The anatomy of credibility: A conceptual framework of valued career helper attributes

Research on the qualities and characteristics that individuals value in those from whom they seek “career help” is very limited. Existing studies provide little insight into the meaning behind the labels individuals use to identify valued qualities and characteristics. We address this neglected area using qualitative interviews based on life story method whereby individuals identified informal and professional career helpers and the qualities and characteristics they valued in these helpers. Meanings are explored, qualities and characteristics conceptualized and a new conceptual framework showing the relationship between concepts is developed. Findings give rise to a discussion about the value and meaning of knowledge, impartiality, power and influence from the perspective of individuals in receipt of career help, and in so doing we challenge some commonly accepted discourse about these concepts in the academic and professional careers literature.     

Cognitive aspects of nonclinical obsessive-compulsive hoarding

Research on the cognitive variables associated with obsessive-compulsive hoarding is scarce. In this study, we investigated cognitive variables that may contribute to the maintenance and possibly etiology of hoarding. College students who characterized themselves as either "packrats" (nonclinical hoarders; n=21) or not (control participants; n=20) completed questionnaires assessing hoarding behavior and beliefs about hoarding, and completed a task requiring them to categorize diverse objects and trinkets of minimal value into groups. The results revealed that nonclinical hoarders, relative to control participants, rated the categorization task as significantly more stressful and difficult. Relative to control participants, hoarders took longer to complete the task and sorted objects into more categories. These findings suggest that underinclusiveness and indecisiveness, characteristic of clinical hoarders, are evident in nonclinical hoarders as well.     

Work-family conflict: experiences and health implications among immigrant Latinos

Work-family conflict research has focused almost exclusively on professional, White adults. The goal of this article was to expand the understanding of culture and industry in shaping experiences and consequences of work-family conflict. Using in-depth interview data (n = 26) and structured survey data (n = 200) from immigrant Latinos employed in the poultry processing industry, the authors evaluated predictions drawn from emerging models emphasizing the influence of cultural characteristics such as collectivism and gender ideology on work-family conflict. Results indicated that immigrant Latinos in poultry processing experienced infrequent work-to-family conflict; both the level and the antecedents of work-to-family conflict differed by gender, with physical demands contributing to greater conflict for women but not men. In addition, there was little evidence that work-family conflict was associated with health in this population. These results demonstrate how traditional models of work-family conflict need to be modified to reflect the needs and circumstances of diverse workers in the new global economy.     

Enriching the environment of alphaCaMKIIT286A mutant mice reveals that LTD occurs in memory processing but must be subsequently reversed by LTP

alphaCaMKII(T286A) mutant mice lack long-term potentiation (LTP) in the hippocampal CA1 region and are impaired in spatial learning. In situ hybridization confirms that the mutant mice show the same developmental expression of alphaCaMKII as their wild-type littermates. A simple hypothesis would suggest that if LTP is a substrate for learning, then enriching the environment should cause learning-dependent changes in wild-type mice that have LTP. Such changes would not be seen in LTP-deficient alphaCaMKII(T286A) mutants. Excitatory synaptic currents in CA1 neurons, recorded with patch clamp in brain slices, revealed that enrichment induces an increase in glutamate release probability and a decreased miniature current amplitude. Confocal microscopy also showed dendritic spine density to be reduced. However, contrary to the hypothesis above, these enrichment-induced changes occur only in the mutant mice and are not detectable in wild-type littermates. We suggest that enrichment induces alphaCaMKII-independent changes in both wild-type and mutant mice. Such changes may be subsequently reversed in wild-type animals via alphaCaMKII-dependent mechanisms, such as LTP. Reversal of plasticity has long been hypothesized to be essential for the hippocampus to maintain its role in memory processing. The inability to reverse plasticity in alphaCaMKII(T286A) mutant mice would then result in impairment of spatial learning.     

Parental personality as an inner resource that moderates the impact of ecological adversity on parenting

Parents' personality was examined as a moderator of the impact of demographic risk on parenting in a longitudinal study (N=102 families). Parents' personality and demographic risk (i.e., education level, age, family income, and family size) were assessed when children were infants, and parents' power assertion, warmth, and positive affect were observed in naturalistic interactions 2.5 years later. Parents' personality moderated the adverse impact of demographic risk on parenting. For parents who had memories of unstable and unhappy childhood experiences and who reported low conventionality, higher risk was linked to more power assertion, but there was no such link for those parents who recalled happy childhood experiences and who embraced conventions. For both parents who lacked a sense of optimism and social trust, and for fathers who reported low conventionality, higher risk was linked to less affectively positive parenting, but there was no such link for parents who were optimistic and trusting or for fathers who were conventional. Higher risk was linked to more power assertion, but only for mothers low in Extraversion and for fathers high in Neuroticism.     

Person-organization fit: Testing socialization and attraction-selection-attrition hypotheses

Using the socialization and attraction-selection-attrition (ASA) frameworks, this study examined the relation between employees’ work values and their organization’s values (person-organization fit). With a two year time interval, 140 respondents participated in a longitudinal study. After entry, socialization served to enhance homogeneity. The work values underwent small changes and the perception of fit with the organization grew. Despite high retention rates results confirmed the attrition effect. Results indicated that the lower the perceived match between own and organizational values at entry, the more likely it was that someone left the organization over time. We concluded that socialization as well as attrition mechanisms were present at the same time.     

The Social Production of Altruism: Motivations for Caring Action in a Low-Income Urban Community

Contemporary social science paints a bleak picture of inner-city relational life. Indeed, the relationships of low-income, urban-residing Americans are represented as rife with distress, violence and family disruption. At present, no body of social scientific work systematically examines the factors that promote loving or selfless interactions among low-income, inner-city American individuals, families and communities. In an effort to fill that gap, this ethnographic study examined the motivations for altruism among a sample of adults (n = 40) who reside in an economically distressed housing community (i.e., housing project) in New York City. Content analyses of interviews indicated that participants attributed altruism to an interplay between 14 motives that were then ordered into four overarching categories of motives: (1) needs-centered motives, (2) norm-based motives deriving from religious/spiritual ideology, relationships and personal factors, (3) abstract motives (e.g., humanism), and (4) sociopolitical factors. The implications of these findings are discussed.     

Participant and Word Gender in Age of Acquisition Effects: The Role of Gender Socialization

The age of acquisition (AoA) effect represents the processing advantage for developmentally earlier-acquired words. An initial norming study identified early and late AoA words having either a strong female-oriented (e.g., flute) or male-oriented (e.g., cigar) semantic bias. Forty-seven female and 45 male Scottish university students participated in a lexical decision task using 100 early and late AoA female- and male-oriented words. Reaction time data showed significant AoA effects for both females and males across both female- and male-oriented words, with faster responses to earlier than later acquired words. Females, however, took longer to respond to male-oriented words, particularly late AoA ones. Males demonstrated no effect of semantic gender. The pattern of effects is consistent with differential gender role socialization.