Coping and job performance

An organizational field study comprising 42 subjects examined the relationship between growth-oriented coping and subsequent job performance. Growth orientation was measured using the 7-item growth scale obtained from the Lazarus Ways of Coping Checklist. The hypothesized relationship between growth orientation and job performance was confirmed. Individuals obtaining high evaluations of managerial performance emphasized growth-oriented strategies in their behaviors. Further research directions are introduced.     

The Ways of Coping instrument: reliability and temporal stability for a sample of employees

Convergent support is demonstrated for the use of seven empirically derived scales of the Ways of Coping instrument developed by Lazarus and his colleagues. While the instrument is widely used, until now the internal consistency of the coping measures and stability of the factor structure have yet to be shown for a sample of employed adults. While type of job and type of coping incident reported are not dependent, analysis indicates that work and nonwork groups differ across several coping dimensions. Research implications and directions are addressed.     

Relationship Satisfaction: Impact and Consequences for Women's Emotional Health and Treatment

This study uses feminist theory to examine the variables of relationship length and relationship satisfaction as predicators of both self-esteem and emotional functioning for women. Using a national sample of data gathered from 1,257 female survey respondents this study found significant relationships between emotional functioning, self-esteem, and self-reported relationship satisfaction which was supported by regression testing and path analysis. In addition, a significant negative relationship was noted between a woman's self-esteem and her with-holding of verbalized displeasure or disagreement with her partner. Implications for women in therapy were discussed.     

CONCEPT LEARNING AND LEARNING STRATEGIES

Abstract —Concept teaming and learning strategies of pigeons were manipulated in a matching-Co-sample task. Groups of 4 pigeons responded either 0, J, 10, or 20 times to a sample stimulus, and then chose between a matching comparison stimulus and a nonmatching comparison stimulus. Tests with unfamiliar arrangements of the three training stimuli showed that learning was not by if-then rules. Tests with novel stimuli showed that as the number of sample responses increased, learning about the configural pattern of each display gave way to more teaming about the sample-comparison relationship and more concept learning. Pigeons making the most sample responses showed complete concept teaming.     

Attachement,solitude et détresse psychologique chez des jeunes adultes

La présente étude vise à examiner la nature des liens entre les styles d'attachement (sécurisant, anxieux/ambivalent et évitant), la solitude et la détresse psychologique (dépression, anxiété, agressivité et problèmes cognitifs) chez des jeunes adultes. L'échantillon se compose de 407 étudiants de niveau collégial dont l'âge moyen se situe à 18 ans. Les sujets doivent répondre à deux questionnaires d'évaluation du style d'attachement, à l'échelle de solitude UCLA, ainsi qu'à l'index de symptômes psychiatriques. Les résultats laissent voir que les individus ayant un style d'attachement sécurisant rapportent moins de symptômes de dépression et de sentiments de solitude que les sujets des styles anxieux/ambivalent et évitant. De même, ils vivent moins d'anxiété, d'agressivité et de problèmes cognitifs que les individus du style anxieux/ambivalent. Par ailleurs, les individus du style d'attachement anxieux/ambivalent sont plus déprimés, anxieux et agressifs que les individus du style évitant. Par contre, aucune différence significative ne ressort entre les sujets des styles d'attachement anxieux/ambivalent et évitant sur le plan des problèmes cognitifs et de la solitude. Des analyses de régression multiple montrent que l'attachement anxieux/ambivalent et la solitude expliquent un pourcentage significatif de la variance associée à la détresse psychologique. Enfin, il ressort que la solitude joue un rôle modérateur dans la relation unissant l'attachement non sécurisant et les problèmes de nature cognitive, alors qu'elle joue un rôle médiateur dans la relation entre l'attachement sécurisant, la dépression et l'anxiété.     

Graphics in written directions: Appreciated by readers but not writers

This series of studies investigated the ability of literate adults to exploit communications options that are available to writers but have no counterpart in speech. Specifically it examined people's use of sketches when giving written directions to help a stranger cross town. When writing an informal letter to a friend most directions were given in prose paragraph style (Experiment 1). Almost no-one included a sketch, even if given a street map as an aid. Yet most subjects could draw adequate sketch maps (Experiment 2), and everyone said yes when asked whether they would include a sketch in a letter. So the previous choices were not constrained either by graphic skill or by judgements concerning the appropriateness of a sketch, When people were asked to 'design' the back page of a leaflet they still did not include a sketch (Experiment 3). Experiment 4 showed that any bias in the instructions was towards rather than against the use of sketches. The need to generate the sketch was removed in Experiment 5 where subjects composed the leaflet page from pre-formed sections that included alternative routes in both words and diagrams. Nearly all subjects now included a sketch in their directions. In case subjects previously, in haste, had not considered the possibility of including a sketch map, they were made aware of the drawing option by rating the usability of route information in a variety of communication styles immediately before writing their own directions (Experiment 6). People rated directions that included diagrams as significantly more usable, but still most subjects did not include a sketch in the directions they gave. So the communication styles that readers recognized as successful were not determining their choices as writers. It is suggested that, when giving written directions, inexperienced writers rely too heavily on how they would respond as speakers.     

Temporal discrimination learning of operant feeding in goldfish (Carassius auratus)

Operant temporal discrimination learning was investigated in goldfish. In the first experiment, there was a fixed daily change in illumination. Eight subjects were trained to operate a lever that reinforced each press with food. The period during which responses were reinforced was then progressively reduced until it was 1 hr in every 24. The final 1-hr feeding schedule was maintained over 4 weeks. The feeding period commenced at the same time each day throughout. The food dispensers were then made inactive, and a period of extinction ensued for 6 days. The pattern of responding suggested that the fish were able to exhibit temporal discrimination in anticipation of feeding time. This pattern of responding persisted for a limited number of days during the extinction procedure. The second experiment produced evidence that operant temporal discrimination could develop under continuous illumination.     

Spatial compatibility of signal-response position in pointing

Two experiments are reported in which, by means of a pointing task, we studied the stimulus-position effect, i.e. the inverted U-shape form of the reaction-time function in relation to stimulus position in tasks in which stimuli and/or responses are arranged in a horizontal array. The response consisted of aiming the index finger from a central starting point at a target area on a screen. Reaction time was the main dependent variable. The spatial relation between the position of the imperative signal and the position of the response was manipulated by varying the spatial S-R compatibility and physical distance that separated the positions of stimulus and response. The stimulus-position effect was shown to depend on the compatibility of the S-R relation (Exp. 1). In Exp. 2 it was found that the modulation of the stimulus-position effect by spatial compatibility disappeared completely when the distance between the positions of stimulus and response was reduced. None of the experiments revealed that the stimulus position effect depended on signal discriminability, which renders an interpretation of this effect in terms of perceptual processes unlikely. We argue that the attentional model of spatial coding provides the most reasonable explanation of the obtained reaction-time patterns.