Disability and employment – overview and highlights

Due to the expected decline in the working-age population, especially in European countries, people with disabilities are now more often recognized as a valuable resource in the workforce and research into disability and employment is more important than ever. This paper outlines the state of affairs of research on disability and employment. We thereby focus on one particular group of people with disabilities, that is to say people with mental disabilities. We define disability according to the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) of the World Health Organization, by that recognizing that disability results from the interaction of person and environment. Key issues, including the complexity of defining disability, the legal situation in Europe and North America concerning disability at work, and barriers and enablers to employment, are discussed. For each of the topics we show important findings in the existing literature and indicate where more in-depth research is needed. We finalize with a concrete research agenda on disability and employment and provide recommendations for practice.     

Treatment efficacy of noncontingent reinforcement during brief and extended application

We evaluated the long-term therapeutic effects of noncontingent reinforcement (NCR). In Experiment 1, NCR effects were examined with 2 participants' arbitrary responses; in Experiment 2, NCR was used as treatment with 3 participants whose self-injurious behavior (SIB) was maintained by automatic reinforcement. In both experiments, NCR consisted of continuous access to a highly preferred leisure item and was implemented initially during 10-min and later during 120-min sessions. Varied reinforcers (leisure items) were subsequently introduced during 120-min sessions to determine if treatment effects might be extended. Finally (Experiment 2 only), NCR was implemented throughout the day in participants' homes. Results of Experiments 1 and 2 showed that reinforcers obtained through object manipulation can compete with those obtained automatically by engaging in SIB during brief NCR sessions. However, data from the 120-min sessions indicated that satiation to a specific leisure item might occur over periods of time more typical of those during which treatment would be implemented. Access to a variety of highly preferred leisure items extended the effectiveness of NCR for some individuals. When NCR was implemented throughout the day (Experiment 2), therapeutic effects were shown to be maintained for up to 1 year.     

Internistische Psychosomatik

Zusammenfassung Die psychische Komorbidität internistischer Patienten im Sinne einer ICD-Diagnose des Kapitels F beträgt mehr als 35%: Neurotische, besonders somatoforme, Schmerz-, affektive Störungen und Suchterkrankungen sind häufig. Die Liegedauer ist bei psychischer Komorbidität deutlich erhöht. Es benötigen 5% der internistischen Patienten ein psychosomatisches Konsil. Neue, komplexe Behandlungsstrategien, wie Transplantationen, Kardioverter-Defibrillatoren, Medikamentenpumpen, erfordern häufig spezifische psychosoziale Interventionen. Ältere Patienten haben Erkrankungen, die zunehmend chronifizieren und komplexer werden. Damit werden Lebensqualität und psychische Komorbidität zu zentralen Outcomevariablen der Volkskrankheiten. Das zweite große Aufgabenfeld internistischer Psychosomatik ist die Untersuchung und die Behandlung psychosomatischer Patienten im engeren Sinne (Essstörungen, Schmerz- und somatoforme Störungen), weil internistische Diagnostik und Therapie erforderlich oder die Motivation der Patienten primär somatisch ist. Organisationsmodelle reichen von Konsil-/Liaisondiensten bis zu integrierten psychosomatischen Abteilungen oder Fachabteilungen an Allgemeinkrankenhäusern. Aussichtsreiche Forschungsstrategien werden neben der Erforschung psychosomatischer Mechanismen in der Entwicklung pragmatischer Behandlungsprogramme, ihrer Überprüfung in klinischen Studien und der Versorgungsforschung gesehen. Darüber hinaus sollte eine Intensivierung nationaler und internationaler Forschungsnetze erfolgen, wenn immer möglich unter Beteiligung anderer Disziplinen, um auch im Bereich der Forschung konkurrenzfähig zu bleiben.Herrn Prof. Dr. Ernst Richard Petzold zum 65. Geburtstag gewidmet.     

Children's perception of media-portrayed sex roles

The immediate impact on preschool and elementary school children of a televised presentation in which the traditional sex roles of physician and nurse were reversed was examined. After viewing a videotape of a male nurse and a female physician, subjects were asked to identify photographs or names of the physician and nurse. Preschool, first-, and fourth-grade children selected male names or pictures for the physician and female names or pictures for the nurse, thereby reversing genders. Their immediate recall appeared strongly influenced by their stereotypes rather than by the film they had just viewed. Seventh-grade children correctly identified the names of the physician and nurse.The authors wish to thank Dr. Edward F. Meydrech, Assistant Professor, Department of Preventive Medicine and Chief of the Division of Biostatistics, University of Mississippi Medical Center, for his invaluable assistance in the analysis of the data.     

Evaluations of the Work of Men and Women as a Function of the Sex of the Judge and Type of Work

Forty-two male and 42 female subjects selected from a large city, a small town, or a university campus were asked to evaluate four pen and ink sketches and four quotations. Two sketches and two quotations were associated with fictitious women's names while the remainder were associated with fictitious men's names. A three-way interaction indicated that women tended to discriminate against the productions attributed to men, and men significantly discriminated against the productions of women. But all discriminations were limited to intellectual productions (quotations).     

ALTERING SHOPPERS' SUPERMARKET PURCHASES TO FIT NUTRITIONAL GUIDELINES: AN INTERACTIVE INFORMATION SYSTEM

This study reports the results of one effort to help supermarket shoppers alter food purchases to make purchases (and meals) that are lower in fat and higher in fiber. A prototype interactive information system using instructional video programs, feedback on purchases with specific goals for change, weekly programs, and the ability to track user interactions and intended purchases was evaluated. The major dependent measure was users' actual food purchases as derived from participants' highly detailed supermarket receipts. After a 5- to 7-week baseline phase, participants were randomly assigned to an experimental or control condition for the 7- to 8-week intervention phase. A follow-up phase began 5 to 8 weeks after participants completed the intervention and discontinued use of the system. The results indicated that experimental participants, when compared to control participants, decreased high fat purchases and increased high fiber purchases during intervention, with evidence for some maintenance of effect in follow-up. Plans for increasing the use and impact of the system are discussed.     

Exposure to Major Stressors May Reduce Dysfunctional Cognition About Them1

Exposure to a given stressor may enhance future resistance to that specific event as well as to stressful events more generally. One mechanism may be that prior exposure decreases dysfunctional beliefs about the specific event or to events in general (i. e., general dysfunctional attitudes). The research described here examined whether exposure to divorce was related to fewer divorce‐specific and general dysfunctional attitudes. Divorced participants reported fewer divorce‐specific dysfunctional attitudes than did happily married participants or married participants considering divorce. Similarly, adult children of divorced parents had fewer divorce‐specific dysfunctional attitudes than did adult children of happily married parents. A different pattern was observed for general dysfunctional attitudes.     

Through rose-tinted glasses: How inducing and resolving curiosity makes consumers less skeptical and improves their product evaluations

Research indicates that in general, curiosity leads to more intense processing of an advertisement, which might result in a more skeptical response toward a persuasive message. However, we propose the opposite and argue that a process of evoking curiosity toward a stimulus in the first step (with the creation of an information gap) and resolving it in the second step creates a positive affective experience. Upon receiving curiosity-resolving information after becoming curious, consumers are less skeptical toward the advertised product, which leads to a more favorable attitude and a higher purchase intention. Based on four studies, we demonstrate curiosity's skepticism-reducing effect, its downstream consequences, and the underlying mechanism of positive affect. We show that this curiosity-stimulating way of information disclosure caused the effect instead of the information itself, which remained constant. The effects occur for integral curiosity, directed at the focal product, and for incidental curiosity, elicited by an unrelated stimulus. These results contribute to understanding consumer responses to curiosity-evoking advertisements, which are widespread, and provide implications for consumer psychologists, practitioners, and policy makers.     

A constraint on eliminating semantic priming by repeating a prime

Repeated semantic primes have been shown to generate an additive semantic priming effect when those primes are different words, but repetition priming of the prime seems to eliminate semantic priming of lexical decisions for reasons that are not clear. These studies replicated this effect but also showed that repetition priming of the prime does not eliminate semantic priming with a longer lag between the repeated primes. The implications of these results for understanding the basic effect are discussed.