TRAINEE CHARACTERISTICS AND THE OUTCOMES OF OPEN LEARNING

Previous investigations into the processes and outcomes of training have been restricted to conventional "closed" settings. However, learning is likely to become increasingly "open," with greater discretion granted for individuals to choose how and when they will acquire new skills and information. In a study of 106 junior managers over a 7-month period, the impact of 11 trainee characteristics was investigated in relation to immediate learning scores, reactions to the program, and changes in rated job behaviors. It was found that learning score was significantly independently predicted by general training attitude, the use of an analytic learning strategy, and (low) age. Post-training reactions were identified as being of three kinds: reported enjoyment, usefulness, and difficulty. These were shown to be differentially associated with the trainee characteristics studied. Significant associations were found between learning score and changes in rated job performance.     

Making Sense of It All: Hermeneutics and Family Therapy

In this personal narrative, the author presents his journey as a beginning therapist. He focuses on the changes that have taken place in his personal and therapeutic worldview as a result of conceptualizing therapy as a hermeneutic process. Three constructs essential to hermeneutics are discussed. The author illustrates how each construct is used in the interpretation of a biblical text and then discusses how the same construct is applied to therapy. Finally, he offers his ideas to stimulate conversation to further clarify his own thinking about therapy.     

Kindergarten attendance in relation to educational level and intelligence in adulthood: A geographical analysis

Level of school education and performance on an intelligence test were analysed for 32 557 Danish young adult males as a function of the geographical region in which they were reared. Positive associations were found between both educational levels and test scores on the one hand, and the proportion of infants attending kindergartens in the given regions (according to official statistics) on the other. Adults who were reared in regions where kindergarten attendance had been high tended to have higher educational levels and test scores, although the data do not permit a precise estimate of the magnitude of this effect. The relationship between kindergarten attendance and intelligence test score appears to have been mediated by educational level. Kindergarten attendance was more common in regions with high population density and high average incomes but the relationship of kindergarten attendance to educational level was significantly independent of these associations. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that kindergarten attendance can have long-term educational benefits, and might therefore partially explain the upward trend in intelligence test scores over the last few decades.     

Multiculturalism and Rehabilitation Counselor Training: Recommendations for Providing Culturally Appropriate Counseling Services to American Indians With Disabilities

American Indians exhibit health-related problems at younger ages, as compared with the general population. They also have a disproportionate number of deaths related to alcoholism, accidents, homicides, pneumonia, influenza, diabetes mellitus, and tuberculosis as compared with the general population. In terms of mental health, depression and adjustment reactions are common problems, with the suicide rate among American Indian adults being more than twice as high as that for the general population. This article delineates specific steps necessary to successfully recruit and retain American Indians in counselor training programs, proposes a curriculum for training counselors to effectively provide services to American Indians with disabilities, and discusses the responsibility of counselor educators to concern themselves with the “job placement” of their graduates. En comparación con la población engeneral, los indios americanos tienen problemas de salud a edades más jovenes y tienen un número de mortandad deproporcionada debida al alcoholismo, acidentes, homicidios, neumonía, gripe, diabetes mellitus, y tuberculosis. En terminos de salud mental, reaciones a depresión y adaptación son problemas comunes, con la media de suicidios superior al doble de la cifra para la población general. Este artículo delinea medidas específicas que son necesarias para atraer y retener indios americanos en programas de entrenamiento de consejería, propone un programa para entrenar consejeros para el suministro eficaz de servicios a indios americanos incapacitados, y discute la responsabilidad de los educadores de consejeros para implicarlos en la búsqueda de un empleo para sus graduados.     

The Opportunity Structure: Implications for Career Counseling

Traditional career counseling methods are based on the assumption that matching clients' interests, values, abilities, and aptitudes to a suitable occupation will result in opportunities for self-actualization and personal expression. However, vocational psychology tends to neglect a critical extra-individual factor: the nature of the opportunity structure. True career choice may be the experience of only a small proportion of clients. Vocational psychology has focused almost exclusively on individuals to the neglect of social, economic, and political realities.     

EFFECTS OF ADVERTISED HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT PRACTICES ON ATTRACTION OF AFRICAN AMERICAN APPLICANTS

Student members of a national organization of African American engineers ( n = 1019) and currently employed African American engineers ( n = 303) responded to a hypothetical job advertisement differing by staffing policy (identity-blind vs. identity-conscious), advertised work characteristics (i.e., individual-based vs. team-based), and compensation system characteristics (pay based on individual performance vs. pay based on work-group performance). Both groups of respondents reported being more likely to apply when the staffing policy was identity conscious (i.e., affirmative action) than when it was identity blind (i.e., equal-employment opportunity). However, only the student sample reported being more likely to apply when the advertisement described team-based work instead of individual-based work. Both groups reacted negatively to the combination of individual-based work and group-performance based pay systems.