Receiving instrumental support at work: when help is not welcome

Although the role of social support in promoting employees' health and well-being has been studied extensively, the evidence is inconsistent, sometimes even suggesting that social support might have negative effects. The authors examined some psychological processes that might explain such effects. On the basis of the threat-to-self-esteem model, the authors tested the hypothesis that receiving imposed support elicits negative reactions, which are moderated by someone's need for support. The authors distinguished 3 different reactions: (a) self-related, (b) interaction-related, and (c) physiological. The results of an experiment with 48 temporary administrative workers generally confirmed the hypothesis. Imposed support elicited negative reactions, except when there was an unsolvable problem, but even then the effect of imposed support was not positive but neutral.     

Back to the future

Significant components of psychoanalytic technique, and the theory that underlies it, seem to remain buried in our past, but are central to the growth of psychoanalysis as a treatment method based on understanding a patient's mind. By updating technique based on a theory of mind with structure, the author views the increasing freedom of the patient's mind as central to the curative process, and takes the position that in interpretive work, the analyst needs to pay more attention to the patient's capacity to meaningfully receive and integrate the analyst's interventions.     

The Long-Term Neurocognitive Consequences of Prenatal Alcohol Exposure: A 14-Year Study

Prenatal alcohol exposure, at doses not generally associated with maternal alcohol problems, produces a broad array of neurocognitive deficits in offspring even in the absence of effects on growth and morphology. This report presents a summary of neurobehavioral, growth, and morphology findings from long-term follow-up of a birth cohort of 500 from apopulation-based study that has revealed attention, memory, and information processing deficits from birth through 14 years. Also observed (from school age through 14 years) have been problems with antisocial and delinquent behaviors, and classroom learning and behaviors; some of these problems may be secondary to earlier neurocognitive disabilities. Continuing research in behavioral and neurobehavioral teratology provides important opportunities for the neurosciences and for improved health of future generations.     

Research evaluation: From power to empowerment

This article explores issues in the evaluation of research through an examination of the situation in the field of international development. It is increasingly recognized that traditional evaluation, which served largely a policing function, is not useful in assessing the impact of the development research process. It is argued that the role and perception of evaluation must change if it is to provide a reflection of the learning which takes place in research. The field of international development research provides a rich ground in which to explore the argument. The field is subject to the difficulties of evaluating research and to the difficulties of evaluating development—in both cases, we are dealing with long time frames and the influence of many factors other than the activity itself. If evaluation is to serve a learning function, then the shift must be to a purpose ofempowerment. This article explores the changes which are implicit in such a shift through an examination of three key areas: changing perspectives on evaluation; changing patterns in development; and changing patterns in research for development.     

Vietnamese Amerasians: Predictors of Distress and Self-Destructive Behavior

There have been few empirical studies of Vietnamese Amerasians, children fathered by United States servicemen and civilians during the Vietnam War. In this study, the authors investigated pre- and postmigration variables that predict psychological distress and self-destructive behavior. The sample (N = 169) was selected from 10 cities throughout the United States. Multivariate regression analyses were used to determine the predictors of distress. Results revealed that observing traumatic events rather than actually experiencing trauma was a significant predictor of psychological distress. Participants with frequent cognitions about loss of significant people, places, or both were more likely to report psychological distress and self-destructive behavior. Implications for research and practice are discussed in relationship to cross-cultural counseling with at-risk populations, including individuals from inner cities and war-stricken environments.     

A Method for Introducing the Concepts of Chaos Theory to Medical Students

Chaos theory is beginning to find applications in the field of medicine. The theory of chaos should be introduced to students to help them as they make the transition from learning the scientific literature to actually applying this newly acquired knowledge in clinical situations. Chaos theory will give the students a powerful conceptual framework from which they can better understand the limits of predictability in clinical situations. Failure to understand the limits of predictability in chaotic natural systems will invariably lead to frustration in both patients and physicians.     

"Solar love": Nietzsche,Merleau-Ponty and the fortunes of perception

Both Nietzsche and Merleau-Ponty repudiate the mirror view of perception and embrace what Nietzsche refers to as solar love or creative perception. I argue that Merleau-Ponty thinks of this type of perception primarily in terms of convergence and Nietzsche in terms of divergence. I then show how, contrary to their own emphases, Merleau-Ponty's notion of flesh and Nietzsche's idea of chaos suggest that convergence and divergence are abstractions from an ontologically prior realm of hybrid perceptions. In this realm, each perception is shot through with the others, simultaneously inside and outside one another. The creative tension among these perceptions continually produces new perspectives or voices, that is, a realm whose very being is metamorphosis. Moreover, this realm of hybrid perceptions suggests a political principle that might prove attractive for communities in an age of diversity and cultural hybridity.     

Coping behavior and locus of control in children1

Several investigators report a distinction between inward (withdrawn, somaticizing, fearful) behavior and outward (antisocial, hostile, aggressive) behavior. The present study was designed to clarify the relationship between type of coping behavior and locus of control (i.e., the attribution of causality to internal vs. external factors) for children aged 4 to 12 years. Two locus of control (LOC) instruments were administered—the Nowicki-Strickland and a new measure which distinguished between LOC for desirable and undesirable events. Measures of coping behavior were completed by parents. Results indicated that the new LOC scale related to type of coping behavior: external LOC children tended to have a greater proportion of inward behavior. Furthermore, desirable-event items were better able to distinguish between inward and outward behavior than were undesirable-event items. The Nowicki-Strickland scale was significantly correlated with the new scale, but not with coping behavior. Replication of the findings was obtained in a subsequent study. Discussion centered on the relationship between generalized perceptions of control and situationally manipulated perceptions of control, and differences between perceptions of control involved in inward and outward behavior.     

Similarities and differences in social attitudes in four Western countries1

A referents scale (single words and short phrases) constructed to measure social attitudes and values was administered to 500 graduate students of education in the United States, 427 mature evening students in Spain, 130 German students, 270 Dutch students, and 685 Dutch adults, a random sample of the Netherlands. The attitudes of the samples were compared by analysis of the means of clusters of referents associated with the factors common to all samples. The means of selected individual referents of social significance were similarly compared across samples. In general, the U.S. student sample and the Netherlands random sample were more conservative than the Spanish, Dutch, and German student samples. On the other hand, the Dutch, Spanish, and American students were more liberal than the Dutch random sample and the German students. The correlations between the profiles of means of referents common to pairs of samples were mostly substantial (average r's of .75 for conservative referents and .62 for liberal referents), indicating considerable cross-cultural agreement in the rank ordering of the referents within the conservative and within the liberal categories, and thus, presumably, common cores of reaction to the two kinds of referents. The use of attitude-value referents, especially in cross-cultural research, was judged valid and useful.