Regulatory fit at work: gravitational effects and associations with employee well-being

ABSTRACT

Using a task approach, this study examined the extent to which employee regulatory focus would “gravitate” employees towards promotion- versus prevention-oriented tasks within their jobs, and whether a subsequent regulatory fit/misfit would be associated with their well-being (i.e., mental health and job satisfaction). In a pre-study among 37 employees, we determined the regulatory focus of work tasks from the Netherlands Skill Survey, which are relevant to the general working population, resulting in a selection of 7 promotion and 11 prevention tasks. For our main study, we used the Dutch Longitudinal Internet Studies for the Social Sciences (LISS) panel and collected data from 1,606 respondents. In 2011, we collected respondents’ regulatory focus and in 2012, we collected their work tasks and well-being. Promotion-oriented employees considered both promotion and prevention tasks to be highly relevant in their jobs, and this relevance was associated with their mental health. Prevention-oriented employees, however, did not respond to the relevance of promotion or prevention tasks and generally reported lower well-being, irrespective of the regulatory focus of their tasks. We tentatively conclude that promotion focus gravitates employees towards job with a richer task content, containing both promotion and prevention tasks.     

Predicting increases in readiness to quit smoking: A prospective analysis using the contemplation ladder

Abstract

Most smokers are not motivated to quit. The transtheoretical model posits mechanisms (processes of change and pros and cons) by which smokers might increase their stage of readiness to quit. While cross-sectional relationships among the stages of change, processes of change, and pros and cons are well established, there is little evidence that processes of change and pros and cons predict progressive stage movements. This study uses data from a large worksite-based cancer prevention study (the Working Well Trial) to test the hypothesis that processes of change and the pros and cons of smoking predict progressive movement up the contemplation ladder, which is an alternative measure of motivation to quit smoking based on social cognitive theory. The results indicate that experiential processes of change promote increases in readiness to quit smoking. This study provides further evidence for the predictive validity of the contemplation ladder and sheds light on how unmotivated, nonvolunteer smokers can be motivated to consider cessation.     

Now you see it,now you don't: Explaining inconsistent evidence on gender stereotyping of newborns

Parental gender‐stereotyped perceptions of newborns—particularly their physical characteristics—have been discussed as important determinants of sex role socialization from birth on. However, corresponding empirical evidence is inconclusive. We propose that inconsistent findings on gender‐correlated perceptions are due to whether or not actual physical differences between newborn girls and boys are properly (statistically or experimentally) taken into account. In our study, 55 mother–father pairs rated both their own and two unknown newborns, labeled either female or male. Although we successfully replicated the typical gender‐correlated perceptions of own newborns' physical characteristics, all effects were explainable by actual physical sex differences in length and weight at birth. Similarly, no gender‐specific rating differences emerged as a function of labeled gender of unknown children matched in actual physical characteristics. Altogether, the findings demonstrate the vital importance of considering existing sex differences between newborn girls and boys for drawing valid conclusions on gender stereotyping of newborns.     

Guiding trustful behavior: The role of accessible content and accessibility experiences

Trust has been identified as a key ingredient to the prosperity of close relationships, organizations, and societies. While research mainly focused on the antecedents and consequences of trust, much less is known about how individuals assess whether there are enough reasons to warrant trustful action. Two experiments explored the how and when of this assessment, suggesting that antecedents may not only be integrated as content information per se (as generally assumed), but in a feeling‐based summary form. Specifically, our results show that the ease or difficulty associated with the identification of antecedents to trust may guide trustful behavior. Furthermore, it is shown that such a feeling‐based influence is particularly likely to occur in conditions of personal certainty. Together these results extend prior research in the domains of trust and economic games, and further attest to the fundamental role cognitive feelings play in social life. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The impact of onlooking and including bystander behaviour on judgments and emotions regarding peer exclusion

We investigated judgments and emotions in contexts of social exclusion that varied as a function of bystander behaviour (N = 173, 12‐ and 16‐year‐olds). Adolescents responded to film vignettes depicting a target excluded by a group with no bystanders, onlooking bystanders, or bystanders who included the target. Adolescents were asked to judge the behaviour and attribute emotions to the excluding group, the excluded target, and the bystanders. Younger adolescents judged the behaviour of the excluding group as more wrong than older adolescents when there were no bystanders present, indicating that the presence of bystanders was viewed as lessening the negative outcome of exclusion by the younger group. Yet, bystanders play a positive role only when they are includers, not when they are silent observers. This distinction was revealed by the findings that adolescents rated the behaviour of onlooking bystanders as more wrong compared with the behaviour of including bystanders. Moreover, all adolescents justified the inclusive behaviour more frequently with empathy than the onlooking behaviour. Adolescents also anticipated more empathy to including bystanders than to onlooking bystanders, as well as anticipated more guilt to onlooking bystanders than including bystanders. The findings are discussed in light of the role of group norms and group processes regarding bystanders' roles in social exclusion peer encounters.     

Do processes of change predict smoking stage movements? A prospective analysis of the transtheoretical model.

The transtheoretical model (TTM) posits that processes of change and the pros and cons of smoking predict progressive movement through the stages of change. This study provides both a cross-sectional replication and a prospective test of this hypothesis. As part of a larger study of worksite cancer prevention (the Working Well Trial), employees of 26 manufacturing worksites completed a baseline and 2 annual follow-up surveys. Of the 63% of employees completing baseline surveys, 27.7% were smokers (N = 1,535), and a cohort of these smokers completed the 2-year follow-up. Cross-sectional results replicated previous studies with virtually all the processes of change and the cons of smoking increasing in linear fashion from precontemplation to preparation (all ps < .00001), and the pros of smoking decreasing (p < .01). However, contrary to the hypothesis, the baseline processes of change and the pros and cons of smoking failed to predict progressive stage movements at either the 1- or the 2-year follow-ups. Possible explanations for these findings and concerns about the conceptual internal consistency of the TTM are discussed.