The relationship between purpose and sources of meaning: A mixed methods study

This study examined the relationship between meaning and sources of meaning among a sample of South African university students (N = 139; female = 44 0.6%; mean age = 19.76, SD = 1.82). The students completed the Purpose in Life (PIL), the Sources of Meaning Profile-Revised (SOMP-R) measures, and naïve sketches. Results from the data analysis using correlational and regression analyses indicate the students’ purpose of life scores are accounted for by sources of meaning related to self-transcendence, collectivism, and individualism. The findings from the qualitative analysis highlights the importance of an individualist and collectivist focus during academic studies as a source of meaning. Students who report a more extensive network of meaningful sources are also more likely to indicate higher scores on purpose in life.     

Inside it was orange squash concentrate: trainees’ experiences of reflective practice groups within clinical psychology training

Despite many clinical psychology training programmes utilising reflective practice groups (RPGs) to develop reflective practice (RP) skills, there remains little research examining how trainees experience these groups. This study uses interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) to explore the experiences of eight qualified clinical psychologists who attended RPGs on one United Kingdom (UK) clinical psychology training programme. A purposive sample was recruited for single, semi-structured interviews. Five superordinate themes were identified: ‘The process: there were so many layers’; ‘The impact: an ongoing process’; ‘Commitment: I hated it, but I still went’; ‘The facilitator: a presence who was not always present’; and ‘Getting through it: finding ways to cope’. The findings illustrate the varied and complex experiences of the participants. Whilst the experience was often difficult, the participants were committed to attending and sought out ways to navigate it. The results are conceptualised in terms of existing psychological theory and literature. A critique of the research and suggestions for future studies are offered, including exploring the views of group facilitators and comparing how groups are utilised within different training programmes. Recommendations are made on the development of future RPGs, which include consideration of the facilitation style and the groups’ frequency and size.     

Legal briefing: Healthcare ethics committees

This issue's "Legal Briefing" column covers recent legal developments involving institutional healthcare ethics committees. This topic has been the subject of recent articles in JCE. Healthcare ethics committees have also recently been the subject of significant public policy attention. Disturbingly, Bobby Schindler and others have described ethics committees as "death panels." But most of the recent attention has been positive. Over the past several months, legislatures and courts have expanded the use of ethics committees and clarified their roles concerning both end-of-life treatment and other issues. These developments are usefully grouped into the following eight categories: 1. Existence and availability. 2. Membership and composition. 3. Operating procedures. 4. Advisory roles. 5. Decision-making and gate-keeping roles. 6. Confidentiality. 7. Immunity. 8. Litigation and court cases.     

Safety in work vehicles: a multilevel study linking safety values and individual predictors to work-related driving crashes

Although work-related driving is associated with high accident rates, limited research has investigated the factors influencing driving crashes in the work setting. This study explored multilevel influences on self-reported crashes in the workplace by surveying a sample of work-related drivers (n = 380), their workgroup supervisors (n = 88), and fleet managers (n = 47). At the driver level of analysis, safety motivation predicted self-reported crashes. In turn, drivers' perceptions of their fleet managers' safety values (but not drivers' perceptions of their supervisors' safety values), their own attitudes, and their own efficacy beliefs predicted motivation to drive safely. Furthermore, the influence of supervisors and fleet managers interacted such that drivers were more motivated to drive safely if they perceived both their supervisor and fleet manager to value safety. This study also explored the cross-level relationships between supervisors' and fleet managers' perceptions of organizational safety values and drivers' perceptions of managerial safety values and found a relationship between fleet managers' perceptions of organizational safety values and drivers' perceptions of fleet managers' safety values. These results illustrate that perceptions of workplace safety values are transmitted across levels of the organization.     

Dimensions of response to novelty are associated with social engagement and aggression in adult male rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta)

In this study, the authors tested the hypothesis that behavioral response across social and nonsocial, novel and familiar conditions may be guided by the same trait(s) related to impulsivity in adult male rhesus macaques. The authors assessed 23 individuals' behavioral response to a series of nonsocial novel scenarios, as well as aggression and sociality within familiar and novel social contexts. Factor analysis of responses to nonsocial novelty identified two factors: Caution, which reflected latency to engage different novel situations, and Interest in Novelty, which consisted of duration and quality of exploration. Each dimension was associated with different social manifestations. Caution was negatively correlated with social aggression in novel and familiar social circumstances; Interest in Novelty was positively associated with social engagement in familiar, but not novel, social circumstances. The authors conclude that traits influencing impulsive response to novelty contribute to risky and normal social behavior across social contexts.     

Rogers Redux: Relevance and Outcomes of Motivational Interviewing Across Behavioral Problems

Very little work regarding C. Rogers's (1961) client‐centered counseling has been published in the counseling discipline's journals over the last 20 years. However, during this time there has been an impressive output of empirical research using motivational interviewing (MI) in which C. Rogers's theory and approach are foundational. A review of MI's basic theoretical premises and applications for a multitude of behavioral problems are presented. Justification for integrating MI into counseling practice, training, and research is offered.     

The use of operant technology to measure behavioral priorities in captive animals

Addressing the behavioral priorities of captive animals and the development of practical, objective measures of the value of environmental resources is a principal objective of animal welfare science. In theory, consumer demand approaches derivedfrom human microeconomics should provide validmeasures of the value of environmental resources. In practice, however, a number of empirical and theoretical problems have rendered these measures difficult to interpret in studies with animals. A common approach has been to impose a cost on access to resources and to use time with each resource as a measure of consumption to construct demand curves. This can be recorded easily by automatic means, but in a number of studies, it has been found that animals compensate for increased cost of access with longer visit time. Furthermore, direct observation of the test animals’ behavior has shown that resource interaction is more intense once the animals have overcome higher costs. As a consequence, measures based on time with the resource may underestimate resource consumption at higher access costs, and demand curves derived from these measures may not be a true reflection of the value of different resources. An alternative approach to demand curves isreservation price, which is the maximum price individual animals are prepared to pay to gain access to resources. In studies using this approach, farmed mink (Mustela vison) paid higher prices for food and swimming water than for resources such as tunnels, water bowls, pet toys, and empty compartments. This indicates that the mink placed a higher value on food and swimming water than on other resources.     

Egalitarianism and the Levelling Down Objection

In an important piece of work Derek Parfit distinguishes two different forms of egalitarianism, 'Deontic' and 'Telic' (Parfit 1995; see also Parfit 1997). He contrasts these with what he calls the Priority View, which is not strictly a form of egalitarianism at all, since it is not essentially concerned with how well off people are relative to each other. His main aim is to generate an adequate taxonomy of the positions available, but in the process he draws attention to some of the different problems they face. I shall argue that there are forms of egalitarianism overlooked by Parfit which avoid the problems encountered by Deontic and Telic Egalitarians.