Work involvement among college-educated women: A methodological extension

This paper has two objectives: (1) to develop a more complex measure of work involvement than that typically used, and (2) to correlate this measure with selected lifestyle/family and work variables. The data were drawn primarily from a 1981 survey of 110 female graduates of a large Midwestern university who completed their undergraduate degrees in 1967. Respondents were categorized as high, moderate, or low on a work involvement index based on four variables: work continuity, work status, current or most recent occupation, and educational achievement. Findings in the area of lifestyle/family suggest that high work-involved women are more likely to be single and to marry later when they do marry, less likely to have children, and less likely to perceive conflicts between marriage/relationships and/or children and a career. Findings in the area of work suggest that high work-involved women are significantly more likely to work in male-dominated occupations and to earn salaries of $20,000 or more. High work-involved women are also significantly more likely to be supervisors, to report that most of the people in their work group or branch are below them in rank/position, to be working with all or predominantly men, to have men above them in rank, and to have experienced sex discrimination on the job. In the area of job satisfaction, the differences by work involvement are not as pronounced. High work-involved women are significantly more likely to be employed and not job hunting — one measure of job satisfaction. However, they are no more or less likely than moderate or low work-involved women to perceive their job as a compromise with what they expected or to report overall job satisfaction. Some directions for future research are discussed.Environmental Strategies, Inc.Preparation of this report was supported, in part, by the Providence College Fund to Aid Faculty Research. Thanks are due to the staff of The Henry A. Murray Research Center of Radcliffe College for access to the 1970 questionnaires, to Sharon R. Jenkins for data processing consultation, and to the anonymous reviewers for their helpful suggestions.     

Context-dependent variation in social stereotyping 1: The effects of intergroup relations as mediated by social change and frame of reference

During the 1990-1991 Persian Gulf conflict an experiment was conducted with Australian university students (N = 200) to investigate whether the social stereotyping of Americans varied with social contextual manipulations related to the hostilities. The study, conducted in two phases at the start and end of the conflict, examined how the assignment of standard stereotypical traits to Americans was affected (a) by the large-scale social change constituted by the war and (b) by variation in the frame of reference provided by relevant comparison groups. The elicited stereotypes were sensitive to both of these contextual variables, demonstrating significant variation and fluidity. Overall, stereotypes of Americans were relatively negative. They were significantly more negative (a) at the end of the war than at the beginning in the restricted frame (when Australia and Britain were comparison groups) and (b) in the first phase of the conflict when the frame was extended to include Iraq as a comparison group. The findings were in line with expectations derived from self-categorization theory (Turner, 1985) that the social categorization of self and other into ingroup and outgroup is inherently variable, comparative and context-dependent. They question the long-held view of stereotypes as fixed, rigid and resistant to change.     

Gender and temporal differences in identifying sources of stress

Much of the methodology in stress research focuses on stress manifestation and organismic reactions to life’s crises. In contrast, the present study sought to identify the major sources of stress and the nature of those sources. The results revealed a consistent pattern in high and low stressors throughout the 3-year period of the study, and differences only of intensity between males and females, not type of stress. Except for individuals’ temporal variations in critical events, the highest stressors for the groups were external, primarily financial and time management. Internal sources, such as personal relationships and self-absorption, were typically the lowest concerns. Everyday problems arising from current life styles seem to be significant sources of stress.     

The psychological present

The present paper compares behavior-analytic and cognitive treatments of the concept of psychological history with regard to its role in current action. Both treatments take the position that the past bears some responsibility for the present, and are thereby obligated to find a means of actualizing the past in the present. Both do so by arguing that the past is brought to bear in the present via the organism. Although the arguments of the two positions differ on this issue, neither provides a complete account. An unconventional treatment of psychological history is proposed, the logic of which is exemplified in anthropological, biological, and psychological perspectives. The unconventional treatment in psychological perspective holds that (a) the organism's interaction with its environment, not the organism itself, changes with experience; and (b) the past interactions of an organism exist as, and only as, the present interactions of that organism. This solution to the problem of psychological history provides obligations and opportunities for analysis that are not available when the more conventional positions of cognitivism and behavior analysis are adopted.     

Mentalism, behavior-behavior relations, and a behavior-analytic view of the purposes of science

In a behavioral view, the purposes of science are primarily prediction and control. To the extent that a scientist embraces both of these as a unified and generally applicable criterion for science, certain philosophical and theoretical practices are counterproductive, including mentalism in both its metaphysical and metatheoretical forms. It is possible and often worthwhile to recast some mentalistic talk into an issue of behavior-behavior relations. When behavior-behavior relations are approached non-mechanistically, however, analysis cannot stop at the level of the relations themselves. Several analytic concepts common in the behavioral community share some of the dangers of mentalism if not employed properly, including such concepts as self-reinforcement, response-produced stimulation, and self-rules.     

Generalization of treatment effects in training public speakers

Three studies compared the efficacy of various treatments for public-speaking incompetence. These effects were evaluated for the target behavior as well as for generalization effects across situations (conversations), settings (different sizes and types of audiences) and time (6-month follow-up). The first study showed that Self-instructional Training, either alone or in combination with other procedures, produced little or no benefits. The second study demonstrated the superiority of a Skills Training program over flooding therapy, while the final study failed to detect any enhancement of treatment benefits for the addition of home-practice to the Skills Training. In the first two studies generalization occurred across the three dimensions (settings, situations and time), while in the final study it was shown that the program was effective for a clinical population as well as recruited volunteers.