Implications of Teacher Life–Work Histories for Conceptualisations of ‘Care’: Narratives from Rural Zimbabwe

Schools are increasingly seen as key sites for support to HIV‐affected and other vulnerable children, and teachers are assigned the critical role of identifying and providing psychosocial support. Drawing on the life–work history narratives of 12 teachers in Zimbabwe, this paper explores the psychosocial processes underpinning teachers' conceptualisations of these caring roles. The influence of prolonged adversity, formative relationships, and broader patterns of social and institutional change in teacher identity formation processes speak to the complex and embodied nature of understandings of ‘care’. In such extreme settings teachers prioritise the material and disciplinary aspects of ‘care’ that they see as essential for supporting children to overcome hardship. This focus not only means that emotional support as envisaged in international policy is commonly overlooked, but also exposes a wider ideological clash about childrearing. This tension together with an overall ambivalence surrounding teacher identities puts further strain on teacher–student relationships. We propose the current trainings on providing emotional support are insufficient and that more active focus needs to be directed at support to teachers in relation with their students. © 2015 The Authors. Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.     

Appraisal and Coping as Mediators of the Effects of Cumulative Risk on Preadolescent Adjustment

This study examined the concurrent and longitudinal relations among cumulative risk, appraisal, coping, and adjustment. Longitudinal path models were tested in a community sample of 316 children in preadolescence to examine hypotheses that threat appraisal and avoidant coping mediate the effects of cumulative risk on child adjustment, whereas positive appraisal and active coping were hypothesized to predict better adjustment independently. Children and their mothers were assessed during in-home interviews at three time points at one-year intervals. Children reported on appraisal and coping strategies. Mothers and children reported on child adjustment problems and positive adjustment. Rank-order changes in appraisal and coping predicted rank-order changes in adjustment. Cumulative risk was concurrently related to higher threat appraisal and avoidant coping at each time point. Threat appraisal and avoidant coping mediated the relations of cumulative risk to rank-order changes in adjustment. There is specificity in the relations of cumulative risk to threat appraisal and avoidant coping, whereas positive appraisal and active coping are independent of risk and operate as individual resource factors.     

Navigating the Black Hole: Explicating Layers of Job Search Context and Adaptational Responses

Via a qualitative study, we introduce and elucidate 5 layers of context‐related job search demands (omnibus, organizational, social, task, and personal) that are encountered by both employed and unemployed job seekers. We develop a process model to portray the mechanisms (managing mood and motivation, feedback/help seeking, and self‐reflection/learning) through which these context‐related demands are related to several important job search outcomes. We provide new insight into employed job seekers, showing that they report the job search as full of difficulties, obstacles, and challenges, and that some of these demands parallel those that unemployed job seekers face.     

Standing in the glory or shadow of the past self: Cultures differ in how much the past self affects current subjective well-being

Research in the past 2 decades has made great strides in understanding cross-cultural differences in the correlates and causes of subjective well-being. On the basis of past findings on the cross-cultural differences in temporal perspectives of the self, the present research examined a cross-cultural difference in individuals' subjective well-being as a function of how positively they viewed their present and past selves. Study 1 showed that both European and Asian Americans had higher subjective well-being when they viewed their present selves more positively. However, positive evaluations of the past self were accompanied by higher subjective well-being only among Asian Americans. Study 2 showed that when induced to think positively (vs. negatively) of the present self, both European and Asian Americans judged their current lives more favorably. However, when led to view the past self positively (vs. negatively), only Asian Americans made more favorable judgments about their current lives. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).     

The Influence of Regulatory Fit on Persuasion Under Different Military Operations: The Moderating Effects of Need for Cognition

On the basis of regulatory focus theory (Higgins, 1997 Higgins, E. T. 1997. Beyond pleasure and pain. American Psychologist, 52: 1280–1300. [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), two experiments were conducted to explore the effects of regulatory fit on persuasion under different military operations. It is proposed that appeals presented in promotion focus frames are more persuasive in promotion focus military operations (e.g., offensive), while prevention focus–framed appeals are more persuasive in prevention focus military operations (e.g., defensive). In study one, 99 military personnel were randomly assigned to either of 2 (messages: promotion vs. promotion focus frame) × 2 (operations: offensive vs. defensive) conditions. No significant results were found. In study two, 53 military cadets were randomly assigned to either of 2 (messages: promotion vs. promotion focus frame) × 2 (operations: offensive with superior forces vs. defensive with inferior forces) conditions. The results indicate that need for cognition (NFC) moderates the effects of regulatory fit on persuasiveness. For high-NFC subjects, promotion focus–framed appeals are more persuasive in numerical superiority attacking operations, whereas prevention ones are more persuasive in numerical inferiority defending operations. This interaction effect was not found for low-NFC subjects.     

Extending Technology Acceptance Model to the E‐recruitment Context in Iran

Using a sample of 332 job applicants in Iran, this study integrates Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and signaling theory to explain factors influencing applicants' behavioral intentions to apply for jobs online. Of the two main constructs of TAM, perceived usefulness was found to have a significant impact on applicants' behavioral intentions, while perceived ease of use was not. Based on the signaling theory, impression of the organizational website appeared to create interests in organization as a potential employer; hence, prompt applicants to apply for jobs. These results extend our understanding of the online recruitment in different context and provide further insights with regard to possible effects of website features on applicants' attractions toward organizations operating in Iran.     

Observer memories may not be for everyone

ABSTRACT

Six studies explored the preponderance of people who experience third-person perspective observer memories during autobiographical memory retrieval. The concept of first-person field versus observer memories has been extensively used in the areas of cognitive, social, and clinical psychology. An implicit assumption is the idea that most people use both of these perspectives. What varies are the circumstances that bias people to use one perspective over another for a given autobiographical memory. We challenge that assumption across six studies by showing that, while there are some people who report to regularly have observer memories, there are also those that report to rarely or never have them. These reports were found to be related to levels of reported dissociative experiences. We discuss how this difference in the experience of observer memories may also reflect other innate characteristics, and may correspond to predispositions for various pathologies, including depression, social phobia, and post-traumatic stress disorder.     

Recall and Recognition Measures of Paired Associate Learning in Healthy Aging

ABSTRACT

Associate-recognition has received little attention as a potential clinical tool for detecting early Alzheimer's disease (AD). As an important preliminary stage to investigating the paradigm's diagnostic utility, we designed and administered a verbal associate-recognition task to healthy elderly participants (n?=?62) and compared their performance to that on traditional cued-recall PAL. In both test conditions, the stimulus list comprised of a mixture of highly imageable and less imageable word pairs. Overall, performance on the associate-recognition task was superior to that on the cued-recall analogue. This ‘recognition advantage’ was not attributable to the higher baseline or chance guessing rate in the associate-recognition condition, as the size of the recognition advantage varied across learning trials and stimulus imageability. In comparison to performance on the imageable stimuli, performance on the less imageable stimuli was poor in both associate-recognition and cued-recall conditions. Across the delay, performances were more likely to drop in the cued-recall condition than the associate-recognition condition. These results suggest that verbal associate-recognition may be clinically efficacious and better tolerated in elderly populations than traditional cued-recall paradigms. Although these results are encouraging, further research is required to examine the utility of associate-recognition in clinical populations, particularly early AD.     

To Cheat or Not to Cheat?: The Role of Personality in Academic and Business Ethics

Past research (Lawson, 2004 Lawson, R. A. 2004. Is classroom cheating related to business students’ propensity to cheat in the "real world"?. Journal of Business Ethics, 49: 189–199. doi:10.1023/B: BUSI.0000015784.34148.cb[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]; Nonis &; Swift, 2001 Nonis, S. and Swift, C. O. 2001. An examination of the relationship between academic dishonesty and workplace dishonesty: A multicampus investigation. Journal of Education for Business, 77: 69–77. doi:10.1080/08832320109599052[Taylor &; Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]) has revealed a correlation between academic and business ethics. Using a sample survey, this study extends this inquiry by examining the role of dispositional variables (neuroticism, extraversion, and conscientiousness) and academic honesty on business ethics perceptions. Results indicate that (1) neuroticism and conscientiousness were positively related to more ethical perceptions in a work context, and (2) academic honesty partially mediated the relationship between conscientiousness and business ethics. Implications to business practitioners and educators are discussed as well as directions for future research.