Psychological Safety: A Meta‐Analytic Review and Extension

Although psychological safety research has flourished in recent years, and despite the empirical support for the important role of psychological safety in the workplace, several critical questions remain. In order to address these questions, we aggregate theoretical and empirical works, and draw on 136 independent samples representing over 22,000 individuals and nearly 5,000 groups, to conduct a comprehensive meta‐analysis on the antecedents and outcomes of psychological safety. We not only present the nomological network of psychological safety but also extend this research in 4 important ways. First, we compare effect sizes to determine the relative effectiveness of antecedents to psychological safety. Second, we examine the extent to which psychological safety influences both task performance and organizational citizenship behaviors over and beyond related concepts such as positive leader relations and work engagement. Third, we examine whether research design characteristics and national culture alter validities within the nomological network, thus promoting a more accurate and contextualized understanding of psychological safety. Finally, we test the homology assumption by comparing the effect sizes of the antecedents and outcomes of psychological safety across individual and group levels of analysis. We conclude with a discussion of the areas in need of future examination.     

Externalism, the environment, and thought-tokens

In “Contents just are in the head” (Erkenntnis 54, pp. 321–4.) I have presented two arguments against the thesis of semantic externalism. In “Contents just aren’t in the head” Anthony Brueckner has argued that my arguments are unsuccessful, since they rest upon some misconceptions regarding the nature of this thesis. (Erkenntnis 58, pp. 1–6.) In the present paper I will attempt to clarify and strengthen the case against semantic externalism, and show that Brueckner misses the point of my arguments.     

The Occipital Cortex in the Blind

ABSTRACT— Studying the brains of blind individuals provides a unique opportunity to investigate how the brain changes and adapts in response to afferent (input) and efferent (output) demands. We discuss evidence suggesting that regions of the brain normally associated with the processing of visual information undergo remarkable dynamic change in response to blindness. These neuroplastic changes implicate not only processing carried out by the remaining senses but also higher cognitive functions such as language and memory. A strong emphasis is placed on evidence obtained from advanced neuroimaging techniques that allow researchers to identify areas of human brain activity, as well as from lesion approaches (both reversible and irreversible) to address the functional relevance and role of these activated areas. A possible mechanism and conceptual framework for these physiological and behavioral changes is proposed.     

Differential effects of cannabinoid receptor agonist on social discrimination and contextual fear in amygdala and hippocampus

We examined whether the cannabinoid receptor agonist WIN55,212-2 (WIN; 5 μg/side) microinjected into the hippocampus or the amygdala would differentially affect memory processes in a neutral vs. an aversive task. In the aversive contextual fear task, WIN into the basolateral amygdala impaired fear acquisition/consolidation, but not retrieval. In the ventral subiculum (vSub), WIN impaired fear retrieval. In the neutral social discrimination task, WIN into the vSub impaired both acquisition/consolidation and retrieval, whereas in the medial amygdala WIN impaired acquisition. The results suggest that cannabinoid signaling differentially affects memory in a task-, region-, and memory stage-dependent manner.     

Sensitivity to initial values in full non‐parametric maximum‐likelihood estimation of the two‐parameter logistic model

Parameters of the two‐parameter logistic model are generally estimated via the expectation–maximization (EM) algorithm by the maximum‐likelihood (ML) method. In so doing, it is beneficial to estimate the common prior distribution of the latent ability from data. Full non‐parametric ML (FNPML) estimation allows estimation of the latent distribution with maximum flexibility, as the distribution is modelled non‐parametrically on a number of (freely moving) support points. It is generally assumed that EM estimation of the two‐parameter logistic model is not influenced by initial values, but studies on this topic are unavailable. Therefore, the present study investigates the sensitivity to initial values in FNPML estimation. In contrast to the common assumption, initial values are found to have notable influence: for a standard convergence criterion, item discrimination and difficulty parameter estimates as well as item characteristic curve (ICC) recovery were influenced by initial values. For more stringent criteria, item parameter estimates were mainly influenced by the initial latent distribution, whilst ICC recovery was unaffected. The reason for this might be a flat surface of the log‐likelihood function, which would necessitate setting a sufficiently tight convergence criterion for accurate recovery of item parameters.     

Resting on laurels: the effects of discrete progress markers as subgoals on task performance and preferences

This article investigates the influence of progress certainty and discrete progress markers (DPMs) on performance and preferences. The authors suggest that the effects of DPMs depend on whether progress certainty is high or low. When the distance to the goal is uncertain, DPMs can help reduce uncertainty and thus improve performance and increase preference. However, when the distance to the goal is certain, DPMs may generate complacency, sway motivation away from the end goal, and decrease performance in the task, as well as its appeal. Therefore, the addition of more information, feedback, or progress indicators may not always improve task performance and preference for the task. The authors validate these claims in 4 experiments.     

Workplace worries: a preliminary look at online sexual activities at the office-emerging issues for clinicians and employers.

Concerns about the impact of online sexual activities (OSA) on work-life are drastically increasing. This study examined 3,466 respondents who reported OSA, 18.5% of whom reported engaging in OSA at work. They were compared with the 81.5% who engaged in OSA at home, on average time spent in OSA, workplace policies regarding OSA, and relationship status. Two themes were identified and discussed: opportunity and sexual distress. Our findings indicate that participants are cognizant of issues of opportunity (e.g., the OSA from home group was more likely to indicate their workplace has established policies regarding OSA), and privacy, representing an important aspect of this theme (e.g., participants engaging in OSA at work were found to be twice as likely to have extra-marital affairs, compared with the OSA from home group). Secondly, our data suggests that many participants, especially from the OSA at work group, experience OSA-related distress. Engaging in OSA at the workplace may result in decreased productivity, issues of sexual harassment, and concerns about employee well-being. Clearly stated and consistently enforced policies regulating OSA are likely to mitigate workplace OSA. However, a significant minority of employees may have difficulties curbing OSA. Therefore, more sophisticated strategies to deal with workplace OSA should be established. Additional implications of importance for organizations and mental health professionals who support them are discussed.     

Suggestion overrides the Stroop effect in highly hypnotizable individuals

Cognitive scientists distinguish between automatic and controlled mental processes. Automatic processes are either innately involuntary or become automatized through extensive practice. For example, reading words is a purportedly automatic process for proficient readers and the Stroop effect is consequently considered the "gold standard" of automated performance. Although the question of whether it is possible to regain control over an automatic process is mostly unasked, we provide compelling data showing that posthypnotic suggestion reduced and even removed Stroop interference in highly hypnotizable individuals. Drawing on a large sample of highly hypnotizable participants, we examined the effects of suggestion on Stroop performance both with and without a posthypnotic suggestion to perceive the input stream as meaningless symbols. We show that suggestion administered to highly hypnotizable persons significantly reduced Stroop interference and derailed a seemingly automatic process.