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Showing papers by "University of Western Ontario published in 1993"


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors tested the generalizability of J. P. Meyer and N. J. Allen's (1991) 3-component model of organizational commitment to the domain of occupational commitment.
Abstract: he authors tested the generalizability of J. P. Meyer and N. J. Allen's (1991) 3-component model of organizational commitment to the domain of occupational commitment. Measures of affective, continuance, and normative commitment to occupation were developed and used to test hypotheses concerning their differential relations with antecedent and consequence variables. Confirmatory factor analyses conducted on data collected from samples of student and registered nurses revealed that the 3 component measures of occupational commitment were distinguishable from one another and from measures of the 3 components of organizational commitment

5,751 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors used measures of leadership, locus of control, and support for innovation to predict the consolidated unit performance of 78 managers and found that three transformational-leadership measures were associated with a higher internal locus and significantly and positively predicted business-unit performance over a 1-year interval.
Abstract: The authors used measures of leadership, locus of control, and support for innovation to predict the consolidated-unit performance of 78 managers. Results revealed that 3 transformational-leadership measures were associated with a higher internal locus of control and significantly and positively predicted business-unit performance over a 1-year interval. Transactional measures of leadership, including contingent reward and management by exception (active and passive), were each negatively related to business-unit performance. Causal relationships between the transformational-leadership behaviors and unit performance were moderated by the level of support for innovation in the business unit

2,189 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors define the notion of attitude as "value expression versus object appraisal" and describe the relationship between value expression and object appraisal, and propose alternative models of the attitude-behavior relationship.
Abstract: INTRODUCTION 118 ATTITUDE STRUCTURE 118 Definitions of Attitude I 19 Affective, Cognitive, and Behavioral Correlates of Attitudes 120 Attitude Attributes 122 Meas urement of Attitudes ..... . ......... ........ ...... .. . 123 VALUES AND ATTITUDES 125 Value-Attitude Relations 125 Functions of Attitudes: Value Expression Versus Object Appraisal 125 ATTITUDE FORMATION 127 Conditioning of Attitudes ....... .. 127 Heritability of Attitudes ......... .. ..... ...... ..... ...... 128 ATTITUDES AND INFORMATION-PROCESSING 129 Selective Interpretation ......... .. ........ .. 129 Selective Memory . ......... ..... ....... ..... . ... .. ...... .. 130 ATTITUDES AND BEHAVIORS 131 Theory of Reas oned Action 131 Alternative Models of the Attitude-Behavior Relation 132 Effects of Behavior on Attitudes ......... . ....... ..... ..... ...... . . .... .... .. ... ..... ....... . .. 133 PERSUASION ......... 135 Elaboration-Likelihood and Heuristic-Systematic Models of Persuasion .... ...... 135 Mes sage Reception ...... ......... .. ........ ...... . 136

2,154 citations



Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: It is suggested that bone sialoprotein may be involved in the nucleation of hydroxyapatite at the mineralization front of bone.
Abstract: Bone sialoprotein (BSP) and osteopontin, the major phosphorylated proteins of mammalian bone, have been proposed to function in the initiation of mineralization. To test this hypothesis, the effects of BSP and osteopontin on hydroxyapatite crystal formation were determined by using a steady-state agarose gel system. At low calcium phosphate concentrations, no accumulation of calcium and phosphate occurred in control gels or gels containing osteopontin. Gels containing BSP at 1-5 micrograms/ml, however, exhibited a visible precipitation band and significantly elevated Ca + PO4 contents. By powder x-ray diffraction, the precipitate formed in the presence of BSP was shown to be hydroxyapatite. These findings suggest that bone sialoprotein may be involved in the nucleation of hydroxyapatite at the mineralization front of bone.

659 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors focused on four issues concerning the validity of the attitudey'motivation test battery, i.e., whether the various subtests assess the attributes they are presurned to measure.
Abstract: This study focuses on four issues concerningaspects ofthe validity of the Attitudey'Motivation Test Battery. Data were obtained from 92 students of universityJevel French. The first issue deals with whether the various subtests assess the attributes they are presurned to measure. A multitraiU multimethod analysis of three methods indicated that they did. The second issue focuses on the relationship of the subtests to higher order constructs. A factor analysis provided empirical support for the higher order constructs of Integrativeness, Attitudes Toward the Leaming Situation, Language Anxiety, and Motivation. The third issue is concemed with whether the strategy used to measure affective variables influences their conelations with measures of achievement. The conelations obtained suggested that they

605 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The effect of total hip replacement on the health-related quality of life of patients who have osteoarthrosis was examined as part of a randomized, controlled trial comparing femoral head prostheses that were inserted with or without cement.
Abstract: The effect of total hip replacement on the health-related quality of life of patients who have osteoarthrosis was examined as part of a randomized, controlled trial comparing femoral head prostheses that were inserted with or without cement. One hundred and eighty-eight patients were followed for three months: 179 of them, for six months; 156, for one year; and ninety, for two years. The health-related quality of life was assessed with use of the Harris hip score, the Merle d'Aubigne hip score, the Sickness Impact Profile, the Western Ontario and McMaster University (WOMAC) Osteoarthritis Index, the McMaster--Toronto Arthritis (MACTAR) Patient Preference Disability Questionnaire, and the time trade-off technique as a measure of utility. Patients also took the six-minute-walk test. The mean age of the patients in the study was sixty-four years (range, forty to seventy-five years); ninety-seven patients (53 per cent) were men and ninety-four (50 per cent) had a prosthesis inserted with cement. Only three of 188 patients refused to return for quality-of-life assessments. There was significant improvement in all health-related quality-of-life measures and in the six-minute-walk test after the operation (p < 0.01 for all items, except for the work dimension of the Sickness Impact Profile at three months [p = 0.07]). Most of the improvement had occurred by three months postoperatively.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

587 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A brief review identifies major advances as well as a number of current concerns that present opportunities for prevention and intervention strategies in lead toxicity in children and adults.
Abstract: Over the 20-year period since the first issue of Environmental Health Perspectives was published, there has been considerable progress in the understanding of the potential toxicity of exposure to lead. Many of these advances have been reviewed in published symposia, conferences, and review papers in EHP. This brief review identifies major advances as well as a number of current concerns that present opportunities for prevention and intervention strategies. The major scientific advance has been the demonstration that blood lead (PbB) levels of 10-15 micrograms/dL in newborn and very young infants result in cognitive and behavioral deficits. Further support for this observation is being obtained by prospective or longitudinal studies presently in progress. The mechanism(s) for the central nervous system effects of lead is unclear but involve lead interactions within calcium-mediated intracellular messenger systems and neurotransmission. Effects of low-level lead exposure on blood pressure, particularly in adult men, may be related to the effect of lead on calcium-mediated control of vascular smooth muscle contraction and on the renin-angiotensin system. Reproductive effects of lead have long been suspected, but low-level effects have not been well studied. Whether lead is a carcinogen or its association with renal adenocarcinoma is a consequence of cystic nephropathy is uncertain. Major risk factors for lead toxicity in children in the United States include nutrition, particularly deficiencies of essential metals, calcium, iron, and zinc, and housing and socioeconomic status. A goal for the year 2000 is to reduce prevalence of blood lead levels exceeding 15 micrograms/dL.

536 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: It is concluded that the photosynthetic response to low temperatures and susceptibility to photoinhibition are consequences of the overwintering strategy of the plant species.
Abstract: Cold acclimation requires adjustment to a combination of light and low temperature, conditions which are potentially photoinhibitory. The photosynthetic response of plants to low temperature is dependent upon time of exposure and the developmental history of the leaves. Exposure of fully expanded leaves of winter cereals to short-term, low temperature shiftsinhibits whereas low temperature growthstimulates electron transport capacity and carbon assimilation. However, the photosynthetic response to low temperature is clearly species and cultivar dependent. Winter annuals and algae which actively grow and develop at low temperature and moderate irradiance acquire a resistance to irradiance 5- to 6-fold higher than their growth irradiance. Resistance to short-term photoinhibition (hours) in winter cereals is a reflection of the increased capacity to keep QA oxidized under high light conditions and low temperature. This is due to an increased capacity for photosynthesis. These characteristics reflect photosynthetic acclimation to low growth temperature and can be used to predict the freezing tolerance of cereals. It is proposed that the enhanced photosynthetic capacity reflects an increased flux of fixed carbon through to sucrose in source tissue as a consequence of the combined effects of increased storage of carbohydrate as fructans in the vacuole of leaf mesophyll cells and an enhanced export to the crown due to its increased sink activity. Long-term exposure (months) of cereals to low temperature photoinhibition indicates that this reduction of photochemical efficiency of PS II represents a stable, long-term down regulation of PS II to match the energy requirements for CO2 fixation. Thus, photoinhibition in vivo should be viewed as the capacity of plants to adjust photosynthetically to the prevailing environmental conditions rather than a process which necessarily results in damage or injury to plants. Not all cold tolerant, herbaceous annuals use the same mechanism to acquire resistance to photoinhibition. In contrast to annuals and algae, overwintering evergreens become dormant during the cold hardening period and generally remain susceptible to photoinhibition. It is concluded that the photosynthetic response to low temperatures and susceptibility to photoinhibition are consequences of the overwintering strategy of the plant species.

493 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated sex differences in strategies for route-learning, controlling for visual-item memory and found that females remembered more landmarks both on and off the route than males.

483 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: All mutations occur in the same base pair of exon 6 and result in the substitution of an uncharged amino acid (leucine or glutamine) for Arg271 in the mature protein.
Abstract: Hereditary hyperekplexia, or familial startle disease (STHE), is an autosomal dominant neurologic disorder characterized by marked muscle rigidity of central nervous system origin and an exaggerated startle response to unexpected acoustic or tactile stimuli. Linkage analyses in several large families provided evidence for locus homogeneity and showed the disease gene was linked to DNA markers on the long arm of chromosome 5. Here we describe the identification of point mutations in the gene encoding the α1 subunit of the glycine receptor (GLRA1) in STHE patients from four different families. All mutations occur in the same base pair of exon 6 and result in the substitution of an uncharged amino acid (leucine or glutamine) for Arg271 in the mature protein.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined affective, continuance, and normative commitment to the organization as a function of all three career stage variables, including age, organizational tenure, and positional tenure.

Book ChapterDOI
01 Jan 1993
TL;DR: This paper provided a framework for thinking about the contribution of both affect and cognition in determining attitudes toward groups and discussed how previous findings fit within this framework and described the recent research designed to examine the interplay between affect and cognitive.
Abstract: Publisher Summary Researchers have long acknowledged the multifaceted nature of intergroup attitudes. However, depending on the theoretical framework in which they were operating, they have tended to focus on either the affective or cognitive underpinnings of these attitudes, rather than on the joint role of affect and cognition. Disparities in the measurement of intergroup attitudes have contributed to this rift. This chapter discusses the problem by providing a framework for thinking about the contribution of both affect and cognition in determining attitudes toward groups. It discusses how previous findings fit within this framework and it describes the recent research designed to examine the interplay between affect and cognition. In parallel with societal trends, research in this area has progressed from a focus on attitudes toward social groups at the level of ethnic groups (especially attitudes toward blacks in the United States) to a broader scope including attitudes toward groups based on such varied characteristics as sex, sexual orientation, political affiliation, and age.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the characteristics of international equity joint ventures in the People's Republic of China (PRC) with joint venture in developing country market economies are compared. And the characteristic of international joint ventures is compared to those in the USA.
Abstract: This paper compares the characteristics of international equity joint ventures in the People's Republic of China (PRC) with joint ventures in developing country market economies. The characteristic...

Journal ArticleDOI
01 Sep 1993-Genetics
TL;DR: A family of repressor elements, referred to as type I repressors, were identified by their repressor functions and their lack of any deletion within the first two-thirds of the canonical P sequence as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: We describe here a family of P elements that we refer to as type I repressors. These elements are identified by their repressor functions and their lack of any deletion within the first two-thirds of the canonical P sequence. Elements belonging to this repressor class were isolated from P strains and were made in vitro. We found that type I repressor elements could strongly repress both a cytotype-dependent allele and P element mobility in somatic and germline tissues. These effects were very dependent on genomic position. Moreover, we observed that an element's ability to repress in one assay positively correlated with its ability to repress in either of the other two assays. The type I family of repressor elements includes both autonomous P elements and those lacking exon 3 of the P element. Fine structure deletion mapping showed that the minimal 3' boundary of a functional type I element lies between nucleotide position 1950 and 1956. None of 12 elements examined with more extreme deletions extending into exon 2 made repressor. We conclude that the type I repressors form a structurally distinct group that does not include more extensively deleted repressor elements such as the KP element described previously.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A general cone-beam reconstruction algorithm that allows various scanning loci, handles reconstruction of rod-shaped specimens which are common in practice, and facilitates near real-time reconstruction by providing the same computational efficiency and parallelism as L.A. Feldkamp et al.'s (1984).
Abstract: Considering the characteristics of the X-ray microscope system being developed at SUNY at Buffalo and the limitations of available cone-beam reconstruction algorithms, a general cone-beam reconstruction algorithm and several special versions of it are proposed and validated by simulation. The cone-beam algorithm allows various scanning loci, handles reconstruction of rod-shaped specimens which are common in practice, and facilitates near real-time reconstruction by providing the same computational efficiency and parallelism as L.A. Feldkamp et al.'s (1984) algorithm. Although the present cone-beam algorithm is not exact, it consistently gives satisfactory reconstructed images. Furthermore, it has several nice properties if the scanning locus meets some conditions. First, reconstruction within a midplane is exact using a planar scanning locus. Second, the vertical integral of a reconstructed image is equal to that of the actual image. Third, reconstruction is exact if an actual image is independent of rotation axis coordinate z. Also, the general algorithm can uniformize and reduce z-axis artifacts, if a helix-like scanning locus is used. >

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The results suggest that motor unit losses, even in healthy active individuals, are a primary factor in the age-associated reductions in contractile strength.
Abstract: The influence of age-associated motor unit loss on contractile strength was investigated in a representative sample of healthy, active young and older men and women. In 24 younger subjects (22–38 y...

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The present work demonstrates the underlying theory, showing how the principles can be applied to measurements on standard fluorescent beads and changes in distribution of receptors for platelet-derived growth factor on human foreskin fibroblasts.

Journal ArticleDOI
01 May 1993-Pain
TL;DR: Follow‐up data on subjects who were examined in two surveys conducted by the United States Center for Health Statistics at an interval of 8 years are reported, finding the strongest relationship found at the NHEFS between the variables examined was between chronic pain and depression.
Abstract: We report here follow-up data on subjects who were examined in two surveys conducted by the United States Center for Health Statistics at an interval of 8 years. The first survey was the 1st National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES-1), and the second conducted 8 years later was the National Health and Nutrition Epidemiologic Follow-up Study (NHEFS). From an original sample of 3023 subjects, 153 were known to be deceased, leaving a potential sample of 2870 cases, of whom 2341 were ultimately examined in the NHEFS. The definition of pain used in the NHANES-1 survey identified 15% of the subjects as suffering from persistent pain. Using a different pain definition, in the NHEFS, the frequency of subjects with chronic pain was 32.8%. Applying this second definition, the percentage of subjects with chronic pain in the NHANES-1 had risen from 15 to 20.2. Some subjects (32.5%) who originally had chronic pain were free from pain at the time of follow-up; 59% of the subjects with chronic pain on follow-up did not have it initially. As found originally in the NHANES-1, the group with chronic pain at the NHEFS comprised significantly more females, older people, and people with lower income. On logistic regression analysis the strongest relationship found at the NHEFS between the variables examined was between chronic pain and depression.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Book
01 Jan 1993
TL;DR: Theoretical applications of non-equilibrium thermodynamics to solids have been investigated in this paper, where the authors evaluate nuclear magnetic relaxation rates and random walk theories of atomic diffusion.
Abstract: 1. Atomic movements in solids - phenomenological equations 2. Imperfections in solids 3. Statistical thermodynamics of crystals containing point defects 4. Non-equilibrium thermodynamics of atomic transport processes in solids 5. Some applications of non-equilibrium thermodynamics to solids 6. Microscopic theories - the master equation 7. Kinetic theory of relaxation processes 8. Kinetic theory of isothermal diffusion processes 9. The theory of random walks 10. Random walk theories of atomic diffusion 11. Transport coefficients of dilute solid solutions - results and applications 12. The evaluation of nuclear magnetic relaxation rates 13. Theories of concentrated and highly defective systems Epilogue References.

Book ChapterDOI
TL;DR: There appears to be important integrative areas within the superior temporal sulcus in the monkey where a great deal of the necessary interaction to ensure behavioral and perceptual unity may be enabled by many polysensory neurons in these areas.
Abstract: Publisher Summary There appears to be important integrative areas within the superior temporal sulcus in the monkey where a great deal of the necessary interaction to ensure behavioral and perceptual unity. Indeed there are many polysensory neurons in these areas, such that not only visual but also cross-modal perceptual integration may be enabled by these networks. Despite the crosstalk between the dorsal and ventral streams, the chapter discusses that each stream uses visual information in different ways. Both streams process information about orientation and shape, and probably about spatial relationships, including depth; and both are subject to the modulatory influences of an animal's shifting spatial attention. The ventral stream provide object-centered coding, while the dorsal provide entirely viewer-centered information: the former would enable a monkey to identify an object as being of an edible type, the latter to guide its actions in picking it up. Although there will be differences in the ways that visual information is processed in the two systems, these differences are not a reflection of some biologically arbitrary separation of inputs, but rather a consequence of the special transformations required for perception and action, respectively.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: It appears that at least some of the surviving MUs are able to partially compensate for MU losses, as indicated by an increase in the average MU size with age, which has important implications for motor control and function in this population.
Abstract: This review briefly summarizes the current state of knowledge regarding age related changes in skeletal muscle, followed by a more in-depth review of ageing effects on animal and human motor units ...

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Current evidence suggests that nervous system dysfunction arises through the same mechanisms as for systemic organs in the septic syndrome, and critical‐illness polyneuropathy develops later and in association with multiple‐organ failure.
Abstract: Encephalopathy and polyneuropathy occur in 70% of septic patients. The encephalopathy is diffuse, appears early, is often severe, but reverses quickly with successful treatment of the sepsis. The electroencephalogram is a sensitive indicator of the incidence and severity of the encephalopathy, but computed tomograms of the brain and cerebrospinal fluid findings are unremarkable. Critical-illness polyneuropathy develops later and in association with multiple-organ failure. Recovery is more gradual. Difficulty in weaning from the ventilator is an important early manifestation. Electromyography should be routinely performed to establish the diagnosis. The polyneuropathy is a primary axonal degeneration, predominantly of distal motor fibers. A persistent deficit may eventuate in severe cases. Whether muscle is affected as consistently as brain and peripheral nerve, and by the same process, has not been determined. Medications used in critical care units, notably sedatives and neuromuscular blocking agents, often confuse the clinical picture. The neurological pathophysiology is unknown but current evidence suggests that nervous system dysfunction arises through the same mechanisms as for systemic organs in the septic syndrome.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Stimulation at multiple sites along the course of the median nerve was employed to collect a sample of the lowest threshold, all‐or‐nothing surface‐recorded motor unit action potentials (S‐MUAPs), and the MUEs were found to be highly correlated.
Abstract: Multiple point stimulation (MPS) is described as a method of estimating the numbers of motor units in the median innervated thenar muscles of young and older control subjects. Stimulation at multiple sites along the course of the median nerve was employed to collect a sample of the lowest threshold, all-or-nothing surface-recorded motor unit action potentials (S-MUAPs). The average, negative peak area, and peak-to-peak amplitude of the sample of S-MUAPs was determined and divided into the corresponding value for the maximal compound muscle action potential to derive the motor unit estimate (MUE). In 37 trials from 17 younger subjects (20-40 years), the mean MUE was 288 +/- 95 SD based on negative peak area and, in 33 trials from 20 older subjects, mean values were 139 +/- 68. In 23 young and older subjects, MPS was performed on at least two occasions and the MUEs were found to be highly correlated (r = 0.88).

Journal ArticleDOI
01 Jul 1993-Chest
TL;DR: In patients with sepsis, indices of tissue oxygenation are better predictors of outcome than the hemodynamic and oxygen-derived variables obtained by invasive hemodynamic monitoring.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, it is suggested that subitizing relies on a preattentive mechanism that can handle a few items at once, which operates before attention but after preatentive operations of feature detection and grouping.
Abstract: Subitizing, the enumeration of 1-4 items, is rapid (40-120 ms/item) and accurate. Counting, the enumeration of 5 items or more, is slow (250-350 ms/item) and error-prone. Why are small numbers of items enumerated differently from large numbers of items? It is suggested that subitizing relies on a preattentive mechanism. Ss could subitize heterogeneously sized multicontour items but not concentric multicontour items, which require attentional processing because preattentive gestalt processes misgroup contours from different items to form units. Similarly, Ss could subitize target items among distractors but only if the targets and distractors differed by a feature, a property derived through preattentive analysis. Thus, subitizing must rely on a mechanism that can handle a few items at once, which operates before attention but after preattentive operations of feature detection and grouping.

Book
01 Jan 1993
TL;DR: Introduction 1. Asymmetry 2. Noncortical systems in speaking 3. Cortical system in speaking 4. Oral movement control and speech 5. Manual praxis 6. Constructional ability 7. Hemispheric specialization for semantic processing.
Abstract: Introduction 1. Asymmetry 2. Noncortical systems in speaking 3. Cortical systems in speaking 4. Oral movement control and speech 5. Manual praxis 6. Constructional ability 7. Manual sign language 8. Adextrality 9. Sex differences in brain organization 10. Hemispheric specialization for semantic processing Conclusion References Index

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The threshold for the admission of patients to a coronary care unit or for the use of invasive diagnostic and therapeutic interventions in the early and late periods after an infarction is higher in Canada than in the United States, which is associated with a higher frequency of activity-limiting angina.
Abstract: Background There are major differences in the organization of the health care systems in Canada and the United States. We hypothesized that these differences may be accompanied by differences in patient care. Methods To test our hypothesis, we compared the treatment patterns for patients with acute myocardial infarction in 19 Canadian and 93 United States hospitals participating in the Survival and Ventricular Enlargement (SAVE) study, which tested the effectiveness of captopril in this population of patients after a myocardial infarction. Results In Canada, 51 percent of the patients admitted to a participating coronary care unit had acute myocardial infarctions, as compared with only 35 percent in the United States (P<0.001). Despite the similar clinical characteristics of the 1573 U.S. patients and 658 Canadian patients participating in the study, coronary arteriography was more commonly performed in the United States than in Canada (in 68 percent vs. 35 percent, P<0.001), as were revascularization pro...

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This article examined whether the extent of economic and financial market integration between a firm's home country and listing country influences stock price reaction by examining the case of two “similar” countries: the U.S. and Canada.
Abstract: The globalization of financial markets has seen ever-increasing numbers of firms choosing to list their stocks on foreign exchanges. We examine whether the extent of economic and financial market integration (or segmentation) between a firm's home country and listing country influences stock price reaction by examining the case of two “similar” countries: the U.S. and Canada. During the 100 days before the week of interlisting in the U.S., (risk-adjusted) stock prices of Canadian firms rise (on average) by over 9.4%, rise by an additional 2% around the interlisting date, but follow with a corresponding drop of 9.7% in the 100 days after interlisting. We interpret this evidence to be consistent with the financial market segmentation between Canada and the U.S. However, a subsample of Canadian resource firms does not exhibit these stock price effects, suggesting industry-related factors may also be an important determinant of integration. We also find average trading volume in interlisted stocks more than doubles in the months following interlisting.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: For example, this paper found that greater levels of humor are associated with a more positive self-concept when considered in terms of actualideal discrepancies, self-esteem, and Standards for self-worth evaluation.
Abstract: This paper provides an overview of our current research program focusing on the relationships between humor, self-concept, coping with stress, and positive affect. This research builds upon past work demonstrating a moderating effect of humor, wherein high humor individuals display less negative affect for adverse life circumstances than low humor individuals. The three studies described here address several limitations ofthis moderator research. These include a need to empirically document the precise relationship between humor and self-concept, a need tofocus on the cognitive appraisals underlying the moderator effect, and a need to specifically examine the enhancing effects of humor by measuring positive mood states in response to various life events. Overall, the findings from these studies indicate that greater levels of humor are associated with (1) a more positive self-concept when considered in terms of actual-ideal discrepancies, self-esteem, and Standards for self-worth evaluation. (2) more positive and self-protective cognitive appraisals in theface of stress, and (3) greater positive affect in response to both positive and negative life events. Tahen together, these findings offer empirical supportfor the proposal that humor, in addition to buffering the effects of stress, may also play an important role in enhancing the enjoyment of positive life experiences. We conclude by briefly describing future research directions in the empirical study of humor. Ever since Norman Cousins (1979) published an account of bis recovery from a serious disease through humor and laughter, much attention has been given in the populär media to the importance of humor for physical and psychological health. Over the years a number of psychological theorists, including Sigmund Freud, Rollo May, Gordon Allport, and Humor 6-1 (1993), 89-104. 0933-1719/93/0006-0089 $2.00