Optimism and Coping with Unemployment among Hong Kong Chinese Women

The effects of dispositional optimism and coping on the link between unemployment and psychological health were studied among 79 employed and 104 unemployed Hong Kong Chinese women. Results indicated that optimism, indexed by the Chinese version of the Revised Life Orientation Test (C-RLOT), moderated the effect of unemployment on psychological health. The less optimistic women were more psychologically impaired by losing their jobs. Among the unemployed women, the more optimistic ones and those who were more able to distance themselves from job loss fared better. Nevertheless, coping did not mediate the connection between optimism and psychological outcomes. These findings suggest that optimism is an important personal resource for coping with unemployment in Hong Kong Chinese, but whether coping mediates the effects of optimism on psychological health or not depends on other contextual factors. Ways to ensure more reliable prediction regarding the connections between optimism, coping and psychological health in future research were discussed.     

Factorial validity of the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale

The 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) was developed in previous research to measure a general dimension of alexithymia with three inter correlated factors. These three factors reflect distinct facets of the alexithymia construct: (1) difficulty identifying feelings and distinguishing them from the bodily sensations of emotion, (2) difficulty describing feelings to others, and (3) an externally orientated style of thinking. This study tested the three-factor model for the TAS-20, using confirmatory factor analysis, in separate samples of young adults from Germany, Canada, and the United States. The previously established three-factor model was found to be replicable in all three samples. In addition, the full TAS-20 and its three factors demonstrated adequate internal reliability in all three samples. Although evaluation of the convergent, discriminant, and criterion validity of the TAS-20 is required in diverse cultural groups, the present results provide evidence for the factorial validity and internal reliability of the TAS-20.     

The Internet as Cognitive Enhancement

Science and Engineering Ethics - The Internet has been identified in human enhancement scholarship as a powerful cognitive enhancement technology. It offers instant access to almost any type of...     

Workplace aggression in teenage part-time employees

Among adult employees, interpersonal injustice and abusive supervision predict aggression toward supervisors at work. The aim of this study was to assess whether similar relationships exist among teenage employees and, further, whether teenagers' reasons for working moderate these relationships. Multiple regression analyses on data from 119 teenage employees showed that financial and personal fulfillment reasons for working moderate the impact of interpersonal injustice and abusive supervision on aggression directed at workplace supervisors. These findings contribute to the understanding of workplace aggression by demonstrating that (a) teenagers engage in this workplace behavior, (b) the predictors are similar to those of adult aggression, and (c) reasons for working play a moderating role among this particular cohort. The possible long-term consequences of teenagers' use of aggression at work are discussed.     

Herbert Spencer's contributions to behavior analysis: a retrospective review of principles of psychology

Herbert Spencer's Principles of Psychology (1855, first edition) was regarded by his contemporaries, including William James and John Dewey, as a major contribution to what was then a very new discipline. In this book he first expounded his ideas about both evolution of species and how behavior of the individual organism adapts through interaction with the environment. His formulation of the principle that behavior changes in adaptation to the environment is closely related to the version of the law of effect propounded some years later by Thorndike. He can thus be seen as the first proponent of selectionism, a key tenet of behavior analysis. He also explicitly attacked the then prevailing view of free will as being incompatible with the biologically grounded view of psychological processes that he was advocating, and thus put forward ideas that were precursors of B. F. Skinner's in this important area of debate.     

Assessment of Quality of Outcomes within a Local United Way Organization: Implications for Sustaining System Level Change

This paper provides a historical case study of efforts to implement and sustain "outcomes based funding" in a large United Way system in Central Ohio. The case study describes how community practitioners employed specific strategies to promote sustainability. The use of these strategies corresponds to several techniques suggested in the sustainability literature. This case study is offered as a means of considering how practitioners helped sustain the shift to outcomes based funding within the United Way system. In addition, this case study demonstrates how skills related to implementation and sustainability might be transferred to other situations where practitioners are interested in promoting change within large organizations and/or communities. The authors suggest that skills related to implementation and sustainability are essential to community practice.