A cross-national comparison of Australian and Canadian supervisors' attributional and evaluative responses to subordinate performance

In a program of laboratory and field research over the last decade, the author has replicated and extended the attribution model of leadership (Green & Mitchell, 1979). This paper reports a cross-national test of the model, in which 172 Australian and 144 Canadian work supervisors' recalled their attributional and evaluative responses to high and low levels of subordinate performance. It was expected that the supervisors' responses would conform to the predictions established in the earlier studies, but that there would be key differences across the cultures. In particular, Australians were expected to endorse more internal attributions for subordinate performance than Canadians, and to focus more on individual characteristics in evaluating performance. Results supported the model's robustness and the hypothesised cross-national differences. The implications of these results are discussed in terms of crosscultural research opportunities, and the need to take account of small but potentially important differences in supervisory styles across cultures.

Is alcohol a cofactor of HIV and AIDS? Evidence from immunological and behavioral studies

The authors aim to critically examine empirical research on the effects of alcohol on HIV and AIDS from the immunological and behavioral fields. In vitro immunological studies demonstrate that social drinking increases the susceptibility of human cells to HIV infection. Animal studies show that acute and chronic alcohol ingestion increases rare of progression from retrovirus to clinical illness. In humans with HIV, no experimental evidence shows that alcohol is a cofactor of AIDS. Findings from behavioral studies show that a link between social drinking and risk of HIV is weak. No experimental evidence demonstrates that chronic drinking influences rate and course of disease progression to AIDS in humans who are HIV+. It is premature to promote the role of alcohol as a cofactor in HIV and AIDS.

The effect of unconditional stimulus modality and intensity on blink startle and electrodermal responses

Attentional accounts of blink facilitation during Pavlovian conditioning predict enhanced reflexes if reflex and unconditional stimuli (US) are from the same modality. Emotional accounts emphasize the importance of US intensity. In Experiment 1, we crossed US modality (tone vs, shock) and intensity in a 2 X 2 between-subjects design. US intensity but not US modality affected blink facilitation. Tn Experiment 2, we demonstrated that the results from Experiment 1 were not due to the motor task requirements employed. In Experiment 3, we used a within-subjects design to investigate the effects of US modality and intensity. Contrary to predictions derived from an attentional account, blink facilitation was larger during conditional stimuli that preceded shock than during those that preceded tones. The present results are not consistent with an attentional account of blink facilitation during Pavlovian conditioning in humans.

Self-Directed Behavioral Family Intervention for Parents of Oppositional Children in Rural and Remote Areas

Twenty-four parents of oppositional preschoolers were randomly assigned to either a self-directed behavioral family intervention condition (SD) or to a waitlist control group (WL). The self-directed parent training program based on self-regulation principles, consisted of a written information package and weekly telephone consultations for 10 weeks. At posttest, in comparison to the WL group, children in the SD group had lower levels of behavior problems on parent report measures of child behavior. At posttreatment, parents in the SD condition reported increased levels of parenting competence and lower levels of dysfunctional parenting practices as compared to parents in the WL condition. In addition, mothers reported lower levels of anxiety, depression, and stress as compared to mothers in the WL condition at posttreatment. Using mother's reports, gains in child behavior and parenting practices achieved at posttreatment were maintained at 4-month follow-up.

Conditioned inhibition of autonomic Pavlovian conditioning in humans

The present study aimed to demonstrate conditioned inhibition of Pavlovian conditioning of autonomic responses in humans. Subjects (N = 21) were presented initially with four geometric shapes (A, B, C and D). An electric shock served as the unconditioned stimulus (US) during acquisition. Conditional stimuli lasted for 8 s and US onset coincided with CS offset. Subjects were trained with A-US, C-US, and AC-US pairings and AB alone and B alone presentations. The subsequent summation test consisted of C-US pairings and CB alone and CD alone presentations. Conditioning was evident in self-reported US expectancy and first and second interval electrodermal responses. Evidence for conditioned inhibition during the summation test was found in US expectancy and second interval electrodermal responses. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.

Performance impacts of appraisal and coping with stress in workplace settings: The role of affect and emotional intelligence

We review the literature on stress in organizational settings and, based on a model of job insecurity and emotional intelligence by Jordan, Ashkanasy and Härtel (2002), present a new model where affective responses associated with stress mediate the impact of workplace stressors on individual and organizational performance outcomes. Consistent with Jordan et al., emotional intelligence is a key moderating variable. In our model, however, the components of emotional intelligence are incorporated into the process of stress appraisal and coping. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the implications of these theoretical developments for understanding emotional and behavioral responses to workplace.

Behavioral Types for Embedded Software - A Survey

At present, there is a variety of formalisms for modeling and analyzing the communication behavior of components. Due to a tremendous increase in size and complexity of embedded systems accompanied by shorter time to market cycles and cost reduction, so called behavioral type systems become more and more important. This chapter presents an overview and a taxonomy of behavioral types. The intentions of this taxonomy are to provide a guidance for software engineers and to form the basis for future research.