Antecedents and Consequences of Perceived Barriers to Obtaining Mentoring: A Longitudinal Investigation

Mentoring is prototypically intended to advance the personal and professional growth of new employees at work. Although meta‐analyses have found that receiving mentoring can result in beneficial outcomes for employees' career success, employees may perceive barriers to obtaining a mentor. The present research examined antecedents and consequences to perceived barriers to mentoring in business and administrative jobs in a field study over 2 years. Socioeconomic origin, positive affectivity, organizational development culture, and previous mentoring experience predicted perceived barriers to mentoring after 2 years. New employees' perceived barriers to mentoring at Time 1 predicted changes in mentoring received and income after 2 years. Implications of this study, including a proposed mentoring training program, and directions for future research are discussed.     

Han Fei,De, Welfare

This paper explores the relation of order and welfare for Han Fei's philosophy. It will be claimed that the Legalist did indeed show concern for the overall quality of life of society, claiming that his model state would lead to a substantial increase for the individual's welfare. On the other hand, although he acknowledges (and cares) for these positive consequences, Han Fei does not attach any value for legitimizing the system he proposes to them. Even if there were any value attached to benefitting the people, it would be indirect. For Han Fei, a welfare does not legitimize the system but is a consequence of the ‘right system’. He is not concerned with letting the people live better for the sake of the people, but rather with having healthy and motivated subjects, as these are at the same time consequences of, and requirements for, a strong and stable state. The novelty of this paper is to interpret Han Fei's philosophy as welfare-maximization through a specific understanding of the role of virtue.     

Skill Level,Vision, and Proprioception in Simple One-Hand Catching

Two experiments examined the interaction of vision and articular proprioception in simple one-hand catching. In Experiment 1 (N = 18) skilled baseball and Softball players used the left and right hands to catch slowly moving tennis balls, while Experiment 2(N = 16) used novice catchers as subjects. In half the trials, sight of the catching hand was prevented by placing a screen alongside the subjects’ face. Results of Experiment 1 revealed that the screen caused minimal disruption of the positioning phase of the catch, with moderate disruption of the grasping phase. However, for the unskilled subjects of Experiment 2, the screen caused considerable disruption of positioning. The data provide only minimal support for Smyth and Marriott’s (1982) contention that limb position is inadequately specified by articular proprioception. It is argued that skill level serves as a mediator in the ability to use proprioception for limb positioning, but vision appears necessary to control the precise temporal organization of the grasp phase of one-hand catching.     

Notes and news

Recently, proponents of Humean Supervenience have challenged the plausibility of the intuition that the laws of nature ‘govern’, or guide, the evolution of events in the universe. Certain influential thought experiments authored by John Carroll, Michael Tooley, and others, rely strongly on such intuitions. These thought experiments are generally regarded as playing a central role in the lawhood debate, suggesting that the Mill-Ramsey-Lewis view of the laws of nature, and the related doctrine of the Humean Supervenience of laws, are false. In this paper, I take on these recent challenges, arguing that the intuition that the laws govern should be taken seriously. Still, I find the recent discussions insightful, in certain ways. Employing some ideas from one of the critics (Barry Loewer), I draw some non-standard conclusions about the significance of the thought experiments to the lawhood debate.     

Parents' structuring of children's daily lives in relation to the quality and stability of children's friendships

This study focused on the implications of parents' structuring of their children's home lives for the friendships of their children. Participants were 224 elementary‐school children (108 girls and 116 boys) from four grade levels in two schools in Aix‐en‐Provence, France. Most of the families were of middle or high socio‐economic status. The participating children were seen twice during the same school year in order to assess the stability of their friendship choices and the quality of their friendships. We used Lautrey's (1989) questionnaire in order to assess the parents' styles in the structuring of family life and related child‐rearing practice. This questionnaire delineates three structuring styles: 1) rigid, characterized by considerable imposition of routines with little leeway for exceptional circumstances; 2) flexible, in which established routines can be modified as circumstances dictate; and 3) laissez‐faire, characterized by an absence of predictability and routine. We measured friendship quality by means of Friendship Quality Scale developed by Bukowski, Hoza, and Boivin (1989). This scale consists of 23 items representing five dimensions: companionship, help, security, closeness and conflict. This tool was designed to elicit children's perceptions of a specific relationship with a friend. Results indicated a significant link between parenting style and both of the dimensions of child friendship we studied. Children from homes characterized by a laissez‐faire style of parenting have friendships with more positive features than children from homes with flexible or rigid styles. We also found that friendships were generally less stable and rated as less positive than in similar studies conducted in other countries.     

A cognitive‐emotional account of the shape of the probability weighting function

Research has shown a tendency of decision makers to overweight small probabilities and to underweight moderate and large probabilities. In standard treatments this is graphically modeled by an inverse S‐shaped probability weighting function. We suggest that emotions play a significant role in the shaping of the probability weighting function. In particular, the weighting function is proposed to be some function of objective probability, expected elation, and expected disappointment. The overweighting of small probabilities results from the anticipated elation after having won, given that winning was very unlikely. The underweighting of large probabilities results from anticipated disappointment after having failed to win, given that winning was very likely. Hence, probability is assumed to influence utility. Three experiments investigate these hypotheses. Experiments 1 and 2 show that a convex function relates probability to surprise. Experiment 3 elicits choice data and further supports the proposed hypotheses. The model adds to the understanding of the cognitive and emotional processes underlying the shape of the probability weighting function. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.