ROLE OF INFRASTRUCTURE NETWORKS IN SUPPORTING SOCIAL VALUES TO SUSTAIN ECONOMIC SUCCESS IN NEWLY-INDUSTRIALIZED NATIONS

Organizations are evolving into a flatter structure with fewer intermediate organizational levels. Especially, fewer middle managers are needed to relay communications up and down the hierarchy. As information technology is deployed for competitive advantage, fulfilling internal communication becomes as crucial as fulfilling external communications with suppliers and customers. Fulfilling internal communications is especially crucial because incorporation of social (organizational) values and corporate culture requires communication. As the role of communication expands, the role of information technology in promoting communication is fostering experimentation in organizing work and in management practices. For example, electronic mail promotes equality and consensus in a manner that enables participatory rather than authoritarian management. An infrastructure network is a telecommunications network that provides basic communication services on which public, e.g. government, or private organizations depend for their survival. An infrastructure network is distinguished from any ordinary communications facility because it is both pervasive and comprehensive to promote group participation. An infrastructure network is further distinguished by its robustness that allows sufficient bandwidth for substantial resource sharing. Infrastructure networks represent a vital opportunity for newly-industrialized nations in Asia. In these nations, through effective communication, social values related to the ‘group’ will produce a better payoff. This payoff would result from the momentum and partnership experience generated by recent economic success. Also, the relatively smaller size of these nations would enable easier networking. Finally, as demonstrated by their success and as a result of their smaller scale, the ability of these nations to focus on what needs to be done will ensure the wise investment of funds earned from economic success in projects that will guarantee future success. This paper recommends the development of infrastructure networks including national and local networks as well as gateways (to other national networks) and other network, e.g. data bases, resources. The involvement of all constituencies, government and education as well as the private sector, will encourage experiments with information technology in organizing work and in management practices that incorporate social values.     

Assessing personality at risk in personnel selection and development

This paper demonstrates the validity and usefulness of a count technique to screen for potential personality dysfunctioning in NEO‐PI‐R ratings obtained in selection and professional development assessments. The usefulness of this screening technique for Industrial, Work and Organizational (IWO) psychologists is demonstrated in five different samples that were administered the NEO‐PI‐R for selection or development purposes. Three additional samples served as normative data to compute FFM PD count cut‐offs that can be used for selection and career development decisions. Evidence for the construct validity of 6 out of 10 FFM PD counts was provided, and all FFM PD compound scales were significantly related to important criteria, including the final selection decision, the results of a behaviourally oriented selection interview and self‐rated work competencies. The practical utility and limitations of this count technique for personnel selection and development are discussed. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Exploration of the prevalence and correlates of substance use among sheltered adolescents in South Korea

Substance use among sheltered adolescents is very serious in South Korea--a nation in the process of rapid industrialization and urbanization. However, few studies have investigated substance use among the adolescents which is a growing concern of the changing society of this nation. This study examined the prevalence of substance use and explored risk factors that predict substance abuse by sheltered adolescents. Through a questionnaire survey of sheltered adolescents, data on substance use and the risk factors were collected. The sample of the adolescents included 44 (33.3%) males and 88 (67.2%) females; their mean age was 15.8 years (SD = 1.62). The results of a logistic regression analysis showed that alcohol expectancy, physical abuse, and peer pressure were all statistically significantly associated with substance abuse. Findings on the critical issues are expected to lead to the development of urgently needed prevention programs for the high-risk adolescents in South Korea.     

Unconscious processing embedded in conscious processing: evidence from gaze time on Chinese sentence reading

The current study aims to separate conscious and unconscious behaviors by employing both online and offline measures while the participants were consciously performing a task. Using an eye-movement tracking paradigm, we observed participants' response patterns for distinguishing within-word-boundary and across-word-boundary reverse errors while reading Chinese sentences (also known as the "word inferiority effect"). The results showed that when the participants consciously detected errors, their gaze time for target words associated with across-word-boundary reverse errors was significantly longer than that for targets words associated with within-word-boundary reverse errors. Surprisingly, the same gaze time pattern was found even when the readers were not consciously aware of the reverse errors. The results were statistically robust, providing converging evidence for the feasibility of our experimental paradigm in decoupling offline behaviors and the online, automatic, and unconscious aspects of cognitive processing in reading.     

LTP induction modifies functional relationship among hippocampal neurons

To obtain evidence linking long-term potentiation (LTP) and memory, we examined whether LTP induction modifies functional relationship among neurons in the rat hippocampus. In contrast to neurons in low-frequency stimulated or AP5-treated slices, LTP induction altered 'functional connectivity,' as defined by the degree of synchronous firing, among simultaneously recorded neurons in the CA3 region. Interestingly, functional connectivity changed bidirectionally so that the total sum of functional connectivity remained constant. These results demonstrate LTP-induced changes in neuronal functional connectivity and suggest the existence of a normalization mechanism for the total sum of functional connectivity.     

Language matters in counselling diversity

The paper presents a personal view of some issues around therapeutic conversations involving difference and minority experience. Language, discourse and mother-tongue are explored from different theoretical standpoints and considered alongside concepts of difference, otherness and the unvoiced. Intercultural counselling offers a framework for unpacking the meaning of decolonising practice in conversations with clients or counsellors from ethnic or other minorities undertaking counselling or supervision. I discuss possibilities for practice informed by existential and hermeneutic phenomenology, including gestalt therapy interventions to bring in the body alongside discourse, and phenomenological empathy as a non-colonising resource in working across difference and diversity.     

Recollections of childhood bullying and multiple forms of victimization: correlates with psychological functioning among college students

This retrospective investigation examined the association among childhood bullying victimization, multiple forms of victimization, and psychological functioning in a college sample. Four hundred-and-eighty-two undergraduate students participated in the study (M = 19.98 years, SD = 1.82). The sample included 65 % women. For race/ethnicity, 66.4 % were European-American (N = 320), 16.8 % African-American (N = 81). For grade level, 21.6 % were freshmen (N = 104), followed by 38.2 % sophomores (N = 184), 16.2 % juniors (N = 78), and 23.4 % seniors (N = 113). Participants completed a survey packet of measures assessing childhood bullying victimization experiences and current levels of psychological functioning. Findings indicated that bullying victimization significantly predicted greater levels of depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress (PTS) after controlling for other childhood victimization experiences. PTS symptoms were predicted by exposure to community violence and child abuse with bullying victimization was found to be the strongest predictor. College-level practitioners need to assess for a wide range of childhood victimization experiences, including bullying victimization.     

Different routes to metacognitive judgments: The role of accuracy motivation

The current research proposes that metacognitive difficulty affects product evaluation through two different routes—the feelings of ease-of-retrieval heuristic and the self-validation process. The findings across four laboratory experiments show that metacognitive difficulty can undermine product evaluation through the feelings of ease-of-retrieval heuristic among low-accuracy individuals, regardless of a perceived fit between expected and experienced difficulty. In contrast, the findings indicate that metacognitive difficulty can enhance (vs. undermine) product evaluation among high-accuracy individuals through the self-validation process when there is a perceived fit (vs. misfit) between expected and experienced difficulty. We suggest that individuals under high accuracy motivation are more likely than those under low accuracy motivation to draw less determined and more flexible interpretation of metacognitive difficulty in making their product evaluation.