Some Evident Truths About Conversations in Everyday Relationships All Communications Are Not Created Equal

This article presents a program of studies that map out daily conversations and so establish a geography of everyday communication. A new method (the Iowa Communication Record) is offered to extend research using diary methods and focus the researcher on communication in daily life. Three studies collectively show (a) consistent sex differences in the quality and nature of conversations across different types of relationships, (b) a consistent rank ordering of relationship types that differs from that intuitively included in previous models of relationship formation, and (c) a consistent difference between conversations held on different days of the week, with Wednesdays associated with greater degrees of conflictive communication. Self-disclosure is much less frequent in everyday life than assumed on the basis of laboratory work, and the predominant form of communication in intimate relationships is not only nonintimate but not simply distinguishable from communication in other relationship types. Communication quality distinguishes female from male partners, suggesting that previous findings on preference for female partners are truly founded in communication variables, which have previously been underrated. The article shows that closer attention must in future be paid to communicative variations created by daily events and circumstances, and the role of routine communication in daily life must be explored in future studies of social participation.     

Contemplating an Evolutionary Approach to Entrepreneurship

This artical explores that application of evolutionary approaches to the study of entrepreneurship. It is argued an evolutionary theory of entrepreneurship must give as much concern to the foundations of evolutionary thought as it does the nature of entrepreneurship. The central point being that we must move beyond a debate or preference of the natural selection and adaptationist viewpoints. Only then can the interrelationships between individuals, firms, populations and the environments within which they interact be better appreciated.     

Learning From Service: The Effect of Helping on Helpers' Social Dominance Orientation

Helping behavior can affect the power dynamics between social groups ( Nadler, 2002 ). The present research investigated whether helping also affects one's views of those power dynamics, as indexed by social dominance orientation (SDO) scores ( Pratto, Sidanius, Stallworth, & Malle, 1994 ). College students in an introductory psychology course were randomly assigned to a helping (service learning) group or a control group. Students in the helping group participated in 18 hr of community service over 9 weeks, and showed a significant decrease in SDO, compared to the control group. Empathy mediated the relationship between helping and SDO. The pedagogical implications of service learning are also discussed, as are the potential moderating roles of helping type and contact.     

THE EVALUATION OF AN INTEGRATED APPROACH TO MEASURING ORGANIZATIONAL PRODUCTIVITY

This research describes a new approach to the measurement and enhancement of organizational productivity entitled the Productivity Measurement and Enhancement System (ProMES). Various conceptual issues regarding productivity are briefly reviewed and the system is described. Research is reported in which productivity measures using this approach were developed and evaluated in five organizational units. The measures from the system were then used to give group-level feedback, followed by group goal setting and group incentives. Results indicated that unit personnel were cooperative in developing and using the system and that the system had good psychometric characteristics. Feedback increased productivity 50%, and feedback with the addition of goal setting and incentives increased productivity 75% and 76%, respectively. The approach to measuring productivity has several unique features. For example, it combines all the functions of a unit into a single index of productivity that reflects     

Further Notes on Feminist Ethics and Pluralism: A Reply to Lindgren

In a comment on my paper, “Moral Understandings: Alternative Epistemology for a Feminist Ethics” (1989) Ralph Lindgren questions the wisdom of confronta' tional rhetoric in my paper and much feminist moral philosophy, and the consistency of this stance with pluralism about ethics. I defend both the rebellious rhetoric and the inclusivity of my own approach, but suggest that pluralism in moral philosophy is harder to define than Lindgren's comments suggest.     

The Transition to Parenthood: III. Incorporation of the Child into the Family

The major focus of this article is the relationship of the parents' marital relationship structure to the incorporation of the child into the family. Our central hypothesis is that couples who have evolved more competent marital structures prenatally are more likely to incorporate the child successfully into the family.     

A study of pre-assessment centre candidate short-listing

A trial was made of a brief short-listing procedure, the aim of which was to identify applicants who were unlikely to be successful at a military assessment centre and whose attendance might therefore not be cost effective. Assessments of overall suitability, based on short interviews at a number of locations, correlated 0***.45 (n = 65) with assessment centre outcome. A subsequent headquarters reassessment, which included some further information, correlated 0***.53 with the outcome. It was found that variables relating to educational achievement, responsibility, and physical pursuits were particularly powerful in predicting the outcome, which is in agreement with known training demands. Problems involved in operating such a short-listing procedure are discussed.     

Implementing a program in developmental guidance and counseling

This is a “how to” article. Too often in the past 10 years we have heard the term “change agent” applied to the counselor without the necessary filing in of how one goes about making major changes in a school or other social system. Tuma describes her early frustrations, her exposure to a “theory” of change, and the step-by-step application of the same—including how her plans had to change to meet the changing reality. And with a successful ending!