The general model and the particular decision: decision makers' awareness of their cue weightings

This paper examines the accuracy with which decision makers can predict the effects of the characteristics of a research study on their evaluations of its usefulness to their work. It draws on survey data from a sample of 155 decision makers in mental health: each of them predicted the effects of 26 research characteristics on usefulness and rated each of two research studies on usefulness and the extent to which each characteristic described the study. The principal finding is that decision makers' predictions of the effects of characteristics on usefulness correspond much more closely to the effects actually observed when these effects are calculated across individuals than when they are taken for a single individual rating one (or two) studies. After examining several alternative explanations, it is suggested that an individual decision maker uses multiple evaluation functions to judge research, weighting the characteristics differently in each, and that investigators should consider the possibility of such variation whenever they attempt to model individuals' evaluation functions.     

Beyond the relational principle of reinforcement

Behavior under baseline conditions in which the contingency is absent can shed some light on the individual's performance under a schedule, but is insufficient as a basis for prediction of performance. This insufficiency of the baseline data runs counter to a recent formalization of the relational principle of reinforcement (Donahoe, 1977). A more satisfactory predictive model must incorporate not only the baseline level of the instrumental response and that of the contingent response, but also the schedule requirements, the character of each response in relation to the other, and the behavior required in simply switching from each to the other.     

A PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM: RESEARCH,DESIGN, INTRODUCTION AND EVALUATION1

The purpose of this paper is to describe and analyze a unique and innovative appraisal and development system. The Performance Management System (PMS) is the formal vehicle used by Corning Glass Works managers to measure and improve the performance and potential for advancement of approximately 3,000 managerial and professional employees. The current design of PMS is the result of several years of research and development work by staff psychologists and personnel specialists at Corning along with applied psychological research conducted in other organizations. PMS is distinguished from most appraisal systems by the following characteristics: (1) Its emphasis on both psychometric accuracy and practical utility; (2) Its emphasis on development as opposed to evaluation; (3) Its use of ipsative measurement; (4) Its integration of results with behavior centered appraisal. This paper is comprised of an introduction, reports on the initial research, the design and introduction, the evaluation and revision of PMS, and an overall summary. The strategies, results, and problems encountered at each phase of PMS development will be described and analyzed.     

INTUITIVE-THEORETICAL SCALES OF CONTENT AND CONTEXT SATISFACTION

Evidence has suggested the usefulness of viewing job satisfaction as composed of content and context aspects. Armstrong attempted to develop intuitive-theoretical scales measuring content and context satisfaction but the scales lacked discriminant validity. The present study attempted the development of content and context scales based on Schletzer's overall job satisfaction instrument. After the criteria of internal consistency and discriminant validity were applied in refining scales, it was found that the inter-correlation between content and context scales after correction for attenuation was 0.06 and 0.05 for two separate samples of professional workers. It was concluded that the data provided some support for the content-context dichotomy. Application of the new scales and the general method for developing scales in industrial and organizational psychology are considered.     

Toxic "atrophie cerebelleuse". (problems associated with permanent cerebellar damage due to chronic diphenylhydantion intoxication)

The authors report two cases with roentgenomophologically established cerebellar atrophy caused by chronic diphenylhydantoin overdosing. Exact neuropsychiatric testing of epileptics treated with diphenylhydantoin for a long period of time is demanded, and it is recommended that in the case of long-time therapy a maximum daily dose of 0.3 g of diphenylhydantoin be not exceeded.     

Psychopathology in childhood and adolescence as reflected in projected afterimage serials

A serial visual afterimage (AI) test was administered to 136 normal and 75 anxiety-ridden children 4–16 years of age. The scoring of the AI serials involved signs of primitive functioning (size-constant and positive AIs), anxiety (large and dark AIs together with primitive AIs in older children) and process discontinuity (intermittent regressions to small, positive, or physiognomic AIs). Differences between normal and clinical children were generally highly significant in these respects. Special attention was directed to the difference between subjects with intermittent regressions to primitive functioning and subjects where regression represented a lasting functional alternative. The former subjects were more often characterized by paroxysmal or primary anxiety.     

Experimentation in social psychology: A reappraisal

Psychological inquiry into social phenomena has become virtually indistinguishable from controlled experimentation. Although the assets and liabilities of psychological experiments have been subject to periodic debate, a continued increase in the reliance placed experiments is evidenced. The present paper re-examines the adequacy of experimentation in light of major features of social interaction. Significant failures of the experiment emerge when the following characteristics of social events are considered: their imbeddedness in broader cultural patterns, their position within extended sequences, their open competition within real-life settings, their reliance on psychological confluences, and their complex determination. The additional consideration of social phenomena within historical context indicates that all reasonable hypotheses are valid and that critical testing between hypotheses about social behaviour is fruitless. Criteria for the productive usage of experiments are detailed.     

The dimensionality of vocational commitment: An empirical assessment of Ramsay's three-factor model with trainee nurses

The validity of Ramsey's three factor model of vocational commitment – consisting of ego-involvement (ranging from altruism to self-orientation), pre-dispositions, and occupational possibilities – is examined Although no data is provided relevant to the altruism end of the ego-involvement continuum, analyses of data from a sample of trainee nurses indicated that the three measures of self-orientation, predispositions, and occupational possibilities possessed satisfactory internal consistency and discriminant validity, thus providing support for the three-dimensional model.