Oh death,where is thy sting? Reflections on dealing with dying patients

This paper examines the reactions of physicians and other health-professionals when they become involved in decisions about the death of their patients. The way people understand the condition of death has a profound influence on attitudes towards death and dying issues. Four traditional views of death are explored. The problem that physicians have in helping patients die (be it by hastening death through pain control, assisting patients in suicide or by more active means) is analyzed. Physicians, in dealing with such patients, must be mindful of their own, and their patients beliefs as well as mindful of the community in which such dying takes place. They must try to reconcile these often divergent views but can neither paternalistically deny patients their rational will, hide themselves behind an appeal to the law or go against their own deeply held moral views. When such views cannot be reconciled, compassionate transfer to a more compatible physician may be necessary.     

Adorable woman,expert man: Changing gender images of women and men in management

In the past, leadership was perceived to be the special province of males and still females tend not to occupy top management positions. Traditional social stereotypes hold that a leader needs to have typical masculine characteristics: he needs to be competitive, aggressive, tough and successful. Due to important changes in the conception of the societal female and male gender role during the last decades it can be assumed that the classical sex role stereotypes have at least become less polarized. Obituaries concerning deceased male and female managers, published in the years 1974, 1980 and 1986 in four daily newspapers were content analysed. Terms used to describe the managers were classified into 53 categories and included in a correspondence analysis. The results show that images of male and female managers were dissimilar in 1974 and 1980 and were still different in 1986. Male managers were perceived as intelligent, knowledgeable, experienced, outstanding instructors, unselfish opinion-leaders with an enviable entrepreneurial spirit. Women, on the other hand, were described as adorable, likeable superiors in 1974 and 1980. Some years later, in 1986, they became fighting managers: their surviving colleagues described them as courageous, highly committed workers who, nevertheless are still lacking in knowledge and expertise.     

Ear asymmetries in dichotic listening tasks which increase in difficulty

Accuracy and laterality of ear preference in repeating 2, 3 and 4 word pairs (WP) of dichotic stimuli in English and French were determined in 80 right-handed subjects (anglophone/francophone, male/female), who were tested in both their native language (L1) and nonnative language (L2). Relative performance accuracy decreased as a function of word pairs per trial (from 2 to 4) as well as language (from L1 to L2). Right-lateral preference in turn increased as a function of WP (from 2 to 4) as well as language (L1 to L2). Right-ear advantage (REA) in L2 decreased as a function of language proficiency (low to high). REA was observed in over 90% of subjects. A rationale for greater lateralization of L2 performance is offered.     

The use of structured multi-domain job analysis for the construction of assessment center methods and procedures

This article addresses the defensibility of the assessment center based on a content oriented validation strategy. One reason for the confusion in this area is the fact that there are no agreed upon methods for constructing the assessment procedures. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to describe how structured multi-domain job analysis information can be used to develop an assessment center which is well grounded with regard to content validity.     

Der ästhetische Eindruck als Funktion der „objektiven“ und „phänomenalen“ Komplexität von Bildern

Zusammenfassung Es wird von der Annahme ausgegangen, daß die häufig gefundene verkehrt u-förmige Beziehung zwischen der objektiven Komplexität (syntaktischen Information) von Reizkonfigurationen und dem Grad des durch sie ausgelösten Wohlgefallens durch eine Variable phänomenale Komplexität vermittelt wird, die ihrerseits von der Schwierigkeit einer zentralen Codierung (kognitiven Repräsentation) der Reizgrundlage abhängt. Der Zusammenhang zwischen objektiver und phänomenaler Komplexität wird als verkehrt u-förmig, die Beziehung zwischen phänomenaler Komplexität und Wohlgefallen hingegen als monoton angenommen.Um den Grad der phänomenalen Komplexität zweidimensionaler visueller Bildmuster unabhängig von evaluativen Einflüssen schätzen zu können, wurde folgende Technik angewendet: Alle nach den Merkmalen Rasterfeinheit, Farbanzahl und Verteilung der Farbhäufigkeiten variierten konstruierten Rasterbilder wurden in standardisierte Einzelteile zerschnitten. Die Versuchspersonen erhielten die Aufgabe, jedes Bild nach Art eines Puzzles aus den Einzelteilen zu rekonstruieren. Als Indikator der phänomenalen Komplexität wurde die Rekonstruktionszeit herangezogen.Die gefundenen Beziehungen zwischen objektiver Komplexität, subjektiver Komplexität und Wohlgefallen entsprechen — zumindest im untersuchten Komplexitätsbereich — der oben angeführten Hypothese.

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The esthetic impression as a function of the objective and phenomenal complexity of pictures

Summary Previous studies frequently revealed an inverted u-shaped relation between objective complexity (syntactic information) and the degree of judged pleasingness of stimulus configurations. The study presented here rests on the hypothesis that this relation is mediated by a variable phenomenal complexity which depends on the difficulty of encoding the configuration perceptually. It is hypothesized that the relation between objective and phenomenal complexity is inverted u-shaped, whereas the relation between phenomenal complexity and pleasingness is monotonic.To get an estimate of the phenomenal complexity of two-dimensional visual patterns which is independent of evaluation effects the following technique was used: Each of the pattern was presented to the Ss in form of a puzzle and had to be reconstructed by aid of the original pattern. Patterns were generated on n × n-matrices with varying n, varying number of colors and varying distribution of color frequencies. As an indicator of phenomenal complexity the time needed to reconstruct the original pattern was used.The relations between objective complexity, phenomenal complexity and evaluation conformed quite well to the assumptions cited above — at least within the range of objective complexity investigated.

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Frau cand. phil. Andrea Werner danke ich für ihre wertvolle Hilfe bei der Durchführung und Auswertung der Versuche.     

An alternative procedure for analyzing job analysis results for content-oriented test development

Content-oriented test development requires information derived from a comprehensive job analysis. The job data typically consist of task and skill statements identified by subject matter experts. These statements characterize a target job and are then used to develop the test plan and item budget. The predominant practice for combining data from the task and job skill domains to facilitate preparation of a test plan and item budget is an impressionistic approach. This study reports variations and extensions of an alternative quantitative procedure for linking task and job skill data (Hughes & Prien, 1989) using results obtained in field studies. The results indicate that the procedure reported by Hughes and Prien (1989) yields consistent results. Also, modifications to the procedure result in more detailed solutions.Dr. Charles Lawshe graciously contributed three sets of job analysis data to this research project. Dr. Lawshe also provided a very thoughtful and cogent critique of our attempts to express these thoughts to a user audience and for this we are grateful.     

Taking an individualized approach to the assessment of self-efficacy and the prediction of alcoholic relapse

The present study reports on a clinical instrument designed for assessing self-efficacy in alcoholics. In contrast to studies that construct general measures, it was proposed that taking an individualized approach to assessment might offer an effective methodology. Thirty-four alcoholics in an outpatient, behaviorally oriented treatment program participated as subjects. During therapy, an Individualized Self-Efficacy Survey (ISS) was developed for each subject. The ISS was developed by (a) administering the Drinking Patterns Questionnaire (DPQ) to identify important problem areas (e.g., work, children, marital) and specific drinking antecedents and (b) constructing a 15-item scale using each drinker's most important cues. The utility of having clients choose their own items was supported by finding a significant relationship between problem areas identified as important on the DPQ and the areas reported as surrounding relapse. ISS ratings were reflective of efficacy changes during treatment, while posttreatment ISS scores were predictive of subsequent relapse. Situation-specific prediction of relapse was not found. The advantages of this methodology for clinical use are discussed, while general directions for future research are suggested.     

Of community,organs and obligations: Routine salvage with a twist

This paper makes the assumption that organ transplantation is, under some conditions at least, a proper use of communal medical resources. Proceeding from this assumption, the author: (1) sketches the history of the problem; (2) briefly examines the prevalent models of communal structure and offers an alternate version; (3) discusses notions of justice and obligation derived from these different models; (4) applies these to the practice of harvesting organs for transplantation; and then (5) offers a different process for harvesting organs from the newly dead. If community is viewed as united by a set of shred goals and common values among which the value of community itself is important, then certain reciprocal obligations among members obtain. I suggest that routine salvage of organs from the newly dead be instituted but that it be routine salvage “with a twist”: rather early in life all members of the community are given the opportunity to refuse but their refusal carries the reciprocal condition that they cannot later become the recipients of that which they refuse to others.     

Differential effects of identification with family and peers on coping with developmental tasks in adolescence

Adolescents from three Italian cities responded to a questionnaire concerning the particular peer-group with which they were associated and identification with their family, aspects of the process of coping with seven developmental tasks, and demographic characteristics. The participants were 1600 male and female teenagers, with a mean age of 16.28 years, who were approached at schools and various meeting places in three Italian cities. The study shows that effective coping with developmental tasks depends largely on the degree of identification with both family and peer-group. Those who identify with both social groupings show advantages in various critical situations. Adolescents only identifying with either family or peers get emotional and instrumental support from that group but not from the other, thus, they are supported in some critical situations but not in others. Adolescents who are unwilling or unable to identify with their family and/or their peers are less successful in managing the transition to adulthood than others who are close to their parents and peers. Consistent with the findings of previous studies, the type of group adolescents join, be it a formal group or an informal street group, has no significant effect on their coping strategies.