ADJUSTING SALES RESULTS MEASURES FOR USE AS CRITERIA

The use of objective criterion measures in validation research raises the issue of criterion contamination. Several methods of treating sales measures in the empirical keying of a biodata instrument are compared. The relative contaminating effects of local economic conditions and company factors are evaluated. This study is an example of how practitioners can use their knowledge about the selection context to develop acceptable criterion norming strategies.     

Reading Against the Lines: Resisting Foreclosure in Therapy Discourse

In this article, it is noted that poststructural ideas can be useful tools in fostering reflexivity and creativity for clinicians. By examining the process of meaning construction, clinicians can detach from repetitive interpretations of therapy discourse that lead to conversational closure. Four strategies for guiding a reading of family therapy interaction are presented: incitement to discourse, deconstruction, normativity, and the cultural grid of intelligibility. These strategies are used to describe examples of marital therapy discourse. By learning to read therapy as discourse, clinicians may critically examine how meaning is constructed and use that awareness to foster therapeutic conversations.     

Distress and aggression during dating conflict: A test of the coercion hypothesis

Research with clinically depressed and maritally discordant couples suggests that women's distressed behaviors function to suppress their partners' subsequent aggressive responses. We applied this coercion hypothesis to a nonclinical sample of dating couples (N = 288). We further examined whether these effects were gender‐specific, and whether distressed and aggressive behaviors differ within physically violent versus nonviolent relationships. Women but not men reported engaging in elevated rates of distress in response to partner aggression during past dating conflicts. However, both women and men expected distressed behavior to suppress partner aggression during future conflicts. Expectations about the functional effects of distressed behavior did not differ for participants with physically violent partners versus nonviolent partners. However, participants in violent relationships reported enacting more distressed behaviors and had greater expectations for partner verbal aggression during future conflicts than did participants in nonviolent relationships. Future research may identify the early onset of dysfunctional interaction patterns in couples and concomitant psychological distress.     

Evolution and relationships: A call for integration

In this introduction to the special issue on evolutionary approaches to relationships, we first review some of the major theories and milestones that have shaped and informed modern evolutionary thinking. In doing so, we discuss some of the major evolutionary theories that are most relevant to interpersonal relationships, and we describe how these theories are structurally linked. We then discuss the importance of theorizing about and studying phenomena from multiple levels of explanation–ultimate, ontogenetic, and proximate. Several misconceptions that continue to plague evolutionary psychology are then discussed, and we suggest ways in which evolutionary psychologists have unwittingly created, perpetuated, or sometimes exacerbated certain misconceptions. We conclude that the science of relationships could benefit from an infusion of more evolutionary thinking, and we propose that evolutionary psychology could benefit by having more relationship researchers.     

STATE COURT DISPARITY ON EMPLOYMENT AT-WILL

State courts have produced three major exceptions to the employment at-will doctrine: (1) violation of public policy, (2) breach of an implied contract (including written policies, oral promises, and implied covenants of good faith and fair dealing), and (3) commitment of a tort of emotional distress, defamation, or third-party interference with a contractual relationship. We analyzed state appellate court decisions to identify judicial philosophies and to determine which states have accepted or rejected the various exceptions to employment at-will. Our results show that the states vary considerably. The most commonly accepted arguments against employment at-will are violations of public policy, breaches of implied contracts in employee handbooks, and torts of outrageous emotional distress. Overall, this research highlights the need for statewide consistency with regard to the at-will issue.     

Individual Multimodal Therapy for Weight Loss: A Case Example

Individual multimodal therapy provides a comprehensive approach to the treatment of overeating. The multimodal treatment plan helps to target social and emotional issues related to eating disorders as well as the eating behaviors themselves. The authors present a case study highlighting a treatment model based on a multimodal conceptualization.     

Using Hope in the Counseling Process

This article presents a framework for the development of hope in the counseling relationship. Although hope has often been viewed as an impediment to growth, the authors believe that realistic hope is an effective tool in a counseling relationship. The authors also examine the role of the counselor in the formulation of hope.     

THE EVALUATION OF AN INTEGRATED APPROACH TO MEASURING ORGANIZATIONAL PRODUCTIVITY

This research describes a new approach to the measurement and enhancement of organizational productivity entitled the Productivity Measurement and Enhancement System (ProMES). Various conceptual issues regarding productivity are briefly reviewed and the system is described. Research is reported in which productivity measures using this approach were developed and evaluated in five organizational units. The measures from the system were then used to give group-level feedback, followed by group goal setting and group incentives. Results indicated that unit personnel were cooperative in developing and using the system and that the system had good psychometric characteristics. Feedback increased productivity 50%, and feedback with the addition of goal setting and incentives increased productivity 75% and 76%, respectively. The approach to measuring productivity has several unique features. For example, it combines all the functions of a unit into a single index of productivity that reflects