Toward an explanation of stage hypnosis.

Explains stage hypnosis by 8 principles which do not utilize the concept of hypnotic state or trance. To produce an amazing performance, stage hypnotists rely primarily on (a) the high base rate of waking suggestibility, (b) a highly selective procedure for screening Ss, (c) the heightened suggestibility that is produced when the situation is defined to Ss as hypnosis, and (d) important social-psychological variables that are present in the stage situation. In addition, some stage hypnotists at times use (e) the "stage whispers" technique (in which Ss are told privately, in whispers, to help make the demonstration a success); (f) the "failure to challenge" technique, where the audience is misled; (g) trained Ss to carry out the difficult stunts, and (h) 1 or more tricks, e.g., pressure on the carotid baroreceptors which produces stupor. (25 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Job insecurity and employability in fixed-term contractors, agency workers, and permanent workers: Associations with job satisfaction and affective organizational commitment.

This study investigates how job insecurity and employability relate to job satisfaction and affective organizational commitment in permanent workers, fixed-term contract workers, and temporary agency workers. The authors hypothesized that (a) job insecurity relates negatively to job satisfaction and affective organizational commitment, and this relationship is strongest in permanent workers and weakest in temporary agency workers; and that (b) employability relates positively to job satisfaction and negatively to affective organizational commitment, and this relationship is strongest in temporary agency workers and weakest in permanent workers. Hypotheses were tested in workers (permanent: n = 329; fixed term; n = 160; temporary agency: n = 89) from 23 Belgian organizations. The results show that job insecurity related negatively to the outcomes for permanent workers and temporary agency workers. This relationship was not significant for fixed-term contract workers. Employability related negatively to the outcomes for fixed-term contract workers and temporary agency workers, and this relationship was not significant for permanent workers. The 3 groups had different interpretations of what constitutes a stressor and about what signals a good employment relationship. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychophysiological reactions to telework in female and male white-collar workers.

Information technology has created greater flexibility and mobility for employees, such as teleworkers. However, research on stress and health is limited. This study investigated psychophysiological arousal in 26 highly educated white-collar workers (12 women and 14 men) while (a) working at the office, (b) working at home (telework), and (c) relaxing at home. Blood pressure was significantly higher during work at the office than when teleworking at home, and men had significantly elevated epinephrine levels in the evening after telework at home. It was assumed that the lower cardiovascular arousal during telework is due to different work tasks and that elevated epinephrine levels in men after telework are caused by continued work after normal working hours. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Ziggy theorem: Toward an outcomes-focused health psychology.

The purpose of health care is twofold: to make people live longer and to enhance quality of life in the years before death. These goals are consistent with a Ziggy cartoon that emphasized that the meaning of life was "doin' stuff." "Doin' stuff" requires being alive (survival) and having the capability to perform activities. These objectives are quantifiable and can be represented in indices that combine life expectancy with health-related quality of life. This article emphasizes patient-oriented outcomes as a focal point for health care. This outcomes orientation is referred to as the Ziggy theorem. Examples demonstrate that emphasis on patient-oriented outcomes may redirect conceptualizations of public health indicators and may change the way medical subspecialists make clinical decisions. Furthermore, the Ziggy Theorem may suggest new approaches to the allocation of public health resources. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Toward an explanation of cultural differences in in-group favoritism: The role of individual versus collective primacy.

Previous research conducted on a Western sample has shown that people are less apt to exhibit in-group favoritism when they perform well individually while their in-group performs poorly. The authors evaluated whether this finding would be moderated by the cultural dimension of individual–collective primacy, which refers to whether people give more weight to their personal interests rather than their in-group's interests when forced to choose between the two. The authors hypothesized that relative to their counterparts from the United States, participants from the People's Republic of China would have more of a collective-primacy orientation and therefore would exhibit more in-group favoritism when they performed well individually while their in-group performed poorly. The results supported the hypothesis. Implications for the literatures on in-group favoritism and cross-cultural differences are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

When cognitive exertion does not yield cognitive gain: Toward an informational explanation of learned helplessness.

This study tested a new information-processing explanation of learned helplessness that proposes that an uncontrollable situation produces helplessness symptoms because it is a source of inconsistent, self-contradictory task information during problem-solving attempts. The flow of such information makes hypothesis-testing activity futile. Prolonged and inefficient activity of this kind leads in turn to the emergence of a state of cognitive exhaustion, with accompanying performance deficits. In 3 experiments, Ss underwent informational helplessness training (IHT): They were sequentially exposed to inconsistent task information during discrimination problems. As predicted, IHT was associated with subjective symptoms of irreducible uncertainty and resulted in (a) performance deterioration on subsequent avoidance learning, (b) heightened negative mood, and (c) subjective symptoms of cognitive exhaustion. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Tuberculosis control in health care workers: an algorithmic approach

Health care workers have always been at risk for contracting tuberculosis (TB) from patients with active disease. In addition, health care workers who have active TB pose a risk for transmitting TB to patients. As a result, institutions that employ health care professionals must adopt programs to reduce the probability of transmission of TB to their employees or their patients. This article discusses the new guidelines for preventing TB issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and suggests approaches for adapting the guidelines to the needs of individual institutions. It emphasizes the importance of skin testing for early detection, correct interpretation of the tests, the approaches to determining who should be tested, and the relative frequency with which employees should be tested. It presents algorithms to assist employee health and infection control personnel in screening current and prospective employees, and in responding to positive and negative test results, and the booster effect.     

Tuberculosis control in health care workers: an algorithmic approach

Smooth muscle cells isolated from cecal circular smooth muscle of the guinea pig were used to determine whether thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) can inhibit the contractile response produced by 10(-6) M carbachol by exerting a direct action on muscle cells. In addition, the inhibitory effect of 2',5'-dideoxyadenosine (an inhibitor of adenylate cyclase), phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (an inhibitor of particulate guanylate cyclase), 6-anilinoquinoline-5,8-quinone (an inhibitor of nitric oxide synthase) on the TRH-induced relaxation of cecal circular smooth muscle cells was examined. TRH inhibited the contractile response produced by 10(-6) M carbachol in a concentration-dependent manner, with an IC50 value of 4 nM, 2',5'-Dideoxyadenosine and phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate did not have any significant effect on the TRH-induced relaxation. On the other hand, 6-anilinoquinoline-5,8-quinone and N omega-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester significantly inhibited the relaxation produced by TRH. Our findings show that TRH has a direct inhibitory effect on the isolated cecal circular smooth muscle cells via activation of nitric oxide synthase and soluble guanylate cyclase.     

Productivity among American psychologists: an explanation.

Discusses a probability model as a plausible explanation of the data on publication published by Dennis (see 29: 1865). Distributions of publication frequency closely follow an inverse relation between number of publications and an individual's rank in a list ordered by number of publications. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of dominance on group decision making: Toward a stress-reduction explanation of groupthink.

Investigated the effects of procedural guidelines for decision making and a personality trait (dominance) on state anxiety and decision quality. 112 undergraduate students who served as Ss were administered the EPPS to determine high or low dominance. Ss participated in 28 4-person, mixed-sex groups and were audiorecorded while they completed a group decision-making task. Results indicate that groups composed of highly dominant members made higher quality decisions, exhibited lower state anxiety, and took more time to reach a decision. They also tended to make more statements of disagreement and agreement and to report more group influence on the members. Results provide support for a stress-reduction explanation of I. L. Janis's (1972) "groupthink" hypothesis with respect to groups composed of either high- or low-dominance individuals. Despite the support of the groupthink hypothesis with respect to dominance, the manipulation of decision-making procedures affected only decision time. (10 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Toward implementation of an urban health agenda: the role of government

Government has several essential roles in the implementation of an urban health agenda. Government acts as a direct agent in the financing and delivery of services, as a rule maker for the financing and provision of care by others, and as a forum for political debate. Discussions of access to care, control of health care costs, and the maintenance of quality all include a role for government. A period of apparent rejection of comprehensive governmental health care policy has nevertheless included numerous examples of the persistence of government's many roles.     

Job strain, social support and mental health: a study on the male heavy manufacturing workers

OBJECT: The aim of this study is to explore the influence of work experience on workers' psychological function. Specifically, the researchers will examine the effect of job demand, decision latitude, job strain, and social support at worksite on the mental health status of male heavy manufacturing workers. METHOD: By purposive sampling, from October 1994 to March 1995, the present investigators implemented a self-administered questionnaire survey on the workers in southern Taiwan. The Karasek job strain model and its measure were embedded in the questionnaire to evaluate workers' perceptions of their job conditions. In addition, Chinese Health Questionnaire (CHQ) was utilized to evaluate the workers' status of mental health. RESULT: Totally, 1,117 workers were selected for this survey. An unviriate analysis showed the younger the workers, the lower their monthly income, and the newer their employment, were more likely to be classified as high risk in mental health status. The workers with more decision latitude and higher social support would be better in mental health status. In addition, it also showed that workers under high job strain were more likely to be in poor mental health status. Result from multivariate logistic regression showed those who served longer, had more decision automony, and had higher social support, were less likely to be in poor mental health status. Instead, those who sustained high job strain were more likely to be in poor mental health status. DISCUSSION: The implication from those findings for the implementation of health promotion program. would be raised, and the limitation of this inference would also be discussed.     

Toward mental health: The benefits of psychological androgyny.

Addresses the importance of psychological androgyny—defined as possessing a high degree of instrumental and expressive qualities—to considerations of sex roles, equality, and mental health. The personality and behavioral correlates of androgyny are summarized, implications for mental health professions, such as readjustment of their conceptions of what constitutes "healthy" personal value systems, are discussed. (38 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Toward a model of positive health.

This article proposes a model of positive health based on a human-system framework. Such a framework is comprehensive in that (a) it encompasses all of the human system's behavioral subsystems (biochemical, physiological, perceptual, cognitive, and interpersonal), and (b) it permits a higher asymptote of health conceptualization and measurement than that afforded by Western biomedical theory. The article sets forth the conceptual basis of the model and reviews empirical studies that support the model. Finally, the article explores implications of the model for health research, for programs of health enhancement, and for the role of the behavioral sciences in health theory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Asian-American educational achievements: A phenomenon in search of an explanation.

Considerable attention has been paid to the academic achievements of Asian Americans because there is convergent evidence that this population has attained high educational mobility. In trying to explain the achievement patterns, researchers have largely limited their investigations to one of two contrasting hypotheses involving (a) hereditary differences in intelligence between Asians and Whites and (b) Asian cultural values that promote educational endeavors. Research findings have cast serious doubt over the validity of the genetic hypothesis. Yet, there has been a failure to find strong empirical support for the alternative hypothesis concerning cultural values. It is proposed, under the concept of relative functionalism, that Asian Americans perceive, and have experienced, restrictions in upward mobility in careers or jobs that are unrelated to education. Consequently, education assumes importance, above and beyond what can be predicted from cultural values. Research and policy implications of this view are noted. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Experiments in seriation with children: Towards an information processing explanation of the horizontal decalage.

Tested 37 5-10 yr olds on 3 seriation tasks: length, weight, and a specially constructed "hidden length" seriation designed to eliminate the typically observed horizontal decalage between the length and weight tasks. Results confirm the main hypotheses: the hidden length seriation was more difficult than the normal length seriation and of approximately equal difficulty to the weight seriation. An information-processing analysis was then carried out with 1 8-yr-old S at the operational level of cognitive development. This led to the construction of a performance model, a computer program cast as a set of production rules, that simulated in detail the S's behavior on the 3 tasks. The general and task specific elements of the program show how the length seriations are facilitated by perceptual factors and the organization of memory, though within the framework of a common insertion strategy that the S employed on all 3 tasks. (French summary) (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dependency conflicts in high-achieving women: Toward an integration.

Explores the dependency conflicts experienced by women who are in professional training in medicine and other biological sciences. As they become involved in psychotherapy, these high-achieving women find themselves caught in a struggle between their wish to be self-sufficient and to be help givers and their wish to have their needs for affection and nurturance met. Despite their excellent academic performance, they feel inadequate, lonely, and unable to succeed in establishing intimate relationships. Psychotherapy focuses on resolving the dependency conflicts through (1) increased awareness and acceptance of dependency needs, (2) gradual relinquishment of those wishes that are unattainable, and (3) development of an identity in which closeness, support, and emotional expression are better integrated with the needs for striving and self-sufficiency that have dominated the woman's life since childhood. (5 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dependency in psychotherapy: Toward an integrated treatment approach.

Briefly reviews empirical research on the etiology and dynamics of dependency, describes extant theoretical and clinical writings on dependency in psychotherapy, and presents an integrated treatment approach to working with dependent patients in the clinical setting. This treatment approach focuses, first and foremost, on altering the dependent patient's problematic cognitions and self-statements. In addition, this treatment approach strives to alter the dependent patient's motivations, behaviors, and emotional responses, with the aim of facilitating autonomous functioning and encouraging healthy interdependence in interpersonal relationships. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychosocial stressors and well-being in health care workers. The impact of an intervention program

There have been few prospective studies of the impact of workplace interventions on employee and organizational well-being within health care settings. This study was conducted at a large regional hospital in Sweden in 1994 with a follow-up in 1995. Effects of a structured organizational and staff intervention program on perceived psychosocial work quality, supporting resources and self-reported health and well-being were evaluated. Based on department-specific results from the baseline assessment in 1994, each department formulated their own improvement goals. They also made their own decisions on relevant improvement activities. Since there was no formal reference group in this study, departments with high and low rating levels, respectively, with regard to intervention activities were compared. Despite an overall worsening in most of the measures most likely due to a notice of 20% staff reduction prior to the follow-up assessment, the intervention appeared to have attenuated negative changes in the high as compared with the low activity group. Manager-rated impact of the program as well as positive staff attitudes and staff involvement in the enhancement process were identified as important determinants for more favourable changes. The study points out the relevance of structured workplace interventions for organizational and employee well-being especially in times of cut-backs and organizational turmoil. Department-specific factors will determine the impact of such programs. The study indicates that the psychosocial impact of personnel cut-backs in health care may be attenuated through management initiatives.     

Toward an ounce of prevention.

Questions whether psychologists and other health professionals can develop a network to implement the changes in the health-care delivery system that prevention strategies require. Major changes in intervention, research, and training are called for. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)