Where Is the Information for Affordances?

Two questions have priority for a perception psychologist: What is perceived, and what is the information for it? What we perceive are the affordances of the world. Because perception is prospective and goes on over time, the information for affordances is in events, both external and within the perceiver. Hence, we must study perception of events if we would understand how affordances are perceived.     

Where Are We Now? Some Thoughts on the Current Scene

Although not as yet fully implemented, laws, executive orders, administrative rulings, and court decisions are now available for dealing with the more blatant forms of discrimination against women. But we do not as yet have protection against the subtler forms—the exclusionary stag effect, for example, and the putdown—which can have equally damaging effects. Research is called for to document just how the self-image of women is injured by these forms of behavior and how their professional careers are prejudiced by them. Collective coping mechanisms are called for. Recourse to the courts may be called for in some cases, but in others these subtle forms of bahvior that have discriminatory consequences for women are inadvertent and require primarily that we call attention to them.     

Why Is It Now?

Adolf Grünbaum, following J.J.C. Smart, has argued that the A-Theory of time is untenable due to its inability to answer the question, uniquely attending the A-theory, as to why it is now 2000. I argue, however, that Grünbaum's explication of the question's meaning makes the question a triviality. But there may be lurking here a somewhat different question, which is meaningful on a A-Theory of time, the answer to which may have surprising implications concerning the past infinitude of time.     

Culture and Testing Practices: Is the World Flat?

There has been much speculation regarding the influence of cultural norms on the acceptance and use of personnel selection testing. This study examined the cross‐level direct effects of four societal cultural variables (performance orientation, future orientation, uncertainty avoidance, and tightness–looseness) on selection practices of organisations in 23 countries. A total of 1,153 HR professionals responded to a survey regarding testing practices in hiring contexts. Overall, little evidence of a connection between cultural practices and selection practices emerged. Implications of these findings for personnel selection and cross‐cultural research as well as directions for future work in this area are described.     

Where Is Group Treatment Going in the 21st Century?

The author contends that group psychotherapy can be a dynamic force for social change. He shows how group psychotherapists have developed tools that reach far beyond the limits of that particular profession; they deal with the basic interaction among all peoples everywhere in all societies. These tools can be demonstrated, taught, and experienced. In as much as they can be learned, group therapists have to start teaching them to people at the earliest levels of cognitive development. That means that it has to start in our school systems as part of the educational process. A particular kind of specialist has to be trained who can function within the system itself and yet think psychodynamically. The author maintains that this can be accomplished.     

The Primacy of the “Shoulds”: Where Is the Evidence?

A central tenet of rational emotive behaviour therapy (REBT) has always been that irrational beliefs which express demands through absolutistic shoulds, musts or oughts are the basic cause of emotional disturbance. This premise is characteristic of Ellis' theory but is not always supported by other REBT writers or other writers within the cognitive therapy field. This paper reviews a range of research findings which appear to call into question Ellis' tenet of the primacy of the shoulds and which, in turn, raise theoretical and methodological difficulties in the measurement of beliefs. This along with the current theoretical debate regarding irrational belief processes may preclude the possibility of testing the proposition that demandingness is the primary irrational or dysfunctional belief.     

Where Are They Now? A Follow-up Study of Suicide Attempters from the Golden Gate Bridge

ABSTRACT: The Golden Gate Bridge is currently the number one suicide location in the world. From the opening day, May 18, 1937 to April 1, 1978, there have been 625 officially reported suicide deaths and perhaps more than 200 others which have gone unseen and unreported. Proposals for the construction of a hardware antisuicide barrier have been challenged with the untested contention that “they'll just go someplace else.” This research tests the contention by describing and evaluating the long-term mortality experience of the 515 persons who had attempted suicide from the Golden Gate Bridge but were restrained, from the opening day through the year 1971 plus a comparison group of 184 persons who made nonbridge suicide attempts during 1956–57 and were treated at the emergency room of a large metropolitan hospital and were also followed through the close of 1971. Results of the followup study are directed toward answering the important question: “Will a person who is prevented from suicide in one location inexorably tend to attempt and commit suicide elsewhere?”     

The Proportion of Women Managers: Where Is the Critical Mass?1

This study examined the impact of proportions of women in management on attitudes of coworkers from two theoretical perspectives. According to Kanter (1977), women's competence, contribution to organizational culture, and status would be better appreciated as their proportion increased. According to Blalock (1967), men would react adversely. Data were collected from 453 managers in Canadian federal departments where the proportions varied from 9%, 20%, 35%, to 45%. Findings did not support either theory. Men made significantly more positive evaluations of women's participation in the organization and of their status in conditions above 20% than in the token condition. In the 45% sample, they recognized women's managerial talents significantly better. Women displayed confidence in their talents, irrespective of proportions. Results are discussed in the light of the influence of individual factors taken into account.     

Proctored Versus Unproctored Internet Tests: Are unproctored noncognitive tests as predictive of job performance?

As the usage of unproctored Internet testing (UIT) increases in selection settings, concerns about the validity of such practices must be addressed. While recent examinations of the issue have focused primarily on the practicality, ethics, and potential legal ramifications of UIT, this paper provides an examination of the criterion‐related validity of unproctored assessments. Using a database of validity evidence, we examine the predictive validity of several noncognitive assessments (i.e., personality and biodata) with respect to a number of subjective and objective job performance metrics. Results generally indicate that assessments administered in proctored and unproctored settings have similar validities. Limitations of this research and implications for practice are discussed.     

Where in the brain is the self?

Localizing the self in the brain has been the goal of consciousness research for centuries. Recently, there has been an increase in attention to the localization of the self. Here we present data from patients suffering from a loss of self in an attempt to understand the neural correlates of consciousness. Focusing on delusional misidentification syndrome (DMS), we find that frontal regions, as well as the right hemisphere appear to play a significant role in DMS and DMS related disorders. These data are placed in the context of neuroimaging findings.