Spatial and physical frames of reference in positioning a limb

Splints attached to the right forearm were used to rotate the forearm’s physical reference frame, as defined by the eigenvectors of its inertia tensor, relative to its spatial reference frame. In two experiments, when subjects were required to orient the forearm parallel to, or at 45° to, the environmental horizontal, they produced limb orientations that were systematically deflected from the forearm’s longitudinal spatial axis in the direction of the forearm’s physical axes. The position sense seems to be based on inertial eigenvectors rather than on joint angles or gravitational torques.     

An Evaluation of the Cross-Cultural Validity of Holland's Theory: Career Choices by Workers in India

The current study evaluated the cross-cultural validity of Holland's (1985) theory through internal and external analyses based on the responses of 172 natives of India who completed the Vocational Preference Inventory (VPI) and measures of job and occupational satisfaction. Internal consistency estimates for Holland dimensions, intercorrelations among participants' vocational interest scales, and the results of a randomization test (Tracey, 1997) all provide evidence for the internal structure of the VPI with Indians. However, the VPI did not exhibit high external validity. Further, multiple regression results indicated that congruence, consistency, and differentiation did not predict job or occupational satisfaction, suggesting cross-cultural boundaries on Holland's theory itself. Finally, we assessed and found limited conceptual and linguistic equivalence of measurement of the VPI in India. The assumptions of Holland's theory in light of the current findings are discussed.     

Participants' reactions to “Equity with the world”

According to traditional Equity theory, the injustices that an individual encounters in one relationship should not affect his other relationships. By definition, the equitableness of one relationship (say the AB relationship) depends entirely on how much Participants A and B contribute to the relationship and how much they get out of it.Austin, in Austin and Walster (1973), however, argues that Equity theory must make transrelational predictions. He argues that persons attempt to maintain both “Person-specific Equity” and “Equity with the World” (e.g., Equity with others in general). The authors predicted (and found) that whether a person focuses on “Person-specific Equity” or “Equity with the World” depends on whether or not he feels “accountable” for his behavior. When participants knew they could not be held accountable for their actions, they routinely sacrificed Person-specific Equity in order to maintain Equity with the World. However, when they knew they would have to confront their second partner eventually, they rarely sacrificed Person-specific Equity. (Evidently, they assumed their partners would not sympathize with their desire to maintain transrelational equity.)In this experiment, we predicted (and found) that such pessimism (by persons wishing to restore “Equity with the World”) is not justified. Inequitably treated partners' dissatisfaction and hostility were markedly blunted when individuals believed that their “unfair” partner was attempting to restore “Equity with the World“.     

Longitudinal relationships between workplace bullying,basic psychological needs,and employee functioning: a simultaneous investigation of psychological need satisfaction and frustration

The aim of this cross-lagged study was to provide new insight into the interplay between workplace bullying, basic psychological needs (for autonomy, competence, and relatedness), and employee functioning. Based on new developments in self-determination theory (SDT) research, we simultaneously examined the temporal relationships between workplace bullying, need satisfaction and frustration, as well as two indicators of psychological functioning: life satisfaction and psychosomatic complaints. Data were collected at two time points over a 12-month period from a sample of 508 Canadian nurses. Results suggest that bullying not only negatively predicted satisfaction for the needs of autonomy and competence, it actively frustrated all three needs. Frustration of the needs for competence and relatedness as well as satisfaction of the need for relatedness also predicted the psychological functioning of employees exposed to bullying behaviour over time. Taken together, the results suggest that evaluating need frustration provides in-depth insight into the detrimental effects of bullying on employees’ psychological inner resources and may explain the impoverishment of employees’ psychological functioning when confronted with bullying behaviour. The implications for the bullying and SDT literature are discussed.     

Comparison of the Effects of Telephone Suicide Prevention Help by Volunteers and Professional Paid Staff: Results from Studies in the USA and Quebec,Canada

Research since the 1960s has consistently found that lay volunteers are better at helping suicidal callers than professionals. Yet, professional degrees are increasingly becoming requirements for helpline workers. In our first study, we conducted post hoc comparisons of U.S. helplines with all professional paid staff, all lay volunteers, and a mix of both, using silent monitoring and standardized assessments of 1,431 calls. The volunteer centers more often conducted risk assessments, had more empathy, were more respectful of callers, and had significantly better call outcome ratings. A second study of five Quebec suicide prevention centers used silent monitoring to compare telephone help in 1,206 calls answered by 90 volunteers and 39 paid staff. Results indicate no significant differences between the volunteers and paid employees on outcome variables. However, volunteers and paid staff with over 140 hours of call experience had significantly better outcomes. Unlike the United States, Quebec paid employees were not required to have advanced professional degrees. We conclude from these results and previous research that there is no justification for requiring that suicide prevention helpline workers be mental health professionals. In fact, the evidence to date indicates that professionals may be less effective in providing telephone help to suicidal individuals when compared to trained lay volunteers.     

为医学"会诊”-当代医学的主要缺憾

现代医学发展迅速,方兴未艾,由于技术主义抬头,认识局限与医学发展水平的制约。出现某些缺憾性倾向。主要有：破足的医学、分裂的医学。被动的医学、治标的医学、人性淡漠的医学、不公正的医学等。在对上述进行分析与评论的基础上,对医疗服务变革真挚进行了预测与展望。     

Interpreting functional analysis results using the real-time recording of independent and dependent variables

An extended series of functional analysis conditions were conducted to assess the operant function of aggressive behaviors emitted by a 33-year-old female with diagnoses of severe mental retardation and organic psychosis. Results from the primary test conditions were fairly undifferentiated, but response rates were elevated in the control condition. Independent-variable integrity data from the control condition indicated that aggressive behaviors were nearly always contiguous with the fixed-time delivery of experimenter attention. These results are discussed in the context of the current control condition functioning as a possible test for escape from social interaction. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.