WAGE SURVEYS: DISPELLING SOME MYTHS ABOUT THE "MARKET WAGE"

The comparable worth controversy has generated much discussion about the appropriate valuation of job worth. To date, academic inquiries into the measurement of job worth have focused primarily on job evaluation; however, recent court decisions suggest that market wages are a more compelling indicator of job worth than are job evaluation results. This paper examines the construct of "market wage" and the process by which it is measured (wage surveys). It is argued that both the construct and the measurement of the market wage have not been sufficiently examined by either academics or the courts. Implications for pay administration and future research are noted.     

6 years of electroconvulsive therapy with dexamethasone

The author reports on an improvement in ECT in which Dexamethasone is used to prevent cerebral edema. This improved technique has been used for 823 EC treatment since 1979. Since then, no post-paroxysmal passage syndromes have been observed in gerontopsychiatric patients even in cases where ECT is applied relatively frequently.     

Ulnar sulcus syndrome--a contribution to course and prognosis

Of 1028 patients with 1138 peripheral nerve lesions, 142 suffered from an electrophysiologically proven SUS. At follow-up, 93 patients could be restudied. Spontaneous regressions were observed in patients below the age of 40 years and in case of a history under 6 months. So-called late pareses receded in no case without operative displacement of the ulnar nerve. However, if the etiology is unknown, the present results of investigation require reserve towards operative therapy.     

Occupational therapy in neurology--report of experiences from a university clinic

Starting from particularities in rehabilitation of neurological patients and by means of special criterions, the authors report on their own experiences in organizing occupational therapy in the neurologic department of a Medical Academy. Beside the requisite of a "therapy maintaining and restoring function", problems of resistance to stress and condition of the patient play a substantial part. Operational therapy within the group-specific situation provides necessary social communication to the neurologic patient, too.     

Book Reviews

The Psychological Record -     

Effect of EMG-biofeedback training in reduction of muscle tension for individuals displaying type A behavior patterns

This study investigated the effect of EMG biofeedback training in reducing muscle tension among subjects who displayed Type A behavior. 22 Type A college students (19 to 22 yr. old) were randomly assigned to either a biofeedback group or a control group. After 6 wk. of training, Type A subjects showed a significant reduction in muscle tension for both resting and aroused states; however, the reduction of muscle tension did not result in reduction of Type A behavior patterns.     

Effect of directed attention on cerebral asymmetries in stuttering adults

9 stutterers and 9 nonstutterers were administered a dichotic digits test under conditions of free recall and directed attention. Analysis indicated right-ear preference for both groups and no differences between the free recall and directed listening conditions. Results are discussed in relation to previous studies in which dichotic digit-stimuli were presented to stutterers.     

Classification of empirically derived prototypes as a function of category experience

In three experiments, subjects learned to classify dot patterns into three categories represented by either three, six, or nine exemplars. Following learning, subjects were tested on an additional set of patterns, which included patterns from the learning phase, the category objective prototypes, and new distortions of the objective prototypes. Also included in the test set were empirical prototypes and distortions of empirical prototypes. Empirical prototypes were derived by averaging feature values of category exemplars in the learning phase. The overall results revealed that empirical prototypes were classified more accurately than were objective prototypes. In addition, a pattern of convergence in error rates was observed for distortions of the objective and empirical prototypes as category set size increased, but this same pattern was not observed for the objective and empirical prototypes themselves. This lack of convergence for the prototypes is inconsistent with explanations of the category set size effect that rely on the central limit theorem.