Workplace support, discrimination, and person-organization fit: tests of the theory of work adjustment with LGB individuals

The present study explored the links of 2 workplace contextual variables--perceptions of workplace heterosexist discrimination and lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB)-supportive climates--with job satisfaction and turnover intentions in a sample of LGB employees. An extension of the theory of work adjustment (TWA) was used as the conceptual framework for the study; as such, perceived person-organization (P-O) fit was tested as a mediator of the relations between the workplace contextual variables and job outcomes. Data were analyzed from 326 LGB employees. Zero-order correlations indicated that perceptions of workplace heterosexist discrimination and LGB-supportive climates were correlated in expected directions with P-O fit, job satisfaction, and turnover intentions. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to compare multiple alternative measurement models evaluating the discriminant validity of the 2 workplace contextual variables relative to one another, and the 3 TWA job variables relative to one another; SEM was also used to test the hypothesized mediation model. Comparisons of multiple alternative measurement models supported the construct distinctiveness of the variables of interest. The test of the hypothesized structural model revealed that only LGB-supportive climates (and not workplace heterosexist discrimination) had a unique direct positive link with P-O fit and, through the mediating role of P-O fit, had significant indirect positive and negative relations with job satisfaction and turnover intentions, respectively. Moreover, P-O fit had a significant indirect negative link with turnover intentions through job satisfaction.     

Infants generate goal-based action predictions

Predicting the actions of others is critical to smooth social interactions. Prior work suggests that both understanding and anticipation of goal-directed actions appears early in development. In this study, on-line goal prediction was tested explicitly using an adaptation of Woodward's (1998) paradigm for an eye-tracking task. Twenty 11-month-olds were familiarized to movie clips of a hand reaching to grasp one of two objects. Then object locations were swapped, and the hand made an incomplete reach between the objects. Here, infants reliably made their first look from the hand to the familiarized goal object, now in a new location. A separate control condition of 20 infants familiarized to the same movements of an unfamiliar claw revealed the opposite pattern: reliable prediction to the familiarized location, rather than the familiarized object. This study suggests that by 11 months infants actively use goal analysis to generate on-line predictions of an agent's next action.     

Action production influences 12-month-old infants' attention to others' actions

Recent work implicates a link between action control systems and action understanding. In this study, we investigated the role of the motor system in the development of visual anticipation of others' actions. Twelve-month-olds engaged in behavioral and observation tasks. Containment activity, infants' spontaneous engagement in producing containment actions; and gaze latency, how quickly they shifted gaze to the goal object of another's containment actions, were measured. Findings revealed a positive relationship: infants who received the behavior task first evidenced a strong correlation between their own actions and their subsequent gaze latency of another's actions. Learning over the course of trials was not evident. These findings demonstrate a direct influence of the motor system on online visual attention to others' actions early in development.     

Wisdom in Pastoral Care and Counseling: What Does it Entail?

The purpose of this article is to suggest richer potential meanings of spiritual wisdom and theological reflection in response to a critical reading of Pamela Cooper-White's book, Shared wisdom: Use of the self in pastoral care and counseling.     

Effects of atropine on the repeated acquisition and performance of response sequences in humans.

The present study assessed a 24-hr time course for the acute effects of intramuscular injections of atropine sulfate (0, 1.5, 3.0, and 6.0 mg/70 kg) in healthy adult humans responding under a two-component multiple schedule of repeated acquisition and performance of response sequences. Subjects resided in an inpatient research ward for the duration of the study. In each component of the multiple schedule, subjects completed a different sequence of 10 responses in a predetermined order using three keys of a numeric keypad. In the acquisition component, the subjects' task was to acquire a new sequence each session. Eight sessions were conducted daily: one immediately before administration of the drug and then 0.5, 1.5, 3.0, 5.0, 7.0, 9.0, and 24.0 hr after administration. In the performance component, the response sequence always remained the same. Overall percentage of errors increased and overall response rates decreased in the acquisition and performance components as an orderly function of drug dose. However, these effects were selective in that behavior in the acquisition component generally was affected at lower doses than in the performance component. When behavior was affected in both the acquisition and performance components, the time courses of effects were similar. Drug effects began at 0.5 or 1.5 hr, reached peak effects between 3.0 and 5.0 hr, and returned to placebo levels between 7.0 and 9.0 hr postdrug in both schedule components. None of the drug doses produced reliable effects the day after drug administration (24-hr postdrug) in either schedule component. The present study provides the first within-subject assessment of the magnitude and duration of the effects of an anticholinergic on repeated acquisition and performance baselines and extends to atropine the selective effects on these two baselines demonstrated previously with other compounds in humans and nonhumans.     

Medicine as a career: Choices and consequences

Medicine has traditionally been regarded as a rewarding career both financially and socially. How true, however, is that tradition in today's world of rising costs and decreasing revenues? The educational debt of the physician-in-training is steadily increasing, and currently does not affect specialty choice. As the cost of medical education continues to rise, the applicant pool begins to shrink, thereby possibly affecting the quality of future physicians. Once the physician has completed training however, the majority enjoy a positive return on investment. Their incomes generally fail to remain ahead of inflation, and therefore, have remained within a narrow band of $40,000 in 1970 dollars. Finally, the demand for physician services cannot be attributed solely to either the consumer (patient) or to the supplier (physician). Rather, the demand for medical services appears to be a unique combination of the two. In conclusion, medicine still is an attractive career path, but the choices and consequences are becoming much more demanding.     

INCREASING HANDICAPPED PRESCHOOLERS' PEER SOCIAL INTERACTIONS: CROSS-SETTING AND COMPONENT ANALYSIS

The purposes of our study were: (a) to train a set of observationally determined social behaviors via peer initiation; (b) to determine if effects generalized across classroom settings and to directly intervene if generalization did not occur; and (c) to analyze components of the peer-initiation intervention. After baseline, nonhandicapped preschool children (confederates) were taught to direct social initiations to the three handicapped preschool-aged students. Teachers prompted the confederates to engage the students in social interaction when necessary and rewarded the confederates with tokens. Confederates' initiations to the students resulted in increased frequencies of positive social interaction. There was no generalization to other classroom settings, and the intervention was subsequently implemented in a second and third classroom. Next, the confederates' token reinforcement system was withdrawn, with no apparent deleterious effects on the confederates' or students' social interactions. When teachers substantially reduced their prompts to the confederates, students' social interactions decreased. Finally, reinstatement of teacher prompts resulted in increases in the confederates' social initiations and, consequently, the positive social interactions of the students.     

On the greatest lower bound to reliability

Certain ambiguities in a recent paper on the computation and statistics of the greatest lower bound are clarified.     

Evaluating the quality of training delivered by direct-care staff in a state mental retardation center

This study evaluated a center-wide training system in a state-operated mental retardation center. Staff performance was assessed under varying conditions with collateral measures collected on resident behavior. The quality of training delivered by direct-care staff was measured following the completion of an inservice training program and when individual feedback and praise were available or a group contingency where feedback, praise, and money were available. Inservice training was not found to be sufficient to maintain staff training skills. Providing feedback and praise had mixed results in maintaining staff behavior. A group contingency using feedback, praise, and money was found to be immediately effective in improving and maintaining staff behavior. Collateral measures on student behavior were also provided that indicated that consistent, quality training by staff resulted in increased student skill acquisition. These results are discussed within the framework of conducting research in applied settings.