Psychometric and behavioral measures of central auditory function: the relationship between dichotic listening and digit span tasks.

We hypothesized that the Digit Span (DS) subtest and component tasks (Wechsler, 1991) would show strong relationships with a dichotic listening test (Musiek, 1983). In two sets of archival clinical data (N = 74 and N = 51) we demonstrated that: (a) individuals with central auditory deficits had lower DS scores, F(1, 72) = 7.34, p = .008; eta2 = .09; and (b) left-ear dichotic deficits impacted forward span, F(2, 48) = 8.45, p = .001. Right-ear dichotic listening performance also accounted for significant variance in digit forward span (R2 = 0.17, p = .003). While limited in scope, the studies conclude that forward but not reverse span performance is strongly related to dichotic listening, and can serve as a marker for possible central auditory deficits.     

Equality: Putting the Theory into Action

We outline our central reasons for pursuing the project of equality studies and some of the thinking we have done within an equality studies framework. We try to show that a multi-dimensional conceptual framework, applied to a set of key social contexts and articulating the concerns of subordinate social groups, can be a fruitful way of putting the idea of equality into practice. Finally, we address some central questions about how to bring about egalitarian social change. Editors’ note. John Baker et al’s article below condenses the key themes and arguments of their book, Equality: From Theory to Action. In the next issue of Res Publica, four writers will respond to these arguments, and there will be a reply from the book’s authors. We are grateful to Jurgen De Wispelaere for organising the original workshop on which the article and replies are based, and for his work in putting together this symposium.     

Trust and Democratic Transition in Post-Communist Europe – Edited by Ivana Markova

Books reviewed:
Trust and Democratic Transition in Post-Communist Europe . Edited by Ivana Markova. Oxford University Press, New York, NY. 2004. 217 pp.     

Spirituality and Cardiovascular Risk

This study extended current research linking spirituality to health by investigating the relationship between extrinsic and intrinsic spirituality and cardiovascular risk factors. Participants included 111 healthy males and females, ages 28 to 63. Measurements consisted of the Lifestyle Assessment Questionnaire (LAQ), a version of Kelly's Repertory Grid, hematological analysis, and blood pressure. A greater sense of spirituality was associated with lower cholesterol risk ratios (total cholesterol/HDL) and triglyceride levels. In addition, the structural or organizational characteristics of intrinsic spirituality were associated with several other hematological measures. Further research will help clarify the association between mechanisms underlying spirituality and health, including susceptibility to cardiovascular disorders.     

Berufsbezogene Werthaltungen

Job related work values were assessed in 68 participants of a psychotherapy training program and 30 students of two management courses. All three were academic based programs. Two inventories were used to identify potential differences, namely the Work Values Inventory (Seifert and Bergmann 1983) and the Questionnaire on Work and Job Related Behavior and Emotion Patterns (Schaarschmidt and Fischer 1996). There were significant group differences concerning job involvement, ambition, need for change and autonomy, willingness for overexertion, ability to keep distance and work values oriented toward income and career. No differences were found concerning the subjective importance of work, the tendency to resignation, the quality of life, the experience of social support and values related to work climate. These findings corroborate some of the stereotypes associated with these two areas of work.     

Coh-Metrix: Analysis of text on cohesion and language

Advances in computational linguistics and discourse processing have made it possible to automate many language- and text-processing mechanisms. We have developed a computer tool called Coh-Metrix, which analyzes texts on over 200 measures of cohesion, language, and readability. Its modules use lexicons, part-of-speech classifiers, syntactic parsers, templates, corpora, latent semantic analysis, and other components that are widely used in computational linguistics. After the user enters an English text, Coh-Metrix returns measures requested by the user. In addition, a facility allows the user to store the results of these analyses in data files (such as Text, Excel, and SPSS). Standard text readability formulas scale texts on difficulty by relying on word length and sentence length, whereas Coh-Metrix is sensitive to cohesion relations, world knowledge, and language and discourse characteristics.     

Genomic Contextualism: Shifting the Rhetoric of Genetic Exceptionalism

As genomic science has evolved, so have policy and practice debates about how to describe and evaluate the ways in which genomic information is treated for individuals, institutions, and society. The term genetic exceptionalism, describing the concept that genetic information is special or unique, and specifically different from other kinds of medical information, has been utilized widely, but often counterproductively in these debates. We offer genomic contextualism as a new term to frame the characteristics of genomic science in the debates. Using stasis theory to draw out the important connection between definitional issues and resulting policies, we argue that the framework of genomic contextualism is better suited to evaluating genomics and its policy-relevant features to arrive at more productive discussion and resolve policy debates.     

Mountains Out of Molehills? Tests of the Mediating Effects of Self‐Esteem in Predicting Workplace Complaining1

This study explores the possibility that the effects of various work‐related antecedents on complaining behavior are transmitted through the beliefs that employees hold about themselves. Data obtained from 317 schoolteachers and their principals provide strong support for the proposition that organization‐based self‐esteem (OBSE) is an intervening mechanism between the antecedents of job satisfaction, affective commitment, procedural justice, distributive justice, and leader‐member exchange quality and workplace complaining. The relationships that emerged were fully mediated, suggesting that OBSE is a central feature in how employees think, feel, and interact with others in the workplace. Avenues for future research and study limitations are discussed.