An empirical examination of relative deprivation theory

Relative deprivation theory centers around the proposition that the negative affect associated with judgments of one's own status is not simply a function of one's objective status. Instead, resentment, anger, dissatisfaction and other deprivation-related emotions vary with the subjective assessment of one's status. In the present experiment, subjects read vignettes in which the hypothesized preconditions of felt deprivation were manipulated. They then indicated the degree of perceived resentment and related cognitive-emotional factors attributed to the story characters. Perceptions of deprivation become more prevalent when an individual who lacks a desired outcome (X) (a) compares with another who does possess X, (b) feels entitled to X, (c) feels it was once feasible to attain X, and (d) feels it is not feasible to attain X in the future. The results also suggest that certain preconditions, such as the presence of a comparison other and entitlement, act conjunctively in affecting judgments of felt deprivation. Finally, personal control over desired outcomes appears to be important for relative deprivation theory.     

Work ethic and grit: An examination of empirical redundancy

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between work ethic and grit. Several direct relationships were examined at the dimension and broader construct-level, as well as each variable's relationships with external variables. Work ethic and grit were moderately correlated at the broader construct-level, both related to conscientiousness, and several dimensions of the constructs were related. Work ethic explained significant incremental variance in job satisfaction and turnover intentions above and beyond grit. However, grit explained incremental variance in stress above and beyond work ethic. Study implications, limitations, and future directions are discussed.     

Need for touch and information processing strategies: An empirical examination

Drawing from literatures on haptic modality and information processing, direct measures of information processing strategy are developed and applied to investigate whether touch search is a form of analytical processing. Applying two distinct approaches in the two studies, evidence of the processing style of those high in need for touch, compared with those low in need for touch, is gathered and tested in an online context where touch is not available. Cumulatively, the findings indicate that high‐need‐for‐touch consumers follow an analytical, feature‐by‐feature processing strategy, whereas those low in need for touch rely more on a relational processing strategy. Theoretical and managerial implications are provided. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Organizational performance referents: An empirical examination of their content and influences

Although the mechanisms by which individuals make judgments about personal success have been studied extensively, theoretical and empirical development of performance referents in organizations has been sparse. To address this shortfall, we utilized a two-study design to explore performance referents used by CEOs along with characteristics influencing referent orientation (internal vs. external). Referent use was identified through content analysis of 119 CEO annual shareholder letters in the restaurant industry. Results suggest that CEOs use a wide variety of primarily internal referents to assess performance. CEOs who integrate external referents into their performance sensemaking efforts tend to be from larger and more highly performing organizations. Post hoc analysis revealed that CEOs of larger and younger organizations used a higher percentage of external referents.     

An empirical examination of sex differences in scoring preschool children's aggression

Sex differences in adults’ observations and ratings of children’s aggression was studied in a sample of preschool children (N = 89, mean age = 44.00 months, SD = 8.48). When examining the direct observations made by trained observers, male observers, relative to female observers, more frequently recorded aggressive bouts, especially of boys. On rating scales assessing aggression, trained male raters also gave higher aggressive ratings than female raters. Lastly, we compared the ratings of trained female raters and female teachers on the same scale and found no differences. Results are discussed in terms male raters’ and observers’ prior experiences in activating their experiential schemata where males’ greater experience in aggression, relative to that of females, leads them to perceive greater levels of aggression.     

Determinants of fraud examination performance: An empirical study of internal investigation reports

Fraud examiners from global auditing firms and local law firms are in the business of private policing by conducting internal investigations in private and public organisations when there is suspicion of financial crime. The business is often characterised by secrecy, and reports of investigations are often difficult or impossible to disclose. Since 2012, we have successfully retrieved 63 fraud examination reports in Scandinavia. Based on these reports, this article presents a statistical analysis of fraud examination performance. Performance was measured in terms of the extent of successful reconstruction of past events and the extent of justification of conclusions from the examinations. We identified three statistically significant determinants of fraud examination performance: the seriousness of the consequences, the relative seriousness of the consequences and the conclusions, and the seriousness of the conclusions.     

An empirical examination of client attitudes towards online counseling.

Trends over the past decade have shown that online counseling has grown in terms of popularity among consumers and clinicians alike; however, little, if any empirical evidence exists that examines client attitudes towards online counseling as alternative to traditional face-to-face therapy. Therefore, this study investigated client attitudes towards online counseling. Data was collected from 48 e-clients who received online counseling at the Center for Online Addiction. Variables such as client perceptions and concerns about using online counseling, clients' reasons for seeking online counseling over in-office treatment, and demographic profiles of e-clients were assessed. Results suggested that Caucasian, middle-aged males, with at least a four-year bachelors degree were most likely to use online counseling and anonymity, convenience, and counselor credentials were the most cited reasons they sought online counseling over in-office treatment. The lack of perceived privacy and security during online chat sessions and the fear of being caught while conducting online sessions were the main concerns reported by e-clients. A better understanding of client motives and perceptions towards online counseling helps to guide treatment in using the Internet as a clinical tool, especially as the Internet becomes increasingly more available in previously remote markets and the field of online counseling continues to grow.     

Defining the sacred in fine art and devotional imagery

ABSTRACT

Beginning with a definition of the sacred as a two-fold process of making things special, which consists of accentuation and affiliation, this essay proceeds to argue that things are made sacred in devotional piety and in fine art in parallel ways that configure images within webs of agents. The two kinds of imagery perform in practices of sacralization that move toward different ends. The production of aura is at work in each case, but operates with distinct aims. The essay then presents a historical account of fine art as a modern development tied to the rise of the nation-state, in which secularization extended to making art independent of religious institutions and patrons, allowing it to develop in a way that should be distinguished from devotional imagery. This does not mean that religion withers in the modern era, but that art developed its own mode of sacralization.     

Contributions of modern measurement theory to measuring executive function in early childhood: An empirical demonstration

This study demonstrates the merits of evaluating a newly developed battery of executive function tasks, designed for use in early childhood, from the perspective of item response theory (IRT). The battery was included in the 48-month assessment of the Family Life Project, a prospective longitudinal study of 1292 children oversampled from low-income and African American families. IRT models were applied to a select set of tasks to demonstrate empirically (a) a principled method for item evaluation, including the utility of item characteristic curves; (b) how to explicitly test whether the measurement properties of executive function tasks are invariant across mutually exclusive subgroups of youths; (c) how the precision of measurement of a given task can vary according to underlying child ability; and (d) the utility of using IRT-based versus percentage correct scores. Results are discussed with respect to the importance of developing psychometrically sound and scalable instruments that facilitate the measurement of interindividual differences in intraindividual change of executive function across the early childhood period.     

An empirical examination of self-reported work stress among U.S. managers

This study proposes that self-reported work stress among U.S. managers is differentially related (positively and negatively) to work outcomes depending on the stressors that are being evaluated. Specific hypotheses were derived from this general proposition and tested using a sample of 1,886 U.S. managers and longitudinal data. Regression results indicate that challenge-related self-reported stress is positively related to job satisfaction and negatively related to job search. In contrast, hindrance-related self-reported stress is negatively related to job satisfaction and positively related to job search and turnover. Future research directions are discussed.     

Neuroimaging of mental imagery: An introduction

Adaptive mechanisms to protect cognitive performance under stressors through compensation in energy investment have previously received much research attention. However, stressors have also often been found to substantially reduce both performance and investment. The mechanisms underlying this dual negative effect are still unclear. This study tested the hypothesis that stressors can immediately hamper performance, which in turn reduces energy investment in later phases. In an experiment (N=103), we compared control and stressor conditions (noise or time pressure), investigating the effects of stressors on performance and information-sampling investment (as behavioural measure of energy investment) in two phases of a judgement task. The results showed an instant negative effect of stressors on performance and a delayed negative effect on information-sampling investment. Furthermore, impaired initial performance predicted the decline in investment over time. Finally, the effects of stressors on investment decline were partially mediated through initial performance level. The present findings contribute to theories aiming to explain the relationship between hampered performance and motivational losses.     

Sex-role stereotypes: Self-reports of behavior

The present study represents a self-reported behavioral approach to the study of sex differences and sex-role stereotypes. One hundred forty-eight undergraduate women and men responded anonymously in group testing sessions to two questionnaires. The first questionnaire asked them to report their own involvement in 45 masculine and feminine sex-typed behaviors; the second questionnaire asked for their perceptions of the involvement of men and women in the same behaviors. Major findings included (a) sex differences in reported ability, enjoyment, performance, and opportunity which mirrored traditional sex-role stereotypes and indicated greater competence at stereotypic behaviors (the majority of differences significant at p<.001); (b) perceptions of men and women's behavior also consistent with sex-role stereotypes; and (c) sex differences in the perceived appropriateness of behaviors (p<.05) which indicate greater sex-typing in men's (as compared with women's) perceptions of both sexes. The study focuses on the self-reported behavioral bases of gender-specific stereotypes and how these behaviors are influenced by aspects of the social environment (such as reinforcement contingencies) and by aspects of the the person (such as simple learning and performance deficits), and suggests ways in which sex differences might be changed to provide increased behavioral options for women and men.Portions of this research were supported by National Institute of Mental Health Grant #5 RO1 MH06613-4. The authors wish to express their gratitude to Drs. David Sanuders, Socrates Rapagna, William Hodges, and Gene Glass for their design, data analytic, and editorial assistance.     

The content validity of juvenile psychopathy: an empirical examination

This study examined the content validity of a juvenile psychopathy measure, the Childhood Psychopathy Scale (CPS; D. R. Lynam, 1997), based on a downward translation of an adult instrument, the Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R; R. D. Hare, 1991). The CPS was compared with two other indices of juvenile psychopathy: (a) an index derived from expert ratings and (b) an empirical index based on correlations with adult psychopathy. The 100 items of the Common Language Q-Sort (CLQ; A. Caspi et al., 1992) provided a common metric for the comparison. Psychopathy and personality were assessed at age 13 years with the mother-reported CPS and the CLQ. Psychopathy was assessed at age 24 years with the interviewer-rated Psychopathy Checklist: Screening Version (PCL:SV; S. D. Hart, D. N. Cox, & R. D. Hare, 1995). Data from over 250 participants of the middle sample of the Pittsburgh Youth Study were used to examine these relations. Item content analyses demonstrated considerable overlap among the three indices, indicating that the downward translation utilizes criteria similar to those of experts and the empirically-derived measure. In addition, these indices, even after removing overlapping items, demonstrated considerable convergence, also supporting the content validity of the downward translation. These results suggest that the downward translation method is adequate for understanding the juvenile psychopathy construct.     

Sex-role differentiation in contemporary communes

This research tests the hypothesis that the social interactions and sex roles of persons living in communes will become similar to those of persons in extended families, although the commune residents were raised in nuclear families. Commune residents and university students were asked to compare their present and their past social interactions in terms of 13 questions derived from established differences between nuclear and extended families. Commune residents, compared to students, described their present situation as less competitive, hostile, independent, and more cooperative. They also regard the statuses of men and women as more dissimilar than do students. Commune men are more likely to do more cross-sex-type chores than are male students, but still view their present and future status as higher than that of women. The findings confirm the hypothesis that communal social roles evolve to become similar to those in extended families, with the exception of work roles.This research was sponsored by the National Science Foundation Grant No. P2 S50810-000 and National Institute of Mental Health Grant No. R01 MH19589. Madison Holloway and Kathryn Gunning assisted in the data collection.     

Sex-role differences in time use

Analysis of how men and women spend their time reveals much about patterns of underlying sex-role relationships. This article examines national sample data on time use by men and women in order to determine systematic sex differences in the division of work and leisure in society. Particular attention is directed to how time-use patterns shift as both paid work and marital and family burdens are added to the woman's role. To determine time use, subjects kept diaries of their activities for a particular day. In addition, attitude questions about time use were also analyzed. Paid employment was found to constrain the free time of women far more than any other single role factor, including marriage and parenthood. Consequently, employed married women have significantly less free time than do employed men or women not in the labor force. While the free time of a married woman with children decreases when she becomes employed, a husband's free time may actually increase with his wife's employment. Nevertheless, few women indicated that they would like more help with housework and child care from their husbands. Several explanations for women's resistance to more male help are examined. Implications of these results for the career development of employed women and for future changes in marital role relationships are discussed.     

Sex-role contradictions: Self-perceptions and ideal perceptions

College students' perceptions of the ideal female, ideal male, and self-portrayal were studied using the Bem Sex Role Inventory. Males and females described themselves and their ideals with regard to sex-typed masculine and feminine characteristics. Females described an androgynous model for themselves and their ideal. Males described an androgynous model for their self-portrayal, but sex-typed portrayals for their ideal male and ideal female. The implication of males' inconsistent pattern of responding is discussed.