study aimed to add empirical data to the clinical and theoretical knowledge examined the relationships between self-object functions, types of narcissism and pathological concern. The findings of the study showed that pathological concern was positively associated with self-object needs and that this association was mediated by covert narcissism. Our discussion focuses on the developmental and psychodynamic sources of pathological concern, as well as its significance in the intrapersonal and interpersonal domains.     

OPPRESSED CONDITIONS AND THE MENTAL HEALTH NEEDS OF LOW-INCOME BLACK WOMEN:

No abstract available for this article.     

A PSYCHOLOGICAL NEEDS ANALYSIS OF MALE AND FEMALE SEX TRAIT STEREOTYPES IN MALAYSIA

As part of a cross-cultural project, 100 Malaysian university students completed Gough and Heilbrun's (1965) Adjective Check List to assess existing stereotypes of males and females. After the construction of 100 item stereotypes for males and females the data were analyzed in terms of Murray's (1938) personality theory of psychological needs. Analysis revealed that the male “personality” reflected high needs in autonomy, aggression and exhibition, but low needs for deference and nurturance. By contrast, female needs were strong in succorance and abasement but weak in dominance. These results were contrasted with those of 21 other countries and findings discussed in terms of Malaysia's multi-racial composition and influence of traditional customs and religious beliefs.     

A COMPARISON OF THE MANIFEST PSYCHOLOGICAL NEEDS OF EMPLOYMENT SERVICE COUNSELING AND OFFICE MANAGERS

The purpose of this study was to determine if there are significant differences in manifest psychological needs between office managers and counselors employed by the Minnesota Department of Employment Security. A sample of 21 office managers and 21 counselors were paired according to the agency office they worked in. The Edwards Personal Preference Schedule was used to measure manifest needs and results were analyzed by use of the paired t test statistic. The results indicated that seven of the fifteen variables showed a significant difference between the two groups. Counselors had a significantly higher mean average for autonomy, change, and heterosexuality while their office managers had significantly higher mean needs for deference, order, abasement, and endurance. The continued study of manifest need hierarchies was proposed as a basis for understanding, in part, the dynamics of the role interplay of various agency positions.