Gender Differences in the Nature,Antecedents and Consequences of Parental Burnout

Sex Roles - Parenthood remains one of the most gender-typed social roles in adulthood. Given gender inequality in parenting, it has been very surprising to find that parental burnout affects both...     

Sex Differences in Women's Mental Health Problems and Their Causes

No abstract available for this article.     

Bullying: Definition,Types, Causes,Consequences and Intervention

Bullying is repetitive aggressive behaviour with an imbalance of power. Research, especially on school bullying, has increased massively in the last decade, fuelled in part by the rise of cyberbullying. Prevalence rates vary greatly. This is in part because of measurement issues, but some persons, and groups, are more at risk of involvement. Victims suffer from bullying, but some of those who perpetrate bullying can be socially skilled and get at least short‐term benefits from their behaviour. Individual, family, school class, school and broader country factors can influence the chances of involvement. Beyond individual coping strategies, there have been many anti‐bullying interventions developed over the last 30 years. Meta‐analyses of these programmes show that they have had some success. Further progress is needed in establishing the most effective components and in tackling cyberbullying.     

False Confessions: Causes, Consequences, and Implications for Reform

ABSTRACT— Despite the commonsense belief that people do not confess to crimes they did not commit, 20 to 25% of all DNA exonerations involve innocent prisoners who confessed. After distinguishing between voluntary, compliant, and internalized false confessions, this article suggests that a sequence of three processes is responsible for false confessions and their adverse consequences. First, police sometimes target innocent people for interrogation because of erroneous judgments of truth and deception. Second, innocent people sometimes confess as a function of certain interrogation tactics, dispositional suspect vulnerabilities, and the phenomenology of innocence. Third, jurors fail to discount even those confessions they see as coerced. At present, researchers are seeking ways to improve the accuracy of confession evidence and its evaluation in the courtroom.     

Ideal Affect: Cultural Causes and Behavioral Consequences

ABSTRACT— Most research focuses on actual affect , or the affective states that people actually feel. In this article, I demonstrate the importance and utility of studying ideal affect , or the affective states that people ideally want to feel. First, I define ideal affect and describe the cultural causes and behavioral consequences of ideal affect. To illustrate these points, I compare American and East Asian cultures, which differ in their valuation of high-arousal positive affective states (e.g., excitement, enthusiasm) and low-arousal positive affective states (e.g., calm, peacefulness). I then introduce affect valuation theory, which integrates ideal affect with current models of affect and emotion and, in doing so, provides a new framework for understanding how cultural and temperamental factors may shape affect and behavior.     

数学成就的性别差异

数学成就的性别差异是多年来广受关注的问题。长期以来人们多关注男性、女性数学成就水平的高低, 而近年来研究结果一方面揭示出总体上男性和女性数学成就的平均水平差异很小, 呈现出相似性多于差异性的特点; 同时也显示男性内部变异比女性更大, 男性在高数学成就者中占多数。数学成就性别差异的大小和方向受到评分系统、测验组织形式、测验内容和难度的影响。数学成就性别差异的形成是心理、生物、社会文化等方面多因素综合作用的结果。近期研究探讨了年龄、遗传和进化、激素和脑、刻板印象威胁、社会性别公平和时代等因素在数学成就性别差异的形成中的作用。未来对数学成就性别差异的研究应注意开展追踪研究, 关注低数学能力者, 进一步探讨复杂数学加工机制的性别差异, 建立数学成就性别差异形成机制的综合模型, 并在更广阔的社会文化背景下开展研究。     

The Nonconscious Nature of Power: Cues and Consequences

Power – asymmetric control over valued resources – is a fundamental dimension of social relations. Classical conceptualizations of power emphasize its conscious nature. In this review, we reveal how power often operates nonconsciously and identify the different methods and paradigms used to activate or create a psychological sense of power outside of conscious awareness. First, we establish that cues of power are often attended to nonconsciously, which explains why people can be so accurate at determining their own and others’ level of power yet so inaccurate at identifying the specific cues diagnostic of possessing power. Second, we discuss how people are often unaware of how the possession of power fundamentally alters basic psychological and behavioral tendencies and describe the range of methodologies – roles, cues, episodic recall, conceptual priming – used to identify the nonconscious effects of power. Power produces two broad types of effects: It increases abstraction in thought and approach in behavior, both of which make individuals more focused on their own goals and internal states. Like other psychological constructs and processes, even ones that are inherently social and relational, power’s cues and consequences do not have to be conscious for its profound influence on basic psychological and interpersonal processes to emerge. We discuss the implications of the nonconscious nature of power for limiting the corrupting, dark side often revealed among the powerful.     

Peer-Reputational Influences and Academic Achievement: Exploring Gender Differences

This study explored the impact of peer-reputations for academic ability and affect/liking on academic outcomes in a sample of preadolescents. In light of the popular stereotypes regarding the differential academic abilities of girls and boys (favoring girls in English, and boys in math and science), it was hypothesized that peer-reputations in English would be more predictive of academic outcomes (measured via school-grades and standardized test-scores) for girls than for boys, while math and science reputations would be most predictive of boys’ academic outcomes. Further, it was also hypothesized that these links would be stronger for school-grades than for standardized test-scores. As expected, overall, peer-reputations were found to be predictive of school-grades but not standardized test-scores. Further, the results reveal that although ability reputations in most areas were predictive of grades for both sexes, gender differences were observed which were consistent with hypotheses. Results suggest that children’s peer-reputations may play an important role in their academic achievement, especially within domains most central to their gender identities.     

Individual Differences in Emotional Mimicry: Underlying Traits and Social Consequences

Mimicry, the imitation of the nonverbal behaviour of others, serves to establish affiliation and to smoothen social interactions. The present research aimed to disentangle rapid facial reactions (RFRs) to affiliative emotions from RFRs to nonaffiliative emotions from a trait perspective. In line with the Mimicry in Social Context Model by Hess and Fischer, we expected that only the former are mimicry responses indicative of underlying social relating competence and predictive of social satisfaction, whereas the latter superficially resemble mimicry responses and are driven by social relating incompetence and have opposite effects on social satisfaction. Further, we assumed that social relating competence would moderate the relationship between stable individuals' tendencies to show (mal)adaptive RFRs and social satisfaction. To test these hypotheses, 108 participants first completed scales measuring social relating competence, then participated in a mimicry laboratory task and finally evaluated their naturally occurring social interactions for 10 days. Affiliative RFRs to sadness were related to proximal indices of social relating competence and predicted positive social interactions, whereas nonaffiliative RFRs to disgust were related to social relating incompetence and predicted negative social interactions. By contrast, neither affiliative RFRs to happiness nor nonaffiliative RFRs to anger were linked to proximal indices of social relating competence, and both RFRs were only (dys)functional for interaction quality in less social relating‐competent individuals. Copyright © 2015 European Association of Personality Psychology     

Memory-Prediction Errors and Their Consequences in Schizophrenia

Cognitive deficits play a central role in the onset of schizophrenia. Cognitive impairment precedes the onset of psychosis in at least a subgroup of patients, and accounts for considerable dysfunction. Yet cognitive deficits as currently measured are not significantly related to hallucinations and delusions. Part of this counterintuitive absence of a relationship may be caused by the lack of an organizing principle of cognitive impairment in schizophrenia research. We review literature suggesting that a system of memory-based prediction is central to human perception, thought and action , and forward the notion that many of the symptoms of schizophrenia are a result of a failure of this system.     

Trends in Gender Differences in Academic Achievement from 1960 to 1994: An Analysis of Differences in Mean,Variance, and Extreme Scores

Gender differences in academic achievement have been studied extensively. While it is generally agreed that females have a slight advantage on average in verbal abilities and males have a slight advantage on average in mathematics, it is unclear whether these differences have changed over time. In this paper evidence from seven surveys representative of the United States twelth grade student population and the National Assessment of Educational Progress(NAEP) long term trend data is brought to bear on the magnitude of gender differences in achievement, the level of agreement among different indices of difference, and the stability of these differences over time. These data provide the unique opportunity to not only empirically estimate mean differences, differences in variance, and differences in extreme scores, but also to estimate change over time in all three indices using both the same and different tests over time. Results show that gender differences in mean and variance are small, while differences in extreme scores are often substantial. None of these differences have changed significantly since 1960, with the possible exception of mean differences in mathematics and science. Each of the datasets reflects the racial composition of the national population when properly weighted (i.e. White = 70%, Black = 15%,Hispanic = 10%, Other = 5%).     

Decline and Conflict: Causes and Consequences of Leadership Transitions in Religious Congregations

Changes in leadership can be difficult for any organization. Leadership transitions in religious congregations might be especially challenging given the personal relationships involved and the spiritual dimension of a leader's position. This complexity often makes it difficult to separate the reasons for the transition from the impacts of the transition. For example, loss of membership and congregational conflict can be both a cause and a consequence of leadership change. Using the 2006–2007 National Congregations Study, this research explores how membership decline and congregational conflict are associated with leadership transitions in religious congregations. Although we find that leadership transitions are associated with conflict and membership decline, we also find that certain factors, such as whether the leader comes from within the congregation and context of the transition, moderate these associations.     

Explaining Social Disparities in Mathematical Achievement: The Role of Motivation

This study examined the role of motivation as a mediator of the relationship between parents' socio‐economic status (SES) and children's standardized test achievement in math. We employed a one‐year longitudinal approach using Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2003 and a follow‐up exam in 2004. The sample consisted of N = 6020 German students (mean age 15.5 years, SD = .55) who continued school after Grade 9 (PISA 2003) and were in Grade 10 at the time of PISA 2004. Children completed measures related to their parents' SES, math‐specific self‐concept, task‐specific and global self‐efficacy, and interest, intelligence and mathematical competence. We found a small to moderate correlation between parents' SES and children's achievement. All motivational constructs partially mediated the relationship between father's SES as well as a family index for SES (economic, social, and cultural status) and children's mathematical competence, but only math‐specific self‐concept and self‐efficacy were significant mediators for mother's SES. Even when simultaneously considering the mediating effect of children's intelligence and prior achievement, the mediation effects of motivation remained significant. These results are important for our understanding of educational equality. Copyright © 2016 European Association of Personality Psychology     

Nature, Nurture, and Individual Differences in Early Understanding of Mind

The ability to understand other minds is a dramatic development that enables children to adapt to their social worlds. In this first genetic analysis of the phenomenon, using 119 same-sex 3-year-old twin pairs, evidence for substantial genetic influence was found. Intraclass correlations for identical and fraternal twins were .66 and .32, respectively; the maximum-likelihoodmodel-fitting estimate of heritability was 67%. Bivariate model-fitting analyses showed that most (66%) of this genetic influence on understanding of mind was independent of verbal ability. Environmental influences on understanding of mind were attributed to child-specific factors,rather than those shared by children in the same family.     

When Change Causes Stress: Effects of Self-construal and Change Consequences

Purpose

Organizational change can be a major stress factor for employees. We investigate if stress responses can be explained by the extent to which there is a match between employee self-construal (in personal or collective terms) and change consequences (i.e., does the change particularly have consequences for the individual or for the group). We further investigate if the interactive effect of self-construal and change consequences on stress will be mediated by feelings of uncertainty.

Design/Methodology/Approach

Data were obtained in three studies. Study 1, a laboratory study, focused on physiological stress. Study 2, a business scenario, focused on anticipated stress. Study 3, a cross-sectional survey, focused on perceived stress. Studies 2 and 3 also included measures of uncertainty in order to test its mediating qualities.

Findings

Change is more likely to lead to stress when the change has consequences for matters that are central to employees’ sense of self, and particularly so when the personal self is salient. This effect is mediated by feelings of uncertainty.

Implications

Understanding why some people experience stress during change, while others do so to a lesser extent, may be essential for improving change management practices. It may help to prevent change processes being unnecessarily stressful for employees.

Originality/Value

This is one of the first studies to show that different kinds of change may be leading to uncertainty or stress, depending on employees’ level of self-construal. The multi-method approach boosts the confidence in our findings.

     

Impossible Antecedents and Their Consequences: Some Thirteenth-Century Arabic Discussions

The principle that a necessarily false proposition implies any proposition, and that a necessarily true proposition is implied by any proposition, was apparently first propounded in twelfth century Latin logic, and came to be widely, though not universally, accepted in the fourteenth century. These principles seem never to have been accepted, or even seriously entertained, by Arabic logicians. In the present study, I explore some thirteenth century Arabic discussions of conditionals with impossible antecedents. The Persian-born scholar Afdal al-Dīn al-Khūnajī (d.1248) suggested the novel idea that two contradictory propositions may follow from the same impossible antecedent, and closely related to this point, he suggested that if an antecedent implies a consequent, then it will do so no matter how it is strengthened. These ideas led him, and those who followed him, to reject what has come to be known as ‘Aristotle's thesis’ that no proposition is implied by its own negation. Even these suggestions were widely resisted. Particularly influential were the counter-arguments of Naīr al-Dīn al-Tūī (d.1274).