Child vocational development: A review and reconsideration

Childhood marks the dawn of human development. To organize, integrate, and advance knowledge about vocational development during this age period from a life-span perspective, we conducted a comprehensive review of the empirical vocational development literature that addresses early-to-late childhood. The review considers career exploration, career awareness, vocational expectations and aspirations, vocational interests, and career maturity/adaptability. By conducting the review, we sought to consolidate knowledge and identify avenues for further research concerned with vocational development in childhood and across the life span. Linking knowledge of child vocational development with what is known about adolescent and adult vocational development and conducting research that embeds vocational development within the fabric of a life-span developmental framework could move the field of vocational psychology from a disjointed perspective on career as studied in isolated age groups and toward an integrated life-span conceptualization.     

Gender differences in the determinants of the willingness to accept an international assignment

Multinational organisations experience difficulties in finding managers willing to accept international assignments. This study has therefore focused on factors that can predict males' and females' willingness to accept international assignments, or to follow their partners on international assignments. Hypotheses were formulated based on the Rational Choice/Human Capital Theory, the Family Power Theory, the Life Role Salience Theory, and the Psychological Contract Theory. Data were collected using a written questionnaire from 178 male and 122 female employees of a large Anglo-Dutch company. Results using regression analyses showed that male candidates were more willing to accept an overseas assignment and more willing to follow their partners than female ones. Further, the rational choice and family power theories were best able to explain male candidates' willingness, whereas females' willingness was better predicted using variables from the life role salience and psychological contract theories. However, in terms of willingness to follow their partner, all the sets of variables are significant predictors for men, whereas, for women, only rational choice and family power variables explain a significant amount of the variance. The results are discussed in terms of theory and organisational practice.     

社会认知职业理论:研究进展及应用

社会认知职业理论将心理、社会、经济等影响因素整合起来,动态地揭示人们如何形成职业兴趣,做出职业选择并取得不同的绩效。基于该理论,针对不同的人群已有大量的研究。在此基础上,该理论还对职业咨询提供了多种发展性、干预性的及补救性的策略。     

The role of desires in sequential impulsive choices

The present research provides evidence for a sequential mitigation effect, which is the phenomenon that participation in a prior impulsive choice task significantly reduces the decision maker’s likelihood of choosing impulsively in a subsequent task. The results of five experiments: (a) provide evidence for the Sequential Mitigation Effect using different study materials and contexts (Experiments 1–3), (b) show that prior impulsive (as opposed to non-impulsive) choice is required for the effect to occur (Experiment 4), and (c) find that the decision maker’s chronic sensitivity to positive and negative outcomes moderates the effect (Experiment 5). The results support the notion that desire for impulsive options functions as a limited motivational resource, and being consumed in the first task, is experienced to a lesser extent in the second task. The sequential mitigation effect may be characterized as a motivational contextual influence on decision making, complementing existing research showing that cognitive context effects influence sequential choices.     

Collective efficacy and vigilant problem solving in group decision making: A non-linear model

This research explores the relationship between collective efficacy and aspects of analytic or vigilant problem solving (Janis, 1989) in the context of group decision making. We hypothesized that vigilant problem solving would be most evident under conditions of relatively moderate collective efficacy, as opposed to either very high or very low collective efficacy. We investigated this hypothesis with groups of business students who participated in a complex business strategy simulation. Results show a significant curvilinear relationship between collective efficacy and vigilant problem solving, and a significant linear relationship between vigilant problem solving and decision outcomes. There is also evidence that vigilant problem solving mediates the relationship between collective efficacy and decision outcomes. Implications for theory, managerial practice, and directions for future research are discussed.     

Decision‐making competence: External validation through an individual‐differences approach

This study asks to what extent (a) individuals show consistent performance differences across typical behavioral decision‐making tasks, and (b) how those differences correlate with plausible real‐world correlates of good decision making. Seven tasks, chosen to span the domain of decision‐making skills, were administered to participants in an ongoing longitudinal study providing extensive social, psychological, and behavioral measures. Performance scores on individual tasks generally showed small, positive inter‐task correlations. An aggregate measure of decision‐making competence (DMC) was appropriately correlated with plausible sources, concomitants, and outcomes of good decision making, suggesting the underlying construct's external validity. Higher DMC scores were associated with more intact social environments, more constructive cognitive styles, and fewer ‘maladaptive’ risk behaviors. In each case, DMC adds to the predictive validity of general measures of cognitive ability. These results suggest that poor decision making on common laboratory tasks is related to real‐world antecedents and consequences of poor decision making. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The recalcitrance of overconfidence and its contribution to decision aid neglect

Three experiments tested the hypothesis that people's overconfidence in the quality of their intuitive judgment strategies contributes to their reluctance to use helpful actuarial judgment aids. Participants engaged in a judgment task that required them to use five cues to decide whether a prospective juror favored physician‐assisted suicide. Participants had the opportunity to examine the judgments of a statistical equation that correctly classified 77% of the prospective jurors. In all experiments, participants infrequently examined the equation, performed worse than the equation, and were highly overconfident. In Experiments 1 and 2, outcome feedback and calibration feedback failed to reduce overconfidence. In Experiment 3, enhanced calibration feedback reduced overconfidence and increased reliance on the equation, thus leading to improved judgment performance. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Individual differences in the response to forgone payoffs: an examination of high functioning drug abusers

This study evaluates the effect of forgone payoffs in decision‐making tasks used for studying individual differences. We investigate whether the disclosure of forgone payoffs (defined as payoffs associated with un‐chosen alternatives) has selective effects for drug abusers. Evidence suggests that drug abusers are hypersensitive to signals of positive reward. Accordingly, because the forgone payoffs of risky high‐variability options include rewarding outcomes, this may create a distraction and lead drug abusers to make more risky choices. In a controlled experiment, we examined the behavior of high‐functioning drug abusers and healthy controls using the Iowa gambling task. The results showed that in a forgone payoff condition, drug abusers made more risky choices. The results demonstrate that adding information about forgone payoffs can be useful for studying individual differences, and that studying individual differences can be valuable in evaluating the effects of forgone payoffs. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

高三学生生涯未决的类型研究

生涯未决是生涯决策研究的一个重要问题。本文通过生涯决策困难和职业认同等测量工具调查了300名高中生,试图探讨生涯未决的类型。采用聚类分析,结果发现了5类未决类型:不知所措型、犹豫不决型、不良信念型、动机不足型、应对良好型。对总体决策困难和职业认同的差异检验证实了这五种类型。     

短暂性脑缺血发作临床定义更新与临床决策

短暂性脑缺血发作(TIA)在临床上是一种即将发生卒中的紧急先兆,俗称“中风警报”。对其定义的内容一直存在较大的争议。但近年来随着神经影像学技术的不断发展及临床认识水平的提高,TIA临床定义的内容逐步趋于完善,对临床更加科学合理地处理该病具有十分重要的临床意义。