Encyclopedia of applied psychology

2354 Pages·2007·14.482 MB·English

by  Charles D. Spielberger

Editor–in–Chief
CHARLES D. SPIELBERGER
University of South Florida
Tampa, Florida, USA
CharlesD.SpielbergerisDistinguishedResearchProfessorofPsychologyandDirectoroftheCenterforResearchin
BehavioralMedicineandHealthPsychologyattheUniversityofSouthFlorida.Author,co-author,oreditorofmore
than 350 professional publications, Spielberger’s current research focuses on anxiety, anger, curiosity, depression,
jobstress,andlifestylefactorsthatcontributetotheetiologyandprogressionofcancerandcardiovasculardisorders.
HisState-TraitAnxietyInventory(1970,1983),withtranslationsin66languagesanddialects,hasbecomeastandard
internationalmeasureofanxiety.HehasservedasPresidentoftheInternationalAssociationofAppliedPsychology,
theInternationalCouncilofPsychologists,andtheInternationalStressManagementAssociationandwasthe100th
President of theAmerican Psychological Association.
i
Editorial Advisors
John W. Adair Machiko Fukuhara Joe Matarazzo
UniversityofManitoba TokiwaUniversity OregonHealthSciencesUniversity
Winnipeg,Manitoba,Canada Mito,Japan Portland,Oregon,USA
Michael Harris Bond James Georgas
ChineseUniversityofHongKong UniversityofAthens Charles Spielberger
HongKong,China Athens,Greece UniversityofSouthFlorida
Pieter J. D. Drenth Frank Heller Tampa,Florida,USA
VrijeUniversiteitAmsterdam TavistockInstituteofHumanRelations
Amsterdam,TheNetherlands London, UnitedKingdom Tuomo Tikkanen
Edwin A. Fleishman Stevan Hobfoll FinnishPsychologicalAssociation
GeorgeMasonUniversity KentStateUniversity Helsinki,Finland
Potomac,Maryland,USA Kent,Ohio,USA
Raymond D. Fowler Anna Leonova Bernhard Wilpert
AmericanPsychologicalAssociation MoscowStateUniversity TechnischeUniversita¨tBerlin
Washington,D.C.,USA Moscow,RussianFederation Berlin,Germany
Michael Frese Claude Levy-Leboyer
Justus-LiebigUniversityofGiessen Universite´ Rene´ Descartes
Giessen,Germany Paris,France
iii
Section Editors
Neil Anderson Jane Goodman-Delahunty Roy Malpass
UniversiteitvanAmsterdam UniversityofNewSouthWales UniversityofTexas
Amsterdam,TheNetherlands Sydney,NewSouthWales,Australia ElPaso,Texas,USA
Andrew Baum Yuri Hanin Rick R. McCown
ResearchInstituteforOlympicSports
UniversityofPittsburgh DuquesneUniversity
Pittsburgh,Pennsylvania,USA Jyvaskyla,Finland Pittsburgh,Pennsylvania,USA
Ann Higgins-D’Alessandro
Jose´ M. Prieto
John W. Berry
FordhamUniversity
UniversidadComplutensedeMadrid
Queen’sUniversity Bronx,NewYork,USA
Madrid,Spain
Kingston,Ontario,Canada
Robert Hogan
Donald K. Routh
Mirilia Bonnes HoganAssessmentSystems
Tulsa,Oklahoma,USA UniversityofMiami
Universita` degliStudidiRoma‘‘LaSapienza’’
Miami,Florida,USA
Rome,Italy Barry Kantowitz
UniversityofMichigan Mark L. Savickas
Heliodoro Carpintero
AnnArbor,Michigan,USA NortheasternOhioUniversitiesCollege
UniversidadComplutensedeMadrid
Uichol Kim ofMedicine
Madrid,Spain
Rootstown,Ohio,USA
Chung-AngUniversity
Giuseppe Carrus Seoul,Korea Margaret Semrud-Clikeman
Universita` degliStudidiRoma‘‘LaSapienza’’ Howard M. Knoff UniversityofTexas
Rome,Italy U.S.DepartmentofHealthandHumanServices Austin,Texas,USA
LittleRock,Arkansas,USA
Patrizia Catellani Harry C. Triandis
CatholicUniversityofMilan Frederick T. L. Leong UniversityofIllinois,Urbana-Champaign
Milan,Italy UniversityofTennessee Champaign,Illinois,USA
Knoxville,Tennessee,USA
Florence Denmark W. Fred van Raaij
Peter A. Lichtenberg
PaceUniversity UniversiteitvanTilburg
WayneStateUniversity
NewYork,NewYork,USA Tilburg,TheNetherlands
Detroit,Michigan,USA
Rocio Ferna´ndez-Ballesteros Garcia Ingrid Lunt Sheldon Zedeck
Auto´nomaUniversidaddeMadrid UniversityofLondon UniversityofCalifornia,Berkeley
Madrid,Spain London,UnitedKingdom Berkeley,California,USA
iv
Preface
During the past 50 years, there has been remarkable The development and current status of applied
progress in the articulation of psychological theory, psychology can be best understood by examining the
increasingly sophisticated reports of empirical re- historical evolution of the field, which is cogently
search, and a dramatic expansion in professional describedbyHelioCarpintero,theofficialHistorianof
applications of psychology in all areas of modern life. the IAAP. In his overview article on the history of
Applied psychology requires both a sound scientific appliedpsychology,Carpinterohighlightsthebenefits
foundationandattentiontothepracticalproblemsthat resulting from psychologists joining together to form
are encountered in applying psychology to an infinite professional associations that have facilitated the
variety of life settings. Growing public recognition of development and integration of psychological theory
the potential contributions of psychology to solving and research and that have stimulated and guided
life’s problems has also fostered rapid growth in the more effective applications of psychology in profes-
number of psychologists who are engaged in research sional work.
and in professional practice throughout the world. Founded in 1920 as the Association Internationale
The need for an authoritative publication that des Conferences de Psychotechnique (International
reviews and evaluates the numerous applications of Association for Psychotechnology), the IAAP adopted
professional psychology has been recognized for itspresentnamein1955.EdouardClapre˜deconvened
a number of years, and has been of special interest to and chaired the first meeting of the association, held
themembersoftheInternationalAssociationofApplied in Geneva, Switzerland in 1920, and served as its
Psychology(IAAP),theworld’soldestandlargestmem- President for more than 20 years. Meetings were held
bership organization of individual psychologists. The in a number of European cities, including Barcelona,
interests and concerns of IAAP members, who reside Milan, Paris, Moscow, and Prague. An excellent
inmorethan80countries,havebeenstronglynotedby history of the evolution and development of applied
former IAAP presidents Edwin A. Fleishman, Claude psychology and the IAAP can be found in the address
Levy-Leboyer, and Harry C. Triandis. given by former President Edwin A. Fleishman on
Significant contributions to international applica- receiving the 1999 American Psychological Associa-
tions of psychology were explicitly recognized and tion’s Award for Distinguished Contributions to the
discussed in the context of their diverse societal International Advancement of Psychology (American
settings by Bernhard Wilpert in his Presidential Psychologist, November, 1999, pp. 1008–1016).
address at the IAAP’s 24th International Congress of For recommending that the IAAP take an active
Applied Psychology in 1998. It was my honor and role in sponsoring and developing the Encyclopedia
pleasure to succeed Professor Wilpert as President of Applied Psychology, we are indebted to George
of the IAAP at this Congress, which was held in San Zimmar, an active IAAP member and former senior
Francisco, California, and to begin participating in sponsoringeditoratAcademicPress,nowElsevier.The
discussions to identify the most important contribu- first step in developing the encyclopedia was the
tions to applied psychology that are reported in this appointment of an Advisory Board composed of
encyclopedia. distinguished colleagues representing all areas of
xxi
xxii Preface
applied psychology. In addition to recommending the Itshouldbenoted,however,thatitwasnotpossibleto
majorareasandthespecifictopicstobecoveredinthe cover all of the many areas of applied psychology.
encyclopedia, the Advisory Board identified highly Several emerging areas are not included because we
qualified colleagues who would be invited to serve as failedtorecognizetheirimportanceatthetimethetopics
Section Editors for the selected areas. wereselectedfortheencyclopedia.Itisalsounfortunate
The responsibilities of the Section Editors included thatafewauthorswereunabletomeetthedeadlinesfor
writing a major article to provide an overview and submittingthemanuscriptsfortheirarticles.
analysisoftheirrespectiveareasandworkingwiththe The Encyclopedia of Applied Psychology is truly a
Editor-in-Chief and the Advisory Board in identifying product of the collaborative efforts of the members of
the specific topics to be included in each area. They the IAAP. We are especially indebted to former IAAP
also helped to determine the amount of space to be PresidentsEdwinA.Fleishman,HarryC.Triandis,and
allocated for each topic and recommended colleagues Bernhard Wilpert, and to our current president,
with outstanding knowledge and expertise to serve as Michael Frese, for their leadership, encouragement,
theauthors forthe individualarticles. In addition, the and tangible contributions to the encyclopedia. For
Section Editors reviewed and edited the articles that their dedicated contributions to the encyclopedia,
presented information on the topics that were related IwouldalsoliketothankthemembersoftheAdvisory
to the subject matter that was included in their Board and theSection Editors,whosenames are listed
sections. in the front matter. Finally, on behalf of the IAAP,
The articles that are included in the encyclopedia I thank the authors who contributed articles in their
are presented in alphabetical order, as determined by areas of expertise and the editorial and production
the title of each article. Consequently, the underlying staff of Elsevier for the tremendous amount of time
section organization will not be readily apparent. At and energy that was needed to bring this large project
theconclusionofeacharticle,thereaderisdirectedto to fruition.
additional articles that include related information.
The authors of each article also provide a number of CHARLES D. SPIELBERGER, Ph.D., ABPP
references that are recommended for further reading. President,IAAP,1998–2002
A
Academic Failure, Prevention of
Mary Ann Rafoth
IndianaUniversityofPennsylvania,Indiana,Pennsylvania,USA
1. DefiningAcademicFailure peer tutoring An instructional approach that uses peers to
2. CausesofAcademicFailure reinforce classroom instruction by providing individual
3. PreventingEarlySchoolFailure instructiontostudents.
4. PreventingFailureintheIntermediateGradesandMiddle phonological awareness Children’s awareness of the way in
School which words sound, particularly rhyme and alliteration
5. PreventingAcademicFailureinHighSchool and the ability to blend sounds, recognize onset rime
6. Conclusion (initialsounds),andidentifysoundunits.
FurtherReading retention The practice of requiring a student to repeat a
grade or requiring a child of appropriate chronological
agetodelayentrytokindergartenorfirstgrade.
school readiness The set of skills children need to learn
successfullyinschool.
GLOSSARY socialpromotion Thepracticeofpromotingastudenttothe
next grade even when skills or knowledge sets to be
masteredatthatlevelhavenotbeenmastered.
basic skills The skills associated with functional literacy,
team teaching An instructional approach that allows teach-
including reading decoding and comprehension skills,
ers, often with different areas of expertise, to share
mathcalculationandproblemsolving,andwriting.
instructionalduties.
cooperative learning An instructional approach that uses
peergroupstofacilitateandreinforcelearning.
curriculum-based assessment An assessment approach that
uses students’ progress in their actual curriculum as a
measurementpoint. Prevention of academic failure is a serious challenge
emergent literacy The recognition of environmental print because children who fail academically experience
that leads to gradual understanding of the role of letters significant social and economic challenges throughout
andwordsinwrittenlanguage.
their lives. Causes of academic failure include familial,
learning disability A discrepancy between a student’s mea-
socioeconomic, and cultural issues that lead to a lack
suredabilityandactualachievementcausedbyadysfunc-
of readiness for school, academic, instructional, and
tioninabasicneuropsychologicalprocess.
motivational problems as well as physiological,
learning strategy A voluntary activity students use to facil-
cognitive, and neurological barriers to learning.
itateremembering,learning,orproblemsolving.
masterylearning Aninstructionalapproachthatallowsstu- Attempts to help students who are experiencing
dents to repeat instruction and assessment until compe- academic failure fall into three categories: prevention,
tencyisachieved. intervention, and remediation. Preventive approaches
EncyclopediaofAppliedPsychology, 1 #2004ElsevierInc.
VOLUME1 Allrightsreserved.
2 Academic Failure, Prevention of
aim to stop academic failure before it occurs. Early learn independently, and work collaboratively with
intervention programs aim to catch children during others—a skill set deemed necessary for success in a
key developmental periods and facilitate development digital age. This underachievement symbolizes a sig-
and readiness skills. Remediation programs are usually nificantlossofintellectualcapitalforaculture.Finally,
applied when students have demonstrated significant statisticsshowthatstudentswhodonotcompletehigh
skill deficits and are experiencing significant academic school are much more likely to need welfare support,
failure.Specialeducationprogramsoftentakethisform, have difficulties with the law and police, and struggle
as do other kinds of academic accommodations for economicallyandsociallythroughouttheirlives.Thus,
studentsidentifiedwithspecialneeds. academic failure ultimately means both the failure to
acquire the skill sets expected to be learned and the
failure to acquire official documentation of achieve-
1. DEFINING ACADEMIC FAILURE ment by theschool system.
A lot depends on children’s success in school—their
self-esteem, their sense of identity, their future 2. CAUSES OF ACADEMIC FAILURE
employability. Preventing academic failure means
thatwe,asasociety,aremuchmorelikelytoproduce Students struggle academically for many reasons,
individuals who feel confident about their ability to including familial, socioeconomic, and cultural issues
contributeto the common good, whose literacy skills that lead to a lack of readiness for school, academic,
arecompetent,andwhoareabletoholdjobssuccess- instructional, and motivational problems as well as
fully. Thus, prevention of academic failure should be physiological, cognitive, and neurological barriers to
aprimaryconcernforanysociety.Butexactlywhatis learning. Early school failure often occurs because
meant by academic failure? What does the term con- children enter the structured school environment not
note? Generations of schoolchildren since the 1920s, ready tolearn.
when the system of grade progression began, have
equated academic failure with retention in grade.
2.1. School Readiness
School failure meant literally failing to progress onto
thenextgrade,withtheassumptionthattheskillsand School readiness refers to the idea that children need
knowledge taught in that grade had not been mas- acertainsetofskillstolearnandworksuccessfullyin
tered.Tohaveflunkedmultiplegrades quicklyledto school. Often this term refers to whether or not chil-
quitting school altogether—the ultimate academic dren have reached the necessary emotional, behav-
failure. ioral, and cognitive maturity to start school in
Morerecently,academicfailurehascometomeana addition to how well they would adapt to the class-
failure to acquire the basic skills of literacy. Students room environment. To create some consensus about
who were unable to read at a functional level, to when a child should begin school, states designate
communicate effectively through writing, and to com- a specific cutoff date. If a child reaches a certain age
pletebasicmathcalculationswereseenasrepresenting by the cutoff (usually 5 years for kindergarten and
a failure of the academic system even though they 6 years for first grade), the child may begin school.
might hold high school diplomas. The practice of However,cutoffdatesarearbitraryandvaryconsider-
moving students on from one grade to the next even ably across nations, and age is not the best determi-
thoughtheymightnothavemasteredbasiccompeten- nant or most accurate measure of whether or not a
ciesassociatedwithlowergradelevelsisoftenreferred childisreadytobeginschool.Researchhassuggested
to as social promotion. This type of academic failure that we must look at all aspects of children’s lives—
led to calls for an increased emphasis on basic skills, theircognitive,social,emotional,andmotordevelop-
thatis,the‘‘threeR’s’’—reading,(w)riting,and(a)rith- ment—to get an accurate idea of their readiness to
metic—in public education. Partly in reaction to enterschool.Mostimportant,children’sreadinessfor
emphasis on basic skills, a third interpretation of aca- school is affected by their early home, parental, and
demicfailurehasalsoemerged.Inthisview,academic preschool experiences.
failure occurs not only when students fail to master Stated in its simplest form, school readiness means
basic skills but also when they emerge from school thatachildisreadytoenterasocialenvironmentthat
without the ability to think critically, problem solve, isfocusedprimarilyoneducation.Thefollowinglistof
Academic Failure, Prevention of 3
behaviors and characteristics are often associated with to learn to read is called print awareness. Print aware-
school readiness: nessmeansthatchildrenarecapableofthefollowing:
(cid:1) Ability tofollow structureddaily routines (cid:1) Knowingthedifference between pictures andprint
(cid:1) Ability todress independently (cid:1) Recognizing environmental print(e.g., stop signs,
(cid:1) Ability towork independently with supervision McDonald’s, Kmart)
(cid:1) Ability tolisten and pay attention towhat someone (cid:1) Understanding thatprintcanappear alone orwith
elseis saying pictures
(cid:1) Ability toget along withand cooperate with other (cid:1) Recognizing thatprint occurs indifferent media
children (e.g.,pencil, crayon, ink)
(cid:1) Ability toplay withother children (cid:1) Recognizing thatprint occurs ondifferent surfaces
(cid:1) Ability tofollow simple rules (e.g.,paper, computer screen, billboard)
(cid:1) Ability towork withpuzzles, scissors, coloring, (cid:1) Understanding thatwordsare read righttoleft
paints, andthe like (cid:1) Understanding thatthelines of text are read from
(cid:1) Abilitytowriteownnameortoacquiretheskillwith toptobottom
instruction (cid:1) Understanding thefunction ofwhite space between
(cid:1) Ability tocount oracquire skills withinstruction words
(cid:1) Ability torecite thealphabet (cid:1) Understanding thattheprint correspondsto speech
(cid:1) Ability toidentify both shapes andcolors wordfor word
(cid:1) Ability toidentify soundunits inwords andto (cid:1) Knowingthedifference between letters andwords
recognize rhyme
Childrenalsoneedtolearnbook-handlingskillssuch
Family environment is very important in shaping asorientingabookcorrectlyandrecognizingthebegin-
children’s early development. Some family factors that ningandtheendofabook.Childrenwhobeginschool
can influence school readiness include low family withoutthesebasicreadinessskillsareatriskforschool
economic risk (poor readiness for school is associated failure. The use of screening assessments during pre-
with poverty), stable family structure (children from school and kindergarten to identify students who may
stable two-parent homes tend to have stronger be at risk for academic failure, particularly in the area
school readiness than do children from one-parent of phonemic awareness, hasbeen shown tobe a sound
homes and from homes where caregivers change fre- methodofpredictingwhichchildrenwillhavedifficulty
quently), and enriched home environment (children inlearningtoread.Mostlikelytoberetainedinkinder-
from homes where parents talk with their children, garten are children who are chronologically young for
engagetheminconversation,readtothem,andengage their grade, developmentally delayed, and/or living in
in forms of discipline such as ‘‘time-out’’ that encou- poverty.
rageself-discipline havestronger readiness skills).
Children’sreadinesstoread,inparticular,hasgained
greater attention from educators recently as the devel-
2.2. Academic, Instructional,
opmental precursors to reading have become more
and Motivational Reasons
evident. During the preschool years, children develop
emerging literacy skills—preacademic skills that allow Childrenwhodonotmasterbasicreadingskills,specifi-
children to develop a disposition to read, write, and cally the ability to automatically decode new words and
compute. Children are ready to read when they have build a sight word vocabulary that leads to fluency,
developedanearforthewayinwhichwordssoundand experience academic failure. By third grade, learning to
canidentifyrhymeandalliteration,blendsounds,recog- readhasbecomereadingtolearn.Inotherwords,inthird
nizeonsetrime(initialsounds),andidentifysoundunits grade the curriculum becomes focused much less on
inwords. Together, these skillsare called phonological teaching students to acquire the basic tools of literacy
awarenessandusuallyemergeinchildrenbetween2and (reading, writing, and computing) and much more on
6yearsofage.Childrenwithgoodphonologicalaware- using those tools to learn content, express ideas, and
ness skills usually learn to read quickly. Children who solve problems. At this point, students are likely to be
are poor readers have weak phonological skills, and givencontenttextbooksinscienceandsocialstudiesand
children who do not learn to read fail in school. to read nonfiction for thepurpose ofgainingnewinfor-
Another important readiness skill that helps children mation.Thus,theinabilitytoreadeffectivelyandtolearn
4 Academic Failure, Prevention of
to study independently often leads to failure at the ele- very difficult for her to benefit from instruction.
mentary and middle school levels and also creates pro- Imagineanotherchildinfirstgradestrugglingtolearn
found motivation problems at the high school level that because hervisionimpairment hasnotbeencaughtor
contributetotheultimateschoolfailure—droppingout. corrected.Similarly,studentssufferingfromavarietyof
Theinabilitytomasterkeyconceptsinpivotalclasses conditions and illnesses, such as childhood diabetes,
such as algebra, now typically taken at the middle or asthma and allergy-related problems, and sickle cell
juniorhighschoollevel,oftenlimitsstudents’abilityto anemia,mayhavedifficultyinmaintainingenergyand
proceedincoursework.Studentsmayfailtounderstand attention in school due to chronic fatigue and the
algebraic concepts due to their developmental level. impact of medications. Children may also suffer from
(Many students are stilling thinking in concrete terms orthopedicormotorimpairmentsthatmakeitdifficult
inmiddleschoolandhavenotyetmovedintoastageof for them to explore their environment, interact with
cognitive thinking allowing them to understand formal others,and/ormastertasksthatdemandmotorskills.
logicandmanipulatesymbols—adevelopmentalsource Studentswhosufferfromvariouskindsofneurolog-
of failure.) In addition, some students might not have ical disorders or learning disabilities may also have
automatizedbasicarithmeticskills,particularlycomput- cognitive learning problems that make it difficult for
ingwithfractions—anacademicorinstructionalfailure. their brains to process information, interpret sounds
Somestudentsmayhavebecometurnedofftomathand and symbols efficiently in reading, calculate and
accepted self-images that permit poor math skills— understand number concepts, and/or write effectively.
a motivational failure. Finally, many students will fail Other children may have cognitive deficits, such as
algebraforallofthesereasons,andtheimpactwilloften mental retardation, that limit their ability to absorb
bethattheywillfinishschoolinanonacademicorbasic and apply regular classroom instruction. Children
trackormightevendropout. with attention deficit disorders have difficulty in
Thus, academic and instructional reasons for school directing and maintaining their attention, may exhibit
failure include the effectiveness of the instruction a impulsive behavior, and have trouble in interacting
student has received and the quality of remediation independentlyintypicalclassroomenvironmentswith-
strategies or programs available. The following is a outsupport.Specializedand/orspecialeducationinter-
typical example that illustrates academic and instruc- ventions are designed to provide individualized
tionalreasonsforschoolfailure.Ateacherreportsthata strategies and approaches for students who have phy-
studentishavingdifficultyingettingbeyondtheprimer siological-based learning problems interfering with
level in reading and is being considered for retention. their ability tolearn.
The child was assessed as having average intelligence.
Nobehavioralorattentionproblemswerenoted.Closer
inspectionsofthestudent’sreadingskillsindicatedthat
3. PREVENTING EARLY SCHOOL
she had poor phonological skills and was not profiting
FAILURE
from the typeofclassroom readinginstruction she was
receiving that depended heavily on auditory phonics
3.1. Early Intervention Programs
instruction stressing ‘‘sounding out words’’ and match-
ing sound–symbol connections. Appropriate interven- Programmatic interventions may include developing
tions included using techniques to build up a sight screening programs to identify children at risk for
word vocabulary through repetition and distributed school failure and to ensure early access to readiness
learningandintroducingthestudenttoavisualdecod- programsalreadyavailableintheschoolorcommunity
ing system to provide her with a method for reading such as Head Start. Many states are now developing
unknown words by analyzing the words and breaking guidelines for children age 6 years or under based on
themdownintomorefamiliarvisualunits. the National Association for the Education of Young
Children’s (NAEYC) list of developmentally appropri-
ate practices. The major challenge facing early inter-
vention programs is to provide developmentally and
2.3. Physiological, Neurological,
individually appropriate learning environments for all
and Cognitive Reasons
children. Essential ingredients to successful preschool
Imagine a child spending most of the year in kinder- experiences include small group and individualized
gartenwithanundetectedhearinglossthathasmadeit teacher-directed activities as well as child-initiated