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Finding the Right Fit May Help Veterans Transition to Civilian Jobs
For many veterans, the leap from military service to corporate cubicle can be a difficult career transition. Since 2001, nearly 3 million members of the U.S. military have completed their service and returned to civilian life. However, the unemployment rate for veterans remains high – particularly among younger veterans who have served since 2001. New research from Stacie Furst-Holloway, an associate professor in the department of psychology at the University of Cincinnati, identifies strategies that organizations can use to help keep veterans on the job once they’re hired.
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The Perks of Being Detail Oriented
In a busy, cluttered world, it can often be difficult to find things. Luckily for us, the location of objects is often related to the context in which they are found, which means that we can learn from our exposure to repeated contexts to help us more quickly find what we’re looking for. Researchers who study this type of learning — called contextual learning — have suggested it is influenced by the way we look at and process scenes. When people view a scene, they are either biased to process it globally — focusing on the overall structure of the scene rather than the small details — or to process it locally — focusing on the smaller details rather than the bigger picture.
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Guilt Versus Shame: One Is Productive, the Other Isn’t, and How to Tell Them Apart
The Wall Street Journal: When Russell Robinson visited his mother recently, she made a request: Would he please attend an important family event 75 miles away that was happening the next day, the ordination ceremony of his aunt, who was becoming a minister. Dr. Robinson, a 44-year-old professor of mass communication who is divorced and lives in Durham, N.C., told his mother he would like to go but had made plans to spend the weekend with his 7-year-old son, who was visiting. Dr. Robinson’s mom persisted. “Family members are expected to attend,” she said. He said he understood, but it was too late for him to change the plans with his son. She asked again. He declined again.
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A Workout for the Mind
The New York Times: Becca Levy, a psychologist at the Yale School of Public Health, has been measuring the impact of stereotypes about old age for close to 20 years. They have potent effects, she and her colleagues have found. The researchers developed an “image of aging” scale to determine whether subjects are likely to see old people as “capable” and “active” and “full of life,” or as “grumpy” or “helpless” or other negative attributes. They’ve used the scale to measure how much those descriptions match older people’s own self-perceptions.
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Want a successful career? Look for this trait in a spouse.
The Washington Post: A recent study by the Pew Research Center made waves when it reported that what never-married women want in a spouse, more than anything else, is someone with a good job. A full 78 percent of women said steady employment was important to them in a partner, more than the 70 percent who wanted someone with similar ideas about raising children or the 38 percent who cared about sharing moral or religious views. Yet if they're thinking about their own careers, women — and men — might want to focus more on something else.
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Extremist Groups Appeal to Those Uncertain About Identity
In a world threatened by extremist groups such as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and Boko Haram, many people wonder what pull such violent, fear-mongering organizations have over their followers. In a new Current Directions in Psychological Science article, APS Fellow Michael A. Hogg, describes a theory explaining why people with no previous record of violence or extremist views might be joining these causes. Hogg proposes that “uncertainty-identity theory” — the role uncertainty plays in motivating people to join a social group to feel accepted — could be a contributing factor pushing people toward fringe groups — whether ideological, religious, or political.
