FUTURE ORIENTATION AND SOCIALIZATION*

The present paper deals with the question of what kind of relationship may exist between future orientation and socialization. First, the nature of future orientation and related person variables are discussed. It is shown that a functional theory of personality and social behavior is needed in order to specify the relations between these variables. On the basis of such a theory the next question on the development of future orientation may be dealt with more fruitfully. Besides cognitive maturation, social experiences determine which kind of future orientation develops and can be adapted in different social situations. Finally, the question is dealt with to what extent future orientation (not only of parents and teachers, but also of the person to be socialized) may influence the process and result of socialization. Some preliminary data indicate the usefulness of an interactionist theory for the study on the relation between socialization and future orientation.     

Control and responsiveness in Japanese and German mother-child interactions

The present study aims to examine culturally invariant and culture-specific patterns of mother-child interaction, and, more specifically, to explore the stability and change of such interactions in structurally different situations. Starting from a control theoretical framework (primary and secondary control), we expected that differences in stress induced by differently structured achievement demands would affect mother-child interactions in Japan and Germany differently. For Japanese as compared to German mothers, less primary control and more responsiveness was expected as a result of the cultural value of social orientation. The sample consisted of 20 mother-child dyads (5-year-old girls) in each culture. The experimental procedure confronted each mother-child dyad with three different situations varying with respect to induced stress (from no stress to high stress). The mother-child interactions were videotaped and analysed in regard to control behaviour and responsiveness. Cultural differences with respect to control behaviour were observed in the expected direction only for high-stress situations. Also, Japanese mothers were more responsive in all three situations. Mother's responsiveness was related to child's secondary control in both cultures. Furthermore, Japanese children showed more secondary control than German children.     

Social class and sex as determinants of future orientation (time perspective) in adults

This studv was designed to test hypotheses concerning the influence of sex roles and social status on future orientation (FO). The latter was measured in various categories (spheres of life),on the dimensions of density (number of hopes andfears cited by the subject), extension, and optimism-pessimism. Also included was a measure of ‘internal vs. external control’ (the subject's assessment as to whether the realization of his hopes and fears is dependent more on himself or more on external factors). Subjects were 100 employed men and women of the lower and middle class. It was found that, in comparison with women, men voiced more hopes/fears in the public sphere (economy, politics, environment) and fewer in the private sphere uamily, occupation, personal development). Men had a more extended FO in the occupational and economic spheres; women, in contrast, in the private sphere. (These results contradicted the assumption of earlier studies that FO is a general orientation, not varying across different domains of life.) Middle-class (in comparison to lowerclass) persons manifested a, wore extended FO, envisioned the distant future more optimistically, and believed more markedly that the realization of their hopes and fears depended on themselves.     

Ranking and Factorial Structure of Occupational Stereotypes Among Jewish Pupils in South Africa

This study investigated the hierarchical order of occupations by means of 10 evaluative criteria, and established the factorial structure of occupational stereotypes in a group of 82 Jewish pupils in South Africa, who rated 20 occupations on the Semantic Differential. Conclusions are: (a) the rank orders of occupations are highly similar irrespective of ranking criterion; (b) on the whole, professions tended to be ranked most favorably, and manual and unskilled jobs least favorably; and (c) occupational stereotypes were found to fall into four different categories, labeled (1) practical occupations with relatively high status; (2) unattractive occupations (semiskilled); (3) female occupations; and (4) occupations possessing power and influence.     

The State of Community Counseling: A Survey of Directors of CACREP‐Accredited Programs

Directors of CACREP‐accredited community counseling programs were surveyed on plans for their programs, needed curricular changes, professional organization and publications desired, and what makes community counseling distinct as a counseling specialization. Respondents were evenly divided between those who seem to see community counseling as generic counselor preparation for nonschool settings and those who seem to see it as a community‐oriented specialization in its own right. This division of opinion suggests a need to resolve this issue.     

Decoding affective communication in intimate relationships

Situational and personality variables influencing the accurate understanding of partners' communications in intimate couples were studied. The situation was varied by inducing either partner-focused or self-focused attention. The personality variables were gender-role attitudes, control orientation, and empathy. Thirty couples who had been living together for at least 12 months discussed an issue which was important to both partners. Afterwards, each selected their partner's most ‘important’ statement from their videotaped discussion. The two statements were then rated by each of the partners in respect of their own and their partner's emotional reaction to them (intentionally sent and actually experienced emotions). Analyses of variance with correctness of decoding as a dependent variable demonstrated strong effects of other-focused attention and gender as independent variables. Femininity and secondary control correlated positively with correct decoding. These results are interpreted in a theoretical framework of empathy and communication.     

Brief psychotherapy using dream interpretation

I believe it to be true that dreams are the true interpreters of our inclinations; but there is art required to sort and understand them. Montaigne (Essays III)     

Fill the Gap! Combining Pragmatic and Prosodic Information to Make Gapping Easy

Two studies investigated the effects of prosody and pragmatic context on off-line and on-line processing of sentences like John greeted Paul yesterday and Ben today. Such sentences are ambiguous between the so-called ‘nongapping’ reading, where John greeted Ben, and the highly unpreferred ‘gapping’ reading, where Ben greeted Paul. In the first experiment, participants listened to dialogues and gave a speeded response as to which reading of an ambiguous target sentence first comes to mind. In the second experiment, they also responded to a visual probe that was presented during the presentation of the ambiguous target. The results show that context and prosody have independent and strong effects on both on-line processing and off-line interpretation of gapping; in the right combination they can make gapping as easy as the normally preferred nongapping reading.