The effectiveness of sources of support in career decision-making: A two-year follow-up

Making career decisions is often difficult and challenging, and one way to advance in the process is to seek help. The present research focused on the various sources of support young adults tend to look for when making their career decision and the factors that affect their actual use of these sources. Study 1 elicited the self-reported help-seeking behavior and the Career Decision-Making Profile (CDMP) from 1071 young adults (ages 18–35) who had already chosen their major(s) at a university. The young adults used sources that were easily accessible, even when they were perceived as being less effective. Additionally, those with less career decision-making adaptability, as derived from the CDMP, tended to seek help more often. Study 2, a two-year follow-up of 296 young adults who participated in Study 1, revealed that getting help reduced the likelihood of changing one’s major.     

On The Exchange of Hostility With Supervisors: An Examination of Self‐Enhancing and Self‐Defeating Perspectives

We invoke competing theoretical perspectives to examine the consequences for subordinates of involvement in relationships that vary in terms of downward hostility (i.e., hostility enacted by supervisors against direct reports) and upward hostility (i.e., hostility enacted by subordinates against immediate supervisors). Consistent with the perspective that targets of downward hostility are less likely to see themselves as victims when they perform acts of upward hostility, analysis of 2‐wave data from a sample of supervised employees suggested that upward hostility weakens the deleterious effects of downward hostility on subordinates’ job satisfaction, affective commitment, and psychological distress. Study 2 directly examined the presumed mechanism that underlies the effects observed in Study 1. In a 3‐wave sample, support was found for a moderated‐indirect effect framework in which the indirect effects of downward hostility on subordinates’ attitudes and psychological distress (through victim identity) were weaker when upward hostility was higher. Study 2 results also suggested that the enhancing effect of upward hostility generalizes to subjective indicators of career satisfaction and future career expectations.     

The intergenerational transmission of ethnic essentialism: how parents talk counts the most

The present study analyzed the role of parents as potential sources of children's essentialist beliefs about ethnicity. We tested 76 parent–child (5‐year‐olds) dyads of Jewish Israeli parents from three social groups, defined by the kindergartens children attended: national religious, secular, or Jewish‐Arab integrated. We assessed parents' and children's beliefs, and parents' usage of ethnic attitudinal and categorization markers in a book‐reading activity. Overall, national religious parents manifested the strongest ethnic essentialism and endorsement of anti‐negotiations with Palestinians, and were the most likely to express negative attitudes and mark ethnic categories in their conversations with their children. Moreover, regression analyses revealed that ethnic categorization in parents' speech was the most reliable predictor of children's ethnic essentialism. Ethnic essentialism is transmitted to children not via explicit communication of intergroup beliefs or attitudes, but rather via the sheer marking of categories in ways that resonate with children's own intuitive ways of conceptualizing the social world.     

Children as mediators of their own cognitive development: The case of learning science in kindergarten and first grade

As the United States experiences greater income inequality, more and more students experience an early science achievement gap. This study tested several competing theoretical models of early science achievement with a longitudinal sample of 14,624 children who were followed from kindergarten entry to the end of 1st grade. To understand why and when differences emerge among children, we adopted a theoretical approach to study early science achievement because theories, if they are accurate, appeal to the factors responsible for achievement differences. Results from a structural equation modeling analysis revealed a mediation-only model provided an excellent fit to the data that was minimally changed when some of the indirect pathways were dropped and several direct pathways were added. This finding suggests that children who are more advanced in their understanding of science topics, have more expertise, or have more working-memory capacity are likely to process the same classroom material more effectively and completely than their classmates who have a less advanced understanding, less expertise, or less working-memory capacity. From a theoretical perspective, these findings provide strong support for individual theories of conceptual knowledge, expertise, working memory, and motivational development, and they also demonstrate the value of a large-scale, longitudinal, and multivariate approach for understanding science achievement. Implications for developmental theory and educational policy are discussed.     

Attributions and Appraisals of Workplace Incivility: Finding Light on the Dark Side?

Ample research demonstrates that workplace incivility has individual and organisational costs, but an important question remains unanswered: might it have benefits as well? We investigate this possibility by focusing on incivility appraisals—both negative and challenge appraisals (i.e. as an opportunity for learning, growth)—and their correlates. To explain this diversity of appraisals, we examine whether attributions (i.e. perceived intent to harm, perceived perpetrator control) predict perceptions. We conducted two multi‐method (quantitative and qualitative) surveys, one of which was multi‐source, of employees across a range of occupations. In Study 1, attributions that perpetrators acted with control and malicious intent fuelled negative appraisals of incivility, which undermined job satisfaction. Study 2 added to these findings by demonstrating that some targets formed challenge appraisals of uncivil encounters, especially when they attributed low malicious intent to perpetrators; challenge appraisal related to boosts in job satisfaction and thriving. These attitudinal outcomes then positively related to organisational citizenship behaviour, as reported by targets' coworkers. Showing paths to incivility harm (and potential benefit), our findings can inform interventions to alter the impact of workplace incivility.