The Orpheus complex

This paper examines the possible psychological implications of two adaptations of the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, both of which were completed in 1997. The first is by a man: 'Deconstructing Harry', a film by Woody Allen. The second is by a woman: 'Eurydice in the Underworld', a short story written by Kathy Acker in the last year of her life. The paper argues that there are only four 'necessary events' in the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. It defines the sequence of these events as a 'mythic pattern' that represents the experience of loss, unconscious yearning, depression, and psychological inflation. The film is examined as an expression of an 'Orpheus complex', the short story as an expression of an 'Eurydice complex'. The paper suggests a possible reason for the persistence of interest in the myth throughout the twentieth century. Although it notes that women appear to find it easier to free themselves from identification with the mythic pattern, it also provides reasons for thinking that men may be about to do the same.     

Beyond “Entry-level” Jobs: Immigrant Women and Non-regulated Professional Occupations

This article examines issues of foreign credential recognition from the standpoint of immigrant women with post-secondary degrees and employment backgrounds in non-regulated managerial and business professional occupations. Drawing on interviews with recent immigrant women and service providers in Calgary, Alberta, the article describes the women’s experience of looking for work, locating it in the context of the wider organization of settlement services and the labour market. The discussion focuses on the women’s participation in bridging programs designed to connect skilled immigrants with mainstream employers and help them obtain “entry-level” jobs in their fields.     

An Asian Perspective on the Portrayal of Men and Women in Television Advertisements: Studies From Hong Kong and Indonesian Television

This paper reports on 2 studies with almost identical methodologies. Both were content analysis studies of the way that men and women are portrayed on television (TV) in South East Asia. One study was conducted in Hong Kong, where 175 TV advertisements were content analyzed. The other was conducted in Indonesia, where 119 TV advertisements were content analyzed. In Hong Kong, 9 of the 10 content categories yielded a significant gender-role effect, particularly mode of presentation, credibility, and role. In Indonesia, 9 of the 11 gender-role effects were significant, particularly reward type and product type. The fact that Asian TV commercials seem to have greater gender-role stereotypes than do Western commercials is discussed. Difficulties associated with cross-cultural comparisons of this type of data are discussed.     

Motivational control of instrumental performance: The role of prior experience of the reinforcer

In four experiments we investigated the conditions that are necessary for instrumental performance to adjust appropriately to a change in drive state. Rats were trained to press a lever and pull a chain concurrently, with one action being reinforced by sucrose solution and the other by food pellets. In Experiment 1 for animals that were hungry throughout training the rate of lever pressing in an extinction test under thirst was unaffected by the type of reinforcer produced by this action during training, even though the sucrose solution would maintain a higher rate than the food pellets during training under thirst. In contrast, animals that experienced the instrumental contingencies arranged by the concurrent schedule while thirsty at some point during training pressed the lever more during the extinction test under thirst when this action had been reinforced with the sucrose solution rather than the food pellets. The remaining three experiments demonstrated that for this incentive effect to occur it is sufficient that the sucrose solution be delivered non-contingently under thirst at some stage of training. Thus, it would appear that performance mediated by an instrumental contingency adjusts appropriately to reinforcer revaluation brought about by a drive shift only if the animals have had prior experience with the incentive under the test drive state. This observation was interpreted in terms of Tolman's “cathexis” theory of motivation.     

24-Karat or fool’s gold? Consequences of real team and co-acting group membership in healthcare organizations

Although theory on team membership is emerging, limited empirical attention has been paid to the effects of different types of team membership on outcomes. We propose that an important but overlooked distinction is that between membership of real teams and membership of co-acting groups, with the former being characterized by members who report that their teams have shared objectives, and structural interdependence and engage in team reflexivity. We hypothesize that real team membership will be associated with more positive individual- and organizational-level outcomes. These predictions were tested in the English National Health Service, using data from 62,733 respondents from 147 acute hospitals. The results revealed that individuals reporting the characteristics of real team membership, in comparison with those reporting the characteristics of co-acting group membership, witnessed fewer errors and incidents, experienced fewer work related injuries and illness, were less likely to be victims of violence and harassment, and were less likely to intend to leave their current employment. At the organizational level, hospitals with higher proportions of staff reporting the characteristics of real team membership had lower levels of patient mortality and sickness absence. The results suggest the need to clearly delineate real team membership in order to advance scientific understanding of the processes and outcomes of organizational teamwork.     

Religious experience,religious orientation and schizotypy

The present study examined the relationship between religious orientation and schizotypy, with the prediction that intrinsic religiosity would be negatively associated with schizotypy, and religious experience and extrinsic religiosity would be positively associated with schizotypy. A total of 308 UK adults (132 men; 176 women) completed measures of religious experience, intrinsic orientation towards religion, extrinsic orientation towards religion, schizotypal personality traits and borderline personality. Though the present findings also suggest that the significant relationships between religiosity and schizotypy traits are fragmented, particularly by sex, the findings are consistent with theory that an intrinsic orientation towards religion is associated with lower levels of schizotypy, and religious experience and an extrinsic orientation towards religion is associated with higher levels of schizotypy.