Perceived social structure,role, and communication patterns in an organization

Relationships among organizational roles, perceptions of the structure of the organization, and communications were studied in a university psychology department. Fifty-five members, representing five status groups (e.g., faculty, graduate students, etc.) and four sections of the department (e.g., Counseling, Experimental, etc.), judged the similarity of 16 faculty stimuli, rated the faculty on their interests and activities, and reported on their own communications. Individual Differences Multidimensional Scaling analysis of the similarities data revealed four dimensions of the perceptions of the organization: Section Affiliation, Teaching versus Research, Interest in Industrial Psychology, and Orthodoxy of Life-Style. Section groups differed significantly both in their communications and in the way the Orthodoxy of Life-Style dimension was weighted in their perceptions of the organization. Perceptions of the organization were related to communication behavior.     

Sex-role orientation,behavioral adaptability and personal adjustment

Bem's Sex-Role Inventory was used to classify 111 college men and women into masculine, feminine, androgynous, and undifferentiated sex-role categories. Subjects were tested for emotional expressivity (feminine task), assertiveness (masculine task), and personal integration. Sex typed and cross-sex typed subjects performed well only on those tasks which were congruent with their measured sex role. Androgynous subjects exhibited the greatest behavioral adaptability, performing well on both masculine and feminine tasks; undifferentiated subjects performed poorly on both tasks, but particularly so on sex-reversed tasks. Thus, behavioral flexibility was shown to derive from strong identifications with both masculine and feminine roles (androgyny) rather than from a simple lack of identification with either role. In addition, contrary to previous findings that masculine-typed women are better adjusted than feminine-typed women, androgynous and sex typed subjects both scored high in personal integration, with cross-sex typed subjects of both sexes scoring as low as undifferentiated subjects.     

A comparison of projective and objective fear-of-success and sex-role orientation measures as predictors of women's performance on masculine and feminine tasks

This study compared projective and objective measures of fear of success (FOS) with each other and with a measure of sex-role orientation as alternative predictors of 309 college women's achievement behavior on masculine and feminine tasks. Neither the sex role nor the FOS measures predicted substantial performance differences on the masculine or feminine tasks, although the objective FOS scales and the Bem Sex Role Inventory did predict subjects' stated investment in the task and attributions for success in a manner generally consistent with FOS theory. In addition, the objective FOS scales showed strong relationships with achievement motivation and sex-role orientation, while TAT (Thematic Apperception Test) FOS was unrelated to either of these variables. The results provide partial support that objective FOS scales tap actual avoidance tendencies characteristic of traditionally feminine women, while the TAT measure reflects, at most, an ambivalence over success which may be equally characteristic of high achieving, nontraditional women and low achieving, traditional women.The research reported here was supported by Grant 1 R03 MH 28835-01 from the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare.     

On the use of global and specific measures in assessing the self-esteem of males and females

General measures of self-esteem have often been unsuccessful in predicting specific behaviors or self-reports, particularly those of female subjects. To explore this problem, this study examined the relationship between a general measure of self-esteem and specific measures of agentic and communal self-esteem in a sample of 79 female and 97 male undergraduates. Three agentic measures were found to account for a greater proportion of the variance in general self-esteem scores of males (51%) than of females (33%). This difference was accentuated when traditionally sex-typed subjects were compared separately; the percentages for these groups were 45% for masculine males and 14% for feminine females. Differences between male and female subjects regarding the communal measure were small and nonsignificant. Implications for sex typing and the measurement of self-esteem are considered.     

Position uncertainty and the perception of apparent movement

Two experiments compared the perception of apparent movement when the second of two successive stimuli always appeared in the same position and when it varied randomly between two spatial positions. The results of both experiments showed that foreknowledge of the position of the second stimulus does not facilitate the perception of apparent movement. Experiment 2 also clearly showed that the space-time relationships of Korte’s third law of apparent movement does not depend on foreknowledge of the position of the second stimulus. These findings imply that apparent movement in real time occurs after the second stimulus has been registered by the visual system. It suggests that apparent movement involves a delayed decision mechanism that stores the first stimulus, the interstimulus temporal interval, and the second stimulus, and then impletes a motion compatible with the stimulus information.     

The equivocal meanings of time: Exploratory and structural analyses

This study addresses itself to the question of how people conceive of time. On the basis of philosophical, scientific, and cultural positions, we identified those beliefs which contribute to the basic meanings of time and generate the specific themes by which time is conceptualized. A questionnaire of beliefs about time was completed by 392 students. An exploratory factor analysis yielded seven factors, which qualified time as destructive, constructive, fluid, elusive, cyclical, eternal, and mysterious. The factor scales significantly related to gender, origin, faculty association, and death anxiety. A structural equation modeling approach was employed to test a model of second-order factors which presumably tapped evaluative aspects and perhaps thus related to the affective basis of the attitude toward time. The model assumed three general factors: Assuring Time, Disquieting Time, and Dynamic-Ambivalent Time. The results showed that the model provided an acceptable fit. Our results validate the time conception questionnaire developed in this study.     

Exploring goal taxonomies using the goal-based outcome tool in children and young people's mental health settings

Formulating goals in therapy may facilitate young people and parents/carers' engagement in mental health support settings. A number of goal taxonomies have been developed, which involve organising goals set at the outset of therapy into themes. Goal taxonomies are considered useful for service planning and outcome purposes. In order to build on the knowledge about what young people choose as goals, and to best support good practice, it is important to explore the links and differences between the existing goal taxonomies. A systematic review was conducted to identify goal taxonomies based on goals set using the goal-based outcome (GBO) tool. Framework analysis was conducted to investigate the extracted goal taxonomies. Overall, four core concepts were identified: “Goals targeting specific issues, symptoms, emotions, and behaviours,” “Return and engage in activities,” “Personal growth goals” and “Interpersonal goals.” Goals regarding specific issues, personal growth and interpersonal relationships were present in most studies. Using these overarching core concepts could be useful for practitioner-level, or service-level organisation of goal data, for activities such as service planning and delivery.