The Relationship Between Personal Values and the Perception of the Corporation's Code of Ethics

Most major corporations have instituted codes of ethics to encourage ethical behavior. However, recent studies suggest that these codes are not always effective. One reason that the codes might be ineffective is because the values represented in the code do not correspond with the employee's personal values. The more the code represents values that the individual agrees with, the more positively the employee may view the document. In turn, when the code is viewed positively, transgressions of the code will be viewed negatively. In the present study, employees of a large petrochemical company responded to a survey which solicited their personal values, their perception of the company's values, and their perception of the values behind the organization's code of ethics. In line with the hypothesis, the more similar the values of the code were to the person's values, the more favorable was the evaluation of the code. Similarly the more favorable the evaluation, the more violations of the code were perceived as immoral.     

Men's Reactions to Hypothetical Forceful Sexual Advances from Women: The Role of Sexual Standards,Relationship Availability,and the Beauty Bias

The study investigated 142 college men's reactions to a vignette in which they were to imagine receiving a physically forceful sexual advance from a female casual acquaintance. Participants were predominantly middle-class Caucasian students from psychology classes. Results revealed that men with more restricted sexual standards had significantly more negative reactions to the advance than did men with less restricted standards. Further, only 16% of men with more restricted sexual standards, compared to 34% of men with less restricted standards, said they would consent to sex with the vignette woman. Men who were instructed to assume that they had a girlfriend in the scenario situation had more negative reactions to the advance than did men who assumed that they did not have a girlfriend. Evidence was found for a beauty bias: men who read that the initiator was average looking had less positive reactions than did men who read that the initiator was very attractive. Results add support to the authors' Sexual Opportunity Model explaining men's reactions to coercive sexual contact with women.     

Charting new territory: Body esteem, weight satisfaction, depression, and self-esteem among chinese males and females in Hong Kong

This study examined the relationship of body esteem, weight satisfaction, self esteem, and depression among 309 (186 females and 123 males) Chinese university students in Hong Kong. Females were found to have significantly lower body esteem [Body Esteem Scale: S. L. Franzoi and S. A. Shields (1984) “The Body Esteem Scale: Multidimensional Structure and Sex Differences in a College Population,” Journal of Personality Assessment, Vol. 48, pp. 173–178] and higher depression [Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale: L. S. Radloff (1977) “The CES-D scale: A Self-Report Depression Scale for Research in the General Population,” Applied Psychological Measures, Vol. 2, pp. 385–401] when compared to males, whereas males were found to have significantly more weight dissatisfaction. No significant difference was found in the area of self-esteem [Index of Self-Esteem: W. W. Hudson (1982) Clinical Measurement Package: A Field Manual, Chicago: Dorsey]. Females desired a significantly lower ideal body mass index, whereas, males desired a significantly higher ideal body mass index. The relationship between body esteem, weight satisfaction, and self-esteem was similar for males and females; however, the relationship between body satisfaction and depression was significant only for females. Findings are compared to similar research on European American samples and implications from a cross-cultural perspective are discussed.     

Pastors,parishioners, and pets

Case examples of how three parishioners in one congregation dealt with pet loss are examined. Each person discusses reasons for owning a pet, relates personal reactions to the loss, explains who was and who would have been supportive during the grief process, and illustrates why such support was needed. Suggestions for how a local minister might provide outreach to parishioners dealing with grief over a pet's death are presented.     

The social process of aging: Its implications for pastoral ministry

Aging, in the context of modern American culture, is as much a social process as it is a biological fact. It is because we perceive the characteristics of old age to be threatening to our common values that we relegate the elderly to out-group status and attempt to manage them, much as we do the members of other deviant populations. The result is the creation of a self-abasing elderly role, to which the aging are in many ways forced to conform. If our ministry is to affirm the humanity of older men and women, it is necessary that we cease to look upon them as complexes of typical traits. Only then can we begin to make the healing love of Christ present for them.     

Work orientation vs hygienic orientation: A bi-polar approach to the study of work motivation

Based on the work of Herzberg and associates 1959 a bi-polar measure of work orientation vs hygienic orientation was constructed. In addition to providing reliability estimates, the convergent and discriminant validity is shown through correlation of the measure with other measures of work motivation, personality measures, values, and abilities. Finally, criterion-related validity is shown by correlating the new measure with supervisor's ratings of how long it will take newly hired college graduates to reach the third level of management.