Dialogical Meaning and Justice for Constructivist and Existential Psychologies

Constructivist and existential psychologies both contain tensions pertaining to self-centric and social-centric perspectives. The authors explicate these tensions and offer an alternative scheme based on dialogical philosophy. The dialogical alternative presented in this article has implications for counseling and social justice praxis.     

The Representation of Imagery of the City: The Impact of Studies and Imagery Ability

This study aimed to assess the impact of the type of undergraduate studies and the ability to form mental images on representations of city imagery. A total of 291 Architecture and Business Studies undergraduates participated in the study. Participants completed a 5‐min task of drawing their own mental map of a city. The number of point marks, line marks, and area marks drawn and the system of representation were assessed. Business Studies undergraduates represented more point marks using a point than Architecture undergraduates, whereas the latter drew more point marks in plan and in 3D than the former. The ability to form spatial images had no influence on the number of point, line, or area marks drawn. Significant differences between women and men were observed in the 3D representations, and in the configuration.     

The Political Philosophy of Science and the Problem of Rationality

The present article offers an introductory vision to the political philosophy of science. The political philosophy of science is a new field of study where the philosophy of science and political philosophy converge. We will see the main contents of this field. We will also note that it depends on the construction of a model of rationality where science and politics can meet each other. Finally, the article tries to outline such a model of rationality. In order to do so, we will review the relationship between Karl Popper’s scientific and political philosophy. I suggest to read Popper’s critical rationalism in terms of a kind of prudential rationality.     

Positive occupational health psychology: an introduction

This article introduces the monographic section on Positive Occupational Health Psychology (POHP), presenting eight theoretical and empirical papers about diverse topics. Traditionally, research on occupational health has mainly been focused on causes of diseases and on identifying and preventing work factors related to worker's impaired health. However, this biased view may not provide a complete understanding of the mechanisms that lead to employee well-being and performance. We discuss the differences of POHP with similar constructs, and review reasons for its importance in the development of this field. Overall, the studies included in the monographic section show the usefulness of focusing on positive constructs, and present ideas and questions that we hope may help to further our progress in the field of POHP.     

The bullied who bullies: the reciprocal relationship between victim and aggressor in workplace bullying situations

The aim of this study was to explore longitudinal relationships between organizational factors (workload and procedural justice) and targets and perpetrators of workplace bullying. We compared several causal models (baseline or stability, normal, reversed and reciprocal models). The sample comprised 286 employees from two companies in Madrid, and we used a time-lag of one year. Results of structural equation modeling analyses showed that reciprocal model fit the data the best. We found that T1 workload was related positively to T2 target of bullying, and T1 procedural justice was related negatively to T2 target of bullying. There was a significant reverse effect of T1 target of bullying on T2 workload. Furthermore, we found a reciprocal relationship between being the target and the perpetrator of bullying. Overall, these findings emphasize the need to extend the traditional causal models of workplace bullying to more dynamic approaches.     

GABA, glutamate, dopamine and serotonin transporters expression on memory formation and amnesia

Notwithstanding several neurotransmission systems are frequently related to memory formation, amnesia and/or therapeutic targets for memory alterations, the role of transporters γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA, GAT1), glutamate (neuronal glutamate transporter excitatory amino acid carrier; EACC1), dopamine (DAT) and serotonin (SERT) is poorly understood. Hence, in this paper Western-blot analysis was used to evaluate expression changes on them during memory formation in trained and untrained rats treated with the selective serotonin transporter inhibitor fluoxetine, the amnesic drug d-methamphetamine (METH) and fluoxetine plus METH. Transporters expression was evaluated in the hippocampus, prefrontal cortex and striatum. Data indicated that in addition of memory performance other behavioral parameters (e.g., explorative behavior, food-intake, etc.) that memory formation was recorded. Thus, memory formation in a Pavlovian/instrumental autoshaping was associated to up-regulation of prefrontal cortex GAT1 and EAAC1, striatal SERT, DAT and EACC1; while, hippocampal EACC1, GAT1 and SERT were down-regulated. METH impaired short (STM) and long-term memory (LTM), at 24 or 48h. The METH-induced amnesia down-regulated SERT, DAT, EACC1 and GAT1 in hippocampus and the GAT1 in striatum; no-changes were observed in prefrontal cortex. Post-training administration of fluoxetine improved LTM (48h), which was associated to DAT, GAT1 (prefrontal cortex) up-regulation, but GAT1 (striatum) and SERT (hippocampus) down-regulation. Fluoxetine plus METH administration was able to prevent amnesia, which was associated to DAT, EACC1 and GAT1 (prefrontal cortex), SERT and DAT (hippocampus) and EACC1 or DAT (striatal) up-regulation. Together these data show that memory formation, amnesia and anti-amnesic effects are associated to specific patters of transporters expression.     

Reciprocal relations between workplace bullying,anxiety, and vigor: a two-wave longitudinal study

Background and Objectives: Workplace bullying has been classified as an extreme social stressor in work contexts and has been repeatedly linked to several negative consequences. However, little research has examined reversed or reciprocal relations of bullying and outcomes. Design: We conducted a two-wave longitudinal study with a time lag of six months. Methods: The study sample consisted of 348 employees of the Spanish workforce. The present study examined longitudinal relationships between workplace bullying, psychological health, and well-being. On the basis of conservation of resources theory, we hypothesized that we would find reciprocal relations among study variables over time. Results: Results of cross-lagged structural equation modeling analyses supported our hypotheses. Specifically, it was found that Time 1 (T1) workplace bullying was negatively related to Time 2 (T2) vigor and positively related to T2 anxiety. Additionally, T1 anxiety and vigor had an effect on T2 workplace bullying. Conclusions: Overall, these findings support the validity of the theoretical models postulating a reciprocal bullying–outcome relationship, rather than simple one-way causal pathways approaches.     

The Demand–Control model and target's reports of bullying at work: A test within Spanish and Belgian blue-collar workers

The present study explores whether Karasek's Job Demand–Control (JDC) model's strain hypothesis can be applied to target's reports of bullying at work in matched samples of Spanish and Belgian blue-collar workers. In the Spanish sample, results reveal a positive main effect of workload and a negative main effect of autonomy. The relationship between workload and bullying is particularly strong under the condition of low autonomy (i.e., interaction), in line with Karasek's strain hypothesis. In the Belgian sample, results show a positive main effect of workload and a significant workload–autonomy interaction effect in accordance with the strain hypothesis. In sum, high strain jobs associate with target's reports of bullying in both the Spanish and Belgian sample. Karasek's JDC model may accordingly be extended to target's reports of bullying as a form of social behavioural strain. These findings furthermore enhance research in the realm of bullying at work by introducing a well-established theoretical framework to account for the relationship between workload, autonomy, and target's reports of bullying.