A Comparative Study of Perceived Job Stressor Sources and Job Strain in American and Iranian Managers

Des échantillons de chefs d'entreprise aux USA et en Iran ont été comparés quant aux pressions au travail (contrainte, orientation du rôle du responsable/tâche, travail/maison et le support à ne pas travailler), cinq agents tenseurs (la dissatisfaction au travail, la tension mentale, la tension physique, l'intention de quitter le travail et l'absentéisme) et le sentiment de contrôle (LOC) au travail. Comme attendu, les chefs d'entreprise iraniens étaient davantage externes et davantage sous pression sur les cinq types d'agents stressants. Les américains ont montré de plus fortes corrélations entre les agents stressants. Les relations entre pression et tension au travail étaient similaires dans chacun des échantillons et dans les deux échantillons le LOC interne était associéà un niveau de stress plus bas. Bien que la statut marital n'ait pas été associé au stress au travail et aux agents stressant chez les américains, de fortes relations existent chez les iraniens.
Samples of Iranian and US managers were compared on four sources of job pressure (constraints, managerial role/tasks, home/work, and nonwork support), five strains (job dissatisfaction, mental strain, physical strain, intention of quitting the job, and absence), and work locus of control. As expected Iranian managers were more external and were higher on pressure and on all five job strains. Americans showed higher intercorrelations among strains except for absence, whereas Iranians had higher correlations among sources of pressure. Relations between pressure and job strains were similar across both samples, and in both samples internal locus of control was associated with lower strain. Although marital status was not associated with job stressors and strains among Americans, it showed strong relations among Iranians.     

Differences in the coding of spatial relations in face identification and basic-level object recognition

The purpose of this investigation was to determine if the relations among the primitives used in face identification and in basic-level object recognition are represented using coordinate or categorical relations. In 2 experiments the authors used photographs of famous people's faces as stimuli in which each face had been altered to have either 1 of its eyes moved up from its normal position or both of its eyes moved up. Participants performed either a face identification task or a basic-level object recognition task with these stimuli. In the face identification task, 1-eye-moved faces were easier to recognize than 2-eyes-moved faces, whereas the basic-level object recognition task showed the opposite pattern of results. Results suggest that face identification involves a coordinate shape representation in which the precise locations of visual primitives are specified, whereas basic-level object recognition uses categorically coded relations.     

BUILDING CHARACTER: A LEADERSHIP ESSENTIAL

Character is an increasingly important topic of discourse and analysis, however, much of the research remains problematic and conceptual. Even less evidence exists of the nature of the relationship between character and leadership. This study examined self-reported character and associated demographic correlates among a sample of 238 Australian business leaders. Exploratory factor analysis identified three dimensions of character consistent with theory. These dimensions were examined in relation to demographic variables. After controlling for social desirability bias, few statistically significant demographic differences were found. Further research is recommended to validate the model of character developed in our paper.

Oscillations: Zen & Psychoanalytic Versions

The author provides a personal and experiential account of Zen Buddhism and psychoanalysis. The notion of oscillations serves as an organizing structure. Drawing from the British psychoanalyst Wilfred Bion and the American Zen teacher Robert Aitken, the notion of suffering, meaning here to permit, is considered as the central motivating force and organizing principle for both disciplines. As a critique of traditional psychoanalytic writing an experiment in dialogue is offered that draws from a variety of writing styles including prose, poetry, free-association, stream of consciousness, traditional teaching stories and case material to discuss various experiential states such as linearity, circularity, resistance, ambivalence, passion, rage and the potential for a mutually supportive dynamic between Zen and psychoanalysis.     

Psychological effects of attack on the World Trade Center: analysis before and after

Four different studies using a total sample of 711 from the same New York City student population tested a model that has emerged from previous research on disasters. The model suggests that postdisaster psychological distress is a function of exposure to the disaster, predisaster psychological distress, acute distress following the disaster, time elapsed between disaster and observation of distress, and additional traumatic experiences since the disaster. Although findings replicate those of previous cross-sectional studies regarding association of exposure and distress after the disaster, before and after studies did not detect an effect on postdisaster psychological distress of the World Trade Center attack. Great caution must be used in attributing elevated psychological distress observed postdisaster to the effects of the disaster.     

What is Pragmatism in Brazil Today?

This paper analyses the relations between Pragmatism and Brazilian culture, nowadays defined as a plural culture. It shows that the introduction of Pragmatism into Brazilian educational movements in the past actually made such culture much more receptive to pragmatist ideas. After discussing the concepts of truth and minimalism on Richard Rorty’s Philosophical Papers, the authors conclude that Brazilian education today is receptive to the conception in which new narratives can be used as a powerful instrument to change the world.