ABSTRACT
The demands control support model (R. A. Karasek & T. Theorell, 1990) indicates that job control and social support enable workers to engage in problem solving. In turn, problem solving is thought to influence learning and well-being (e.g., anxious affect, activated pleasant affect). Two samples (N = 78, N = 106) provided data up to 4 times per day for up to 5 working days. The extent to which job control was used for problem solving was assessed by measuring the extent to which participants changed aspects of their work activities to solve problems. The extent to which social support was used to solve problems was assessed by measuring the extent to which participants discussed problems to solve problems. Learning mediated the relationship between changing aspects of work activities to solve problems and activated pleasant affect. Learning also mediated the relationship between discussing problems to solve problems and activated pleasant affect. The findings indicated that how individuals use control and support to respond to problem-solving demands is associated with organizational and individual phenomena, such as learning and affective well-being.
Subject(s)
Affect , Inservice Training , Internal-External Control , Job Satisfaction , Problem Solving , Social Support , Workload/psychology , Adaptation, Psychological , Adult , Computers, Handheld , Cooperative Behavior , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Organizational Culture , Personnel Management , Surveys and QuestionnairesABSTRACT
In order to make accurate predictions about the somatosensory consequences of our own movements, an 'efference copy' of motor output appears to be used (probably in the cerebellum) as a basis for anticipating and canceling incoming information about self-produced movement. One everyday phenomenon that results from these predictive processes is that of being unable to tickle oneself. We examined whether involuntary movements induced by magnetic stimulation of (a) the motor cortex and (b) the bicep muscle, both resulting in standard stimulation of the participant's bare foot, would be perceived as ticklish. In both cases, the stimulus to the foot was rated as ticklish as when the experimenter tickled the participant's foot (using an identical stimulus). We conclude that magnetic stimulation of the motor cortex is unlikely to give rise to an efference copy of motor output.
