Nonverbal cues in the employment interview: Links between applicant qualities and interviewer judgments.

Investigated the role of nonverbal behavior in the employment interview inference process, using a modified Brunswik lens model. Job interviews for an actual research assistant position were conducted and videotaped with 34 candidates (aged 18–67 yrs). Job applicants' self-appraised motivation to work and social skill were assessed, and their nonverbal behaviors during the interview were scored. 18 judges with training and experience in employment interviewing watched the videotaped interviews and rated the Ss on their motivation, social skill, and hirability. Social skill was more accurately inferred by the judges as a group than was motivation to work. Ss' social skill was apparently transmitted to the judges via 3 nonverbal cues: rate of gesturing, time spent talking, and formality of dress. In contrast, there was a lack of correspondence between cues correlated with Ss' self-appraised motivation to work and those used by judges in making their attributions. Implications for employment interview training are discussed. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Biobehavioral aspects of cardiovascular disease: Progress and prospects.

Discusses the impact of psychosocial factors, personality traits, genetic-behavioral interactions, sodium sensitivity, obesity, insulin metabolism, and psychophysiology on hypertension status. It is proposed that an understanding of pathophysiologic processes is needed to provide a better basis for risk factor reduction and other aspects of treatment. The study of myocardial ischemia appears to provide an important link between the development of coronary artery disease and the occurrence of coronary heart disease. Further studies are needed to assess the clinical significance of stress-induced ischemia as well as whether mental stress is predictive of future heart disease. Associations have been made between behavioral risk factors and heart disease, but the exact nature remains to be clarified. Hostility is an important factor in the development of coronary heart disease, but its impact needs to be studied fully. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Measurement of self-disclosure in encounter groups: A methodological study.

In order to compare the evaluations of self-disclosure from 3 points of view--the sender, the receiver, and a neutral or objective observer--self-rankings and group-rankings of self-disclosure and participation were collected from 11 members (undergraduates) of a weekend encounter group at the end of the last session. After reviewing 10 hrs of tape, 3 independent raters selected a single list of 33 statements, 3 from each, as being the most self-disclosing. J. Block's (1961) Q technique was used to quantify the statements into rank-order form. Rank-order correlations among the self- and group-rankings of self-disclosure and participation were all extremely high, suggesting that these rankings could be used interchangeably in future research. The Q -sort data, however, indicated that the statements judged to be the most self-revealing were produced by Ss who were both self-ranked and group-ranked as low in self-disclosure. Results are interpreted as indicating that the level of analysis of self-disclosure needs to be carefully spelled out, as content analyses yield quite different results from global analyses. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The determination of monoglycerides and glycerin in mixtures

A new method of analyzing mixtures containing monoglyceride and glycerin is presented. It is based upon oxidation of the sample with periodic acid. The new method is more rapid than the older methods because it is not necessary to separate the two layers when the glycerin is extracted from the solution of the sample. Precision of the titrations is improved because in the older methods the sample titration must equal at least 80% of the blank titration, but in the new method the sample titration can be very small and a correspondingly greater difference represents the monoglyceride or glycerin in the sample.     

Commentary on evidence-based psychological treatments for older adults.

This article comments on the articles in the Special Section on Evidence-Based Psychological Treatments for Older Adults (see records 2007-03358-002, 2007-03358-003, 2007-03358-004, 2007-03358-005, and 2007-03358-006). The articles apply criteria developed by the Society of Clinical Psychology to evaluate treatments for late-life anxiety, insomnia, behavior disturbances in dementia, and caregiver distress. The articles document that there are evidence-based psychological treatments that can help older adults. However, there are 2 substantial hurdles: evidence and access. Gaps in the evidence, as mentioned by the authors of the articles in the special section, result from disproportionate research attention to some psychotherapies and some mental disorders, with corresponding lack of research about other treatments and disorders. The challenge for access is to ensure that older adults with treatable mental disorders will get connected to psychologists trained in these evidence-based therapies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Maternal employment and child cognitive outcomes: The importance of analytic approach.

J. Brooks-Gunn, W. J. Han, and J. Waldfogel (2002; see record 2002-17576-005) and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Early Child Care Research Network (ECCRN; 2000b; see record 2000-02736-015) came to different conclusions about the effects of maternal employment--although they were addressing similar questions using the same data set. Brooks-Gunn et al. concluded that maternal employment in infancy has a negative effect on children's cognitive abilities at age 3, whereas the ECCRN found that early nonmaternal care is not related to children's cognitive abilities in their first 3 years. The authors account for this difference by comparing 2 approaches to data analysis: a top-down testing of continuous variables (the approach used by the ECCRN, 2000b) and an a priori comparison approach that involves pairwise testing of specific dichotomous contrasts (the approach used by Brooks-Gunn et al., 2002). This comparison illustrates the critical importance of analytic approach. It also suggests that Brooks-Gunn et al.'s conclusion from this data set is overstated and should not be used on its own as the basis for practical or policy decisions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Transformational leadership and psychological well-being: The mediating role of meaningful work.

Two studies investigated the relationship between transformational leadership, the meaning that individuals ascribe to their work, and their psychological well-being. In Study 1, the perceptions of meaningful work partially mediated the relationship between transformational leadership and positive affective well-being in a sample of Canadian health care workers (N=319). In Study 2, the meaning that a separate sample of service workers (N=146) ascribed to their work fully mediated the relationship between transformational leadership and psychological well-being, after controlling for humanistic work beliefs. Overall, these results support and add to the range of positive mental health effects associated with transformational leadership and are suggestive of interventions that organizations can make to improve well-being of workers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Influence of Citrate on Adsorption of Zinc in Soils

Adsorption of zinc to two soils was quantified in the presence of citrate ranging in concentration from 0 to 10 mM/L. For both soils, Zn adsorption increased with increasing citrate up to a concentration of 2mM/L. With increasing citrate concentrations between 2 and 10 mM/L, Zn adsorption increased in one soil (pH 4.8) but decreased in the second (pH 5.8). Adsorption of a Zn-citrate complex is key to the Zn adsorption in both soils. The soil with the higher pH appears to have a significantly lower adsorption capacity for the complex than the soil with pH 4.8. Activity-based adsorption modeling supports these experimental observations.     

Family Income and Its Relation to Preschool Children's Adjustment for Families in the NICHD Study of Early Child Care.

The current study examines relations of mean-level estimates, linear changes, and instability in income and family processes to child outcomes and addresses whether income, through its impact on family functioning, matters more for children living in poverty. Temporal changes and instability in family processes, but not income, predicted children's adjustment. Cross-sectional mediational analyses indicated that for families living at the poverty threshold, family processes fully mediated the effect of average income over the study period on social behavior but only partially mediated its effect on cognitive-linguistic development. The strength of these associations diminished as average income exceeded the poverty threshold. That is, income had a greater impact on the family functioning and development of poor children than of nonpoor children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Developmental Dyslexia and Specific Language Impairment: Same or Different?

Developmental dyslexia and specific language impairment (SLI) were for many years treated as distinct disorders but are now often regarded as different manifestations of the same underlying problem, differing only in severity or developmental stage. The merging of these categories has been motivated by the reconceptualization of dyslexia as a language disorder in which phonological processing is deficient. The authors argue that this focus underestimates the independent influence of semantic and syntactic deficits, which are widespread in SLI and which affect reading comprehension and impair attainment of fluent reading in adolescence. The authors suggest that 2 dimensions of impairment are needed to conceptualize the relationship between these disorders and to capture phenotypic features that are important for identifying neurobiologically and etiologically coherent subgroups. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)