Can job seekers achieve more through networking? The role of networking intensity,self-efficacy,and proximal benefits

The authors develop and evaluate an online networking intervention, Building Relationships and Improving Opportunities (BRIO), built in conjunction with the networking literature and social cognitive theory (Bandura, 1986, 1999). A field experiment using 491 unemployed job seekers shows that the intervention increases networking intensity, networking self-efficacy, and proximal networking benefits. Further, the intervention generates higher quality reemployment through its positive effects on networking self-efficacy. Individuals who completed the intervention and were also lower in extraversion showed the most positive improvements in networking self-efficacy and reemployment quality. The study advances the literature by uncovering the mechanisms through which a networking intervention may result in improved reemployment success, and demonstrating the moderating role of individual differences in affecting intervention outcomes. The study helps practice by providing a publicly available, research-based training to improve job search networking.     

Contributions of Behavioural Decision Theory to Research in Political Science

Cet article aborde la question de l'application de la Théorie de la Décision Comportementale (BDT) à deux domaines de la recherche en Sciences-Politiques, le comportement électoral et les relations internationales. On commence par un bref survol de la BDT, puis on passe à ce qui n'est maintenant que l'amorce de l'exploitation de la BDT dans les Sciences-Politiques. Dans le premier exemple, notre intérêt est focalisé sur les décisions prises par le public et dans le second sur celles prises par les élites politiques, mais la distinction masse-élite peut se révéler secondaire par rapport aux situations dans lesquelles émergent les décisions électorales ou de politique étrangère. Dans la présentation de ces deux exemples, on tente de replacer l'investigation reposant sur les aperçus de la BDT dans le contexte plus vaste de la recherche dans ce secteur.
This paper discusses the application of behavioural decision theory (BDT) to two areas of political science research: voting behaviour and international relations. We begin with a brief overview of BDT, and then turn to what is now only the beginnings of the utilisation of BDT in political science. In the first instance we focus on decision making by the mass public, and in the second on decision making by political elites, but, as we shall see, the mass-elite distinction may not be as important as the different situations or contexts in which voting and foreign policy decisions are typically made. In both instances, we will try to put research relying on the insights of behavioural decision theory into a broader context of research in the field.     

Perceptual asymmetry for chimeric faces across the life span

Perceptual asymmetries for processing chimeric faces were investigated in dextral subjects, ranging in age from 5 years to elderly adults. The task involved deciding which member of a pair of face chimeras presented in free vision looks happier, the one with the smile to the left or its mirror image with the smile to the right (Levy, Heller, Banich, & Burton, 1983a, Brain and Cognition, 2, 404-419). A leftward bias was found for all age groups. However, kindergarteners' mean asymmetry score was lower than that of all other groups combined, most likely due to noise in their data. The direction in which subjects drew circles with their left and right hands was also observed as an index of interhemispheric communication. All groups showed a bias toward drawing the circles in concordant directions except the kindergarteners. The relation between subjects' performance on the circle drawing and facebook tasks is discussed.     

An examination of the relation of individual difference variables to loneliness

This study investigated the relation of five individual difference variables (extroversion, depression, self-esteem, neuroticism, and attitude toward others) to loneliness. The relative contributions of two different models that might explain these relations were examined. One model suggests that individual difference variables are related to loneliness through the mediation of social network variables; that is, individual difference variables may reduce people's motivation and/or ability to build and maintain social relationships, which in turn leads to loneliness. The second model, the cognitive bias model, states that both the individual difference variables and loneliness are influenced by the same intrapersonal, cognitive processes. Some people are prone to negative affect and tend to evaluate themselves and their relationships negatively. The relations of self-esteem, neuroticism, and depression to loneliness were hypothesized to reflect the cognitive bias model, while extroversion and attitudes toward others were hypothesized to be related to loneliness through the mediation of social network variables. Eighty-two female and 42 male adults completed measures of loneliness and the five individual difference variables, as well as an instrument assessing their social networks. The results indicated partial support for both models for each of the individual difference variables. Together, the two models did a good job of explaining the correlations of the individual difference variables and loneliness. The implications of these findings, as well as their relation to previous research, are discussed.