Social information processing and job characteristics.

This study simultaneously tested 2 theories that attempt to explain differences in job satisfaction: job characteristics theory (Hackman & Oldham, 1976) and social information processing theory (Salancik & Pfeffer, 1978). The theories were tested using data collected from the civilian employees of the public works division at a U.S. military base. The results indicated that individuals' social environments had significant effects upon their attitudes. Multiple social networks were used to operationalize individuals' social environments. The results also suggested that job characteristics had an independent main effect upon job satisfaction, in addition to the effects of the social environment. Based on prior research, employees' past experience and self‐monitoring were tested as moderators of the effects of the social environment, and growth need strength was tested as a moderator of the effects of job characteristics upon job satisfaction. Only self‐monitoring was found to have a significant moderating effect on the relationship between information from the social environment and job satisfaction, and growth need strength had no significant moderating effect.     

Occupational demands,psychological burnout and anxiety among hospital personnel in norway

The present study reports the results of a questionnaire survey among 212 health care workers at a hospital in Northern Norway. Measures included burnout, trait anxiety, various job demands and supports, and work attitudes (job satisfaction and organizational commitment). Results provided support for Maslach's conceptualization of the burnout syndrome cross-culturally. Correlations among the three burnout subscales, as well as organizational correlates of burnout were generally consistent with earlier findings. The burnout scores of hospital workers were higher than North American norms, and some occupational differencs among subscales were found. A model of individual characteristics, job demands, burnout, and work attitudes was tested through a series of multiple regressions. Trait anxiety as well as job demands contributed to burnout. The influence of trait anxiety on work attitudes was mediated through emotional exhaustion. However, in addition to emotional exhaustion, both job demands and organizational supports had direct effects on work attitudes. Thus, burnout does not fully operate as a mediating variable between demands and attitudes such as commitment. The study also addressed the issue of individual differences in the burnout response and focused on the need to systematically investigate the relaive importance of situational versus personality variables in future burnout research.     

Effets du soutien organisationnel perçu et des caractéristiques de l’emploi sur l’anxiété au travail et l’épuisement professionnel : le rôle médiateur de la satisfaction des besoins psychologiques

Based on organizational support theory, job characteristics model, and self-determination theory, we examined the mechanisms that underlie the relations between organizational factors and ill-being. Specifically, the main purpose of the present study was to demonstrate the mediating role of the psychological needs for autonomy (i.e., the need for individuals to feel volitional and responsible for their own behavior), competence (i.e., the need for individuals to interact effectively with their environment), and relatedness (i.e., the need for individuals to feel connected and accepted by others), in the relationships of perceived organizational support (i.e., the degree to which employees believe that their organization values their contributions and cares about their well-being) and three motivational job characteristics (i.e., task identity, task significance, and work scheduling autonomy) to job anxiety and burnout. This is the first research, to the best of our knowledge, to test for the joint effects of perceived organizational support and motivational job characteristics on job anxiety and burnout through psychological need satisfaction. Four hundred and fifty-seven employees (216 men and 241 women) from different sectors (i.e., industry, trade, crafts) took part in the study. Fifty-seven participants worked in companies with less than 10 employees, 105 in companies with 11–49 employees, 138 in companies with 50–249 employees, 33 in companies with 250–499 employees, and 124 in companies with more than 500 employees. The hypothesized model was tested with structural equation modeling analyses. Results provided support for our hypotheses and revealed that all hypothesized paths were significant. Specifically, our results showed that perceived organizational support and job characteristics were positively related to psychological need satisfaction. In addition, satisfaction of these psychological needs was negatively associated with job anxiety and burnout. Therefore, feelings of autonomy, competence, and relatedness play a central role in the development or reduction of well- and ill-being at work. These results are consistent with previous research in the work context, which has shown that social factors (e.g., autonomy-supportive behaviors) have significant effects on workplace mental health through their influence on psychological need satisfaction. Practical and research implications as well as suggestions for future research are discussed.     

The pattern of subjective anxiety during in-session exposures over the course of cognitive-behavioral therapy for clients with social anxiety disorder

Exposure-based therapies are efficacious treatments for social anxiety disorder (i.e., Gould et al., 1997). Much of the theory behind these treatments is derived from Foa and colleagues' (Foa, Huppert, & Cahill, 2005; Foa & Kozak, 1986) work on emotional processing. However, there has been little research examining individual differences in emotional processing patterns within and between treatment sessions among clients with social anxiety disorder. This study utilized longitudinal data analytic methods to examine changes in subjective anxiety during the first 3 exposure sessions in group and individual cognitive-behavioral therapy for social anxiety disorder. The results of this study provide preliminary evidence that, although anxiety generally decreases across exposures, some individuals experience considerable fluctuations in anxiety during a single exposure. Although anxiety during the first exposure was not significantly related to outcome, the relationship between anxiety during exposure and outcome became stronger during subsequent exposures. Overall, this study highlights the need to conduct more fine-grained analyses to better understand the mechanisms underlying exposure-based therapies for social anxiety disorder.     

Generalisation of the Clark and Wells cognitive model of social anxiety to children's athletic and sporting situations

Research has shown that social anxiety generalises to sporting and athletic situations. The present study explored the applicability of the Clark and Wells model of social anxiety – and its metacognitive extension – to sport anxiety. Participants were 290 students aged 11–13 years, who completed measures of sport anxiety, social anxiety, depression and cognitive variables implicated by the model. Hierarchical regression analysis indicated that performance attitudes, performance cognitions, anticipatory and post-event processing were predictive of sport anxiety, after controlling for social anxiety and depression. In addition, the association between performance attitudes and sport anxiety was stronger at higher levels of anticipatory and post-event processing. These results suggest that the Clark and Wells cognitive model – and its metacognitive extension – is applicable to children with sport anxiety.     

攻击行为社会信息加工模型与道德领域理论的整合

儿童攻击行为研究中Dodge等人提出的社会信息加工模型,强调社会交互作用情境下个体的信息加工过程与后来的社会行为之间的联系,对于信息加工所依据的数据库则缺乏系统的阐述。领域理论源于对道德认知的思考,将个体的社会知识分为道德、常规和个人三个领域,强调个体在领域认同标准和领域混合事件推理上的差异。Arsenio和Lemerise在情绪与社会信息加工模型整合的基础上,提出借鉴领域理论来说明数据库的内部结构以及其中的社会知识对于信息加工的影响。这些整合体现了认知和情绪在社会行为加工和决策过程中的交互作用,有利于说明存储在长时记忆中的社会知识之间的联系及作用,引发了对各种形式的内部心理成分的理论思考和多个实证研究方向,也为心理研究其他方面的整合工作提供了值得借鉴的研究思路     

Malleability of attentional bias for positive emotional information and anxiety vulnerability

Recent research supports a causal link between attentional bias for negative emotional information and anxiety vulnerability. However, little is known about the role of positive emotional processing in modulating anxiety reactivity to stress. In the current study, we used an attentional training paradigm designed to experimentally manipulate the processing of positive emotional cues. Participants were randomly assigned to complete a computerized probe detection task designed to induce selective processing of positive stimuli or to a sham condition. Following training, participants were exposed to a laboratory stressor (i.e., videotaped speech), and state anxiety and positive affect in response to the stressor were assessed. Results revealed that individual variability in the capacity to develop an attentional bias for positive information following training predicted subsequent emotional responses to the stressor. Moreover, individual differences in social anxiety, but not depression, moderated the effects of the attentional manipulation, such that, higher levels of social anxiety were associated with diminished attentional allocation toward positive cues. The current findings point to the potential value of considering the role of positive emotional processing in anxiety vulnerability.     

THE PRECURSORS AND PRODUCTS OF JUSTICE CLIMATES: GROUP LEADER ANTECEDENTS AND EMPLOYEE ATTITUDINAL CONSEQUENCES

Drawing on the organizational justice, organizational climate, leadership and personality, and social comparison theory literatures, we develop hypotheses about the effects of leader personality on the development of 3 types of justice climates (e.g., procedural, interpersonal, and informational) and the moderating effects of these climates on individual-level justice–attitude relationships. Largely consistent with the theoretically derived hypotheses, the results showed that leader (a) Agreeableness was positively related to procedural, interpersonal, and informational justice climates; (b) Conscientiousness was positively related to a procedural justice climate; and (c) Neuroticism was negatively related to all 3 types of justice climates. Further, consistent with social comparison theory, multilevel data analyses revealed that the relationship between individual justice perceptions and job attitudes (e.g., job satisfaction, commitment) was moderated by justice climate such that the relationships were stronger when justice climate was high.     

Development and test of an integrative model of job search behaviour

Research on job search and the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) has identified job search attitude, subjective norm, and job search self-efficacy as the most proximal determinants of job seekers’ search intentions and subsequently job search behaviours. However, we do not yet know how more distal individual differences (e.g., personality) and situational factors (e.g., social context) might help to predict these key TPB determinants of job search behaviour. In an integrative model of job search behaviour, we propose specific relationships between these distal variables and the TPB determinants, which in turn are expected to mediate the effects of individual differences and situational factors on job search behaviour. The hypothesized model is tested in a large representative sample of 1,177 unemployed Flemish job seekers using a two-wave design and provides a satisfactory fit to the data. Extraversion, conscientiousness, core self-evaluations, employment commitment, financial need, and social support are found to differentially relate to instrumental job search attitude, affective job search attitude, subjective norm, and job search self-efficacy. In addition, all distal variables are indirectly related to job search behaviour through their effects on the TPB variables. These results support our expanded and integrative model of job search behaviour.     

Heterosexism in Employment Decisions: The Role of Job Misfit

We developed and tested a model of heterosexism in employment decisions based on the lack of fit model of discrimination and social psychological research on attitudes toward gay men and lesbians. Results were supportive of both perspectives in that job candidates' sexual orientation, gender, and job gender type interacted with raters' gender and exposure to diversity training to predict ratings of candidate hirability. Consistent with prior attitudinal research, male raters tended to perceive gay male applicants as least suitable for employment. Finally, raters' attitudes toward gay men and lesbians, beliefs about the employability of gay men and lesbians, and social dominance orientation were differentially related to suitability and hirability ratings. The theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed.     

Trans-parency in the workplace: How the experiences of transsexual employees can be improved

Very little research has focused exclusively on the workplace experiences of transsexual employees. Studies that have been done are either qualitative case studies (e.g., Budge, Tebbe, & Howard; 2010; Schilt & Connell, 2007), or aggregate transsexual individuals with lesbian, gay, and bisexual employees (e.g., Irwin, 2002). The current study focuses on this underexamined population and examines general workplace experiences, and both individual and organizational characteristics that influence transsexual employees' job attitudes. Results reveal that organizational supportiveness, transsexual identity centrality, and the degree to which they disclose to individuals outside of work all predict transsexual employees' disclosure behaviors in the workplace. These disclosure behaviors are positively related to job satisfaction and organizational commitment, and negatively related to job anxiety. These relations are mediated by coworker reactions. This research expands knowledge about diverse employee populations and offers both theory and some of the first large-scale empirical data collected on the workplace experiences of transsexual employees.     

A self‐determination theory approach to health and well‐being in the workplace: Results from the sixth European working conditions survey in Spain

Research to date has underlined the importance of positive organizational psychology to improve health and psychological well‐being (PWB) in the workplace. The purpose of the present research is to test a model linking satisfaction of the basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness, as identified by self‐determination theory (SDT), and various individual work‐related outcomes, such as job satisfaction, PWB, and health problems in Spanish employees. Nationally representative data from the sixth European Survey on Working Conditions is Spain were used. Structural equation modeling was performed to examine the mediational role of job satisfaction in the relationships between psychological need satisfaction in the workplace and its consequences for PWB and health problems in Spanish employees. The results indicated that the fulfillment of basic psychological needs in the workplace is related to higher job satisfaction and that higher job satisfaction is associated with higher PWB and fewer health problems. Higher perceived competence and relatedness in the workplace were also related to greater PWB and fewer health problems. These results suggest that SDT is a valid approach that may guide interventions in the workplace to promote job satisfaction, PWB, and physical health in employees.     

Catch me if I fall! Enacted uncertainty avoidance and the social safety net as country-level moderators in the job insecurity-job attitudes link

Job insecurity is related to many detrimental outcomes, with reduced job satisfaction and affective organizational commitment being the 2 most prominent reactions. Yet, effect sizes vary greatly, suggesting the presence of moderator variables. On the basis of Lazarus's cognitive appraisal theory, we assumed that country-level enacted uncertainty avoidance and a country's social safety net would affect an individual's appraisal of job insecurity. More specifically, we hypothesized that these 2 country-level variables would buffer the negative relationships between job insecurity and the 2 aforementioned job attitudes. Combining 3 different data sources, we tested the hypotheses in a sample of 15,200 employees from 24 countries by applying multilevel modeling. The results confirmed the hypotheses that both enacted uncertainty avoidance and the social safety net act as cross-level buffer variables. Furthermore, our data revealed that the 2 cross-level interactions share variance in explaining the 2 job attitudes. Our study responds to calls to look at stress processes from a multilevel perspective and highlights the potential importance of governmental regulation when it comes to individual stress processes.     

Trans-parency in the workplace: How the experiences of transsexual employees can be improved

Very little research has focused exclusively on the workplace experiences of transsexual employees. Studies that have been done are either qualitative case studies (e.g., Budge, Tebbe, & Howard; 2010; Schilt & Connell, 2007), or aggregate transsexual individuals with lesbian, gay, and bisexual employees (e.g., Irwin, 2002). The current study focuses on this underexamined population and examines general workplace experiences, and both individual and organizational characteristics that influence transsexual employees' job attitudes. Results reveal that organizational supportiveness, transsexual identity centrality, and the degree to which they disclose to individuals outside of work all predict transsexual employees' disclosure behaviors in the workplace. These disclosure behaviors are positively related to job satisfaction and organizational commitment, and negatively related to job anxiety. These relations are mediated by coworker reactions. This research expands knowledge about diverse employee populations and offers both theory and some of the first large-scale empirical data collected on the workplace experiences of transsexual employees.     

Job emotions and job cognitions as determinants of job satisfaction: The moderating role of individual differences in need for affect

Research has shown that job satisfaction is determined by both cognitions about the job and affect at work. However, findings from basic and applied attitude research suggest that the extent to which attitudes are based on affective and cognitive information is contingent on stable individual differences, in particular need for affect. Based on current conceptualizations of job satisfaction as an attitude toward the job, we hypothesized that job satisfaction depends more on affect and less on cognitions, the higher a person's need for affect is. To test these hypotheses, we conducted two correlational studies (N = 194 university employees; N = 134 employees from various organizations) as well as an experimental study (N = 191 university employees) in which the salience of positive versus negative job cognitions was varied. Results supported our hypotheses. We discuss theoretical and practical implications of these differences in affective and cognitive underpinnings of job satisfaction.     

Is There Room for ‘Development’ in Developmental Models of Information Processing Biases to Threat in Children and Adolescents?

Clinical and experimental theories assume that processing biases in attention and interpretation are a causal mechanism through which anxiety develops. Despite growing evidence that these processing biases are present in children and, therefore, develop long before adulthood, these theories ignore the potential role of child development. This review attempts to place information processing biases within a theoretical developmental framework. We consider whether child development has no impact on information processing biases to threat (integral bias model), or whether child development influences information processing biases and if so whether it does so by moderating the expression of an existing bias (moderation model) or by affecting the acquisition of a bias (acquisition model). We examine the extent to which these models fit with existing theory and research evidence and outline some methodological issues that need to be considered when drawing conclusions about the potential role of child development in the information processing of threat stimuli. Finally, we speculate about the developmental processes that might be important to consider in future research.     

Post-event processing in social anxiety

A psychometric study was conducted in order to collect basic information about post-event processing in social anxiety. It was found that such processing occurs commonly after an anxiety-evoking or embarrassing social event and post-event processing scores were significantly correlated (r = 0.40) with social anxiety. The recollections of the social event tended to be recurrent and intrusive, interfering with concentration. Post-event processing was associated with the avoidance of similar social situations. The results are discussed in terms of the Clark and Wells model of social phobia.     

手机成瘾与抑郁：社交焦虑和负性情绪信息注意偏向的多重中介作用

为考察手机成瘾与抑郁的关系, 研究同时整合情绪和认知两方面因素, 探讨了社交焦虑和负性情绪信息注意偏向在手机成瘾和抑郁之间的多重中介作用。研究1共有545名大学生完成了大学生手机成瘾倾向量表、贝克抑郁量表和社会交往焦虑量表。研究2选取51名大学生采用问卷法和2(配对面孔表情的情绪类型: 负性、中性) × 2(探测点位置: 与负性情绪面孔表情同侧、与负性情绪面孔表情异侧)的被试内实验设计。结果表明: (1)手机成瘾、社交焦虑和抑郁两两间存在显著正相关, 且社交焦虑在手机成瘾和抑郁之间起完全中介作用; (2)社交焦虑和负性情绪信息注意偏向在手机成瘾与抑郁的关系中起链式中介作用, 而负性情绪信息注意偏向在手机成瘾与抑郁间的单独中介效应不显著。具体而言, 手机成瘾通过两条路径影响抑郁: 一是社交焦虑的单独中介作用; 二是社交焦虑→负性情绪信息注意偏向的链式中介作用。     

中国情境下团队伦理决策的过程机制及影响因素

尽管绝大多数商业伦理决策都是由团队而非个人所做出的,但目前对团队伦理决策的研究还很少,尤其缺乏基于理论的深入研究。在前人研究的基础上,借鉴个体伦理决策和团队决策方面的研究成果,结合中国文化强调反省、中庸、威权领导等特点,我们对团队伦理决策的过程机制及影响因素的作用模式展开理论驱动的深入研究。具体来讲,将综合利用多种方法来进行两个方面的4项子研究。在团队伦理决策的过程机制方面,拟开展团队伦理决策的过程机制模型构建研究,然后聚焦于团队伦理决策和个体伦理决策的核心区别,展开基于社会决策图式理论的团队伦理决策观点整合机制研究;在团队伦理决策的影响因素作用模式方面,拟从成员和领导两个方面来进行:基于信息加工和团队冲突的成员多样性对团队伦理决策的影响机制研究,基于信息取样模型的领导特征对团队伦理决策的影响机制研究。