Rewarding leadership and fair procedures as determinants of self-esteem

In the present research, the authors examined the effect of procedural fairness and rewarding leadership style on an important variable for employees: self-esteem. The authors predicted that procedural fairness would positively influence people's reported self-esteem if the leader adopted a style of rewarding behavior for a job well done. Results from a scenario experiment, a laboratory experiment, and an organizational survey indeed show that procedural fairness and rewarding leadership style interacted to influence followers' self-esteem, such that the positive relationship between procedural fairness and self-esteem was more pronounced when the leadership style was high in rewarding behavior. Implications in terms of integrating the leadership and procedural fairness literature are discussed.     

Development of the body image concern inventory

Development of the Body Image Concern Inventory (BICI), a measure designed to assess dysmorphic concern, is described. A panel of expert raters supported the construct validity of the measure, and four college student samples (Ns=184, 200, 56, 40) supported the internal consistency of the BICI. In addition, in studies 1 and 3, concurrent validity was established through comparison of the BICI to extant self-report and interview measures of dysmorphic symptomatology. Convergent validity patterns were assessed through comparison with measures of obsessive-compulsive and eating disorder symptomatology in studies 2 and 4. Finally, the results of study 4 supported that the BICI discriminated individuals with a diagnosis of Body Dysmorphic Disorder or bulimia (disorders that frequently involve high levels of dysmorphic concern) from those with subclinical symptoms. Results suggest that the BICI is a reliable, valid, and user-friendly tool for assessing dysmorphic concern, with utility in both research and clinical settings.     

Employment Characteristics and Salaries of Psychologists in United States Medical Schools: Past and Current Trends

In 1997 the Research Office of the American Psychological Association (APA) collaborated with the Association of Medical School Psychologists (AMSP) to conduct a comprehensive employment and salary survey of psychologists employed in medical schools and academic health centers. Questionnaires were mailed to 3894 psychologists; postcard reminders and a follow-up mailing to nonresponders resulted in a final 50% response rate. The questionnaire addressed appointment characteristics, department and school characteristics, employment activities, salary information, demographics, and changes in the medical school work environment that have occurred as a result of managed care. This survey, the 1997 Employment Characteristics and Salaries of Medical School Psychologists, is the most comprehensive analysis to date of the practice of psychology in U.S. schools of medicine and academic health centers. This article reports the most salient findings from this survey.     

Socially mediated fear reduction in rodents: Distraction,communication, or mere presence?

Two studies investigated why the presence of conspecifics reduces open-field fear. In Experiment 1 rats paired with another experimentally naive rat were not less fearful than alone controls. However, rats paired with a partner who had been preexposed to the open field exhibited fewer fear responses than alone controls. Since preexposed companions appeared to initiate more social interactions than nonpreexposed companions, it was argued that the preexposure effect could be the result of preexposed companions distracting actor rats from threatening stimuli. Experiment 2 tested this explanation by pairing socially sated or socially deprived rats with a socially sated or socially deprived companion. In accord with a distraction hypothesis, pairing two socially deprived rats produced the greatest fear reduction effects and also led to more social interaction than pairing socially sated rats. Alternative explanations involving conditioning and communication are discussed.     

Clinical judgment in forensic neuropsychology: A comment on the risks of claiming more than can be delivered

There is a vast and growing literature in psychology demonstrating the general limits of human judgment and clinical inference. These findings clearly apply in the new specialty of clinical neuropsychology, and there is little empirical research to support the widespread belief that judgmental accuracy correlates substantially with experience, professional stature, or reputation as a neuropsychologist. However, the demand characteristics of expert testimony in the forensic arena may encourage individual neuropsychologists to state or intimate that they have unique or special expertise in understanding brain-behavior relationships, or in predicting outcomes following cerebral insult or injury. These claims will be increasingly difficult to substantiate as attorneys become more conversant with the literature on human judgment.     

Apology mismatch: An experimental approach to Japan's apologies to Korea

Since 1965, Japan has issued numerous apologies to Korea, which however failed to resonate with the Korean public. To investigate this puzzle, this paper analyses the structure of these apologies and empirically examines their reception in Korea. Blatz et al.'s (Political Psychology, 2009, 30, 219) classification of components of political apologies was applied to conduct a qualitative analysis of 63 official apology statements by Japan to Korea and identify the most frequently used components (Study 1). Korean participants (N = 210) were randomly presented with an experimental vignette consisting of a major apology component to examine their psychological responses, and they also ranked the importance of each major apology component (Study 2). Results showed that while Koreans viewed admission of wrongdoing as an essential and the most demanded component of apology, it was paradoxically the least frequent component offered by Japan in reality.     

Applying propensity score matching to assess the impact of the pandemic on intimate relationships

The COVID-19 pandemic produced multiple stressors that risk relationship conflict and dissatisfaction. We extended prior studies that yielded inconsistent effects of the pandemic on relationships by using propensity score matching to (1) compare levels of relationship conflict and satisfaction during the pandemic (pandemic group; N = 7268) to similar people immediately before the pandemic (matched control group; N = 7268), and (2) compare pandemic groups facing different types of restrictions, beginning with lockdowns involving household isolation to returning to normal life. Results reveal that relationship conflict increased and relationship satisfaction decreased in response to the pandemic, but these effects were very small and primarily occurred in the initial stages of the pandemic when lockdown involved household isolation. The results add to evidence of resilience in personal and relationship well-being in 2020, but also indicate the importance of understanding the effects of varying pandemic-related conditions across the years of the pandemic.     

Reduced specificity of autobiographical memories following a negative mood induction

Reduced autobiographical memory specificity (AMS) to emotional and neutral cue words appears to be a stable cognitive marker of clinical depression. For example, reduced AMS is present in remitted/recovered depressed patients and shows no reliable relationship with current levels of depressed mood in correlational studies. The present study examined whether reduced AMS could be induced in healthy volunteers with no history of depression, using a negative mood manipulation and whether levels of AMS and induced mood were positively correlated. Results showed a reduction in AMS following negative mood induction, compared to a neutral induction, whereas positive mood induction had no effects on AMS. Furthermore, lower happiness following the induction phase correlated positively with reduced AMS, and the extent of happiness reduction from pre- to post-induction correlated positively with reduction in AMS. These results suggest that AMS is, at least in part, a function of current emotion state. The implications for the literature on AMS as a stable marker of clinical depression are discussed.     

Cognitive behaviour therapy to treating bulimia nervosa: A case study

The general cognitive behaviour therapy postulates that bulimic symptoms are maintained by a characteristic set of overvalued thoughts about the personal implications of body shape and weight. Research shows that there is both a close relationship and specific interaction between thoughts and behaviours that help to maintain the overvalued thoughts. This theoretical proposition concerning the role of behaviours in the maintenance of psychological problems is commonly accepted and empirically validated. To ensure a sustainable therapeutic change in the treatment of bulimia nervosa, therapists may need to initially target these overvalued thoughts about the personal implications of body shape and weight; and then to work on the behaviours that help to maintain the bulimic symptoms. The purpose of the present paper is to discuss the conceptual and practical issues underpinning a therapeutic focus that reflects an integrated clinical approach in the treatment of bulimia nervosa. This integrated approach includes the assessment and disputation of the overvalued thoughts that are causal to bulimia nervosa, and various strategies that facilitate the change in those behaviours that help to maintain the bulimic conditions. Using a case example, this paper also discusses the cognitive behaviour conceptualization in the maintenance of bulimia nervosa.