Organization development: A new modality for community mental health

Organization development (OD) is discussed as being a valid tool for advancing mental health and for promoting the present goals of community mental health centers, as well as for accomplishing organization development's traditional objectives of increasing organizational effectiveness in business, industry, and government agencies. A comparison is made between the main objectives of the community mental health movement in the United States and the major thrusts of current OD practice, showing how the foci of the two fields are essentially similar. The psychological aspects of OD are presented in their relation to mental health. Organization development is demonstrated to be both a legitimate and an effective modality for the community mental health practitioner to use in reaching large numbers of people in promoting positive mental health, primary prevention, improved interpersonal relations, and personal growth activities in the community.     

The statistical analysis of a thurstonian model for rating chess players

This paper formalizes and provides static and dynamic estimators for a scaling model for rating chess players. The model was suggested by the work of Arpad Elo, the inventor of the chess rating system in current use by both the United States and international chess federations. The model can be viewed as a Thurstone Case V model that permits draws (ties). A related model based on a linear approximation is also analyzed. In the chess application, possibly changing ability parameters are estimated sequentially from sparse data structures that often involve many fewer than $\text{M(M ? 1)}\text{2}$ observations on the M players to the rated. In contrast, psychological applications of paired-comparison scaling generally use models with no draw provision to estimate static parameters from a systematically obtained data structure such as a replicated “round robin” involving all M entities to be scaled. In the paper, both static and sequential estimators are provided and evaluated for a number of different data structures. Sampling theory for the estimators is developed. The application of rating systems to track temporally changing ability parameters may prove useful in many areas of psychology.     

The Effects of Monitoring Individual and Group Performance on the Distribution of Effort Across Tasks1

This study was concerned with the mechanism(s) via which performance monitoring affects task performance. To investigate whether an individual's concerns over the evaluation of his or her performance underlie the effects of performance monitoring (independent of contingent consequences) on the distribution of effort across tasks, the study examined whether the way in which individuals performed two tasks was differentially affected by the way in which supervisors monitored performance on those tasks. Subjects working in a group setting performed two different tasks for 90 minutes, their instructions being to perform as well as possible on each task. When supervisors periodically monitored the work output of each individual within the group on one of the two tasks, subjects perceived that the supervisor was evaluating and comparing individual performance, and produced more on the monitored task at the expense of the unmonitored task. When, however, the supervisor's monitoring focused on group rather than individual products, subjects perceived that the supervisor was less likely to be able to evaluate and to compare individual performance, and their performance on the two tasks was the same, regardless of which task was monitored. Path analysis supported the interpretation that the effects of monitoring on performance were mediated by evaluation concerns associated with performance on each task.     

Adolescent Protective and Risk Factors for Incarceration through Early Adulthood

Journal of Child and Family Studies - With 2.3 million individuals incarcerated in the United States, incarceration remains a pressing social influence on health. While risk factors for...     

Scalar consequentialism the right way

Rightness and wrongness come in degrees that vary on a continuous scale. Examples in which agents have many options that morally differ from each other demonstrate this. I suggest ways to develop scalar consequentialism, which treats the rightness and wrongness of actions as matters of degree, and explains them in terms of the value of the actions’ consequences. Scalar consequentialism has a variety of linguistic resources for understanding unsuffixed “right.” It also has advantages over some deontological theories in accounting for rightness.     

The visual influence of ostracism

Reflecting the fundamental human need to establish and maintain positive connections with others, it has been suggested that an Ostracism Detection System is sensitized to targets by which one has been ostracized. Evidence supporting the operation of this system has yet to be provided, however. Accordingly, using binocular rivalry to explore attentional processing, here, we considered the extent to which targets previously associated with ostracism dominate visual awareness. Participants initially performed a virtual ball‐tossing game (i.e., Cyberball) in which they were “ostracized” or “included” by the other players. Afterwards, the faces of these players were presented together with houses in a binocular rivalry task. The results revealed that targets associated with ostracism (vs. inclusion) dominated longest in visual awareness.     

The impact of contextual information and a secondary task on anticipation performance: An interpretation using cognitive load theory

When performing under severe time constraints, sports performers use kinematic and contextual information to facilitate anticipation. We examined the relative importance of these two information sources and their impact on cognitive load and anticipation performance. Cognitive load theory predicts that adding more information sources to a task will increase cognitive load in less‐skilled but not skilled performers. Skilled and less‐skilled cricket batters anticipated deliveries from bowlers on a life‐size screen under 4 conditions that manipulated access to contextual information and included a secondary task. The presence of context enhanced anticipation accuracy for both skilled and less‐skilled groups, without affecting cognitive load. Skilled performers used sequencing and game‐related contextual information in addition to kinematic information to facilitate anticipation, whereas both groups reported using information pertaining to opponent positioning. Findings highlight the importance of context in anticipation and suggest that the addition of context may not necessarily negatively impact cognitive load.