The impact of Federal rehabilitation laws on the expanding role of employee assistance programs in business and industry.

Federal statutory and case law protecting the rights of individuals with disabilities has had a major impact in expanding the occupational options for mentally and physically impaired employees. One serendipitous result of these protections has been the expansion of job opportunities for psychologists in business and industry. This article examines important federal laws and regulations pertaining to the employment rights of the handicapped worker and emphasizes the intricacies involved for psychologists who work in the employee assistance field or who consult with management. The expansion of vocational options for psychologists working with business is traced, and future prospects for psychologists in this area are explored.

Observation procedure, observer gender, and behavior valence as determinants of sampling error in a behavior assessment analogue.

Several factors thought to influence the representativeness of behavioral assessment data were examined in an analogue study using a multifactorial design. Systematic and unsystematic methods of observing group behavior were investigated using 18 male and 18 female observers. Additionally, valence properties of the observed behaviors were inspected. Observers' assessments of a videotape were compared to a criterion code that defined the population of behaviors. Results indicated that systematic observation procedures were more accurate than unsystematic procedures, though this factor interacted with gender of observer and valence of behavior. Additionally, males tended to sample more representatively than females. A third finding indicated that the negatively valenced behavior was overestimated, whereas the neutral and positively valenced behaviors were accurately assessed.

Personality, sexuality, and demographic differences between volunteers and nonvolunteers for a laboratory study of male sexual behavior.

Personality, sexuality, and demographic differences were examined in volunteers and nonvolunteers for a laboratory study of male sexual arousal. Subjects were 108 participants in a questionnaire study entitled "Personality and Sexuality", who were then asked to volunteer for a second study which necessitated watching sexually explicit films, being partially undressed in an experimental chamber, and having penile diameter measured via a strain gauge device. Volunteers for the second study were found to be less guilty, less sexually fearful, more sexually experienced, and older than nonvolunteers. Volunteers also reported a higher incidence of past erectile difficulties and tended to be White or of mixed racial heritage, as opposed to being Oriental. Other personality variables did not discriminate between the two groups. The results indicate that future research in human sexuality using the laboratory analytic method must impose strict limits on generalization from the research data.

Effect of alcohol on elicited male sexual response.

Sixteen young men drunk three doses of alcohol and their sexual arousal was measured by the changes in penile diameter. The lowest alcohol dose (BAC of 0.025%) was associated with maximum penile diameter increase; marked suppression of response was found at BACs of 0.05% and above.