The Effects of Spiritual/Religious Engagement on College Students' Affective Outcomes: Differences by Gender and Race

This study examines the general and differential effects of spiritual/religious engagement on affective college outcomes (i.e., leadership skills, interpersonal skills, social satisfaction, sense of belonging, and psychological well-being) across different gender and racial groups among undergraduate students at research universities. The study utilized data on 63,528 students who participated in the 2008 University of California Undergraduate Experience Survey (UCUES). The findings reveal differential effects of spiritual/religious engagement on college students' affective outcomes depending on their gender and race (i.e., gender- and race-based conditional effects). Implications for college students' spiritual development at public research universities and faith-based institutions are discussed.     

Tosh Demands and Generative Thinking: What Changes and What Remains the Same?

Generative thinking can be characterized as the development of novel instantiations of existing concepts. Using this framework, the present study examined the impact of three conditions on the way subjects generated ideas about imaginary extraterrestrials. Control subjects developed alien animals but were given no special instructions. Those in the Wildly Different Condition were asked to generate creatures that were as wildly different from Earth animals as they could be. Both groups were highly and equally likely to imagine creatures that were symmetric and possessed standard senses and appendages, but the latter introduced significantly more novel variations, particularly on the number of sense organs and appendages. A third group was asked to imagine and describe things that might live on another planet, but were not initially instructed to provide drawings or limit themselves to considering living things that would be considered to be animals. This last group also preserved symmetry, but was significantly more likely to develop creatures without standard senses and appendages. Even so, 75% of this group developed creatures with standard senses and appendages. The results are discussed in terms of constraints on innovation, ways of overcoming those constraints, and the general tendency for new ideas to preserve many of the central properties of existing concepts.     

EFFECTS OF CONSCIENTIOUSNESS AND EXTRAVERSION ON NEW LABOR MARKET ENTRANTS' JOB SEARCH: THE MEDIATING ROLE OF METACOGNITIVE ACTIVITIES AND POSITIVE EMOTIONS

Job seekers' Conscientiousness and Extraversion show consistent relationships with their job search activities and success, although the explanatory mechanisms for these relationships are unclear ( Kanfer, Wanberg, & Kantrowitz, 2001 ). To explore these mechanisms, we developed and tested a model in which both Conscientiousness and Extraversion influenced metacognitive activities whereas Extraversion alone influenced positive emotions; these mediating variables in turn were predicted to influence resumé submissions, first interviews, second interviews, and job offers. Using longitudinal data collected from 232 job applicants, we found support for these predictions. Interestingly, meta-cognitive activities appeared to be more important in predicting resumé submissions and first interviews, whereas positive emotions predicted success in obtaining second interviews and job offers. We discuss the implications of our results and suggest future directions for research.     

Children's Emotional Reactions to a Scary Film The Role of Prior Outcome Information and Coping Style

An experiment examined the influence of happy outcome information and coping style on children's emotional responses to a frightening film sequence. Fourth and fifth graders viewed a program that included a threatening scene and a happy resolution. Before viewing, they heard an audiotaped introduction that either described the happy outcome or did not. Children's preferred coping style was classified as blunting or monitoring, using Miller's Child Behavioral Style Scale. Hypotheses were derived from theory and research on emotion, responses to suspense, and self-regulation processes. Consistent with expectations, prior knowledge of the happy outcome reduced self-reported fear and worry for Hunters but not for monitors. Regardless of coping style, outcome information reduced children's facial expressions of fear and increased positive affect during the conclusion of the show. Interpretations of the findings, as well as implications for understanding emotional responses to mass media, are discussed.     

Younger Adults' Communication Experiences and Contact With Elders and Peers

Intergenerational communication research has overemphasized dissatisfying experiences and treated elderly conversation partners as an undifferentiated category. To redress these limitations, the authors surveyed 100 younger adults' (16–46 years) satisfying and dissatisfying experiences with both family and nonfamily elders, and compared these with own-age peers. Measures of social contact were also taken. As hypothesized, positivity of experiences and contact increased from nonfamily to family elders and to peers. Barriers of communication with nonfamily elders were due to contact more than experiences. For family elders and especially for peers, most measures of contact and experiences were positive. The authors also tested for effects due to respondents' gender and culture (New Zealanders of Chinese or European descent). Females had more positive experiences and contact on some of the measures. Views about elders held by Chinese were more favorable, yet this did not translate into improved experiences or contact.     

THE MODERATING EFFECT OF SITUATIONAL CONTROL OF PERFORMANCE VARIANCE ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES AND PERFORMANCE1

The present study investigated the existence of a moderating effect for situational control of performance variance on the relationship between individual differences and performance. An experimental simulation was conducted and validity coefficients were calculated. Results supported the presence of the predicted moderating effect. The implications of these data for validation research and testing programs are discussed.     

Acquiring Resources from Intimates When Obligation Substitutes for Persuasion

The acquisition of needed resources is a necessary part of human activity. Persuasion is a tool that can be used to acquire commodities. However, because of obligations inherent in intimate relationships, the necessity of elaborated persuasive messages is lessened Furthermore, when an intimate's request is rejected, negative responses and counterpersuasion are likely. This article presents the results of a study in which three measures of intimacy are related to the obligation to grant requests for resources, the obligation to offer resources in a time of need, characteristics of requests for resources, and characteristics of responses to rejection. Although not all three measures yielded identical results, increasing intimacy with a potential helper increased obligations to grant requests for resources, and obligation to offer resources in a time of need. Moreover, increasing intimacy was negatively associated with request elaboration, frequency of explanations, and inducements. When responding to rejection, increasing intimacy was negatively related to forgiving statements and positively related to counterpersuasion. Finally, after rejection, intimates composed messages, judged to be less polite than those that contained their initial request. The politeness of postrejection messages created by nonintimates was not perceived to differ from that of their initial requests.     

European Managers’Interpretations of Participation

This study explores cultural variations in managers’interpretations of a key communicative process: worker participation. Semantic patterns derived from structural analyses indicate cultural differences in the meanings that managers attach to the term participation. The interpretive data are consistent with two of Hofstede's dimensions of cultural variability: Power Distance and Uncertainty Avoidance. Managers from 5 European Community nations—Denmark, England, France, Holland, and Germany—discuss participation in highly diverse yet systematic ways. The implications of these findings for international management are discussed.