When customers exhibit verbal aggression, employees pay cognitive costs

In 4 experimental studies, we show that customer verbal aggression impaired the cognitive performance of the targets of this aggression. In Study 1, customers' verbal aggression reduced recall of customers' requests. Study 2 extended these findings by showing that customer verbal aggression impaired recognition memory and working memory among employees of a cellular communication provider. In Study 3, the ability to take another's perspective attenuated the negative effects of customer verbal aggression on participants' cognitive performance. Study 4 linked customer verbal aggression to quality of task performance, showing a particularly negative influence of aggressive requests delivered by high-status customers. Together, these studies suggest that the effects of even minor aggression from customers can strongly affect the immediate cognitive performance of customer service employees and reduce their task performance. The implications for research on aggression and for the practice of customer service are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).     

Genetic Counseling and Testing for FSHD (Facioscapulohumeral Muscular Dystrophy) in the Israeli Population

Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD), is a dominantly inherited, late onset, progressive disease. At present, no treatment or prevention of symptoms are available. There is considerable clinical variability, even within families. The gene whose defect causes FSHD has not been identified, but molecular diagnosis can be made by analyzing D4Z4 repeat length on chromosome 4q35. The results can support or rule out the clinical diagnosis of FSHD, but there are also "gray zone", non-conclusive results. During the years 2000-6, 66 individuals (including 7 asymptomatic individuals), were tested in our institute for D4Z4 repeat number. In 77% of the cases the results were conclusive: two thirds of them supported a diagnosis of FSHD while in a third this diagnosis was ruled out. In 23% the results were in the gray zone. Cognitive involvement was rare, occurring only when the D4Z4 repeat size was very small (<15 kb). Maximal utilization of the existing molecular test for FSHD demands detailed clinical and family pedigree information. We recommend that comprehensive genetic counseling always be given before and after molecular testing for FSHD, in addition to the neurological follow-up. Presymptomatic testing should only be offered when complete molecular evaluation can be offered, including 4qA and 4qB variant analysis.     

Coping strategies and leadership in the adaptation to social change: The Israeli Kibbutz

This research assessed adaptation to community change in the Israeli kibbutz. A sample of 270 kibbutz members provided self-reports on their perception of the leaders of the change, change appraisals, coping strategies, and assessment of change outcomes. The main results showed that the perception of transformational leadership was negatively related to threat/loss and positively related to challenge/controllability appraisals; challenge/controllability appraisals were related positively to problem-focused coping and positive affect, whereas threat/loss appraisals were related positively to emotion-focused coping and negative affect. The findings contribute to an understanding of the stress and coping processes during a major change in a communal way of life, and underline the importance of leadership perception as a resource that contributes to better adaptation.     

Cognitive Vulnerabilities as Predictors of Stress Generation in Early Adolescence: Pathway to Depressive Symptoms

Although individuals with depression have been found to experience a higher rate of stress in their lives, it remains unclear to what extent other personal characteristics may contribute to stress generation. The current study extended past research by examining the effects of two theoretically and empirically supported cognitive vulnerabilities to depression (negative cognitive style and rumination) as predictors of dependent interpersonal and achievement events, independent events, and relational peer victimization. In a diverse sample of 301 early adolescents (56 % female; M_age?=?12.82 years), we found that negative cognitive style prospectively predicted the experience of dependent interpersonal stress and relational victimization, and that rumination did not predict stress in any of the domains. Furthermore, the occurrence of intervening stress mediated the associations between negative cognitive style and subsequent depressive symptoms. Additionally, whereas negative cognitive style predicted relational victimization among both boys and girls, girls were particularly vulnerable to developing depressive symptoms following the occurrence of relational victimization. Thus, a negative cognitive style may contribute to the occurrence of stressful events, which in turn increases depressive symptoms. Girls may be particularly reactive to relational victimization, representing one pathway through which sex differences in depression may emerge.     

TOWARD A BALANCED HISTORY: “OHEL,” THE “WORKERS THEATRE OF ERETZ YISRAEL” AS A CULTURAL ALTERNATIVE TO HABIMA (1935–1946)

Ohel (Hebrew: tent) is the only theatre among the troupes established in Tel Aviv in the 1920s that survived the serious threat posed by the famous Habima when the latter settled in Tel Aviv in 1931. This article offers a history whose aim is to balance between Habima and its central position, and the marginal position of Ohel in traditional history, as well as offering an interpretation of new materials that undermine the accepted myths of the Hebrew theatre. The article examines the discourse obtaining between Ohel and Habima, and focuses on the alternative that Ohel offered the public. It thereby provides the field of Hebrew theatre with a “living historical depth” that is sorely missing in the conventional history.     

Trial-to-trial sequential dependencies in a social and non-social Simon task

Recent research has shown that joint-action effects in a social Simon task provide a good index of action co-representation. The present study aimed to specify the mechanisms underlying joint action by considering trial-to-trial transitions. Using non-social stimuli, we assigned a Simon task to two participants. Each was responsible for only one of two possible responses. This task was performed alone (Individual go/nogo task) and in cooperation with another person who was sitting alongside (Joint go/nogo task). As a further control task, we added a Standard Simon task. Replicating previous findings (Sebanz et al. in Cognition 88:B11-B21, 2003), we found no spatial compatibility effect in the Individual go/nogo task but we did find one in the Joint go/nogo task. A more detailed analysis showed that a sequential modulation of the Simon effect was present in both the Joint and the Individual go/nogo tasks. We found reliable Simon effects in trials following Simon compatible trials not only in the Joint go/nogo task but also to a somewhat smaller extent in the Individual go/nogo task. For both these go/nogo tasks, sequential modulation effects were stronger for nogo/go transitions than for go/go transitions. This suggests that low-level feature binding and repetition mechanisms contribute to the social Simon effect related to the specific requirement not to respond on nogo trials.     

Imagery of errors in typing

Using a typing task we investigated whether insufficient imagination of errors and error corrections is related to duration differences between execution and imagination. In Experiment 1 spontaneous error imagination was investigated, whereas in Experiment 2 participants were specifically instructed to imagine errors. Further, in Experiment 2 we manipulated correction instructions (whether or not to correct errors) and controlled for visual feedback in executed typing (letters appearing on the screen or not). Participants executed and imagined typing proverbs of different lengths. Errors and error corrections explained a significant amount of variance of execution minus imagination differences in Experiment 1, and in Experiment 2 when participants were instructed to correct errors, but not when participants were instructed not to correct errors. In Experiment 2 participants corrected and reported more errors with than without visual feedback. However, the relation between execution − imagination duration differences and errors and error corrections was unaffected by visual feedback. The types of errors reported less often in imagination than in execution were related to processes in typing execution. We conclude that errors and error corrections are not spontaneously imagined during motor imagery, and that even when attention is drawn to their occurrence only some are imagined. This may be due to forward models not predicting all aspects of an action, imprecise forward models, or a neglect of monitoring error signals during motor imagery.     

Visual spatial skill: a consequence of learning to read?

Does learning to read influence one’s visual skill? In Study 1, kindergartners from Hong Kong, Korea, Israel, and Spain were tested on word reading and a task of visual spatial skill. Chinese and Korean kindergartners significantly outperformed Israeli and Spanish readers on the visual task. Moreover, in all cultures except Korea, good readers scored significantly higher on the visual task than did less good readers. In Study 2, we followed 215 Hong Kong Chinese kindergartners across 1 year, with word reading and visual skills tested twice. In this study, word reading at Time 1 by itself predicted 13% of unique variance in visual skill at Time 2. Together, these results underscore the potential importance of the process of learning to read for shaping one’s visual spatial skill development.     

The traumatic roots of containment: the evolution of Bion's metapsychology

W. R. Bion wrote repeatedly about his World War I experiences as a tank officer, thus engaging in historicizing a traumatic emotional experience. A close reading of the many layers in these writings suggests that the war experiences influenced the metapsychology he created. The author argues that haunting questions regarding the ability of the mind to survive trauma led Bion to elaborate on the process of containing emotional experience, and hence to address the lack of an intricate theory of thinking in psychoanalytic metapsychology and to offer a vision of a mind struggling to survive, culminating in the growth of a postmodern consciousness.