Immediate and long-term retention of connected concrete discourse as a function of mnemonic picture-type sequence and context

Abstract.— Two stories each containing 30 sentences of connected, concrete discourse were presented with or without an illustrating picture preceding each sentence, and with or without within-story context. Immediate paced recall with pictures or empty frames was demanded. With the with-context material, paced recall and free recall was also studied after the lapse of one year. Storey 1 was made according to the en-route mnemonic scheme and story 2 according to the within-a-building scheme. On immediate recall pictures as well as context had a strong positive effect. There was no interaction between pictures and context., which may be interpreted to mean that these factors may be intrapsychically identical. Recall after one year was generally poor, but indicated that the en-route mnemonic scheme may be more effective in long-term memory. Very little reconstruction from the pictures seems to have taken place.     

ALTERNATE METHODS OF ESTIMATING THE DOLLAR VALUE OF PERFORMANCE

The standard deviation of performance quality measured in dollars, SD$ , is critical to calculating the utility of personnel decisions. A popular technique for obtaining SD$ calls for supervisor estimates of the dollar value of performance at different levels. In many cases supervisors can base their estimates on the cost of contracting out the various levels of performance. Estimation problems can arise, however, in contexts where contracting out is not possible, such as in government organizations without private industry counterparts. Estimation problems may also exist where individual salary is only a small percentage of the value of the performance to the organization or of the equipment operated. This paper presents two strategies for estimating the value of performance and for determining SD$ by considering the changes in the numbers and performance levels of system units which lead to increased aggregate performance. One hundred U.S. Army tank commanders provided data about their jobs for these two strategies as well as for the supervisor estimation and salary percentage strategies. The new strategies appear to provide more appropriate and acceptable values of SD$ for those complex, expensive systems where dollar values of performance are less easily estimated.     

The Morality of Refusing to Treat HIV-positive Patients

ABSTRACT Do physicians and nurses have an obligation to treat patients who are HIV-positive? Although an initial review of the possible sources of such an obligation yields equivocal results, a closer examination reveals a clear obligation to treat. The current risk of job-caused HIV-infection is not sufficient to warrant a refusal to treat. This is so because there exist rationally justified, general social, as well as specific peer expectations, that health care professionals treat HIV-positive patients. These expectations impose moral obligations on doctors and nurses. Moreover there is no sound libertarian argument entitling doctors and nurses to refuse to treat HIV-positive patients. A morally appropriate identification with his or her role would disincline a health care professional to refuse treatment to an HIV-positive patient. The likely source of such refusal is occupational alienation and an irrational reaction to AIDS symbolism.     

META-ANALYSIS OF PERSONALITY-JOB PERFORMANCE RELATIONS: A REPLY TO ONES, MOUNT, BARRICK, AND HUNTER (1994)

Tett, Jackson, and Rothstein's (1991) meta-analysis identified higher average correlations for personality in predicting job proficiency than did Barrick and Mount's (1991). Ones et al. suggest that discrepancies between the two studies involving the Big Five personality dimensions are due to certain procedural differences. In this reply, we show that their arguments do not adequately explain the noted discrepancies. We also show that, because personality traits correlate significantly with job performance both positively and negatively beyond chance levels, use of absolute values, contrary to Ones et al., is important in meta-analyses involving personality. Addressing all of Ones et al.3 statistical concerns, re-analysis of Tett et al.k main data set results in slightly lower mean validities (e.g., .24 vs.29 for fully corrected values based on confirmatory estimates), and renders non-significant the job analysis/no job analysis distinction found to be significant in the original study. Tett et al.'s main conclusions, however, remain unchanged. We suggest that Barrick and Mount's lower mean validities may be due to their averaging signed correlations, pooling exploratory and confirmatory findings, and to the use of different inclusion criteria for selecting source studies.