Volunteer work as a valuable leisure‐time activity: A day‐level study on volunteer work,non‐work experiences,and well‐being at work

In this 2‐week diary study, with 105 employees providing data on a total of 476 days, we examined relationships between the amount of time spent on volunteer work activities during leisure time, psychological non‐work experiences in the evening (i.e. recovery experiences of psychological detachment from work and mastery as well as need satisfaction), and work outcomes during the following working day (i.e. positive and negative affect, and active listening). Results confirmed the hypothesized positive relationships between the amount of time spent on volunteer work activities and psychological detachment from work, mastery experiences, and need satisfaction in the evening. Psychological detachment from work in the evening was positively related to active listening during the following working day. Need satisfaction in the evening was negatively related to negative affect and positively related to active listening during the following working day. The amount of time spent on volunteer work activities was negatively related to negative affect during the following working day. This relationship was mediated by need satisfaction in the evening.     

Balance between volunteer work and family roles: Testing a theoretical model of work‐family conflict in the volunteer emergency services

Trends indicate overall declines in numbers of volunteer emergency service workers and suggest negative organisational factors impacting adversely on volunteers and organisations. Conflict between emergency service work and family is implicated in falling volunteer numbers, and there is thus a need for research on difficulties experienced in balancing volunteer work and family. The current study tested an adaptation of the work‐family conflict (WFC) model originally proposed by Frone, Russell, and Cooper, in a sample of 102 couples in which one partner was an Australian emergency service volunteer. Results supported a model in which volunteer work‐related antecedents, including time invested in on‐call emergency activities and post‐traumatic stress symptoms, had indirect links with outcomes, including volunteer burnout and their partners' support for the volunteer work role, through the effects of WFC. These results add to research using theoretical models of paid work processes to better understand the problems faced by volunteer workers, and identify specific antecedents and outcomes of WFC in the volunteer emergency services. Implications for future research and organisations reliant on volunteer workers are discussed.     

Post‐Analytic Tractatus

Books reviewed: Barry Stocker (ed.), Post‐Analytic Tractatus (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2004). viii + 244, price £47.50 hb.
Reviewed by Patrick Horn, Claremont Graduate University
School of Religion
831 N. Dartmouth
Claremont, CA 91711
USA     

Post‐identification feedback effects: Investigators and evaluators

We investigated the effects of post‐identification feedback and viewing conditions on beliefs and interviewing tactics of participant‐investigators, crime reports of participant‐witnesses and participant‐evaluators' credibility judgments of the witnesses. Study 1 participants assumed the roles of witness and investigator (N = 167 pairs). Witnesses' view of a simulated crime video was manipulated by distance from viewing monitor: 2 or 9 ft. Participants made a line‐up identification and received either positive feedback or no feedback. Significant effects for witnesses and investigators were associated with viewing condition and post‐identification feedback. Interviews between investigator‐witness pairs were videotaped. Investigators asked more positive, leading questions when they were led to believe that the witness had identified the suspect. In Study 2 evaluators (N = 302) viewed the witness‐investigator interviews. Viewing condition had no effect on judgments of witness credibility but positive post‐identification feedback led evaluators to judge witnesses as more credible than witnesses who received no feedback. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Turnover in dirty work occupations: A focus on pre‐entry individual characteristics

The current study explored newcomer turnover in a unique population: dirty workers. Based on social identity theory (SIT) and conservation of resources theory (COR), a set of individual level predictors theoretically relevant to dirty work turnover were identified. We examined whether differences in access to job information prior to hire, career commitment, belief in the value of the job, negative affectivity (NA), and maladaptive coping style were related to turnover of animal shelter employees with euthanasia responsibilities. Results supported the potential importance of all variables for understanding turnover amongst these dirty workers. Access to job information, NA, and maladaptive coping style were found to have the highest relative importance amongst the set of predictors.     

Post‐It® Note Persuasion: A Sticky Influence

Four studies examine the influence of attaching a seemingly insignificant Post‐it^® note to a survey packet on the likelihood of completing the survey. Participants who received a packet with an affixed Post‐it note request had significantly higher return rates than participants who received the identical survey with (a) no sticky note, (b) the same message written on the cover sheet but without a Post‐it, or (c) a blank Post‐it with no message provided. Furthermore, they returned the materials more promptly with higher quality responses. A more personalized Post‐it appeal increased returns when the survey was long and time consuming but was no more effective than a nonpersonalized Post‐it when the survey was easy to complete. Results suggest that the Post‐it leads the request to be interpreted as a solicitation for a personal favor, facilitating a normative compliance response.     

Recruitment Sources and Post‐Hire Outcomes: The Mediating Role of Unmet Expectations

Two decades ago it was hypothesized that met expectations mediate the relationship between recruitment sources (internal vs. external) and post‐hire outcomes. The current study tested this mediator hypothesis with new employees and found that those who entered the organization via internal recruitment sources experienced less unmet expectations than employees recruited via external recruitment sources. In addition, unmet expectations mediated the relation between type of recruitment source (internal vs. external) and both job satisfaction and organizational commitment. The study also found a considerable number of employees who reported that they have used multiple recruitment sources.     

Interpersonal mood induction: Situational and individual determinants

Several situational and individual aspects of interpersonal mood induction were investigated in an attempt to elucidate the mechanisms by which depressed mood is transmitted from one individual to another. Eighty-four psychology students interacted with confederates previously trained to enact one of three mood states — depressed, neutral, or elated. Participants were randomly assigned to same-sex confederates in one of two roles — helper or stranger, resulting in a 3×2×2 design. Mood and self-esteem were independent variables assessed prior to the interaction. Mood, perceptions, and reactions to the confederate were dependent variables assessed following the interaction. Results indicated induction of depression and anxiety in participants exposed to depressed confederates, and induction of hostility following interaction with elated confederates. Induction of depression and hostility were significantly attenuated in participants in the helper role as opposed to person perception role, while the concept of individual vulnerability to mood induction was not supported in this study. Rejection of depressed persons was only modestly associated with negative mood induction. Thus, role components of the situation affected mood induction more than did individual participant differences. The results and their implications for therapists and family members of depressed individuals are discussed within the framework of Lazarus's cognitive model of emotional arousal.The authors gratefully acknowledge the contributions and talents of Bill Dorfman, Mike Harrington, Ginger Johnson, Anita Navarra, and Debbie Illman.     

Research in counselling and psychotherapy Post‐COVID‐19

The COVID‐19 pandemic brings to light many areas the field of counselling and psychotherapy may need to address in future research. We outline several issues stemming from or exacerbated by the pandemic and offer suggestions for future research to address the mental health needs of those impacted. Our suggestions focus on five domains: (a) the health and well‐being of helping professionals, (b) the infodemic, (c) discrimination and minority stress, (d) spiritual and existential dynamics in mental health and (e) couple and family stress and resilience. We aim to provide a multi‐systemic perspective of mental health and well‐being in the time of COVID‐19, as well as encourage current and future studies to incorporate these suggestions to advance the health and well‐being of our communities through evidence‐based treatment approaches.     

Post‐truth politics and discursive psychology

This article argues for the potential of discursive psychology (DP) in the study of post‐truth politics. Work produced outside of psychology is considered, particularly from political science and international relations, which have made a promising start. Providing an overview of this body of research, I argue for their respective strengths and weaknesses. The literature so far tends to work with the notion that truth and emotion are matters that are, or at least should be, distinguishable. Instead, I argue that, rather than lament the blurring between truth and untruth, one should look to how these unfold as matters of practical concern in political discourse. DP is a tool particularly suited to the task; it highlights the importance of viewing ‘truth’ as a rhetorical resource. In this light, we can view post‐truth politics as a rhetorical matter rather than a degeneration of truth.     

The Role of Innocent Guilt in Post‐Conflict Work

The phenomenon of ‘innocent guilt’ regards cases where people feel guilty without being responsible for the wrongdoing or suffering at which the guilt is directed. The aim of this article is to develop a consistent account of innocent guilt and show how it may arise in the aftermath of conflicts. In order to do this, innocent guilt is contrasted with guilt and collective guilt, and the account is substantiated by drawing on the writings of Ludwig Wittgenstein and Emmanuel Levinas, who both consider the phenomenon of innocent guilt a necessary element in the fundamental structure of the ethical subject. These thinkers, furthermore, show a connection between guilt and possible victims of wrongdoing, rather than between guilt and personal acts of wrongdoing. Innocent guilt may thus appear in the aftermath of conflicts as an ethical and emotional response to the fact of finding oneself in a post‐conflict situation still marked by suffering. It thus reveals a fundamental need to contribute to the relieving of such suffering.     

Surface‐ and deep‐level dissimilarity effects on social integration and individual effectiveness related outcomes in work groups: A meta‐analytic integration

Prior research linking demographic (e.g., age, ethnicity/race, gender, and tenure) and underlying psychological (e.g., personality, attitudes, and values) dissimilarity variables to individual group member's work‐related outcomes produced mixed and contradictory results. To account for these findings, this study develops a contingency framework and tests it using meta‐analytic and structural equation modelling techniques. In line with this framework, results showed different effects of surface‐level (i.e., demographic) dissimilarity and deep‐level (i.e., underlying psychological) dissimilarity on social integration, and ultimately on individual effectiveness related outcomes (i.e., turnover, task, and contextual performance). Specifically, surface‐level dissimilarity had a negative effect on social integration under low but not under high team interdependence. In return, social integration fully mediated the negative relationship between surface‐level dissimilarity and individual effectiveness related outcomes under low interdependence. In contrast, deep‐level dissimilarity had a negative effect on social integration, which was stronger under high and weaker under low team interdependence. Contrary to our predictions, social integration did not mediate the negative relationship between deep‐level dissimilarity and individual effectiveness related outcomes but suppressed positive direct effects of deep‐level dissimilarity on individual effectiveness related outcomes. Possible explanations for these counterintuitive findings are discussed.     

Forgetting Trauma: Socially Shared Retrieval‐induced Forgetting and Post‐traumatic Stress Disorder

Memory for related but unpracticed aspects of an event can be impaired by selectively retrieving parts of the same event. This occurs when selective retrieval [within‐individual retrieval‐induced forgetting (WI‐RIF)] is undertaken by individuals and has been extended to social contexts—RIF can be produced in listeners [socially shared retrieval‐induced forgetting (SS‐RIF)] by a speaker's selective recounting. The effects of post‐traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) on WI‐RIF and SS‐RIF were examined by two experiments. In Experiment 1, combat veterans (with or without PTSD) and non‐veteran dyads participated in a RIF paired‐associates paradigm adapted for combat‐related stimuli. WI‐RIF and SS‐RIF occurred for combat‐related and neutral pairs regardless of group. However, greater WI‐RIF and SS‐RIF for combat‐related words were shown by individuals with PTSD. These findings were replicated by Experiment 2, in which either a combat‐related or neutral story was learned by participants, and selective retrieval was embedded in a conversation. That the selective retrieval of trauma‐related stimuli leads to enhancement of induced forgetting for individuals with PTSD under certain conditions is suggested by these data. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Colonial and Post‐Colonial Elaborations of Avataric Evolutionism

Avataric evolutionism is the idea that ancient Hindu myths of Vishnu's ten incarnations foreshadowed Darwinian evolution. In a previous essay I examined the late nineteenth‐century origins of the theory in the works of Keshub Chunder Sen and Madame Blavatsky. Here I consider two major figures in the history of avataric evolutionism in the early twentieth century, N. B. Pavgee, a Marathi Brahmin deeply involved in the question of Aryan origins, and Aurobindo Ghose, political activist turned mystic. Pavgee, unlike Keshub, used avataric evolutionism in expounding his nationalistic goals for an independent India. His rationale was bolstered by the idea that India was the fountainhead of all science and civilization. Aurobindo saw in avataric evolutionism a possible key to understanding the involution and evolution of the supreme spirit in the realm of matter as taught in traditional Vedanta. This material‐spiritual evolution represented for Aurobindo the necessary knowledge for the true liberation of India, transcending purely political independence. Such knowledge he also saw as the means for the spiritual liberation of the whole of humankind. The processes of involution and evolution he claimed were not in conflict with modern science, and Western evolutionary thinking seems to have inspired many of his own evolutionary reflections, even though in the end he rejected the Darwinian transmutation of species. I conclude with an overview and assessment of recent, post‐colonial Hindu assimilations of avataric evolutionism.     

The Political Consequences of Combat: Post‐Traumatic Stress and Political Alienation Among Vietnam Veterans

On average, veterans are more civically and politically engaged than civilians. Previous research on the effects of military service, however, did not account for differences in veterans’ combat experiences. Using survey data from a representative sample of Vietnam veterans, this study presents evidence that veterans who were exposed to severe combat trauma and veterans who exhibited attitudes and fears associated with post‐traumatic stress had significantly lower levels of political efficacy and trust. The negative consequences of combat exposure and post‐traumatic stress are not mitigated when veterans have quality social support or when they seek professional counseling. These findings inform political psychology and hold implications for claims regarding the empowering influence of service in the U.S. military, increased political engagement, in particular. Among Vietnam veterans, exposure to severe combat trauma and post‐traumatic stress were both associated with reduced political efficacy and trust.