Prayer,Patronage, and Personal Agency in Nicaraguan Accounts of Receiving International Aid

This article examines how religious beliefs and practices influence the reception of international relief and development aid in impoverished communities. Specifically, I explain how Nicaraguan recipients’ prayers both enhance and constrain their ability to assert themselves as “empowered” actors during aid interactions. Data come from observations and interviews over a two‐year period with 81 Nicaraguans in communities that receive aid from Christian development organizations. Compared to secular constructions of aid interactions, prayers provide space for Nicaraguans to position themselves as influential actors effecting change for themselves or their families. Through prayers, recipients portray themselves as influencing the actions of more powerful parties, including God and potential donors. They also pray for donors’ well‐being, thereby offering spiritual reciprocity for material gifts. However, the same prayers that empower individuals at the interpersonal level constrain their ability to envision transformation of social structures. These findings shape understandings of prayer as aligning actions, of the moral and social dimensions of receiving care from strangers, and of the complex and contradictory ways religious practices influence discourses of empowerment and development.     

Individual,family, and societal dimensions of genetic discrimination: A case study analysis

Background. As the development and use of genetic tests have increased, so have concerns regarding the uses of genetic information. Genetic discrimination, the differential treatment of individuals based on real or perceived differences in their genomes, is a recently described form of discrimination. The range and significance of experiences associated with this form of discrimination are not yet well known and are investigated in this study. Methods. Individuals at-risk to develop a genetic condition and parents of children with specific genetic conditions were surveyed by questionnaire for reports of genetic discrimination. A total of 27,790 questionnaires were sent out by mail. Of 917 responses received, 206 were followed up with telephone interviews. The responses were analyzed regarding circumstances of the alleged discrimination, the institutions involved, issues relating to the redress of grievances, and strategies to avoid discrimination. Results. A number of institutions were reported to have engaged in genetic discrimination including health and life insurance companies, health care providers, blood banks, adoption agencies, the military, and schools. The alleged instances of discrimination were against individuals who were asymptomatic and sometimes impacted on other asymptomatic relatives. Few surveyed respondents knew of the existence of institutions such as state insurance commissions or the Medical Information Bureau, Inc., which may play roles in redress of grievances or correction of misinformation. Conclusions. Genetic discrimination is variable in form and cause and can have marked consequences for individuals experiencing discrimination and their relatives. The presence of abnormal genes in all individuals makes each person a potential victim of this type of discrimination. The increasing development and utilization of genetic tests will likely result in increased genetic discrimination in the absence of contravening measures. All authors contributed equally to this work. This work was supported by a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy and funding from the Department of Mental Retardation of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.     

心理学视野下的社会变迁研究：研究设计与分析方法

近年来,社会变迁导致的文化、心理与行为变化及其相互建构已经成为心理学的研究热点。社会变迁研究通常涉及和变迁相关的时间效应、时代效应以及和变迁无关的年龄效应。在考察变迁趋势及其影响因素时,常用的研究设计有跨时间比较、跨代际比较、跨地区比较(历史重构)等方法;常用的分析方法有传统的相关和回归分析和现代的时间序列分析(比如交叉滞后相关和格兰杰因果检验)等。由于每一种设计都有其优点和不足,在具体研究中,研究者要根据研究的问题和可操作性选择合适的方法;如果可能,最好同时采用多种方法,以寻求基于不同方法的聚合证据。     

Exploring predictors of organizational identification: Moderating role of trust on the associations between empowerment,organizational support,and identification

The purpose of this study is to explore the associations among psychological empowerment, perceived organizational support (POS), trust in supervisor, and organizational identification. In particular, this study posits that trust in supervisor moderates the relationships between psychological empowerment, POS, and organizational identification. Blue collar employees from the shipping industry in Turkey are selected as the main target of this study. A total of 518 questionnaires were analysed. Results indicate that all the dimensions of psychological empowerment, namely goal internalization, perceived competence, and perceived control, POS, cognition- and affect-based trust in supervisor are positively associated with organizational identification. Moderation analysis shows that cognition-based trust in supervisor moderates the relationships between perceived competence, perceived control, and organizational identification, whereas affect-based trust in supervisor moderates the relationships between goal internalization, POS, and organizational identification. Furthermore, some practical implications are also discussed.     

Stereotypes and attribution processes in a multi‐ethnic Italian province

In South Tyrol, a multi‐ethnic Italian province (Italians, Germans, Ladins) with an autonomous statute, the intergroup attributions expressed by members of the Italian group were examined (relationship: Italians vs. Germans). It was found that, while the stereotypes are more favourable to the ingroup, the attributions are more favourable to the outgroup. The implications of these results for South Tyrol and community relations are discussed. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The role of organizational politics,contextual resources,and formal communication on change recipients' commitment to change: A multilevel study

Over the past decade there has been an increased interest in studying the factors that affect people's commitment to change. Drawing from the Job Demands–Resources model, in this enquiry we explored the moderating role of two contextual resources (i.e., trust in top management, history of change) and formal communication in the relationship between perceived organizational politics and commitment to change. Data were collected from 2543 employees of 84 companies representing a wide variety of industry sectors. In a first survey we collected data about the work context. Two weeks after the first survey, in a second survey we captured data on people's commitment to change. Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM) was used to analyse the multilevel character of the data. Consonant with our hypotheses, the findings indicate that the negative relationship between perceived organizational politics and commitment to change is moderated by “trust in top management”, “history of change”, and “formal communication”. As a group the Level 2 predictors account for 18%, 2.5%, and 10%, respectively, of the between-unit variance in continuance, normative, and affective commitment for change.     

Cross-sectional and longitudinal differences in social dominance orientation and right wing authoritarianism as a function of political power and societal change

Changes in social dominance orientation (SDO) and right wing authoritarianism (RWA) over time were examined using cross-sectional and longitudinal analysis of three waves of survey data before and after the 2004 Presidential election in Taiwan. A functionalist perspective (or group socialization model) predicts that: (i) supporters of a dominant political group that has held power for over 50 years should be higher in SDO and RWA than their opposition; and (ii) a formerly subordinate group should increase in SDO and RWA following electoral victory, whereas the dominant group should decrease following defeat. The first hypothesis was supported, whereas support for the second was mixed; the low-powered group increased in SDO and RWA following victory, but the high-powered group was unchanged. It appears easier to acquire the mindset associated with power than to lose it. Longitudinal path modelling showed that SDO became less connected to identity and political party support after an election that consolidated societal and regime change; the role of RWA shifted even more dramatically, from being connected to one political party and social identity pre-election to an opposing one post-election. Longitudinal path models slightly favoured a group socialization account over personality or social identity accounts in modelling correlations between SDO, RWA, political party support, and social identities over time.     

Moving Beyond the Individual: Examining the Effects of Domestic Violence Policies on Social Norms

To be effective, criminal justice policies should affect the underlying social norms for which the policies were enacted. This study sought to determine whether public perceptions of criminal justice policies on domestic violence affected social norms. Two waves of data were collected via a telephone survey where a random probability sample of 973 residents was drawn from 4 communities. A structural equation model was tested and confirmed. Results provided strong support for the hypothesis that perceptions of criminal justice policies have direct effects on attitudes toward criminal justice response, and indirect effects on victim-blaming attitudes, both underlying social norms related to domestic violence. The enactment of criminal justice policies, therefore, may have an impact beyond victims and perpetrators and lead to a transformation of the community through the emergence of new social norms. Public awareness campaigns designed to disseminate criminal justice policies may be instrumental in provoking social change.     

Perceived organizational support, organizational commitment and psychological well-being: A longitudinal study

Using longitudinal data (N = 220), we examined the contribution of perceived organizational support and four mindsets of organizational commitment (affective, normative, perceived sacrifice associated with leaving and perceived lack of alternatives) to employee psychological well-being. In order to assess the contribution of support and commitment independently from workplace stressors, we controlled for the effects of role ambiguity, role conflict and role overload. Analyses showed affective organizational commitment to mediate a positive relationship between perceived organizational support and well-being. In addition, perceived organizational support negatively related to perceived lack of employment alternatives which, in turn, was negatively related to well-being. Normative commitment and perceived sacrifice associated with leaving were unrelated to well-being. The implications of these findings are discussed under the lenses of social exchange and conservation of resources theories.     

Collective Action and Social Change: Examining the Role of Representation in the Communication between Protesters and Third‐party Members

Within social psychology, it has been proposed that to understand how collective action creates social change, it is relevant to examine the role that other members of society can have on it. However, few studies have empirically examined that. We argue that for that task, it is useful, first, and as some authors have already argued, to go beyond the sole analysis of the two‐sided inter‐group relations creating collective action; and second, to articulate this with contributions from social representations theory, which recognises that to understand social change, we need to examine communicative practices, or how communication is used between collective action's actors and other actors to re‐present identities. We analyse the protests by a movement of residents from a Lisbon neighbourhood that protested against the transformation of a neighbourhood's convent. Besides discussing this transformation with local authorities and failing to achieve its aims through that, the protesters also discussed it with other citizens. The analysis of this debate shows that the arguments and actions they used change throughout time, from local to global, as the latter were the ones more endorsed by other citizens and thus those that could help the protesters to achieve their goals. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Intergenerational influence and ontogenetic development in the emergence of spatial grammar in Nicaraguan Sign Language

The recent emergence of a new sign language among deaf children and adolescents in Nicaragua provides an opportunity to study how grammatical features of a language arise and spread, and how new language environments are constructed. The grammatical regularities that underlie language use reside largely outside the domain of explicit awareness. Nevertheless, knowledge of these regularities must be transmitted from one generation to the next to survive as part of the language. During this transmission, language form and use is shaped by both the characteristics of ontogenetic development within individual users and by historical changes in patterns of interaction between users. To capture this process, the present study follows the emergence of spatial modulations in Nicaraguan Sign Language (NSL). A comprehension task examining interpretations of spatially modulated verbs reveals that new form-function mappings arise among children who functionally differentiate previously equivalent forms. The new mappings are then acquired by their age peers (who are also children), and by subsequent generations of children who learn the language, but not by adult contemporaries. As a result, language emergence is characterized by a convergence on form within each age cohort, and a mismatch in form from one age cohort to the cohort that follows. In this way, each age cohort, in sequence, transforms the language environment for the next, enabling each new cohort of learners to develop further than its predecessors.     

A pilot study of a Scripture-based trauma healing model for adults in Nicaragua

With the rising attention to global trauma, there is increased interest in utilising effective trauma healing (TH) models, especially those that integrate a spiritual component. This paper examines the effectiveness of a Scripture-based TH model developed by the Trauma Healing Institute utilised in a pilot study with Nicaraguan adults who experienced non-sexualised-related crime, disaster-related trauma, and/or interpersonal violence. An additional focus of this study was on whether increased spiritual well-being would result from this healing model. In this first empirical study on the TH model, initial results indicated that participants (N?=?23) experienced both a reduction in trauma-related symptoms as well as an upward trend in spiritual well-being from pre-test to six-month follow-up. Spearman results also showed an inverse relationship between trauma symptoms and spiritual well-being. Factors that may have impacted results, limitations to this pilot study, and considerations for future studies are discussed.     

Influence of the cross–cultural environment on the perception of aging and adult development in the developing world: A study of Bahrain, Brazil and Indonesia

The present study examined the perceived characteristics associated with the different stages of adulthood in developing societies. Respondents from three societies, Bahrain, Brazil and Indonesia, identified those characteristics that are typical of the early, middle and late adulthood stages in their respective societies. Although developing nations, these societies differed in their levels of modernization or on the UN human development index score and respondents identified characteristics that were both common and different. On the whole, the characteristics identified reflected the influence of a cross–cultural environment (which included the global, developed and developing dimensions) on the perception of aging and adult development in developing societies.     

A multilevel study of leadership, empowerment, and performance in teams

A multilevel model of leadership, empowerment, and performance was tested using a sample of 62 teams, 445 individual members, 62 team leaders, and 31 external managers from 31 stores of a Fortune 500 company. Leader-member exchange and leadership climate related differently to individual and team empowerment and interacted to influence individual empowerment. Also, several relationships were supported in more but not in less interdependent teams. Specifically, leader-member exchange related to individual performance partially through individual empowerment; leadership climate related to team performance partially through team empowerment; team empowerment moderated the relationship between individual empowerment and performance; and individual performance was positively related to team performance. Contributions to team leadership theory, research, and practices are discussed.     

A social identity model of riot diffusion: From injustice to empowerment in the 2011 London riots

Previous research has shown that riots spread across multiple locations, but has not explained underlying psychological processes. We examined rioting in three locations during the August 2011 disorders in England to test a social identity model of riot diffusion. We triangulated multiple sources to construct a narrative of events; and we analysed interviews with 68 participants to examine experiences. In line with the model, we found evidence for two pathways of influence: “cognitive” and “strategic”. For some participants, previous rioting was highly self-relevant, and shared identity was the basis of their subsequent involvement. For others, previous rioting was empowering because it demonstrated the vulnerability of a common enemy (the police). In each location, interaction dynamics mediated the link between initial perceptions and collective action. The utility of this social identity approach is that it is able to account for both the boundaries and the sequence of urban riot diffusion.     

Becoming a bilingual teacher in a Chinese university: a case study

Higher education in China has developed significantly over the past decades. Many universities have established cooperative partnerships with western universities, and overseas courses are being progressively introduced to China. At many Chinese universities, a cohort of teachers endeavor to open up bilingual subjects as a bridge to their students’ future learning; accordingly, there are higher expectations of the teachers involved in bilingual education and challenges for their professional development. In this case study, the researcher invites a Chinese professor to reflect on his experiences of bilingual instruction at a university situated in central China. After describing how the bilingual course in the case study was set up and the difficulties confronted, this study uses theories of hybrid identity and third space to contextualize how bilingual teachers experience hybrid identity construction and transformation in their adaptation to the new challenges. This in-depth study will shed light on the professional development of bilingual teachers in China’s higher education industry.     

Fairweather and ESID: Contemporary Impact and a Legacy for the Twenty-First Century

This paper illustrates how the articles in this special issue demonstrate the central values, research, and action principles inherent in Fairweather's ESID model. The programs described in these articles address earlier social problems in new forms (e.g., previously, institutionalized mentally ill patients and now, the homeless mentally ill) and new issues (e.g., HIV prevention). Dissemination of innovative programs is abundant, but only recently has research begun in earnest to study the critical processes of dissemination. Moreover, Fairweather has pointed us in important, but yet unrealized directions for how to pursue a theory of social change on the basis of ecological concepts, innovative research methods and data analytic techniques, and salient change agent behaviors and principles.     

Empowering Community Settings: Agents of Individual Development, Community Betterment, and Positive Social Change

The pathways and processes through which empowering community settings influence their members, the surrounding community and the larger society are examined. To generate the proposed pathways and processes, a broad range of studies of community settings were reviewed, in the domains of adult well-being, positive youth development, locality development, and social change. A set of organizational characteristics and associated processes leading to member empowerment across domains were identified, as well as three pathways through which empowering settings in each domain contribute to community betterment and positive social change. The paper concludes with an examination of the ways that community psychology and allied disciplines can help increase the number and range of empowering settings, and enhance the community and societal impact of existing ones. Based on SCRA Distinguished Contribution to Theory and Research Award Address: Pasadena, CA, June 8, 2007.     

Antecedents and Consequences of Job Stressors: A Study in a Third World Setting

The present study investigates the antecedents and consequences of job stressors, especially role conflict and role ambiguity, in an environment where multiculturalism is a dominant feature of the workforce. This study used a sample of 397 employees in various manufacturing and service organizations in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Path analysis revealed that age is negatively related to role conflict and positively to role ambiguity, and that nationality is positively related to role ambiguity. Results further indicate that role conflict directly and negatively influences job satisfaction, whereas role ambiguity directly and indirectly influences job satisfaction. Role conflict (directly), role ambiguity (directly and indirectly) and positively influence absenteeism. Both role conflict and role ambiguity negatively influence affective and behavioral tendency dimensions of attitudes toward organizational change, while role ambiguity directly and negatively influences cognitive attitude toward organizational change. Implications, limitations, lines of future research, and contributions were discussed.