A decade ago communism in Europe collapsed, with ensuing political and economic transformations that continue. These transformations have been important to applied psychology. One reason certainly is that these changes could be expected to have profound psychological effects on those struggling through them. Established routines were demolished as employers collapsed; shopping and housing were transformed; the streets, press, and airwaves were filled with unaccustomed ideas and actions. Stable social status hierarchies were demolished with exposure to lavishly wealthy foreigners with differing values and behaviour patterns, Everything now seemed possible, from homelessness and poverty to great riches and freedom. It was frightening and exhilarating-all aspects of society were changing and could be expected to change in ways no one could foresee. How do people react to such monumental changes in the world around them? And what can we learn from their reactions that might enrich our theories of applied psychology? This special issue contains five empirical articles addressing how these changes affected the people living through them. Each makes a unique contribution to our understanding of such areas of applied psychology as motivation, culture, and employee attitudes. Furthermore, taken as a whole they make an even greater contribution. They suggest both that many of our assumptions about the nature of people's reactions to these changes are mistaken, and that our understanding of the role of self-reported assessments is limited in several significant ways.
