Psychological Well-Being in a Sample of Male and Female Office Workers

This questionnaire study used a model of mental health proposed by Warr (1987, 1993) to examine how 8 aspects of the work situation (principal environmental influences, PEIs) were associated with psychological well-being, measured on several dimensions. It is hypothesized that the importance of different PEIs for well-being will be influenced by gender, particularly the relationship between control and work-related mental health. The results of multiple regression analysis indicated similarities and differences in the association of PEIs with well-being in males and females. In the male sample, control at work was significantly associated with all dimensions of work-related mental health; but in the female sample, it was not associated with any dimension of mental health. The influence of gender is discussed.     

More evidence for a relational shift in the development of analogy: Children's performance on a causal-mapping task

Gentner (1988) has proposed a relational shift whereby children interpret analogy and metaphor first in terms of object similarity and then in terms of relational similarity. Goswami (1996) argues against the relational shift hypothesis, citing as evidence a study performed by Goswami and Brown (1989) in which 3-, 4-, and 6-year-old children were able to correctly complete pictorial A:B::C:? analogies based on familiar causal relations, and, contrary to the predictions of the relational shift hypothesis, made very few object-similarity errors despite the presence of an object-similarity choice. In the present experiment we obtained similarity ratings of Goswami and Brown's stimuli and found that the materials did not contain a true object similarity choice and therefore that study was not an adequate test of the relational shift hypothesis. After appropriate modifications to their methodology, we found that 4- and 5-year-old children's performance was consistent with the relational shift hypothesis: First, object-similarity errors were highly frequent initially and decreased with age; second, the rate of relational (correct) responding increased with age; and third, performance on the analogues was positively related to children's knowledge about the participating causal relations. We conclude by proposing an explanation for the relational shift based on an alignment view of similarity comparison and, further, suggest a new role for object similarity in children's analogical development.     

Interhemisphärischer Transfer visueller Zweifachwahlen bei kommissurotomierten Tauben

Zusammenfassung Die funktionelle Bedeutung kommissuraler Systeme für den visuellen interhemisphärischen Informationsaustausch wurde bei 71 Tauben an monokular gelernten Zweifachwahlen geprüft (instrumentale Konditionierung nach Skinner). 1 Farb- und 4 Form-Diskriminationen (2 oben-unten- und 2 links-rechts-symmetrische Spiegelbildpaare) wurden verwendet. Bei 21 Tauben war die Decussatio supraoptica (DSO) stereotaktisch durchtrennt worden, bei 20 waren die Commissura tectalis (CT) und die Commissura posterior (CP) durchschnitten. Bei 11 Tauben waren alle 3 Verbindungen unterbrochen. Das Ausmaß der Läsionen wurde durch histologische Kontrolle verifiziert. Der interhemisphärische Transfer war nach DSO-Durchtrennung bei der Farb- und den oben-unten-symmetrischen Formzweifachwahlen stark vermindert. Der Transfer sämtlicher Zweifachwahlen war nach CT+CP-Durchtrennung nicht signifikant verschieden von dem der Kontrolltiere. Es wurde erstmals gezeigt, daß mindestens ein Teil der DSO-Fasern bei Vögeln visuelle Information von einer Hirnhälfte zur andern übermittelt.

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Interhemispheric transfer of two-choice discrimination in commissurotomized pigeons

Summary The role of avian commissural systems in interhemispheric transfer of monocularly learned visual discriminations was investigated in an instrumental conditioning situation (Skinner). Color and pattern (up-down and left-right mirror-images) were used as stimuli. Stereotaxic lesions were placed in the supraoptic decussation of 21 pigeons, in the tectal and posterior commissures of 20 pigeons. In 11 animals all three connections were interrupted. All lesions were histologically verified. After section of the supraoptic decussation interhemispheric transfer was severely impaired for one color and two up-down mirror-image discriminations. No significant impairment in transfer for color, up-down and left-right mirror-image discriminations followed section of the tectal and posterior commissures. These data demonstrate that at least part of the supraoptic decussation is involved in interhemispheric transfer of visual information.

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Mit Unterstützung des Schweizerischen Nationalfonds für wissenschaftliche Forschung, Kredit Nr. 4806 und 3.133.69. Ein Teil dieser Arbeit wurde im Oktober 1969 der European Brain and Behaviour Society in Marseille vorgetragen.

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Hern Prof. Dr. K. Akert danke ich für die Überlassung des Themas und für die wertvolle Unterstützung während meiner Untersuchungen recht herzlich.Herrn Prof. Dr. E. Hadorn danke ich als meinem verehrten Lehrer.Großer Dank gebührt aber vor allem Herrn Dr. M. Cuénod, der mir stets mit Rat und Tat zur Seite stand.Für ihre technische Mithilfe sei Frau M. Müller, Frl. L. Decoppet, Frl. R. Emch, Frl. I. Kost, Herrn A. Fäh, Herrn A. Fidéler und Herrn M. Plattner, sowie Frl. M. Zwicky, die die Reinschrift besorgte, bestens gedankt.     

Mnemic neglect: Selective amnesia of one’s faults

The mnemic neglect model predicts and accounts for selective memory for social feedback as a function of various feedback properties. At the heart of the model is the mnemic neglect effect (MNE), defined as inferior recall for self-threatening feedback compared to other kinds of feedback. The effect emerges both in mundane realism and minimal feedback settings. The effect is presumed to occur in the service of self-protection motivation. Mnemic neglect is pronounced when the feedback poses high levels of self-threat (i.e., can detect accurately one’s weakness), but is lost when self-threat is averted via a self-affirmation manipulation. Mnemic neglect is caused by self-threatening feedback being processed shallowly and in ways that separate it from stored (positive) self-knowledge. The emergence of mnemic neglect is qualified by situational moderators (extent to which one considers their self-conceptions modifiable, receives feedback from a close source, or is primed with improvement-related constructs) and individual differences moderators (anxiety, dysphoria, or defensive pessimism). Finally, the MNE is present in recall, but absent in recognition. Output interference cannot explain this disparity in results, but an inhibitory repression account (e.g., experiential avoidance) can: Repressors show enhanced mnemic neglect. The findings advance research on memory, motivation, and the self.     

The effect of geographic indication in advertising background pictures on product evaluation: The moderating role of familiarity

This study investigates whether geographic indications in the backgrounds of advertising pictures might affect the viewer's evaluation of a product. The findings reveal that participants in the proximal geographic indication evaluated the product more favourably than those in the distal geographic indication when they were exposed to feasibility‐related information. By contrast, participants in the distal geographic indication evaluated the product more favourably than those in the proximal geographic indication when they were exposed to desirability‐related information. However, familiarity with geographic indications eliminated this effect.