In search of the silver lining: the justice motive fosters perceptions of benefits in the later lives of tragedy victims

Past research has demonstrated that people's need to perceive the world as fair and just leads them to blame and derogate victims of tragedy. The research reported here shows that a positive reaction--bestowing additional meaning on the lives of individuals who have suffered--can also serve people's need to believe that the world is just. In two studies, participants whose justice motive was temporarily heightened or who strongly endorsed the belief that reward and punishment are fairly distributed in the world perceived more meaning and enjoyment in the life of someone who had experienced a tragedy than in the life of someone who had not experienced tragedy, but this pattern was not found for participants whose justice motive was not heightened or who did not strongly endorse a justice belief. These results suggest that being motivated to see the world as just--a motivation traditionally associated with victim derogation--also leads people to perceive a "silver lining" to tragic events.     

Achieving difficult agreements: Effects of Positive Expectations on negotiation processes and outcomes

Two studies demonstrate that negotiation processes and outcomes can be altered by the creation of Positive Expectations. Study 1 participants were American undergraduates seeking agreement with a confederate about allocation of funds to programs differentially favoring undergraduates vs. graduates. Study 2 participants were Israeli Business School students seeking agreement with an Arab confederate about allocation of funds to projects differentially favoring Israelis vs. Palestinians. In both studies prior information suggesting the consistent success of previous dyads prompted acceptance of the confederate’s “final proposal” whereas merely urging participants to try to reach agreement resulted in consistent rejection of the same proposal. Moreover, participants reaching agreement in these Positive Expectations conditions subsequently offered more positive assessments of the negotiation process and of their counterpart than those doing so in control conditions. The theoretical and applied relevance of these findings, including the role played by post-agreement dissonance reduction, are discussed.     

Students’ stereotypes of professors: an exploration of the double violations of ethnicity and gender

This study examined students’ stereotypes of professors based on professor ethnicity, gender, teaching style, and course taught. An ethnically diverse sample of undergraduates (N = 594) rated hypothetical professors on several dimensions including perceived warmth, professional competence, and difficulty. Evidence consistent with response amplification and expectancy violation theories was found. Women professors were viewed as more warm than men professors even though their course syllabuses were identical. Students’ ratings of women and Latina/os were, in some cases, based on their teaching style and the courses they taught, whereas ratings of Anglo men were not. Implications for women and Latina/os in the academy are discussed.     

Support for Affirmative Action Initiatives Among Diverse Groups: The Role of Ethnic Identity

This study investigates the relationships among demographic factors (race/ethnicity, color, and gender), ethnic identity (i.e., the degree to which one identifies with and feels a part of one's racial or ethnic group), and support for affirmative action initiatives. Using a sample of 1,880 university employees, the results of this survey study reveal that women and minority group members express higher levels of ethnic identity and support for affirmative action initiatives, mirroring previous research. In addition, the findings indicate that ethnic identity and support for affirmative action initiatives are correlated and that ethnic identity serves as a mediator and moderator in the relationship between demographic variables and support for affirmative action for some subgroups.     

Managing Employees in the Service Sector: A Literature Review and Conceptual Development

Our economy is slowly shifting from a manufacturing base to a service base. Yet, management literature has been slow to respond. We know little about the unique challenges faced by managers in the service sector. This paper reviews literature on research on management practice and employee perceptions that lead to positive customer outcomes. Specifically, relational coordination efforts by a manager are suggested to lead to specific employee behaviors that have been correlated with customer outcomes. This literature review and conceptual development are presented here in hopes that future research will take a deeper look at the challenges faced by service sector managers.     

Interactive effects of life experience and situational cues on aggression: The weapons priming effect in hunters and nonhunters

Recent research (Anderson, Benjamin, & Bartholow, 1998) indicates that the presence of guns increases the accessibility of aggressive thoughts via automatic priming. Our research examined whether this “weapons priming effect” differs depending on the structure of an individual's knowledge about guns, and if so, whether that difference results in corresponding differences in aggressive behavior. Experiment 1 revealed that individuals with prior gun experience (hunters) have more detailed and specific information about guns than do individuals with no direct gun experience (nonhunters), and that hunting experience interacts with gun type (hunting versus assault) in predicting affective and cognitive reactions to guns. Experiment 2 revealed that pictures of hunting guns were more likely to prime aggressive thoughts among nonhunters, whereas pictures of assault guns were more likely to prime aggressive thoughts among hunters. Experiment 3 showed differences in aggressive behavior following gun primes that correspond to differences in affective and cognitive responses to gun cues. Our findings are discussed in light of the General Aggression Model.     

Henry A. Murray's Early Career: A Psychobiographical Exploration

ABSTRACT This paper is a psychobiographical study of Henry A Murray's early career A formulation of his personality is developed, emphasizing his inner depressive tendencies, his sense of specialness, and his characteristic concerns in relationships His decision to become a psychologist, his initial reaction to academic psychology, and his years of involvement with psychoanalysis are considered in the light of his personality The final section contains an examination of the ways in which Murray's personality and his experiences during his early career shaped Explorations in Personality, his most influential work.     

A Test of Two Positive Psychology Interventions to Increase Employee Well-Being

Purpose

Despite an abundance of organizational research on how contextual and individual difference factors impact well-being, little research has examined whether individuals themselves can take an active role in enhancing their own well-being. The current study assessed the effectiveness of two simple, self-guided workplace interventions (“gratitude” and “social connectedness”) in impacting well-being.

Design/Methodology/Approach

Sixty-seven university employees participated in one of the two self-guided interventions for 2 weeks and completed self-report measures prior to the intervention, immediately following the intervention, and one-month post-intervention. Growth curve modeling was used to examine the effects of each intervention.

Findings

Partially supporting hypotheses, the gratitude intervention resulted in significant increases in positive affective well-being and self-reported gratitude but not did significantly impact negative affective well-being or self-reported social connectedness. The social connectedness exercise did not significantly impact any of those four outcomes. However, both interventions related to a reduction in workplace absence due to illness.

Implications

The study suggests that self-guided, positive psychology interventions (particularly gratitude) hold potential for enhancing employee well-being. Because the interventions are short, simple, and self-guided, there is little in the way of costs or drawbacks for organizations. Thus, these types of interventions seem like a potentially useful component of workplace wellness initiatives.

Originality/Value

This study is one of the few to examine whether self-guided, positive psychology interventions can enhance well-being. Moreover, this is the first study to examine a social connectedness workplace intervention and the first to demonstrate effects on illness-related absence.     

Planning and problem solving skills following focal frontal brain lesions in childhood: analysis using the Tower of London.

Problem solving skills were investigated in children with focal lesions using the Tower of London test (TOL; Shallice, 1982). The scoring procedure was elaborated from previous studies to delineate separate processes contributing to overall performance in children. Thirty-one children with focal frontal pathology, 18 children with focal pathology in other brain regions (extra-frontal), 17 children with generalized pathology and 38 healthy children participated in the study. Results suggest a distributed network for problem solving skills, particularly cognitive flexibility and goal setting skills. Within the frontal group, children with lesions involving the right pre-frontal cortex had greatest problems with self-regulation, with rule breaks most common among this group. As these skills develop relatively early in comparison to other aspects of executive function, right pre-frontal regions may play a particularly important role in the development of executive skills in childhood, with damage to these regions rendering children vulnerable to a range of cognitive and social deficits.