Employee Reactions to the Physical Work Environment: The Role of Childhood Residential Attributes1

This study examines the possibility that 2 employee background attributes, childhood residential density and childhood community type, moderate relations between characteristics of the physical work environment and employee responses. Administrative employees (N= 75) from 25 offices of a university participated in the research. Results demonstrate that employees from high-density childhood residences and urban communities exhibited more positive responses as adults (i. e., higher performance and lower crowding) to high-contact work environments (i. e., those characterized by few enclosures, high spatial density, and close interpersonal distance) than employees from other combinations of childhood residential density and community type. Results also suggest that the contributions of residential density and community type were somewhat accounted for by individual differences in social avoidance tendencies and noise sensitivities.     

Personality disorders and psychosocial changes after intensive psychotherapy: A prospective follow-up study of an outpatient psychotherapy project, 5 years after end of treatment*

This report presents the results of a 7-year prospective outcome study designed to examine the psychosocial changes during and after therapy among 25 outpatients suffering from personality disorders and psychoses. The therapeutic approach was based mainly on object relations theory and psychodynamic self-psychology, and focused in particular on affect consciousness, parental images, self-image and interpersonal relations. Twenty patients completed the form which measured psychosocial changes during therapy, and 21 persons participated at follow-up. The data show statistically significant changes in the capacity to tolerate intimate relationships and actually establish such relationships, improved quality of contact in relationships with friends, a general raising of socioeconomic status and reduced use of ordinary health and social services. Both the global psychosocial outcome at follow-up as measured by HSRS and the general level of symptoms measured by SCL-90 suggest that 76% of the sample had reached a level of psychosocial functioning and adaptation that can be defined as “no-caseness”.     

Communication Schemata Within the Family

Analyses from a random sample of 169 families established a dear relationship between schemata for marital and parent-child communication. Hypotheses were derived by theoretically relating the Relational Dimensions Inventory and the Revised Family Communication Patterns instrument. In families headed by Traditional, Separate, and Separate/Traditional couples, all three family members saw the family interaction as high on conformity orientation. In families headed by Independent and Traditional couples, all three family members saw the family interaction as high on conversational orientation. In general, couple types dovetail with the various family types. For example, Traditional couples have Consensual family interaction patterns in that they value conformity and conversation. Families who share the same family communication schemata appear to agree on a number of other dimensions of family life. A new scale, Family Communication Environment, which may be used to tap into family communication schemata, is presented.     

Schadenfreude as a mate‐value‐tracking mechanism

This study proposed a new theoretical formulation of schadenfreude as a psychological mechanism that responds to misfortunes that lower competitors' mate value. In Study 1, participants reported schadenfreude in response to their friends' naturally occurring and hypothetical misfortunes. In Study 2, participants reported schadenfreude in response to an envied friend experiencing a hypothetical misfortune linked with female or male mate value. As predicted, females in both studies reported more schadenfreude when a same‐gender friend experienced a misfortune that lowered her physical attractiveness versus social status. Less consistent support was found for the prediction that males would report more schadenfreude when a same‐gender friend experienced a misfortune that lowered his social status versus physical attractiveness. This study suggests several directions for future research.     

Greenham: a concrete reality

ABSTRACT A number of contributors to the Journal of Applied Philosophy have confronted the issues of nuclear war and nuclear weapons. It is the view of some of our readers, however, that there is a distinctive women's voice on this issue. It is for this reason and also in the light of the reported decision of the major news-media in Britain not to publish any further information about the continuing Greenham protest that this discussion article is included here.     

Social Exchange at Work and Emotional Exhaustion: The Role of Personality1

Unbalanced social‐exchange processes at work have been linked to emotional exhaustion. In addition to organizational factors, individual differences are important determinants of reciprocity perceptions. This study explored whether broad and narrow personality traits were associated with perceived lack of reciprocity (organizational and interpersonal levels), and whether personality moderated the relationship between reciprocity and emotional exhaustion, in a sample of 322 civil servants. Extraversion, agreeableness, emotional stability, internal locus of control, and Type A behavior predicted reciprocity. The relationship between perceived lack of reciprocity with the organization and emotional exhaustion was stronger for individuals reporting lower negative affect or higher extraversion. These findings highlight the importance of personality for understanding perceived reciprocity at work and its impact on emotional exhaustion.     

Judging a Book by Its Cover: The Differential Impact of Attractiveness on Predicting One's Acceptance to High‐ or Low‐Status Social Groups

Emerging research suggests that the cues we glean from first impressions depend on our goals. This research uses sorority recruitment to examine whether groups that vary in social status rely on disparate cues to form first impressions of potential new group members. Current sorority members were given 500 ms to view pictures of women who wanted to join their sororities, and were then asked how likely it was that each prospective member would receive a bid from their sorority (bid expectancy). Prospective members were also rated on their attractiveness. Data were analyzed separately for high‐ vs. low‐status houses. Results revealed that attractiveness was more predictive of liking and bid expectancy for the high‐status houses, as compared to the low‐status houses.