BEYOND THE NATURE–CULTURE DUALISM: THE ECOLOGY OF EARTH-HOMELAND

Morin's thoughts on environmental destruction flow from the perspective of a metatheorist of political ecology. His early writings emphasize the interaction of nature and culture; his “acentric” interpretations of systems theory challenge ecological theorists who overemphasize centralized programming as a remedy for destructive patterns of subsystem interaction. Morin also criticizes defenders of “sustainable development” who fail to see system-renewing potential in cultural diversity. As an environmental metatheorist, he offers not rules for a new green ethic, but a way of thinking designed to enhance respect for pluralism, ambiguity, and natural complexity.     

Indirect interception actions by blind and visually impaired perceivers: Echolocation for interceptive actions

Vernat, J.-P. & Gordon, M. S. (2010). Indirect interception actions by blind and visually impaired perceivers: Echolocation for interceptive actions. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 51, 75–83.
This research examined the acoustic information used to support interceptive actions by the blind. Congenitally blind and severely visually impaired participants (all wearing an opaque, black eye-mask) were asked to listen to a target ball rolling down a track. In response, participants rolled their own ball along a perpendicular path to intercept the target. To better understand what information was used the echoic conditions and rolling dynamics of the target were varied across test sessions. In addition the rolling speed of the target and the distance of the participant from the target were varied across trials. Results demonstrated that participants tended to perform most accurately at moderate speeds and distances, overestimating the target's arrival at the fastest speed, and underestimating it at the slowest speed. However, changes to the target's dynamics, that is, the amount of deceleration it underwent on approach, did not strongly influence performance. Echoic conditions were found to affect performance, as participants were slightly more accurate in conditions with faster, higher-intensity echoes. Based on these results blind individuals in this research seemed to be using spatial and temporal cues to coordinate their interceptive actions.     

The Psychiatric Impairment Rating Scale: Is it a valid measure?

The Psychiatric Impairment Rating Scale (PIRS) was introduced as part of the Workcover legislation in NSW and has since been adopted in other States. There has been significant criticism of its validity and structure, but no supporting research. This study was undertaken to examine the validity of the use of the PIRS to assess psychiatric impairment. This study assesses the concurrent validity of the PIRS by comparing it with the Comcare and Social Security scales and the Health of the Nation Outcome Scale, together with two self‐report measures. It also examines the relationship between the PIRS subscales. A high level of ordinal concordance was demonstrated between all scales although the ratings obtained had major systematic variations between scales in both level and distribution. The scoring technique in the PIRS transforms normally distributed scores to a skewed distribution with a preponderance of low scores. The PIRS is a valid scale for ordering the severity of psychological disability but it measures disability rather than impairment. The form of scoring does not provide a proportionate or statistically meaningful measure.     

Synchrony in the Triad: A Microlevel Process Model of Coparenting and Parent‐Child Interactions

Guided by a microanalytic approach to the study of relationships, we assessed parent, infant, and coparental behaviors during triadic interactions in 94 parents and their 5‐month‐old firstborn child. Relational behaviors in each family subsystem—mother‐infant, father‐infant, and coparenting—were microcoded. Marital satisfaction and infant temperament were self‐reported. No differences were found in the infants' behavior toward mother and father or in the time spent with each parent. Mothers' and fathers' relational behavior during parent‐infant episodes were generally comparable, yet mothers vocalized more and the latency to father's displaying positive affect was longer. Conditional probabilities indicated that under conditions of coparental mutuality, fathers showed more positive behaviors than mothers. Lag‐sequential analysis demonstrated that change in the infant's social focus between parents followed change in coparental behavior. Fathers' coparental mutuality was independently predicted by maternal behavior during mother‐child episodes, father marital satisfaction, and infant difficult temperament, whereas mothers' coparental mutuality was only linked with fathers' relational behavior. Results highlight the importance of including a microlevel perspective on the family system at the first stages of family development.     

An Employee Assistance Model of Health Care Management for Employees With Alcohol-Related Problems

An employee assistance model in which cost-effective, high-quality treatment can be offered for a complex range of alcohol-related problems is described. This system of care allows the employee to be treated in the least restrictive therapeutic environment, thus encouraging continued productivity at work.     

Guidance Services for Children and a Right to Education Law: Results of a Longitudinal Study

A sizeable proportion of elementary school children studied received guidance services for emotional and behavioral problems. Differences emerged between children with transitory and persistent problems.     

MULTIFACETED CONCEPTIONS OF SELF-OTHER RATINGS DISAGREEMENT

Self-other ratings disagreement (S-ORD) is the extent to which one's self-rating of performance differs from ratings made by Other people (e.g., supervisors). As increasing number of organizations adopt self-assessment as a tool for managing performance, S-ORD is becoming a central concern in performance appraisal research. Most past research, however, only examines S-ORD in terms of the levels of ratings, and ignores other forms of disagreement. This paper identifies 7 different forms of S-ORD that are detectable through the use of confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The causes for each form of S-ORD are discussed, as well as its conceptual and practical implications. The procedure is illustrated by comparing 332 managers' self-evaluations with their supervisors' evaluations. An extension of the CFA model to a full structural equation model is used to illustrate and discuss the fragmentary nature of existing approaches to S-ORD. It is shown that valid inferences concerning S-ORD cannot be made unless various forms of S-ORD, and not merely the differences in overall ratings, are detected and dealt with.