Sex differences in job outcome preferences: Trends among newly hired college graduates.

Examined several causes for discrepant findings in the literature related to sex differences in job outcome preferences. 648 college graduates newly hired into entry-level business jobs over a 9-yr period rated job characteristics comprising 3 job outcome dimensions: (a) long-term career objectives, (b) working environment and interpersonal relationships, and (c) intrinsic job aspects. The possibility that the area of professional training could account for sex differences in job outcome preferences was explored, controlling for age, education, organizational level, and occupational category. Although professional training area did have a significant effect on job outcome preferences, sex differences persisted, with females giving significantly less emphasis to career objectives and significantly more emphasis to work environment and interpersonal job aspects than males. Analyses of trends showed a convergence of female preferences toward those of males on the 2 dimensions in which sex differences were found. Efforts to predict turnover from job outcome preferences suggested that females with a relatively high career orientation were less likely than males or other females to leave the organization. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relationship of sex and professional training area to job orientation.

Examined indications that differences in job orientation may be more closely related to professional interests as reflected in one's professional training area than to differences in sex. 175 university students subgrouped into male business majors, female business majors, and female psychology majors rated the importance of 25 job characteristics comprising 3 job orientation dimensions--long-term career objectives, comfortable working environment and pleasant interpersonal relationships, and intrinsic job aspects. Male and female business majors differed significantly on the comfortable working environment and pleasant interpersonal relationships dimension, but business majors, regardless of sex, differed significantly from female psychology majors on all 3 dimensions, thus supporting the use of professional training area as a control variable in research related to sex differences in job orientation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Job analysis of psychology internships in counseling center settings.

A widely accepted method of job analysis, the critical incident technique, was applied in order to determine dimensions of performance among psychology interns. All training directors of Association of Psychology Internship Centers were contacted regarding participation, and 46 (90%) completed the critical incident interview. The 270 critical incidents were analyzed with a standard procedure for determining behaviorally defined job dimensions. Seven dimensions were identified: clinical skills, commitment to own professional development, crisis and emergency situations, interpersonal relationships, knowledge, professional and ethical behavior, and programming and consultation skills. The results are presented within the context of other definitions of intern performance and of entry-level psychological practice. In addition, suggestions for improving selection and evaluation of psychology interns are presented. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interpersonal problems, attachment styles, and outcome in brief dynamic psychotherapy

The Inventory of Interpersonal Problems (IIP) has been used to identify dysfunctional patterns in interpersonal interactions. Interpersonal problems can be organized in two dimensions, and the two-dimensional space can be divided into eight equal sectors (octants). Subscales of the IIP describe each of these octants. The instrument has been used to identify (a) interpersonal problems that are discussed most often in a brief dynamic psychotherapy and (b) problems that are treated most easily. The results show that problems in the "exploitable" octant improve most frequently, whereas problems in the "dominating," "vindictive," and "cold" octants do not improve as readily. Attachment styles in adulthood were examined (following a model proposed by Bowlby), and different attachment styles were found to correspond to different types of interpersonal problems. Finally, these variables were related to the ability to describe other people clearly. The article also discusses implications for brief dynamic psychotherapy.     

A resource exchange theory approach to interpersonal interactions: A test of Foa's theory.

Employed U. G. Foa and E. B. Foa's (1974) resource exchange theory to examine the types and patterns of exchanges involved in 57 college students' interpersonal interactions. Two judgment tasks were used to test both the functional and structural aspects of this theory. The dimensions of particularism and concreteness were hypothesized to underlie the 6 resource categories of love, status, information, money, goods, and services. In addition, resources perceived to be in the same category were expected to be exchanged with a higher probability than resources in different categories. Support for both the structural and the functional relations among the resource categories was consistent not with the initial classification of the behaviors used to represent the 6 resource categories but with the meaning associated with the behaviors. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Approaches to empathy training: Programmed methods versus individual supervision and professional versus peer supervisors.

Examined the effects of training method (programmed vs individual supervision) and supervisor experience (peer vs professional) on the learning of empathy. Eight supervisors (4 professional and 4 peer) were assigned 3 Ss in each of 3 groups: individually supervised, programmed, and control. Ss listened to 3 sets of recorded client statements and responded as counselors. The 2 experimental groups received training after the 1st and 2nd sets. The control group received no training. An analysis of recorded responses indicated that the individually supervised Ss achieved a significantly higher level of empathy than the controls. Ss receiving programmed training were intermediate in learning between individually supervised and control Ss. Supervisor experience was not found to be a significant factor as no posttraining differences were noted between professional and peer-trained groups. This result supports the use of peers in such interpersonal skills training. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Learning correlations in categorization tasks using large, ill-defined categories.

The experiments revealed whether individual participants are sensitive to exemplar information in the form of within-category correlations between stimulus dimensions after training on large overlapping categories. Participants were trained in 1 of 2 categorization conditions. The sign of the correlation between dimensions differed across conditions, but the categorization rules that best separated the categories were identical. An unannounced attribute-prediction task followed categorization training. Several participants produced predictions consistent with the correct correlation between the dimensions. For other participants, the predictions reflected the correlation only within the region they had associated with the given category, even though the categories overlapped, suggesting that the decision boundary was explicitly represented in memory. Finally, for other participants, no correlational information appeared to be accessible for the prediction task. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Universal development of emotion categories in natural language.

P. Shaver, J. Schwartz, D. Kirson, and C. O'Connor (1987) found that English emotion words fall into 25 categories of synonyms. To find emotion nomenclature universals, the authors used P. Shaver et al.'s taxonomy in a sample of the world's languages and found that emotion categories were added in most languages in a relatively similar generalized sequence. Labeled first were the categories of anger and guilt; followed in Stage 2 by adoration, alarm, amusement, and depression; in Stage 3 by alienation, arousal, and agony, and ending with eagerness in Stage 4. The remaining 5 stages were derivatives of Stages 1–4. Thus, in the folk taxonomy, Stages 1–4 are basic linguistic emotion categories. Motives for labeling emotions were driven possibly by the need to maintain social control, the identification of prototypical emotions elicited in interpersonal relationships, and the need for terms to identify intrapersonal emotions. Features of markedness theory were corroborated for English emotion terms. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Usefulness of in-service training workshops for counselors.

Assessed the personal and professional outcomes of an in-service training workshop for 35 secondary school counselors (aged 21–53 yrs). Ss were assigned to 1 of 3 groups: control, intrapersonal self-control, or interpersonal encounter. Marked improvement was found in both workshops in Ss' ability to communicate empathically (e.g., Relationship Inventory), and gains were noted in various aspects of self-actualization (Personal Orientation Inventory). Progress was more striking among Ss in the self-control group, rather than the interpersonal sensitivity group. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On categorical diagnoses in DSM-V: Cutting dimensions at useful points?

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.; DSM–V) will likely place more emphasis on dimensional representation of mental disorders. However, it is often argued that categorical diagnoses are preferable for professional communication, clinical decision-making, or distinguishing between individuals with and without a mental disorder. For these specific aims, utility-based categories can be created on the basis of a dimensional framework by using cut-points. This article addresses several ideas for combining categorical and dimensional approaches like prototype matching, adding scores of symptom-severity, and introducing utility-based categories in dimensional models. The authors identify alternative objectives for specifying cut-points and describe ways of determining the cut-points accordingly. It is recommended that, for creating standard diagnostic concepts, fixed cutoffs be used, as this promotes accumulative science, but these cutoffs may not be optimal for other clinical decisions because of local base rates and decision-specific (dis)utilities. Receiver operator characteristics curves can facilitate the comparative evaluation of the trade-off between sensitivity and specificity for multiple cut-points and diagnostic rules. The authors advocate a DSM–V that contains both categories and dimensions to serve the multiple and complex aims of utility and validity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Introduction.

The authors in this miniseries purport to examine the current status of school psychology in terms of professional practice; education, training, and evaluation; and, credentialing. They anticipate the future of school psychology in terms of these same dimensions. And, they either implicitly or explicitly make comparisons with other traditionally recognized psychological specialties, suggesting the potential for collaborative solutions to nagging difficulties among the specialties. Joel Meyers (see record 1989-17318-001) addresses the current state of practice and future practice of the specialty. He details the specific directions in which school psychology practice can be expected to develop in future years. Beeman N. Phillips (see record 1989-17118-001) discusses the education, training, and evaluation of practitioners today and in the future. The distinguishing features of professional psychological education and training are set forth and developed in relation to practice. Judy L. Genshaft and Jack J. Wisniewski (see record 1989-17107-001) set forth their shared perspective on present credentialing and prospects for the future. They write of licensure and credentialing as indexes of consumer protection and high professional status. Nadine M. Lambert and John H. Jackson critique the three articles. They evaluate positively what has been written and raise issues of their own. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Clinical assessment of attachment patterns and personality disorder in adolescents and adults.

The relevance of attachment theory and research for practice has become increasingly clear. The authors describe a series of studies with 3 aims: (a) to validate measures of attachment for use by clinicians with adolescents and adults, (b) to examine the relation between attachment and personality pathology, and (c) to ascertain whether factor analysis can recover dimensions of attachment reflecting both interpersonal and narrative style. In 3 studies, experienced clinicians provided psychometric data using 1 of 4 attachment questionnaires (2 adolescent and 2 adult samples). Attachment dimensions predicted both personality pathology and developmental experiences in predictable ways. Factor analysis identified 4 dimensions that replicated across adolescent and adult samples on the basis of a combination of interpersonal and narrative indicators: secure, dismissing, preoccupied, and incoherent/disorganized. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Changes in the ways that group trainees structure their knowledge of group members with training.

Multidimensional scaling (MDS) and Pathfinder were used to examine changes in the knowledge structures of 9 group therapy trainees, and to examine convergence in the trainees' knowledge structures with one experienced group leader. Participants (experienced group therapist and group therapy trainees) judged the similarity of each pair of group members in an ongoing interpersonal process group early and late in a semester of group therapy training. As in previous research, MDS and Pathfinder analyses of these similarity judgments were used to infer the cognitive structure of the trainees and of the experienced group leader. These analyses suggested that (a) the dimensions used by the trainees to conceptualize group members increased in complexity with training, and (b) trainees' knowledge structures became more similar to the experienced leader's knowledge structure with training. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Studies in the phenomenology of emotions.

The "semantic differential" was used as a means of quantifying the phenomenology of emotions. American college students were found to describe emotions connotatively in a very similar way. Factor analysis revealed 3 underlying dimensions: pleasantness-unpleasantness, level of activation, and interpersonal relatedness. In comparing a sample of Norwegians with Americans, although an appreciable congruence was noted, the differences in phenomenological organization were predictable, hence presumably reflective of cultural differences. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Explanation of interpersonal events: on the significance of balance and causality

According to Brown and VanKleeck (1989), the perceived causes of interpersonal events are mediated by two kinds of factors: First, the interpersonal verbs used to describe these events carry implicit information with regard to the question of which one of the potential interaction partners has caused the event. Second, explanations of interpersonal events are governed by the principle of balance. For example, positive events are predominantly explained by positive causes, and negative events by negative causes. In addition, the interaction of the two mechanisms also has important consequences concerning the explanation of social events: (1) In balanced triads, an event is ascribed to the interaction partner who is seen as the causally dominant one (according to the implicit causality of the verb that is used to describe the interaction). (2) However, this pattern of data is reversed for unbalanced triads: here, the event is ascribed to the interaction partner who is seen as the causally less dominant one, according to the implicit causality of the verb. The present study addresses the question of whether this attributional shift can be explained in terms of corresponding changes in perceived covariation information. Results indicate that the perception of consensus and distinctiveness indeed correspond to the causal attributions as they are obtained for different kinds of triads. Thus, classical attribution variables are regarded as promising candidates in order to explain these attributional shifts for balanced versus unbalanced events.