Physician job satisfaction across six major specialties

A random sample of 763 physicians was surveyed to examine the relation of 18 critical work-related factors to job satisfaction. On the whole, physicians reported that they were satisfied with their careers and believed that caring for patients, sense of accomplishment, continuity of care, autonomy, and personal time were the five most important factors for their personal job satisfaction. Regression analyses were run to determine the role of each of the 18 critical factors in predicting job satisfaction. Dissimilar to the self-report, the five most significant predictors were sense of accomplishment, creativity, income satisfaction, security, and autonomy. Additional regression analyses were run using the 18 critical factors to predict job satisfaction across the six major medical specialties. Significant factors varied greatly depending on specialty area, suggesting that physician job satisfaction may be better understood in terms of specialty rather than as a whole.     

Predicting the job and life satisfaction of Italian teachers: Test of a social cognitive model

This study tested a social cognitive model of work and life satisfaction (Lent & Brown, 2006, 2008) in a sample of 235 Italian school teachers. The model offered good overall fit to the data, though not all individual path coefficients were significant. Three of five predictors (favorable work conditions, efficacy-relevant supports, and positive affectivity) produced significant, direct paths to job satisfaction. Job satisfaction, progress at personal work goals, and positive affectivity were predictive of teachers' life satisfaction. Task self-efficacy was related indirectly both to job satisfaction (via work conditions) and life satisfaction (via goal progress). Implications of the findings for future research and efforts to promote teachers' job satisfaction are discussed.     

EDITORIAL COMMENT: GUEST COMMENTARY TEACHERS'THEORETICAL ORIENTATIONS AND THE REAL CLASSROOM

A four year‐study of teacher beliefs and conceptions about reading is reported. Teacher beliefs were determined outside the classroom context and while conducting instruction. It was determined that classroom teachers can articulate theories of reading outside the classroom but that their actual instructional practice is governed by a complex set of contextual factors. It is concluded that reading educators must not only teach reading theory but must also help teachers apply theory to the complex instructional context of classrooms.     

The Role of Mathematics in Deleuze’s Critical Engagement with Hegel

Abstract

The role of mathematics in the development of Gilles Deleuze’s (1925–95) philosophy of difference as an alternative to the dialectical philosophy determined by the Hegelian dialectic logic is demonstrated in this paper by differentiating Deleuze’s interpretation of the problem of the infinitesimal in Difference and Repetition from that which G. W. F Hegel (1770–1831) presents in the Science of Logic. Each deploys the operation of integration as conceived at different stages in the development of the infinitesimal calculus in his treatment of the problem of the infinitesimal. Against the role that Hegel assigns to integration as the inverse transformation of differentiation in the development of his dialectical logic, Deleuze strategically redeploys Leibniz’s account of integration as a method of summation in the form of a series in the development of his philosophy of difference. By demonstrating the relation between the differential point of view of the Leibnizian infinitesimal calculus and the differential calculus of contemporary mathematics, I argue that Deleuze effectively bypasses the methods of the differential calculus which Hegel uses to support the development of the dialectical logic, and by doing so, sets up the critical perspective from which to construct an alternative logic of relations characteristic of a philosophy of difference. The mode of operation of this logic is then demonstrated by drawing upon the mathematical philosophy of Albert Lautman (1908–44), which plays a significant role in Deleuze’s project of constructing a philosophy of difference. Indeed, the logic of relations that Deleuze constructs is dialectical in the Lautmanian sense.     

The moderating roles of self-esteem and neuroticism in the relationship between group and individual undermining behavior

The authors developed and tested a multilevel interactive model of the relationship between group undermining and individual undermining behavior in 2 multiwave studies of group members. Integrating the literature on group influences on individual behavior with the individual difference literature, the authors predicted a 3-way Group Undermining x Self-Esteem x Neuroticism interaction, such that the relationship between group and individual undermining would be strongest among those simultaneously high in self-esteem and neuroticism. The 3-way interaction was supported in Study 1 (457 participants in 103 groups) and replicated in Study 2 (415 participants in 93 groups) with additional controls and alternative measures of key constructs. The authors discuss the implications of the research and identify future research directions.     

Contextual Strength and the Subordinate Bias Effect: Comment on Martin, Vu, Kellas, and Metcalf

Martin, Vu, Kellas, and Metcalf (this issue) claim to have demonstrated that the subordinate bias effect (when preceding context instantiates the subordinate meaning of an ambiguous word that has a highly dominant meaning, reading time on that word is lengthened) can be eliminated by strong context. They argue that this provides evidence critical to discriminating between competing models of lexical ambiguity resolution: the reordered access model (in which access of meanings for an ambiguous word is exhaustive but in which the order of access is influenced by prior disambiguating context) and the context-sensitive model (in which access is selective in the presence of prior disambiguating information). We argue that there are methodological problems with their demonstration, but even if there were not, it is unclear that the subordinate bias effect is appropriate for discriminating between competing models of lexical ambiguity resolution (the reordered access model and the context-sensitive model). The effect is an empirical finding and not a fundamental tenet of the reordered access model.