Satisfaction and psychological well-being as antecedents of organisational commitment

Satisfaction and psychological well-being as antecedents of organisational commitment. The role of organisational commitment in public administration and its repercussions on the institution are examined in this study. It reports part of a larger research project that studies job satisfaction, life satisfaction, and psychological well-being as antecedents of organisational commitment. Data were collected from 697 public-sector employees, using questionnaires. Results showed that job satisfaction, life satisfaction, and psychological well-being were strong predictors of organisational commitment. Higher levels of job satisfaction, life satisfaction, and psychological well-being were associated with more favourable perceptions of organisational commitment. Furthermore, this study highlights the impact of dynamic work on the employee's commitment.     

Sports participation and fair play

This study examined whether the participation in intermediate contact sports affects the opinions about the behaviors and attitudes of fair play in the sports context and whether these effects are influenced by ego orientation. The participants were high level sportsmen from university and professional basketball and football players (N = 131). They filled in questionnaires to assess their participation in sports, their goal orientations, and their fair play attitudes and behaviors. The analyses of the structural equation model indicated that participation in intermediate contact sports predicted ego orientation; these analyses consecutively predicted low levels of fair play. The direct effects of sports participation in fair play decreased significantly in the presence of ego orientation, indicating that the last construct partially mediates the relation between the first two variables. These discoveries help us to better understand the processes that operate in contact sports. Finally, their implications for eliminating unsportsmanlike behaviors are discussed.     

Familiar shapes attract attention in figure-ground displays

We report five experiments that explore the effect of figure-ground factors on attention. We hypothesized that figural cues, such as familiar shape, would draw attention to the figural side in an attentional cuing task using bipartite figure-ground displays. The first two experiments used faces in profile as the familiar shape and found a perceptual advantage for targets presented on the meaningful side of the central contour in detection speed (Experiment 1) and discrimination accuracy (Experiment 2). The third experiment demonstrated the figural advantage in response time (RT) with nine other familiar shapes (including a sea horse, a guitar, a fir tree, etc.), but only when targets appeared in close proximity to the contour. A fourth experiment obtained a figural advantage in a discrimination task with the larger set of familiar shapes. The final experiment ruled out eye movements as a possible confounding factor by replicating the RT advantage for targets on the figural side of face displays when all trials containing eye movements were eliminated. The results are discussed in terms of ecological influences on attention, and are cast within the framework of Yantis and Jonides's hypothesis that attention is exogenously drawn to the onset of new perceptual objects. We argue that the figural side constitutes an "object" whereas the ground side does not, and that figural cues such as shape familiarity are effective in determining which areas represent objects.     

The epidemiology of suicide-related outcomes in Mexico

Nationally representative data from the Mexican National Comorbidity Survey are presented on the lifetime prevalence and age-of-onset (AOO) distributions of suicide ideation, plan and attempt and on temporally prior demographic and DSM-IV psychiatric risk factors. Lifetime ideation was reported by 8.1% of respondents, while 3.2% reported a lifetime plan and 2.7% a lifetime suicide attempt. Onset of all outcomes was highest in adolescence and early adulthood. The risk of transition from suicide ideation to plan and attempt was highest within the first year of onset of ideation. The presence of one or more temporally prior DSM-IV/CIDI (Composite International Diagnostic Instrument) disorder was strongly related to each suicide-related outcome. Suicidal outcomes are prevalent, have an early AOO, and are strongly related to temporally prior mental disorders in Mexico. Given the early AOO, intervention efforts need to focus more than currently on children and adolescents with mental disorders to be effective in prevention.     

Bullying in college by students and teachers

This study explored bullying in college by students and teachers. The reports of a sample of 1,025 undergraduates indicated that 24.7% had seen students bully other students occasionally and 2.8% very frequently, 5% had been bullied by students occasionally and 1.1% very frequently, 12.8% had seen teachers bully students occasionally and 1.9% very frequently, 4.2% had been bullied by teachers occasionally and .5% very frequently, while 3.2% had bullied other students occasionally and 1.9% very frequently. Male students bullied significantly more than females. Student bullying was predicted by having seen other students bully, and by having been bullied by both students and teachers.     

Clinical Implications and Methodological Challenges in the Study of the Neuropsychological Correlates of Cannabis,Stimulant, and Opioid Abuse

Chronic consumption of several drugs of abuse (cannabis, stimulants, opioids) has been associated with the presence of neuropsychological impairments in a broad range of functions. Nevertheless, in recent years neuropsychological research on substance abuse has focused on the study of impairments in the executive functions linked to the prefrontal cortex and their influence on the personality, cognitions, and behaviors of the substance abusers. The aim of our review is, first, to summarize the main neuropsychological impairments shown by classic studies, as well as these new discoveries in executive functioning; second, to consider the mediating role of neuropsychological status on treatment outcomes and analyze the impact of these impairments in clinical practice with drug addicts; and third, to review the principal methodological challenges associated with research in the field of the neuropsychology of substance abuse. We also highlight the convenience of intervening in those functions most relevant to the abusers' persistence in consumption and risk of relapse.     

Protected values: No omission bias and no framing effects

Previous studies have suggested that people holding protected values (PVs) show a bias against harmful acts, as opposed to harmful omissions (omission bias). In the present study, we (1) investigated the relationship between PVs and acts versus omissions in risky choices, using a paradigm in which act and omission biases were presented in a symmetrical manner, and (2) examined whether people holding PVs respond differently to framing manipulations. Participants were given environmental scenarios and were asked to make choices between actions and omissions. Both the framing of the outcomes (positive vs. negative) and the outcome certainty (risky vs. certain) were manipulated. In contrast to previous studies, PVs were linked to preferences for acts, rather than for omissions. PVs were more likely to be associated with moral obligations to act than with moral prohibitions against action. Strikingly, people with strong PVs were immune to framing; participants with few PVs showed robust framing effects.     

Reform of statistical inference in psychology: The case of<Emphasis Type="Italic">Memory &; Cognition</Emphasis>

Geoffrey Loftus, Editor ofMemory & Cognition from 1994 to 1997, strongly encouraged presentation of figures with error bars and avoidance of null hypothesis significance testing (NHST). The authors examined 696Memory & Cognition articles published before, during, and after the Loftus editorship. Use of figures with bars increased to 47% under Loftus’s editorship and then declined. Bars were rarely used for interpretation, and NHST remained almost universal. Analysis of 309 articles in other psychology journals confirmed that Loftus’s influence was most evident in the articles he accepted for publication, but was otherwise limited. An e-mail survey of authors of papers accepted by Loftus revealed some support for his policy, but allegiance to traditional practices as well. Reform of psychologists’ statistical practices would require more than editorial encouragement.     

What Does It Mean to Be Relational? A Framework for Assessment and Practice

The authors begin with a question regarding how to better draw upon relational thinking in making case assessments and treatment plans. They first address issues regarding the cultural construction of self and relationships, integrating women's psychology, family systems, and collectivist culture literatures within a discussion of power. Then they present a heuristic framework for how individuals orient themselves within relationships that includes two dimensions--focus and power--and evolves out of the social context. From these two dimensions, a typology of four basic relational orientations is presented: position directed, rule directed, independence directed, and relationship directed. Case examples from couple's therapy and suggestions for practice are provided.