Empathic understanding: Benefits of perspective-taking and facial mimicry instructions are mediated by self-other overlap

The current study sought to better understand the utility of two strategies—perspective-taking and facial mimicry—proposed to increase empathic responding. Thirty-seven female participants were presented an interpersonal situation (a betrayal) that would elicit the use of empathic responding to achieve conflict resolution between friends. Each participant was given instructions to partake in either perspective-taking, facial mimicry, or to remain neutral (control condition). The results demonstrated that individuals who engaged in perspective-taking reported significantly higher state empathy than the control condition, but there was no significant difference in state empathy between the mimicry and control condition. Also, those who engaged in either strategy reported significantly higher self-other overlap relative to those not instructed to engage in a particular strategy. Importantly, self-other overlap mediated the association between the instructional sets and state empathy. Both strategies are arguably means of enhancing interpersonal understanding.     

When proactivity produces a power struggle: how supervisors’ power motivation affects their support for employees’ promotive voice

Previous research informs us about facilitators of employees’ promotive voice. Yet little is known about what determines whether a specific idea for constructive change brought up by an employee will be approved or rejected by a supervisor. Drawing on interactionist theories of motivation and personality, we propose that a supervisor will be least likely to support an idea when it threatens the supervisor’s power motive, and when it is perceived to serve the employee’s own striving for power. The prosocial versus egoistic intentions attributed to the idea presenter are proposed to mediate the latter effect. We conducted three scenario-based studies in which supervisors evaluated fictitious ideas voiced by employees that – if implemented – would have power-related consequences for them as a supervisor. Results show that the higher a supervisors’ explicit power motive was, the less likely they were to support a power-threatening idea (Study 1, N = 60). Moreover, idea support was less likely when this idea was proposed by an employee that was described as high (rather than low) on power motivation (Study 2, N = 79); attributed prosocial intentions mediated this effect. Study 3 (N = 260) replicates these results.     

Stationäre Rehabilitation alkoholabhängiger Patienten

Systemic therapy concepts are widely used in therapy and rehabilitation of alcohol addictive patients. Although very useful in practice, evaluation studies are rare. Adequate evaluation strategies should be developed and implemented. This study was realized in a clinical rehabilitation centre (Hirtenstein, Allgäu/Germany), whose systemic concept is characterized by patient's wideranged possibilities of choice concerning therapy measures and therapy goals, the activation of social and personal resources, the development of an individually appropriate life-style, the training of desired competencies, and an offer for marital and family therapy. The evaluation is based on a repeated measures design without control group. The instruments and constructs of the evaluation are: F-SOZU (perceived social support), IIP (perceived interpersonal problems), MLDL (quality of life), SOC (sense of coherence), and an assessment sheet for personal resources (RI). Patients (n= 44) reported increased personal ressources as well as an increased level of quality of life. Perceived social support and the sense of coherence changed only moderately. Scaling of treatment satisfaction and goal attainment at the end of the rehabilitation program resulted in high positive scores. Patients reported only positive, no negative treatment side effects. The results indicate the usefulness of systemic and resource oriented concepts in the rehabilitation of alcohol addictive patients.     

Concurrent validity of the wide range assessment of visual motor abilities in typically developing children ages 4 to 11 years

Pediatric clinicians working with school-age children use the Wide Range Assessment of Visual Motor Abilities (WRAVMA) as a method for evaluating visual perception and motor skills in children despite limited information on concurrent validity. Whether it may be substituted for the Beery-Buktenica Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration (VMI) and has suitable estimates of concurrent validity were examined with a convenience sample of 91 typically developing children ages 4 to 11 years. No systematic concurrent validity between the WRAVMA and the VMI emerged. Only two subtests of the WRAVMA (Matching with Visual Perception, and Pegboard with Motor Coordination) gave scores statistically significantly correlated with those on the VMI, and these correlations were weak, accounting for very small amounts of the shared variance. As such, they have low clinical relevance. These findings do not provide evidence of concurrent validity to support the use of WRAVMA as an alternative method for the VMI for assessing children's visual perception and motor skills.