New Concepts for a New Age: Information Service Organizations and Mental Information Work

Abstract

To describe and conceptualize new forms of work and organization a questionnaire survey in service organizations (n = 845), and a telephone survey among workers (n = 1168) were held. New concepts are introduced to identify the types of work and organization found, i.e. “Information Service Organization” (ISO) and “Mental Information Work” (MIW). ISOs are characterized by activities such as collecting, storing, and processing data; advising people; and informing people. They also make a lot of use of IT (computers, programs) and electronic network connections. Most ISOs appear to be traditional in terms of working hours and places of work. MIW is a form of knowledge work characterized by mental manipulations of information; IT is often used. Flexi-time is relatively frequent in MIW, but most people work on a fixed place of work.     

发展的行动观述评

本文介绍了行动观的主要理论观点,认为个体有意识的自我发展和自我调节对于发展具有重大意义,进而阐述了自我观察、自我评价和自我调节的过程和机制。行动观克服了哲学的决定论和因果机制的局限,把发展的多样性和规律性统一起来,并有效地整合了文化和个体自身对于发展的作用。     

A Sociological Approach to the Analysis of Preparation for Work Life

Preparation for work life is interpreted as involving 4 main kinds of preparation: (a) preparation for life in an organization, involving authority, security quests, impersonality, routine, conflict, mobility, and demotion, (b) preparation for a set of role relationships, (c) preparation for a level of consumption, involving a certain style of life, and (d) preparation for an occupational career, involving changes in the nature of jobs, and different types of jobs depending on the position in the life cycle. Conclusions suggest a broadening of the concept of “vocation,” and a change in approach to the analysis of the decision-making process from traditional stochastic analysis to “disjointed incrementalism,” that is, making decisions for short time-periods only, and with strict limitation on available data and resources.     

The Cultivation of Social Perceptions of Latinos: A Mental Models Approach

This survey investigates the relationship between exposure to television portrayals of Latinos and real world perceptions of Latinos in the U.S. To aid in this assessment, contributions from the research on mental models were incorporated into a cultivation framework. From this mental models-based cultivation perspective, it was expected that amount of television exposure and existing cognitions regarding representations of Latinos in the media would interact in predicting real world perceptions of Latinos. Additionally, the amount of real world interracial contact with Latinos was predicted to moderate these effects. Findings provide support for the proposed relationships, indicating that as television consumption rates increase, extant cognitions regarding media depictions of Latinos and real world contact guide subsequent evaluations of Latinos.     

AMICAI: A Method Based on Risk Analysis to Integrate Responsible Research and Innovation into the Work of Research and Innovation Practitioners

Science and Engineering Ethics - The integration of ethics into the day-to-day work of research and innovation (R&I) is an important but difficult challenge. However, with the Aachen method...     

The Putt and the Pendulum: Ironic Effects of the Mental Control of Action

People sometimes find themselves making movement errors that represent the ironic opposite of what they intended to do. These studies examined this tendency in the case of putting a golf ball and swinging a handheld pendulum, and found that ironic errors were particularly likely when participants who were instructed to avoid them tried to do so under mental load or physical load. The idea that such errors may be prompted by a monitoring process that increases sensitivity to the most undesirable outcome of an intention was supported by the finding of a tendency for ironic errors to be more evident when participants were allowed to monitor their action visually than when they could not.     

Types of God Representations and Mental Health: A Person-Oriented Approach

As God representations are multi-facetted psychological processes regarding the personal meaning of God/the divine to the individual, this study examines how multiple aspects of God representations are configured within individuals belonging to a sample of psychiatric patients or a non-patient sample, and how these configurations are associated with mental health. By means of cluster analyses, three types of God representations were found: a Positive-Authoritative one, a Passive-Unemotional one, and, only among psychiatric patients, a Negative-Authoritarian one. Types of God representations were significantly related to affective state, as well as religious saliency and religious background. Patients with the negative type of God representation were more distressed and depressed, and Orthodox-Reformed patients reported significantly more negative types of God representations. This study demonstrates the value of a person-oriented approach, by showing that scale scores became especially meaningful in the context of the types, which enables more nuanced distinctions regarding subgroups.     

Improving the Accuracy of Group Judgment: A Process Intervention Combining Group Facilitation,Social Judgment Analysis,and Information Technology

Interacting groups fail to make judgments as accurate as those of their most capable members due to problems associated with both interaction processes and cognitive processing. Group process techniques and decision analytic tools have been used with groups to combat these problems. While such techniques and tools do improve the quality of group judgment, they have not enabled groups to make judgments more accurate than those of their most capable members on tasks that evoke a great deal of systematic bias. A new intervention procedure that integrates group facilitation, social judgment analysis, and information technology was developed to overcome more fully the problems typically associated with interaction processes and cognitive processing. The intervention was evaluated by testing the hypothesis that groups using this new procedure can establish judgment policies for cognitive conflict tasks that are more accurate than the ones produced by any of their members. An experiment involving 16 four- and five-member groups was conducted to compare the accuracy of group judgments with the accuracy of the judgments of the most capable group member. A total of 96 participants (48 males and 48 females) completed the individual part of the task; 71 of these participants worked in groups. Results indicated that the process intervention enabled small, interacting groups to perform significantly better than their most capable members on two cognitive conflict tasks (p < .05). The findings suggest that Group Decision Support Systems that integrate facilitation, social judgment analysis, and information technology should be used to improve the accuracy of group judgment.     

健康行动过程取向模型的发展与前景

健康行动过程取向(HAPA)模型的提出源于健康行为社会认知模型的发展和Bandura社会认知理论的应用。在HAPA中, 健康行为变化被视为一个包括行为产生、保持和恢复在内的连续过程; 结果预期、危险感知、三种自我效能感和两类计划被用来解释意图的形成及其向行动的转化; 两个阶段的划分有助于区分三类干预对象, 建议实施菜单式干预。HAPA模型具有明显的理论优势, 也引发了有关模型实质的争论。当前和未来的研究旨在考察更多的自我调节变量、检验因果模型, 在健康行为的多个领域开展应用和干预研究。     

Investigating the Constrained Action Hypothesis: A Movement Coordination and Coordination Variability Approach

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of focus of attention cues on movement coordination and coordination variability in the lower extremity. Twenty participants performed the standing long jump under both internal and external focus of attention conditions. A modified vector coding technique was used to evaluate the influence of attentional focus cues on lower extremity coordination patterns and coordination variability during the jumps. Participants jumped significantly further under an external focus of attention condition compared with an internal focus of attention condition (p = .035, effect size = .29). Focus of attention also influenced coordination between the ankle and knee, F(6, 19) = 2.87, p = .012, effect size = .388, with participants primarily using their knees under the internal focus of attention, and using both their ankles and knees under the external focus of attention. Attentional focus cues did not influence ankle-knee, F(1, 19) = 0.02, p = .98, effect size = .02, or hip-knee, F(1, 19) = 5.00, p = .49, effect size = .16, coordination variability. Results suggest that while attentional focus may not directly influence movement coordination condition, there is still a change in movement strategy resulting in greater jump distances following an external focus of attention.     

基于日常经验取向的责任心理结构研究

基于日常经验取向,运用理论建构和深度访谈的方法,研究责任的心理结构以及责任情境的认知特征。对207名被试访谈研究的结果表明：（1）责任是人们频繁感知和体验到的一种社会心理现象;（2）人们体察到的责任情境,在职业活动和个人生活领域存在类型上的差异;（3）在职业活动中,人们更倾向于将责任归因于他人,而在个人生活中更倾向于归因于自己;（4）人们对责任情境性质的判定与责任事件最终能否达到预期目标有关;（5）责任心理结构共由情境起因、自我效能、成就感、内外动机等20个核心要素构成;（6）责任心理结构是一个由责任认知、责任情感和责任行为三者构成的一元单向决定模式。     

Exploring Human Values in the Design of a Web-Based QoL-Instrument for People with Mental Health Problems: A Value Sensitive Design Approach

Science and Engineering Ethics - Quality of life (QoL) is an important outcome measure in mental health care. Currently, QoL is mainly measured with paper and pencil questionnaires. To contribute...     

Mental Health and Mental Disorder: A Sociological Approach,edited by Arnold M. Rose

This paper presents a model of group analysis based on Aristotle's causal notions. Aristotle's concept of man as a social animal provides a philosophical rationale for an interpersonal treatment forum. His causal theory supplies an encompassing atheoretical model for examining, understanding, and changing “things which have in themselves the source of their changing or staying unchanged.”

Attention to the four causal foci is suggested as the basis for a full-ranging group analysis. Material cause examines: “what” makes a thing what it is. Efficient cause investigates “how” various behaviors and emotions are set in motion. Final cause searches out “where” behavior is aimed. Formal cause traces “why” behaviors take particular forms.

It is suggested that a “cause for pause,” in the ongoing group process, is the emergence of a powerful and specifiable trend, whether a transference, poignant interaction, or groupwide conflict. The “pause to cause” is examined in detail, as each causal foci is elaborated. A sequential analysis moving from “what > how > where > why” is suggested at three levels of possible intervention: individual, interpersonal, and group as a whole. In conclusion, the timing, advantages, and restrictions of such a causal approach are considered.     

The Effects of Combining PETTLEP Imagery and Action Observation on Bicep Strength: A Single-Case Design

We investigated the effects of PETTLEP imagery combined with action observation on bicep curl performance. Using a single-case design, four participants completed a baseline phase followed by PETTLEP imagery with and without an observational aid. Results indicated that using an observational aid in conjunction with PETTLEP imagery can improve bicep curl performance, but not to a greater degree than PETTLEP imagery alone. This indicates that observational aids may not be an essential addition to imagery interventions. The study highlights further the benefit of using PETTLEP imagery for enhancing strength performance, which should be considered by practitioners delivering resistance training programs.