Discouraging unethicality versus encouraging ethicality: Unraveling the differential effects of prevention‐ and promotion‐focused ethical leadership

Theory on the impact of ethical leadership has traditionally been based on a deontological approach to morality. Underlying this perspective is the assumption that all leader behaviors that encourage “normatively appropriate conduct” will influence followers in a similar fashion. Put differently, the current consensus seems to suggest that actions that focus on preventing unethical behavior—attending to “the wrong”—will have the same impact as actions that focus on promoting ethical behavior—attending to “the right.” Taking a within‐person approach, we draw upon social exchange theory to challenge this consensus and build theory that suggests a follower's felt trust from their leader will be differentially impacted by prevention‐ versus promotion‐focused ethical leadership. We also explore how these different types of ethical leadership may indirectly, through felt trust, impact citizenship behavior and counterproductive work behavior. Finally, we consider how the role of the “moral manager” may interact with the “moral person” by identifying leader moral hypocrisy as an important between‐person moderator of these effects. Given the importance of ethical decision‐making in organizations and the calls for increased ethical leadership, our findings have important implications for both theory and practice.     

College Students' Judgments and Perceptions of Persons with AIDS From Different Risk Groups

In this analog study, 104 female and 75 male undergraduate students in the United States read 1 of 8 vignettes that described a person who had just received positive HIV antigen results. The vignettes were identical except for the sex of the person described and his or her risk-group membership (gay, heterosexual, injection-drug user, or hemophiliac). After reading the vignette, the participants completed questionnaires assessing (a) responsibility, blame, and personality characteristics of the person described in the vignette; and (b) their own homophobia and knowledge about AIDS. Results revealed that homophobia was a significant covariate that affected participants' perceptions of the person in the vignette. with homophobia as a covariate, the hemophiliac was judged the least harshly, followed by the heterosexual person, the gay person, and the injection-drug user. No gender differences were revealed. The injection-drug user was evaluated the most negatively on the personality characteristics; the other 3 groups were rated similarly. Analyses without homophobia as a covariate revealed significant gender differences, suggesting that prior research findings of gender differences on perceptions of persons with AIDS may be attributable more to differential levels of homophobia than to gender of the rater.     

Divergent thinking is not a general trait: A multidomain training experiment

Twenty‐one second‐grade subjects received divergent‐thinking training and 20 matched subjects received training in solving mathematical word problems. All subjects were then given five tasks: telling stories, writing stories, writing poems, writing mathematical word problems, and making collages. Experts evaluated the creativity of each product. The divergent‐thinking groups scored significantly higher than controls on the story‐telling, story‐writing, and poetry‐writing tasks. The lack of correlations among scores on the five tasks, however, suggests that several task‐specific factors, rather than one general factor, led to observed group differences. This is consistent with previous research using subjects untrained in divergent thinking in showing that divergent thinking is not a general trait.     

Assessing mindfulness in children and adolescents: development and validation of the Child and Adolescent Mindfulness Measure (CAMM)

This article presents 4 studies (N = 1,413) describing the development and validation of the Child and Adolescent Mindfulness Measure (CAMM). In Study 1 (n = 428), the authors determined procedures for item development and examined comprehensibility of the initial 25 items. In Study 2 (n = 334), they reduced the initial item pool from 25 to 10 items through exploratory factor analysis. Study 3 (n = 332) evaluated the final 10-item measure in a cross-validation sample, and Study 4 (n = 319) determined validity coefficients for the CAMM using bivariate and partial correlations with relevant variables. Results suggest that the CAMM is a developmentally appropriate measure with adequate internal consistency. As expected, CAMM scores were positively correlated with quality of life, academic competence, and social skills and negatively correlated with somatic complaints, internalizing symptoms, and externalizing behavior problems. Correlations were reduced but generally still significant after controlling for the effects of 2 overlapping processes (thought suppression and psychological inflexibility). Overall, results suggest that the CAMM may be a useful measure of mindfulness skills for school-aged children and adolescents.     

Genetic Risk,Perceived Risk,and Cancer Worry in Daughters of Breast Cancer Patients

This study explored relationships between worry, perceived risk for breast cancer, consulting a genetic counselor, having genetic testing, and genetic risk for women whose mothers had breast cancer. Analyses involved data from a community-based phone survey of women whose mothers had breast cancer. Participants were categorized as having low, intermediate, or high genetic risk based on their reported family history, in accordance with an accepted classification scheme. The Lerman Breast Cancer Worry Scale measured worry, and participants reported their perceived lifetime likelihood of breast cancer, risk compared to others, and chance from 1 to 100. ANOVA, chi-square, and multiple regression analyses were conducted as appropriate. One hundred-fifty women participated. Mean age was 38 years, and 81% were Caucasian. Fifty-two women had low, 74 had intermediate, and 24 had high genetic risk for breast cancer. There were no significant differences in worry or perceived risk by hereditary risk category. Most high-risk women (91%) had not spoken with a genetic counselor, and no one had previous genetic testing. These findings suggest perceived risk, worry about breast cancer, and use of expert consultation do not match the genetic contribution to risk. There is a need for effectively stratifying and communicating risk in the community and providing tailored reassurance or referral for high-risk assessment.     

INTERACTION EFFECTS IN MULTIELEMENT DESIGNS: INEVITABLE,DESIRABLE, AND IGNORABLE

A single-subject design often used to compare the effectiveness of two or more independent variables (like treatment programs) is the multielement (alternating treatments or simultaneous treatments) design. Variants of this design approximate the concurrent comparison of the effects of two or more variables (or levels of variables) by programming the variables (or levels) in rapid alternation, typically across or within daily sessions. Properly combined with conventional reversal designs, these designs can also display a variety of interaction effects, some of them worrisome, others highly desirable for the future development of the field. A worrisome model is the possibility that when Treatment B alternates rapidly with Treatment C, the effects of each will not be the same as when each is the only treatment used. A desirable model is the use of the multielement design as a fast-paced component of an otherwise conventional reversal design examining contextual control of some relationship: the possibility that some behavior responds differently to Controlling Variables A and B in Context X than in Context Y. This second possibility opens single-subject designs to the more efficient examination of all interactive effects and is highly desirable, considering the prevalence and importance of interactions in determining the limits and the generality of currently understood behavioral phenomena.     

Tacting and manding in correspondence training: effects of child selection of verbalization.

We investigated correspondence between verbal and nonverbal behavior in preschool children in a play setting. Four children (4 years old) participated in a multiple baseline across subjects design. Children were asked what toy(s) they were going to play with during an immediately upcoming play period. When no contingencies were placed on either verbal or nonverbal behavior, children showed high rates of correspondence. When children were required to verbalize about a toy from a restricted range of infrequently used toys, but no contingencies were placed on correspondence, low rates of correspondence were observed. High rates of correspondence were noted when reinforcement was contingent on it. Results are discussed in terms of tacting and manding.