Developing conceptions of racism among young white adults in the context of cultural diversity coursework

Despite substantial research on racial attitudes and racial identity development among young white adults, little is known about the development of their conceptions about racism. The present study assessed a five-step, empirically based contextualist model of the development of conceptions about racism in young white adults, adapted from the research of Perry (1970), Kitchener and Fischer (1990), and others. A total of 55 young white adults participating in cultural diversity coursework responded to questionnaires about the nature and causes of racism and responses were classified according to the five-step model. Results indicated that many first-year white college students think about racism in dualistic terms, comparable to those described by Perry (1970) in some first-year students' epistemological concepts. Over a semester, many students showed transitions to higher steps, conceptually integrating more dimensions of the problem. Such developmental transitions may be highly context-specific. Implications for educational interventions are discussed.     

The child as informant: Eliciting linguistic intuitions from young children

In this paper we report an interview technique we have developed to elicit judgments from young children about the well-formedness and referential properties of sentences. Judgments are compared with act-out responses of a group of 20 children ranging in age from 3 years 9 months to 5 years 4 months. We argue that judgment data are more revealing of children's grammars than are traditional performance tasks.     

Perestrojka and literature: Texts and context

Conclusions? Are any conclusions to be had? We have shown how, at all levels, the system of Soviet literature, has both persisted and fallen into disrepair. The rigid model of socialist realism that took hold during the danovist period no longer exists. However, its presence is still felt not only as a constant negative point of reference, but through the numerous structures that grew out of it. Changes set in motion during the thaw continue at an accelerated pace for the sake ofperestrojka. All the same, five years later the latter has yet to achieve its literary revolution.There is one fundamental change. It would be an anachronism to organize today a conference on One or two Russian literatures?, as in Geneva some years ago. But will this merging of the separate branches of Russian literature go beyond confusion in the direction of a development describable as organic? Will the different components of the transformed system become compatible?Only time will tell and, it is hoped, dispell our doubts.TRANSLATED BY E. M. SWIDERSKI     

Revisiting the effect of incentivization on cognitive reflection: A meta-analysis

The effect of performance-based incentives on judgment biases is a controversial issue. A recent extensive meta-analysis of Brañas-Garza et al. (2019, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socec.2019.101455 ) found no effect of incentives on performance in the cognitive reflection test (CRT), a test commonly used for assessing heuristic versus deliberative judgments. We conducted a meta-analysis of studies that directly compared an incentive versus no-incentive conditions (n = 2836) and found a small positive effect of incentivization (Cohen's d = .21) on CRT performance. In addition, we re-examined the Brañas-Garza et al. (2019) dataset (n = 39,385), taking into consideration not only whether incentivization was used but also the nominal and fiscal size of the incentive. The results show that surprisingly when including only studies that used monetary incentives, the effect of incentivization and incentive size are significant, even when taking into consideration other aspects of the studies. The results thus suggest a small but robust effect of incentives on judgment biases.     

Presurgery distress and specific response expectancies predict postsurgery outcomes in surgery patients confronting breast cancer.

Prior to scheduled surgery, patients frequently experience particularly high levels of distress and expect a variety of postsurgery symptoms. Surgery patients who confront breast cancer are no exception. It has been suggested that such presurgery distress and response expectancies are predictive of postsurgery outcomes. To test the contribution of presurgery distress and expectancies to common postsurgery symptom outcomes (pain, nausea, fatigue, and discomfort), 63 female patients undergoing breast cancer surgery were recruited to a prospective study. Results indicated that presurgery distress uniquely contributed to patients' postsurgery nausea, fatigue, and discomfort; specific expectancies uniquely contributed to pain intensity, pain unpleasantness, and fatigue (ps < .05). Consistent with expectancy theory, associations between response expectancies and postsurgery outcomes were not due to presurgery distress.     

The (Holy and Great) Council of the Orthodox Churches: An Ecumenical Perspective

From 19 to 26 June 2016, the first Pan‐Orthodox Council for more than a thousand years took place in Crete, although the Orthodox churches of Russia, Georgia, Bulgaria, and Antioch, for various reasons, did not participate. This article offers an assessment, from an ecumenical perspective, of the preparation and results of the council, and especially the document agreed in Crete concerning the “Relations of the Orthodox Church with the Rest of the Christian World.”     

Receipt of interpersonal citizenship: fostering agentic emotion,cognition, and action in organizations

With an eye to fostering an energized and empowered workforce, we explore the discrete emotion of self‐assurance (characterized by boldness, pride, and audacity), investigating how receipt of interpersonal citizenship behavior (ICB) fuels this agentic emotion. ICB includes acts of everyday concern that may be of a person‐ or task‐focused nature. With two survey samples, we propose and test a model that situates self‐assurance as a mechanism linking ICB‐receipt to employee thriving and empowerment. Additionally, we find links to citizenship enactment, as reported by coworkers. Notably, person‐focused ICB‐receipt may be just as beneficial to self‐assurance as task‐focused ICB‐receipt. These results hold equally for working women and men. Our multi‐study, multi‐source results underscore the role of agentic emotion in cultivating a proactive workforce.     

Act Expediently,with Autonomy: Vicarious Learning,Empowered Behaviors,and Performance

Purpose

The purpose of this research is to investigate how organizations can best facilitate an empowered workforce that makes autonomous decisions and acts expediently, which the literature on high performing organizations posits will increase the likelihood of sustained performance and retaining competitive advantages. We introduce a novel mechanism for encouraging such behaviors and pursuant outcomes: vicarious learning from a supervisor who demonstrates autonomy and expediency.

Design/Methodology/Approach

We drew experimental data from a sample of participants who underwent a managerial simulation, and used these data to investigate relationships between the vicarious learning of empowered behaviors and individual task performance (n = 100).

Findings

Results indicate that when supervisors behave with autonomy and expediency this both increases the extent to which individuals behave similarly, and is associated with enhanced individual performance. Further, we find that expedient behavior fully mediates the relationship between empowered supervisor behavior and performance.

Implications

Findings show that supervisors need not necessarily engage directly in empowering others. Rather, by modeling behaviors, supervisors can craft a context where employees may act with autonomy and efficiency. This provides an opportunity for empowerment that is both actionable and cost-effective.

Originality/Value

This is the first study to consider empowerment as a managerial phenomenon that can be vicariously learned, integrating theories of social learning and empowerment, and extending existing empowerment constructs (including psychological and structural) to develop an indirect, yet potent means of encouraging empowered behavior.

     

Evaluation of the Psychometric Properties of a Measure of Child Irrationality

The article describes results from two studies that examined the psychometric properties of a measure of irrational thinking, the Child and Adolescent Scale of Irrationality (CASI), based on the model of REBT. Participants were 1034 children and parents recruited through schools and clinical settings. While the internal consistency of the total scale was quite high, the reliability of the proposed irrational subscales were considerably lower and an exploratory factor analysis failed to yield interpretable factors. Discriminative validity was demonstrated between subjects in clinical settings and school-based subjects on the total scale score and two of the irrational subscales. The total scale score and irrational subscales were correlated with ratings of behavior and emotion, with higher irrationality being correlated with higher levels of emotional and behavioral disturbance. Overall, while problems exist with the factor structure and reliability of the irrational subscales, the CASI appears to adequately measure irrational beliefs. Therefore, it may be clinically useful as a screener when working with children and adolescents.