Occupational conditions and workers' sense of community: Variations by gender and race

The literature is reviewed to define a sense of community in the workplace and to identify factors that may foster it. A model is developed and estimated with survey data from a culturally diverse sample of men and women performing lower-level jobs at a medium-sized manufacturing firm. Results of regression analyses are reported that correct for sample selection bias resulting from the lower response rates of minority workers. Findings suggest that well-designed jobs and supportive workplace relationships and policies are important in explaining workers' sense of community, defined as workers' perceptions of mutual commitment between employee and employer. Informal sources of support play a larger role in explaining men's sense of community, while formal sources of support are more important in explaining women's sense of community. Findings further suggest that African American workers, especially women, have a difficult time experiencing a sense of community at work. The authors thank the employees of Fel-Pro for their participation in this study and Melissa Roderick, Michael Sosin, and anonymous reviewers for their thoughtful comments. This research was funded by the Fel-Pro/Mecklenberger Foundation and the Lois and Samuel Silberman Fund.     

Parallel short forms of the family of origin scale: Evidence of their reliability and validity

Two parallel short forms of the Family of Origin Scale were developed from data provided by 69 women and 63 men who completed the full Family of Origin Scale along with a variety of measures of family-of-origin characteristics. Data on the reliability and validity of the short forms are provided and discussed. The results indicate that both short forms are strongly and significantly correlated with each other and with the full-scale version of the FOS and that they share its reliability and validity characteristics to a very high degree.     

Woman and the gift of reason

An incidental extension of the central domain of argumentation theory with non-classical ways of constructing arguments seems to automatically raise a question that is otherwise rarely posed, namely whether or not it is useful to consider the sex of the arguer. This question is usually posed with regard to argumentation by women in particular. Do women rely more, or differently than men do on non-canonical modes of reasoning stemming from the realm of the emotional, physical and intuitive, instead of the logical? One may simply refer this question to folk-linguistics. One may also take the question seriously, given the findings on women's linguistic behaviour, and for various other reasons that will be explained below.Section 1 sums up the most frequently quoted differences in language use between women and men. This is followed by a non-exhaustive, interdisciplinary review of studies on male/female differences in verbal and written argumentation.Section 2 discusses the role of language and texts in generating and maintaining ideas on gender. These gender messages not only influence the actual argumentation behaviour of women and men, but also the way such behaviour is valued.Section 3 subsequently shows that our ideas on rationality are gendered, and therefore also our ideas on the proper central domain of argumentation theory.Section 4 briefly reflects on why this kind of wrong question about the reasoning of women should sometimes be addressed seriously anyway.     

Toward culturally sensitive intervention with arab families in Israel

Over the past three decades, Arab society in Israel has been undergoing processes of transition. These processes are manifested by changes in the economy, education, the status of women, family structure, and by socio-cultural changes and transformations in patterns of coping with social problems. There is a serious lack of empirical research on the implications of this process for the value systems of Arab society and families in Israel and a dearth of relevant intervention-oriented literature. This article outlines the basic cultural values in the Arab society in Israel in an attempt to illuminate the relevance of these values for family structure and for direct interventions with Arab families in Israel.     

Primary health care for women: What is it and who provides it?

Recent federal policy has highlighted historically underrecognized women's health issues. Women comprise the majority of the population, especially the elderly. Women's health care needs, utilization patterns, and outcomes vary from those of men, and often among each other. Primary health care services for women are multidisciplinary and emphasize prevention, education, and early intervention as well as treatment. Psychologists and other primary health care providers can collaborate to provide their services in a cost-effective manner that optimizes quality of care and comprehensive health care.     

Self-concept of African-American male youth: Self-esteem and ethnic identity

The role of perceived efficacy, parent support, and community involvement in the self-esteem and ethnic identity of 68 African-American male youth were investigated in this research. The results provided support for the distinctiveness of ethnic identity and self-esteem. A sense of mastery was positively associated with both self-esteem and ethnic identity. Parent support was associated with self-esteem, while community involvement and an appreciation of African-American heritage were positively related to ethnic identity. Implications for future research and the evaluation of prevention and support programs for youth are discussed.     

New directions for the education of clinical psychologists: The primary care setting,the VA's PRIME program,and the in-depth generalist model

As part of this special issue on psychology in primary care settings, we describe the Department of Veterans Affairs' (VA's) new approach to education for practice in the primary care setting and we concurrently address some general issues related to the education of clinical psychologists for practice in this setting. In this article we argue that the primary care psychologist, in parallel with the generalist in medicine, must have a strong generic background in clinical psychology in order to gain the broad range of clinical skills necessary to function effectively as an in-depth generalist (IDG) who is capable of addressing the variety of psychological issues that emerge in the primary care setting. The IDG model of professional practice, which we believe is best suited for primary care/managed care settings, requires extensive training in generic clinical skills and increased time devoted to its implementation at both the predoctoral and the postdoctoral levels.     

Psychological and educational characteristics of instruction for people with severe disabilities: Interacting systems of responding

This paper presents a behavioral model which proposes that operants are organized and regulated into systems of responding. Multi-operant theory proposes that operants are organized into response systems that interact to adapt behavior to the complexities of the environment. The operant is the interaction between behavior and the environment which includes the conditions under which responses may occur, the class of behavior that is likely to be effective in producing outcomes, and the antecedent conditions that define the context of behavior. A central feature of this theory is that operants within a repertoire are organized into regulated systems of responding. The mechanisms of regulation are themselves operants that are learned and controlled by processes that are the same as those that govern more overt behavior. Operants stand in relationship to each other in coordinated response systems with some operants directly affecting and organizing the performance of other operants. An important implication of the systemic nature of behavioral repertoires is that bringing some aspect of a behavior class under control of new variables may demonstrate a spread throughout the entire operant system depending on past histories linking the classes.deceased     

Trustworthy research—An editorial introduction

She is guest editor for this special issue ofScience and Engineering Ethics on “Trustworthy Research”.     

教师评分用语词义赋值特征的分析

本研究运用模糊统计试验方法对教师的六组定性的评分用语词 (符号 )进行了经验赋值。参加赋值的是 2 66名小学教师。结果表明 ,六组评分用语词 (符号 )都是模糊概念 ,其中每种评分方式中处于最高等级的词 (符号 )的模糊度最小 ,处于中间等级的词 (符号 )的模糊度居中 ,处于最低等级的词 (符号 )的模糊度最大。词 (符号 )义的模糊度与评价的把握度呈现负相关 ,即词 (符号 )义越具体 ,模糊度越小 ,赋值的把握度就越大 ;反之 ,词义越含混 ,模糊度越大 ,赋值的把握度就越小。教师对各种评分用语词 (符号 )的赋值受百分制的“及格—不及格”的划分的影响 ,受评分方式中等级数目的影响 ,即增加评分等级会减少评分用语词 (符号 )的模糊度 ,增加赋值的把握度 ,还受评分用语词 (符号 )本身数量特征的影响。在各种评分方式中 ,评语词 (符号 )在心理量表上的距离是不等的。本研究的结果对教育评价的实践具有一定的参考价值。