A dirty animal is a scary animal! Effects of disgust-related information on fear beliefs in children

The present study investigated whether disgust-valenced information has an impact on children's fear beliefs about animals. Non-clinical children aged between 9 and 13 years (n=159) were presented with disgust-related and cleanliness-related information about unknown animals (Australian marsupials). Before and after information, beliefs of disgust and fear regarding the animals were assessed. Results showed that disgust-related information not only induced higher levels of disgust but also increased children's fear beliefs in relation to these animals. The other way around, cleanliness-related information decreased levels of disgust and resulted in lower levels of fear. The implications for the role of disgust in the development of animal fear are briefly discussed.     

Does the form of employment make a difference?—Commitment of traditional, temporary, and self-employed workers

Increasing change in the labor market has produced new forms of employment. A growing number of people have temporary jobs or are self-employed freelancers. The aim of our study is to address these changes by introducing commitment to the form of employment as a new focus in commitment. In addition, we compare organizational commitment under conditions of these forms of employment to traditional form of employment. The study is based on several samples representing conventional and new forms of employment (overall N = 494). The results indicate that commitment to the form of employment explains variance of organizational outcomes over and above organizational commitment. Generally, commitment to the form of employment reflects an important attitude to the work situation besides commitment to the organization or occupation. The results are discussed in the light of labor market trends.     

Subjectivity as an Unlimited Semiosis: Lacan and Peirce

The discussion on subjectivity isbased on the psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan'sunderstanding of subjectivity as constructed inand through language, and the philosopherCharles Sanders Peirce's general ideas ofsignifying construction as an unlimitedsign-exchanging process – the idea of theunlimited semiosis. The article advocatescombining Lacanian subjectivity and Peirceansemiosis in a model of the formal structure ofthe semiosis of Lacanian subjectivity. In thelight of this model the article claims thatLacanian subjectivity opens to a process ofsubjectivization within the semiosis ofsubjectivity, whereby that which is other ismade our own. Two researchers' differentarguments on subjectivity, both of which referto Lacan's ideas on subjectivity, are used asdiscussion partners in the exploration of thesemiosis of Lacanian subjectivity. While theone researcher claims that subjectivity is anideological construction, the other maintainsthat subjectivity is a free play of signs. Thearticle claims that neither of these tworesearchers considers that there may be aprocess of subjectivization in the semiosis ofsubjectivity. Thus the one researcher can claimthat subjectivity `is constituted outside ofitself', and the other can maintain that `thesubject is doomed to perpetual exile fromitself' in the construction of her or hissubjectivity.     

Traditional versus modern values and interpersonal factors predicting stress response syndromes in a Swiss elderly population

Stress response syndromes like adjustment disorders or complicated grief are assumed to be shaped by social-cultural factors in addition to biological and psychological factors. In previous research, value orientations and interpersonal factors were found to jointly predict those syndromes (Maercker, A., Mohiyeddini, C., Müller, M., Xie, W., Hui Yang, Z., Wang, J., & Müller, J. ( 2009 ). Traditional versus modern values, self-perceived interpersonal factors, and posttraumatic stress in Chinese and German crime victims. Psychology and Psychotherapy, 82(Pt 2), 219-232.). In addition to the previous finding, the current study using Swiss elderly (65-97 years) aimed to replicate patterns of predictors leading to stress responses in people with recent bereavement or severe life events. Traditional (conformity, tradition and benevolence) and modern values (stimulation, hedonism and achievement) and two self-perceived interpersonal mediator processes (disclosure intentions and social acknowledgement as a victim) were assessed. The current study confirms the previous model in parts, that is, the indirect path from social acknowledgment to stress response syndrome is mediated by disclosure intentions. Traditional values and not modern values explained substantial variance for disclosure intentions and are therefore indirectly linked to worse mental health outcomes whereas the direct association appears somewhat controversial in light of previous findings.     

To look or not to look: an eye movement study of hypervigilance during change detection in high and low spider fearful students

Previous eye movement studies of attentional bias in spider fear reported inconsistent results with respect to early attentional capture, suggesting that overt attentional capture only reliably occurs under specific circumstances. In addition, none of these studies explored covert attention. The present study examined attentional bias in spider phobia using a change detection paradigm that was expected to provide good conditions for documenting attentional capture. In contrast to our expectations, eye movement data showed that all participants' first fixations were fastest on general negative targets, whereas participants' first fixations on spider targets were slower in the spider fearful than in the nonfearful group. In addition, spider fearful participants made more nontarget fixations before fixating on a spider target than did nonfearful participants. Thus, we found that participants' overt attention was more quickly focused on general negative targets, whereas covert attentional processes enabled initial avoidance of fear-relevant (i.e. spider) stimuli. The present findings have important implications for research on attention and fear as they indicate that fearful individuals are not characterized by static attentional orienting toward threat but, under certain conditions, may avert attention from threat automatically.     

Personality and the Perception of Transformational Leadership: The Impact of Extraversion,Neuroticism, Personal Need for Structure,and Occupational Self‐Efficacy1

This experimental study examined the influence of followers' personal characteristics on their perception of leadership. Participants were 175 students who self‐rated several personality scales (extraversion, neuroticism, personal need for structure, and occupational self‐efficacy) at Time 1. Two weeks later, participants were divided into two groups and were presented a vignette about a transformational or a nontransformational leader. Subsequently, respondents were asked to rate the described leader's behavior on the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire. Results revealed that followers high in extraversion tended to perceive more transformational leadership, and showed a more positive evaluation of transformational leadership than did followers with low extraversion. Moreover, perceived transformational leadership predicted the acceptance of a leader, but followers' personality traits did not moderate the relationship between perceived transformational leadership and acceptance.     

„Bei den Seepferdchen bekommen die Väter die Kinder“: Verwirrende Realitäten bei der Aufmerksamkeitsdefizit-und-Hyperaktivitäts-Störung

Considering the in-patient diagnostics and treatment of an 11-year-old child with a complex attention disturbance who was treated before in an out-patient setting for many years with methylphenidat and behavioral therapy, we first point out the great variety of attention, cognitive and sensomotorical disorders. Such a comprehensive disorder should rather be considered as a complex neurotical developmental disorder (MCDD – Multiple Complex Development Disorder) and requires treatments in more than one field (psychotherapy, body therapy, training in learning etc.). The individual therapy presented here in detail is based on a developmentally oriented psychodynamic approach involving the latest results of infant, attachment and biomedical research. It is shown how the boy succeeds to develop mechanisms for self-regulation and to experience the therapist as a person who survives his attacks.     

Preference-based escalation: A new interpretation for the responsibility effect in escalating commitment and entrapment

A prominent finding in escalating commitment and entrapment research is the “responsibility effect”: people invest more in a losing course of action or persist with it for longer if they themselves initiated this action (responsibility) as opposed to if it was assigned to them. We argue that this effect is driven by participants’ preferences. Responsible participants usually prefer the chosen alternative since they have chosen it themselves. Non-responsible participants, in contrast, represent a mix of persons who either favor or disfavor the chosen alternative. In two experiments, we demonstrate that responsible participants favor the chosen course of action more strongly than non-responsible participants do, that these preferences facilitate reinvestment in and persistence with the chosen course of action, and that responsibility has no effect over and above this effect of preferences. Non-responsible participants preferring the chosen course of action made similar reinvestments and exhibited similar persistence as responsible participants.     

Between Amsterdam and Warsaw: Commercial Networks of the Ashkenazic Mercantile Elite in Central Europe

Between the mid-eighteenth and the early nineteenth centuries, commercial networks of Ashkenazim in central Europe experienced major shifts. I argue that this was a transitional period between the extensive trading and credit networks of central European Court Jews in the early modern period and the rise of new Jewish banking houses across Europe in the nineteenth century. Based on examples from Amsterdam, Frankfurt an der Oder (Prussia), and Warsaw I demonstrate how Amsterdam served as a center for the provision of credit to central and, indirectly, eastern Europe until the late eighteenth century, with Jewish merchants in central European cities like Frankfurt an der Oder serving as middlemen. Relying not on far-reaching networks but rather on more regional ones, a new mercantile Jewish elite rose in Warsaw beginning around the turn of the century, creating a new financial hub in east-central Europe. I suggest that the rise of Warsaw as a new center of Jewish banking and commerce can be described as a parallel development—though one on a much smaller scale—to the rise of London and that both new centers prospered at the expense of Amsterdam.