Locus of control,choice, and satisfaction with an assigned task

P. E. Spector's (1982, Psychological Bulletin, 91, 482–497) hypothesis that under conditions of freedom of choice persons characterized by an internal locus of control will experience greater satisfaction with an undesirable task than persons characterized by an external locus of control is considered in light of distinctions between perceived control and perceived choice. Perceived choice is proposed as an intervening variable implicit in Spector's argument. This reasoning was tested with 46 male and female college student participants in a 2 (Choice) × 2 (Locus of Control) factorial design experiment. An interaction of Choice × Locus of Control on task satisfaction was obtained such that internals tended to be more satisfied when given a choice while externals experienced greater satisfaction when not given a choice. The implications of this result for Spector' hypothesis and for the manner in which undesirable work is assigned are discussed.     

The future of Rorschach in personality assessment

This article considers the Rorschach and its prospects for the next century in the context of two broad issues in psychology, as well as some test specific challenges confronting those interested in the Rorschach and its applications. The broad issues are the matters of personality as a topic of study in psychology, and the relation of findings about personality to treatment planning. The specific issues concern the definition of the Rorschach, research about the test stimuli, and the expansion of information concerning the interpretive usefulness of some structural variables that are poorly conceptualized or for which interpretation may be overly generalized. Some recommendations concerning collaborative research efforts are also offered.     

Perceived fairness of biodata as a function of the purpose of the request for information and gender of the applicant

Using a 2×2 experimental design and data from 86 business students, the present study examined the main and interactive effects of the purpose of the request (personnel selection vs. career tracking), and applicant gender (male vs. female) on the perceived fairness of biodata. Results revealed a significant main effect for purpose and a purpose x gender interaction. Implications for the collection of biodata in the personnel selection process are discussed.     

Damage: Trauma and violence in a sample of women referred to a forensic service

Although there is evidence of a link between experienced trauma and later violence, most discussion of the long-term effects of trauma do no examine aggression and violence in any detail. This article presents a pilot study of 16 women referred to the department of Forensic Psychiatry at St George's Hospital, between 1987 and 1993. The cases were selected at random, although most were known personally to the author. The study attempts to draw out the links among sexual abuse in childhood, deliberate self-harm, dangerous behavior, and specifically danger to health care professionals. The concept of complex posttraumatic stress disorder is discussed in relation to both a history of sexual and physical abuse in childhood and later dangerous behavior.     

‘Outdoing Lewis Carroll’: Judicial Rhetoric and Acceptable Fictions

This paper examines the functions of narrative within legal argumentation. My purposes are these: 1) to repudiate common assumptions that differentiate argumentation and storytelling in the law; 2) to begin to theorize anew how legal argumentation functions; 3) to explore the difficulties of evaluating the law's argumentative narratives; and 4) to trace some of the anxiety that judges themselves reveal about their roles as storytellers. I conclude that narrative is necessary to law's claims to authority, even as it complicates our understandings about how legislative policy decisions produce effects, and even as judges themselves seek to mask its importance.     

The temporal stability of some Rorschach features

One hundred nonpatient adults, screened for evidence of personality disorganization, were retested after a three-year interval to study the temporal consistency of the Rorschach. In general, the correlational analysis for 19 basic variables studied, and a directionality analysis for five ratios, illustrate a considerable sturdiness over time. It is postulated that these variables can be separated into situational related indices (state variables), and more stable scores indicative of durable response styles (trait variables), based on the assumption that variables with lower correlations would identify state variables, while the higher correlations would signify the trait features. Nine of the 19 variables yield retest correlations in excess of.