Culture in the context of intercultural negotiation.

This study explores culture's effect on behaviors and outcomes in intercultural negotiation and examines how those effects are moderated by role. Eighty U.S. and international students took part in a previously developed negotiation task (Pruitt, 1981) and completed Hui and Triandis's (1986) individualism‐collectivism (INDCOL) scale. Negotiation interactions were coded for information sharing, offers, and distributive tactics. Findings show that a negotiation dyad's collectivism is positively associated with higher joint profit. The effects of culture on both communication behaviors and joint outcomes, however, differ by role of the negotiator. In particular, seller collectivism has larger and more consistent effects on communication behavior and joint profit than buyer collectivism. Results support a ‘culture in context’ perspective of negotiation that takes into account negotiator qualities, contextual and structural features of the negotiation, and mediating processes in addition to cultural values.     

THE CONTROL OF BIAS IN RATINGS: A THEORY OF RATING

Based on several years of research and a careful analysis of the rating process Wherry developed a theory of rating. An accurate rating is seen as being a function of three major components: Performance of the ratee, observation of that performance by the rater, and the recall of those observations by the rater. Cast in a mold of classical psychometric theory each of these components is seen as consisting of a systematic portion and a random portion. The systematic portion of each component is further broken down. The performance of the ratee is a combination of true ability or aptitude for the job and the influence of the environment. What the rater observes is a function the performance of the ratee and bias of observation and what the rater recalls is a result of those observations combined with a bias of recall. The development of the theory of rating unfolds by defining the various factors that affect each of these components in a series of linear equations. Various theorems and corollaries are proposed which should lead to a maximization of the true ability component of the ratee and minimize environmental influence and the bias and error components. The theorems and corollaries suggest testable hypotheses for the researcher in performance evaluation.     

Psychological vulnerabilities in patients with major depression vs panic disorder

The tripartite model (Clark & Watson, 1991: Clark, L. A., & Watson, D. (1991). Tripartite model of anxiety and depression: Psychometric evidence and taxonomic implications. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 100, 316-336) posits that anxiety and depression share nonspecific features of neuroticism but that somatic arousal appears unique to anxiety, and low positive affect appears unique to depression. The present study controlled for these higher-order effects and evaluated the relative contributions of four, specific lower-order vulnerabilities (anxiety sensitivity, rumination, self-criticism, self-oriented perfectionism). Participants were 38 depressed patients and 38 patients with panic disorder matched as closely as possible for age and gender, and all were diagnosed using the same structured interview by an experienced clinician. Results from hierarchical logistic regression analysis were consistent with predictions from the tripartite model in that only the unique features of arousal and positive affectivity differentiated the two diagnostic groups. At a lower-order level, only anxiety sensitivity (and its facet of fear of physical symptoms) and a ruminative response style demonstrated incremental predictive ability. The discussion focuses on the relationships among these higher-order and lower-order variables, and their potential importance for understanding specific manifestations of psychopathology.     

A WORKER MOTIVATION SCALE

A 70 item questionnaire was constructed using the rationale of several current value/expectancy theories of motivation and the results of two prior factor analyses of motivation items. It was completed anonymously by 240 employed adults in 35 organizations and the resulting factor analysis yielded a hierarchical structure of motivation and eight reliable subscales. Direct and indirect criterion measures also obtained via the questionnaire and covering job characteristics/components; satisfaction (need) levels for n ach, n affil, n power ; the four elements of Heider's attribution theory of motivation; and salary, education and job classification were used to validate the subscales. Support for the criteria was found and promising validities were indicated. Lastly, personal, job and organizational variables were included with the motivation subscales and criteria in a subsequent factor analysis to examine moderator effects of the obtained validities. Results are discussed in terms of motivation theories, validities, moderator effects in study designs, and future use of the questionnaire by other researchers with business-industrial samples.     

Autoeroticism,sexual satisfaction,and sexual adjustment among university females: Past and current patterns

A review of the research literature reveals a general paucity of rigorous scientific analyses of masturbatory behavior in adult females. The availability of a data base from a pilot study concerned with self‐perceptions of the orgasmic response during masturbation and sexual intercourse has provided the opportunity to investigate the role of masturbation in the sexual repertoire of university female students. This data base also permitted an assessment of what differences, if any, exist among those respondents who are currently masturbating, have masturbated but not currently masturbating, and have never masturbated.

Questionnaire data were obtained from 512 never‐married, female university students enrolled in lower and upper division courses in anthropology, biology, psychology, and sociology. Respondents in the currently masturbating group were more likely to have experienced their first orgasm via masturbation, to have had greater success in achieving orgasm via masturbation, and to enjoy masturbating alone more when contrasted with the not currently masturbating group. Other findings suggest that masturbating to orgasm serves as an enhancement and/or supplement to sexual intercourse. The currently masturbating respondents were more likely to have experienced sexual intercourse and those who had experienced sexual intercourse reported a greater number of sex partners than those respondents in the never masturbated group. Finally, no statistically significant differences were found in sexual adjustment, using self‐evaluations of physiological satisfaction and psychological satisfaction, between the three respondent groups.