The Connection between Perceived Workplace Discrimination and Viewing Work as a Spiritual Calling

Research shows that perceived workplace discrimination shapes an individual's job satisfaction and intent to leave a job. This study considers whether these impacts may be attenuated if an individual views their work as a spiritual calling. Using data from a nationally representative survey (N = 9,907), our analysis shows that perceived work discrimination due to race, gender, and religion are all independently associated with less job satisfaction net of a variety of other measures. Viewing work as a spiritual calling is associated with greater job satisfaction, even when accounting for traditional measures of religiosity. The negative impact of perceived discrimination on job satisfaction is weaker among those who view work as a spiritual calling. These findings provide evidence of the mechanisms underlying job satisfaction and have implications for understanding how religion might help mitigate the negative consequences of perceived discrimination in the workplace, or allow discrimination to potentially go unaddressed.     

Differential experiences of siblings in the same family as predictors of adolescent sibling personality differences

In the area of personality development, environmental influences operate to make siblings in the same family different rather than similar to each other. The goal of the present study was to determine whether differential experience of siblings can be used to explain the marked personality differences of siblings. The Sibling Inventory of Differential Experience (SIDE) along with personality information (the EAS Temperament Inventory and questions about career expectations) was administered to 50 biological sibling pairs and 98 adoptive sibling pairs in adolescence and young adulthood. The results indicated that differential sibling interaction and differential peer characteristics as self-reported on the SIDE explain 6%-26% of the variance in sibling personality difference scores. For example, the sibling who reports more sociability as compared to his sibling also experiences more sibling closeness and more peer popularity as compared to his sibling. Comparison between adoptive and biological siblings indicates that the SIDE relations are mediated environmentally rather than genetically.     

Fair equality of opportunity and decent minimums: a reply to Buchanan

Responding to criticism by Allen Buchanan in a Winter 1984 Philosophy and Public Affairs article on "The right to a decent minimum of health care," Daniels defends his thesis that if justice requires protecting equality of opportunity, then health care institutions should be governed by the principle of fair equality of opportunity because impairments of normal functioning, seen as impediments to opportunity, are obviated by good health care. He defines his concept of normal opportunity range, which is relative to certain social considerations, and shows that health care services affect the distribution of opportunity, but not the normal opportunity range, among individuals. He agrees with the criticism that his argument does not guarantee minimum health care or solve problems of resource allocation.     

Exploring the Psychology of White Racism Through Naturalistic Inquiry

This article reports on the use of naturalistic inquiry methods to study the psychology of White racism. As a result of spending 16 years investigating this form of social pathology among more than 1,200 White people who came from diverse backgrounds and residential locations, the investigators identified 5 psychological dispositions that characterized the way White people cognitively, affectively, and behaviorally responded to White racism.     

Addressing Spiritual Issues From a Cultural Perspective: The Case of the Grieving Filipino Boy

This article examines the ways that spiritual beliefs and traditions associated with the Filipino culture influenced an 11-year-old boy's efforts to cope with the death of his mother. Implications for attending to clients' spiritual beliefs are discussed.     

Coping and the Job Demands-Control-Support Model: An Exploratory Study

The job demands-control-support model indicates job control and social support enhance coping with job demands. This proposition was tested, using a heterogeneous sample of 272 full-time workers. The results indicated a series of complex interactions among demands, control, support, and coping on psychological well-being. Overall, control and support appeared to increase the effectiveness of problem-focused coping and emotion-focused coping up to a threshold depending on job demands. The results indicate that beyond this threshold, these forms of coping become less effective. Control appeared to enhance moderate levels of appraisal and cognitive escape-focused coping, but not high levels of appraisal or cognitive escape-focused coping. Social support appeared to enhance high levels of appraisal-focused coping. The results indicate that including coping in empirical tests of the job demands-control-support model enhances its explanatory and predictive power.     

Effects of indoor lighting (illuminance and spectral distribution) on the performance of cognitive tasks and interpersonal behaviors: The potential mediating role of positive affect

Three studies examined the effects of key aspects of indoor lighting (illuminance, spectral distribution) on the performance of tasks that did not primarily involve visual processing. It was hypothesized that lighting conditions which generated positive affect among subjects would influence behavior and cognition in ways consistent with the findings of previous research on the influence of such affect. Results of all three studies offered partial support for this hypothesis. In Study 1, male and female subjects exposed to relatively low levels of illuminance (150 lux) assigned higher performance appraisals to a fictitious employee and included a broader range of words in specific word categories than subjects exposed to relatively high levels of illuminance (1500 lux). In Study 2, subjects exposed to warm white light reported stronger preferences for resolving interpersonal conflicts through collaboration and weaker preferences for resolving conflicts through avoidance than subjects exposed to cool-white light. Additionally, illuminance and spectral distribution (color) interacted to influence subjects' self-set goals on a clerical coding task. In Study 3, receipt of a small, unexpected gift and exposure to warm-white light both increased the amount of time subjects were willing to donate as unpaid volunteers. In addition, in the absence of a gift, subjects volunteered more time under low than under high illuminance.This research was supported by funds from the Niagaru Mohawk Energy-Efficient Seed Research program and from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority. Study 1 was conducted by Susan G. Daniels in partial fulfillment of requirements for the Master of Science degree. The authors wish to express their sincere appreciation to Marna Bronfen and Jill Thomley for their aid in collection of the data for Studies 2 and 3 and in statistical analyses. Thanks are also due to Sylvania, Inc., for supplying lamps, and to Bob Davis and Peter Boyce for their invaluable assistance in several respects.