The relation between employee organizational and professional development activities

A model is presented showing hypothesized common and parallel antecedents of employee organizational development activity (ODA) versus professional development activity (PDA). A common antecedent is expected to affect both ODA and PDA, while a parallel antecedent is expected to affect its corresponding work referent. This model was tested using a sample of 197 medical technologists over a four year time period. Prior ODA and PDA were controlled for before testing hypotheses. Results showed that the common antecedent of learning motivation was a robust indicator of both ODA and PDA. Looking at parallel antecedents, job satisfaction and affective organizational commitment had a positive impact on ODA, while occupational satisfaction and affective occupational commitment had a positive impact on PDA. ODA had a negative impact on subsequent intent to leave organization, but PDA did not have a similar impact on intent to leave profession. Study limitations, issues around operationalizing ODA and PDA, and future research directions are discussed.     

Determining who owns what: do children infer ownership from first possession?

A basic problem of daily life is determining who owns what. One way that people may solve this problem is by relying on a ‘first possession’ heuristic, according to which the first person who possesses an object is its owner, even if others subsequently possess the object. We investigated preschoolers’ use of this heuristic in five experiments. In Experiments 1 and 2, 3- and 4-year-olds inferred that an object was owned by the character who possessed it first, even though another character subsequently possessed it. Two-year-olds also showed this bias, but only when the object was placed between the characters when children were asked about ownership. Experiment 3 ruled out the possibility that children’s bias to select the first possessor results from a tendency to select the character first associated with the object. Experiment 4 showed that 3- and 4-year-olds have difficulty disregarding the first possession heuristic, even when provided with evidence that the character who first possessed an object is not its owner. But Experiment 5 found that children can disregard the heuristic in at least some situations. These five experiments suggest that the first possession heuristic guides children’s ownership inferences. The findings provide the first evidence that preschoolers can infer who owns what, when not explicitly told, and when not reasoning about objects with which they are personally acquainted.     

Executive dysfunctions across adulthood: measurement properties and correlates of the DEX self-report questionnaire

Difficulties in executive processes can disturb daily life functioning. Using data obtained from two independent community-dwelling samples (n(1) = 468, n(2) = 669, 18-97 years), we examined the factor structure of the Dysexecutive Functioning Questionnaire (DEX) and explored the frequencies and potential correlates of self-reported executive difficulties. Our results revealed that executive problems are parsimoniously described with one underlying factor. Everyday executive dysfunctions were moderately frequent throughout adulthood. Reports of executive problems were associated with individual difference characteristics including age, subjective health, personality, affect, and cognition. We also found that, although executive functions are known to decline with advancing adult age, younger age groups reported more problems than older groups, an effect that was partially mediated by a negative affect factor. We discuss implications for the validity of the instrument as well as directions for future research on executive functioning difficulties in everyday life.     

Locomotor experience and use of social information are posture specific

The authors examined the effects of locomotor experience on infants' perceptual judgments in a potentially risky situation--descending steep and shallow slopes--while manipulating social incentives to determine where perceptual judgments are most malleable. Twelve-month-old experienced crawlers and novice walkers were tested on an adjustable sloping walkway as their mothers encouraged and discouraged descent. A psychophysical procedure was used to estimate infants' ability to crawl/walk down slopes, followed by test trials in which mothers encouraged and discouraged infants to crawl/walk down. Both locomotor experience and social incentives affected perceptual judgments. In the encourage condition, crawlers only attempted safe slopes within their abilities, but walkers repeatedly attempted impossibly risky slopes, replicating previous work. The discourage condition showed where judgments are most malleable. When mothers provided negative social incentives, crawlers occasionally avoided safe slopes, and walkers occasionally avoided the most extreme 50 degrees increment, although they attempted to walk on more than half the trials. Findings indicate that both locomotor experience and social incentives play key roles in adaptive responding, but the benefits are specific to the posture that infants use for balance and locomotion.     

Are pets a healthy pleasure? the influence of pets on blood pressure

Pet owners often describe their pets as important and cherished family members who offer solace in times of stress. This article considers evidence suggesting that pets influence human blood pressure. Studies on this topic extend current research testing the hypothesis that having other people around in stressful times can buffer the negative consequences of stress. The existing data suggest that people perceive pets as important, supportive parts of their lives and that the presence of a pet is associated with significant cardiovascular benefits, among both people with normal blood pressure and those with high blood pressure. Studies about pets and blood pressure have examined both naturally occurring and randomly assigned pet ownership but are limited by their focus on responses to short-term, acute stress. Future prospective studies should explore the influence of pets on people at risk for cardiovascular disease and also consider explanatory mechanisms for the pet effect.     

Children's reports of emotionally laden events: adapting the interview to the child

This study examined the influence of expressive vocabulary and temperament on children's verbal reports about emotionally laden events in different interview conditions. In one of three conditions, 58 children aged between 5 and 7 years were interviewed about a time they had felt happy and a time they had felt scared. The interview conditions were: drawing, in which they were asked to draw and tell; re‐enactment, in which they were asked to re‐enact and tell; and verbal, in which they were simply asked to tell. The principal finding was that, whereas for children in the verbal interview condition expressive vocabulary was associated with the amount of information reported and for children in the re‐enactment condition, temperament had a moderate association with the amount reported, for children in the drawing interview condition, neither temperament nor expressive language was associated with the amount of information reported. Children in the drawing condition reported more information than those in the other two interview conditions. The possible mechanisms underlying these findings and their implications for interviewing children in clinical contexts are discussed. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Fostering Client Creativity in Family Therapy: A Process Research Study

Creativity has been shown to enhance problem solving, and to increase flexibility and adaptability—qualities associated with positive therapeutic outcomes. Literature related to therapist and/or client creativity is primarily anecdotal. Empirical literature addressing how therapists can facilitate the creativity of their clients in family therapy is scarce. In this study, the researchers used process methodology to code the behavior of therapists and clients in 31 videotaped family therapy sessions. Results show a significant positive correlation between interventions that induce positive affect and the creative client behaviors of optimism and playfulness.     

Learning from Our Mistakes: Error Management Training for Mature Learners

This research explored the effects of training goal (learning goal vs. performance goal) and training type (error management vs. error avoidance) on word processing skill acquisition with older workers. Sixty-seven participants were randomly assigned to one of four experimental conditions and attended two interactive tutorial training sessions. Results indicated that error management training lead to significantly higher performance test scores, learning quiz scores, and requests for assistance compared to error avoidant training. Additionally, learning goals generated significantly higher performance test scores and intrinsic motivation levels relative to performance goals. Other applications of error management training are discussed.     

Self–other and third‐person categorization in normal and autistic children

Social information processing has been found to vary as a function of whether perceivers categorize individuals in terms of self and other (SO‐categorization) or using categories associated with the third pronominal person (3P‐categorization). Normal children aged 3–8, autistic children aged 5–9 and adult students were presented with decision tasks that enabled us to assess the use of SO‐ and 3P‐categorizations. A breakthrough of the SO‐categorization was observed at age 5. The hypothesis that 3P‐categorization precedes SO‐categorization was strongly disconfirmed, only adults showing consistent 3P‐categorization. Although previous research suggested a strong association between SO‐categorization and ‘I–Thou’ related social understanding, performances of autistic children suggested that impaired understanding of mental life does not detract from the ability to use SO‐categorization.