Hope: Its nature and measurement.

Hope is a powerful emotion that has been largely neglected by the social sciences. In this paper, we introduce a theory of hope drawn from multiple disciplines, including psychology, philosophy, theology, and medicine. Our integrative approach features four components: the attachment, mastery, and survival motives, as well as spiritual beliefs. In addition, we describe four different empirical analyses aimed at the development and refinement of a comprehensive set of scales for measuring state and trait hope. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's perceptions of parental work.

249 3rd and 4th graders and both of their parents were asked about the nature of the parents' work, their attitudes toward it, and a variety of other work-related questions. The children knew in general what their parents did, where, and when. They were also somewhat aware of their parents' satisfaction with their work. Mothers who were homemakers were perceived by their children to be less satisfied with their work than were mothers in the paid labor force. However, the children were equally satisfied with the work of both groups. Children were dissatisfied with their parents' work only when their mothers worked evening or night shifts. Results are discussed in terms of the role played by parental work in the process of socialization of children regarding work. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Aging and the nature of work.

Conducted exploratory studies on the psychological concomitants of aging, results of which indicate the following: (a) The process of making a career choice is the 1st significant confrontation with the sense of aging, involving the knowledge or belief that such a decision is fateful because it determines how the rest of one's life will be "filled in." (b) Students are aware that while society tells them that there are numerous directions available to them, the educational system is organized increasingly to pressure the student to narrow his choices. (c) For many reasons, chiefly demographic and economic, our society will increasingly contain individuals who will go through life knowing that they never were able to enter the career of their 1st choice. (d) There has been an increase in the number of people who seek a career change, whether that change is within or between fields of work. Implications of each of these points is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The nature of work experience.

Reviews the literature on work experience and its effects on job performance. The research concerns mainly 3 areas: productivity, leadership effectiveness, and cooperative education. In general, the literature supports the notion that work experience enhances subsequent job performance but provides little information on why experience has an effect. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The semiautonomous process: Its nature and nurture.

Theories concerned with analysis of the complexity of the "central process" in thought and perception are considered. Data concerning the "nature of the semi-autonomous process of the cerebrum" are examined. New "possibilities of explanation… open up when one separates sensory from perceptual processes, and recognizes that identifying the two had a purely theoretical origin and neurological to boot. This can be a psychological distinction, based on behavioral criteria, and need not be contaminated by other ideas… . Psychology cannot be reduced to physiology… but… the psychologist may need every now and then a short bout of physiological psychotherapy, just to permit him to get on with his own business." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

APA's Central Office: Its organization and functions.

The recent growth of American psychology and of the American Psychological Association Central Office are discussed. Major sections are: Functional Organization of the Central Office (Office of the Executive Secretary, Administrative Services, Education and Training, Membership and Legislative Services, Publications, Public Information, State and Professional Affairs), Personnel Policies and Practices, And in the Future. "Central Office functions are primarily those of administering the detailed affairs of the association and of providing services to its members. The Central Office does not establish policy; rather, it assists in implementing policies approved by the association's legislative body, the Council of Representatives." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The nature and outcomes of work: A replication and extension of interdisciplinary work-design research.

Research into the changing nature of work requires comprehensive models of work design. One such model is the interdisciplinary framework (M. A. Campion, 1988), which integrates 4 work-design approaches (motivational, mechanistic, biological, perceptual–motor) and links each approach to specific outcomes. Unfortunately, studies of this framework have used methods that disregard measurement error, overlook dimensions within each work-design approach, and treat each approach and outcome separately. This study reanalyzes data from M. A. Campion (1988), using structural equation models that incorporate measurement error, specify multiple dimensions for each work-design approach, and examine the work-design approaches and outcomes jointly. Results show that previous studies underestimate relationships between work-design approaches and outcomes and that dimensions within each approach exhibit relationships with outcomes that differ in magnitude and direction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's coping with marital conflict and their adjustment and physical health: Vulnerability and protective functions.

Children's strategies for coping with parental marital conflict were examined as predictors, mediators, and moderators of the relations between marital conflict and 8- to 11-year-olds' internalizing, externalizing, and physical health problems. In the context of marital conflict, a higher level of active coping and support coping combined was a protective factor against girls' depression symptoms and self-esteem problems and both boys' and girls' health problems. Further, avoidance coping was a vulnerability factor for externalizing, internalizing, and physical health problems in boys, and distraction coping was protective against children's depression and health problems. These findings extend the literature by delineating coping strategies that either protected children against, or heightened their vulnerability to, adjustment and health problems associated with exposure to parental marital conflict. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The source, nature, and direction of work and family conflict: A longitudinal investigation.

The authors examine the source, nature, and direction of work and family conflict. Confirmatory factor analysis of a 22-item scale suggested the appropriateness of distinguishing between strain-based and time-based conflict and between family interfering with work (FIW) and work interfering with family (WIF). Six-month longitudinal survey data (N?=?236) suggested that strain-based FIW is a precursor to both stress and turnover intentions. Strain-based WIF emerged as an outcome of stress. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Linking workplace and homeplace: Relations between the nature of adults' work and their parenting behaviors.

A total of 188 employed mothers and fathers and their 5–7 yr-old child participated in a study of the relations between the nature of adults' work and their parenting attitudes and behaviors (a line of research influenced by both socialization and stress perspectives). In general, positive features of work (i.e., complexity of work with people, challenge, and stimulation) tended to be associated with both self-report and observational measures of developmentally sound parenting (e.g., less harsh discipline, more warmth and responsiveness). Interaction effects indicated that gender of parent and child further condition these relations. Analyses partially support the interpretation that conditions of work influence parenting through their effect on mood but also suggest that certain conditions of work may directly socialize behavior in the parental role (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Becoming a psychotherapist: The personal nature of clinical work, emotional availability and personal allegiances.

Emotional availability and personal allegiances are 2 very important facets of training in the development of a skilled therapist that might be underemphasized relative to other areas of training in many graduate clinical training programs. The present article offers a conceptualization for emotional availability and personal allegiances, presents a view of the treatment process that places emotional availability at the center of therapeutic responsiveness, and argues that personal allegiances may limit a student-therapist's emotional availability with clients. This article also addresses the concepts of emotional availability and personal allegiances primarily from a contemporary psychodynamic theoretical perspective, but key ideas from the cognitive-behavioral viewpoint are also used illustrate their significance in a therapist's development, however. These concepts are suggested to have relevance for students, supervisors, and more seasoned therapists of varying theoretical orientations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The academic achievement test: Its historical context and social functions.

Analyzes latent social functions of the academic achievement test by examining, from the literature, the social and historical content within which achievement tests were developed and adopted. The achievement test had profound significance for the disciplines of psychology and education as they aspired to status as sciences. The achievement test was useful in providing a neutral form of evidence in resolving political and social conflict, and in rationalizing the allocation of educational resources. Methods of test construction, item analysis, and mass scoring led to biases in test content sufficiently serious to question whether achievement tests measure what schools teach. A professional consensus seems to limit unduly the perspectives from which socially important questions are studied. The question of how pervasive social forces influencing research can be recognized and overcome is raised. (76 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

It's the nature of the work: Examining behavior-based sources of work-family conflict across occupations.

The consequences of work-family conflict for both individuals and organizations have been well documented, and the various sources of such conflict have received substantial attention. However, the vast majority of extant research has focused on only time- and strain-based sources, largely neglecting behavior-based sources. Integrating two nationally representative databases, the authors examine 3 behavior-based antecedents of work-family conflict linked specifically to occupational work role requirements (interdependence, responsibility for others, and interpersonal conflict). Results from multilevel analysis indicate that significant variance in work-family conflict is attributable to the occupation in which someone works. Interdependence and responsibility for others predict work-family conflict, even after controlling for several time- and strain-based sources. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Motivational and informational functions and consequences of children's attention to peers' work.

Two studies (331 children aged 9–11 yrs) examined the proposal that the functions served by children's attention to peers' work differ both in their informational focus (whether children seek information either to improve their products or to evaluate their ability) and in their goal focus (whether information seeking serves either mastery or performance achievement strivings). In both studies responses to a self-report measure of reasons for looking at peers' work supported this hypothesis. Study 2 also examined the effect of a mastery vs a performance goal condition on reasons for looking at peers' work, subsequent information seeking, and interest in the task. Goal condition affected goal, but not informational, functions of looking at peers' work. Both goal condition and individual differences in endorsement of mastery vs performance reasons predicted later information seeking and interest. Implications for social comparison theory and for classroom learning and motivation are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The changing nature of office work: effects on repetitive strain injuries

This historical perspective underscores that there is rarely a simple connection between the demands of a particular technology and the risk of occupational disease.     

Frequency and duration of absence from work as functions of work force characteristics

The processes of sick-leave inception and work resumption are governed by many interrelated factors. Hence conventional univariate models of these processes do not provide an adequate basis for explanation and prediction. In this study, multivariate models were used to fit absenteeism data for a large government department. The variables considered were the age, sex, and grade of the employees concerned; the day, month, and year of inception of sick leave or resumption of work; the section in which the employees worked and the size of that section. The models were used to predict the rates of sick-leave inception and work resumption in a test set of employees. The predicted inception rates appear to agree well with the observed values.     

Children's attributions in the family: The Children's Relationship Attribution Measure.

This study assessed children's attributions in parent–child relationships, examined their association with relationship positivity and behavior displayed toward the parent, determined whether depressive symptoms account for these associations, and investigated whether parent and child attributions are linked. Ten- to 12-year-old children (116 girls, 116 boys) completed several questionnaires and were observed during parent–child interactions. Children's attributions for parent behavior were related to positivity of the parent–child relationship and to self- and parent-reported conflict and observed behavior with the father. These associations were not due to children's depressive symptoms but potentially augment our understanding of the effect of depression on parent–child relationships. Finally, gender moderated the parent attribution–child attribution association. The results underscore the importance of children's perceptions of family processes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development of logical reasoning: Children's ability to verbally explain the nature of the distinction between logical and nonlogical forms of argument.

Previous research by D. Moshman and B. Franks (1986) supported the hypothesis that children do not explicitly understand the nature of the distinction between logical and nonlogical forms of argument. This research examined the performance of 8–11-year-olds (N ?=?220) on Moshman and Franks's experimental tasks when the children were cued to apply particular comprehension strategies. Findings from 2 experiments indicated that a significant number of children are capable of explicitly recognizing the necessity of logical forms and the indeterminacy of nonlogical forms and that this competence must be distinguished from their tendency to fail to attend to structural relationships between propositions and to monitor the intrusion of extraneous personal knowledge in assessing the validity of an argument. The findings suggest that all of these competencies are important components of the ability to distinguish logical and nonlogical arguments. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)