Career development theory

Super's theory of vocational development, initially formulated in the 1950s, has led to a number of important research programmes, focusing particularly on the concept of vocational maturity. The major findings of these studies are surveyed in this paper. They suggest that vocational maturity is a development characteristic which increases with age, is multidimensional in nature, develops at different rates in different individuals, and can help in the pre-diction of occupational satisfaction, occupational success, and career success.     

TRAINING AND COUNSELING OF THE OLDER WORKER1

Mature workers are and will continue to be an important source of labor in the economy. By 1975 approximately one-half of the labor force will be over 45 years of age. Problems of training, re-training, and counseling these workers are examined in this paper in terms of some of their characteristics, such as slower work habits, decreased physical strength, adaptability, and lack of self-confidence. Ways to alleviate or compensate for possible handicaps of older employees through training and counseling programs are suggested.     

An exploratory study of the effects of emotionally toned incidental stimuli1

The present study examined the effects of emotionally toned (angry or pleasant) incidental stimuli upon fantasy production Subjects told more aggressive TAT stories when highly aggressive passages from a play were audible from the next room (at a volume and fidelity which made it difficult to follow the verbal message) than they did when no such stimulus was playing No increase in aggression was noted in the presence of a pleasantly toned stimulus Individual differences in responsiveness to the incidental stimulus were related to other measures of influence by incidental stimuli, and little individual consistency was evident It was suggested that the concept of a general trait of responsiveness to incidental stimulation may be too global, and that consistencies may be limited to particular response modes, types of stimuli, and orientations to the situation.     

Psychological Variables as Predictors of Perceived Ethnic Discrimination Among Minority and Immigrant Adolescents1

The occurrence of discrimination in the real world is difficult to determine objectively, as it is defined in part by intentions. The perception of discrimination may therefore be influenced by one's interpretation of the intentions of others. In order to examine psychological characteristics that influence the perception of ethnic discrimination, 164 Armenian, Mexican American, and Vietnamese adolescents completed measures of perceived discrimination (PD), self-esteem, mastery, depression/anxiety, intergroup competence, and ethnic identity, as well as demographic variables. A path analysis showed that higher depression/anxiety scores and lower intergroup competence predicted more PD; depression/anxiety and intergroup competence were in turn predicted by self-esteem and mastery, respectively. Birthplace and socioeconomic status had an indirect effect on PD, via intergroup competence. The results suggest the importance of psychological variables in the perception of discrimination.     

Les habiletés et régulations motrices au cours de l'escalade et de la descente d'un escalier hélicoïdal chez des enfants de 17 à 27 mois

Nous rapportons dans cet article des données nouvelles sur les comportements d'escalade et de descente d'un escalier hélicoïdal par 12 enfants, dans un local spécialement aménagé. Âgés entre 17 et 21 mois au début de la recherche, ils ont été répartis en deux groupes: pour l'un, la première marche était triangulaire; pour l'autre, quadrangulaire. Les měmes enfants ont été étudiés entre 23 et 27 mois dans les měmes conditions et selon le měme protocole, mais avec une inversion de la configuration de la première marche. On observe que: (1) dès la classe d'âges de 17 à 21 mois, les enfants des deux groupes privilégient le pied droit pour attaquer la première marche, avec le plus souvent alternance des deux pieds sans diminution du pas et sans arrět; (2) la configuration de la première marche joue un rôle significatif dans la fréquence de choix du pied d'attaque en début d'escalade et en fin de descente; (3) les comportements en fin d'escalade et en début de descente apparaissent influencés par la configuration du sommet de l'escalier et par la configuration de la première marche d'escalade; (4) entre 23 et 27 mois, l'influence des facteurs de développement est particulièrement nette en début d'escalade et en fin de descente; (5) les comportements en fin d'escalade et en début de descente apparaissent influencés par une combinaison de facteurs de développement, de la configuration du sommet de l'escalier, des expériences individuelles au début de l'escalade et des expériences individuelles au cours de la première partie de l'étude.     

Short-term stability of aggression,peer rejection,and depressive symptoms in middle childhood

This study investigated the short-term stability of teacher-rated aggression, peer-rated rejection, and peer-rated depressive symptoms in 478 elementary school children from 25 classrooms (first to third grades) in two geographical areas. Children who presented specific combinations of aggression, rejection, and depressive symptoms were tracked to determine the stability of these combinations from the beginning (Time 1) to the end (Time 2) of the school year. In addition, aggression, rejection, and depressive symptoms were treated as risk factors, and children were classified as displaying zero, one, two, or three risk factors at Times 1 and 2. Of the three risk factors, aggression appeared to be the most stable. Three-quarters of children who presented aggression at Time 1 (either alone or in combination with the other risk factors) were found to continue to have elevated levels of aggression at Time 2. Although specific combinations of aggression, rejection, and depressive symptoms were not very stable over time, the number of risk factors a child displayed at Time 1 was a good predictor of the number of risk factors the child displayed at Time 2. Stability of risk factors was comparable as a function of child gender and ethnicity.This study was supported by National Institute of Mental Health grant MH48018.     

On the coding of spatial information

Two experiments studied recall of objects and their locations in an intentional-incidental learning paradigm. When studying spatial information, the usual incidental condition is not truly incidental, because subjects often deliberately use locations to help organize objects for recall. Therefore, a true incidental task was devised in which neither objects nor locations were expected to be recalled and for which explicit encoding of locations was irrelevant. There was only a small loss in recall of objects or their locations in a true incidental condition. It was concluded that a great deal of location information is automatically coded into long-term memory storage in the sense that active processing is not required. The data were contrasted with incidental processing of other attributes, such as color. Although adults performed better than children, there were no age-related interactions, indicating similarity of functioning at all ages studied.