Developing multiple identifications through different social interactions at work

The question of how employees’ identifications with various foci at work (e.g., team, supervisor, or profession) develop and how they can be managed actively still remains largely unanswered. This is surprising, given the previously demonstrated benefits of employees’ identifications for organizational outcomes. Building on the social validation framework, we propose that changes in different social interactions (social support and effective feedback from supervisors and co-workers) over time are apt to socially validate different provisional selves and thereby differentially foster identification with the supervisor, the team, and the profession. In a longitudinal study of 212 apprentices, who are newcomers to both the organization and the profession, we test this idea using latent change scores in a structural equation modelling approach. Supporting our hypotheses, we show that changes in social support from supervisors and co-workers are related to changes in supervisor and team identification. Increased feedback from co-workers, but not from supervisors, predicted increased professional identification.     

Wickedness,Idleness and Basic Income

Res Publica - This paper critically analyses the position that basic income schemes foster idleness and thereby create harm. The view is based on an alleged empirical link between idleness and...     

The Effect of Reminiscing about Laughter on Relationship Satisfaction

Despite independent evidence that reminiscing about positive events has positive emotional benefits, and that laughter plays a role in seemingly successful relationships, there is a lack of empirical research examining how reminiscing about laughter might influence relationship well being. Specifically, the current study assessed whether reminiscing about shared laughter would increase relationship satisfaction among romantic couples. Fifty-two couples were randomly assigned to one of four reminiscing conditions and completed pre- and post-manipulation assessments of relationship satisfaction. As predicted, couples who reminisced about events involving shared laugher reported higher relationship satisfaction at the post-manipulation satisfaction assessment as compared to couples in the three control conditions. The effect was not attributed to positive mood induction as mood scores across groups were similar. Results show preliminary support for the notion that reminiscing about laughter may have a more potent influence on relationship well being than reminiscing about other positive events.

The influence of intention on masked priming: a study with semantic classification of words

Unconscious perception is commonly described as a phenomenon that is not under intentional control and relies on automatic processes. We challenge this view by arguing that some automatic processes may indeed be under intentional control, which is implemented in task-sets that define how the task is to be performed. In consequence, those prime attributes that are relevant to the task will be most effective. To investigate this hypothesis, we used a paradigm which has been shown to yield reliable short-lived priming in tasks based on semantic classification of words. This type of study uses fast, well practised classification responses, whereby responses to targets are much less accurate if prime and target belong to a different category than if they belong to the same category. In three experiments, we investigated whether the intention to classify the same words with respect to different semantic categories had a differential effect on priming. The results suggest that this was indeed the case: Priming varied with the task in all experiments. However, although participants reported not seeing the primes, they were able to classify the primes better than chance using the classification task they had used before with the targets. When a lexical task was used for discrimination in experiment 4, masked primes could however not be discriminated. Also, priming was as pronounced when the primes were visible as when they were invisible. The pattern of results suggests that participants had intentional control on prime processing, even if they reported not seeing the primes.     

Gender Differences in Fat Talk Among American Adults: Results from the Psychology of Size Survey

Vignettes were used to assess gender differences in likelihood of hearing others engage in and perceived pressure to join in positive, negative (fat talk), and self-accepting body talk. An age-representative sample of 4,014 adult women and men voluntarily responded to an emailed “Health and Wellness” survey from an internet polling company with whom they had pre-registered. Women reported more likelihood of hearing fat-talk scenarios and greater pressure to participate in them compared to men. Only a subset of participants reported frequent exposure to and pressure to join in fat talk. Demographic predictors of pressure to engage in fat talk were also examined. This was the first survey to examine body talk among older adults.     

Do Animated Disney Characters Portray and Promote the Beauty–Goodness Stereotype?

Disney movies are frequently cited as a source of the what‐is‐beautiful‐is‐good stereotype. Two studies (a) assessed prevalence of the stereotype across animated Disney movies; and (b) examined whether exposure to such films influences children's judgments of peers. In Study 1, human characters in 21 films were rated on attractiveness, goodness, and character outcome. Regression analyses demonstrated that attractiveness of a character was a significant predictor of the character's portrayal. In the second study, 42 children (ages 6–12) were exposed to either a high or low beauty‐biased film and then rated target peers. Children rated the attractive target more favorably than the less attractive target. However, film exposure did not increase children's use of the stereotype.