Leaders as Planners and Movers: Supervisors' Regulatory Modes and Subordinates' Performance

In three field studies, we found that leaders high in both locomotion and assessment tendencies (Studies 1 and 2: evaluated by subordinates; Study 3: evaluated by leaders themselves) elicited higher levels of performance from their subordinates (Studies 1 and 3: as assessed by the subordinates themselves; Study 2: as assessed by their supervisors) than leaders low in one or both of these tendencies. The research supports the notion that locomotion and assessment constitute critical regulatory functions whose conjunction is indispensible for successful performance, whether on the level of the individual (Kruglanski et al., 2000) or the group (Mauro et al., 2009).     

The multifinality constraints effect: how goal multiplicity narrows the means set to a focal end

In the presence of several objectives, goal conflict may be avoided via multifinal means, which advance all of the active goals at once. Because such means observe multiple constraints, they are fewer in number than the unconstrained means to a single goal. Five experimental studies investigated the process of choosing or generating such means for multiple goals. We found that the simultaneous activation of multiple goals restricted the set of acceptable means to ones that benefitted (or at least, did not harm) the entire set of active goals. Two moderators of this phenomenon were identified: (a) the feasibility of identifying multifinal means, which was dependent on the relations between the different active goals, and (b) the enhanced importance of the focal goal, which resulted in the inhibition of its alternatives and the consequent relaxation of multifinality constraints.     

Disparate roads to certainty processing strategy choices under need for closure

This paper describes a programme of research addressing an intriguing inconsistency in research findings about cognitive processes under a high need for cognitive closure (NFC). While early studies demonstrated that individuals who seek closure opt for closed-minded cognitive strategies, a growing body of research has identified a number of circumstances in which individuals who are high in NFC engage in effortful, open-minded information processing to an even greater extent than their low NFC counterparts. This has posed the challenge of delineating the circumstances under which people motivated to reduce uncertainty (i.e., attain closure) engage in effortful and open-minded cognition from those situations in which they rely on simplistic, low-effort strategies. This also calls for theoretical advancement in NFC theory. We discuss our proposed solution to this puzzle and the implications of this model for real-world social phenomena.     

Deradicalizing Detained Terrorists

Deradicalization of terrorists constitutes a critical component of the global “war on terror.” Unfortunately, little is known about deradicalization programs, and evidence for their effectiveness is derived solely from expert impressions and potentially flawed recidivism rates. We present the first empirical assessment of one such program: the Sri Lankan rehabilitation program for former members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (a terrorist organization that operated in Sri Lanka until their defeat in 2009). We offer evidence that deradicalization efforts that provided beneficiaries with sustained mechanisms for earning personal significance significantly reduced extremism after 1 year (Study 1). We also found that upon release, beneficiaries expressed lower levels of extremism than their counterparts in the community (Study 2). These findings highlight the critical role of personal significance in deradicalization efforts, offer insights into the workings of deradicalization, and suggest practical methods for improving deradicalization programs worldwide.     

An experimental test to reveal negative side-effects of high treatability information on preventative health behaviour

Objectives: When the course of a disease can be positively changed by health professionals the disease can be indicated as ‘highly treatable’. This ‘high treatability information’ (HTI) may have negative side-effects on people’s preventative motivation. This study examined the effects of HTI regarding skin cancer on preventative motivation.

Design: This study employed a 2 (high treatability (HTI) versus low treatability (LTI)) × 2 (high versus low susceptibility)?experiment with a hanging control group. (family) History and self-efficacy were assessed as moderators. Participants (N = 309) were randomly assigned to one of the five conditions.

Main outcome measures: The main outcome was intention to engage in preventative actions regarding skin cancer.

Results: HTI significantly lowered the intention compared to LTI, under the condition of high susceptibility in people with low self-efficacy. In addition, in people with a (family) history of skin cancer, HTI significantly lowered the intention compared to the no-information group.

Conclusion: HTI regarding skin cancer can cause a drop in the preventative motivation. The effects can be conceptualised as negative side-effects of HTI. As substantial proportions of the general population have a (family) history of skin cancer or low self-efficacy, the side-effects may be widespread, possibly increasing the incidence of skin cancer.     

P50 Suppression in Children with Selective Mutism: a Preliminary Report

Evidence suggests that children with selective mutism (SM) display significant aberrations in auditory efferent activity at the brainstem level that may underlie inefficient auditory processing during vocalization, and lead to speech avoidance. The objective of the present study was to explore auditory filtering processes at the cortical level in children with SM. The classic paired-click paradigm was utilized to assess suppression of the P50 event-related potential to the second, of two sequentially-presented clicks, in ten children with SM and 10 control children. A significant suppression of P50 to the second click was evident in the SM group, whereas no suppression effect was observed in controls. Suppression was evident in 90% of the SM group and in 40% of controls, whereas augmentation was found in 10% and 60%, respectively, yielding a significant association between group and suppression of P50. P50 to the first click was comparable in children with SM and controls. The adult-like, mature P50 suppression effect exhibited by children with SM may reflect a cortical mechanism of compensatory inhibition of irrelevant repetitive information that was not properly suppressed at lower levels of their auditory system. The current data extends our previous findings suggesting that differential auditory processing may be involved in speech selectivity in SM.     

Three decades of lay epistemics: The why,how, and who of knowledge formation

A conceptual integration and review are presented of three separate research programmes informed by the theory of lay epistemics (Kruglanski, 1989 Kruglanski, A. W. 1989. Lay epistemics and human knowledge: Cognitive and motivational bases, New York: Plenum. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]). They respectively address the “why”, “how”, and “who” questions about human knowledge formation. The “why” question is treated in work on the need for cognitive closure that propels epistemic behaviour and affects individual, interpersonal, and group phenomena. The “how” question is addressed in work on the unimodel (Kruglanski, Pierro, Mannetti, Erb, & Chun, 2007 Kruglanski, A. W., Pierro, A., Mannetti, L., Erb, H. P. and Chun, W. Y. 2007. “On the parameters of social judgement”. In Advances in experimental social psychology, Edited by: Zanna, M. P. Vol. 39, 255–296. New York: Academic Press.  [Google Scholar]) depicting the process of drawing conclusions from the “information given”. The “who” question is addressed in work on “epistemic authority” highlighting the centrality of source effects (including oneself as a source) in human epistemic behaviour. These separate research paradigms explore facets of epistemic behaviour that jointly produce human knowledge, of essential significance to people's’ individual and social functioning.     

The Across-Time Associations of the Five-Factor Model of Personality With Vigor and Its Facets Using the Bifactor Model

We tested hypothesized across-time associations of personality traits with the affective state of global vigor and its physical, emotional, and cognitive facets. The study was carried out in the context of work, where vigor represents a discrete, positive affective response to one's ongoing interactions with specific elements of the work environment. Our model was based on the bifactor approach to modeling second-order constructs in structural equation modeling. Data were gathered from 1,217 reportedly healthy respondents who underwent a periodical health examination at Time 1 (T1) and Time 2 (T2), about 24 months apart. We found that, independent of T1 and T2 global vigor, agreeableness and conscientiousness predicted both T1 and T2 levels of vigor's emotional facet, and openness predicted vigor's cognitive facet at both T1 and T2.     

Personality Traits and Body Weight Measures: Concurrent and Across‐Time Associations

We tested the possibility that the five‐factor model of personality is associated with three measures of body weight and with changes in their levels over time and that these associations are gender specific. The study was conducted at two points of time, Time 1 (2664 participants) and Time 2 (1492 participants), over approximately 4 years, controlling for gender, age, education, and having a chronic disease. Body weight was assessed by body mass index, waist circumference, waist‐to‐hip ratio, and the five‐factor model by Saucier's Mini‐Markers. Cross‐sectional regression results indicated that conscientiousness was negatively associated with the three body weight measures, whereas neuroticism and extraversion were positively associated with the three body weight measures. The longitudinal regression results indicate that extraversion was associated with an increase in two of the body weight measures. Neuroticism was associated with increase in all three body weight measures and more strongly for women than for men. Openness was associated with a decrease in all three body weight measures for women, but this association was not significant for men. These findings help identify personality traits that lead to risk of weight gain and point to the modifying role of gender. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.