ABSTRACT
As part of the preparatory work in planning for research on mental health in industry, a review was undertaken of relevant previous studies by staff members in the Institute for Social Research. The purpose of the review was to determine what conditions in the social environment have been found to be associated with certain types of behavior, in order that future investigations might benefit from earlier results wherever possible. The types of behavior to be examined were those with obvious interest for students of mental health; specifically, they were ones described by Marie Jahoda in her book, Current Concepts of Positive Mental Health [22]. After eliminating those for which data in the Institute’s archives were negligible, the following classes of behavior remained as the major categories for this report: (a) affective states, both pleasant and unpleasant; (b) contact with reality; (c) self-evaluation; (d) motivation to grow and to use abilities; and (e) maintenance of stable interpersonal relationships. These correspond to five categories [1, 2, 5, 6, 7] of the eleven proposed by French and Kahn. Differences between the category designations proposed here and those used by French and Kahn are intended to reflect the limitations of the empirical data. Thus, the previous work of the Institute relevant for Category 1, attitudes and perceptions toward the self, is wholly in the area of self-evaluation. Accordingly, the more specific title, self-evaluation, is used in this article.
