Towards a better understanding of the relationship between executive control and theory of mind: an intra‐cultural comparison of three diverse samples

Previous research has consistently indicated that theory of mind (ToM) is associated with executive control in the preschool years. However, interpretation of this literature is limited by the fact that most studies have focused exclusively on urbanized Western cultural samples. Consequently, it is not clear whether the association between ToM and executive control reflects the specific features of this particular cohort or instead reflects a universal pattern. The present study provides the first empirical assessment of these two constructs in three diverse groups of Iranian children. Participants were 142 preschoolers (4–5 years old) from high–socioeconomic status (SES) urban (n = 33), low–SES urban (n = 37) and rural villages (n = 77). The results show that there is a robust association between ToM and executive control in all three groups, and that executive control contributes significant unique variance to ToM understanding, even after controlling for a range of variables that have been proposed as potential confounders of this relationship. However, although the three groups were equated in ToM, significant differences in executive control were evident. Moreover, cluster analysis identified three distinct clusters that were relatively homogeneous with respect to executive control and SES. One of these clusters was characterized by both low SES and low executive functioning, and showed little evidence of ToM understanding. Taken together, these findings provide possibly the clearest evidence to date that the association between ToM and executive control is not dependent on children's previous experiences on the tasks, or their family and cultural background. A video abstract of this article can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxh_-3gCB8o     

Religion,Cultural Clash,and Muslim American Attitudes About Politically Motivated Violence

Does adherence to Islam predict attitudes about “suicide bombing” among American Muslims? This study examines the effects of religious and political factors on views of politically motivated violence (PMV). We draw from diverse scholarship, emphasizing arguments that are inspired by Samuel Huntington's Clash of Civilizations perspective, as well as recent work in the sociology of Islam. Using a measure that gauges support for “suicide bombing” from the 2007 Pew Survey of American Muslims, results from logistic regression models suggest that political views and religious factors have a minimal effect on Muslim American attitudes toward suicide bombing. Furthermore, we find that Qur’ānic authoritativeness (i.e., the view that the Qur’ān is the word of God and not written by men) is associated with lower odds of supporting this form of PMV. We discuss the implications of our findings for the often anecdotal and alarmist accounts that link Muslim religiosity to support for “radical” extremism. We close with study limitations and avenues of future research.     

Post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms of children following the occurrence of Tehran City Park disaster

The authors investigated the post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms of young adolescents who had been directly involved in a disaster in Tehran. The participants were 19 chlidren who had survived a boat sinking in Tehran's city park in 2002. By using the Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Symptom Scale (PSS; E. B. Foa, D. S. Riggs, C. V. Dancu, & B. O. Rothbaum, 1993) as well as a clinical interview based on the definition cited in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV; American Psychiatric Association, 1994, p. 424), 16 participants (84.2%) were diagnosed with PTSD using the PSS and 17 (89.5%) were diagnosed with PTSD using the psychiatric interview.     

Mathematics anxiety affects counting but not subitizing during visual enumeration

Individuals with mathematics anxiety have been found to differ from their non-anxious peers on measures of higher-level mathematical processes, but not simple arithmetic. The current paper examines differences between mathematics anxious and non-mathematics anxious individuals in more basic numerical processing using a visual enumeration task. This task allows for the assessment of two systems of basic number processing: subitizing and counting. Mathematics anxious individuals, relative to non-mathematics anxious individuals, showed a deficit in the counting but not in the subitizing range. Furthermore, working memory was found to mediate this group difference. These findings demonstrate that the problems associated with mathematics anxiety exist at a level more basic than would be predicted from the extant literature.     

Homogeneous nucleation of dislocation loops under stress in perfect crystals

We present an analysis and results on the homogeneous nucleation of a dislocation loop under stress in a perfect crystal. By using a variational boundary integral method in the Peierls-Nabarro framework, we have determined the saddle-point configurations of embryonic dislocation loops and their associated activation energies under stress levels up to the ideal shear strength. The high-energy barriers under the usual levels of applied shear stresses, differing markedly from the ideal shear strength, confirm the widely held view that thermal motion should play no role in such nucleation. The result provides means for more definitive solutions of fundamental problems involving homogeneous nucleation of dislocation loops and has significant implications for models based on the mechanism of nucleation of dislocations from a perfect crystal.     

The Impact of Leadership Style on Moral Identity and Subsequent In-Role Performance: A Moderated Mediation Analysis

This study investigated the impact of supervisors’ servant leadership (i.e., leadership that starts with a leader who wants to serve) on supervisees’ moral identity and subsequent in-role performance. Data from 226 supervisor–supervisee dyads were collected from several domestic and multinational companies operating in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to confirm the factorial validity of the measures that were employed in this study. The hypothesized moderated mediation model was tested using hierarchical multiple regression analysis. Based on social learning theory, the results showed that supervisees’ moral identity served as the psychological mediating mechanism through which supervisors’ servant leadership led to supervisees’ increased in-role performance. Furthermore, the results also supported supervisees’ avoidance orientation as the dispositional boundary condition of this mediating effect. This study contributes to both the servant leadership and moral identity literatures by addressing questions with useful theoretical and managerial implications.     

Religious Context and Prosociality: An Experimental Study from Valparaíso,Chile

Are people more prosocial in a religious context? We addressed this question through an experiment. We randomly placed participants in the control group in a neutral location (a lecture hall), and we placed participants in the experimental group in a religious location (a chapel). The participants then took part in a one‐shot three‐person public goods game, which measured participants’ degree of cooperativeness. The results showed that participants in the experimental group cooperated significantly more than did participants in the control group. Furthermore, participants’ beliefs about other participants’ cooperativeness were more positive in the experimental group than they were in the control group. Improved expectations of others partially explained the enhanced cooperation in the religious context. We found no main or interaction effect of self‐reported religiosity in the experiment.     

Evolution of communication in perfect and imperfect worlds

We extend previous work on cooperation to some related questions regarding the evolution of simple forms of communication. The evolution of cooperation within the iterated Prisoner's Dilemma has been shown to follow different patterns, with significantly different outcomes, depending on whether the features of the model are classically perfect or stochastically imperfect (Axelrod, 1980a,b, 1984, 1985; Axelrod and Hamilton, 1981; Nowak and Sigmund, 1990, 1992; Sigmund, 1993). Our results here show that the same holds for communication. Within a simple model, the evolution of communication seems to require a stochastically imperfect world.     

Psychometric Properties of the Locus of Control of Behaviour Scale (LCBS) among Australians Seeking Alcohol and Other Drug (AOD) Treatment

Despite a paucity of studies evaluating the psychometric properties of the Locus of Control of Behaviour Scale (LCBS), it continues to be widely used in behavioural research. The present study sought to redress this gap in the literature. The 17‐item LCBS was administered to 373 Australians attending Alcohol and Other Drug (AOD) treatment agencies in the northern metropolitan region of Perth. Confirmatory factor analyses were conducted in order to determine which of several plausible measurement models provided the best fit for the data. A unidimensional model, recommended by the authors of the LCBS, and a two‐dimensional (Internal Locus of Control vs External Locus of Control) model provided poor fits. Other multidimensional models, differing only in the dimensionality of the externality factor, were also tested. A multidimensional model consisting of an Internal Locus of Control factor and four component External Locus of Control factors provided the best fit; however, the fit is probably best described as “reasonable” rather than “good.” A subsequent exploratory factor analysis using parallel analysis indicated a cohesive internality factor; however, the externality factor showed a tendency to fragment into smaller components. Results were discussed in terms of the problematic externality factor.     

Good intentions and failed implementations: Understanding culture-based resistance to organizational change

Based on the insight that culture shapes resistance to change in an organization, and the recognition that cultures of organizations are embedded in a broader societal culture, this study seeks to provide empirical evidence on how societal-based cultural understandings and values within an organization serve as a source of resistance to change among employees. The study is based on a case study of a medium-sized Turkish company. The study shows how certain managerial decisions toward a professionally running organizational design are difficult to implement due to societal-based patterns of understandings and meaning systems gathered around status, hierarchy, and emotion-based (personalized) relations in the company.