Psychological effects of sustained shipboard operations on U.S. Navy personnel

This study investigated the psychological and physical health status of 265 crew members on two U.S. Navy ships (a guided missile cruiser and a frigate on convoy escort duty for tankers under U.S. flag) during the Persian Gulf conflict at four time periods during combat-ready operations on a single day. Findings suggest that adaptation occurs to extreme stressors associated with sustained operations. Suggestions are made relative to measures that may minimize psychological and physical conditions that adversely affect performance under conditions of heavy stress. Report No. 89-18, supported by the Naval Medical Research and Development Command, Bethesda MD, Department of the Navy, under research Work Unit No. 63206N.M0096. The opinions expressed in this paper are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Department of the Navy, Department of Defense, nor the U.S. Government.     

Morale and Job Satisfaction Among Nurses: What Can Hospitals Do?

In an attempt to account for morale and job satisfaction among 314 nurses, this study investigated the influence of work-related and interpersonal variables. Morale on the unit was directly related to supervisor support, co-worker relationships, and work recognition. Personal morale was accounted for by recognition, physical environment, the job itself, and pay. Job satisfaction was predicted by personal morale, work commitment, job clarity, work pressure, and innovation. Suggestions for improving nurse morale and job satisfaction are made.     

Medical expertise asa function of task difficulty

This paper is concerned with factors that disrupt the pattern of forward reasoning characteristic of experts with accurate performance. Two experiments are described. In the first, the performances of cardiologists, psychiatrists, and surgeons in diagnostic explanation of a clinical problem in cardiology were examined. In the second, the performances of cardiologists and endocrinologists in diagnostic explanation of clinical problems within and outside their domains of expertise were examined. The performances of researchers and practicing physicians are also compared. The results of Experiment 1 replicated earlier results regarding the relationship between forward reasoning and accurate diagnosis. There were no differences in recall as a function of expertise. Experts did not show any bias toward using specific knowledge from their own areas of expertise. The results of Experiment 2 showed that the breakdown of forward reasoning was related to the structure of the task. In particular, nonsalient cues induced some backward reasoning even in subjects with accurate diagnoses. Some differences were also found between the types of explanation used by researchers and practitioners. The practitioners referred more to clinical components in their explanations, whereas the researchers focused more on the biomedical components.     

Late Adolescents' Experiences With and Attitudes Toward Videogames1

A total of 229 late adolescents (a large majority 15 to 19 years of age) completed a questionnaire that assesses a broad range of videogame-relevant experiences, preferences, and attitudes. Videogame playing was found to be a more popular, and a more highly regarded, activity among males than females. Gender differences were also found in participants' ratings of their motivations for playing videogames, their evaluations of particular characteristics of videogames, and their selection of their “most favorite” videogame. The differences between frequent and infrequent videogame players appeared to be limited to differences in the extent to which videogame playing is pursued and evaluated as a positive leisure activity, rather than reflecting broad differences in interest or personality. Some relations were found between participants' self-reported personality characteristics (i.e., self-esteem, empathy, conscientiousness, and introversion) and their attitudes toward videogames.     

Use of a computer-controlled firearms training simulator in perception response time experiments

This paper describes the use of a custom-configured computer-controlled firearms training simulator to measure perception response (reaction) time (RT) to a stimulus in which the degree of threat presented is a manipulable variable across trials. The computer records the number of frames of videotape traversed between the point of presentation of the threat in the video stimulus and the point at which the subject responds by drawing the firearm. For the purposes of data analysis, these frame-count measures are converted to RT measurements. Example data are presented that capture perception RT at both thedraw-stimulus and thefire-stimulus points in situations for which either only one threat or more than one threat exists. Other elements, such as degree of threat and accuracy of response, provide additional data.     

Sensation-seeking and selection of entertainment

The relationship between entertainment activity preference and sensation-seeking was investigated by survey and actual movie selection and viewing. Cardiac rate and rate change was monitored during movie selection and viewing. High sensation-seeking (HSS) females reported preferences for activities centered about alcohol, sexually-explicit materials and ‘rock’ music. HSS males reported preferences for sexually-explicit materials and news/documentary reports. Low sensation-seeking (LSS) males and females reported preferences for the musical stage, theatrical drama and comedy, and romantic/dramatic novels. HSS males and HSS females allotted high proportions of viewing time to an ‘action’ movie, and changed channels more frequently than LSS. The indices of cardiac response utilized in this study were unrelated to movie viewing activities, a result which does not support the ‘optimal level of arousal’ view of sensation-seeking proposed by Zuckerman (1979).     

Locus of control and self-esteem as correlates of role orientation in traditional and nontraditional women

This research attempted to establish relationships between locus of control, self-esteem, and traditional-nontraditional behavior. It was hypothesized that (1) women tending toward internality and high self-esteem should be more likely to manifest nontraditional behaviors, as evidenced through career-oriented roles, and to rank these roles as their primary source of satisfaction; and (2) women tending toward externality and low self-esteem should be more likely to manifest traditional behavior, as evidenced through family-oriented roles, and to rank these roles as their primary source of satisfaction. The sample consisted of 91 White females in a southern metropolitan area. The data were collected using a survey design. As expected, high self-esteem internals were more likely to manifest nontraditional behavior. Contrary to expectation, low self-esteem externals were more nontraditional in role orientation.