Personnel selection to control employee violence

There is a range of on-the-job violent behaviors which are costly and of concern to employers. This review of research shows that on-the-job violence can be predicted when standardized instruments and a statistical model of prediction are used for personnel selection. The research shows that persons will reveal violent tendencies on psychological tests.This is intended as an introductory non-technical business note for managers and human resource professionals.For an empirically based review contact the first author or see: Slora, K.B., Joy, D.S., Jones, J.W., & Terris, W. (1991). The prediction of on-the-job violence. In J.W. Jones (Ed.)Preemployment honesty testing: Current research and future directions. Westport, CT: Quorom Books.     

Derivation and application of a unit scoring system for the strong vocational interest blank for women

Scoring keys, based upon unit weights, were made up for fourteen occupations of theStrong Vocational Interest Blank for Women. The study here presented of scores obtained in using these keys, in comparison with scores obtained from Dr. Strong's keys, indicates, for 551 women at the University of Rochester, that the new, unit-weighted keys are valid for all practical purposes and make possible a great saving in scoring time.     

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Pastoral Psychology -     

3-D graphics animation program for the Apple II

A graphics design program for creating point-light displays of transforming 3-D objects is presented. This program was written for an Apple II microcomputer interfaced to a Texas Instruments TMS 9918A video display processor. In contrast to other 3-D design programs, it uses individual point-lights undergoing circular trajectories as a design primitive. An editor enables the user to enter and edit specific motion parameters for defining the parallel projection of as many as 16 point-lights on the screen. These parameters are then used to calculate and store in an animation list the screen positions of each point-light for each frame. Number of frames to be displayed and display rate are user defined.     

Why a family perspective for pain?

Although it is well established that families have a strong influence on individuals' beliefs and behaviors related to health and illness, relatively little attention has been devoted to the family's role in the development, maintenance, and treatment of pain or to the impact of chronic pain in one family member upon other family members. A major source of information about pain and how to respond to pain symptoms is learned within the family setting. This article reviews ways in which pain conceptualizations are developed in the family and highlights the need to more carefully study health as well as dysfunctional family reactions to chronic pain. A case example is presented that details the far reaching consequences that chronic pain can have on family life. It is concluded that more careful research, particularly in terms of the operationalization of theoretical constructs and the reliable assessment of these constructs, is needed before any definitive statements can be made about the importance and characteristics of pain-family transactions.     

NORMALIZATION OF INSTITUTIONAL MEALTIMES FOR PROFOUNDLY RETARDED PERSONS: EFFECTS AND NONEFFECTS OF TEACHING FAMILY-STYLE DINING

Benefits have been reported for certain institutionalized populations when mealtimes are arranged under normal, family-style conditions. In this study, we evaluated a program for teaching family-style mealtime skills to institutionalized persons with skill deficits greater than those targeted in previous research—the profoundly retarded. Results showed that the program, involving forward chaining with a less-to-more intrusive prompting sequence and contingent reinforcement, successfully taught four profoundly retarded persons several family-style skills. Also, systematic measures supported the durability of the skills, social validity of the behavior changes; Final acceptance of the program by staff trainers, and no detrimental changes in health-related variables associated with food consumption. However, results also indicated that beneficial corollary changes (e.g., increased peer communication) previously reported with higher skilled populations did not occur. These results suggest that with more seriously handicapped populations, multiple changes should not be assumed when normalizing institutional conditions; rather, specific skill training will probably be necessary.     

A computer-based programmable tachistoscope for nonprogrammers

A set of programs for on-line control of reaction time experiments is described. These programs allow a wide range of experiments to be coded in a simple form that eliminates the need for any knowledge of programming.     

Hemispheric specialization for temporal information: Implications for the perception of voicing cues during speech perception

Developmental research reporting electrophysiological correlates of voice onset time (VOT) during speech perception is reviewed. By two months of age a right hemisphere mechanism appears which differentiates voiced from voiceless stop consonants. This mechanism was found at 4 years of age and again with adults.A new study is described which represents an attempt to determine a more specific basis for VOT perception. Auditory evoked responses (AER) were recorded over the left and right hemispheres while 16 adults attended to repetitive series of two-tone stimuli. Portions of the AERs were found to vary systematically over the two hemispheres in a manner similar to that previously reported for VOT stimuli. These findings are discussed in terms of a temporal detection mechanism which is involved in speech perception.