People and organizations are inherently political. Library workplace environments have zones of tension and dynamics just like any corporation, often leading to the formation of political camps. These different cliques influence productivity and work-related issues and, at worst, give meetings the feel of the Camp David negotiations. Politics are…

When not sleeping, working, or tending to other duties, Arizonans keep busy, spending personal time on a wide array of different activities, from high culture to casual pastime. Reported data create a picture of a busy, active population sharing a lot of interests, particularly outdoor activities, while also containing discernible subgroups…

Life can be especially tough for those who always seem to manifest the "wrong stuff." However, things seem to go much better for those who employ the "right stuff" instead. So we must be sure to avoid the former and stick to the latter, if we really wish to make our lives happier, rather than sadder. To achieve this end this brief paper is…

Vocational education and training (VET) is intended to prepare adult learners for careers that are based on practical activities. With the underlying constructivist andragogy, this study intended to examine the effects of computer-mediated group collaboration in vocational education, and how that affects the associated learning outcomes. For…

The ability to express and decode nonverbal cues is assumed to be an essential quality in communication and teaching. To validate, generalize and expand upon earlier research on the importance of nonverbal competencies in communication and teaching, i.e., the relationship of nonverbal competencies (e.g., expressiveness/"charisma" and…

Managers and business owners often base hiring decisions on first impressions. That is why it is so important to teach students to make a great first impression--before they go on that first job interview. Managers do not have unrealistic expectations, they just want to hire people who they believe can develop into valuable employees. A nice…

While a positive attitude for librarians helps, there is a knowledge base and a research base in the field, a structured set of protocols, and a range of skills that have to be taught and practiced at the preservice level. In this article, the author discusses the importance for librarians to exude more enthusiasm about their work. She offers…

Holistic perspectives in career development have focused attention on complexity as important for counselors using assessment techniques. Increased emphasis on subjectivity has resulted in greater focus on qualitative measures versus traditional psychometric tests. These developments reflect issues such as the idiographic-nomothetic distinction…

A former vice president for academic affairs at a small college in New England describes his experiences of searching for a job in the nonacademic field, the failure of which led him to seek guidance from a career-counselor. Their assessment revealed that he was an introvert and suggested that his preferred approach to confronting new people and…

Outlines the OCEAN model of personality which includes the domains of Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism. Provides a detailed explanation of each factor and a case study to illustrate how the model can be used to diagnose clients. Discusses advantages of this diagnostic approach and implications for usage.…

This paper presents a large-scale, comprehensive test of generalized trust across 31 nations. I pay particular attention to the theory and measurement of voluntary associations in promoting trust, hypothesizing that voluntary associations connected to other voluntary associations are more beneficial for the creation of generalized trust than…

This article describe one of the most robust notions from temperament research: "finding the fit" between the temperaments of child and caregiver. The authors provide parents with a series of questions to help them identify their child's temperament and suggestions for how to adapt to their child's style. (Note: This article is excerpted from the…

On various campuses, including the author's, "safe space" stickers are used to designate offices supposedly free of homophobia. The author critiques this practice, pointing out that it still privileges the white heterosexual subject while also obscuring connections between sexuality, gender, and race. (Contains 10 notes.)

Since the symbolization of an immigrant child is created and recreated in a process involving many stages and modifications of behavior, it is important for a teacher to observe and stimulate children. Reaching a satisfying balance may never be completely possible and the child may as an adult struggle all his/her life, but guidance toward such…

One of the biggest challenges facing college instructors in the 21st century is classroom misbehavior. The authors propose that how one handles classroom incivility is a matter of personality type. One of the authors is an extrovert; the other an introvert. The authors discuss personality theory, general classroom management, how to identify…