Things are always more complicated than you think: An open systems approach to the organizational effects of computer-automated technology

The effects of computerized office and factory automation are examined. An open systems framework is used to organize this literature. The review suggests that the benefits of technology are derived from theintermediate effects of the technology on organizational processes (the task structure, personnel system, formal structure, and informal organization). Thus, it is misleading to examine thedirect effects of computerized technology on organizational outcomes such as profits and satisfaction. Some of the effects of technology on the organizational processes are inevitable (e.g., changes in informal communication patterns). Others are determined less by the technology than by management decisions. The key to achieving success with computerized technology is matching changes in organizational processes to each other, as well as to the technology and the larger environment of the organization.Ann Majchrzak is currently Associate Professor of Human Factors at the Institute of Safety and Systems Management at the University of Southern California. She has recently written two books on the subject of technological change. Katherine J. Klein is an Assistant Professor of Industrial and Organizational Psychology in the Psychology Department of the University of Maryland at College Park.     

Pharmacological effects on lateralized behavior

Sixteen student volunteers were administered a placebo and 50 mg. of chlorpromazine in tablet form, on separate occasions, two hours before testing. The three tests measured dichotic listening performance, lateral eye movements while answering questions about spatial location and verbal meaning, and lateralized facial expression while relating pleasant and unpleasant life incidents. Results showed that chlorpromazine increased the number of trials showing an ear advantage in dichotic listening. Chlorpromazine reduced lateral and increased vertical eye movements in response to the questions about spatial location and verbal meaning. Under the placebo both negative and positive emotions were expressed more in the left face. Although chlorpromazine did not affect this lateralization of negative emotions, the expression of positive emotions occurred equally often on the two sides of the face under chlorpromazine. Results may be related to an effect of chlorpromazine on the asymmetrical dopamine pathways of the brain. It is suggested that the findings may be related to a left hemisphere deficit in schizophrenia.     

Teaching social skills to emotionally disturbed adolescent inpatients

A social skills training program was evaluated with emotionally disturbed adolescent inpatients. The targeted social skills required an action or reaction within six skill areas. The program was adapted from a commercially available social skills training game that features the use of response specific feedback, self-monitoring, individualized reinforcers, and individualized performance criteria. A peer conducted the baseline and posttraining sessions while the training was conducted by an adult who had no previous interactive history with the subjects. A multiple baseline design across groups demonstrated that the program increased appropriate responding in all skill areas and that these effects generalized during the posttraining peer conducted sessions. A generalization test indicated that the subjects used their newly learned skills with a novel adult outside the training setting. The program appears quite applicable to emotionally disturbed adolescents since it targets skills in a variety of areas and employs standardized procedures to enhance replicability.     

A brainstem “mini-discharge” syndrome (anesthesia dolorosa)

Chronic pain consisting of anesthesia dolorosa secondary to bilateral interruption of the trigeminal nerves is presented as a brain stem reticular denervation syndrome. Electrothalamograms revealed fast frequency discharges in the mesothalamic prerubral and centermedian reticular formation. Mesothalamic electrical stimulation attenuated the discharges. Pain and other symptoms presumably of brainstem origin also were attenuated or abolished by therapeutic electrical stimulation twice daily. It is postulated that brain stem-represented behavioral generators are implicated by the reticular discharges in order to produce the complex symptomatology. Consequently the symptom complex is collectively identified as a brainstem “mini-discharge” syndrome. A theoretical discussion is presented to defend the thesis that reticular denervation-induced low threshold discharge system accounts for the episodic states of pain, dyskinesia, mood, and memory disturbances.     

The differential importance of weight and body image among college men and women

Among a sample of American college students, body image and the degree of desired weight change were associated with academic self-rankings, with social and psychological well-being, and with the development of eating difficulties. The effects of body image and desired weight change on eating disorders were generally found to be greater for women than for men, and their effects on student self-rankings of academic ability, social, and psychological traits were more pervasive for women than for men. The less attractive a woman perceived herself to be and the more weight she wanted to lose, the greater was her overall sense of academic, social, and psychological impairment. Women who had poor body images and who desired to lose weight were more likely to report eating difficulties.     

IBM PC Tachistoscope: Text stimuli

Due to cost, speed, and flexibility, the IBM PC and compatibles are good computers for laboratory use. Outlined here is a program that allows a computer from this class of machines to be used as a tachistoscope. The example given is for visual half-field presentation and can be easily modified for other presentation paradigms.     

Learning and motivation: Computer simulations of the Rescorla-Wagner,Solomon-Corbit,and Schull models

A suite of programs is described for simulating the Rescorla-Wagner (1972) model of associative learning, the Solomon and Corbit (1974) opponent-process theory, and Schull’s (1979) extension of the latter. The programs are written for the Commodore 64 computer.     

Coitally active university students: sexual behaviors, concerns, and challenges

The past fifteen years, in particular, have seen a major increase in the extent to which both adolescents and young adults are engaging in sexual intercourse. While several studies call attention to the increasing incidence among college/university students, the concomitant shifts in the sociopsychological realms of sexuality are also important dimensions which impact upon sexual concerns of youth. Hence, the purposes of this study are to examine the behaviors, attitudes, and concerns of students who have engaged in coitus, as well as any changes they seek in their sex lives. The sample consisted of 123 never-married male and 205 never-married female undergraduate students from a state university. The data were obtained by utilizing an anonymous questionnaire administered to volunteers during regular university classes. Among the coitally active, 67.4% of males were psychologically satisfied after their first sexual experience, but only 28.3% of females. In contrast, 80.9% of males and 28.3% of females reported current psychological satisfaction with their sexual experiences. Significant differences between genders focused on male dissatisfaction with infrequent opportunities for sexual intercourse, lack of variety of sex partners, and insufficient oral-genital stimulation, whereas females expressed concerns relating to lack of stimulation to their breasts, painful sexual intercourse, lack of orgasm during sexual intercourse, and feelings of guilt and fear. An increasing awareness of current sexual behaviors, attitudes, and concerns of university students can help family life educators to meet student needs as they react to changes in interpersonal relationships, families, and society.