Coping ability, stress, productive load, and symptoms.

A study of 450 college students demonstrated (a) the importance of a distinction between self-produced and externally produced stressors, (b) the usefulness of a construct of productive load, and (c) stronger relations of the Constructive Thinking Inventory than of the Hardiness Questionnaire with productive load and with mental and physical symptoms. Because a major path through which coping ability influences symptoms is negative emotions, the widely recommended practice of partialing self-reported negative affect out of relations among coping, stress, and symptoms is often inappropriate. However, as total daily stressors (e.g., hassles) consist largely of self-produced stressors, it is highly confounded with coping ability, and it is therefore important to partial coping ability out of relations between total stressors and other variables.     

A partially ordered extention of the integers

This paper presents a monotonic system of Post algebras of order +* whose chain of Post constans is isomorphic with 012 ... -3-2-1. Besides monotonic operations, other unary operations are considered; namely, disjoint operations, the quasi-complement, succesor, and predecessor operations. The successor and predecessor operations are basic for number theory.The editing of this unified version of two previous papers [Epstein, Rasiowa 1990, 1991] by the authors was completed, except for footnotes, while the first author visited at Warsaw University during June–July, 1994. The footnotes were added by the first author in September, 1994.Presented byRyszard Wójcicki     

Counselor Competency in the Courtroom

This article outlines general courtroom procedures and offers systematic practical advice for the counselor testifying as an expert witness. Major topics include the counselor role in court, preparing for testimony, answering questions, and dealing with the cross-examination.     

Economic Stress: Notes on the Psychology of Inflation

This research examines economic inflation as a "psychological stressor." Economic behavior in response to inflation is hypothesized to be a function of subjective cognitive appraisal of threat as well as objective economic indices such as actual income. A survey of 504 American college alumni compared the contribution of perceived threat and family income to self-reported changes in buying practices and leisure activities. These changes, as well as the reported degree of stress experienced, were better accounted for by perceived threat than by actual income. Further, threat and income did not interact in affecting economic behavior. Finally, none of the demographic and economic variables differentiated between groups of more versus less threatened individuals. A replication study was conducted on a sample of 112 Israeli college alumni. The rate of inflation in Israel is 10 times higher than the American rate, but income is protected by continuous indexing. The findings for the Israeli sample replicated with a high degree of accuracy the American findings, thereby providing unique cross-cultural validity to the conception of economic inflation as a psychological stressor.