A clinical report: The importance of leader preparation in the merging of two psychotherapy groups

Conclusion It is felt that our successful experience in merging two adult outpatient psychotherapy groups demonstrates that this is a workable procedure. It may be applicable in a variety of clinical settings, but could particularly serve the needs of psychiatric centers in facilitating service to the community as well as the training of therapists.In addition, certain other conclusions can be offered. The manner of preparation of the groups for the merger proved most important. Presenting this experience as a merger rather than a termination, and utilizing the existing group process were the means of working through the transition and developing a new group identity. It appears that multiple stresses may not be additive in their detrimental effects upon the group. The only stress truly unique to a merger is that of relinquishing the old identity while simultaneously acquiring a new one. Subsequent to resolution of the we vs. they issue, the group's development paralleled that of any other viable adult therapy group. It appeared that married, assertive patients, operating on higher social-economic levels, who had been group members for a relatively short period of time were more likely to dropout post-merger.The authors acknowledge the helpful advice of Dr. Milton Berger.     

Cognitive mechanisms mediating the biasing effects of leader sex on ratings of leader behavior

The present study examined the effects of the sex of the leader, the sex of the rater, and the temporal position of leader performance information on ratings of leader behavior. Male and female subjects listened to an audiotape of a male or female leader and then rated the leader's initiating structure and consideration behaviors. The position of the leader performance information was manipulated by describing the leader as successful before or after raters listened to the audiotape or not presenting raters with the performance information. Analyses indicated that the sex of the leader and/or sex of the rater biased ratings of initiating structure when the performance information was presented after the audiotape and when no leader performance information was presented. Consideration ratings were affected only by the position of the leader performance information. The results are interpreted within a cognitive/implicit sex theory framework. Implications for leadership research are also discussed.Portions of the data analyzed in this study were collected by the second author as part of a master's thesis directed by Joseph A. Sgro.     

Cognitive mechanisms mediating the impact of implicit theories of leader behavior on leader behavior ratings

Previous research has demonstrated that implicit theories of leader behavior can significantly influence raters' responses on leader behavior rating questionnaires. The purpose of the present study was to explore the cognitive mechanisms mediating this influence. Subjects watched a videotape of a problem-solving group and later rated the group leader's behavior. They were told either before or after seeing the tape that this group had either succeeded or failed at the task it was performing. The performance manipulation had a significant impact on the leader behavior ratings. The timing of that manipulation, however, did not. These results are interpreted as evidence that implicit theories of leader behavior may have their impact on conventional leader behavior ratings primarily through mechanisms operating at the time the raters fill out the leader behavior questionnaire. The implications of these results for developing strategies to overcome the confounding influence of implicit theories on leader behavior ratings are discussed.     

Tainted visions: the effect of visionary leader behaviors and leader categorization tendencies on the financial performance of ethnically diverse teams

Despite the increasing prevalence of ethnic diversity, findings regarding its effects on team performance remain contradictory. We suggest that past inconsistencies can be reconciled by examining the joint impact of leader behavior and leader categorization tendencies in ethnically diverse teams. We propose that leaders who exhibit high levels of visionary leader behavior and also have the tendency to categorize their team members into in- and out-groups will facilitate a negative effect of ethnic diversity on team communication and financial performance, whereas leaders who exhibit visionary behaviors but do not tend to categorize will lead ethnically diverse teams to positive outcomes. We find support for these ideas in a study of 100 retail outlets.     

A married couple in separate therapy groups

Abstract

A behavioral contract was used to change several behaviors in a married couple's relationship. A multi-assessment “package” was used to determine the effect of the behavior change on the couple's relationship. A multiple baseline, single-subject design demonstrated that the treatment “package” was responsible for producing behavior change and changes in levels of satisfaction. Further research should concentrate on which components of the “package” may be the most critical. Multi-assessments provide the therapist or researcher with concrete data on a couple's progress in behavioral marital therapy.     

Sex of leader,leader behavior,and subordinate satisfaction

A 2×2×2 factorial design was employed to examine the influence of instructed leadership style, sex of leader, and sex of followers on leader behavior, subordinate satisfaction, and productivity in a simple task. In general, male and female leaders were equally able and equally willing to display autocratic and democratic leadership styles if so instructed. Similarly, leader sex did not have a significant influence on subordinate satisfaction or productivity either by itself or in interaction with leadership style or follower sex.     

The effect of level of construal on the temporal distance of activity enactment

A series of four studies demonstrates that, across different operationalizations of level of construal, different types of activities, and for both the self and another person as targets, construing activities in high-level terms fosters perception of the more distal future as appropriate for their enactment. Specifically, the studies show that thinking about superordinate “why” (rather than subordinate “how”) aspects of actions, about the implications of actions for one’s personality (rather than the objects that would be used in performing the action), and about abstract (rather than concrete) aspects of actions leads people to expect the actions to be performed in the more distant future. These results suggest that the association of level of construal and time perspective is bi-directional, in that time perspective affects level of construal and, in addition, level of construal affects time perspective.     

Sex differences in the activity level of infants1

A gender difference in motor activity level (AL) is well established for children, but questions about the existence and nature of an infant sex difference remain. To assess these questions, we applied meta‐analytic procedures to summarize 46 infancy studies comprising 78 male–female motor activity comparisons. Our results showed that, as with children, male infants were more active than females. Objective measures of infant AL estimated the size of this difference to be 0.2 standard deviations, though subjective parent‐report measures estimated the difference to be smaller. We argue that this early sex difference in activity level is biologically based. However, socialization processes, such as gender‐differentiated expectations and experiences, in conjunction with further sex‐differentiated biological developments, amplify this early difference to produce the larger gender differences in activity found during childhood. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.