Sources of Civic Orientation Among American Youth: Trust, Religiious Valuation, and Attributions of Responsibility

This study identified affective and cognitive factors predicting American 6th, 8th, and 10th graders' civic orientation, defined here as feelings of effective community service, conceptualizations of citizenship, and participation in student government. Independent variables included measures of interpersonal trust, valuation of religion, and individualistic versus collective action attributions of responsibility for solving social problems. Interpersonal trust predicted four out of the five outcome variables. Individualistic attribution of social responsibility was a predictor of running for student government office, and collective action attribution was a predictor of conceptualizations of citizenship. Religious valuation also predicted conceptualizations of citizenship as well as feelings of effective community service. For the most part, grade level did not play a significant role in predicting youth's civic orientation. Results are discussed in terms of the literature on social capital and developmental theory.     

关于场依存性－独立性与催眠感受性及性格的比较研究

对场依存性独立性认知方式与催眠感受性及Ｙ—Ｇ性格测验所评定的人格特征的相互关系进行了研究,结果表明：场依存性－独立性与催眠感受性之间不存在相关关系,提示两者为彼此独立的人格特征;在人格特质方面．场依存性者比场独立性者具有更强的社会外向性、社交活动主导性和乐天性;而场独立性者则具有较强的神经质倾向;在人格类型上,场依存性者和场独立性者均普遍表现为Ａ、Ａ’和Ｄ型,而Ｃ型则更可能是场独立性者所具有的特征;从人格类型的研究角度证明,内、外向性格与场依存性－独立性基本上分属两个不同的人格维度;场依存性－独立性与个体心理健康水平无关。     

大学生人际自立特质对人际信任的预测:独立于大五人格的作用

采用大学生人际自立量表、人际信任量表、大五人格简式量表等工具对1345名大学生进行的调查和情境研究显示:控制大五人格后,人际开放仍能预测人际信任倾向,并能通过人际信任倾向的中介作用间接预测人际信任的认知和行为反应;人际责任仍能直接预测人际信任的认知与行为反应。这提示,在对人际信任的预测方面,人际责任和人际开放具有大五人格所不能解释的独特作用,并在一定程度上支持了人格与人际信任反应的人际信任倾向中介模型。     

Self-regulated learning in female students with different cognitive styles: an exploratory study

In the present study, the relationship between the cognitive style called field-dependence/independence and learning strategies was explored. Acquisition, encoding, retrieval, support, and meta-cognitive strategies of first-year psychology and social education students (all women; M age = 19.2 yr., SD=1.7) with upper and lower quartile scores on field-dependence/independence were assessed on two self-report questionnaires and compared. Field-dependent students reported greater use of some learning strategies, specifically Self-instructions, Counter-distractions, Self-questioning, Self-monitoring, and Self-evaluation. The possible mediation of cognitive style on the influence of social desirability and a failure to activate appropriate strategies on accuracy of self-reports of learning strategies are discussed. Arguments and data are presented in favour of a distinction among the association of cognitive style with a tendency and capacity to use specific strategies and the benefits and manner of their application.     

Personality Traits That Predict Academic Citizenship Behavior

The association between personality and organizational citizenship behaviors is rarely examined in student populations. The present research tested the hypothesis that conscientiousness, agreeableness, and neuroticism predict unique variance in academic citizenship attitudes. In the first study, 270 college students completed an online questionnaire assessing their personality and academic citizenship attitudes. The results confirmed the hypothesis. In Study 2, we also tested the hypothesis that academic citizenship attitudes mediate the association between personality and citizenship behavior. Participants (n = 50) completed the online questionnaire. At a later session, they were asked to engage in an extra‐role helping behavior after completing the assigned task. The results showed that general conscientiousness was associated with citizenship behavior, but academic conscientiousness attitudes mediated this association.     

Relationship between sex-role attitudes and personality traits and the revised sex-role behavior scale

Two hundred college men and women completed self-report measures of sex-role traits (Personal Attributes Questionnaire), attitudes (Attitudes Toward Women Scale), and behavior (Sex-Role Behavior Scale). Intercorrelations among the three measures were examined to test two competing theoretical perspectives which dominate sex-role research today. The social learning point-of-view of Janet Spence and her colleagues asserts a general independence of sex-role personality traits, attitudes, and behaviors. The cognitive-developmental theory of Sandra Bem asserts that sex-role phenomena are fairly closely interrelated, at least for sex-typed individuals whose gender schemas cause them to adhere closely to traditional sex-role norms in their self-concepts and behavior. Findings of moderate relationships between masculine, feminine, and sex-specific personality traits, and the corresponding interest/behavior scales of the Sex-Role Behavior Scale, and between sex-role attitudes and behaviors lend partial support to both perspectives.     

Forgotten but not gone: An examination of fit between leader consideration and initiating structure needed and received

We examined the effects of fit between leader consideration and initiating structure needed and received on employees' work-related attitudes (i.e., trust in the supervisor, job satisfaction, and affective commitment to the organization). Consistent with predictions that derive from the person-environment fit research tradition, results from Study 1 suggested that deficient amounts of both leadership behaviors were associated with unfavorable attitudinal outcomes. However, while excess levels of consideration were associated with favorable attitudinal outcomes, excess levels of initiating structure were associated with unfavorable attitudes, and for both forms of leadership, higher levels of absolute fit were associated with more favorable outcomes. Results from Study 2 suggested that attitudes generated by the fit between leadership needed and received influence employees' organizational citizenship behavior as reported by their supervisors. The relationship between consideration needed and received and subordinates' organizational citizenship behavior relating to individuals (OCBI) and organizational citizenship behavior relating to the organization itself (OCBO) was partially mediated by employees' trust in the supervisor, while the relationship between initiating structure needed and received and OCBI was fully mediated by trust in the supervisor, and for OCBO was partially mediated. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).     

Trust in organization as a moderator of the relationship between self‐efficacy and workplace outcomes: A social cognitive theory‐based examination

Drawing on a social cognitive theory perspective, we contend that an employee's trust in oneself, or self‐efficacy, will interact with the individual's trust in the system, or trust in organization, to predict job attitudes and behaviours. Specifically, we expected that self‐efficacy would have stronger effects on job attitudes (job satisfaction and turnover intentions) and behaviours (task performance and organizational citizenship behaviours) to the degree to which employees perceive high levels of trust in organization. Using data collected from 300 employees and their respective supervisors at a manufacturing organization in Turkey across three waves, we found that self‐efficacy had more positive effects on job satisfaction, task performance, and citizenship behaviours when trust in organization was high. Interestingly, self‐efficacy had a positive effect on turnover intentions when trust in organization was low, indicating that high trust in organization buffered the effects of self‐efficacy on intentions to leave. The results suggest that the motivational value of trust in oneself is stronger to the degree to which employees also have high trust in the system, whereas low trust in system neutralizes the motivational benefits of self‐efficacy.

Practitioner points

• Practicing managers should not only invest in increasing self‐efficacy of their employees, but also invest in building trust to improve employees’ attitudes, behaviours, and performance. This is because when employee trust in organization is high, employee self‐efficacy has greater potential to have a positive influence over job satisfaction, task performance, and organizational citizenship behaviours.
• Self‐efficacy may actually increase an employee's desire to leave the organization when organizational conditions are unfavourable, such as in the case of low trust in the organization. Practicing managers should be aware that employees who have high levels of confidence may be at higher risk of turnover when they are unhappy with the organization.

     

Personality correlates of attitudes toward the role and status of women in Ireland1

The purpose of the present study was to examine the possible relationships between personality and related social-psychological characteristics, on the one hand, and attitudes toward sex-roles and issues relevant to the status of women, on the other. The sample consisted of 420 male and female Dublin adults aged 18 to 65, who were randomly selected within stratification categories. Factor analytically derived measures of personality and related social-psychological characteristics were developed as well as similarly derived measures of attitudes toward the role and status of women. Composite scores on these two sets of factors were intercorrelated for the total sample and for males and females separately. The correlational analyses revealed that traditional sex-role attitudes and less favorable attitudes to equal pay, contraception, and maternal employment were significantly correlated with measures of religiosity. Traditional attitudes and opposition to social change in the area of sex-role behavior were also found to be positively correlated with less trust in people, feelings of self-deprecation and powerlessness, and a need for order and predictability. Analysis of variance and path analysis were used to explore the possible mediating role played by demographic characteristics, such as age and socioeconomic status, in these relationships.     

Intergroup reconciliation: effects of adversary's expressions of empathy, responsibility, and recipients' trust

The present study explores the effects of expressions of empathy for the ingroup's conflict-related suffering and assumed responsibility for causing it by a representative of the rival outgroup on recipient's willingness for reconciliation. It is suggested that such positive expressions by an adversary will have positive effects on reconciliation only in the presence of a basic level of trust in the outgroup. In two studies, Israeli-Jewish participants were exposed to a Palestinian leader who either expressed or did not express empathy and/or Palestinian responsibility for Israelis' suffering. After reading the speech, participants completed a questionnaire that measured their attitudes toward reconciliation with Palestinians. Results of both studies show that whereas expression of empathy led to more positive attitudes when trust was high, it tended to have adverse effects when trust was low. Similar effects were not found for assumed responsibility. Implications for research on intergroup conflict and reconciliation are discussed.     

The Effects of Dysphoria and Personality on Negative Self-Referent Attitudes and Perceptions of the Attitudes of Others

The cognitive model of depression posits that depressed individuals harbor more dysfunctional self-referent attitudes, but little is known about how depressed individuals perceive the attitudes and perceptions of others in their social arena. This study examined whether dysphoric individuals perceive others to hold equally negative attitudes about themselves, and whether such perceptions depend on sociotropic (i.e., highly invested in social approval and relationship success) and autonomous (i.e., highly invested in vocational or academic achievement and goal attainment) personality styles. A sample of undergraduate students (N = 197) was recruited, and after the assessment of their depression symptoms and personality style, participants read vignettes that described negative scenarios, and imagined that these scenarios occurred to themselves or the general university student. After reading each vignette, participants also rated their agreement with a number of statements that assessed dysfunctional attitudes. Results indicated that elevated dysphoria (i.e., showing signs of depression) scores were positively associated with dysfunctional self-referent attitudes. Further, moderational analyses examining the interaction of sociotropy and dysphoria did not support the hypothesis that individuals higher on dysphoria and sociotropy were less likely to perceive others as harboring negative attitudes about themselves in comparison to those with elevated dysphoria and lower levels of sociotropy. Last, individuals showing elevated dysphoria and higher scores on subdomains of autonomy were more likely to perceive others as exhibiting negative attitudes about themselves than those with low levels of the trait. These findings, their implications, and strengths and limitations of the current investigation are further discussed.     

Trust in the face of conflict: the role of managerial trustworthy behavior and organizational context

The authors explored the role of attributions in shaping employees' trust in their managers in the context of negative events. The authors examined how 2 forms of managerial trustworthy behavior (open communication and demonstrating concern for employees) and organizational policies relate to attributions, trust in the manager, and organizational citizenship behavior. Participants were 115 credit union employees who responded to a critical incident regarding a disagreement with their managers. As hypothesized, trustworthy behavior was negatively related to attributions of personal responsibility for negative encounters, and this relationship was stronger when human resource policies were perceived as unfair. Managerial trustworthy behavior was also positively related to trust in the manager and organizational citizenship behavior. Personal attributions partially mediated the relationship between trustworthy behavior and trust.     

Personality Traits, Partisan Attitudes, and Voting Behavior. Evidence from Germany

Political psychology has paid rather little attention to personality traits when explaining political attitudes and political behavior in mass publics. The present paper argues that personality traits contribute to our understanding of political attitude formation and decision making of ordinary citizens. Based on the Five Factor Model of Personality, we state hypotheses regarding the effects of personality traits on partisan attitudes and vote choice in Germany. We test the hypotheses using survey data obtained from a random sample of the Germans eligible to vote. The evidence confirms that personality traits indirectly affect partisan attitudes and voting behavior in Germany in predictable ways even after controlling for sociodemographic characteristics. More specifically, Openness makes citizens more inclined to support parties endorsing social liberalism whereas low scores on Conscientiousness increase the likelihood of liking and voting for parties subscribing to economic or social liberalism as do high levels on Agreeableness . High levels of Neuroticism appear to promote support for parties that offer shelter against material or cultural challenges.     

Young European citizens: An individual by context perspective on adolescent European citizenship

Abstract

This study examined the effects of individual, school-level and country-level variables and their interactions on two components of adolescents’ active European citizenship: trust in European institutions and participation at the European level. For comparison, country-related institutional trust and participation were also predicted. Using multilevel regression models, we re-analysed a subsample of survey data from the International Civic and Citizenship Education Study, collected from 14-year-old students (n = 72,466) in 22 European countries in 2009. Results showed that higher cognitive engagement with politics (e.g., political interest), more opportunities for learning about Europe at school, and country wealth and social equality were positively associated with both aspects of adolescents’ active European citizenship. In contrast to country-related participation, the participatory dimension of active European citizenship was also positively related to a higher socioeconomic status of adolescent’s classroom and family, an association that was more pronounced in less wealthy and post-communist countries.     

Relational Self-Construal and its Relationship to Academic Citizenship Behavior

Despite the abundance of research on personality traits and citizenship behavior, no study has examined the role of relational self-construal, which is a self-definition based on one’s close relationships. We hypothesized that relational self-construal would be positively related to academic citizenship behaviors, and that this association would remain significant while controlling for sex and agreeableness. In the study, 2,222 college undergraduates completed a self-report questionnaire measuring their relational self-construal, sex, personality, and academic citizenship attitudes. The results also confirmed the hypothesis that relational self-construal is positively related to some academic citizenship behaviors while controlling for sex and agreeableness. Specifically, relational self-construal was associated with consideration and civic virtue, but not with other citizenship behaviors.     

Altruistic organizational citizenship behavior: context, disposition, and age

The authors proposed employee age as moderating the structural stability of altruistic organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) with regard to the influence of context-relevant attitudes and dispositional variables. Analyses of peer ratings of altruistic OCB in a sample of 96 U.S. nurses showed that the contextual variables of job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and trust in management were germane for the younger participants. The dispositional variable of moral judgment was a unique predictor of altruistic OCB among the older participants.     

A cross-cultural test of the personality integration hypothesis1

This study attempted to validate the psychological integration hypothesis by comparing the levels of psychological functioning of individuals from four cultural groups on three dimensions of personality. The personality attributes investigated were field-dependence/independence cognitive style, tolerance of ambiguity (an affective style variable) and machiavellianism (an index of stylistic orientation in interpersonal relationships). Subjects were 218 first-level supervisors from five industrial plants in Auckland, New Zealand. Comparisons of mean group scores on each personality variable showed that a similar rank order among the groups held for each personality variable. It was also found that, for the sample as a whole, there were positive intercorrelations between the personality variables. The symmetrical rank ordering of the groups on the personality variables was considered to indicate that members of each group had attained relatively similar levels of psychological development on each personality attribute. The relatively low levels of intercorrelations between the personality variables were held to indicate that they were measuring separate areas of psychological functioning.     

Work attitudes,career success and health: Evidence from China

Research on the determinants and implications of career success, and in particular on how they are related to health among Chinese workers is scarce. This research explores the impact and relevance of individual attitudes of trust and organizational citizenship behavior on objective and subjective career success, and their relevance to physical and mental health. Further, we explore the moderating role of a career system on the relationships between work attitudes and career success. Using a random sample of 10,372 people in China we used multi-level linear regression methodology to explore a mediation–moderation model based on organizational theories. We found support for the impact of organizational citizenship behaviors and trust, for both objective and subjective career success as mediators of mental and physical health, and for a career system as a moderator, with significant differences emerging between workers employed in the public and private sectors. The results are important as they shed light on the relationship between work and life attitudes on outcomes of high relevance at national level. The original contribution would be of interest to policy makers at both organizational and national level.     

Cognitive style and relationship quality in married dyads

Recently, cognitive personality researchers have begun to explore the social and interpersonal relevance of cognitive individual difference variables. Embedded in these examinations, however, is a methodological issue that bears importantly on our understanding of the role of these cognitive orientations in social relations. Specifically, personality studies have typically employed experimentally created dyads which, by limiting the representativeness of the sample, potentially limits the generalizability of the findings to more enduring “real-life” dyads. In the present study, field dependence/field independence was examined as a potential mediator of relationship quality in married dyads. Consistent with Witkin's theory of psychological differentiation, it was predicted that spouses with relatively field-dependent partners and individuals from dyads with similar levels of differentiation would have fewer complaints. Results showed, contrary to the predictions, that husbands married to field-dependent wives and wives from matched dyads had more complaints about their marital relationships. These findings suggest the need for a careful evaluation of the role of cognitive style in the domain of intimate interpersonal relationships. Apparently, it may not be sufficient to generalize about the role of personality in social relationships from the results of studies employing experimentally created dyads or groups to other, more enduring and real-life types of social relationships.