On the archetypes in information systems development: An exploration

In this paper I examine possible archetypes that embody the role that systems analyst play in different models of systems development and briefly review attendant epistemological and ontological assumptions.     

In their humble opinion: How expressions of humility affect superiors’ assessments of leadership potential in the US Army

While leader humility has been linked to a number of positive outcomes, existing research speculates that expressions of humility may not be viewed positively in organizations with a highly directive or masculine culture – such as the military. Research has also suggested that men and women may be perceived differently when behaving humbly. A combination of four studies revealed that military superiors do take a positive view of humble behaviors in their subordinates, but it is not clear that humble leaders are viewed as having more potential than those who exhibit other positive leadership behaviors. Further, it appears that gender and humility interact to affect perceptions of leadership potential in the military, with humble men receiving more benefit from acting humbly than their female counterparts.     

Marital role strain,illness intrusiveness,and their impact on marital and individual adjustment in end-stage renal disease

Abstract

A marital role theory approach was used to investigate individual psychosocial well-being and marital adjustment in 89 end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients and their spouses. Four different patient groups were selected according to a continuum of clinical milestones in the treatment of ESRD, including pre-dialysis (n=17), incenter dialysis (n=18), home dialysis (n=19), and posttransplant patients (n=17). A nephrology clinic control group (n=18) was also included. Standardized instruments were employed to investigate marital role strain (Marital Role Questionnaire, KDS-15), marital adjustment (Locke-Wallace Marital Adjustment Test), subjective well-being (Affect Balance Scale, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Inventory), and psychopathology (Symptom Checklist 90-R). Hierarchical multiple regression analyses provided strong and consistent support for the major hypotheses relating elevated marital role strain to compromised marital adjustment and individual well-being. Further analyses demonstrated that increased perceived intrusiveness of ESRD was significantly related to greater marital role strain, poorer marital adjustment, and decreased individual well-being. This is consistent with the idea that perceived intrusiveness may be an important mediator of marital role strain and of coping with chronic illness. “Objective” intrusiveness, defined in terms of patient group, was not significantly related to marital or individual well-being. These findings support a dyadic approach to the psychosocial study of chronic illness.     

Social support and cardiovascular responding to laboratory stress: Moderating effects of gender role identification,sex, and type of support

The objective of the present study was to examine moderating effects of gender role identification, sex, and type of support on the buffering role of social support on cardiovascular responses. We hypothesized that (a) gender role identification, more than sex, would moderate the effect of social support and (b) to obtain optimal attenuating effects of social support, type of support provided should match type of support preferred in terms of one's gender role identification. That is, feminine participants would benefit more from relatively direct support, whereas masculine participants would benefit more from indirect support. Healthy participants (N = 100) performed a psychological stressor in the presence of a friend, after mental activation of a friend, or alone. Results revealed no moderating effects of gender role identification whether or not in combination with type of support. Nevertheless, results demonstrated an attenuating effect of mental support on heart rate and cardiac output in men. It is concluded that pathways linking social relationships and health may differ between women and men.     

The Changing Role of Fatherhood: The Father as a Provider of Selfobject Functions

Fatherhood is evolving. The way that men carry out their paternal role is reflective of the historical time era in which they live, social and cultural forces, both the mother and the father's expectations for fathering behaviors, as well as the father's own innate capabilities, wishes, and desires. Fatherhood is also greatly influenced by men's relationships with their own fathers, the quality of that relationship, and the extent to which the father was emotionally available. The ever-changing role of fathers has been a challenge for the psychoanalytic literature. There is no comprehensive theoretical body of knowledge about fatherhood that takes into account the changing nature of fathering, especially considering men's desires to be emotionally responsive and nurturing parents. This article examines the changing role of the father and suggests a model of paternal involvement that expands the nurturing and available father role to include the father as a selfobject. It discusses the importance of understanding men's relationships with their fathers, a central dynamic in shaping fathers’ involvement with their children. The residual impact of paternal deprivation is explored, followed by two clinical vignettes that symbolize the search for missing selfobject functions. This article concludes by outlining clinical implications and questions to pose to assess the selfobject relationship with one's father.     

Social skills and sex‐role functioning in borderline personality disorder: relationship to self‐mutilating behavior

This study compared the social skills functioning and sex role affiliation of female inpatients diagnosed with borderline personality disorder who engaged in self‐mutilating behavior (n?=?30) with female patients with borderline personality disorder who did not engage in such behavior (n?=?18). Patients with borderline personality disorder who engaged in self‐mutilating behavior were found to have relatively poorer skills in communicating non‐verbal emotional information to others and in receiving and interpreting such information from others. In terms of sex role orientation, patients who engaged in self‐mutilating behavior were significantly more likely than non‐mutilators to be typed as undifferentiated using the Bem Sex Role Inventory. These participants were less likely to identify with either masculine or feminine sex roles. Patients who did not self‐mutilate were found to be significantly more likely than those who did self‐mutilate to identify with the masculine sex role.     

The role of illness perceptions in the attachment-related process of affect regulation

Abstract

Based on the predictions of the attachment theory and the Common Sense Model of illness perceptions, the current study focused on the role played by illness perceptions in explaining the path linking attachment orientations to negative affect during recovery from cardiac illness. We predicted two putative mechanisms: (1) illness perceptions would mediate the direct association between attachment-related insecurity (especially attachment anxiety) and levels of distress at follow-up and (2) illness perceptions would interact with attachment orientations (attachment avoidance in particular) in explaining patients' distress. The sample consisted of 111 male patients admitted to the Cardiac Care Unit of the Meir Medical Center, located in the central region of Israel. Patients completed a measure of attachment orientations during hospitalization (baseline). One month later, patients' illness perceptions were measured. Patients' depression and anxiety symptoms were measured at baseline and at the six-month follow-up. The associations between attachment-related anxiety and anxiety symptoms at follow-up were fully mediated by illness perceptions. Attachment-related avoidance was found to interact with illness perceptions in the prediction of depressive symptoms at follow-up. The findings shed light on the possible dynamics among personality, cognitive appraisals, and affect regulation efforts when coping with illness.     

Do You See What I See? The Influence of Gender Stereotypes on Student and Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Perceptions of Violent Same-Sex and Opposite-Sex Relationships

ABSTRACT

Forty-one men and 67 women undergraduate students, as well as 35 men and 27 women Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officers, rated the abusiveness of intimate partner violence (IPV) vignettes portraying each possible gender combination of victim and perpetrator (Harris &; Cook, 1994 Harris, R. J. and Cook, C. A. 1994. Attributions about spouse abuse: It matters who the batterers and victims are. Sex Roles, 30: 553–565. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). Rating differences according to victim and perpetrator gender, occupation (student or RCMP officer), and participant gender were anticipated. Analyses found that student and RCMP ratings of abuse severity were both highest for the male-female scenario. However, the RCMP considered the female-male, male-male, and female-female scenarios to be more abusive than did the students. Our findings suggest that, while the RCMP appeared to be more sensitive to male and same-sex victims than students, both groups remain somewhat biased.     

Infant perception of static two-dimensional transparency information

The present habituation – dishabituation study focused on infants' perception of static two-dimensional transparency displays. Infants 4 and 8 months of age were habituated to a transparency display. In this stimulus, each corner of a semi-transparent square surface covered a quadrant of a circle. During the posthabituation period, the infants were presented with the semi-transparent square overlay from the habituation display and a (non-transparent) square area cut out of the habituation stimulus. The 8-month-olds looked significantly longer at the non-transparent surface, meaning that they apparently recognized the other test pattern as the semi-transparent filter they had also seen during the habituation trials, and that they regarded the non-transparent test target as being novel. In contrast, the younger participants did not exhibit a novelty preference during the posthabituation trials. Control conditions tested the impact of spontaneous stimulus preferences on the results. The findings are discussed within the framework of infant pictorial depth perception. They provide further evidence for the hypothesis that infants' sensitivity to pictorial depth cues emerges between 4 – 5 and 7 – 8 months of life.