Illusory correlations in perceptions and predictions of organizational traits

People often believe in ‘illusory’ correlations between variables that are similar, but not actually correlated. This study suggests that judgments of organizational traits reflect illusory correlations, because subjects' perceptions of correlations between traits, and the predictions of Hage's (1965) ‘axiomatic’ theory, were more highly correlated with independent similarity ratings than with actual correlations between traits. Some methodological reasons why organizational-trait theories might unwittingly produce illusory correlation predictions are discussed, along with possible remedies.     

The social epistemologist in search of a position from which to argue

The relevance of Fuller's version of social epistemology to argumentation theory is highlighted, in response to critics who claim that I am not sufficiently critical of the social grounds of knowledge production. Responding to Lyne, I first consider the strengths and weaknesses of relying on economic images to capture the social. Then, I tackle two contrary objections: Brian Baigrie claims social epistemology is not social enough, while Angelo Corlett wonders whether it may be too social. Finally, I counter Malcolm Ashmore, who argues that social epistemology is not sensitive to reflexive implications of its own doctrines. I conclude that a rhetoric needs to be forged that enables those wishing to transform knowledge production to make their case plausibly to those whose behavior needs to be changed most. At the moment, science critics preach to the converted, a fate that the social epistemologist should not wish to share.     

Community psychology and politics

If community psychology is to profit from its experience to develop an accurate and consistent theory of the effect on individuals of societal pressures, it will need to review reflexively its own position in relation to politics and empowerment. Despite an inspirational and at times positively grandiose rhetoric, psychologists are in fact in no particularly powerful position to influence the factors which cause personal distress, and should not, through a pretence of therapeutic potency, ‘psychologize’ the notion of ‘empowerment’ and reinforce therapeutic ideals which are in fact destructively normative. Without attempting to appropriate politics, community psychology can, however, offer an essentially scientific analysis of power and distress, which may have therapeutically ‘demystifying’ qualities as well as important political implications for the wider society.     

A Realistic Vision? Roberto Unger on Law and Politics

This paper considers Roberto Unger's views on legal reasoning. His account is defended against two misplaced attacks. The first critique is by Emilios Christodoulidis. Using the language of systems theory, Christodoulidis contends that Unger's programme of democratic experimentalism cannot be achieved through law, as the constitutive structure of the legal system is immune to politics. Christodoulidis accuses Unger of attempting to reduce law to politics. It will be argued, however, that Unger does no such thing. The second attack holds that Unger's criticisms of objectivism apply to his own democratic vision and that, as a result, he cannot promote this vision without self-contradiction. Again, it will be argued that this criticism rests on a misunderstanding of Unger's views. The paper concludes with a tentative objection to the substantive proposals of Unger's work, suggesting that they ought to be replaced by a pluralist account of value. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Authoritarianism of Parents and Offspring: Intergenerational Politics and Adjustment to College

The authoritarianism scores (RWA) of parents and their college-aged children were hypothesized to interact to affect the intergenerational transmission of political attitudes and offspring adjustment to college. Parent and offspring dyads who matched on RWA (both scored high or low) agreed about the importance of social events and on the mechanisms by which political attitudes were transmitted from parent to offspring. Disagreeing dyads (parent scored high on RWA and offspring scored low or parent scored low on RWA and offspring scored high) did not show this pattern. In addition, 2-year longitudinal data revealed that offspring who mismatched with their parents on authoritarianism had a more difficult time adjusting to college than did offspring who matched with their parents on authoritarianism. Discussion stresses the importance of examining the implications of home context on the authoritarianism of adolescent children.     

United we stand? The educational implications of the politics of difference

This paper attempts to follow the changes in the concept state over the last two hundred years, by tracing changes in the aims of public education. Four major stages are identified. The first is characterized by the establishment of the nation-state, when a national and civic education are fused together. The second is marked by the erosion of the identity between state and nation, and by attempts to prevent this process through the development of contradictory educational strategies: neutral civic education and nation building through the mechanism of the melting pot. At the third stage, despite the above-mentioned efforts, the awakening of national minorities demanding special national education sharpens the distinction between civic and national education. This leads to the last stage, the politics of difference, when the nationally homogenous nation-state is replaced by a consciously heterogenous state. Such a state can grant all its members equal civil and national rights only if it endorses traditional liberal values. Hence, despite the fact they firmly criticize liberalism and attempt to revive particular national education supporters of the politics of difference cannot deny that liberal values and civic education offer the best protection for their own ends.     

Comment favoriser l’anticipation positive d’un déménagement organisationnel chez des salariés ? Test d’un modèle psychosocio-environnemental

French academic research on organizational relocation is scarce. This study aimed to explore how positive attitudes can be developed before organizational relocation using a psycho-social environmental model. More specifically, this paper analyzes the impact of workplace attachment and socio-professional support on anticipated satisfaction with relocation and the mediating role of the agreement with the top management decision to move. We conducted an empirical study with a sample of 119 employees of an audiovisual company based in France. Results show that anticipated satisfaction with relocation was inhibited by workplace attachment and facilitated by socio-professional support. Moreover, agreement with the change decision to move mediated these relationships.     

Defining and characterizing organizational resilience in elite sport

ObjectivesOrganizational resilience has been investigated in numerous performance contexts outside of sport, with substantial conceptual and operational variance. Given the growing interest in organizational environments in sport, the purpose of the study was to construct a definition of organizational resilience and identify resilient characteristics of elite sport organizations.DesignUsing the Delphi method, 62 expert panelists working in or with elite sport organizations (n = 45) or having academic experience of resilience in various contexts (n = 17), responded to four online iterative surveys over seven months, yielding both quantitative and qualitative data through item responses and accompanying comments. A reflexive thematic analysis of the integrated data was conducted from a critical realist standpoint.ResultsOrganizational resilience was defined as “the dynamic capability of an organization to successfully deal with significant change. It emerges from multi-level (employee, team, and organizational) interacting characteristics and processes which enable an organization to prepare for, adapt to, and learn from significant change”. The five resilient characteristics identified from the analysis were structural clarity, flexible improvement, shared understanding, reciprocal commitment, and operational awareness.ConclusionsBy proposing a definition of organizational resilience which is appropriate to and endorsed by those in elite sport organizations, and identifying resilient characteristics of elite sport organizations, this study provides an important foundation for future research and practice endeavors in this area.     

Clinical experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic

Most of the clinical experiences discussed in this article arose from monthly Zoom meetings at Rome’s Italian Centre of Analytical Psychology (CIPA). We set up a discussion group in April 2020, one month after lockdown began in Italy, and these monthly online meetings continue to this day. All senior analysts and analysts-in-training at Rome’s CIPA, whose backgrounds range from child and adolescent psychotherapy to adult psychotherapy and analysis, to sandplay therapy and medicine and psychiatry, have been participating in these meetings. The group discussions focus on the present time and its impact on us, as well as on our relationships with patients. By further developing these reflections during the lockdown in Italy (9 March - 3 May 2020), it is fair to ask whether a sense of unreality, depersonalization, or derealization has occurred, either in the therapist or patient, and if so, whether it is possible that therapists miss the human contact more than clients. We will mainly refer to clinical and personal experiences as our most precious guidelines.