The farm crisis: An analysis of social psychological distress among North Carolina farm operators

Using data from a statewide survey of North Carolina farm operators collected during a period of economic and ecological crisis, the relationships between perceived social psychological distress, social support, and demographic, farm structure, and socioeconomic characteristics were analyzed. Younger operators showed higher distress levels, and age and social support interact so that social support lowered distress levels more for younger than for older operators. Results also showed that total family income has a curvilinear relationship with perceived distress: low and high income farm operators manifest higher levels of distress than middle income operators. By identifying the farm operators that show the highest levels of distress, the results have implications for policy intervention and farm crisis support programs.     

TRAINING COUNSELING SKILLS: AN EXPERIMENTAL ANALYSIS AND SOCIAL VALIDATION

A community development perspective suggests the value of using local resources to solve local problems. Two low-income staff of a community service center served as nonprofessional counselors after receiving a training program consisting of written instructions, practice, and performance feedback. The effects of the 40-hour training program were positive for both counseling and problem-solving skills. There was also evidence of generalization of counseling performance across clients, problems, and time. In addition, expert judges' ratings of performance were obtained as a measure of social validity. These findings suggest that the training procedures are effective in enhancing the counseling and problem-solving skills of low-income nonprofessionals.     

INDUSTRIAL SAFETY HAZARD REDUCTION THROUGH PERFORMANCE FEEDBACK

A “feedback package” system, designed to prevent occupational accidents and to fit directly into the normal operations of an industrial organization, was analyzed. Eighteen hazardous conditions in six production departments were assessed during seven observation sessions over a 12-week period, plus four follow-up observations over 4 months. The “feedback package” was presented in multiple baseline fashion, across subjects (department supervisors). It consisted of presenting the supervisor with copies of observational data, accompanied by a note which congratulated good practices and suggested ways for improving safety conditions, along with occasional comments from a senior executive. The results indicated that during the feedback phase, hazard rates were lower and less variable than during the baseline phase. Baseline data were highly variable with peaks ranging from 20 to 55 hazards per department. Following intervention, hazard frequencies dropped by 60%, averaged across departments, with decreases ranging from 29% to 88%. During treatment, data stabilized, with the highest frequency reaching 33. A modified feedback system was implemented by the organization following termination of the study, validating the assumption that such a system would tend to maintain.     

Information Processing and New Ideas — Lateral and Vertical Thinking*

‘Vertical thinking is concerned with digging the same hole deeper. Lateral thinking is concerned with digging the hole somewhere else.’ This is how the author differentiates between the two types of thinking. Education, according to the author, only teaches vertical thinking because lateral thinking has always seemed impossible to teach. He then outlines why (with the increased interest in creativity and the computer) there is growing interest in the thinking processes. Describing how the brain operates and how creative behaviour may be increased Dr. de Bono goes on to discuss the nature of vertical thinking. It is sequential, based on the idea that one must not be wrong, works on the most promising approach, only moves in a planned direction, only considers the relevant, and tends to build up large established patterns. To describe the lateral thinking process the author poses a number of problems discussing their solution and the difficulties which people normally encounter in solving these problems. Finally, he sets out the four main categories of the techniques of lateral thinking; and the reader's attention is drawn to several books which Dr. de Bono has written on the subject.     

Binocular brightness combinations: Additive and nonadditive aspects

A conjoint measurement procedure is used for the measurement of binocular brightness as a function of left and right luminance inputs. For nonzero stimulation, the data confirm earlier findings: the system can be described as additive with a scale exponent of 1. If zero stimulation is included, however, no additive solution can be found (due to Fechner’s paradox). This fact, combined with various critical remarks in the literature with respect to the existence of a real luminance-averaging system, has led us to propose a model which takes account of Fechner’s paradox, and incorporates “realistic” exponents without requiring a multistage processing mechanism where different levels are characterized by different sensory scales. The proposed model makes the weighting coefficients for the two eyes dependent in a continuous way on the strength of stimulation in the two eyes, especially on the amount of contrast of the monocular stimuli. For zero background stimulation, contrast can be expressed in terms of luminance of the stimulus. In this way, the model is reduced to a simple testable form. While it much simpler than Engel’s (1969) model, the experimental results indicate that it might also work for the more general case.     

A COMPARISON OF NORTH-AMERICAN AND BRAZILIAN COLLEGE STUDENTs' PERSONALITY PROFILES ON THE 16 PF QUESTIONNAIRE

Le questionnaire de personnalité 16 PF (Forme A) a été traduit en portugais et soumis à un échantillon représentatif des étudiants de Sao Paulo (Brésil), comprenant 770 H et 555 F. Pour chaque facteur, les résultats ont été comparés à ceux d'un échantillon standardisé d'étudiants américains: les étudiants brésiliens sont, en général, moins sociables (A —) et moins enthousiastes (F —), plus soupçonneux (L +) et plus imaginatifs (M +); ils sont également moins conservateurs (Qi +) et plus indépendants (Q2 +). l'analyse de second ordre fait apparaître les Brésiliens comme plus anxieux et plus introvertis, montrant également plus de spontanéité et de créativité que les sujets américains. On constate enfin l'existence de différences entre hommes et femmes, tant à l'intérieur de chaque groupe qu'entre les deux échantillons.