The paradox of the disrespected: Disrespected group members’ engagement in group-serving efforts

Previous research has demonstrated that intra-group respect can strengthen people’s group identification, and encourage them to exert themselves on behalf of their group. In the present contribution, we focus on the possibility that those who are not respected by other group members (i.e., the disrespected) can also display group beneficial behavior. Experiment 1 (N = 159) confirms this paradoxical premise and reveals that systematically disrespected group members indeed exert themselves on group-serving tasks. These findings were replicated in Experiment 2 (N = 110). Additional indicators in Experiment 2 demonstrate that the effort by systematically disrespected group members cannot be attributed to a desire to improve their acceptance in the group, but should be interpreted as attempts to assert the worth of the self separately from the group. Results are discussed in relation to the group-value model and insights on marginal group membership and social exclusion.     

The contagious leader: impact of the leader's mood on the mood of group members, group affective tone, and group processes

The present study examined the effects of leaders' mood on (a) the mood of individual group members, (b) the affective tone of groups, and (c) 3 group processes: coordination, effort expenditure, and task strategy. On the basis of a mood contagion model, the authors found that when leaders were in a positive mood, in comparison to a negative mood, (a) individual group members experienced more positive and less negative mood, and (b) groups had a more positive and a less negative affective tone. The authors also found that groups with leaders in a positive mood exhibited more coordination and expended less effort than did groups with leaders in a negative mood. Applied implications of the results are discussed.     

Increasing willingness to experience obsessions: acceptance and commitment therapy as a treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder

This study evaluated the effectiveness of an 8-session Acceptance and Commitment Therapy for OCD intervention in a nonconcurrent multiple-baseline, across-participants design. Results on self-reported compulsions showed that the intervention produced clinically significant reductions in compulsions by the end of treatment for all participants, with results maintained at 3-month follow-up. Self-monitoring was supported with similar decreases in scores on standardized measures of OCD. Positive changes in anxiety and depression were found for all participants as well as expected process changes in the form of decreased experiential avoidance, believability of obsessions, and need to respond to obsessions. All participants found the treatment to be highly acceptable. Implications and future directions are discussed.     

Cognitive and affective experiences of minority and majority members: The role of group size, status, and power

Four studies examined cognitive and affective experiences of minority and majority members. We predicted and found that minority members were more cognitively preoccupied with their group membership and experienced less positive affect as a consequence of their group membership than majority members. The first experiment established these effects with numerical minority and majority groups. The second experiment ruled out status as an explanatory variable, and the third experiment uncovered the role of power in the differential cognitive and affective experiences of minority and majority members. The final field study substantiated the ecological robustness of the experimental findings and provided further evidence for the role of power. The interrelation of status and power is discussed as well as the phenomenology of being a minority member.     

A preliminary investigation of acceptance and commitment therapy as a treatment for chronic skin picking

The effectiveness of a deliberately limited version of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) for chronic skin picking was evaluated in a pair of multiple baseline across participants designs. Self-monitoring of skin picking showed that four of the five participants reached near zero levels of picking by post-treatment, but these gains were not fully maintained for three of the four participants at follow-up. The findings of the self-reported skin picking were generally corroborated by ratings of photographs of the damaged areas and by ratings on a validated measure of skin picking severity. All participants rated the intervention as socially acceptable, and reductions were found on measures of anxiety, depression, and experiential avoidance for most participants as a result of the intervention. Results support the construction of more comprehensive ACT protocols for skin picking.     

Going to extremes for one's group: the role of prototypicality and group acceptance

To explore who goes to aggressive and antisocial extremes on behalf of their group we primed perceptions of (a) group prototypicality (peripheral vs. central) and (b) ease of acceptance by the group. Participants were members of self‐significant groups—fraternities and sororities (N = 218). Drawing on social identity theory, uncertainty‐identity theory and the social identity theory of influence through leadership, we found, as predicted, that peripheral members who believed it was easy to be accepted were most likely to intend to engage in and support antisocial and aggressive intergroup behaviors. This effect was somewhat stronger among males than females, and strengthened among the most highly identified participants. The research's potential for understanding socially harmful intergroup violence is noted.     

Affective responses to abuse in the workplace: The role of hope and affective commitment

Affective responses constitute the mechanism by which abusive supervision received is associated with subordinates’ turnover intentions. Using affective events theory (AET) as a theoretical framework, we suggest that abusive supervision is a contextual event that is associated with subordinates’ affective reactions and corresponding evaluative judgment of their workplace, which ultimately leads to increased turnover intentions, a prominent withdrawal outcome. We examine two affective responses as mediators, hope (a goal-related affective state based on the expectation of positive outcomes) and affective commitment (affect-based evaluation of the organization). Two samples from a field study (n = 209) and an experiment (n = 427) were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Results supported our proposed chain of relationships, suggesting that subordinates are likely to experience decreased hope and affective commitment after having experienced abuse from a supervisor, which subsequently impact their withdrawal intention to leave the organization.     

The group's absence norm and commitment to the group as predictors of group member absence in the next session: an actor-partner analysis

The group's absence norm, a construct from the applied psychology literature, was used to examine session absences in personal growth groups. Rather than examining the absence norm statically, we modeled it dynamically as a time-varying covariate (Tasca et al., 2010). We also examined moderation by modeling the interaction of the absence norm and the group member's commitment to the group in predicting the group member's absence in the next group session. Session absences in 1,722 group sessions for 66 group members in 9 interpersonal growth groups were modeled using Kenny, Mannetti, Pierro, Livi, and Kashy's (2002) adaptation of the Actor-Partner Interdependence model. Specifically, a 3-level model (sessions within group members within groups) examined the relationship of the group's absence norm (average previous absences of the other group members), commitment to the group (previous absences of the group member), and the interaction of the group's absence norm and commitment to the group on absence in the next session. As we hypothesized, (a) a greater number of previous individual absences (low commitment) increased the probability of a member being absent the next session, (b) the higher the group's absences norm, the greater the probability that an individual group member would be absent the next session, and (c) individual group members who were more committed to the group were more influenced by the group's absences norm than were group members less committed to the group. Implications for research and practice are discussed.     

Supervisory mentoring and employee affective commitment and turnover: The critical role of contextual factors

Past research has largely ignored the role of contextual factors in the relationships between supervisory mentoring and individual and organizational outcomes. In order to fill this void, we investigate how job scope and career and development opportunities, two critical contextual factors, moderate the supervisory mentoring-affective commitment-turnover links. Integrating social exchange theory with insights from situational approaches to leadership, we hypothesized that (a) job scope would interact with supervisory mentoring in predicting affective commitment and (b) career and development opportunities would interact with affective commitment in predicting turnover such that the conditional effects of supervisory mentoring on turnover would be stronger at high levels of these contextual moderators. Results of a study conducted with a sample of 228 business alumni, using 15-month voluntary turnover as outcome, supported our predictions. We discuss the implications of these findings for mentoring research and practice.     

Understanding the link between work engagement and affective organisational commitment: The moderating effect of role stress

This study aimed to explore the moderating effect of role ambiguity and role conflict on the relationship between work engagement and affective organisational commitment. Using convenience sampling, a final sample of 179 IT-specialists of services companies in southern Spain was obtained. Moderation analyses were performed using the hierarchical regressions and bootstrapping method (Bias-Corrected confidence intervals). Results showed that work engagement was positively related to affective commitment while role ambiguity and role conflict were negatively related to it. However, only role conflict moderated the relationship between work engagement and affective commitment. That is, at high levels of role conflict, IT-specialists perceiving higher levels of work engagement reported lower levels of affective commitment. This study highlights the hindrance effect of role conflict on one of the most important consequences of work engagement: affective commitment with the organisation. An adequate definition of role and positions could help to reduce the levels of role conflict, increasing the emotional bond to the organisation.     

Anger, anxiety, and depression as risk factors for cardiovascular disease: the problems and implications of overlapping affective dispositions

Several recent reviews have identified 3 affective dispositions--depression, anxiety, and anger-hostility--as putative risk factors for coronary heart disease. There are, however, mixed and negative results. Following a critical summary of epidemiological findings, the present article discusses the construct and measurement overlap among the 3 negative affects. Recognition of the overlap necessitates the development of more complex affect-disease models and has implications for the interpretation of prior studies, statistical analyses, prevention, and intervention in health psychology and behavioral medicine. The overlap among the 3 negative dispositions also leaves open the possibility that a general disposition toward negative affectivity may be more important for disease risk than any specific negative affect.     

Fitting in and feeling fine: conformity and coping motives as mediators of the relationship between social anxiety and problematic drinking.

The present research was conducted to clarify the relationships among social anxiety, alcohol consumption, alcohol-related problems, and negative-reinforcement drinking motives among college students. Heavy drinking students (N = 316, 53.80% female) completed self-report measures of social anxiety, alcohol consumption, alcohol-related problems, and drinking motives. Findings indicated that students higher in social anxiety consumed less alcohol but experienced more negative consequences. Moreover, the relationship between social anxiety and negative consequences was mediated by coping and conformity drinking motives in addition to alcohol consumption. In the context of social anxiety, the current research demonstrates the importance of examining problematic drinking as distinct constructs: alcohol consumption and negative consequences. Findings are also discussed in terms of implications for interventions with socially anxious students.     

Internet-based acceptance and commitment therapy for psychological distress experienced by people with hearing problems: a pilot randomized controlled trial

Psychological distress is common among people with hearing problems, but treatments that specifically target this aspect have been almost non-existent. In this pilot randomized controlled trial, an eight-week long Internet-based treatment, informed by Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, was administered to explore the feasibility and efficacy of such a treatment. Included participants were randomized to either treatment (n = 31) or wait-list control (n = 30) condition. All participants were measured prior to randomization and immediately after treatment ended using standardized self-report instruments measuring hearing-related emotional and social adjustment (Hearing Handicap Inventory for the Elderly – S, HHIE-S), quality of life (Quality of Life Inventory, QOLI), and symptoms of depression and anxiety (Patient health Questionnaire, PHQ-9 and Generalized Anxiety Disorder scale, GAD-7). Linear mixed effects regression analysis using the full intention-to-treat sample demonstrated that the treatment had superior outcomes on the main outcome measure as compared with the control group, Cohen’s d = 0.93, 95% CI [0.24, 1.63]. The benefits of treatment over control were also evident in scores of depression, Cohen’s d = 0.61, 95% CI [0.04, 1.19], and quality of life, Cohen’s d = 0.88, 95% CI [0.14, 1.61]. The results provide preliminary support for Internet-delivered acceptance and commitment therapy as a potentially effective treatment of psychological symptoms associated with hearing problems.     

The effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy bibliotherapy for enhancing the psychological health of Japanese college students living abroad

International students often experience significant psychological distress but empirically tested programs are few. Broadly distributed bibliotherapy may provide a cost-effective approach. About half of the Japanese international students in a western university in the United States (N = 70) were randomly assigned to a wait-list or to receive a Japanese translation of a broadly focused acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) self-help book. Although recruited without regard to health status, the sample was highly distressed with nearly 80% exceeding clinical cutoffs on one or more measures. After a 2-months period for the first treatment group to read the book and a 2-month follow up, wait-list participants also received the book. Students receiving the book showed significantly better general mental health at post and follow up. Moderately depressed or stressed, and severely anxious students showed improvement compared to those not receiving the book. These patterns were repeated when the wait-list participants finally received the book. Improvements in primary outcomes were related to how much was learned about an ACT model from the book. Follow-up outcomes were statistically mediated by changes in psychological flexibility, but not vice versa and were moderated by level of initial flexibility. Overall, the data suggest that ACT bibliotherapy improved the mental health and psychological flexibility of Japanese international students.     

Combined effects of the three commitment components on focal and discretionary behaviors: A test of Meyer and Herscovitch’s propositions

The purpose of this study was to test theoretical propositions advanced by Meyer and Herscovitch (2001) concerning the interactive effects of affective, normative, and continuance commitment on focal (staying intentions) and discretionary (citizenship) behavior. Study measures were gathered from a sample of 545 hospital employees. Several a priori predictions regarding commitment profile differences were confirmed. Significant three-way interactions were found for both staying intentions and citizenship behavior. The pattern of relations for both behavioral criteria partially confirmed the hypotheses, but also provided evidence of possible “context effects” whereby the meaning and implications of the commitment components varies as a function of the other components. These effects were most notable for normative commitment and may offer new insight into the nature of this construct. Implications for commitment theory and its application were discussed.     

The psychoanalytic process: motives and obstacles in the search for clarification

One motive for regarding psychoanalysis as a "process," and for attempting to define its exact nature, is to enable analysts to clarify their criteria for distinguishing authentic psychoanalysis from other therapies that resemble it or are derived from it. In the present climate of theoretical pluralism, any list of defining qualities that could win wide acceptance would of necessity be cast in terms of such general quality as to limit its utility as a precise template. Another motive for holding on to the "process" concept arises from the unpredictable nature of analytic progress in even the most satisfactory cases.     

Advice as a form of social influence: Informational motives and the consequences for accuracy

In this article, we ask how well people fulfill informational motives by using the judgments of others. We build on advice‐taking research from the judgment and decision making literature, which has developed a distinct paradigm to test how accurately people incorporate information from others. We use a literature review to show that people have mixed success in fulfilling informational motives—they increase their accuracy through the use of advice, but not as much as they could. We develop insights about how people perceive advisors and try to pursue advice—and where their perceptions may lead them astray. We conclude by proposing that future work further investigate the reasons people fail to use advice by building on the current advice taking paradigm used in judgment and decision making, but with a richer understanding of advice taking as a dynamic process that often entails complex decisions and normative motives.