Job Satisfaction Researches of 1964–65

This annual review of job satisfaction researches is the 23rd in a series and covers reports published in 1964–65 plus earlier studies not previously dealt with in this journal. The format—findings and conclusions, topics investigated, per cent dissatisfied, current emphases, and summaries of studies—has become standard in this series of articles.     

Morale and Job Satisfaction Among Nurses: What Can Hospitals Do?

In an attempt to account for morale and job satisfaction among 314 nurses, this study investigated the influence of work-related and interpersonal variables. Morale on the unit was directly related to supervisor support, co-worker relationships, and work recognition. Personal morale was accounted for by recognition, physical environment, the job itself, and pay. Job satisfaction was predicted by personal morale, work commitment, job clarity, work pressure, and innovation. Suggestions for improving nurse morale and job satisfaction are made.     

Chicks Injected with Antisera to either S-100α or S-100β Protein Develop Amnesia for a Passive Avoidance Task

The cellular expression of S-100β protein is upregulated in Alzheimer's disease and in Down's syndrome, and this protein has been implicated in memory-related processes in laboratory animals. However, the possibility that the α subunit of S-100 is also involved in memory has not yet been examined. In the present study, day-old black Australorp white Leghorn cockerel chicks (Gallus domesticus) received injections of monoclonal antisera to S-100α (1:50) or S-100β (1:500) into each hemisphere immediately after training on a one-trial passive avoidance task. The chicks displayed significantly lower retention levels than control birds that had been injected with antisera to carbonic anhydrase, or with saline (p< .01). S-100α antisera had an amnestic effect when injected between 0 and 20 min after training, with memory deficits occurring from 30 min postlearning, at the point of transition between the A and the B phases of the Gibbs-Ng intermediate memory stage. By contrast, the S-100β antisera needed to be injected either 5 min before or immediately after training and produced amnesia 10 min earlier, at the start of the A phase of the intermediate memory stage. We conclude that the two subunits of the S-100 protein are required at different points in the sequence of events leading to the consolidation of passive avoidance memory.     

Is it emotion or is it stress? Gender stereotypes and the perception of subjective experience

Two studies of college undergraduates (ns = 95 and 92, primarily non-Hispanic whites and Asian Americans) investigated gender stereotypes of stress and emotion, as well as variables that influence the perception of gender-related differences. Study 1 assessed how gender stereotypes differ from the self-reports of men and women. When asked to choose a label for the subjective experience of the average man and the average woman in a series of problematic hypothetical situations, participants generally tended to believe that the average female would feel ‘emotional,” but that the average male would feel “stressed.” By contrast, the label participants chose to describe their own subjective experience was not significantly affected by their gender. In addition, participants believed the average woman and man differed more in the intensity of their emotions than in the intensity of their stress, a belief contradicted by their own self-reports. Results of Study 2 indicated that gender-related differences in estimations of stress and emotion for the self were reduced or eliminated when specific information about experience-eliciting situations was provided. We would like to thank Matthew Dank for his help in preparing the stimulus materials.     

ASSOCIATIVE PROCESSES IN FALSE RECALL AND FALSE RECOGNITION

Abstract— Studying a list of words associated to a critical nonpresented word results in high rates of false recall and false recognition for that nonpresented item (Roediger & McDermott, 1995) Two experiments examined the effect of manipulating the number of associates presented on false recall and later false recognition of a nonpresented item. In Experiment 1, associate lists of varying lengths were studied, in Experiment 2, list length was held constant and the number of associates within the list was manipulated. In both experiments, the rate of critical intrusions in recall increased steadily with increasing number of associates studied Most notably, the filler words used in Experiment 2 to equate the list lengths did not affect the rate of critical intrusions, although they did depress recall of studied words. False recall and false recognition appear to be tied to the total, not the mean, associative strength of items in the list.     

Field articulation and working memory

This experiment assessed the proposal that performance differences associated with field independence/field articulation reflect differential efficiency in the use of a limited capacity information-processing system termed working memory. Extreme scores on a group-administered version of the embedded figures test were used to identify subjects “high” and “low” in degree of field articulation. The task required that a subject retain a series of digits for subsequent report while performing a semantic modification of a target phrase. Concurrent information load on working memory was varied in two ways: by increasing memory load from 3 to 6 digits, and by increasing the complexity of the semantic processing required. In low information load conditions no differences were found between high FA and low FA groups. In high information load conditions low FA subjects made more errors in digit recall and took longer to perform the difficult semantic modification.