<p>The purpose of this qualitative descriptive multiple case study was to understand what were a group of former company-grade leaders? perspectives of Army resilience training and how these perspectives impacted training transfer of resilience training in their former units. The theoretical framework underpinning this research was Holton?s human resource development evaluation research and measurement model. Two research questions were posed in this study: 1. What were a group of former Army company-grade leaders? perspectives of resilience training? 2. How did former Army company-grade leaders? perspectives of resilience training relate to their prioritization, implementation, and fostering of a supportive climate for resilience training within their former units? A homogeneous purposive sampling strategy was used to recruit 10 former company-grade leaders near an Army installation in the southwestern United States. Data was collected from three sources using within-method triangulation: focus groups, open-ended in-depth individual interviews, and historical documents. Data analysis included thematic analysis and both deductive and inductive coding. Four themes emerged from the data relating to the training transfer of Army resilience training: perception of training, transfer climate, external events, and organizational training management indiscipline. Ineffective resilience training instructors were the catalyst driving negative affective reactions from former company-grade leaders. This, in turn, contributed to their negative utility perception of Army resilience training. This negative perspective of resilience training transcended individual leaders and permeated their unit?s climate, creating a barrier to the transfer of resilience training to soldiers within these leaders? former units. Keywords: resilience, training transfer, perception of training, transfer climate

<p> Detroit has high rates of criminal activities and significant numbers of at-risk residents who have challenges with different types of hardship that include economic issues. Although hardships may include various types of challenges, at-risk residents of Detroit are economically challenged because of Detroit&rsquo;s economic downfall. The economic hardships lead to the inability to provide for dependent family members, to battle poverty and addiction, and to possibly other family and societal problems. In larger cities, particularly those economically challenged such as Detroit, because of the inability to hire more patrol officers as the result of insufficient financial resources, police seek the collaboration efforts of community members in the form of community policing to reduce crime. Community policing programs are used to reduce the crime and improve the perception of the police among the residents of Detroit, but they are not effective community policing programs as they do not relate to the needs of economically challenged at-risk citizens. The problem is that ineffective community policing increases the crime in Detroit. The purpose of this study was to investigate and identify the needs of the economically challenged at-risk residents of Detroit as perceived by those at-risk residents of Detroit who are identified through private-public organizations and to compare those needs with those perceived by the police pertaining to community policing programs. This may help in developing effective community policing programs. It was important in this study to identify the needs of the community residents who may perceive that there is no other way to survive but to commit crime that should be considered in developing community policing programs. The study identified education and training as the most significant issues that challenge the economically at-risk residents of Detroit. This study found that the economically at-risk residents of Detroit believe no help is available to them, but the members of the community police officers stated that some help is available for the economically at-risk residents; however, they are unaware of the programs that can benefit them. Police stated that various programs that can feed, clothe, educate, and teach various skills to the economically at-risk residents of Detroit are available and the community policing officers through current neighborhood policing programs can direct the residents to proper resources that they may need. The research instrument consisted of semi-structured interviews of at-risk residents focusing on issues that could identify the people&rsquo;s needs and attempt to understand if the current community policing programs have been addressing these needs of Detroit&rsquo;s at-risk residents. In this study, the results of the interviews and the questionnaires&rsquo; responses were used to identify, code, and categorize patterns found in the improving the community policing in Detroit data.</p><p>

This study was conducted to test a theoretical framework integrating the complex literatures on affect and decision processes with theory and research on the dispositional trait, negative affectivity (NA). Previous research has shown that positive mood affects some cognitive processes, including decision making (e.g., Isen & Means, 1983). However, the relationship between negative moods and cognitive processes appears less clear (e.g., Isen, Shalker, Clark, & Karp, 1978; Isen & Daubman, 1984) It was hypothesized that persons high on negative affectivity (NA), a pervasive dispositional trait manifested by self-doubt, anxiety, and worry, would tend to expend more effort but possibly be less efficient than persons low on NA at processing information on a multiattribute decision task. This proposition was based on the work of M. W. Eysenck (1979, 1982, 1985), who contended high NA individuals tend to overprocess information, particularly while experiencing anxious states. Because it is known that high NA persons experience negative moods more frequently than low NAs (e.g., Costa & McCrae, 1980), and because negative moods increase the likelihood they will experience self-doubt and anxiety, it was predicted that if high NA individuals do in fact expend more effort or process information less efficiently than lows, those differences would be maximized while persons are in bad moods. To test the proposition that NA and mood would interact such that high NAs in negative affective states would make decisions differently than low NAs, half the subjects in this study were randomly assigned to a negative mood induction and the other half to a control condition. All subjects then performed a computer-based multiattribute job choice decision task. Findings did not support the study hypotheses; and, in fact, shed doubt on the proposition that NA in fact influences behavior directly. Implications for Eysenck's theory and practical considerations of these findings are discussed / acase@tulane.edu

In this study it is theorized that sex role identity and the self acceptance of one's sex role identity are critical determining factors in positive adjustment for males in old age. The subjects of this study were 125 middle class, white males ages 62 and older. The instruments used were the Bem Sex Role Inventory, the Life Satisfaction Index-A scale and a demographic questionnaire The first hypothesis states that those males with self acceptance of their sex role identity will have higher life satisfaction than those males with no self acceptance of their sex role identity. The second hypothesis states that those males with an androgynous sex role orientation will have higher life satisfaction than those males with other sex role orientations. Other demographic factors associated with high life satisfaction in elderly males were further examined along with sex role orientation and self acceptance Both hypotheses were tested using One Way Analysis of Variance. Regression Analyses and Chi Square Analyses were utilized in examining the demographic variables No significant difference between the life satisfaction scores of males with self acceptance and of males with no self acceptance was found in Hypothesis 1. Findings confirmed the second hypothesis that androgynous males did have significantly higher life satisfaction scores than those males with other sex role orientations, except the feminine males, who also had high life satisfaction scores The results of the study provide support for the importance of an androgynous or feminine sex role identity in males in later adulthood. Positive adjustment may be related to the ability to access an androgynous or feminine gender style. Self acceptance factors do not appear to be significant in the subject population; however most of the androgynous and feminine subjects also had self acceptance. The demographic findings regarding the importance of a high educational or occupational level and a high level of perceived health are consistent with those reported in previous research / acase@tulane.edu

To effectively transfer information technology (IT) to developing countries and to measure its impact, baseline information is needed. A cross-sectional survey was conducted to assess IT diffusion factors and to test the relationships between computer use, attitudes, and personality types among people working in non-governmental organizations in Cote d'Ivoire. The results showed that over 50% of the respondents had access to, had positive attitudes toward, and/or used computers, and 25% had access to and used e-mail and/or the Internet. Those who were using a computer had some experience with word-processing and spreadsheet but were less familiar with specialized software. The data did not support the proposed hypotheses: (1) there is an association between computer use and attitude, and (2) there is an association between computer attitude and personality type. The results provide directions for IT training and suggest that interpersonal communication may be the most effective catalyst for behavioral change / acase@tulane.edu

For decades, scholars have looked into conflict episodes to explain group performance. In most of the recent empirical research, the findings on the effects of conflict on group performance depend upon the conflict dimensions under analysis, generally associating emotional conflict with decreased group performance, and task conflict with increased group performance. However, the mechanisms through which conflict dimensions differentially affect group performance remain unclear. The purpose of this study was to examine how each type of conflict emerges in groups and how these conflict variables affect group performance and outcomes. To this end, a quasi-experiment was run in which 500 undergraduate students of a regional university of Venezuela assembled some beaded figures and then reported on their task. The results indicated that teammate personalities influence the extent to which the group experiences conflict episodes. Furthermore, the results indicated that unlike task conflict, emotional conflict hinders behaviors such as contextual performance that contribute to group effectiveness and promotes the emergence of negative affective tone of the group. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed / acase@tulane.edu

This research tested a model for responses to perceptions of relational devaluation in newly formed friendships. Relational devaluation is the perception of an unexpected decline in how close, important, or valuable a relationship partner considers the self to be. Borrowed from the theory of hurt feelings (Leary & Springer, 2001), relational devaluation is thought to trigger hurt feelings, which serve as a warning to the self that a given relationship is at risk of dissolution. The proposed model integrated the theory of hurt feelings with research on self-evaluation motivations. The model made the following predictions: (1) When explained situationally (e.g., via external justification), perceptions of relational devaluation should lead to inflexible self-evaluative motivations, which are those that maintain or bolster self-perceptions, such as self-enhancement and self-verification. (2) When no situational explanations are available, perceptions of relational devaluation should lead to flexible self-motivations, which are those that involve attempts to 'objectively' evaluate the self, such as self-assessment and self-improvement. (3 & 4) Regardless of external justification, hurt feelings should derive from perceptions of relational devaluation and inflexible motivations should be activated when relational devaluation is not perceived A 2 (Relational Devaluation) x 2 (External Justification) factorially designed deception study tested the model. After developing closeness with a female experimental confederate, 83 female participants learned via alleged experimenter error that the confederate felt either as close or a lot less close to them than participants had expected. Then participants overheard the confederate's comment to the experimenter that either explained the feedback as a mistake (external justification) or not. Participants' hurt feelings and automatic self-relevant thoughts were measured in addition to trait level affect intensity. Analyses provided no support for the theory of hurt feelings. However, feelings of support were reduced when relational devaluation was perceived either directly from the initial feedback or indirectly when the overheard comment undermined feedback that participants were valued. This indirect relational devaluation also resulted in less positive automatic self-relevant thoughts. Unexpectedly, participants differed more in terms of positive thoughts, which are characteristic of inflexible motivations, than negative thoughts / acase@tulane.edu

The major thrust of this research effort has been the development and unification of the necessary underlying theoretical foundations for an adequate approach to knowledge elicitation from repertory grid data. To achieve this aim, the research entailed developing a new approach to the interactive derivation of hypothesis from repertory grid data provided by a domain expert. These hypothesis are submitted to a quantitative logic of confirmation which provides a basis for the automatic generation of production rules for expert systems. The proposed logic of quantitative confirmation is consistent with personal construct psychology in that it produces epistemic probabilities by the measurement of overlap of a person's constructs. A theory of non-quantitative confirmation is offered as a necessary condition for the elaboration of an adequate probabilistic logic of confirmation. This approach incorporates the basic tenants of personal construct psychology directly into the logic as a basis for the determination of relevance. The concept of an $\alpha$-plane is introduced as a binary decomposition of repertory grid data that furnishes the necessary realization of construct extensions (or ranges of convenience) needed to determine the range of relevance of a particular generalization or hypothesis, thus providing the uniquely determined string of incidences required for Bundy's truth functional incidence calculus. An application of this work to the elicitation of expertise in the domain of radiology is given / acase@tulane.edu

A conceptualization of the illusion of control phenomenon as a dispositional variable describing "illusory control proneness" was proposed. One hundred and thirty-nine undergraduate students constituted the sample of the study. The stability of illusion of control across responses, situations, and time was evaluated by assessing the consistency of subjects' perceptions of control over uncontrollable situations across several measures, tasks, and sessions. A games-of-chance paradigm in which subjects participated in illusion of control and neutral conditions of lottery, roulette, and die roll tasks was employed. Subjects completed three dependent measures (i.e., judgment of control, estimate of performance with practice, and prediction of success), and attended two similar experimental sessions. / As hypothesized, a MANOVA with repeated measures revealed that the illusion of control phenomenon was effectively produced with each of the dependent measures, in the three games-of-chance tasks, on both experimental sessions. As predicted, correlational analyses revealed significant positive relationships among the dependent measures, among the games-of-chance tasks, and between the experimental sessions. It was hypothesized that a confirmatory factor analysis would reveal one common factor representing illusory control proneness. While this general model was not supported, an alternative "multitrait-multimethod" model fit the data well, suggesting that illusion of control is better conceptualized as a phenomenon that is essentially specific to given measures and tasks. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 52-11, Section: B, page: 6090. / Major Professor: Daniel R. Boroto. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1991.

During the past ten years, the literature in the area of wife abuse has proliferated. However, a substantial portion of the current marital violence literature is either popular of theoretical in nature. As such, the existing literature on wife abuse fails to reflect the empirical data needed to support theoretical explanations of the phenomenon. This study attempts to partially fill this gap by providing empirical data on the victim's decision-making process. / The current state of the marital violence literature reveals that many battered women remain in or return to their abusive partners in spite of the frequency and severity of the abuse. The immediate question is why do battered women remain in or return to the abusive relationship. This study attempts to answer this question by an analysis of economic and psychological factors. The study addresses the research question of what specific factors are predictive of the immediate decision-making process of battered women within a shelter. / Exchange theory and learned helplessness theory were the guiding theoretical frameworks for the empirical factors of economic dependence and psychological dependence respectively. The empirical analysis bearing on these research questions is based on secondary data collected from the Religious Community Services Spouse Abuse Shelter of Clearwater, Florida. The study group consisted of 426 battered women who were processed through the shelter from January, 1983 to March, 1986. / Using stepwise multiple regression, the findings indicate that the decision of battered women to return to their abusive partners is influenced by both economic and psychological factors. The implications of the major empirical results for exchange theory, learned helplessness theory, and the development of research and practical strategies designed to reduce both the difficulties confronted by researchers conducting studies in this area and by battered women who attempt to extricate themselves from abusive partners are discussed. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 48-12, Section: A, page: 3202. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1987.