Morale and Job Satisfaction Among Nurses: What Can Hospitals Do?

In an attempt to account for morale and job satisfaction among 314 nurses, this study investigated the influence of work-related and interpersonal variables. Morale on the unit was directly related to supervisor support, co-worker relationships, and work recognition. Personal morale was accounted for by recognition, physical environment, the job itself, and pay. Job satisfaction was predicted by personal morale, work commitment, job clarity, work pressure, and innovation. Suggestions for improving nurse morale and job satisfaction are made.     

Testing a stochastic foraging model in an operant simulation: Agreement with qualitative but not quantitative predictions

An operant simulation of foraging through baited and empty patches was studied with 4 pigeons. On a three-key panel, side keys were designated as patches, and successive opportunities to complete 16 fixed-ratio 10 schedules on side keys were defined as encounters with feeders. In a random half of the patches in any session, some of the fixed-ratio 10 schedules yielded reinforcement (baited feeders) and the other schedules yielded nonreinforcement (empty feeders). In the other half of the patches, all feeders were empty. Pigeons could travel between patches at any time by completing a fixed-ratio schedule on the center key. An optimal foraging model was tested in Experiments 1 and 2 by varying center-key travel time and number of baited feeders in baited patches. The ordinal predictions that number of feeders visited in empty patches would increase with travel time and decrease as number of baited feeders increased were supported, but pigeons visited far more feeders in empty patches than the optimal number predicted by the model to maximize energy/time. In Experiment 3, evidence was found to suggest that the number of empty feeders encountered before the first baited feeder in baited patches is an important factor controlling leaving empty patches.     

The nature of aspiration in psychotherapy

This paper underscores the importance of aspiration as an active, progressive striving toward goals. Aspiration is often borne out of new experiences with new objects that differ from the patient's archaic objects. Patients who take inventory of their aspirations start to understand how they consciously and unconsciously work toward or ward off the attainment of goals. Self-discrepancy approaches (e.g., Jacobson, 1964; Schafer, 1967; Blos, 1974; Higgins, 1987) emphasizing the gap between the patient's present self-experience and the ideal self are especially useful in understanding how aspiration is facilitated or stymied. Aspirations may signal shifts in self-esteem. The patient who risks wanting more or wanting to be more has begun to alter the static view of the self. Aspiration facilitates the patient's imaginative, visualizing capacities as he or she focuses on foreseeing future possibilities.     

Semantic Organization, Strategy Use, and Productivity in Bilingual Semantic Verbal Fluency

This study of semantic verbal fluency addressed two research questions: (1) What are the between-language similarities and differences in the performance of balanced bilinguals? (2) What is the relationship between productivity and the use of a semantic grouping strategy to organize responses? Forty neurologically normal, bilingual adults were tested twice in each language (French/English), in a 2 (Language) by 2 (Test) by 2 (Group) design. On Test 2, half the 40 subjects were instructed to group items by subcategory, while half simply repeated the test. Results showed (1) many more between-language similarities than differences and (2) no between-group differences in productivity.     

Cognitive Biases and Political Party Affiliation in Intergroup Conflict

Employing the motivational basis of the false consensus bias, this study hypothesized that the degree of assumed similarity to in-group attitudes would differ among supporters of various political groups in intergroup conflict. We defined a conflict-maintaining bias, the adversary's extremity bias, and examined how the degree of the bias would also differ among supporters of various political groups. Data were gathered from Arab and Jewish high school and university students in Israel. Our hypotheses, that in intergroup conflict assumed similarity to in-group attitudes and the adversary's extremity bias would be greater among supporters of less conciliatory political parties than among supporters of more conciliatory political parties, were supported for one group in the conflict but not the other. Explanations of our findings are based on the differential power status of the 2 groups in the particular conflict.     

ACADEMIC EFFECTS OF PROVIDING PEER SUPPORT IN GENERAL EDUCATION CLASSROOMS ON STUDENTS WITHOUT DISABILITIES

We studied the academic effects on peers without disabilities of serving as peer supports for students with disabilities in general education classrooms. Three peers were studied using a range of indicators, including academic engagement, coursework performance, and social validity assessments. Peers assisting a student with disabilities via curricular adaptation, assignment completion, and social facilitation constituted the multicomponent independent variable. We used withdrawal or multiple baseline designs to demonstrate positive benefits for peers for all measures used. In addition, follow-up data for 2 peers indicated that the positive changes associated with serving as a peer support were maintained for up to 2 months. Our results are discussed in relation to the possible academic and social effects of providing peer supports in general education classrooms for students with and without disabilities.     

One Personality, Multiple Selves: Integrating Personality and Social Roles

ABSTRACT How do people maintain multiple, role-specific self-conceptions as well as a consistent sense of self? In a sample of middle-aged women, we examined three issues: (a) the ways in which people view themselves as both different and similar across social roles (e.g., parent, friend, worker), (b) how role-specific self-conceptions and general self-conceptions are related, and (c) the merits of predicting role-specific criteria from role-specific and general self-conceptions. Results showed that subjects' self-conceptions were specific to role contexts, yet highly correlated across those same role contexts. In addition, role-specific self-conceptions were more similar to the general self-concept for roles with which the individual was more satisfied. Finally, as predicted from the bandwidth-fidelity trade-off, ratings of the general self correlated moderately with outcomes across all role domains, whereas ratings of role-specific self-conceptions correlated strongly with outcomes for the same role, but not in other roles.     

Determinants of Condom Use Among High-Risk Heterosexual Adults: A Test of the Theory of Reasoned Action1

The research presents tests of traditional and augmented versions of Fishbein and Ajzen's Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA), applied to condom use among adult clients of a sexually transmitted disease clinic. In a longitudinal survey, predictor variables suggested by Ajzen and Fishbein (1980), plus gender and condom use self-efficacy, were measured at Time 1. Condom use at Time 2, 3 months later, was regressed onto these variables. The traditional TRA worked well to predict condom use intentions and behavior. Support was also found for inclusion of gender and self-efficacy in the prediction of intention to use condoms, but not behavior. Implications for interventions to increase condom use among those at high risk for AIDS and other STDs are discussed.