Decision making styles and progress in occupational decision making

This study provides a reexamination of the role of different decisional strategies in facilitating progress in occupational decision making. Although the assumptions that a rational decision making style is the preferred mode of vocational functioning has been endorsed in a variety of career theories and interventions, there has been conflicting evidence about the validity of this assumption. To examine the role of different decisional approaches in the progress of making an occupational decision, the rational, intuitive, and dependent decision making style scores of 71 undergraduate students were used to predict progress in occupational decision making. The results of the regression analyses failed to provide support for the assumption that a rational style is the most effective in accomplishing this careerrelated task, but indicated strong support for the conclusion that the use of dependent decisional strategies is damaging, particularly in early stages of the decisional process.     

Comments on Hughes and Sussman''s time-sharing study of cerebral laterality in language-disordered and normal children

M. Hughes and H. M. Sussman (1983, Brain and Language, 19, 48-64) suggest that the time-sharing paradigm "does not serve as an adequate behavioral index for language lateralization in children." The merits of this conclusion are considered and general interpretative issues regarding manual interference in dual-task/time-sharing studies are discussed.     

A process analysis of the effects of performance-contingent rewards on intrinsic motivation

In this study, the effects of performance-contingent rewards on intrinsic motivation were examined in comparison to no-reward controls receiving identical performance feedback. A path analytic process analysis was conducted to examine the mediation of reward effects on subsequent task interest. It was hypothesized that competence valuation, or the personal importance of doing well, would be an important mediator of interest in situations where performance feedback was available. Rewards were predicted to affect interest by influencing an individual's valuation of competence, and by altering the competence valuation mediation process. In addition, achievement orientation was hypothesized to interact with reward in affecting importance and the mediation process. Prior to performing an interesting puzzle, high school students were offered a performance-contingent reward, and then indicated how personally important it was to do well. After doing three puzzles, all subjects received positive feedback regarding their performance. Multiple regression analyses indicated that importance was affected by the experimental variables, and had a positive causal impact on subsequent intrinsic motivation. It was found that the promise of performance-contingent reward positively affected importance for low achievers relative to high achievers, and that the mediation of subsequent intrinsic interest by importance differed according to reward by achievement combinations. Additionally, a direct effect revealed that performance-contingent rewards significantly enhanced interest, relative to no-reward controls receiving identical performance feedback.     

More precisely defining and measuring the order-irrelevance principle

R. Gelman and C. Gallistel (1978, Young Children's Understanding of Number, Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press) use two definitions of the order-irrelevance principle interchangeably: (1) count tags do not have to be assigned in a fixed order and (2) the order in which elements of a set are enumerated does not affect the cardinal designation of the set. A study involving 107 kindergarten and first grade children indicates that the two are actually distinct concepts. Apparently, a willingness to arbitrarily assign tags is a developmentally less sophisticated ability than--and hence does not necessarily imply--an ability to predict that differently ordered counts produce the same cardinal designation. Thus it appears that evidence of the second ability is necessary to infer a full understanding of the order-irrelevance principle. The first ability alone implies what might better be termed an "order-indifferent tagging scheme." Suggestions for measuring and further researching the order-irrelevance principle are discussed.     

Mid-career change in academia: The decision to become an administrator

This study explored the reasons why professors would leave their teaching/ research occupations to begin new careers as administrators. Valence-Instrumentality-Expectancy theory of occupational preference and choice was used as a framework to examine mid-career change among professors and department chairmen at a major university. Data showed that professors' intentions to change careers and become administrators could be explained by the theory. Analyses of job characteristics demonstrated that professors who want a mid-career change are primarily attracted by the power and formal authority vested in the administrative position, while professors who prefer to remain in their career paths do so because of the autonomy it offers.