The person and the situation in an international model of behavior

Abstract.— The report deals with two main problems: ( a ) cross-situational consistency of person variables, which is discussed on the basis of a critical analysis of empirical research on cross-situational stability of actual behavior, and ( b ) the role of the momentary situation in models of behavior, and the consequences of an interactional view for theorizing and research on situations. The analyses and discussions are based on two distinctions, namely ( a ) a distinction between consistency in terms of actual behavior and consistency in terms of mediating processes, and ( b ) a distinction between personality theories and measurement models. Three different senses of consistency in terms of reactions are distinguished.     

Women,Work, and Disability

This article describes career development, labor market utilization, occupational and career mobility, achievement, and attainment paths of both women and disabled women as workers.     

A Viconian Interpretation of Psychological Counseling

Western culture moves through cycles in which faith, logic, and power succeed each other as the dominant structuring principles. Therefore, counseling evolved in this sequence.     

How One Family Perceives Another: The Relationship Between Social Constructions and Problem-Solving Competence

This paper delineates a rarely studied but important family process: how a family perceives and understands the relationships in other families it knows. We hypothesize that these perceptions of other families are fundamental components of a family's shared construing of its social world. Families differ in how they perceive other families, specifically, and in their approach to construing or apprehending their social world, generally. We have hypothesized that these general differences also play a crucial role in shaping the style and competence of family problem-solving. A family's approach to any problem depends upon how it construes or interprets the social context of that problem. Using these general concepts of family life, we construct specific hypotheses linking family problem-solving and interfamily perception. We describe methods for measuring both family problem-solving and how a family perceives other families. Findings confirm our major hypothesis: A family that searches for underlying and subtle patterns in a problem-solving situation will develop a more differentiated and organized conception of other families.     

Opportunities for Counselors from the Competency Assessment Movement

Innovations in testing emerging from the competency assessment movement offer counselors new capabilities in helping their clients to understand aspects of themselves and their problems, as well as to establish directions for development and improvement efforts. New types of tests and measures sample actual behavior more closely than testing instruments previously used: The characteristics they examine are closely linked to performance in a wide variety of jobs, and therefore provide increased focus of assessment on life outcomes. With this new degree of specificity and criterion referencing, implications for counseling, training, and development efforts emerge more clearly than with other forms of testing.     

Creativity and Counseling

This article distinguishes between curative, restorative psychotherapy, and educative, growth-oriented counseling. The authors show how the processes and methods of creativity in scientific and artistic pursuits are similar to those of personal growth and counseling. They also discuss divergent production, deferred judgment, preparation, incubation, illumination, elaboration, and the balance between thought and emotion in terms of creativity and counseling. In this article, counselors can find new methods of facilitating creativity.     

EMPLOYING CONJOINT ANALYSIS IN MAKING COMPENSATION DECISIONS

A method employing conjoint analysis that generates utility/cost ratios for various elements of the compensation package is described. Its superiority to simple preference surveys is examined relative to optimizing the level of employee satisfaction at any given expenditure level. Results of a study of the use of this method in fringe benefit planning in a large financial institution are reported.     

FREE SPEECH

Recognition of the harms done by free speech is a function of the social ontology presupposed. An atomist ontology implies that the harms suffered are restricted to individual people. This paper suggests an alternate ontology—one that describes systems established by the causal reciprocities of their proper parts. It proposes a consequentialist moral theory, and considers the harms suffered by these systems (a) when speech exposes their internal, otherwise private, behaviors or features, (b) when speech is malicious and false, and (c) when speech is monopolistic. Does the proposed ontology have objectionable implications for public policy? Alternative answers are considered briefly.     

TRAINING TEAM PERFORMANCE-RELATED ASSERTIVENESS

The present paper extends the existing literature on assertiveness in a way that supports industrial training as well as the selection of individuals for team positions. Data are reported from three studies that examined determinants of team performance-related assertiveness. First, data from 149 college students demonstrated that assertiveness consists of multiple dimensions which were not all related to performance in a team decision-making task. Second, data obtained from 225 business students indicated that correlations among self-report measures and peer ratings of the same assertive responses assigned by intact team members varied according to the interpersonal context (i.e., personal, stranger, work related) in which scale items were framed. Third, data from 60 college students suggested that team performance-related assertiveness has a significant skill component. Whereas both attitudinally focused and skill-based training improved attitudes toward team member assertiveness, practice and feedback were essential to producing behavioral effects. Implications for selection and team training are discussed.     

Nonverbal Interactional Behavior in the Families of Persons with Schizophrenic and Bipolar Disorders

Whereas verbal interactional behaviors have been repeatedly found to distinguish the families of persons with and without major psychiatric disorders, there has been comparatively little examination of the discriminative value of nonverbal interactional behaviors. We developed the Nonverbal Interactional Coding System to measure “affiliative” and “distancing” nonverbal behaviors in 18 schizophrenic and 18 bipolar patients and their parents during 10-minute interactions conducted during a posthospital period. Bipolar patients and their parents displayed affiliative nonverbal behaviors (“illustrator gestures” or “prosocial behaviors”) for longer durations than schizophrenic patients and their parents. In contrast, parents of schizophrenic patients displayed distancing nonverbal behaviors (looking away) for longer durations than those of bipolar patients. The nonverbal interactional data added to the statistical strength of patients’ and parents’ verbal interactional data in distinguishing between these diagnostic groups. Nonverbal interactional behaviors are important variables to consider in interventions aimed at improving the communication skills of families coping with psychiatric disorders.