Correlates of managers' attitudes toward change.

Correlated a measure of a general readiness to accept change and a measure of attitudes toward change in a specific area (promotions policy) with age, education, managerial rank, frustration-contentment, level of self-confidence, and extraversion and neuroticism (Maudsley Personality Inventory) in 258 managers. Older managers were more conservative than the younger managers, and the confident were more radical than the unconfident. Stable introverts and emotional extraverts tended to support innovation, while emotional introverts and stable extraverts did not. The relation between readiness to accept change and managerial status, education, and contentment depended on the type of change and was not always linear. Results support the notion of a general readiness for change underlying attitudes toward change in a specific area. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Normalization and deinstitutionalization of mentally retarded individuals: Controversy and facts.

Examines the sources of the controversy over normalization to clarify the limits of knowledge about treatment and suggests the possibility of theory-based evaluation of service delivery. Social reform in the treatment of mental retardation from 1967 to 1985 is reviewed, and the role of social science in policy formation and evaluation is discussed. Relevant research over the last 3 decades is summarized, and ways in which psychologists could have a positive impact on policy and services are suggested. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Federal mental health policymaking: An assessment of deinstitutionalization.

Argues that significant advances in psychopharmacology and psychology have occurred in the last 3 decades and that the technologies of treating serious mental disorders have improved accordingly. The authors describe the emerging issues of efficacious and cost-effective applications of these technologies to an increasingly complex system of needs and populations, their potential role in public policy, and their relationship to recent federal policy decisions. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Policy research: Lessons from the implementation of deinstitutionalization.

Discusses problems created by the deinstitutionalization of mental patients. The solutions that researchers have proposed have rarely affected policy. Society has attempted to solve these problems satisfactorily (but not optimally) through social, political, and economic transactions that are under no particular rational control (e.g., by treating mental patients in general hospitals and nursing homes). Policy researchers have rarely acknowledged the legitimacy of these solutions and have contributed little to them. They have also failed to understand the ideologies implicit in their own work and in policy. As a result, they have proposed solutions that are inconsistent with the social system that must implement them. (2? p ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On-line and memory-based modification of attitudes: Determinants of message recall-attitude change correspondence.

Experiments investigated the impact of message elaboration on attitude change–message recall correspondence when attitude change occurs in an on-line (as attitude-relevant information is received), or memory-based (on the basis of retrieved attitude-relevant information) fashion. In 2 experiments, Ss' processing goals were manipulated to increase or inhibit on-line change and message elaboration. As predicted, Ss reported postexposure attitudes more rapidly in on-line vs memory-based conditions. Decreased message elaboration increased attitude–recall correspondence, regardless of when attitude change occurred. Increased elaboration produced elaboration–attitude judgment correspondence. Results suggest that recall of message content will best predict persuasion when message content is encoded free of elaborations, regardless of when attitude change occurs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Teachers' attitudes toward change and subsequent improvements in classroom teaching.

The relation between teachers' attitudes toward teaching practices presented in inservice training and the subsequent use of these practices was investigated. Three groups of junior high teachers (N?=?19) attended five workshops on effective teaching and received different between-workshop activities. Pre- to posttraining observations, questionnaires, and interviews were used to assess behavior changes and attitudes. Correlational analyses indicated that teachers' posttraining ratings of the importance of using the practices (philosophical acceptance) was predictive of their use by teachers. Qualitative data analyses revealed that improving teachers differed from nonimproving teachers in their willingness to experiment in their classrooms and in their growth in self-efficacy. Nonimproving teachers tended to defend their natural style of teaching, to attempt few changes, and to have low expectations for themselves and for their students. Staff developers need to attend to philosophical acceptance, self-efficacy, and the importance of the suggested practices during inservice training. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Alcohol outcome expectancies, attitudes toward drinking and the theory of planned behavior

OBJECTIVE: The present study investigated whether alcohol outcome expectancies are empirically distinguishable from attitudes toward drinking. Specifically, the contribution of expectancies and attitudes to the Theory of Planned Behavior was assessed. METHOD: Undergraduates (N = 316; 170 male), of legal drinking age, who drank at least once a month participated. Intentions to drink "too much" and self-report excessive consumption episodes served as criterion measures, and attitudes, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control and alcohol outcome expectancies were employed as predictor variables. Stepwise regression analyses were performed separately for men and women. RESULTS: The Theory of Planned Behavior appeared to be a valid framework for predicting excessive alcohol consumption among undergraduates. The predictive power of the model, however, was enhanced through the inclusion of gender-specific alcohol outcome expectancies. Specifically, in addition to attitudes and perceived behavioral control, women's expectancies for sociability enhanced the prediction of intentions to drink "too much." Expectancies for sexual functioning (male) and assertiveness (female) improved the prediction of excessive consumption, over and above intentions and perceived behavioral control. CONCLUSIONS: Alcohol outcome expectancies, unlike attitudes, are proximal predictors of excessive alcohol consumption among undergraduates.     

Stability in the midst of change: A dispositional approach to job attitudes.

Analyzed data on the job satisfaction of over 5,000 45–59 yr old males to investigate the dispositional argument that job attitudes are consistent within individuals, showing stability both over time and across situations. Data were collected longitudinally over multiple waves, with the majority of the sample assessed on job satisfaction during 1966, 1969, and 1971. Results show significant stability of attitudes over a 5-yr time period and significant cross-situational consistency when individuals changed employers and/or occupations. Prior attitudes were also a stronger predictor of subsequent job satisfaction than either changes in pay or the social status of the job. Implications of these results for developing dispositional theories of work behavior are discussed, along with possible implications for popular situational theories (e.g., job design, social information processing). (40 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Behavioral change and public attitudes toward public health

One hundred patients suffering from recurrent acute tonsillitis were studied. One hundred tonsils were cultured. Surface bacteria were compared to deep bacteria. In 48 per cent of the cases a different pathogen was cultured from the interior of the tonsil as compared to the surface culture. This fact may explain recurrence of tonsillitis and makes the reliability of the conventional tonsillar culture questionable. Surgical extirpation of the tonsils seems to be the only treatment since deep bacteria remain unidentified and resist the antibiotic therapy that may affect only the surface microflora.     

Ethical implications of deinstitutionalization and moves of the institutionalized elderly.

We focus on the ethical issues faced by psychologists working as members of an interdisciplinary team in a psychiatric hospital in light of the current trend and policy to deinstitutionalize. The major ethical dilemma results from psychologists' awareness of the effects of long-term institutionalization and moves on the elderly, as well as some of the documented adverse consequences of deinstitutionalization. We review the current policy on deinstitutionalization and the literature on the effects of deinstitutionalization and relocation on the elderly. We also address the role of the psychologist in a hospital setting that may have goals and values that conflict with those of the therapists. Possible ways to resolve this conflict of interest are explored. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Normalization, deinstitutionalization, and the limits of research: Comment on Landesman and Butterfield.

Comments on S. Landesman and E. C. Butterfield's (see record 1988-01920-001) review of the normalization/deinstitutionalization controversy in the mental retardation field, by arguing that the overall social policy of deinstitutionalization should not be slowed down to await the results of well-controlled experimentation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Employee attitudes toward technological change in a medium sized insurance company.

How do office workers react to office automation? "Questionnaires about technological change and the installation of a new electronic computer were administered to all of the employees of a medium sized insurance company." The validity of the questionnaires was not discussed. "Most of the employees welcomed changes in their work… . They believe that machines are replacing workers in office situations but do not feel that they themselves will be replaced. They do not perceive that the introduction of the new technologies has had much effect on the amount of pay they get, their chances for promotion, or the amount of supervision they receive. But they do believe that the new technologies have changed the amount of work that they do and the degree to which there is variety in their work." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Opinion change in a crisis: Effects of the 1970 Canadian kidnapping crisis on political and ethnic attitudes.

Conducted a total of 7 surveys with 2 separate sample populations (310 English-Canadian residents and 595 Canadian college students) before, during, and after the Canadian kidnapping crisis of 1970, in which a militant French separatist group kidnapped 1 English and 1 Canadian official. While no long-term effects on opinions towards French Canadians or the government's use of restrictive measures were observed, results show considerable short-term changes in opinions during the height of the crisis. Ss increased their support of any action which was or could be taken by the government in order to deal with the crisis; they also tended to obscure differences between those directly or indirectly involved with the crisis. Other reactions to the crisis as well as the methodological implications of the study are discussed. (French summary) (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The oceanic feeling and a sea change: Historical challenges to reductionist attitudes to religion and spirit from within psychoanalysis.

Three waves of challenges may be perceived from within psychoanalysis to its reductionist attitude to religion and spirit. These historical challenges from within psychoanalysis are an important context for reading the many papers now being published on spirituality and psychotherapy, and increasingly, spirituality and psychoanalysis. The 1st wave began with some of Freud's contemporaries, among them his friend, the psychoanalyst and pastor Oscar Pfister; the Nobel Laureate Romain Rolland, and the poet T. S. Eliot. Challenges continued after Freud's death: In Britain from psychoanalysts such as Rickman and Guntrip, and in America initially by the European immigrants, Erikson and Fromm. British independent psychoanalysts initiated what may be considered to be the 3rd wave, whose momentum is now swelling to a sea change. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Inducing biased scanning in a group setting to change attitudes toward bilingualism and capital punishment.

Triads of 48 male and female Canadian high school students were assigned to debate either capital punishment or bilingualism. Teams were given 40 min to prepare their arguments. Half were told in advance which side of the argument they would be debating, and half were told they would be assigned at the end of their discussion. Scoring of the taped discussions confirmed that this manipulation produced biased scanning of arguments in the predetermined condition and unbiased scanning in the later-determined condition. A postmeasure of attitudes was administered either before or after the actual debate. Biased scanning led to significant attitude change in the predicted direction, and this effect was not influenced by time of presentation of the posttest. Results support the conflict theory of attitude change. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Rudimentary determinants of attitudes: II. Arm flexion and extension have differential effects on attitudes.

In the pain-flexor, arm extension is temporally coupled with the onset of the unconditional aversive stimulus, whereas flexion is associated with its offset; when retrieving desirable stimuli, arm flexion is more closely coupled temporally to the acqusition or consumption of the desired stimuli than arm extension. It was posited that these contingencies foster an association between arm flexion, in contrast to extension, and approach motivational orientation. Six experiments were conducted to examine this hypothesis. Ideographs presented during arm flexion were subsequently ranked more positively than ideographs presented during arm extension, but only when the Ss' task was to evaluate the ideographs when they were presented initially. Arm flexion and extension were also each found to have discernible attitudinal effects. Results suggest a possible role for nondeclarative memory in attitude formation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Youth psychotherapy change trajectories and outcomes in usual care: Community mental health versus managed care settings.

Objective: The authors compared symptom change trajectories and treatment outcome categories in children and adolescents receiving routine outpatient mental health services in a public community mental health system and a private managed care organization. Method: Archival longitudinal outcome data from parents completing the Youth Outcome Questionnaire (Y-OQ) were retrieved for children and adolescents (4–17 years old) served in a community mental health system (n = 936, mean age = 12 years, 40% girls or young women, 28% from families of color) and a managed care organization (n = 3,075, mean age = 13 years, 45% girls or young women, race and ethnicity not reported). The authors analyzed Y-OQ data using multilevel modeling and partial proportional odds modeling to test for differences in change trajectories and final outcomes across the 2 service settings. Results: Although initial symptom level was comparable across the 2 settings, the rate of change was significantly steeper for cases in the managed care setting. In addition, 24% of cases in the community mental health setting demonstrated a significant increase in symptoms over the course of treatment, compared with 14% of cases in the managed care setting. Conclusions: These results emphasize the need for increased attention to negative outcomes in routine mental health services and provide a stronger foundation for identifying youth cases at risk for treatment failure. In addition, given the overall differences observed across treatment settings for average rate of change and deterioration rates, results suggest that setting-specific model heuristics should be used for identifying cases at risk for negative outcomes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)