The story of this special issue on critical perspectives in work and organizational psychology

In this editorial, we tell the story of how the Special Issue on Critical Perspectives in Work and Organizational Psychology (CWOP) came about, how it fits within the broader agenda of building a critical community within Work and Organizational Psychology, and how future research and thought may be inspired by the collection of critical papers related to work and organizational psychology. We introduce the term “criticalizing” as a key concept in how the Special Issue was developed by the editorial team and the authors. Criticalizing moves beyond fixed static notions of “critical” scholarship toward a process of engaging in more fluid, expansive, and creative perspectives on the scholarship within work and organizational psychology. We illustrate how the set of papers within the Special Issue engages in such criticalizing of the field and offer new ways of thinking about and researching relevant topics in work and organizational psychology.     

Role of relationship context in influencing college students' responsiveness to HIV prevention videos.

This research examined the effectiveness of different HIV prevention videos for students as a function of whether they were in a dating relationship. Two hundred two college students completed pretest measures and were randomly assigned to watch one of three 42-min videos (communication skills, technical skills, combined skills). Posttest and 3-month follow-up data indicated that receiving the technical skills video was associated with greater self-efficacy for condom use across several different dimensions. However, students who received the combined skills video and were not currently in a dating relationship had the greatest proportion of protected acts of intercourse. These findings suggest that video-based interventions can be an effective way of decreasing risky sexual behavior, and that HIV prevention messages that focus on both technical and communication skills are the most successful in leading to behavioral change.