The author of the article presents the results of the studies conducted among the workers of Polish organizations concerned with the conditioning of job satisfaction. The analyses are conducted in the context of such variables as experiencing unethical behavior at work from the perspective of the victim and of the observer, organizational climate, the size and the type of the organization.

This article presents empirical research on quality of life, success and psychical mercantilism among entrepreneurs, employees of state and private companies (2010). Among the many psychological theories have been selected concepts that stress multidimensionality: personalistic‑existential concept of quality of life of Maria Straś‑Romanowska, the concept of success of Dominika Dej, Ute Stephan, Marian Gorgievsky and the mental concept of mercantilism by Małgorzata Górnik‑Durose. The results indicate significant differences in the level of quality of life, psychological mercantilism and success among the professionally active people and the existence of weak or moderate correlation between the quality of life, success and psychological mercantilism.

Power, one of fundamental human motives, is related with pursuit of external goals, what restrains the attainment of internal goals and in result of well‑being. This can be especially associated with misuse of power, that can reduce the quality of interpersonal relationships, related to the need for affiliation. First research (N = 171) confirms, that the tendency to misuse power (as a mean to individual goals) is related with decreased preference of values associated with internal goals like affiliation (“Self‑transcendence” and “Conservation”) and increased preference of those allowing to “push forward” (“Self‑enhancement” and “Openness to change”) as well as decreased satisfaction with life. In the second research (N = 93) women working as managers (subject to threat of losing power), proved to have lessened well‑being, measured as satisfaction with life and level of burnout. Additionally burnout of women managers was mainly characterized by the dimension of depersonalization (Maslach’s bournout model).

The study is devoted to determinants and correlates of subjective well‑being. Its aim was to explore (a) whether satisfaction with life depends on age and gender, and (b) whether self esteem and evaluation of economic functioning are correlated with satisfaction with life and may explain differences in satisfaction with life in age groups. In a Computer Assisted Web Interviews study (N = 1 915, aged 15—60) we found out that satisfaction with life decreases along time both in female and male groups. The results show that self‑esteem and job satisfaction are positively related to satisfaction with life, whereas decrease in satisfaction with financial functioning may be the reason of lowered satisfaction with life among older people.

The obtained results reveal some significant relationships among the measured features. The aim of this present paper is to study how personality traits from the Five‑Factor Model, type A behavior and type D personality correlate with the categories of subjective health: positive thinking, mental condition, physical activity, sensitivity to others and efficiency of action. First, neuroticism was negatively related to all measures of subjective health, whereas extraversion, conscientiousness, openness to experience were positively related to subjective health but the relations were not so strong. Second, the study indicates that subjective health is considerably improved by activity and actions but deteriorated by vulnerability, self‑consciousness and anxiety. These findings are in line with the results concerning the relationships between subjective health and type A behaviour (positive relation) and type D personality (negative relation). The correlations between agreeableness and subjective health in the study are not so clear. It may result from the fact that some constituents of this trait correlate positively and some negatively with subjective health. Additionally, deteriorated subjective health correlate with both high and low intensity of this trait and this may be another possible explanation of the above‑mentioned inconsistency.

The paper presents selected issues related to the quality of life after the menopause. First, it gives the short account of theoretical approaches to quality of life and to health related quality of life. Building on that the author discusses quality of life after the menopause, and in particular these options which include the subjective perspective of menopausal women. The results of psychological studies into the menopausal transition are shortly presented. In all these studies the intensity of menopausal symptoms was considered the indicator of quality of life. The findings demonstrate that intensity of symptoms is related to personality (i.e. high neuroticism), temperament (i.e. high reactivity), to the intensive stress and ineffective coping strategies, and to the life situation (i.e. difficulties in family and personal life). Finally, the author brings forward the idea that the quality of life related to menopausal transition should be analyzed in the context of life‑span development. The individual concept of menopause should also be considered.

The aim of the study was to analyze the relationship between psychological variables (personality traits, personal resources, self‑rated health) and psychological well-being (life satisfaction, positive and negative emotions) in those over retirement age.
The results show significant correlations between most personality traits, personal resources and psychological well‑being. No significant dependences have been found between openness to experiences and life satisfaction. The relationship between self‑rated health and psychological well‑being seem to be curvilinear. The regression analysis for life satisfaction has displayed three predicators that explain altogether 25% of the results’ variance: the sense of comprehensibility (R2 = 0,18), self‑esteem and self‑efficacy. Positive emotions are predicted by four predicators that are responsible for 34% of the total variance — the sense of meaningfulness (R2 = 0,25), extraversion, self‑efficacy and neuroticism. The greatest role in predicting negative emotions (altogether 58% of the results’ variance) is played by neuroticism (R2 = 0,46). Other variables that are marked as significant ones in the regression analysis (the sense of manageability, intensity of self‑esteem and extraversion) play a less important role.

The lack of homogeneity of the ambulatory patients group may have specific interdependencies of psychosocial variables. Therefore, studies have been undertaken to determine the level of intensity of some of them and to reveal the correlation between them. The study has focused on: acceptance of the disease, the level of distress, the disease‑related physical and emotional state (both positive and negative). Methods: an Acceptance of Illness Scale, by B.J Felton, T.A. Revenson and G.A. Hinrichsen (in Polish version by Z. Juczyński), Distress Thermometer developed by the American Cancer Society in the Polish adaptation of J. Życińska, E. Wojtyna, A. Heyda and A. Syska‑Bielak, Form for Determinants of Patient Vital and a questionnaire to collect socio‑demographic data, both designed for the study reported. The research group consisted of 94 patients. Their average age was 50, while the average duration of morbidity was 10 years. Results: the level of distress exceeded the cut‑off point (4), and it is correlated with negative emotions. The acceptance of the illness is negatively correlated with negative emotions and physical symptoms associated with the illness. In addition, the average level of distress varies significantly in patients with low, medium and high levels of negative emotions and significantly differs in patients with middle and high levels of acceptance of the disease.

The aim of the study was to explore the impact of a short group rational behavioral therapy (RBT) on a quality of life among cancer patients. The study involved 217 people with cancer. 137 people formed the experimental group, which took part in the seven days, group psychotherapeutic classes, based on RBT. The control group consisted of 80 patients waiting for a therapy. The study was longitudinal and consisted of pre‑and posttest (8 weeks after the end of the therapeutic influence). The quality of life was estimated by the Polish version of the SF‑36v2. It was observed, that in the experimental group the quality of life increased in all areas of a health related quality of life, except for a physical functioning. These changes, with the exception of modifications in a role emotional scale, were bound up with RBT. In the control group the quality of life improved in the scales: a social functioning, a mental health and a bodily pain. However, the observed changes were higher in the experimental group. In both groups there was no deterioration in the quality of life in any of the investigated scales. In summary, the short group RBT can be a valuable complement to standard cancer therapy, particularly for people who seek help and have higher motivation to work.

The topic of the article is evolutionary reflection on human sense of happiness, its causes and determinants. According to evolutionary foundations, emotional and cognitive processes connected with feeling of psychological well‑being represent the symptom of functioning of psychic mechanisms developed in response to environmental problems of adaptation. Based on this thesis we present explanations of such phenomena as positive and negative emotionality, commonness of optimistic attitude and general positive inclination and influence of contemporary environmental conditions on our sense of happiness. The last part of the article treats shows some ways of practical employment of evolutionary knowledge to develop human well‑being.

The aim of this article is to compare two partly overlapping personality variables — Machiavellianism and subclinical psychopathy. Individuals with these traits share tendency to be callous, selfish and manipulative. Some researchers argued that, in nonclinical samples, these two variables are equivalent. The author presents a review of the theories and studies confirming discriminant validity of the Machiavellianism construct.

Following the autodetermination theory research, we can conclude that social environment may lower people’s well‑being by enhancing the pursuit for extrinsic goals, inconsistent with human nature. Socioeconomic situation of the family, parental style of the mother, lack of communication in the family, divorce or lack of the father are indicated as sources of children’s materialism. The aim of the paper is to answer the following questions: Are parental values linked with children’s materialistic tendencies? If yes, how are they linked? Children and their patents were surveyed (study 1 — children age and parents, M = 10,5, study 2 — children age M = 4,85 and mothers). Children were asked about their associations with a happy person and about their materialistic aspirations. Parents filled the following value scales: Rokeach Value Survey (study 1) and Schwartz Portret Values Questionnaire (study 2). The results show that mothers of materialistic children valued ‘happiness’ (study 1) and ‘power’ (study 2) more than mothers of non‑materialistic children, whereas they valued ‘mature love’ (study 1) and ‘tradition’ (study 2) less than mothers of non‑materialistic children. There were no differences between fathers of materialistic and non‑materialistic children (study 1). However, in the group of materialistic children the values of their mothers and fathers differed. The fathers valued ‘mature love’ and ‘pleasure’ higher than the mothers whereas they valued ‘happiness’ lower than the mothers. The results imply that values of mothers pursuing extrinsic goals may be linked with materialistic tendencies of their children.

Among many problems which should be provided with health promotion one of the most important is a cervical cancer (WHO, 2009). In Poland are being run many social campaigns but none of them is directed toward highschool youths. An unique project of social campaign aimed at youths was created in close collaboration of University of Silesia with Medical University of Silesia. The campaign is being run since September 2009. The project is divided into two stages. Firstly, we diagnosed level of awareness and
attitudes toward cancer among high school youths (622 respondents). Secondly, basing on the knowledge from the first stage we created an interactive workshop. Students who are participating in workshops are filling in two questionnaires diagnosing change of their attitudes towards health (in the process). The analyse of scientific material from the first stage shows that most of respondents have not visited gynaecologist so far. 39,5% students are unrealistic optimists as far as their own potential illness is considered. There are serious lacks in knowledge about cervical cancer, moreover, the lowest level of health awareness is observed among girls who are sexually active (23% of respondents).