Learning from feedback: exactingness and incentives.

In a series of five experiments, exactingness, or the extent to which deviations from optimal decisions are punished, is studied within the context of learning a repetitive decision-making task together with the effects of incentives. Results include the findings that (a) performance is an inverted-U shaped function of exactingness, (b) performance is better under incentives when environments are lenient but not when they are exacting, (c) the interaction between exactingness and incentives does not obtain when an incentives function fails to discriminate sharply between good and bad performance, and (d) when the negative effects of exactingness on performance are eliminated, performance increases with exactingness.     

Symptom schemata in chronic respiratory patients

In view of evidence that illness prognoses and adaptive functioning may be influenced by the accuracy of people's knowledge about their physical symptoms, the present study extended these findings to the chronic care population. It was hypothesized that individuals hold beliefs and develop theories about their physical symptoms and that the accuracy of these beliefs is predictive of the individuals' general level of adaptive functioning. A modified version of an instrument designed to measure the accuracy of illness schemata was employed with a sample of 31 chronic respiratory patients. Accuracy rating correlated positively and significantly with ratings of adaptive functioning, whereas no relationship was observed between adaptive functioning and severity of the patients' medical condition. Well-informed patients functioned at a higher level physically, psychologically, and socially than less-informed patients. These findings point to the importance of patient education for prognosis. Possible mediating factors are discussed.     

Encoding dimensions of subject-performed tasks

Summary In an experiment modelled upon the classical paradigm on release from proactive interference (PI), subjects were required to remember series of actions they had performed (e.g., roll the ball, fold the paper). The objects involved in these subject-performed tasks (SPTs) served as a basis for build-up and release of PI. The objects used in the first few trials of the experiment belonged to the same class (e.g., parts of the body), causing a build up of PI. A shift to a different class of objects (e.g., kitchen utensils) along four different dimensions (taxonomic category, weight, color, and size) was introduced to cause a release of PI. On the basis of PI-release experiments with words it was expected that shifts in taxonomic category would result in a greater release than shifts within any of the physical dimensions. However, the results revealed that the amount of PI release was, in general, larger than expected, and essentially the same for all four dimensions investigated. The results are discussed in terms of the nature of the memory representation of SPTs, and with regard to possible processing differences between SPTs and verbal information. In addition, methodological suggestions for furthering the understanding of the encoding and storage of action events are advanced.     

Parent interaction after divorce: Comparison of mediated and adversarial divorce processes

The interactions and perceptions of two groups of divorcing parents using different dispute resolution processes were compared at final divorce and at 1 and 2 years post-divorce. Using objective and standardized measures, the effectiveness of a comprehensive divorce mediation process was contrasted to the more customary two attorney adversarial process. The 153 parents at final divorce were part of a larger, longitudinal study of 435 divorcing men and women who were followed from the beginning of divorce to 2 years post-divorce. Parents in the divorce mediation group reported less conflict during the divorcing period, and less conflict, more contact and communication, and a more positive attitude toward the other parent at final divorce, results which remained significant after controlling for several baseline group differences. The majority of differences favoring the mediation intervention continued through the first year after divorce, and disappeared by the 2 year post-divorce data collection. The nature of the mediation process is discussed in relation to these parental behaviors and attitudes.     

The enduring intellectual legacy of B. F. Skinner: A citation count from 1966-1989

It is frequently claimed that the influence of behaviorism in general and of B. F. Skinner in particular, is declining. Data obtained from the Social Sciences Citation Index for the years 1966-1989 document that in the last twenty-four years the number of citations to the works of Skinner has been reasonably steady. There is no evidence of a decline in the absolute number of such citations, suggesting that claims of the demise of behaviorism may be, once again, premature.     

Getting to the Bottom to Understand the Top

Culture is a vague and elusive concept that most individuals seldom explain or consciously think about and evaluate. It is imperative, however, that counselors engaged in multicultural counseling have an understanding of what is meant by culture. A myriad of definitions exist that focus on behaviors and artifacts to shared belief systems and worldviews. It is suggested that the philosophical assumptions underlying a worldview, the deep structure of culture, provide a framework for better understanding cultural differences. Viewing culture from this holistic perspective facilitates culturally relevant meanings to the explanation of behaviors, thus placing one at a greater advantage for understanding behavioral and attitudinal differences. Cultura es un concepto vago y evasivo que la mayoría de los individuos no suelen explicar, ni pensar conscientemente sobre él, ni tampoco lo evaluan. Sin embargo, es necesario que los consejeros que trabajan en la consejería multicultural entiendan lo que se quiere decir con cultura. Existe una miriada de definiciones que se centran en el comportamiento y los utensilios hasta formar un sistema verosimil y una visión universal. Se surgiere que las asunciones filisóficas que son la base de una visión universal, la estructura profunda de cultura, proporcionan un cuadro que permite entender mejor las diferencias culturales. El ver la cultura desde esta perspectiva holísitica facilita entiendimientos culturalmente pertinentes para la explicación de comportamientos y de este modo aumenta las ventajas para entender diferencias de conducta y diferentes actitudes.     

A psychological interview process for career assessment

The authors present a comprehensive four-step process for conducting initial career assessment by interview. The process assesses skills, interests, values, non-work relationships, goals and activities, and psychological aspects such as self-esteem and work attitudes. The interview process is flexible, internally consistent and portable. Step One analyzes the client's work history and includes reasons why such a history may be inadequate. Step Two examines work-related preferences. Step Three investigates lifestyle context, and Step Four produces a summary of all the accumulated interview information, including options the client wishes to avoid. Detailed worksheets accompany the article.This article has been adapted, with permission, from Chapter 3, Promoting Client Self Understanding, in Yost, E. B., and Corbishley, M. A.Career Counseling: A Psychological Approach. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1987.     

Determinants of satisfaction with specific job facets: A test of Locke's model

Survey results supported Locke's (1969, 1976) contention that facet job satisfaction is a function of three basic determinants: 1) facet amount; 2) wanted amount; and 3) facet importance. We found several three-way interactions that were generally consistent with Locke's model. Specifically, facet satisfaction was highest when employees wanted a large amount of the facet in question, were currently receiving a large amount, and felt that the facet was personally important. Conversely, satisfaction was lowest when employees wanted a large amount of the facet, were currently receiving only a small amount, and felt that the facet was personally important. When job facets were viewed as unimportant to employees, however, the amount of facet desired and currently possessed had little impact on satisfaction. Implications, limitations, and directions for research are discussed.Bob Rice passed away recently. He will be sorely missed.