Adult age differences in attentional allocation during memory search.

Young and older adults performed a memory search task in which, before probe onset, a cue indicated which of 4 memory-set items the probe was most likely to be. The results were consistent with an attentional allocation model in which performance represents a weighted combination, across trials, of focused (i.e., selective) versus distributed attention. The model significantly underestimated the reaction time required by miscued trials, probably because of the response inhibition occurring on these trials. The degree to which Ss relied on focused attention was significantly greater for older adults than for young adults. The estimated time required to shift attention between memory-set items was equivalent for the 2 age groups.     

The controversy over retrospective moral judgment

The mandate of the U.S. Advisory Committee on Human Radiation Experiments required that the Committee take a position on the validity of retrospective moral judgments. However, throughout its period of operation, the Committee remained divided on the question of whether sound judgments of individual culpability and wrongdoing should be included in its Final Report. This essay examines the arguments that various committee members marshalled to support their opposing views on retrospective moral judgment and explains the significance of the controversy.     

Affective, Continuance, and Normative Commitment to the Organization: An Examination of Construct Validity

Within the past few years, several studies have used the Affective, Continuance, and Normative Commitment Scales (Allen & Meyer, 1990; Meyer & Allen, 1984, 1991) to assess organizational commitment. The purpose of this paper is to review and evaluate the body of evidence relevant to the construct validity of these measures. Although some empirical questions remain at issue, the overall results strongly support the continued use of the scales in substantive research.     

Spirituality in nursing theory and practice: dilemmas for Christian bioethics.

Moral strangerhood is due in part to competing worldviews. The profession of nursing is experiencing a paradigm shift which creates ethical dilemmas for both Christian nurses and Christian patients. Nursing's new focus on spirituality and spiritual care presents itself as broadly defining a desired state or patient outcome -- spiritual integrity -- supposed to be applicable to all patients of all faiths. Analysis of nursing's definition of spirituality reveals assumptions and values consistent with an Eastern/New Age worldview which may cause hostility towards Christian patients stereotyped as dogmatic or noncompliant.     

Development and validation of adolescent-perceived microsystem scales: Social support,daily hassles,and involvement

Developed and validated instruments for urban and culturally diverse adolescents to assess their self-reported transactions with family, peer, school, and neighborhood microsystems for the constructs of social support, daily hassles, and involvement. The sample of 998 youth were from schools in three Eastern cities with high percentages of economically disadvantaged youth. Data were collected before and after the transition to junior high school or to senior high school. Blacks constituted 26%, whites 26%, and Latinos 37% of the sample. Factor analyses confirmed and enhanced the hypothesized four-factor microsystem factor structure for support, hassles, and involvement; internal consistency and stability coefficients were consistent with these structures. In general, the microsystem factors were common across gender, ethnicity, and age. However, when group differences did occur on these demographic variables, they tended to validate the salience of microsystem specificity. In contrast to the total scores, the microsystem-specific factors yielded more meaningful and differential information with regard to demographic differences and the mediating processes across a school transition.     

Intraorganizational communication, perceived organizational support, and gender

Gender differences in the relationship between perceived organizational support and employee perceptions of their communication with top management, immediate supervisors, and coworkers are investigated in a university and in two engineering firms. Respondents were predominantly Caucasian Americans. Gender moderated the relationship between perceived organizational support and two communication variables (coworker communication relationship and coworker information quality). Males reporting a positive coworker communication relationship also indicated higher perceived organizational support. This pattern did not emerge for females. Males who perceived receiving higher quality information from coworkers reported higher perceived organizational support. While a similar pattern emerged for females, the relationship was weaker.     

Subtypes of substance abusers: personality differences associated with MacAndrew scores

Several earlier studies have reported clinically relevant personality correlates of high vs low scores on the MacAndrew Scale (Mac) of the MMPI. Unfortunately, these projects have not adjusted for age or nature of abuse. Also, most have assumed that the personality correlates are the same for female patients as for male patients. This study attempts to address these deficiencies. Even after correcting for age and diagnosis, high Mac patients differ from low Mac patients on major scales of the MMPI. The pattern of such differences varies considerably between men and women. Substance abuse treatment implications of these differences are discussed.