Affect networks: a structural analysis of the relationship between work ties and job-related affect

The relationship between organizational networks and employees' affect was examined in 2 organizations. In Study 1, social network analysis of work ties and job-related affect for 259 employees showed that affect converged within work interaction groups. Similarity of affect between employees depended on the presence of work ties and structural equivalence. Affect was also related to the size and density of employees' work networks. Study 2 used a 10-week diary study of 31 employees to examine a merger of 2 organizational divisions and found that negative changes in employees' affect were related to having fewer cross-divisional ties and to experiencing greater reductions in network density. The findings suggest that affect permeates through and is shaped by organizational networks.     

Knowing and not knowing: the analyst's pregnancy

The author examines some of the dynamics associated with the shifting experience of knowing and not knowing as it arises in response to the pregnancy of the analyst. This experience, as well as the thinking process behind it, is ubiquitous in psychoanalytic work, but is particularly apparent in the work demanded by the analyst's pregnancy. An indepth case history is presented to illustrate the ways in which pregnancy in the analyst may powerfully revive important dimensions of the patient's past.     

The list strength effect: A contextual competition account

Research on the list strength effect (LSE) has shown that learning some words on a list more strongly than others impairs memory for the weakly learned words when tested with a recall task. Norman (2002) demonstrated that the LSE also occurs within the recollection process of a recognition test. In this study, a mechanistic dual-process account of the LSE was tested that simultaneously makes predictions concerning additional sources of context in interference effects. In two experiments, we attempted to replicate Norman's (2002) findings and provide the basis for our modeling efforts. We found evidence for a recollection LSE in raw measures of responding, with memory performance also benefiting from reinstatement of perceptual characteristics at test. However, large differences in the hits between the lists were accompanied by small differences in false alarms, such that when d' is calculated, differences between the lists are not significant. We propose an account of the LSE whereby the actual effect of competition between items on the list is small, although present, and difficult to distinguish from large effects of bias due to the strength manipulations. We argue that our findings provide support for a mechanistic explanation of LSE that is based on competition of source activation and changes in the thresholds for responses.     

What do children do in the rime-analogy task? An examination of the skills and strategies used by early readers

Despite the intense debate surrounding the use of orthographic analogy in the clue word paradigm, little is known about the skills and strategies children actually use and how these compare with their everyday reading of single words. This study, with 4- and 5-year-olds (N=125), supports previous work which suggests children rely on phonological, rather than orthographic, priming in the clue word task since children most frequently produced rhyming words in response to the clue word. The extent to which phoneme and rhyme-based skills, along with letter-sound knowledge, predicted children's performance in the analogy task and in a test of single word reading was contrasted and compared. Our findings suggested that the balance of skills which children drew upon was determined by the demands of the task. The implications of these findings for the validity of the 'orthographic'-analogy task and for teaching beginning readers is discussed.     

Hong Kong Versus U.S. Negotiations: Effects of Culture,Alternatives, Outcome Scales,and Mediation1

This study investigates the effects of culture, BATNA (best alternative to a negotiated agreement), outcome scales, and mediation on negotiation outcomes. Six hundred three subjects from 2 countries (288 from Hong Kong and 315 from the United States) participated in 2-party negotiations that were either mediated or observed by a third party. In these negotiations, the Hong Kong negotiators obtained higher joint outcomes than did their U.S. counterparts. Also, in both Hong Kong and the United States, negotiators with a high BATNA obtained larger individual outcomes than did those with a low BATNA. Finally, mediation resulted in higher joint outcomes than did no mediation and had a stronger effect in US. (vs. Hong Kong) negotiations.     

THE EFFECTS OF DEFENDANT AND COMPLAINANT INTOXICATION ON MOCK JURORS' JUDGMENTS OF SEXUAL ASSAULT

The present study investigates the impact of participant gender, rape-myth beliefs, and alcohol intoxication on the part of either the defendant and/or alleged victim on mock jurors' decisions within the context of a sexual-assault trial. Participants ( N = 152) were exposed to a sexual-assault case in which the beverage consumption (alcohol, cola) on the part of both the defendant and complainant prior to the sexual intercourse was varied systematically. Results indicated that when the defendant had consumed alcohol, as opposed to cola, participants were more likely to view the case as one of assault, to perceive the defendant as less credible, and to find the defendant guilty. When the complainant had consumed alcohol, as opposed to cola, participants found the complainant's claim less credible and were less likely to view the defendant as guilty. In addition, participants' rape-myth acceptance, which was related to guilt, mediated the relation between gender of participant and guilt.     

The Strategy-Specific Nature of Improvement: The Power Law Applies by Strategy Within Task

If strategy shifts speed up performance, learning curves should show discontinuities where such shifts occur. Relatively smooth curves appear consistently in the literature, however. To explore this incongruity, we examined learning when multiple strategies were used. We plotted power law learning curves for aggregated data from four mental arithmetic experiments and then plotted similar curves separately for each participant and strategy. We then evaluated the fits achieved by each group of curves. In all four experiments, plotting separately by strategy produced significantly better fits to individual participants' data than did plotting a single power function. We conclude that improvement of solution time is better explained by practice on a strategy rather than practice on a task, and that careful assessment of trial-by-trial changes in strategy can improve understanding of the effects of practice on learning.     

From chaos to new life: Ritual enactment in the passage from illness to health

Illness irreversibly alters our lives and our relationships. More than a physical or psychological experience, the passage of illness is an existential crisis that is potentially transformative for an individual and his or her loved ones. It is through ritual enactment that we can most fully experience the transformative potential of illness. Rituals are common during illness, but are underutilized for the critically-important reintegration period following acute illness, when personal, interpersonal, and communal healing must occur. Pastoral counselors and others who comfort and counsel the sick and their loved ones should encourage religious and secular ritual enactment to ease this passage.     

Early interactions and the socioemotional development of deaf infants

Studies of the early face-to-face interactions and later attachment behaviours between infants and their caregivers are reviewed, with a particular focus on implications for deaf infants. Since the majority of deaf infants are born to hearing parents, it is to be expected that many parental responses will rely on vocalizations which are inaccessible to the deaf infant. Are other sensory modalities enhanced or used in a compensatory manner by hearing parents so as to make their communication with a deaf infant more effective? Is the deaf infant's heightened need for visual and tactile input adequately met during normal interactions with their caregivers? Does the deaf infant develop the same strategies for signalling distress and coping with separation as does the hearing infant? Although the research literature on this population is sparse, there are beginning to be more reports addressing these questions as early identification becomes increasingly possible. Therefore, this paper will cover issues of the role of eye contact and mutual coordination in early interactions, compensatory parenting behaviours from the perspective of the ‘intuitive parenting’ model, and precursors to later attachment behaviours in deaf infants.