Assessing the Influence of Psychosocial and Career Mentoring on Organizational Attractiveness

Past research on mentoring in organizational settings has focused on psychosocial and career mentoring functions more senior employees provide to new hires. In this study, we examined whether the perceived quality of psychosocial and career functions of pre‐hire mentoring and realistic job previews (RJPs) provided to students through mentoring impact organizational attraction and potential applicants' intentions to pursue or accept jobs at their mentors' organization, and ultimately their acceptance of positions with their mentors' organization. We compared face‐to‐face mentoring with online mentoring. A field study was conducted (n=194 European graduate students). Findings indicate that the quality of psychosocial mentoring plays a larger role in organizational attraction and intentions to pursue jobs than the perceived level/quality of career mentoring functions, with RJPs functioning as a suppressor variable. Obtaining a job with the mentors' organization was related to career, but not to psychosocial mentoring functions or RJPs.     

Perceived behavioral changes in early multiple sclerosis

Acquired behavioral changes have essentially been described in advanced multiple sclerosis (MS). The present study was designed to determine whether behavioral modifications specifically related to the MS pathological process could be identified in the initial phase of the disease, as compared to control patients with chronic, relapsing and progressive inflammatory disorders not involving the central nervous system (CNS). Eighty-eight early MS patients (Expanded Disability Status Scale score 相似文献   

Einsatz von „virtuellen Realitäten“ in der Psychotherapie

The internet, as well as various mobile media (e.g. cellular phones, handhelds, mobile paddles) have proven very useful in supporting psychotherapeutic measures in various projects. Virtual reality technologies (VR) take technical as well as intervention possibilities a step further. They enable the creation of computer-based models of the real world, with which interaction via the human-machine interface is enabled. The three-dimensional and interactively explorable environment is predominately used for exposure treatment in the behavior therapy setting. The features of VR applications are utilized as a medium between imagined and in vivo confrontation. This article illustrates various applications and compiles findings regarding effectiveness. It is concluded that the exposure treatments using this technology for various described phobias have proven effective. The use of VR for treatment of other psychological illnesses, however, for example trauma disorders, as was demonstrated in the study at hand, is viewed very critically. Finally, research necessities are indicated and psychodynamic facets of VR are discussed.     

A lengthy look at the daily grind: time series analysis of events, mood, stress, and satisfaction

The present study investigated processes by which job stress and satisfaction unfold over time by examining the relations between daily stressful events, mood, and these variables. Using a Web-based daily survey of stressor events, perceived strain, mood, and job satisfaction completed by 14 university workers, 1,060 occasions of data were collected. Transfer function analysis, a multivariate version of time series analysis, was used to examine the data for relationships among the measured variables after factoring out the contaminating influences of serial dependency. Results revealed a contrast effect in which a stressful event associated positively with higher strain on the same day and associated negatively with strain on the following day. Perceived strain increased over the course of a semester for a majority of participants, suggesting that effects of stress build over time. Finally, the data were consistent with the notion that job satisfaction is a distal outcome that is mediated by perceived strain.     

Cholinergic modulation of learning and memory in the human brain as detected with functional neuroimaging

The advent of neuroimaging methods such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and positron emission tomography (PET) has provided investigators with a tool to study neuronal processes involved in cognitive functions in humans. Recent years have seen an increasing amount of studies which mapped higher cognitive functions to specific brain regions. These studies have had a great impact on our understanding of neuroanatomical correlates of learning and memory in the living human brain. Recently, advances were made to go beyond the use of fMRI as a pure cognitive brain mapping device. One of these advances includes the use of psychopharmacological approaches in conjunction with neuroimaging. The paper will introduce the combination of neuroimaging and psychopharmacology as a tool to study neurochemical modulation of human brain function. A review of imaging studies using cholinergic challenges in the context of explicit and implicit learning and memory paradigms is provided which show that cholinergic neurotransmission modulates task-related activity in sensory and frontal cortical brain areas.     

Depression as measured by the Beck Depression Inventory-II among injecting drug users

This study conducts a confirmatory factor analysis of the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) with a sample of 598 individuals who reported recent injecting drug use. Findings indicate that out of four models tested, the best model for this sample is a three-factor solution (somatic, affective, and cognitive) previously reported by Buckley, Parker, and Heggie. The findings that nearly 50% of participants provided BDI-II scores indicating significant depressive symptomatology reveals that these individuals are in need of treatment for their psychiatric symptoms as well as substance use. Somatic symptoms are endorsed more strongly than affective or cognitive symptoms of depression, suggesting a possible, but yet poorly defined, relationship between depressive symptomatology and drug use that centers on shared somatic symptomatology.     

The impact of response mode on implicit and explicit sequence learning

Evidence regarding the influence of response mode on sequence learning in serial reaction time (SRT) tasks has been mixed so far. In the present study, sequence learning was investigated under two different response conditions: manual (button presses) versus verbal (pronunciation of digits). Additionally, participants were divided post hoc into subgroups differing in their degree of explicit knowledge about the sequence. Results showed an interaction between response mode and type of learning (implicit vs. explicit), with explicit learning functioning more effectively under verbal than under manual conditions, whereas implicit learning was unaffected by the variation of the response mode. Implications concerning different underlying learning mechanisms (R-R learning vs. R-S learning) are discussed. Specifically, we suggest that the high response-effect distinctiveness of the verbal responses facilitated R-R learning.     

Goals and Everyday Problem Solving: Examining the Link between Age-Related Goals and Problem-Solving Strategy Use

ABSTRACT

Qualitative interviews on family and financial problems from 332 adolescents, young, middle-aged, and older adults, demonstrated that developmentally relevant goals predicted problem-solving strategy use over and above problem domain. Four focal goals concerned autonomy, generativity, maintaining good relationships with others, and changing another person. We examined both self- and other-focused problem-solving strategies. Autonomy goals were associated with self-focused instrumental problem solving and generative goals were related to other-focused instrumental problem solving in family and financial problems. Goals of changing another person were related to other-focused instrumental problem solving in the family domain only. The match between goals and strategies, an indicator of problem-solving adaptiveness, showed that young individuals displayed the greatest match between autonomy goals and self-focused problem solving, whereas older adults showed a greater match between generative goals and other-focused problem solving. Findings speak to the importance of considering goals in investigations of age-related differences in everyday problem solving.     

The speed and accuracy of material recognition in natural images

We studied the time course of material categorization in natural images relative to superordinate and basic-level object categorization, using a backward-masking paradigm. We manipulated several low-level features of the images—including luminance, contrast, and color—to assess their potential contributions. The results showed that the speed of material categorization was roughly comparable to the speed of basic-level object categorization, but slower than that of superordinate object categorization. The performance seemed to be crucially mediated by low-level factors, with color leading to a solid increase in performance for material categorization. At longer presentation durations, material categorization was less accurate than both types of object categorization. Taken together, our results show that material categorization can be as fast as basic-level object categorization, but is less accurate.     

Internet als Ratgeber bei psychischen Problemen

Communication serves as an integral part of every psychotherapeutic treatment. Consequently, in the last decade modern information and communication technologies in the therapeutic context gained in importance. How important are Internet-based therapeutic information and intervention sources for potential patients and how are they appraised when already known or used? In the course of a representative study the health-related Internet use behavior of 2,411 Germans was examined. There was a focus on the usage of health-related websites and counseling services in the past and (potentially) in the future. More than one third (37.3%) of the German population and almost two thirds (63.5%) of German Internet users search for medical information on Internet. However, physicians, psychologists, pharmacists, family members and friends have a greater impact on health behavior than the Internet. Of German Internet users 54.1% are not informed about the possibilities of psychosocial online counseling. Nevertheless, they would maybe use the Internet in the future. The 2.2% who already used Internet in case of psychosocial problems are content with the service. In fact new media have not yet found their way into psychotherapy and counseling as much as in our daily lives. With regard to manifest mental disorders, Germans would prefer the conventional psychotherapeutic milieu to media-assisted kinds of treatment.