Leo Marai

Double De-Motivation And Negative Social Affect Among Teachers In Indonesia

Globalisation is creating extant salary differentials across the South Pacific region, and this study explores their impact on emotional well being within the Indonesian education system. One hundred and eighty-eight local and expatriate teachers of English were classified into underpaid (n = 66 local instructors), overpaid (n = 60 expatriate instructors), and equitably paid (n = 62 local and expatriate instructors) groups, and completed a job satisfaction scale, the Beck Depression Inventory, the Beck Anxiety Inventory, and the Beck Hopelessness Scale. Consistent with Social Equity Theory (SET), both underpaid and overpaid groups had significantly less job satisfaction than the equitably paid group. Moreover, compared to their equitably paid counterparts, the underpaid and overpaid groups experienced more symptoms of depression, anxiety, and hopelessness. These findings extend SET to both quality of working life and occupational mental health.

The Development of Psychology in Papua New Guinea: A Brief Review

The development of psychology in Papua New Guinea (PNG) is briefly and critically reviewed in this paper. The primary foci in PNG, both in teaching and research, have been clinical psychology and selection testing. Despite significant developments during the colonial era, the period since independence has witnessed a stagnation, as reflected in outmoded selection procedures, low employer awareness of psychology, and a dearth of relevant, indigenous research. The primary causes of this stagnation are identified as cross-cultural psychology, the influence of expatriates, and political decisions. The paper concludes with some suggestions for regenerating psychology in PNG, including a project to assess what Papua New Guineans themselves would expect from any genuine indigenisation process.

An Introduction to Humanitarian Work Psychology

Humanitarian work psychology is a dynamic response to the growing humanitarian challenges, and opportunities, of our era. After introducing the field (Chapter 1) the contributions in this volume define a Conceptual basis for humanitarian work psychology, in its history (Chapter 2), theory (Chapter 3), method (Chapter 4) and ethics (Chapter 5). These conceptual foundations enable a range of Applications, for example, to the skills of development diplomacy (Chapter 6), and the enhancement of public services in health and education (Chapter 7). These and a range of other applications related to the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the International Labour Organization’s Decent Work Agenda are responses to demand (Chapter 8), and supply (Chapter 9). They are fit for purposes as responses to the ongoing challenges of global recession, warming and climate change (Chapter 10). Future directions for Building Capacity through and within humanitarian work psychology include gender equity (Chapter 11), bridging the digital divide (Chapters 12 and 13) and restoring global and local trust, for example, in aid organizations and the work they perform (Chapter 14). Constructing that trust begins and ends with listening to local voices about some of the organizational causes of, and solutions to, humanitarian issues like poverty (Chapter 15). In the final synthesis then, humanitarian work psychology can itself be organized, as it is in this book, into concepts, applications and the building of capacity. Organizations, the book suggests, can be capacitors.