Frank W. Schneider

Police job satisfaction as a function of career orientation and position tenure: Implications for selection and community policing

This research focused on how the job satisfaction of 239 members of a municipal police department varied as a function of officer career orientation (careerist, artisan, social activist, and self-investor), job assignment category (patrol, investigation, and administration), and two indices of tenure (organization and position). The results revealed that among career orientations, careerists were highest in job satisfaction, and among assignment categories, officers in investigation and administration were higher than those in patrol. Also, of four background variables (position tenure, organization tenure, rank, and age), only position tenure accounted for a significant proportion of unique variance in job satisfaction: job satisfaction was associated with low position tenure. The findings were interpreted as supporting the idea that there is a fundamental compatibility between the careerist career orientation and the normative climate of the traditional police organization. It was also observed, however, that there is an essential compatibility between the social activist and artisan career orientations and many of the core features of community policing, the emerging paradigm of policing. The need to consider individual officer characteristics, including their career orientations, in selection and placement was emphasized.

Helping Behavior in Hot, Comfortable, and Cold Temperatures: A Field Study

A field study was conducted in which the helping behavior of 440 adults was measured under hot, comfortable, or cold temperatures. A subject was given an opportunity to help an experimenter by (1) answering a questionnaire, (2) picking up dropped groceries, (3) looking for a lost contact lens, or (4) picking up a dropped book while the experimenter walked on crutches. No support was found for the hypothesis that hot and cold temperature inhibit the display of helping behavior.

Police officer performance appraisal systems

Constables, sergeants, and staff sergeants (n=393) representing 15 municipal Canadian police departments completed a survey in which they reported about their organizations’ performance appraisal practices. In general, the officers’ responses suggested that their organizations’ performance appraisal systems were deficient with respect to well‐established key components of performance appraisal. Most officers indicated that they, for example, had little or no opportunity for input, did not receive informal feedback on a regular basis, received evaluations that were based on personal traits (as opposed to performance criteria), and their appraisals did not to lead to improved job performance or the identification of career development objectives. Also, the vast majority of officers indicated that supervisors received little or no training. In addition to emphasizing the need for improved supervisor training, the discussion focused on the negative consequences of inadequate performance appraisal at the individual level (e.g. employee development) and the organizational level (e.g. poor utilization of resources and undermining other systems and organizational change strategies).

Adolescent-Preadolescent Differences in Beliefs and Attitudes About Cigarette Smoking

Summary Three age groups of children (7-8-, 10-11-, and 13-14-years) were administered a questionnaire dealing with their smoking experiences and attitudes and beliefs about cigarette smoking. The results indicated that the vast majority of children recognized the harmfulness of smoking and most strongly disapproved of smoking. However, experimentation with smoking was found to increase with age, and older children expressed less negative attitudes about smoking. The effects of age were due largely to the differences between the preadolescent groups, on the one hand, and the adolescent group, on the other. In addition, a similar percentage of children in all three age groups perceived strong parental pressure against smoking; however, with increasing age, less opposition from their teachers and friends was perceived. Theories of social influence and moral development are considered in explaining the results.

Visual behavior in an unfocused interaction as a function of sex and distance.

Following Goffmans distinction between focused and unfocused interactions, the visual behavior of male, female, and mixed sex dyads in an unfocused interaction (waiting room situation) was investigated. Amount of visual behavior decreased over time and with increasing proximity of the interactants. While the sex of the looker was not a significant source of variance, females received more glances than males. Also, more glances occurred in female dyads than in either male or mixed sex dyads. The amount of mutual gaze accounted for 1% of the interaction time and was found not to exceed the level expected by chance. Attention was drawn to the differences in the patterns of visual behavior which occurred in the present unfocused interaction and those which have been found to occur in focused interactions.

Need for Affiliation and Sex as Moderators of the Relationship Between Need for Achievement and Academic Performance.

Abstract Sex and need for affiliation (n Aff) were investigated as potential moderators of the association between need for achievement (n Ach) and academic performance. Measures of n Ach and n Aff, based on the Personality Research form, were obtained or 78 male and 114 female grade 11 students. On the assumption of a conflict between n Ach and n Aff, it was hypothesized that high n Ach, low n Aff students earn higher grades than high n Afh, high n Aff students. The results for both males and females supported the hypothesis. Evidence was available which suggested that the poorer academic performance of the high n Ach, high n Aff students was due to an inability to maintain effectively their attention while studying. The results also indicated that, relative to other students, high n Ach females displayed a markedly superior academic orientation. Attention was drawn to the fact that the formance of the high n Ach girls appears incconsistent with some current theorizing regarding the achievement orientation of females.

In Favour of Coeducation: The Educational Attitudes of Students from Coeducational and Single-Sex High Schools

Four hypotheses about differences in educational attitudes of students in coeducational and single-sex high schools were derived from previous research on the socialpsychological environments of such schools. These hypotheses were that, compared with students from single-sex schools, coeducational school students would have more positive attitudes toward teachers, more positive self-concepts of academic ability, more positive attitudes toward high school, and stronger preferences for the type of school (coeducational or single-sex) in which theywere enrolled. The research participants included 2,029 grades 10 to 12 students from five coeducational, four allfemale, and four all-male separate high schools. The students completed a questionnaire that included scales relevant to each of the hypotheses. The results provided support for the second and fourth hypotheses and partial support for the first and third.

Negro-white differences in attribution of responsibility as a function of age1

Twenty-five Ss learned a 95-word-long story to complete mastery. All recalls of each S were scored for accuracy of recall by two dependent variables, number of words and number of three-word sequencies. The mean number of trials to successive criteria were computed for both word and sequence measures. The relationship between successive criteria and the learning of words is curvilinear, while the relationship between successive criteria and sequence learning is a straight line.An attribution-ofresponsibility (AR) questionnaire was administered to matched samples of Negro and white children representing four age levels. Ethnic differences were observed in the two youngest groups, whereas there were no ethnic differences among the older children. In the younger age groups, Negroes showed a generally less differentiated pattern of AR than the whites. The results were interpreted as supporting the hypothesis that a deprived cultural background retards the rate of learning norms concerning responsibility attribution.

Person orientation of male and female high school students: To the Educational disadvantage of males?

Potential differences in the person orientation of male and female high school students that are likely to have a significant influence on their achievement strivings were investigated. A questionnaire, consisting of several indices of person orientation, was administered to 848 grade 10 and 12 students. The data revealed that boys are especially susceptible to anti-intellectual influences from their peers and suggest that the interference of affiliative concerns with achievement behavior, a problem that has received considerable attention in the psychology of women, may also be very relevant to understanding the academic underachievement of males.

Effects of Speaking Order and Speaker Gaze Level on Interpersonal Gaze in a Triad

Summary The effects of speaking order and speaker gaze level on interpersonal gaze were investigated in two experiments involving male undergraduates. In Experiment 1 (N = 42), speaking order was manipulated by having Ss, meeting in groups of three, speak about themselves in a specified order. As hypothesized, the S who spoke second directed more gaze at the group member who spoke first than at the member who had not spoken. Experiment 2 (N = 40) involved the manipulation of both speaking order and speaker gaze level. The procedure was similar to that of Experiment 1, except that an S interacted with two confederates, one of whom, as the first speaker, directed either a high, medium, or low level of gaze at the S. The effect of speaking order found in Experiment 1 was replicated. However, there was no support for the hypothesis that the confederates gaze level would be reciprocated by the S both as he listened to the confederate and as he spoke. Also, both experiments revealed that duration and mean dura...