Abusive leadership versus objectifying job features: Factors that influence organizational dehumanization and workers’ self-objectification

Recent research has revealed that work often can undermine people's humanness by promoting a view of them as mere objects. In particular, the workers’ meta-perceptions of being treated as company resources (i.e., organizational dehumanization) and their self-perceptions of being instrument-like (i.e., self-objectification) could be triggered by several factors. Previous research has identified that abusive supervisors and engaging in objectifying (repetitive, fragmented and other oriented) tasks are two of the main key factors that affect worker's dehumanization. The present project aims to disentangle the extent both factors (perceptions of abusive leadership and performing objectifying tasks) contribute to created perceptions of organizational dehumanization and self-objectification among workers that, ultimately, affects workers job satisfaction. In Study 1 (N = 208 workers), we measured the extent perceived abusive supervisors and objectifying job features predicted organizational dehumanization, self-objectification, and job satisfaction. The results indicate that abusive supervisors predicted perceptions of organizational dehumanization and workers self-objectification in a higher extent than objectifying job features, while workers job satisfaction was predicted in a higher extent by objectifying job features. In Study 2 (N = 141), we experimentally manipulated the abusive (versus nonabusive) supervisors and the objectifying (versus nonobjectifying) tasks in a laboratory setting. Results also indicated that the abusive supervisor exerts a greater influence than performing objectifying tasks on organizational dehumanization, self-objectification, and job satisfaction. The detrimental effect of an abusive supervisor in comparison with other working conditions on workers’ humanness is discussed, and practical implications are highlighted.     

The relation between pointing and language development: A meta-analysis

The use of the pointing gesture is one of the first ways to communicate with the world. This gesture emerges before the second year of life and it is assumed to be the first form of intentional communication. This meta-analysis examined the concurrent and longitudinal relation between pointing and the emergence of language. Twenty-five studies were included into the meta-analysis, including 734 children. The role of several moderators was examined: pointing modality, pointing motive, age at which the pointing was measured, the assessment method of the pointing gesture and language development, the modality of language, SES, and country. The results showed both a concurrent (r = .52) and a longitudinal (r = .35) relation between pointing and language development. The relation between pointing and language development became stronger with age, and was found for pointing with a declarative and general motive, but not for pointing with an imperative motive. It is concluded that the pointing gesture is a key joint-attention behavior involved in the acquisition of language.     

Character Strengths and Social Support as Protective Factors between Grandparents’ Caregiving and Health-Related Quality of Life

Journal of Child and Family Studies - The number of grandparents providing supplementary care for their grandchildren has increased in the past decades. When analyzing the relationship between the...     

Quality of Life of Children and Adolescents with Short Stature: The Twofold Contribution of Physical Growth and Adaptive Height-Related Cognitive Beliefs

This study aimed to examine the health-related quality of life (HrQoL), coping, height-related beliefs, and social support of children/adolescents with short stature, the sociodemographic, clinical, and psychosocial variables associated with HrQoL, and the moderating role of sociodemographic and clinical variables on the associations between psychosocial variables and HrQoL. 114 Portuguese children/adolescents with short stature, aged 8–18 years old, completed the Quality of Life in Short Stature Youth questionnaire and the Satisfaction with Social Support Scale. Regression analyses explained 54% of the variance of HrQoL, with significant main effects of current height deviation and height-related beliefs, and a significant interaction effect between beliefs and diagnosis. Results suggest that a multidisciplinary therapeutic approach, not only focused on hormone treatment to boost physical growth, but also including psychosocial interventions focused on the modification of height-related beliefs, may contribute to improve the HrQoL of pediatric patients with short stature.

     

Evaluating the predictive validity of the computerized comprehension task: comprehension predicts production

Until recently, the challenges inherent in measuring comprehension have impeded our ability to predict the course of language acquisition. The present research reports on a longitudinal assessment of the convergent and predictive validity of the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories: Words and Gestures (CDI: WG; Fenson et al., 1994, 1993, 2007) and the Computerized Comprehension Task (CCT; Friend & Keplinger, 2003, 2008). The CDI: WG and the CCT evinced good convergent validity; however, the CCT better predicted subsequent parent reports of language production. Language sample data in the 3rd year confirm this finding: The CCT accounted for 24% of the variance in unique word use. These studies provide evidence for the utility of a behavior-based approach to predicting the course of language acquisition into production.     

Resilience in adolescence: Gender differences two years after the earthquake of L’Aquila

The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of L’Aquila earthquake (Italy) on Resilience and Coping 2 years after the earthquake in a high school sample. Three hundred and twenty-four male and female students exposed to the earthquake and 147 not-exposed have been assessed with the Resilience Scale for Adolescents (READ) and the Brief COPE. The two way ANOVAs for gender by exposure level to the distressing event showed statistically significant interactions with males exposed to the earthquake reporting consistently higher READ factor scores. Problem-focused but not emotion-focused coping strategies showed a similar pattern. These findings are compatible with a resilient ‘protective mechanism’ for males.     

Done in 60 s? Inferring teachers’ subjective well-being from thin slices of nonverbal behavior

Being a teacher is known to be a particularly stressful occupation and as a consequence many teachers suffer from reduced well-being. Thus, it is important to know as soon as possible which individuals are likely to experience reduced well-being in their employment. Therefore, this study investigated whether it is possible to infer teachers’ future well-being from minimal nonverbal information, i.e., thin slices of behavior. Between 2003 and 2006, 50 teachers were filmed while holding a lesson. Naïve observers were shown 60-s clips of these teachers and were asked to predict the teachers’ satisfaction with job, life, and health in 5–8 years. Five to eight years later, the teachers’ satisfaction with job, life, and health was assessed. It was shown that judges highly agree in their predictions. Additionally, these predictions were shown to be accurate for life and job satisfaction. Thus, it is possible to predict a teacher’s well-being on the basis of thin slices of the nonverbal behavior they show while performing their job. These thin slices might therefore allow for a risk assessment in the context of teacher education and such approaches might contribute to teacher professionalism.