A LONGITUDINAL STUDY OF LEADER REWARD BEHAVIOR, SUBORDINATE EXPECTANCIES, AND SATISFACTION

Positive and punitive leader reward behavior and their longitudinal relationships with subordinate expectancies and satisfaction were studied in a large manufacturing organization. Longitudinal data were collected approximately one year apart from 132 managerial, engineering and supervisory employees. Cross-lagged correlations suggested that positive leader reward behavior was causally related to higher effort-to-performance expectancy, as well as higher satisfaction with work, opportunities for promotion and overall satisfaction. Punitive leader reward behavior was suggested to be causally related to lower satisfaction with work, supervision and overall satisfaction. Implications were discussed for the use of leader reward behavior and for future research.     

The General Confidence Scale: Coping With Environmental Uncertainty and Threat

We investigated general confidence as a psychological buffer for coping with environmental uncertainty and threat. In Study 1, a new scale to measure general confidence was developed and cross‐validated with different samples. Study 2 examined general confidence as a moderator of the influence of environmental stress on individual strains. Two groups of participants were presented with photographs either of terrorist attacks or of neutral scenes. We found a significant interaction between presented scenes and general confidence. Study 3 examined the effect of general confidence on acceptance of mobile phone stations while controlling for relevant variables. The results showed good incremental validity for the General Confidence Scale over related personality and social psychological constructs.     

从博弈游戏看儿童经济决策行为的发展

国外有研究借助最后通谍（UG）和独裁者博弈（DG）探查了儿童的决策行为,他们发现,随着儿童年龄的增长,他们分配给对方的金额呈上升趋势,即公平和分享行为随年龄增加。儿童的经济决策行为和社会化不可避免要受文化影响。研究探查了中国文化下小学三、六年级、初二、大学一年级四个年龄组学生在最后通谍（UG）和独裁者博弈（DG）中的经济决策行为发展。研究同时比较了个体决策和群体决策的差异。结果发现：儿童在两个博弈中的提议金额都显示出公平和分享行为,随着儿童年龄的增长,儿童在UG和随后进行的DG中的提议分配金额呈减少趋势。这个发现与以往国外研究结果明显不同。两个博弈的顺序对UG没有影响,但对DG有影响;儿童的个体决策和群体决策结果没有显示显著差异     

An Evaluation of the Psychometric Properties and Criterion Validity of the Religious Social Support Scale

This study evaluates the psychometric properties and criterion validity of the Religious Social Support (RSS) Scale in a diverse, representative community sample of new mothers ( N = 1,156). Results indicated that two factors best represented the RSS. Criterion validity was established by demonstrating that the RSS was associated with relational and health outcomes. However, these associations were reduced to statistical insignificance once a general measure of social support was included as a covariate. There were no indications that race moderated either the psychometric properties of the RSS or the relationships between social support and outcomes. Qualitative analyses indicated that religious social support is a salient construct in the lives of women that we studied and suggested ways to improve future developments of RSS scales.     

Mothers' Experience of Stress Following the Birth of a First Child: Identification of Stressors and Coping Resources1

The purpose of this study is to identify, through a retrospective methodology, stressor and coping resource variables which are involved in mothers' experience of stress one month after the birth of a first child. The variables were identified on the basis of previous work in this field, and were categorized as stressor or coping resource variables according to the writings of authors in the larger domain of stress and coping. The influence of interactive and additive combinations of stressors and coping resources, as described by Wheaton (1985), were also examined in a multiple regression model. A five-variable model, accounting for 58.74% of the variance of a measure of the experience of stress, was obtained. Discussion focuses around the predictive possibilities of such a model, the impact of coping resources, and on the potential for utilizing this model for describing the process of adaptation following this event over time.     

Religious Perfectionism Versus Spiritual Growth

This article explores the fundamentalist Christian focus on perfectionism and its possible contribution to an increase in dysfunctional individuals, family systems, and societies. Several Bible verses are analyzed, and the results of their misinterpretation discussed. The need for a program of spiritual growth, as expressed by Alcoholics Anonymous, as opposed to a program of spiritual perfection is proposed.     

Policies Essential to Improved Effectiveness in Employment Counseling

The number of college graduates is expected to glut the job market during the next several years. The causes of this surplus are both internal and external to educational systems. Secondary schools, colleges, and universities are uncertain about their goals and objectives, particularly in relation to effective investment in human resources to improve productivity as contrasted with a preoccupation with immediate consumer satisfaction. The externals—occupational data and forecasting—are unreliable for several reasons. Counselors should seek educational system reform while increasing their efforts to attain more effective methods and tools for career counseling and job placement. Apathy in the face of growing budgetary constraints will encourage adverse reaction toward counseling activities.     

Constructing Maternal Thinking

Sara Ruddick's Maternal Thinking represents a great contribution to moral philosophy—in particular, by bringing women's “private” virtues into the public sphere. However, there remain problems in the analysis which need to be addressed: How can one possibly generalize about the practice of mothering from one, necessarily limited, perspective, given the facts of cultural diversity? Is Ruddick's normative account of mothering congruent with the reflective judgments of others? Is her account of the transformation of parochial mothering into feminist peace work viable? After exploring these three questions, this reviewer calk, with Ruddkk, for the telling of more maternal stories, from different cultural, racial and economic perspectives.