Do Positive and Negative Stereotypes of Gay and Heterosexual Men Affect Job-Related Impressions?

Sex Roles - Traditional gender stereotypes encompass (typically masculine) agency, comprising task-related competence, and (typically feminine) communion or warmth. Both agency and communion are...     

Observing Incivility toward Coworkers and Negative Emotions: Do Gender of the Target and Observer Matter?

The purpose of the present study was to examine the relationship between observing incivility toward coworkers and negative emotions for observers. We also examined the roles target and observer gender play in this relationship. Participants included 453 restaurant employees (68% female, 76% White) mostly from the Midwest region of the U.S. who completed an online survey assessing observed incivility toward male and female coworkers. They also completed measures of anger, demoralization, fear, and anxiety at work. Results showed that participants reported more negative emotionality when they witnessed incivility toward same-gender coworkers compared to opposite-gender coworkers; this relationship was especially pronounced for male observers for anger, fear, and anxiety, and female observers for demoralization. These findings highlight the importance of secondary gender-based mistreatment and emotions in organizational contexts.     

How and When Do Core Self-Evaluations Predict Career Satisfaction? The Roles of Positive Goal Emotions and Occupational Embeddedness

We draw on theories of self-verification and situational strength to examine how and when core self-evaluations (CSE) predict career satisfaction. We tested our hypotheses using a time-lagged study with 139 alumni of two business schools across three measurement waves. Results showed that compared to individuals with lower CSE those with higher CSE were more satisfied with their careers because they associated more positive emotions with pursuing their career goals. However, a high degree of occupational embeddedness attenuated the indirect effect of the CSE–career satisfaction relationship through positive goal emotions and compensated for low levels of positive goal emotions. We discuss theoretical and practical implications.     

Theory/Analysis Mismatch: Comment on Fredrickson and Joiner’s (2002) Test of the Broaden-and-Build Theory of Positive Emotions

Fredrickson’s (1998, ‘What good are positive emotions?’, Review of General Psychology 2, pp. 300–319; 2001, ‘The role of positive emotions in positive psychology: The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions’, American Psychologist 56, pp. 218–226) broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions posits that positive emotions improve coping skills and that improved coping skills increase positive emotions, resulting in an upward spiral toward emotional well-being. Fredrickson and Joiner (2002, ‘Positive emotions trigger upward spirals toward emotional well-being’, Psychological Science 13, pp. 172–175) claimed that the results of their analyses supported the broaden-and-build theory but in fact their analyses did not test this theory. The broaden-and-build theory clearly describes a within-occasion across-persons psychological process; the analyses, however, tested a within-occasion across-persons theory.     

Do Positive Psychology Interventions Impact on the Subjective Wellbeing and Depression of Clients? A Systematic Methodological Review

Mental health services are placing a greater emphasis on wellbeing and recovery. The current research investigated if positive psychology interventions (PPIs) increase peoples’ subjective wellbeing and reduce clinical depression. A systematic methodological review was conducted on randomized-control-trials with people attending clinical services. Five databases were searched. A hand search was then completed on the reference lists of the identified articles and the associated journals. Eleven research interventions were reviewed. PPIs were found to significantly increase wellbeing, relative to controls and there were fewer studies indicating a difference in decreasing depression. However, subsequent analysis revealed that the interventions were heterogeneous which limits the drawing of definitive systematic conclusions. A methodological evaluation also found that there were recurring issues: in delivering the interventions, measuring subjective wellbeing, and applying the design. Thus, the methodological quality of the research interventions, as measured by the current review was low. There is emerging evidence that PPIs improve peoples’ mental health. However, there is scope to standardize and to improve the quality of the research interventions.

     

Do infants understand simple arithmetic? A replication of Wynn (1992)

Numerical competence in 5-month-old infants is investigated using a violation-of-expectation paradigm. An experiment is reported which replicates the findings of Wynn (1992). In additional conditions, 5-month-olds are shown to be sensitive to impossible outcomes following addition or subtraction operations on small sets of objects, regardless of identity changes. Results support Wynn's interpretation that infants' responses are based on arithmetical ability. An alternative explanation, that infants' responses are based on their knowledge of the principles of physical object behavior, is also discussed.     

Detectionless processing with semantic activation? A footnote to Greenwald,Klinger, and Liu (1989)

Recently published research has suggested that, in a pattern masking task, semantic activation caused by the target may continue to exist even though subjects cannot detect the target. The experiments are reassessed as an exceptional case of the more general rule that subjects are able to use residual semantic activation to actually detect targets. Furthermore, residual graphic information is far less effective at supporting near-chance target detections.     

Does the Test of Self-Conscious Affect (TOSCA) measure maladaptive aspects of guilt and adaptive aspects of shame? An empirical investigation

The purpose of this study was to examine whether the Test of Self-Conscious Affect (TOSCA; Tangney, J. P., Wagner, P. E., & Gramzow, R. (1989). The Test of Self-Concious Affect. Fairfax, VA: George Mason University) measures maladaptive forms or aspects of guilt and adaptive aspects of shame that have been described in the literature. First, a judgmental and logical analysis showed that the TOSCA primarily measures mild and adaptive forms and aspects of guilt and maladaptive aspects of shame. Next, principal components analyses (PCAs) in a student (N=328) and adult (N=542) sample showed that items that had a high loading on the guilt factor primarily were items that referred to reparative behavior, while items that had high loadings on the shame factor consisted primarily of items that referred to low self-esteem. To investigate to which extent these items were responsible for correlations found with the TOSCA, we constructed a revised guilt scale containing only items that referred to reparative behavior and a revised shame scale consisting of items that only referred to negative self-esteem, and related these to indices of interpersonal and intrapersonal functioning. The revised TOSCA scales reproduced both the pattern and magnitude of correlations obtained with the original TOSCA scales. Thus, taken together, the results of this study support the interpretation of the TOSCA guilt scale as a measure of mild and adaptive forms of guilt and the TOSCA shame scale as a measure of maladaptive aspects associated with shame. Implications of these findings for further research on the nature of guilt and shame are discussed.     

Do birds (pigeons and bantams) know how confident they are of their perceptual decisions?

Rhesus monkeys are known to recognize confidence about their immediate perceptual and cognitive decisions by using a betting procedure (Son and Kornell in The missing link in cognition: origins of self-reflective consciousness. Oxford University Press, New York, pp 296–320, 2005; Kornell et al. in Psychol Sci 18:64–71, 2007). In this report, we examined whether this ability is shared in two avian species (pigeons and bantams) in order to know how widespread this metacognitive ability is among animals. We trained pigeons and bantams to search for a differently colored disk (target) among others (distracters) displayed on a touch-sensitive monitor. In test, the subjects were required to choose one of two confidence icons, “risk” and “safe”, after the visual search. A peck at the “risk” icon after a correct response in the visual search (i.e., a peck at the target) was reinforced by food and light, while that after an incorrect response (i.e., a peck at a distracter) resulted in a timeout. A peck at the “safe” icon was always reinforced by food and light, or by light only, regardless of the visual search result. The percentages of “safe” choices after incorrect responses were higher than after correct responses in all six pigeons and two of three bantams. This behavior generalized to novel stimuli in some subjects, and even to a novel line-classification task in a pigeon. These results suggest that these two distantly related avian species have in common a metacognitive ability that allows them to recognize confidence about their immediate perceptual decisions.     

Do Chinese and English speakers think about time differently? Failure of replicating Boroditsky (2001)

English uses the horizontal spatial metaphors to express time (e.g., the good days ahead of us). Chinese also uses the vertical metaphors (e.g., 'the month above' to mean last month). Do Chinese speakers, then, think about time in a different way than English speakers? Boroditsky [Boroditsky, L. (2001). Does language shape thought? Mandarin and English speakers' conceptions of time. Cognitive Psychology, 43(1), 1-22] claimed that they do, and went on to conclude that 'language is a powerful tool in shaping habitual thought about abstract domains' (such as time). By estimating the frequency of usage, we found that Chinese speakers actually use the horizontal spatial metaphors more often than the vertical metaphors. This offered no logical ground for Boroditsky's claim. We were also unable to replicate her experiments in four different attempts. We conclude that Chinese speakers do not think about time in a different way than English speakers just because Chinese also uses the vertical spatial metaphors to express time.     

Disentangling Gratitude: A Theoretical and Psychometric Examination of the Gratitude Resentment and Appreciation Test–Revised Short (GRAT–RS)

This study extended our theoretical and applied understanding of gratitude through a psychometric examination of the most popular multidimensional measure of gratitude, the Gratitude, Resentment, and Appreciation Test–Revised Short form (GRAT–RS). Namely, the dimensionality of the GRAT–RS, the model-based reliability of the GRAT–RS total score and 3 subscale scores, and the incremental evidence of validity for its latent factors were assessed. Dimensionality measures (e.g., explained common variance) and confirmatory factor analysis results with 426 community adults indicated that the GRAT–RS conformed to a multidimensional (bifactor) structure. Model-based reliability measures (e.g., omega hierarchical) provided support for the future use of the Lack of a Sense of Deprivation raw subscale score, but not for the raw GRAT–RS total score, Simple Appreciation subscale score, or Appreciation of Others subscale score. Structural equation modeling results indicated that only the general gratitude factor and the lack of a sense of deprivation specific factor accounted for significant variance in life satisfaction, positive affect, and distress. These findings support the 3 pillars of gratitude conceptualization of gratitude over competing conceptualizations, the position that the specific forms of gratitude are theoretically distinct, and the argument that appreciation is distinct from the superordinate construct of gratitude.     

The Function of Moods and Emotions: Comment on “Can Sadness Be Good for You? On the Cognitive,Motivational and Interpersonal Benefits of Mild Negative Affect” (Forgas, 2017)

Evolutionary theories suggest that all affective states have a function. The fascinating review “Can Sadness Be Good for You? On the Cognitive, Motivational and Interpersonal Benefits of Mild Negative Affect” by Joseph Forgas is a welcome reminder that happiness is not the be all and end all—sadness can also be beneficial. In this commentary, I summarise the studies conducted by Forgas et al. that demonstrate the benefit of mild negative affect for memory, judgement, motivation, and interpersonal behaviour (and those that do not), link them to current theories and models, and discuss avenues for future research.     

A Replication of the Reker and Cousins’ Study About the Complementarity Between the Purpose-In-Life Test (PIL) and the Seeking of Noetic Goals (SONG) Among Spanish Young People

The main aim of this study was to replicate the Reker and Cousins’ (1979) work about the complementarity between the the Purpose-In-Life Test (PIL), which indicates the degree to which the person has found meaning and purpose in life (presence of meaning), and the Seeking of Noetic Goals (SONG), which measures the degree to which the person is motivated to find meaning and purpose in life (search for meaning). Participants were 349 Spanish undergraduates (224 women, 64.20 %, and 125 men, 35.80 %) between 18 and 26 years old, M = 20.81, SD = 2.17. Principal Component Analysis showed eight factors: four mainly related to the presence of meaning and four mainly related to the search for meaning. The PIL contributed four factors to presence of meaning, whereas the SONG contributed four factors to the search for meaning. The results confirmed the factorial structure, internal consistency, and validity of both scales and their complementarity.     

Where are the effects of frequency in visual word recognition tasks? Right where we said they were! Comment on Monsell, Doyle, and Haggard (1989)

Balota and Chumbley's studies led them to conclude that category verification, lexical decision, and pronunciation tasks involve combinations of processes that cause them to produce differing estimates of the relation between word frequency and ease of lexical identification. Monsell, Doyle, and Haggard challenged Balota and Chumbley's empirical evidence and conclusions, provided empirical evidence to support their challenge, and presented an alternative theoretical position. We show that Monsell et al.'s experiments, analyses, and theoretical perspective do not result in conclusions about the role of word frequency in category verification, lexical decision, and pronunciation that differ from those of Balota and Chumbley.     

Do gorillas (Gorilla gorilla) and orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus) fail to represent objects in the context of cohesion violations?

Recent research suggests that witnessing events of fission (e.g., the splitting of a solid object) impairs human infants’, human adults’, and non-human primates’ object representations. The present studies investigated the reactions of gorillas and orangutans to cohesion violation across different types of fission events implementing a behavioral paradigm previously used with human infants. Results suggest that fission events vary in their impact on representational abilities but do not destroy apes’ representations of continuously existing objects.     

Do metacognitive judgments alter memory performance beyond the benefits of retrieval practice? A comment on and replication attempt of Dougherty,Scheck, Nelson,and Narens (2005)

A central question in the metacognitive literature concerns whether the act of making a metacognitive judgment alters one’s memory for the information about which the judgment was made. Dougherty, Scheck, Nelson, and Narens (2005, Memory & Cognition, 33(6), 1096–1115) attempted to address this question by having participants make either retrospective confidence judgments (RCJs; i.e., evaluations of past retrieval success), judgments of learning (JOLs; i.e., predictions of future retrieval success), or no explicit judgments. When comparing final retrieval accuracy they found that accuracy was greater for items where participants had made JOLs compared with items that received RCJs or no judgment, suggesting that simply making a JOL can improve later memory performance. The present article presents results from four separate replication attempts that fail to duplicate this finding. Combined results provide compelling evidence that making a metacognitive judgment, regardless of the type, has no impact on later memory performance above and beyond retrieval practice.     

Visual selection of features and objects: is location special? A reinterpretation of Nissen's (1985) findings

Nissen (1985) compared selection by location with selection by color or shape in partial-report experiments. Her analysis of response contingencies when a target was defined in terms of one attribute (location, color, or shape), and when the task was to report the two remaining attributes, suggested a special role for selection by location: It appeared that cross-referencing between color and shape was mediated by location. An alternative interpretation is developed here: The findings are explained by a theory of attention (Bundesen, 1990), in which selection by location is treated on a par with selection by color or shape.     

Does Core Self Evaluations predict career success? A reanalysis of Judge and Hurst (2008)

We conducted a replication of Judge and Hurst’s (2008) study that suggest that Core Self Evaluations (CSE) have a significant positive effect on growth in career success (as well as on mediators of growth in career success). We found that, if anything, CSE has a significant negative relationship with growth in career success (as well as its mediators). We attribute the difference in findings to the timing of measurement of CSE in Judge and Hurst’s (2008) study and to the lack of control for General Mental Ability (GMA), arguing that when GMA is controlled for, CSE does not affect career success. Reasons for the observed negative relationship between CSE and career success are discussed.