Company policies and supervisors' attitudes toward supervision.

What is the relationship between policies of a democratic and an authoritarian company and supervisors' attitudes toward supervision? 2 paper and pencil inventories and an autobiographical questionnaire were administered to the 86 Ss, who were from 2 companies—one authoritarian and one democratic. Sometimes, "a democratic approach to management may be more effective, while in another situation, an authoritarian approach is preferable." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stigma, social risk, and health policy: Public attitudes toward HIV surveillance policies and the social construction of illness.

Data from a 1999 national telephone survey with a probability sample of English-speaking US adults (N=1,335) were used to assess how support for HIV surveillance policies is related to AIDS stigma and negative attitudes toward groups disproportionately affected by the epidemic. Anonymous reporting of HIV results to the government was supported by a margin of approximately 2-to-l, but name-based reporting was opposed 3-to-l. Compared with other respondents, supporters of name-based surveillance expressed significantly more negative feelings toward people with AIDS, gay men, lesbians, and injecting drug users. More than one third of all respondents reported that concerns about AIDS stigma would affect their own decision to be tested for HIV in the future. Implications for understanding the social construction of illness and for implementing effective HIV surveillance programs are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Individuals' attitudes toward organizational drug testing policies and practices.

Using 2?×?2 experimental design and data from 73 blue-collar employees of a manufacturing firm, we assessed the effects of two hypothetical drug testing policies: (a) advance notice of drug testing (not provided vs provided) and (b) the consequences of detected drug use (termination vs rehabilitation) on attitudes toward drug testing. A multiple regression analysis for which R?=?.419, F (2, 70)?=?7.456, p?=?.001, showed that attitudes toward drug testing were influenced by both advance notice of drug testing (β?=?.227, p?p?     

Investigation of general and program-specific attitudes toward corporate drug-testing policies.

Investigated, in 3 studies, individuals' attitudes toward corporate drug-testing programs. 75 undergraduates in a laboratory experiment held favorable attitudes toward (1) punitive drug-testing programs for employees in safety-sensitive occupations and (2) less punitive drug-testing programs for employees in less safety-sensitive occupations. However, in a correlational field study, 108 drug-tested employees in safety-sensitive positions held more negative attitudes toward punitive drug-testing programs than did drug-tested individuals in less safety-sensitive positions. In an inductive investigation of fairness determinants, 664 tested and nontested employees invoked different justice rules when assessing the fairness of highly punitive drug-testing programs. Implications for research and practice are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Understanding attitudes toward use of medication in substance abuse treatment: A multilevel approach.

Individual and organizational variables influence attitudes toward use of naltrexone, methadone, and buprenorphine for the treatment of alcohol and drug disorders. Previous research has not considered both sets of influences simultaneously. Hierarchical linear modeling tested the contribution of individual and organizational variables with data from the National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network treatment unit and workforce surveys (n = 2,269 staff nested within 247 treatment units). Individual-level variables consistently had more influence on attitudes, but a unique blend of variables existed for each medication. One predictor, support for psychiatric medications, influenced attitudes across all medications. Staff attitudes toward addiction medications varied significantly between treatment units. Implications for increasing the appropriate use of addiction medications are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychotherapists' attitudes toward suicide.

Assessed psychotherapists' attitudes toward a number of potential suicides and their attitudes toward the concept of rational suicide in general. 186 Ss received a case scenario in which a current client of a member or the general public was considering suicide because of a terminal illness, physical pain, psychological pain, or bankruptcy. Ss also completed the Suicide Semantic Differential Scale. Ss were differentially accepting of suicidal ideation, based on precipitating circumstances, and Ss would take different amounts of action to prevent a suicide depending on why the person had decided to commit suicide. Ss who had been in practice for 30+ yrs were more accepting of suicide and would take less action to prevent a suicide than less experienced Ss. 81% of the Ss believed in the idea of rational suicide. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Training effects on attitudes toward divergent thinking among manufacturing engineers.

Tested the effects of training on attitudes of 112 manufacturing engineers toward divergent thinking in problem solving. 47 Ss trained 5 wks later served as the control for the 1st group of 65 Ss in the 1st part of the experiment, and vice versa in the 2nd part. Measurements of attitudes toward divergent thinking were taken 3 times (prior to training and following training of each group). A 14-item questionnaire was completed by each trainee and each trainee's immediate superior. Results show that the training positively affected engineers' attitudes toward divergent thinking in problem solving. Specifically, the training with intact work groups demonstrated consistent results, whereas training with those from diffuse locations produced mixed results. (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A cross-national study of attitudes toward mental illness.

Administered Cohen and Struening's Opinions About Mental Illness scale to a total of 1,212 college students, physicians, nurses and police in Great Britain, Czechoslovakia, and West Germany. Although there were differences among occupational groups, the differences among countries were much more substantial. Results suggest that (a) attitudes toward mental illness are part of a person's general orientation to social issues, rather than a narrow function of his concept of mental illness; and (b) in a community climate characterized by an authoritarian social-political structure, authoritarian and socially restrictive attitudes toward the mentally ill can be expected. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of a teen pregnancy prevention program on teens' attitudes toward sexuality: A latent trait modeling approach.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of program interventions in a school-based teen pregnancy program on hypothesized constructs underlying teens' attitudes toward sexuality. An important task related to this purpose was the validation of the constructs and their stability from pre- to postintervention measures. Data from 1,136 middle grade students were obtained from an earlier evaluation of an abstinence-based teen pregnancy prevention program (S. Weed, I. Ericksen, G. Grant, & A. Lewis, 2002). Latent trait structural equation modeling was used to evaluate the impact of the intervention program on changes in constructs of teens' attitudes toward sexuality. Gender was also taken into consideration. This investigation provides credible evidence that both 1st- and 2nd-order constructs related to measures of teens' attitudes toward risky sexual behavior are sufficiently stable and sensitive to detect program effects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Third-world managers' attitudes toward pollution.

Examined pollution awareness and concern over pollution among 120 Indian managers from several industries. Pollution attitudes were measured by questionnaire responses to the open-ended question, "What is your firm's position in regard to pollution of the environment (in your own words)?" Responses were content analyzed and coded into 3 categories: (a) nonaware (51%), (b) aware-lacking concern (30%), and (c) aware-concerned (19%). Pollution attitudes displayed significant relationships with both individual and organizational variables. It is concluded that although pollution is becoming a serious problem in India, awareness and concern are lagging compared to the more developed countries. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Faculty attitudes toward Congressional investigations.

Responses to seven open-ended questions concerning Congressional investigations of faculty members or colleges given by 57 (63%) of the liberal arts faculty at the U. of Maine are tabulated. In general, the respondents gave negative responses to question of the need for, or effects of, such investigations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Public attitudes toward psychotherapist-client confidentiality.

What does the general public expect of psychotherapists in terms of confidentiality and third-party access to information? A telephone survey was conducted to examine this issue. Generally, subjects believed that therapy information should not be revealed without authorization, but they nonetheless felt that confidentiality should be broken when a client reveals the occurrence of one of the following: murder (planned or confessed), suicide plans, child abuse, major theft, and treason/sabotage against the U.S. Subjects were concerned about unauthorized release of information to the courts, to a client's spouse, or to insurance companies, but felt that psychotherapists should be free to discuss clients with one another. As opposed to older subjects, younger subjects (aged 18-39) were against unauthorized disclosures to parents or the family doctor and believed that confidentiality should be maintained when a client reports illegal drug use. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

American attitudes toward intelligence tests.

If one asks a representative group of Americans over 18 about the use of intelligence tests in student selection for school or college or to aid in job promotion selection "he finds that many of them are against the use of intelligence tests. High school students in the U. S. are even more strongly opposed to the use of intelligence tests." Critical attitudes toward tests involve the following issues: Inaccessibility of test data. Invasion of privacy. Rigidity in use of test scores. Types of talent selected by tests. Fairness of tests to minority groups. Among the personal and social characteristics of the critics are: Some people are distinctly hostile to any self examination. People subscribing strongly to aristocratic or equalitarian viewpoints of society may oppose testing. People who have done poorly on tests may have wounded self-esteem leading to test opposition. The punishing effects tests may have had on an individual's life chances may lead to resentment against tests. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Educators' attitudes toward working mothers.

In an exploratory study of educators' sex-role perceptions, 411 teachers, administrators, and pupil personnel workers were administered the Attitudes Toward Working Mothers Scale. Administrators and teachers were found to have significantly less positive attitudes toward working mothers than did pupil personnel workers. Within each of the groups, males had the least positive attitudes. Marital status, maternal employment history, and child-bearing status were unrelated to these attitudes. Replication on a second sample (330 Ss) produced similar findings. (58 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dimensions of attitudes toward technology.

Administered an 80-item questionnaire measuring attitudes toward mechanization to 45 undergraduate students in physical science, biological science, social science, and fine arts. Responses were factor analyzed using a varimax rotation. Factor scores were created for 6 of the resulting factors: Global Mechanism, Mechanical Curiosity, Preference for Hand-made Goods, Alienation, Spiritual Benefits of Technology, and Human Vitalism. These factor scores were then used as dependent variables in a multivariate comparison of the students in different major fields. Most of the between-group differences in attitude toward mechanization were reflected by differences in mechanical curiosity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Gender differences in attitudes toward homosexuality: A reply to Whitley and Kite.

B. E. Whitley and M. E. Kite (1995) included additional studies of gender differences in attitudes toward homosexuality in their meta-analysis in part because they located additional studies but also because they included studies that did not match our (M. B. Oliver & J. S. Hyde, 1993) definition of constructs or that contained insufficient information for correct computation of effect sizes. Regarding attitudes about civil liberties for homosexuals, our results (d?=?.00) and theirs (d?=?.04) agree: There are no gender differences. Regarding general attitudes about homosexuality, Whitley and Kite's effect size (d?=?.26) is larger than ours (d?=?–.01) but is based on some inflated computations of d and on the addition of numerous samples of college students. The existence and magnitude of a gender difference in general attitudes toward homosexuality are still open questions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Schematic effects of social attitudes on information processing and recall.

Examined the proposal that social attitudes have schematic effects on the processing of attitude-relevant information. It was predicted that (a) such attitudes schemata would be bipolar, with information organized around "agree" and "disagree" poles; (b) attitude-relevant information would be more easily processed and, hence, judged more readily if it fits these schematic poles; and (c) schematic fit would also facilitate recall of attitude-relevant information. 23 undergraduates were asked to make pro/anti and agree/disagree ratings of 54 attitude statements on 3 issues. Ratings and decision times were recorded. The next day, Ss engaged in a free-recall task. Both schematic hypotheses were supported: Faster judgments and higher recall were found with items that were extremely agreed or disagreed with than with items that elicited less extreme agree/disagree ratings. It is shown that these effects are not due to idiosyncracies of either individual items or individual Ss. (26 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)