When explanations for layoffs are not enough: Employer's integrity as a moderator of the relationship between informational justice and retaliation

Victims of downsizing often perceive their layoff as being unfair, which can lead to various forms of retaliation. Informational justice, defined as providing employees with adequate explanations in a timely manner, has been prescribed as a way to mitigate the retaliation tendencies associated with unfairness perceptions. Few studies, however, have examined contexts in which informational justice might be more vs. less effective in this regard. In the present research, we explored whether employees' perception of the employer's integrity moderates the relationship between informational justice and retaliation among layoff victims. Results from a field and laboratory study suggest that informational justice helps manage retaliation only when layoff victims perceived that their employer had high (vs. low) integrity prior to the layoff. In Study 2, we found that perceived sincerity mediated the impact of informational justice by integrity interaction on retaliation.     

Freud's 'problem': COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE & PSYCHOANALYSIS WORKING TOGETHER ON MEMORY

The first part of this paper discusses the development of Freud's views on memory from the time of the Project up to the formulation of the second topography. Freud's attempts to match his psychological views with an organic model were necessarily inconclusive, but in the process many innovative ideas about memory can be seen to resonate with recent developments in cognitive neuroscience. A brief discussion of perceptual identity, internal perception and Freud's affect theory introduce the central theoretical idea in the second half of the paper, namely that Identification can be seen as a form of memory. Modern memory theory is linked with the superego, following which the author proposes that internal objects might be renamed 'memory-objects' and that these can be understood in terms of the distinction made in cognitive neuroscience between implicit and explicit memory and between different parts of the brain, in particular the amygdala, the basal ganglia and the hippocampus. Klein's 'memory in feeling' and the views of Fairbairn and Ogden in relation to the dynamic nature of internal objects are briefly discussed. The paper ends with a few comments on the aberrations of memory and some implications of the implicit memory-object system.     

Euthanasia,the terminal patient,and the physician's role

A random sample of Cleveland clergy was asked to assess 1) the terminal patient's views on death, 2) the desires of some terminally ill patients to find an easy and dignified death, and 3) the role the physician ought to play in treating terminal patients. Protestant clergy more than their Catholic counterparts are substantially in favor of 1) disclosure of terminal illness, 2) allowing an easy death for the terminal patient at his request, and 3) facilitating the role of the physicians in cases of terminal illness. Fundamentalist Protestants are less approving than liberal Protestants. Clerics who saw their role extend beyond man's spiritual need approve of the physician's disclosure of terminal illness and his cooperation with patients who request with-holding or terminating medical treatment.This work was supported by the office of Research Development at Bowling Green State University and the College of Arts and Sciences.     

Collegiate year of eligibility, sex, and sports achievement motivation

The relations among year of eligibility, sex, and achievement motivation were investigated with 88 athletes representing three levels of collegiate eligibility (Year 1, Year 2/3, and Year 4) by sex. Participants were given Achievement Motivation subscales for Sporting Environments (approach-success practice, approach-success competition, failure-avoidance practice, failure-avoidance competition). A 3 x 2 analysis of variance showed significant main effects for year of eligibility and sex, and an interaction for age x sex for the failure-avoidance competition scores. Mean approach-success and failure-avoidance practice scores were not significantly different. Fear of failure may be less for male athletes in Year 4 of eligibility.     

The Relationship Between Dysfunctional Interpersonal Tendencies, Derailment Potential Behavior, and Turnover

Managerial derailment, which includes failure in the form organizational exit, poses costly consequences for organizations. We investigated the relationship between dysfunctional interpersonal tendencies, derailment potential behaviors, and actual managerial derailment in the form of voluntary and involuntary turnover. Data were from an archival database of high-level managers working for a global retail organization, including self-report interpersonal tendencies, 360-degree feedback data, and personnel history (N?=?1,796). Managers who exhibit the dysfunctional interpersonal tendencies associated with ??moving against people?? were more likely to enact derailment potential behaviors. As a result, these managers were more likely to be fired or quit. This study advances our understanding of the managerial derailment process by providing evidence of the positive relationship between derailment potential behaviors and both voluntary and involuntary turnover as well as the potential for ??moving against?? people to result in derailment. Our results may help to inform the selection, promotion, and training strategies employed by practitioners and potentially reduce the costs associated with losing high-potential executives. This is one of the first studies to provide evidence of the relationship between derailment potential behaviors and turnover, and in a rarely obtained sample of high-level managers. Additionally, derailment potential ratings were collected before managers?? exit from the organization, thus helping to overcome retrospective bias evident in prior studies; managers who ultimately derail were perceived as having exhibited behaviors consistent with the potential to derail before organizational exit.     

Cohen’s Conservatism and Human Enhancement

In an intriguing essay, G. A. Cohen has defended a conservative bias in favour of existing value. In this paper, we consider whether Cohen’s conservatism raises a new challenge to the use of human enhancement technologies. We develop some of Cohen’s suggestive remarks into a new line of argument against human enhancement that, we believe, is in several ways superior to existing objections. However, we shall argue that on closer inspection, Cohen’s conservatism fails to offer grounds for a strong sweeping objection to enhancement, and may even offer positive support for forms of enhancement that preserve valuable features of human beings. Nevertheless, we concede that Cohen’s arguments may suggest some plausible and important constraints on the modality of legitimate and desirable enhancements.     

Changing Race Boundary Perception by Reading Narrative Fiction

Participants read a story about a counterstereotypical Muslim woman and were then asked to determine the race of ambiguous-race Arab-Caucasian faces. Compared to a content-matched control condition, participants who read the narrative exhibited lower categorical race bias by making fewer categorical race judgments and perceiving greater genetic overlap between Arabs and Caucasians (Experiment 1). In Experiment 2, participants determined the race of ambiguous-race Arab-Caucasian faces depicting low and moderate anger. Emotion-related perceptual race bias was observed in the control conditions where higher intensity anger expressions led participants to disproportionately categorize faces as Arab. This bias was eliminated in the narrative condition.