ACADEMIC RESEARCH INSIDE ORGANIZATIONS: INPUTS, PROCESSES, AND OUTCOMES

Although many opinions have been expressed about the potential merits and pitfalls of conducting academic research inside organizations, empirical research on the question is nearly nonexistent. Consequently, the present study examined the origins, processes, and outcomes of 141 academic research projects that were conducted in (nonacademic) organizations and published in 4 top-tier industria organizational psychology and management journals over a 3-year period. Three outcomes were assessed: implementation of research findings, academic organizational relationship continuation, and research impact (as measured by other-author citations). Results suggested a number of relationships between the way projects began, the relative contributions of organizations and authors to the research process, and eventual outcomes. Suggestions for future research are offered.     

Freud's Oedipus and Kristeva's Narcissus: Three Heterogeneities

The paper shows that three heterogeneities in Freud and Kristeva (unconscious/conscious, semiotic/symbolic, and imaginary/symbolic) expose the historical emergence, significance, and demise of psychic structures that present obstacles to our progressive political thinking. The oedipal and narcissistic structures of subjectivity represent the persistence of two past, bad forms of authority: paternal law and maternal authority. Contemporary psychoanalysis reveals a humankind going through the loss of this past in a process that opens up a different future of sexual difference in Western cultures.     

The structure of self–other overlap and its relationship to perspective taking

Two studies tested whether “self–other overlap” is a multidimensional construct, with only some dimensions affected by perspective taking. In Study 1, participants (n = 132) completed several previously used measures of self–other overlap for their best friend and acquaintance. Factor analyses revealed 2 distinct dimensions of self–other overlap—perceived closeness and overlapping representations. Perceived closeness but not overlapping representations was generally associated with relationship quality. Study 2 (n = 118) manipulated perspective taking of a stranger. Results replicated a factor structure similar to Study 1, and found that perspective taking had different effects on the 2 dimensions of overlap. These results are discussed with regards to the debate over self–other overlap as a mediator of perspective taking's pro‐social effects.     

Religio-Biography, Coping, and Meaning-Making Among Persons with HIV/AIDS

Recently, quality of life studies among patients with HIV/AIDS have shown high levels of life satisfaction. Spiritual and religious factors may contribute to these positive outcomes. We interviewed 19 patients with HIV/AIDS in order to understand better the role of religious‐spiritual biographies and orientations in quality of life, and found four patterns to describe the ways in which past experiences with religion/spirituality and religious/spiritual meaning‐making help to explain how patients are currently coping with HIV/AIDS. We illustrate each of these patterns with a prototypic patient: (1) the Deferring Believer (“God allows things to happen for a reason.”); (2) the Collaborating Believer (“This is where I'm supposed to be.”); (3) the Religious/Spiritual Seeker (“I'm trying to get my life together.”); and (4) the Self‐Directing Believer (“What else is new?”). The findings support a previously described theoretical model of meaning‐making in response to adversity, and they suggest the value of life course and narrative approaches to understanding religious coping.     

Selling Babies and Selling Bodies

I will argue the free market in babies or in women's bodies created by an institution of paid surrogate motherhood is contrary to Kantian principles of person-hood and to the feminist principle that men do not have—and cannot gain through contract, marriage, or payment of money—a right to the sexual or reproductive use of women's bodies.     

Beyond Humanism and Postmodernism: Theorizing a Feminist Practice

The model of feminism as humanist in practice and postmodern in theory is inadequate. Feminist practice and theory directly inform each other to displace both humanist and postmodern conceptions of the subject. An examination of feminism's use of rights discourse suggests that feminist practice questions the humanist conception’ of the subject as a self-identity. Likewise, feminist theory undermines the postmodern emphasis on the constitutive instability and indeterminacy of the subject.     

Putting laughter in context: Shared laughter as behavioral indicator of relationship well‐being

Laughter is a pervasive human behavior that most frequently happens in a social context. However, data linking the behavior of laughter with psychological or social outcomes are exceptionally rare. Here, the authors draw attention to shared laughter as a useful objective marker of relationship well‐being. Spontaneously generated laughs of 71 heterosexual romantic couples were coded from a videorecorded conversation about how the couple first met. Multilevel models revealed that while controlling for all other laughter present, the proportion of the conversation spent laughing simultaneously with the romantic partner was uniquely positively associated with global evaluations of relationship quality, closeness, and social support. Results are discussed with respect to methodological considerations and theoretical implications for relationships and behavioral research more broadly.     

Discussions of sexual health testing: Applying the theory of motivated information management

To investigate how individuals seek and disclose information related to testing for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in sexual relationships, this study utilizes the revised theory of motivated information management (TMIM; Afifi & Morse, 2009). As part of a longitudinal design, 199 participants completed questionnaires assessing TMIM constructs. The hypothesized model was supported for individuals as seekers and providers of information regarding STI testing behaviors, and efficacy emerged as a mediator of seekers' negative emotional response and indirect information seeking and of providers' outcome expectancies and indirect information provision. Findings from this investigation support the workings of the revised TMIM and illustrate the importance of efficacy in information management decisions regarding STI testing behaviors between sexual partners.