Coping and job performance

An organizational field study comprising 42 subjects examined the relationship between growth-oriented coping and subsequent job performance. Growth orientation was measured using the 7-item growth scale obtained from the Lazarus Ways of Coping Checklist. The hypothesized relationship between growth orientation and job performance was confirmed. Individuals obtaining high evaluations of managerial performance emphasized growth-oriented strategies in their behaviors. Further research directions are introduced.     

Insulin and dextrose effects on fixed-interval behavioral thermoregulation in albino rats

This study is a systematic replication of the effects of insulin doses on operant behavior reinforced (in an earlier study) by fixed-ratio schedules of microwave (MW) reinforcement. In this study, insulin and dextrose doses were administered (ip) prior to fixed-interval 2-min. schedules of MW reinforcement in rats tested in a cold environment. Six Sprague-Dawley rats were conditioned to regulate their thermal environment with 5-sec. exposures of MW radiation (SAR = 0.34 Watts/kg/(mW/cm2) under the FI-2' schedules. Humulin-regular insulin and 50% solutions of dextrose were administered (ip) alternately with saline control sessions for 8-hr. durations. A within-subjects, repeated-measures 4 x 8 x 3 factorial analysis of variance design showed that insulin doses suppressed operant responding for heat, which confirmed the results of the earlier study under a different schedule. In addition, high doses of dextrose had similar suppressing effects on operant responding for heat. The data are interpreted in terms of the discriminative properties of increased thermogenesis produced by the insulin and dextrose doses. The suppressing effects were more pronounced for the first two hours, yet they persisted for approximately six hours of the 8-hr. sessions.     

CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN ESTIMATES OF CONTENT AND CRITERION-RELATED VALIDITY VALUES

The correspondence between inferences made using two validation strategies–content and criterion-related–were examined in a specific personnel selection application. Empirical validity values and Law-she's (1975) content validity ratios (CVR) were obtained for items from three structured interview guides used in the selection of insurance agents. Ratings of each item by over 300 field managers were used to calculate the CVR values. Statistically significant, yet modest correlations were found between empirical item validities and content validities for an interview guide used to select applicants with prior insurance sales experience. No significant differences were found among these correlations by comparing job experts of different levels of managerial experience and experience in selection. Data for the interview guide used to select experienced applicants also indicated that a content validity approach can be useful in developing a selection instrument with an empirically valid composite rating. The hypotheses were not confirmed for interview guides used to select applicants with no prior insurance sales experience. The practical importance of these results are discussed, as are plans for future research.     

Relationship between academic placement and perception of abuse of the voice

Informal polling of public school speech-language pathologists indicated that special education teachers referred more children for disorders of voice than did regular classroom educators. This study evaluated the effect of academic placement (regular or special education settings) upon children's and their teachers' ratings of abuse of the voice. Analysis showed the two groups of teachers' criteria for judging abusive vocal behaviors differed while the children's ratings from each setting did not differ. The special educators appeared to perceive their students' vocal behavior as more abusive possibly due to environmental constraints, training or the social affective interactions of their students.     

Failure to acquire an inhibitory task following seizure-induced brain damage

Male rats that had displayed limbic seizures following a single pair of systemic injections of lithium and pilocarpine were trained 2 months later on an operant schedule that required differential low rates of responding (DRL). The seizured rats never acquired schedules that required either 6-sec. or 12-sec. inhibition of responses following a reward; these rats displayed more perseverative responding and shorter interresponse times than controls. Histomorphology indicated severe brain damage primarily within the entorhinal cortices (and adjacent amygdala) and dorsal thalamus.     

Effect of alcohol on visual constancy values and possible relation to driving performance

The effects of the constancy phenomena in vision seem to be to provide information about the environment which is not solely dependent upon the characteristics of shape or size of the retinal image but which is modified by the brain to appear closer to the idealized characteristics of the real object. There is a regression away from the retinal image towards the actual object's characteristics. A plate viewed from an angle tends to look more like a disc than would be predicted from the geometry of perspective. This ability of the brain to impose conditions on perception is a high-level process which may be adversely affected by the depressive action of alcohol on the nervous system. In this case, objects such as road signs, etc. would tend to look smaller and so more distant than when sober if regression is inhibited. Drivers' reactions may be delayed if hazards are seen smaller and further away, thereby increasing the possibility of accident. This research indicates a reduction in phenomenal regression after ingestion of alcohol. There are implications for accident-rates in driving or in industry.     

Neuroleptic malignant syndrome--3 case reports

An account is given of three patients who exhibited a malignant neuroleptic syndrome after the administration of neuroplegics. Like other authors, we identified typical elicitation factors and clinical characteristics. In one case a catatonic dilemma with lethal issue was observed. In the final case dealt with in this paper, the renewed application of neuroplegics following the termination of the malignant neuroleptic syndrome was tolerated without complications, whereas in the case of an epileptic patient with damage to the brain, the malignant neuroleptic syndrome returned upon dosage increase.     

Marital conflict and children's adjustment: a cognitive-contextual framework

Marital problems have been related to numerous indexes of maladjustment in children. Although several parameters of this association have been identified, the process by which exposure to interparental conflict gives rise to adjustment problems in children is largely unexplored. Research on the link between marital conflict and child maladjustment therefore is critically evaluated, and a framework is presented that organizes existing studies and suggests directions for future research on processes that may account for the association. According to the framework, the impact of marital conflict is mediated by children's understanding of the conflict, which is shaped by contextual, cognitive, and developmental factors. The implications of the framework for children's adjustment are discussed.     

Attributions in marriage: review and critique

The prevailing behavioral account of marriage must be expanded to include covert processes. This article therefore examines the attributions or explanations that spouses make for marital events. A review indicates that dissatisfied spouses, compared with satisfied spouses, make attributions for the partner's behavior that cast it in a negative light. Experimental, clinical outcome, and longitudinal data suggest further that attributions may influence marital satisfaction. Rival hypotheses for these findings are examined. Because continued empirical development in this domain depends on conceptual progress, a framework is presented that integrates attributions, behavior, and marital satisfaction. This framework points to several topics that require systematic study, and specific hypotheses are offered for research on these topics. It is concluded that the promising start made toward understanding marital attributions holds considerable potential for enriching behavioral conceptions of marriage.     

Attitudes toward autopsy refusal by young adults

A survey of 158 18- to 24-yr. old college and 119 noncollege adults indicated that the latter were more reluctant to approve autopsies for spouses, children and distant relatives. Nonstudents also expressed more objections to autopsies than did students.