Financial and practical implications of counselling psychology training: A student survey

It is common knowledge that students make considerable sacrifices in order to pursue a course of study, and there is no reason to belive that counselling psychology trainees are any differnt in this regrd. The results are presented of a survey of 56 postgraduate students in the greater London area which addressed some of the practical and financial implications of counselling psychology training. While none of the respondents was registered on a BPS recognised course, the majority intended to become Chartered Counselling Psychologists. Many t rainees had considerable debts as a consequence of having to pay tution fees, for personal psychological counselling and in some cases to for the supervision of their practical work with clients. Most trainees found that they had to set up their own practice placements, which were unpaid, and had difficulty doing so. The majority of respondents devoted, on average, 30 hours per week to their studies while nearly 60% had a paid job (not related to counselling) to help them cover their expenses. Inplications are discussed for conunselling psychology training in the 1990's and beyond.     

Community treatment for the seriously mentally ill: Is this community psychology?

Community treatment for seriously mentally ill individuals fits well into the philosophy of community psychology. Community psychologists have skills and experiences with other populations that represent assets in improving the ACT service model and producing richer and more useful research results for the future. Maybe we should ask ourselves why community psychologists have obviously avoided this intervention area and the population of seriously mentally ill individuals. Does this represent an adolescent reaction to the parent discipline — clinical psychology? Is the label “mentally ill” as stigmatizing to community psychologists as it is to the general population? Are these individuals written off as not worthy of or capable of benefiting from preventive interventions? Advocates for the seriously mentally ill are mounting a backlash against prevention services. We would be well advised at this time to become involved in community treatment and demonstrate that community psychology is forall vulnerable and at-risk population groups. If the truth of the matter is that “community psychology is not doing much of a job of empowering people” (Berkowitz, 1990), maybe the truth of the matter is also that we need to reach out to more disenfranchised populations with research to show that community psychologycan do the job of empowering some.     

School Psychology: Training Individuals for One of the Best Kept Secrets in Professional Psychology

Abstract

School psychology training at the doctoral level is discussed. Given the increasing diversity in the schools as well as the varied education and mental health needs of the population, school psychology training is necessarily broad, involving traditional skills such as assessment, intervention, consultation, and counseling, all of which are taught within a context of a changing school population with changing needs. Because there is compulsory education, school psychologists’ interface with a broad cross-section of individual children, their parents, and their teachers. Moreover, school psychological practice is not limited to schools, as doctoral school psychologists are health service providers; many of these individuals work in other settings for which they are trained to provide services. The complexities and challenges of training school psychologists within this broad agenda effectively across domains are discussed.     

Reciprocal Relationships between Leader–Member Exchange (LMX) and Job Satisfaction: A Cross‐Lagged Analysis

While previous research has mainly emphasised the importance of leader–member exchange (LMX) to job satisfaction, there is a lack of research on reciprocal relationships between job satisfaction and LMX. In this study, we not only suggest that good LMX increases job satisfaction, but that job satisfaction can also enhance high‐quality supervisor–employee relationships. A full cross‐lagged panel analysis was used to test reciprocal relationships between LMX and job satisfaction. Employees (N= 279) of a large information technology company filled out questionnaires at two times, with a time lag of 3 months. In line with our predictions, findings revealed a positive relationship between LMX and job satisfaction both at Time 1 and Time 2. Moreover, LMX at Time 1 predicted the increase of job satisfaction at Time 2, and job satisfaction at Time 1 predicted the increase of LMX at Time 2. The results demonstrate the need to consider reciprocal relationships between job satisfaction and LMX when explaining employees' workplace outcomes. Our findings are discussed in terms of positive psychology theory.     

Employee adaptive performance and job satisfaction during organizational crisis: the role of self-leadership

This study tests the hypothesis that self-leadership is positively related with employee adaptive performance and job satisfaction in rapid change and unpredictable work environments. This assumption was tested through a quasi-experimental study regarding the implementation of a self-leadership training programme in the Private Banking department of an international bank. Change in private bankers’ self-leadership, adaptive performance and job satisfaction was measured three times, over a period of 8 months. During the fourth month of the training programme implementation, the bank underwent an unexpected bailout. Fifty-two private bankers were randomly assigned to an experimental group (n = 28) and to a control group (n = 24). The results showed an increase in self-leadership, adaptive performance and job satisfaction for the experimental group, while job satisfaction decreased for participants in the control group. Our findings suggest that change in the level of self-leadership is positively related with change in the level of adaptive performance and job satisfaction over time. This study presents new evidence that individual adaptive performance and job satisfaction can be enhanced through self-leadership training. Self-leadership training can be used as a valuable tool to help organizations improve employees’ adaptive performance and job satisfaction, especially during organizational crisis.     

职场变革情境下的工作与工余塑造:基于自我认同理论的双路径模型

工作非一成不变。即使组织借助工作设计设定了特定职位的工作内容和工作方式,员工也会出于维护积极自我形象、控制感和与人建立联结的核心需求而开展工作塑造——主动调整对工作的认识、工作任务和人际交往——从而获得自我价值感和意义感。尽管工作塑造的前因后效研究已较充分,但较少研究触及自我认同这一核心。鉴于此,本研究以自我认同理论为主线,探寻当个体面临重大外部挑战时,如何通过自我提升与自我防御两种机制应对环境变革,进而借助工作塑造及工余塑造完成自我认同的重构。通过4个研究探讨消除自我认同威胁作为自我防御机制,把握自我成长机会作为自我提升机制,揭示工作环境重大变革激发个体自我塑造行为的中介机制;基于压力应对的认知评价模型,探讨个体特征在初级评估阶段,组织情境特征在次级评价阶段的调节效应;开展现场干预研究,探讨结合自我建构进行工作塑造的效果。本项目将工作塑造和自我认同重新连结起来,构建了工作环境变革情境下个体自我塑造的双路径模型,以望对两个领域均有贡献。     

To hangover or not: trajectories of job satisfaction in adolescent workforce newcomers

The development of job satisfaction during the first months on the job often indicates a honeymoon hangover, with high levels of job satisfaction gradually declining. This effect is often explained by disappointed expectations that are informed by previous job experiences. However, research has not established whether a hangover pattern could also be observed in individuals without previous work experience. We explored the development of job satisfaction with 4 assessment points across the first 4 months after starting vocational training among 357 Swiss adolescents. On average, a hangover pattern in job satisfaction was confirmed. Using person-centred growth mixture modelling, we identified two groups with distinct trajectories. Although a majority showed a hangover pattern, a third of participants showed stable, high job satisfaction. We presumed that adolescents with more contextual and personal resources (i.e., perceived social support, occupational self-efficacy, core self-evaluations, and perceived person–job fit) would be more likely to avoid a hangover pattern. Results confirmed that the two groups differed significantly in all these resources, with the high stable satisfaction group showing higher resources. The results illustrate the importance of a diverse set of resources to facilitate a positive trajectory of job satisfaction at the beginning of work life.     

Psychological jurisprudence and the information processing paradigm

The purpose of this article is to further recent work in the psychology of jurisprudence. After summarizing the value positions that are central to a jurisprudence that emphasizes the role of law in the everyday lives of individuals, we examine the interaction between the tenets of that philosophy and the paradigmatic content of psycholegal research. We propose that one dominant perspective, information processing, assumes that legal actors are imperfect processors of social information and proceeds to document biases and propose ways for the law to minimize shortcomings in human cognition. After summarizing the emerging theory of psychological jurisprudence, we discuss the information processing paradigm in psychology and law, illustrating its contributions with three recent studies. Next, we present an empirical analysis of abstracts from the last 5 years of empirical research to demonstrate that there is a representative body of information processing research in psychology and law. Following this is an in-depth assessment of a sample of cognitive and social cognitive studies, detailing the scientific and normative issues that make up this literature. Finally, we conclude with some recommendations for jurisprudential theorists and psycholegal researchers which will integrate the philosophy of psychology and law with its empirical underpinnings.     

A Comparison of the Effects of Positive and Negative Information on Job Seekers' Organizational Attraction and Attribute Recall

To date there have been no direct studies of how strong negative information from sources outside of organizations' direct control impacts job seekers' organizational attraction. This study compared models for positive and negative information against a neutral condition using a longitudinal experimental study with college-level job seekers (n = 175). Consistent with the accessibility-diagnosticity perspective, the results indicated that negative information had a greater impact than positive information on job seekers' organizational attraction and recall, and this effect persisted 1 week after exposure. The results did not indicate that the influence of information sources and topics that fit together was lessened when the information was negative. The results suggest that job seekers interpret positive and negative information differently and that negative information, when present, has an important influence on job seekers' organizational attraction.     

工作连通行为的双刃剑效应：多重任务倾向的调节作用

随着移动通信工具飞速发展,“全天候保持工作连通”的新时代已到来。在此背景下,工作连通行为对员工工作与生活的影响受到广泛关注。基于工作要求-资源模型,通过258份三时点的领导-员工配对数据探究工作连通行为的双刃剑效应。路径分析结果表明,工作连通行为一方面会通过工作目标进展进而影响员工工作绩效(积极路径),另一方面又会通过工作负荷进而导致工作-家庭冲突(消极路径)。多重任务趋向在上述两条路径过程中发挥调节作用,对于高多重任务趋向的员工, 积极路径的效果被强化,而消极路径的效果被削弱。     

Work environment structure and psychological ownership: the mediating effects of control

Current theorists on the psychology of possession highlight control as an important route in the development of feelings of ownership. In the present article, the authors hypothesized that the extent to which individuals experience control over their job and work environment is positively associated with feelings of ownership for their job and the organization. The authors used supervisory report data on work environment structure and self-reports on experienced control and psychological ownership to test for the mediating effects of experienced control in the relationship between the work environment structure and psychological ownership. The authors found that experienced control mediates the relationship between 3 sources of work environment structure--technology, autonomy, and participative decision making--and psychological ownership of the job and (to a lesser extent) the organization. The authors proposed implications of the findings and directions of further research.     

Individual Style of Activity and Adaptation to Standard Performance Requirements

This article introduces American psychologists to some approaches from the former Soviet Union to dealing with training and performance problems derived from indi- vidual differences in personality features. Our work considers some aspects of these problems based on Russian psychologists' study of personality within the framework of the theory of activity. The approach is known as "individual style of activity" and is fundamental to the analysis of practical achievement in Russian psychology. Sev- eral areas of applied research are presented to illustrate the approach. These studies examine the process of adaptation to objective requirements by participants with distinct individual features. This research does not emphasize the classification of individuals into particular groups for the purpose of selection; rather it emphasizes how to facilitate the adaptation of people with diverse personal features through the development of individualized methods of performance, teaching, and training. The findings have many important applications in education, sports, work, and other performance settings.     

Job strain and rumination about work issues during leisure time: A diary study

Previous research has suggested that high job strain (high demand, low control at work) is associated with an inability to “unwind” physiologically after work. It was speculated that one mechanism related to the “unwinding process” is an individual's ability to “cognitively switch-off” about work related issues after work. This hypothesis was tested in a diary study of primary and secondary school teachers who were asked to keep an hourly record of their work-related thoughts over a workday evening between 17.00 hrs and 21.00 hrs. As expected both groups demonstrated a degree of unwinding and disengagement from work issues over the evening. High strain (n = 34) teachers however took longer to unwind and ruminated more about work-related issues, relative to low job strain (n = 35) teachers. High job strain teachers also reported they had less personal control over what they were doing in the evening. Across the evening all individuals reported higher ruminative thoughts about work issues when alone than when with family and friends, but high strain teachers reported more ruminative cognitions when watching television and with family and friends than low strain teachers. The results could not be explained by work patterns as there was no difference in the number of hours worked in the evening between the two groups. It is argued that one reason why high job strain teachers failed to successfully unwind after work is that they ruminated more about work issues, than did low job strain teachers.     

Alternative Techniques for Predicting Success in Air Controller School

The Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) is the principal cognitive test battery used for military classification-that is, for assignment of individuals to specific job categories. Successful entrance into a specific job category requires satisfactory completion of relevant training. Therefore, it is necessary that the ASVAB accurately predict the likelihood that individuals will complete training. Presently, the U.S. Navy classifies enlisted personnel based on a unit-weighted linear combination of scores derived from a subset of tests currently composing the ASVAB test battery. This research explored the development of new classification models estimated by using linear regression, logistic regression, discriminant analysis, and artificial neural networks, and it compared their classification accuracy with models developed using unit- weighted regression. Models were estimated and cross-validated using data from individuals admitted into the Navy's Air Controlman training during fiscal years 1988 and 1989. Accuracy was measured by the proportion of individuals correctly classified as graduates or as academic failures and by the ability to rank students-that is, to predict the highest scores for graduates and the lowest scores for attrites.     

Counselling psychology in the United Kingdom

Counselling psychology within the UK has grown over the last three decades, adapting to many changes in the field of applied psychology, whilst remaining true to its core values and humanistic origins. The identity of counselling psychology is strongly rooted in a relational stance and applied psychology, where attention to psychological formulation is given to improve psychological functioning and well-being. This article outlines a brief history of counselling psychology in the UK, the training process, credentialing and looks at some important challenges and future directions for counselling psychology in the UK. A proportion of the members from the British Psychological Society’s division of counselling psychology (DCoP, N = 148) took part in the study. Participants provided demographic, training, employment, workplace and career pathway information obtained through an online questionnaire distributed to all DCoP members. On the whole, DCoP members are working in a variety of areas within the UK and the findings of this article contribute to the international study comparing counselling psychology across the globe.     

A Survey of Behavior Analysis and Behavioral Consultation Courses in School Psychology: Implications for Training School Psychologists

All 216 doctoral and specialist level school psychology training programs were mailed a seven question survey to determine how much behavioral consultation and behavior analysis course work school psychology students are offered. One hundred and twenty-eight surveys were returned, yielding a return rate of 58.26%. The results indicated that almost all programs offer didactic courses in consultation (98.79%) and behavior analysis/behavior modification (91.52%). The percentage of practicum devoted to behavioral consultation and behavior analysis/modification was considerably less (about 25% for each) than other subject areas. The results are discussed within the context of training needed to meet the needs of practitioners in the areas of behavioral consultation and behavior analysis/behavior modification.     

Gain/Loss Asymmetry and Riskless Choice: Loss Aversion in Choices among Job Finalists

Tversky and Kahneman (1991) extended the notions of reference points and gain/loss asymmetry to multiattribute choice tasks having alternatives that cannot be assigned explicit probabilities. Two experiments were designed to test these propositions in the context of choices among job finalists. In the first experiment, undergraduates (N= 82) were provided with attribute information on two job candidates, along with (incomplete) attribute information on a previous job incumbent. The results showed that the relative standing of the job finalists was evaluated from the reference point of the incumbent's performance on the non-missing attributes. Candidates representing the status quo (i.e., no change in performance on the non-missing attributes) were preferred over candidates representing a loss. However, candidates representing a gain were not preferred over candidates representing the status quo. In the second experiment, undergraduates (N= 74) received assessor training and then watched a demonstration of performance in one of two work samples. Participants told that the demonstration was one of excellent performance strongly preferred the status quo candidate (i.e., the one that performed equally well on the demonstration work sample). However, participants told that the example was one of poor performance were indifferent between the status quo and gain candidate. We conclude that the gain/loss asymmetry commonly found in risky choice can also be found in riskless choice tasks such as choosing among job finalists.     

Individual and Nomothetic Models of Job Stress: An Examination of Work Hours,Cohesion, and Well-Being1

Many models of job stress are implicitly based on the assumption that there is considerable variability in how individuals perceive and respond to their environments. In this paper, we introduce a nomothetic perspective of job stress. The nomothetic perspective assumes that despite individual differences there will be consistencies in how groups of individuals perceive and respond to similar work environments. To contrast the individual and nomothetic perspectives, we analyzed data from 7,382 respondents from 99 groups. In the analyses, we examined individual-and group-level relationships using both real groups and randomly formed groups. The results revealed that respondents from the same work group agreed about perceptions of the work climate. The results also revealed that both individual and nomothetic perspectives were useful in describing the relationship between cohesion and psychological well-being. The relationship between work hours and psychological well-being, however, was best modeled from a nomothetic perspective.     

American Psychology of Religion and the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion

It is doubtful whether there ever has been a rise‐fall‐rebirth of the psychology of religion. While the claim has marginal merit for American academic psychology, it has little application in other cultures or even within American psychology of religion outside mainstream psychology. The psychology of religion has always been and remains tied to key individuals who sustain the field. This historical fact is important in understanding the role of the JSSR in the field. Early psychologists of religion such as Hall and James set the pattern for two distinctively different approaches to the psychology of religion. Hall's approach was methodologically restrictive, inherently reductive, and came to dominate the academic psychology of religion. James ‘approach was methodological plural, receptive to the evidential force of religious experience, and quickly marginalized within American psychology. These opposing orientation continue to influence the psychology of religion in societies such as the SSR and its journal. A review of the psychologist editors of JSSR illustrates that the psychology of religion remains a marginal interest of mainstream psychology. It survives because of the interdisciplinary nature of the SSSR and its journal.     

After the break-up: How divorcing affects individuals at work

Divorce is one of life's most stressful events. By pairing two studies, using mixed-methods, and drawing on conservation of resources theory, we contribute new and previously unavailable information about three questions. How and to what extent does going through a divorce affect individuals at work? What factors differentiate a lower versus higher impact on work? Do work outcomes improve after a divorce has been completed? In Study 1, individuals currently in the process of divorcing report more negative mood at work, lower job performance, and lower health in comparison to employees recently divorced, divorced over 5 years ago, or never divorced. Qualitative findings illustrate vivid reports of intrusive negative affect and reduced focus at work. At the same time, nearly 39% of individuals reported that divorcing had a positive impact on their job, work, or career. Qualitative findings reveal that for some, divorcing frees up time and energy and amplifies motivation for work. Study 2 is a longitudinal survey study of individuals in the process of a divorce. Findings indicate that levels of divorce-related grief, quality of the dissolving marriage, the presence of children, and anticipated post-divorce financial stability differentiate between those with better and worse work outcomes. Individuals improve on work-related cognitive and physical engagement, job performance, and health after their divorces are completed. Our results extend empirical knowledge and theory with new insights about work outcomes associated with divorcing as well as the recovery of work outcomes over time.