Mark Radford

Role Conflict, Ambiguity, and Overload: A 21-Nation Study

The extent of role conflict, role ambiguity, and role overload reported by middle managers from 21 nations was related to national scores on power distance, individualism, uncertainty avoidance, an...

The Melbourne decision making questionnaire: an instrument for measuring patterns for coping with decisional conflict

A study was conducted to examine the factorial validity of the Flinders Decision Making Questionnaire (Mann, 1982), a 31-item self-report inventory designed to measure tendencies to use three major coping patterns identified in the conflict theory of decision making (Janis and Mann, 1977): vigilance, hypervigilance, and defensive avoidance (procrastination, buck-passing, and rationalization). A sample of 2051 university students, comprising samples from Australia (n=262), New Zealand (n=260), the USA (n=475), Japan (n=359), Hong Kong (n=281) and Taiwan (n=414) was administered the DMQ. Factorial validity of the instrument was tested by confirmatory factor analysis with LISREL. Five different substantive models, representing different structural relationships between the decision-coping patterns had unsatisfactory fit to the data and could not be validated. A shortened instrument, containing 22 items, yielded a revised model comprising four identifiable factors-vigilance, hypervigilance, buck-passing, and procrastination. The revised model had adequate fit with data for each country sample and for the total sample, and was confirmed. It is recommended that the 22-item instrument, named the Melbourne DMQ, replace the Flinders DMQ for measurement of decision-coping patterns.

Psychiatric Disturbance and Decisionmaking

The relationship between psychiatric disorder (as measured by severity of psychoneurotic status and depression) and decisionmaking behaviour was examined in a sample of 39 hospitalised patients. Measures based on the conflict theory of decision-making of Janis and Mann (1977) and the expectancy-value theory of decisionmaking of Edwards (1961) were administered. Patients who scored highest on measures of psychoneurotic disorder—the Middlesex Hospital Questionnaire and the Beck Depression Inventory—were least confident about their decision-making. They also reported a high use of maladaptive decision-making coping patterns, in particular decision avoidance. Slightly over one-half of the patients demonstrated an ability to make rational decisions, while the remainder made either irrational decisions or avoided making any decision at all. Observation in the test session revealed that patients were strikingly slow in answering the questionnaires and often attempted to make no response. The importance of this area of research for patient assessment and treatment is discussed.

Decision-Making in Clinically Depressed-Patients - a Transcultural Social Psychological-Study

One of the most important cognitive deficits in depression is said to be the patients inability to make decisions. A research design involving a cross-cultural comparison between Australian and Japanese normal controls (N=309 and N=743, respectively) and clinically depressed patients (N=59 and N=45, respectively) was used to examine the influence of culture on illness and decision-making behavior, and whether deficits in decision making may be related to culture. It was found that depression had a greater effect on decision making in Australian patients than in Japanese patients. While many differences were found between Australian and Japanese nondepressed students, few differences were found between Australian and Japanese depressed patients. Thus, there appears to be an important interactional effect of culture and depression on decision making. The theoretical and clinical implications of the results are discussed.

Comparison of probabilistic choice models in humans

Probabilistic choice has been attracting attention in psychopharmacology and neuroeconomics. Several parametric models have been proposed for probabilistic choice; entropy model, Prelecs probability weight function, and hyperbola-like probability discounting functions. In order to examine (i) fitness of the probabilistic models to behavioral data, (ii) relationships between the parameters and psychological processes, e.g., aversion to possible non-gain in each probabilistic choice and aversion to unpredictability, we estimated the parameters and AICc (Akaike Information Criterion with small sample correction) of the probabilistic choice models by assessing the points of subjective equality at seven probability values (95%–5%). We examined both fitness of the models parametrized by utilizing AICc, and the relationships between the model parameters and equation-free parameter of aversion to possible non-gain. Our results have shown that (i) the goodness of fitness for group data was [Entropy model>Prelecs function>General hyperbola>Simple hyperbola]; while Prelecs function best fitted individual data, (ii) aversion to possible non-gain and aversion to unpredictability are distinct psychological processes. Entropy and Prelec models can be utilized in psychopharmacological and neuroeconomic studies of risky decision-making.

Demographic Effects on the Use of Vertical Sources of Guidance by Managers in Widely Differing Cultural Contexts

Data provided by 7380 middle managers from 60 nations are used to determine whether demographic variables are correlated with managers’ reliance on vertical sources of guidance in different nations and whether these correlations differ depending on national culture characteristics. Significant effects of Hofstede’s national culture scores, age, gender, organization ownership and department function are found. After these main effects have been discounted, significant although weak interactions are found, indicating that demographic effects are stronger in individualist, low power distance nations than elsewhere. Significant non-predicted interaction effects of uncertainty avoidance and masculinity-femininity are also obtained. The implications for theory and practice of the use of demographic attributes in understanding effective management procedures in various parts of the world are discussed.

Transcultural issues in mood and anxiety disorders: a focus on Japan.

Accurate comparisons of the prevalence of psychiatric disorders across Eastern and Western cultures are difficult and limited by methodological problems. Nevertheless, using standardized diagnostic and evaluation techniques, recent surveys have suggested that depression and anxiety disorders exist in all countries and cultures examined thus far, although variations in the prevalence rates and symptomatology may exist. This article discusses the influence and impact that culture can have on recognizing and treating mood and anxiety disorders, with a particular focus on Japan. Over the last 20 years, studies have consistently reported an increase in mental illness in Japan, especially symptoms of depression and anxiety. While such symptoms have had an adaptive cultural role in the past, current social and economic changes in Japan have turned any adaptive advantage into a potentially significant disadvantage, with a major impact on the capacity of individuals to function adequately. The situation is compounded by the fact that Japanese patients are reluctant to openly discuss disturbances of mood, since these are considered to be indicative of personal weakness rather than treatable medical conditions. Reluctance to discuss personal mental health hinders timely recognition and appropriate treatment.

Cultural Influences On Depression - a New Methodological Approach and its Results

Abstract: Transcultural research into psychopatbology has often failed to produce a systematic body of findings concerning the relationship between culture and psychopathology. In this paper an attempt is made to overcome this problem by examining the relationship between culture and depression in terms of a theoretical task. Japanese and Australian depressed patients were given measures of depression and decision making. The relationship between specific variables associated with depression and those associated with decision making was investigated. Results showed that those depression variables which influenced decision making for Japanese patients were different to those for Australian patients. These findings are discussed in terms of their implications for psychiatric diagnosis and understanding the relationship between culture and depression.

Problems of Subject Inclusion in Psychiatric Research - Observations From Research with Psychiatric-Inpatients

Abstract: In a recent study of psychiatric disturbance and decision making behaviour12, it was observed that a significant number of psychiatric inpatients experienced difficulties in addressing themselves to the experimental tasks at hand. Despite the large number of studies that have used psychiatric inpatients as subjects, little, if any mention has been made of these difficulties. The following report describes the difficulties that have been observed in the above research project, and examines their possible implications for clinical assessment, research, and for clinical investigations and evaluation of treatment regimes (e.g. effectiveness of particular drug therapies), which use psychiatric inpatient populations as subject sources.