Cognitive Dissonance and Post-Decision Attitude Change in Six Presidential Elections

Data from the National Election Studies were examined in an effort to isolate cognitive dissonance of two kinds: dissonance arising from a behavioral commitment in the form of voting, and dissonance arising from inconsistencies associated with having supported the losing candidate. Feeling thermometer ratings of the two principal presidential candidates obtained before and immediately after six elections (1972, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992, and 1996) were analyzed. Regression estimates supported a dissonance reduction explanation of observed attitude changes. Voters, as compared to nonvoters, tended to increase the evaluative distance between candidates after an election, whereas supporters of the losing candidate were more likely than supporters of the winning candidate to decrease such evaluative distances. An additional examination of voters yielded results consistent with dissonance theory: After the election, respondents reporting favorable evaluations of both candidates (a difficult choice) tended to spread comparative candidate evaluations compared to respondents who were favorable toward only one candidate (an easy choice). The results both support and cast doubt on prior studies.     

Capitalizing on the Benefits of Utilizing Part-Time Employees Through Job Autonomy

There are over 20 million part-time employees in the United States, however research on part-time employees is quite limited. Research has revealed inconsistencies when comparing part-time and full-time employees on various job outcomes (e.g., performance, commitment). As a test of Feldman's (1990) causal model of part-time work, this study provides evidence that autonomy mediates the relationship between job status (part-time vs. full-time) and such outcomes, which can help explain some of the inconsistencies in previous research. Managerial implications are discussed.     

The Factor Structure of the Beavers Interactional Scales Revisited

The present study addressed limitations of a recent confirmatory factor analytic study challenging the hypothesized factor structure of the Beavers Interactional Scales. That dataset (n = 97) was reanalyzed and two additional datasets (n = 95, n = 91) were explored. With all three samples, taken separately and together, the Beavers Systems Model, when operationalized in the BIS, was not supported. A body of evidence is accumulating which suggests that clinicians and researchers should be wary of the BIS.     

The Perceptions of Lutheran Pastors Toward Prenatal Genetic Counseling and Pastoral Care

The purpose of this study is to explore a theological perspective toward genetic counseling. A survey was sent to 207 ministers within the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA), to determine their perspectives toward four different scenarios in a prenatal genetic counseling setting. The four different scenarios included situations involving Huntington disease, Down syndrome, trisomy 18, and anencephaly. Nearly all ELCA Lutheran pastors perceived genetic counseling as beneficial and useful and wanted to be involved in the decision-making process for whether or not to terminate the pregnancy. Their views toward termination of pregnancy varied depending on the severity of the genetic abnormality. Severity in this study was based upon life compatibility. As the severity of the genetic abnormality increased, the percentage of Lutheran pastors who viewed termination as an option increased from 23% (Down syndrome) to 62% (anencephaly). A better understanding of how spiritual leaders view genetic counseling would provide an insight into how genetics and religious beliefs together play a significant role in shaping the decisions of those faced with abnormal pregnancies.     

Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy Successes and Failures: Eight Personal Perspectives

Eight experts in Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) provided personal examples of their own successes and failures in applying REBT to themselves. The experts actively talked to themselves both rationally and irrationally. Understandably, there were far more shoulds, oughts, musts, and have to's in the narratives in which the experts described when they failed to use REBT than when they succeeded in using REBT. Rational self‐talk was more prevalent in the examples of how REBT was successfully used by the experts.     

Linking Parents' Work Stress to Children's and Adolescents' Psychological Adjustment

Recent research indicates that parental work stress has implications for the quality of family interaction and, in turn, children's and adolescents' adjustment. Studies in two distinct genres are reviewed: investigations relying on global reports of work demands, family dynamics, and child and adolescent adjustment and studies focusing on within-person comparisons of family interaction on days characterized by high and low work stress. The effects of parental work stress on children's and adolescents' adjustment appear to be indirect. Work stress is linked to parents' feelings of overload and strain, which in turn predict lower parent-child acceptance and higher conflict, processes that in turn are related to less positive adjustment of children and adolescents. In the face of high work stress, withdrawing from family involvement may be adaptive in the short run but ultimately problematic. The strength of these associations depends on parents' personality qualities, parents' coping styles, and work and family circumstances.     

Relations Among Personality Traits, Mood States, and Driving Behaviors

One hundred sixty-three individuals participated in this study, which assessed relations among personality traits, mood states, and driving behaviors. Each participant underwent a standard driving evaluation on the road and completed the NEO PI-R Personality Inventory and the Profile of Mood States (POMS). Results indicated that the mood states of depression-dejection, anger-hostility, fatigue-inertia, vigor activity, and tension-anxiety were related to Cautiousness while driving for young adults, while personality traits were not found to be related to driving. Implications of these findings are discussed.     

Reconsidering the Job‐Performance—Turnover Relationship: The Role of Gender in Form and Magnitude1

Research assessing the relationship between job performance and turnover has historically yielded mixed results. Reported findings have reflected no relationships, linear associations, or U‐shaped forms between these constructs. The current study attempted to shed light on the intricate relationship between job performance and voluntary turnover by investigating gender boundaries and relevant controls. After controlling for age, tenure, and job satisfaction, the data provided evidence of a U‐shaped association between job performance and turnover. However, once the data were partitioned into male and female subsamples, a different pattern emerged, whereby males continued to reflect the U‐shaped relationship and females reflected no job‐performance‐turnover relationship. Implications of these findings for both theory and research are provided.     

Source-monitoring judgments about anagrams and their solutions: Evidence for the role of cognitive operations information in memory

Generating solutions to anagrams leads to a memory advantage for those solutions, with generated words remembered better than words simply read. However, an additional advantage is not typically found for solutions to difficult anagrams relative to solutions to easy ones, presenting a challenge for the cognitive effort explanation of the generation effect. In the present series of experiments, the effect of manipulating anagram difficulty is explored further by introducing two new source-monitoring judgments. These studies demonstrate that when attention is directed at test to the operations activated during encoding (by way of source-monitoring judgments focused on solving vs. constructing anagrams), a source advantage is observed for difficult anagrams. However, when attention is directed to the anagrams themselves, asking participants to remember the kinds of anagrams generated or solved (based on kind of rule rather than subjective impressions of difficulty), a similar source advantage is not observed. The present studies bring a new perspective to the investigation of difficulty manipulations on memory for problem solving by illustrating the impact of a shift in focus from the effort mediating cognitive operations to specifics about the cognitive operations themselves.     

New York City young adults’ psychological reactions to 9/11: findings from the Reach for Health longitudinal study

This research examines psychological distress among 955 economically disadvantaged New York City residents surveyed during high school and again after the September 11th terrorist attacks (9/11), when they were young adults. As part of the longitudinal Reach for Health study, young adult surveys were conducted from 6–19 months post-9/11 (average 8 months), providing opportunity to assess types of exposures and psychological distress, including symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, hopelessness, and anger. Regressions of psychological distress on 9/11 exposure were performed, controlling for high school distress, prior exposure to violence victimization, and socio-demographic characteristics. Exposure to 9/11 was positively associated with anger, hopelessness, and PTSD symptoms and a measure of global distress. The relationship was greater among women for PTSD symptoms. Although those who reported high school distress also reported more distress in young adulthood, prior psychological distress did not moderate the relationship between exposure and psychological outcomes. Greater exposure is related to distress among those who, during high school, reported lower distress, as well as among those who reported prior greater distress.