DETECTING JOB DIFFERENCES: A MONTE CARLO STUDY1

A monte carlo computer study was conducted where the statistical power of the univariate repeated measures ANOVA design proposed by Arvey and Mossholder (1977) to detect job differences was investigated. Also investigated was the relative value and usefulness of omega-squared estimates to indicate job similarities and differences. Job profile means and covariance structures were generated by using data from six relatively similar jobs and six dissimilar jobs based on Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ) data bank information. Different combinations of job differences (4 conditions), number of job raters (2 conditions), and violations of statistical assumptions (3 conditions) were generated (1000 sets for each of the 24 combinations) and each data set analyzed using the ANOVA design. Results indicate that testing for statistical significance is not as useful in determining job differences as examining the omega-squared estimates. Specifically, the omega-squared estimates for the interaction of the Jobs × Dimension effect is a relatively sensitive and stable indicator of job differences regardless of the number of raters and violations of the statistical assumptions.     

Inviting a Scandalous Look: Detecting the Fabulous Fabula Promoted by the Twist Film

This article argues that the explicit narrative twist that constitutes the mode of narration of twist films opens the potential for an additional implied twist that emerges in the awoken interpretive process of the viewer. Relying on Roland Barthes's notion of the “writerly” mode of narrative, this article further argues that this mode of implied twist narration inadvertently rearranges the spectator relationship to story construction in potentially any film by bringing spectator desire into focus.     

A little acceptance is good for your health: Interpersonal messages and weight change over time

This research examines whether acceptance messages from close others about one's weight predict changes in stressful weight concern and body mass index (BMI) over time. Participants reported weight concern and BMI in three waves of data collection spanning approximately 9 months, and reported the messages they received from parents, friends, and romantic partners concerning their weight in the second wave of data collection. Participants normatively gained weight during the study period. But for vulnerable women, those initially high in weight concern, receiving fewer acceptance messages about weight was associated with weight gain, whereas receiving more acceptance messages was associated with decreases in stressful weight concern and weight maintenance, or even loss, over time. Alternative predictors, mechanisms, and models were also tested.     

Structural Family Therapy: An Outsider's Perspective

This subjective viewpoint outlines a plan of attack for those who, like the present writer, would like to pirate some of the useful models and orientation developed at the Philadelphia Child Guidance Clinic. Specifically focused publications abound from the talented people at the Philadelphia Clinic, but, to date, no unifying work has appeared in the literature to define just what is meant when they use the rubric "structural family therapy." The present article defines one person's understanding of the components included under that rubric. As a definition and overview, no effort is made to be comprehensive, and few illustrations show how specific strategies would be implemented. Rather, this is an effort to draw from the literature, discussions, talks, and videotapes originating at the Philadelphia Child Guidance Clinic, a central kernel that could be adapted by other agencies desiring to utilize this orientation.     

Composition as Identity Doesn’t Settle the Special Composition Question1

Orthodoxy says that the thesis that composition is identity (CAI) entails universalism: the claim that any collection of entities has a sum. If this is true it counts in favour of CAI, since a thesis about the nature of composition that settles the otherwise intractable special composition question (SCQ) is desirable. But I argue that it is false: CAI is compatible with the many forms of restricted composition, and SCQ is no easier to answer given CAI than otherwise. Furthermore, in seeing why this is the case we reveal an objection to CAI: that it allows for the facts concerning what there is to be settled whilst leaving open the question about what is identical to what.