Nonstandard career paths and profiles of commitment to life roles: A complex relation

The career paths (ascending, interesting, uninteresting, descending) of 124 White Canadian francophones (62 men, 62 women) who had experienced nonstandard and precarious work for the last three years were examined in relation to the participants’ profiles of commitment to three life roles (work, family, and duality, that is, investment in both career and family). The paths were derived from the content analysis of the data collected through semi-structured individual interviews. Quantitative tools were used to assess the importance of life roles and to compare the career paths as well as the commitment profiles with respect to specific and general anxiety. Among other results, a significant relationship was found between unsatisfying career paths and the duality profile, on the one hand, and higher levels of specific and general anxiety, on the other. The results are discussed with respect to the scientific literature. Implications for career counseling are suggested.     

Measuring organisational climate and employee engagement: Evidence for a 7 Ps model of work practices and outcomes

This study presents evidence supporting the psychometric properties of the Voice Climate Survey: an employee opinion survey that measures work practices and outcomes. The tool is tested across 13,729 employees from 1,279 business units representing approximately 1,000 organisations. Exploratory factor analyses, confirmatory factor analyses and internal reliability analyses support 31 lower‐order work practices and outcomes that aggregate into seven higher‐order work systems broadly covering practices and outcomes such as organisational direction, ethics, resources, involvement, recognition, development, teamwork, wellness, work/life balance, change management, customer satisfaction, job satisfaction, organisational commitment and employees' intention to stay. External validation of the tool is demonstrated by linking scores from the employee survey with independent manager reports of turnover, absenteeism, productivity, health and safety, goal attainment, financial performance, change management, innovation and customer satisfaction.     

Good vibrations: Analytic process as coupled oscillations

This paper develops a new model for the action of psychoanalysis based on concepts from non-linear dynamics (chaos theory and complexity theory). It shows that the analyst–analysand couple may be conceptualized as a new configuration with its own properties that promote complex development in both members of the couple. These developments are an emergent result of the formation of the analyst–analysand couple and are significantly independent of the particular content of the manifest interaction of the couple. The well-studied phenomena of coupled oscillators suggest the specific features of the analysand–analyst interaction that are likely to be most important in conceptualizing analytic change. The model has substantial clinical applications since efforts to arrange for a coupled oscillator system that is central to it are distinct from many of the traditional considerations associated with creating an analytic situation.     

Multiple Psychological Senses of Community in Afghan Context: Exploring Commitment and Sacrifice in an Underground Resistance Community

The study of positive outcomes associated with strong psychological sense of community (PSOC) has grown worldwide. Yet most research explores PSOC as a uni-dimensional (positive) variable operating in a single referent community. Theoretical and empirical literature has suggested, however, that PSOC can be positive, neutral or negative (Brodsky in J Commun Psychol 24(4):347–363, 1996; Brodsky et al. in Psychological sense of community: Research, applications and implications. Kluwer, New York 2002) and since people live in multiple physical and relational communities, there may be multiple PSOCs (M-PSOC) operating simultaneously and interactively (Brodsky and Marx in J Commun Psychol 29(2):1–18, 2001). This paper explores the operation of M-PSOC in the lives of Afghan women, and male supporters, who belonged to a resistance organization before, during and after the Taliban regime. Decisions to join and stay in this community can be explained, in part, through the differentiation of positive, organizational-level PSOC from negative, macro-community-level PSOC. In addition, M-PSOC suggests unique cultural meanings of the terms “community” and “choice.” Findings have implications for cross-cultural community work and for fostering resilient sub-communities in the face of macro and societal-level risks and oppression.     

Imagining the Future of Photoacoustic Mammography

How can a realistic ethical imagination about the future of a technology take shape? This article contains a reflection which is based on the experiences of an embedded ethicist in the context of biophysical research conducive to the development of photoacoustic mammography, which is intended for the non-invasive detection of breast cancer. Imagination in this context already informs the activities of the biophysical researchers, but its role is limited: biophysical future scenarios concentrate on the technological advances that photoacoustics could bring about. In this article it is argued that it is advisable to also consider the medical practice and the ways in which this practice is likely to change as an effect of the introduction of photoacoustic mammography into it. On the basis of this more encompassing imaginative endeavor it is possible to get a clearer idea about how new technologies are able to contribute to human well being, which is informative for the setting of research-goals/priorities and a responsible implementation of new technologies into the world.     

有关进化心理学局限性的理论思考

进化心理学是现代西方心理学的新取向之一。这一新取向吸引了众多的追随者,但是它自身的核心假设、方法论和认识论方面却存在着局限性。文章从三个方面分析了这种局限性：第一,进化心理学的核心假设是心理的模块性观点。依据这种观点,心灵由大量功能各异的心理模块组成,但是来自于心理学和生物学的研究都表明这种观点是缺乏科学依据的。第二,进化心理学从过去的角度理解现在,所依据的事实大多是推测性的,更多的是一种历史叙事,从方法论的角度来说,这种研究不具备可证伪性,不符合科学方法论的基本原则。第三,在认识论方面,进化心理学继承了社会生物学的传统,有意或无意地夸大了基因的作用,贬低了个体发展过程中其它因素,现代生命科学的研究已经证明了基因决定论的虚假性     

西方心理分离的研究回顾

近几十年来,家庭对儿童青少年心理发展的影响受到众多研究者的关注,国外家庭研究和治疗领域的许多研究者进行了大量有关心理分离的研究。心理分离即个体与家庭在心理上的分离并形成个体化的程度。文章从心理分离的界定、心理分离的理论背景（Mahler发展阶段理论、Bowen家庭系统理论）、心理分离的测量方法、心理分离研究现状这几方面对现有研究进行了综述,并做了简要评述,最后阐述了西方心理分离的研究对我国家庭研究与治疗的启示,并对未来的研究进行了展望     

新教师教育体制下本科心理学实验室建设的挑战与对策

随着基础教育课程改革的逐步深入,教师教育体制改革势在必行。面对教育界深刻的变革,高等师范院校本科心理学实验室的建设和发展正在面临历史上从未有过的挑战,一场实验观念、实验内容、实验设备、实验方法和实验管理上的大改革自然呼之欲出。     

科学隐喻的方法论意义

The essential significance of scientific metaphor lies in applying the general metaphorical theory to specific interpretations and elaborations of scientific theories to form a methodology of scientific explanation. It is a contextual grasp of objective reality. A given metaphorical context and its grasp of the essence of reality can only be valid when the context is continually restructured. Taking the context as a whole, the methodological characteristic of scientific metaphor lies in the unity of understanding and choice, experience and concepts, semantic structures and metaphorical domains, rationality and irrationality. As a form of thinking based on reasons, scientific metaphor plays an important role in invention, representation, explanation, evaluation, and communication. Translated by Liu Yiyu from Zhongguo Shehui Kexue 中国社会科学 (Social Sciences in China), 2004, (2): 92–101