We Are a Religious People; We Are a Vengeful People

We evaluate the relation between religiousness and vengeance using multiple indicators of religiousness (religious orientation and church variables) and behavioral as well as self-reports of vengeance. Results from hierarchical regression analyses revealed that intrinsic religious orientation was negatively and extrinsic religious orientation positively related to self-reports of revenge but not to behavioral indicators of revenge. Only quest orientation was related to behavioral indicators of revenge with those higher on quest setting relatively lower levels of shock following a provocation and giving more money to an obnoxious confederate. Of the church variables, the number of religious activities was negatively and frequency of monetary donations positively related to self-reported vengeance. Only frequency of monetary donations, however, was uniquely related to one of the behavioral indicators of revenge, level of shock, with those who give more frequently also retaliating with higher levels of shock.     

Assessing Message Affect in Crisis Negotiations An Exploratory Study

In this study, patterns of perpetrator and negotiator message affect behavior in three actual crisis negotiation incidents are examined. The unit of analysis is the uninterrupted talking turn. Overall findings offer reliable support for the coding schemes employed in the study to measure message affect. Using the Michigan State Police four-stage (Introduction and Establishing Contact, Relationship Building, Problem Negotiation, and Resolution) strategic model of negotiation as a template, the study points to some preliminary results concerning patterns of emotional arousal during different phases of crisis negotiation. In all three incidents, perpetrators experienced an increase in message affect during the Establishing Contact stage of negotiation, followed by a general decrease in affect as the interaction moved to Relationship Building. However, when negotiators attempted to shift into the Problem-Solving and Resolution stages, perpetrator message affect varied by incident type and outcome. In the one resolved incident (Mental/Emotional Instability), perpetrator message affect increased in positiveness through the Resolution stage. For the Suicide incident, perpetrator affect became increasingly more negative up through the fatal end of the interaction. The Domestic incident was marked by notable variance in perpetrator affect up to the point where the perpetrator reneged on the plan to surrender. These findings offer initial insight into message affect patterns in successfully and unsuccessfully resolved crisis incidents.     

The Effects of Cognitive Restructuring and Decision-Making Training on Career Indecision

The authors designed a cognitive restructuring intervention for individuals having difficulty with career decision making and compared the intervention to a decision skills intervention and a no-treatment control. The cognitive restructuring intervention was more effective than were both decision-making training and the control condition in reducing anxiety about career decision making and in encouraging vocational exploratory behavior. Cognitive restructuring clients also reported more use of the skills they had learned, were more satisfied with the decisions they made, and found the treatment program more useful in making career decisions than did clients in the other two groups.     

THE EFFECTS OF GROUP INTERDEPENDENCE ON SUPERVISOR PERFORMANCE EVALUATIONS

A laboratory experiment was designed to test the effect of group member interdependence on supervisory performance ratings. Subjects played the role of supervisors in charge of evaluating members of a three-person work group which was constructed to include two good performers and one poor performer. Supervisors were either told that group members would work closely together (high interdependence) or independently (low interdependence). As hypothesized, supervisors rated the poor performer higher and the good performers lower when the group was portrayed as highly interdependent than when the group members were relatively independent.     

A student-operated crisis center

In this article we describe an attempt to meet a university community's needs for emergency mental health services through the establishment of a student-operated telephone emergency service. The service provides an interesting model for use of nonprofessionals in mental health services, in which the professional functions primarily as a trainer and consultant rather than offering direct services. We describe the structure of the center and then discuss further innovations and projects.     

Challenges in a Dialectical Conception of Career Evolution

This article seeks to clarify the differences between traditional and dialectical perspectives on career development. The application of a dialectical model to career evolution is based on the assumption that an individual's work experiences and other life experiences exert an ongoing, reciprocal effect on career development.