Too Tired to Focus on Others? Reminders of Money Promote Considerate Responses in the Face of Depletion

Purpose

Research has found that depletion of personal energy makes people self-centered. Thoughts of money also make people self-centered. We propose that reminding depleted individuals of money would in fact make them less self-centered and more other-oriented. We draw on evidence that money has potential to produce feelings of energy and that greater energy predicts more considerate behavior. We tested whether reminders (thoughts) of money reduce or counteract the selfish effects of depletion, promoting considerate responses.

Design/Methodology/Approach

Data were obtained through experiments conducted via the internet with working adult participants recruited in the USA and Hong Kong.

Findings

Depletion positively predicted self-centeredness, replicating previous research. As we hypothesized, thoughts of money (vs. money-neutral object) reduced or eliminated this effect. The mediating process was bolstered feelings of energy.

Implications

Organizational research has focused on showing how money in the form of compensation affects behavior. We provide a more nuanced understanding of the role of money in employee behavior. Reminders of money help employees feel energized in the face of depletion and in turn rein in selfish impulses. Our findings imply that when employees are drained, thoughts of money in general, even beyond the form of compensation, can provide strength to care about others besides the self.

     

Cryptic Emotions and the Emergence of a Metatheory of Mind in Popular Filmmaking

Hollywood movies can be deeply engaging and easy to understand. To succeed in this manner, feature‐length movies employ many editing techniques with strong psychological underpinnings. We explore the origins and development of one of these, the reaction shot. This shot typically shows a single, unspeaking character with modest facial expression in response to an event or to the behavior or speech of another character. In a sample of movies from 1940 to 2010, we show that the prevalence of one type of these shots—which we call the cryptic reaction shot—has grown dramatically. These shots are designed to enhance viewers’ emotional involvement with characters. They depict a facial gesture that reflects a slightly negative and slightly aroused emotional state. Their use at the end of conversations, and typically at the end of scenes, helps to leave viewers in a state of speculation about what the character is thinking and what her thoughts may mean for the ongoing narrative.     

Forecasting Elections from Voters' Perceptions of Candidates' Ability to Handle Issues

When deciding for whom to vote, voters should select the candidate they expect to best handle issues, all other things equal. A simple heuristic predicted that the candidate who is rated more favorably on a larger number of issues would win the popular vote. This was correct for nine out of ten U.S. presidential elections from 1972 to 2008. We then used simple linear regression to relate the incumbent's relative issue ratings to the actual two‐party popular vote shares. The resulting model yielded out‐of‐sample forecasts that were competitive with those from the Iowa Electronic Markets and established quantitative models. The issue‐index model has implications for political decision makers, as it can help to track campaigns and to decide which issues to focus on. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Long-Term Executive Function Deficits in Children With Traumatic Brain Injuries: Assessment Using the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF)

Long-term deficits in executive functions following childhood traumatic brain injuries (TBI) were examined using the Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF). Parents completed the BRIEF approximately 5 years postinjury as part of a prospective study of children injured between the ages of 6 and 12. The children were between 10 and 19 years of age at the time of the assessment, and included 33 with severe TBI, 31 with moderate TBI, and 34 with orthopedic injuries. Parents also rated children's adaptive functioning and completed several other measures of parent and family functioning. Children were administered a neuropsychological test battery that included several measures of executive functions. The groups displayed a significant linear trend in BRIEF scores, with the largest deficits in executive functions reported in children with severe TBI. BRIEF scores were related consistently across groups to a test of working memory, but not to other neuropsychological measures. BRIEF scores also predicted children's adaptive functioning and behavioral adjustment, as well as parent psychological distress, perceived family burden, and general family functioning. The findings indicate that TBI results in long-term deficits in executive functions that are related to children's psychosocial outcomes, as well as to parent and family functioning.     

A Re-evauation of Copied and Recalled Bender-Gestalt Reproductions

This study was designed to compare the copying and recall performances of the Bender-Gestalt of 80 psychiatric patients, falling into five diagnostic groups. To obtain a quantitative measure of the copying performance the Pascal and Suttell scoring system was utilized; however, lack of scoring items for design A and no really satisfactory recall scoring system led to a revised system which resulted in a significantly more discriminating system than Olin and Reznikoff's. Also the study yielded various quantitative and qualitative differences between the five diagnostic groups, the most significant being between the organic and the functional (schizophrenic, depressive, neurotic, and character disorder) sub-groups. Thus performance on the Bender, especially the quantitatively scored recall performance, can be used as a valid diagnostic instrument to differentiate organic from non-organic patients. Yet in each sub-group the various aspects of the Bender performance (copying score, recall score, and number of designs recalled) appeared to be interrelated, while the time element was found to be an independent factor which also did not help to differentiate the diagnostic groups. Performance on the various designs fell into a definite pattern, particularly on the recall phase.     

Attentional control in OCD and GAD: specificity and associations with core cognitive symptoms

Obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) are both defined by excessive negatively-valenced cognitions. Although obsessional thoughts are considered essential to OCD and perseverative worry is considered essential to GAD, these excessive cognitions have been found to co-occur in both disorders. Accordingly, a common diathesis may influence the emergence of excessive thoughts in both disorders. The present study examined deficits in attentional control as a cognitive vulnerability that may contribute to both obsessional thought and perseverative worry. Patients with OCD (n = 30), GAD (n = 29), and non-clinical controls (NCC; n = 29) completed measures of obsessional thoughts, perseverative worry, and attentional control. Deficits in self-reported attentional control were found in both OCD and GAD relative to the NCC. However, attentional control was only related to excessive cognition in the GAD patient group, where deficits were associated with increased perseverative worry. Mediational modeling suggested that trait anxiety mediated the relationship between attentional control and perseverative worry in GAD. Implications of these findings for conceptualizing the role of attentional control in the genesis of excessive cognitions in OCD and GAD are discussed.     

Physical fitness of South African primary school children, 6 to 13 years of age: discovery vitality health of the nation study

Basic physical fitness was measured using 8 different measures for 10,295 South African children and youths (5,611 boys, 4,684 girls) ages 6 to 13 years. These measurements included height, weight, Body Mass Index, standing long jump, shuttle run, sit-and-reach, sit-up (EUROFIT testing battery), and cricket ball throw scores. Due to the effects of earlier apartheid laws on separating communities, it was hypothesized that scores for different ethnic groups may differ. Therefore, in addition to the calculation of basic norms and sex differences, ethnic differences were also tested. Height and weight, relative to age, were different between the various ethnic groups (Black, White, and Mixed ancestry) for boys, with Black boys being shorter and lighter than White boys. There were no differences in sit-and-reach flexibility scores between the groups. With the exception of the cricket ball throw for girls, White children had higher scores in most tests. Although not significantly different from the White children, in the majority of cases, the children of mixed ancestral origin had scores that ranged between the other two ethnic groups. These results suggest a need for encouraging fitness in school children, and the reintroduction of formal physical education into the South African school curriculum, especially into schools in which Black children predominate.