Shared Reality,System Justification,and the Relational Basis of Ideological Beliefs

Although it is tempting to think that one's political convictions reflect independent and unbiased thinking, research increasingly suggests that ideologies reflect motivational processes. The present paper integrates system justification and shared reality theories to propose that ideologies may function as prepackaged units of interpretation that spread because of basic human motives to understand the world, avoid existential threat, and maintain valued interpersonal relationships. The authors review evidence suggesting that affiliative motives may influence ideological beliefs to align with the progressive or conservative views shared within a given relationship or group. At the same time, such motives may lead disproportionately to the adoption of system‐justifying worldviews. Implications for the context dependence of ideological convictions, the role that shared reality may play in group conflicts, and the relational bases of revolutionary change are discussed.     

Workforce Segregation and the Gender Wage Gap: Is “Women's” Work Valued as Highly as “Men's”?1

This study focuses on gender segregation and its implications for the salaries assigned to male‐ and female‐typed jobs. We used a between‐subjects design to examine whether participants would assign different pay to 3 types of jobs wherein the actual responsibilities and duties carried out by men and women were the same, but the job was situated in either a traditionally masculine or traditionally feminine domain. We found pay differentials between jobs defined as “male” and “female,” which suggest that gender‐based discrimination, arising from occupational stereotyping and the devaluation of the work typically done by women, influences salary allocation. The ways in which the results fit with contemporary theorizing about sexism and with the shifting standards model ( Biernat, 1995, 2003 ) are discussed.     

Counseling the Client With Prostate Cancer

Prostate cancer is prevalent in the United States today and has a far‐reaching effect on men and their relationships. Being diagnosed with and treated for prostate cancer often causes men to experience side effects that induce physical, emotional, and social change. Counselors need to be aware of prostate cancer's impact on men and their families.     

Evaluating Cognitive Training Outcomes: Validity and Utility of Structural Knowledge Assessment

Conventional approaches to evaluating cognitive outcomes of training typically use paper-and-pencil tests that emphasize gains or differences in declarative knowledge. Yet a key factor in differentiating expert and novice performance is the way individuals organize their knowledge. Accordingly, the acquisition of meaningful knowledge structures and methods of assessing structural knowledge are potentially important issues for designing and evaluating training programs. Two studies were conducted to examine the validity and utility of one structural assessment technique called Pathfinder (Schvaneveldt, Durso, & Dearholt, 1989). Results from academic and organizational samples indicated that Pathfinder measures of structural knowledge quality predicted individual differences in performance self-efficacy. After controlling for differences in declarative knowledge, measures of structural knowledge quality added to the prediction of performance self-efficacy in the student sample, but not in the organizational sample. The unique features and potential advantages of structural assessment for training evaluation are discussed.     

Reviews: Books, Art

FINDING SPACE: WINNICOTT, GOD, AND PSYCHIC REALITY. By Ann Belford Ulanov. 232 pp. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press. $24.95. ON RELIGION. By John D. Caputo. New York: Routledge Press, 2001. $12.95. ORDINARY MIND: EXPLORING THE COMMON GROUND OF ZEN AND PSYCHOTHERAPY. By Barry Magid. 190 pp. Boston: Wisdom Pub, 2001. $22.95. SEXUAL ORIENTATION AND PSYCHOANALYSIS: SEXUAL SCIENCE AND CLINICAL PRACTICE. By Richard C. Friedman and Jennifer I. Downey. 352 pp. New York: Columbia University Press, 2002. $35.00. EROTIC INNOCENCE: THE CULTURE OF CHILD MOLESTING. By James R. Kincaid. 352 pp. Durham: Duke University Press, 1998. $24.95. PRACTICING PRESENCE: THE SPIRITUALITY OF CARING IN EVERYDAY LIFE. By Kerry Walters. 122 pp. Franklin, WI: Sheed & Ward, Inc., 2001. $14.95. TERRIFYING TRANSFERENCES: AFTERSHOCKS OF CHILDHOOD TRAUMA. By Lawrence E. Hedges. 497 pp. Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson, Inc., 2000. $65.00. THE ORIFICE AS SACRIFICIAL SITE: CULTURE, ORGANIZATION, AND THE BODY. By James Aho. 153 pp. New York: Aldine de Gruyter, 2002. $45.95. The Paintings of Joan Mitchell     

A Place to Heal: Environmental Sources of Satisfaction Among Hospital Patients1

Telephone interviews with 380 discharged inpatients were conducted to identify environmental sources of satisfaction with the hospital, to determine the relative contribution of environmental satisfaction to overall satisfaction with the hospital experience, and to explore differences in satisfaction across 4 departments (medical, obstetrics, orthopedics, and surgical) and 6 hospitals. Analyses indicate that interior design, architecture, housekeeping, privacy, and the ambient environment were all perceived as sources of satisfaction. Environmental satisfaction was a significant predictor of overall satisfaction, ranking below perceived quality of nursing and clinical care. There were no significant differences between hospitals or departments in the level or sources of environmental satisfaction. Results suggest potential directions for architects, designers, and health care providers.     

Nishida on God,Barth and Christianity1

Despite the central role that the concept of God played in Kitarō Nishida's philosophy—and more broadly, within the Kyoto School which formed around Nishida—Anglophone studies of the religious philosophy of modern Japan have not seriously considered the nature and role of God in Nishida's thought. Indeed, relevant Anglophone studies even strongly suggest that where the concept of God does appear in Nishida's writings, such a concept is to be dismissed as a ‘subjective fiction’, a ‘penultimate designation’, or a peripheral Western intrusion with no genuine relationship to the core of Nishida's thought. However, a careful study of Nishida's own writings reveals that for Nishida, in his own words, God is ‘that which is indispensable and decisive’. For the first time in English, this present study reveals Nishida's view of God, especially examining Nishida's debt to the theologian Karl Barth and Christianity.     

Height, Gender, and Authority Status at Work: Analyses for a National Sample of Canadian Workers

A small number of previous studies using convenience samples from outside Canada, and mostly for males, show positive relationships between physical height and holding a position of authority as a manager or supervisor. The present study employs Multiple Classification Analysis to assess the generality of these patterns to a representative sample of full-time Canadian workers (2,210 males and 1,815 females) using seven alternative measures of authority status. The results for male workers, after controls, generally show significant positive relationships between height and authority status. The controlled analyses for female workers, however, do not. Additional analyses for males show height to be a comparatively strong predictor relative to other social background predictors of authority status. Alternative interpretations of the patterns of findings are discussed.     

A Prophetic Seer Potentiating Us in the Present

In his book Radical Evolution Joel Garreau functions as a prophet and a seer. In presenting a narrative of the future that includes an optimistic view of human nature, he warns that because of the GRIN technologies (genetics, robotics, information technology, and nanotechnology) the quickening evolution of “The Curve” is upon us and could well soon culminate in the mind-boggling social change of “The Singularity.” Garreau considers three scenarios of the technological future: the Heaven Scenario, the Hell Scenario, and the Prevail Scenario. The third wins favor because the heavenly envisionment with its evolution of a superintelligent human who could engineer a species with a greatly extended lifespan is too blissful and the hellish prognostication with its destruction of the human species within the next quarter century is too pernicious. Just right is the middle-of-the-road perspective of the Prevail-Transcend depiction of the future. This third view is indeed more appropriate than the first two scenarios, but a more nuanced form of the third perspective—emphasizing similarly the role of human freedom and responsibility in continuing to reshape human nature but drinking less deeply of the transhumanist elixir and more deeply of a pantransentheistic potion—would constitute a more suitable vision of the future.