Do smokers have a negative implicit attitude toward smoking?

Swanson, Rudman, and Greenwald (2001 Swanson, J. E., Rudman, L. A. and Greenwald, A. G. 2001. Using the Implicit Association Test to investigate attitude-behavior consistency for stigmatised behaviour. Cognition and Emotion, 15: 207–230. [Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) used an Implicit Association Test (IAT) to measure attitudes toward smoking and found that smokers have negative implicit attitudes toward smoking. In a first experiment, we replicated the results of Swanson et al. but showed that scores on an attitude IAT do discriminate between smokers and nonsmokers to the same extent than scores on an IAT that is designed to measure associations between smoking and approach or avoidance. In a second experiment, we did find positive implicit attitudes toward smoking in smokers when we used a personalised version of the IAT that was designed to be less susceptible to effects of societal views. Our results indicate that implicit attitudes should not be dismissed as a causal factor in the maintenance of smoking behaviour.     

When self-destructive thoughts flash through the mind: Failure to meet standards affects the accessibility of suicide-related thoughts

When individuals realize that they fail to attain important standards or expectations, they may be motivated to escape the self, which could lead thoughts of suicide to become more accessible. Six studies examined this hypothesis, mainly derived from escape theory (Baumeister, 1990). The results indicated that whenever individuals realize that they fail to attain an important standard, they experience increased accessibility of suicide-related thoughts (Studies 1-6). In line with the idea that such effects reflect motivations to escape from negative self-awareness, they were especially pronounced when associated with high levels of self-consciousness and escapist motivations (Study 1) and with a large discrepancy between self and standards (Studies 2-4). Moreover, failure to attain standards increased suicide-thought accessibility along with the desire for an altered state of consciousness (Study 5). Finally, increases in suicide-thought accessibility after failure were associated with simultaneous increases in accessibility of general concepts related to escape (Study 6). Implications of these findings for escape and terror management theories are discussed.     

Résilience et vulnérabilité chez des chefs d'établissement scolaire : une étude exploratoire

Recruiting and retaining school principals are problematic all over the world. If a lot of researches studied teachers stress, few studied school leaders stress. Nevertheless, it is recognized that they influence both teachers satisfaction and students success. This paper is based on an exploratory study on resiliency among school personnel working in disadvantaged districts. We know, from studies, that some protective factors correlate positively with resiliency. On the other hand, some risk factors correlate negatively. In our study nine school principals filled a questionnaire on work resiliency: three have been diagnosed as resilient, and two as vulnerable. Following semi-structured interviews, we found that resilient principals filled their conversation with individual protective factors, like professional competency, whereas environmental risk factors, like violence, prevail in the discourse of vulnerable principal. Discussion suggests avenues for further research on resiliency.     

Performance boosts in the classroom: Stereotype endorsement and prejudice moderate stereotype lift

The present study (N = 293) examined whether stereotype endorsement and prejudice moderate stereotype lift (i.e., a performance boost caused by the salience of a negative out-group stereotype in the testing situation). The stereotype in the focus of inquiry was the belief that immigrant students have lower intellectual ability than native students. French native high school students performed an intellectual test in a condition of low stereotype salience (the test was presented as assessing individual differences) or in a condition of high stereotype salience (the test was presented as assessing group differences between African immigrants and native students). As expected, results indicated that native students high in stereotype endorsement and those high in prejudice performed better in the high than in the low stereotype salience condition, whereas those low on these constructs did not. By identifying two moderators of stereotype lift, this study sheds new light on the achievement gap between immigrant and native students in educational institutions.     

Leftists’ and rightists’ IQ as a function of stereotype salience

This study examined the intellectual performance of leftists (or liberals) and rightists (or conservatives) when a stereotype about members of a disadvantaged outgroup (immigrants) is salient. Building on system-justification theory (SJT) and the motivated social cognition approach of political conservatism, it was predicted that when the stereotype about immigrant students’ underachievement is salient in academic settings, leftist students would perform worse, whereas rightist students would perform better than in a control condition. In two samples, Swiss native students were first reminded (or not) of the stereotype and then performed a difficult intellectual test. The results yielded support for the predictions. These findings illustrate how different ideological motives (system-challenging vs. system-justifying) might influence performance among leftist and rightist students.     

Use of the Behavioral Assessment System for Children 2nd Edition: Parent Report Scale in Pediatric Cancer Populations

This study examined the use of the Behavioral Assessment System for Children—2nd Edition: Parent Report Scale (BASC-2; Reynolds & Kamphaus, Behavior assessment system for children, 2004) in a pediatric cancer population. Comparisons of scale scores were made between pediatric cancer participants and controls. Within group comparisons were also made between subtypes of pediatric cancer. Parents of 111 children and adolescents who had experienced pediatric cancer completed the BASC-2 as part of larger studies of parent-child adjustment to cancer. Scores on the BASC-2 for cancer survivors were compared to a matched control group. Results from MANOVA analyses revealed that children with cancer were categorized as evidencing more emotional and cognitive complaints compared to the control children. Notably, no significant within group differences emerged on the subscales with regard to cancer subtype. Although preliminary, these results suggest that the BASC-2 can identify the cognitive and emotional differences between cancer survivors and controls.     

A gower maneuver: the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities' resolution of the "Taking Stands" debate

The American Society for Bioethics and Humanities debated for several years about whether it should adopt positions and, if so, on what range of issues. The membership recently approved an amendment to its bylaws permitting the Society to adopt positions on matters related to academic freedom and professionalism but not on substantive moral and policy issues. This resolution is problematic for a number of reasons, including the lack of a categorical difference between these types of claims and the Society's inability to speak on behalf of patients and research subjects. The implementation of the amendment also raises several issues. The Society will need to refrain from speaking too specifically and to articulate the responsibilities of its members. If the Society fails to address these concerns, it runs the risk of denigrating its public image and that of the profession.     

Social comparison, self-stereotyping, and gender differences in self-construals

Four studies examined gender differences in self-construals and the role of social comparison in generating these differences. Consistent with previous research, Study 1 (N=461) showed that women define themselves as higher in relational interdependence than men, and men define themselves as higher in independence/agency than women. Study 2 (N=301) showed that within-gender social comparison decreases gender differences in self-construals relative to a control condition, whereas between-genders comparison increases gender differences on both relational interdependence and independence/agency. Studies 3 (N=169) and 4 (N=278) confirmed these findings and showed that changing self-construal changes gender differences in social dominance orientation. Across the 4 studies, strong evidence for the role of in-group stereotyping as mediator of the effect of gender on self-construal was observed on the relational dimension but not on the agentic dimension.