Autonomous Versus Controlled Religiosity: Family and Group Antecedents

Self-determination theory distinguishes between identified and introjected internalization of religious practices, positing that the former is experienced as autonomous, whereas the latter is experienced as controlling. A study of Italian Catholic youth showed that identified internalization was predicted by (a) parents' behaviors reflecting basic autonomy support (BAS; behaviors involving perspective taking, choice-provision, and control-minimization), (b) youth-group leader BAS, (c) parents' intrinsic value demonstration (IVD), and (d) peers' IVD. Introjected internalization was predicted by (a) conditional parental regard (CR) and (b) peers' IVD. Perceived parental warmth did not mitigate the effect of CR on introjection. The study underscores the importance of two socializing behaviors rarely studied in the area of religious socialization: IVD and conditional regard. The findings also highlight the harmful nature of CR in the religion domain as a practice for which robust negative effects on internalization cannot be eliminated by more salutary parental behaviors as warmth.     

Antecedents of Internet Retailing Loyalty: Differences Between Heavy Versus Light Shoppers

Purpose  The purpose of this study was to explore the moderating effects of heavy versus light shoppers on antecedents of customer’s satisfaction and loyalty toward an Internet retailer. Design/Methodology/Approach  A model discusses the different mechanisms in building an effective exchange relationship with light versus heavy shoppers was developed and tested using Internet book store as the study object. With the assistance of a marketing research firm, an Internet-based survey was employed to gather information on 375 users of Internet bookstores in Taiwan. Findings  The results showed that price/value had a stronger effect on overall satisfaction for light versus heavy shoppers, while trust had a stronger effect on overall satisfaction for heavy versus light shoppers. The study also found that consumers’ irreplaceable asset generated from past transaction with a focal Internet retailer had strong effects on their loyalty responses. Implications  Understanding of the moderating role of heavy versus light shoppers on satisfaction and loyalty formation helps to advance our theoretical understanding of the different routes of satisfaction and loyalty formation for different shoppers. The results of this study can help to inform the practitioners that price may play a role in drawing light shoppers, while perceived trust of the Internet store is more important in retaining heavy shoppers. It also demonstrated the importance of building asset specificity in increasing customer loyalty. Originality/Value  This is one of the first studies to provide evidence of the moderating effects of heavy versus light shoppers on satisfaction and loyalty formation. It explained and tested empirically the different mechanisms of satisfaction and loyalty formation between two groups of consumers.     

The Promotion of New Behavior by Forming an Implementation Intention: Results of a Field Experiment in the Domain of Travel Mode Choice1

In the context of an experimental field study, it is analyzed whether furnishing a goal intention with an implementation intention (Gollwitzer, 1993) increases the probability that a new behavior is enacted. For this purpose, 90 students who did not normally use public transportation were asked to test (just one time) a special public transportation offer they had never used before. With a nonobstrusive questionnaire manipulation, the subjects of the experimental group were stimulated to form an implementation intention. The results show that forming an implementation intention significantly increases the probability of enacting the goal intention; that is, testing the public transportation offer. The theoretical and practical implications of this finding are discussed.     

Risk Perception: Using Conditional Versus General Base Rates for Risk Communication1

In general, people judge their chance of experiencing a health risk as being less than the general base rate because of their favorable status on risk factors (e.g., history of stroke). Presenting base rates for high and low risk groups (conditional base rates) were hypothesized to lessen people's tendency to adjust downward from the base rate because risk factors are included in conditional base rates (CBRs). Young (M= 19 years) and older women (M= 46 years) were presented with either a general base rate (GBR) or CBRs for high‐ and low‐risk groups for 5 health risks. The CBR groups were significantly less likely to adjust their probability judgments from the base rate for the risk group that they believed applied to them (e.g., smoker vs. nonsmoker). The CBR effect was replicated in a second experiment in which women (M = 19 years) were informed of either a GBR, a CBR for a high‐risk group, or a CBR for a low‐risk group. The findings suggest that people might estimate subjective probabilities by considering both the base rate for a health risk and self‐assessments on risk factors. Biases about one's status on risk factors, however, may limit people's identification with relevant risk groups and warrant further investigation.     

Interpersonal Counterproductive Work Behaviors: Distinguishing Between Person-Focused Versus Task-Focused Behaviors and Their Antecedents

Purpose

This study proposes a nuanced perspective for conceptualizing interpersonal counterproductive work behaviors (ICWBs) by distinguishing them into behaviors that hinder other workers’ task performance (task-focused ICWBs), and those that are personal in nature (person-focused ICWBs). A relational stress perspective is adopted to examine work-based dependence relational stressor and negative-affect relational stressor as predictors of each category of behavior, with trait competitiveness as a moderator.

Design/Methodology/Approach

Deductive and inductive approaches were used to generate items measuring each type of ICWBs, and the two-factor ICWB structure was validated using data from 136 respondents. Data from a different sample of 125 employees from two organizations were used to test the hypothesized model.

Findings

Work-dependence relational stressor predicted task-focused ICWBs, while negative-affect relational stressor predicted both forms of ICWBs. Trait competitiveness moderated these relationships in different ways.

Implications

This study addresses researchers’ call for fine-grained research that examines specific forms of CWBs and their underlying causes. It demonstrates that ICWBs can go beyond the traditional person-focused behaviors that target other workers’ well-being, to encompass task-focused behaviors that directly impact their performance. By revealing that different relationships at work predict such behaviors, this study informs organizations on how to manage and deter such behaviors among employees.

Originality/Value

This is the first study to distinguish ICWBs into those that are task-focused and person-focused, to provide a validated measure of these two types of behaviors, and to propose and test a model where workplace relationships differently predict such behaviors, moderated by individual’s competitiveness.     

How Affect Shapes Risky Choice: Distorted Probability Weighting Versus Probability Neglect

People's choices between prospects with relatively affect‐rich outcomes (e.g., medical side effects) can diverge markedly from their choices between prospects with relatively affect‐poor outcomes (e.g., monetary losses). We investigate the cognitive mechanisms underlying this “affect gap” in risky choice. One possibility is that affect‐rich prospects give rise to more distortion in probability weighting. Another is that they lead to the neglect of probabilities. To pit these two possibilities against each other, we fitted cumulative prospect theory (CPT) to the choices of individual participants, separately for choices between options with affect‐rich outcomes (adverse medical side effects) and options with affect‐poor outcomes (monetary losses); additionally, we tested a simple model of probability neglect, the minimax rule. The results indicated a qualitative difference in cognitive mechanisms between the affect‐rich and affect‐poor problems. Specifically, in affect‐poor problems, the large majority of participants were best described by CPT; in affect‐rich problems, the proportion of participants best described by the minimax rule was substantially higher. The affect gap persisted even when affect‐rich outcomes were supplemented by numerical information, thus providing no support for the thesis that choices in affect‐rich and affect‐poor problems diverge because the information provided in the former is nonnumerical. Our findings suggest that the traditional expectation‐based framework for modeling risky decision making may not readily generalize to affect‐rich choices. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Great Divide: Academic Versus Practitioner Criteria for Psychometric Test Choice

This article looks at the two very different worlds of academic personality psychologists and business (human resources) professionals who both use personality tests. It examines the decisions practitioners make when choosing to purchase and use psychometric tests in the workplace. It reviews the relatively few papers on practitioner’s knowledge of, attitudes toward, and beliefs about psychological tests. Data are then reported from a study looking at practitioners’ rank ordering of criteria they would use in choosing psychological tests. This is contrasted with typical academic concerns as expressed in the literature. The article shows some divide between academic personality psychology researchers and those who purchase and use these tests in applied settings.     

Examining Specific Versus General Measures of Achievement Goals

The current research compared specific versus general measures of a 2 × 2 model of achievement goals. We found that specific achievement goals were better predictors of specific measures of interest in learning and perceived value of learning, whereas specific and general measures of achievement goals did not differ as predictors of general interest in learning, general perceived value of learning, or general and specific measures of performance. Furthermore, mastery achievement goals may be affected more across different measurement contexts than performance achievement goals.     

Validation of the General Attitude and Belief Scale

The purpose of this study was to provide further validational information on the General Attitude and Belief Scale (e.g., DiGiuseppe, Leaf, Exner & Robin, 1988). Particular interest was in determining further the factor structure of the General Attitude and Belief Scale as confirming REBT theory concerning the nature of irrational thinking. A sample of 236 males and 490 females drawn from a variety of populations completed the General Attitude and Belief Scale as well as a number of cross-validational measures (Spielberger's Trait Anxiety, Curiosity and Anger Scales, Spielberger's Anger Expression Scale, Beck's Depression Inventory (short-form) and Diener's Life Satisfaction Scale). A second sample of 18 couples receiving on-going marriage counselling and 43 couples not receiving counselling also completed the General Attitude and Belief Scale. A principal factors analysis yielded one factor of rationality and six irrationality factors (need for achievement, need for approval, demands for fairness, need for comfort, self-downing and other-downing). Significant correlations were obtained between the seven sub-scales of the General Attitude and Belief Scale and cross-validational measures. The clinical group of distressed couples scored lower in rationality and higher on three of the six sub-scales of irrationality. The findings support the continued use of the General Attitude and Belief Scale as a research instrument and of value to practitioners.     

Professional Growth Versus Personal Growth of Salespeople: A General Systems Model

Abstract

This study was designed to test a general systems model of growth, specifically how professional growth contributes to personal growth and vice versa. After a discussion of general systems models, two hypotheses were identified for testing. Hypothesis One dealt with personality traits of personal growth as being indicators of professional growth; Hypothesis Two focused on age as it contributes to professional growth and ultimately to personal growth. Several indicators of personal growth were correlated with indicators of professional growth to test Hypothesis One, which was ultimately supported. Hypothesis Two was tested using ANOVA with several well- known professional growth measures and age as independent variables, with self-esteem measures and inner/other-directedness measures as dependent variables. Hypothesis Two was not supported.     

Sociability Versus Privacy of Residential Choice: Impacts of Personality and Local Social Ties

Intra- and inter-personal determinants of sociability vs. privacy provided by a residential choice were investigated. We hypothesized that persons: (1) with strong affiliative needs; and (2) who were more socially involved with coresidents, would choose a living arrangement that offered more potential interaction (less potential privacy). Results from surveys and personality assessments of 60 male freshmen who had lived in a dorm for one year, and were forced to live in a non-dorm setting for their second year, supported both hypotheses. Follow-up interviews with the sample, conducted at the beginning of their junior year, also upheld the two hypotheses. Results confirm the role of affiliative tendencies in responding to and subsequently structuring the college environment. They also suggest that the development of local social ties, that serve as a "buffer" to the negative aspects of dorm life, also has effects that carry forward in time producing a greater tolerance for the presence of proximate others, and influencing subsequent residential decisions.     

Moderators of the Relationship Between Cognitive Ability and Performance: General Versus Context–Specific Achievement Motivation1

Despite positing a multiplicative model of performance, 3 recent studies failed to find support for a theoretically meaningful interaction between cognitive ability and trait motivation in predicting performance. We suggest that it is important to consider that these studies used trait–motivation constructs that are general in nature, rather than context–specific. Yet, existing theory and research suggests that it may be beneficial to use trait–motivation constructs that are expressly contextual, especially when investigating a multiplicative performance model. This study, therefore, compared general versus context–specific achievement motivation as moderators of the relationship between cognitive ability and performance. The proposition that only context–specific achievement motivation should interact with cognitive ability in predicting performance was supported. Implications are discussed.     

一般矛盾态度及其相关研究进展

该文主要就国外关于一般矛盾态度的研究进展进行了介绍分析.矛盾态度是指个体或群体对某种态度目标同时存在积极和消极的认知评价和情绪体验及其程度.相关研究是传统态度研究的进一步深化,为态度改变和行为预测提供了新的视角.     

The Theory of Planned Behavior and Ecstasy Use: Roles for Habit and Perceived Control Over Taking Versus Obtaining Substances

Despite increasing use of the illicit substance known as ecstasy , there is a paucity of research concerning psychosocial correlates of its use. A prospective study examined the ability of variables specified by the theory of planned behavior (TPB) to predict ecstasyuse intentions and behavior. Regression analyses showed that theory of reasoned action and TPB variables provided good prediction of intentions to use the substance. Moreover, support was obtained for a distinction between perceptions of behavioral control over taking ecstasy vs. control over obtaining the substance in the prediction of intentions. Habit contributed additional variance to the prediction of intentions, and reduced the effects of perceived behavioral control over taking ecstasy to nonsignificance. Ecstasy use over 2 months was directly predicted from intentions to use the substance.     

Petitioning: Dress Congruence Versus Belief Congruence1

“Hip” and “straight” Es asked 240 passersby, who were also classified as “hip” or “straight”, to sign a petition. Each E received more signatures from S s of like dress only when the petition was neutral. There were no significant differences between the E s or S s for the two politically stronger petitions. It is proposed that dress congruence will override belief congruence only when the beliefs involved are of little significance to the S.     

Job Attitude Organization: An Exploratory Study1

An exploratory study was conducted to examine the organization of three often used measures of job satisfaction. Employing a convenient sample of 144 workers, who also were enrolled in evening graduate school courses, relationships between these job satisfaction measures and affective (positive and negative) and cognitive attitudinal components were assessed. The job satisfaction measures were found to vary considerably in terms of their affective and cognitive content. These results were discussed in terms of their relevance to the study of job attitudes.     

Depressive Cognition: A Test of Depressive Realism Versus Negativity Using General Knowledge Questions

This research is an examination of whether cognition in depressed individuals incorporates a realistic view of the world or a general tendency toward negativity. Participants provided two types of probability judgments of the likelihood that they correctly answered general knowledge questions: the probability that they correctly answered each of the individual questions and an aggregate judgment, after completing the questionnaire, of the percentage of all the questions they thought they had correctly answered. These tasks generally elicit overconfidence and accuracy in nondepressives. In accord with theories of both depressive realism and general negativity, in their item-by-item assessments of their answers to the individual questions, depressed participants demonstrated less overconfidence than nondepressed participants. In accord with the theory of general negativity but not with the theory of depressive realism, however, depressed participants demonstrated underconfidence in their aggregate judgments. The implications of these findings on theories of depressive cognition are discussed.