The topography of training-induced visual field recovery: Perimetric maps and subjective representations

The cognitive representation of blind regions varies considerably between patients with vision loss and may influence compensatory behaviour and treatment motivation. We therefore measured “objective” visual field topography (perimetry) in 19 patients with postgeniculate visual system lesions and related this to the subjective scotoma representation as expressed by patients’ drawings of the defect and monitored changes of these measures during training-induced recovery of function. Blind regions were mostly adequately represented; however, central regions were overestimated and peripheral areas underestimated in size. Perimetric and subjective defect size decreased significantly during training. Again, training-induced visual field border shifts in central regions were larger in subjective than in perimetric maps but vice versa in the peripheral field. Thus, vision restoration therapy improves “objective” visual field size along with its cognitive representation. The subjective topography is shaped by the functional importance of visual field regions and is a function of cortical magnification, thus resembling the neural representation in visual cortex.     

Looking at selection from a social process perspective: Towards a social process model on personnel selection

Traditional selection practice and research has exclusively focused on ''product'' and ''procedural'' characteristics of selection (e.g., reliability, validity of selection tools). This perspective is characterized by assumptions underlying the ''psychometric'' model on selection. Mainly triggered by environmental changes and present-day assessment practices, a new perspective on selection has emerged since the beginning of the 1990s, namely the negotiation perspective. The negotiation perspective pays attention to the social-emotional processes during selection. In this article, we explore the process side of personnel selection to a further extent. Based on relevant literature and research findings, we present a conceptual model of job applicants' expectations and appreciation of the selection encounter. The Social Process model on Selection (SPS model) contains eight process characteristics. We assume job applicants to value/have expectations of: (1) provision of general information on the job opening, (2) participation and control, (3) openness to assertiveness, (4) creation of transparency of testing, (5) provision of feedback, (6) guarantee of objectivity and standardization, (7) assurance of human treatment, and (8) respect for privacy and job relevance of information gathering. Directions for further research are discussed.     

Bullying in Danish work-life: Prevalence and health correlates

Given the pioneering role of Scandinavian research in the field of bullying at work, it is surprising that Danish researchers have largely ignored this problem. Presumably, this has led to a situation where many Danish company managers and unions ignore the high individual and organizational costs of workplace bullying. An additional effect of this lack of research is that it has been difficult to estimate the extent to which the prevalence of bullying varies in different sectors of Danish work-life. Furthermore, the scarcity of research has impeded us from determining whether a low prevalence of bullying is a general characteristic of Scandinavian work-life as indicated by previous Swedish and Norwegian studies. Yet again, making such between-nations comparisons in the prevalence of workplace bullying is difficult given the tendency amongst researchers to employ different ways of measuring bullying. The aims of the present study were: (1) to assess the prevalence of bullying in Danish work-life; (2) to investigate if exposure to bullying behaviours at work is related to self-reported psychological and psychosomatic stress symptoms; (3) to examine potential differences in the prevalence of bullying in various work sectors; (4) to explore the hypothesis that, generally, Scandinavian work-life is characterized by low levels of bullying; and (5) to investigate the extent to which using different criteria for assessing bullying results in disparate prevalence estimates. Results showed that 2-4% of the respondents reported being victims of bullying, in most cases only occasionally. Compared to self-reported bullying, prevalence levels based on an operational definition of bullying (i.e., weekly exposure to one act for at least 6 months) were higher in all the samples, between 8% and 25%. When using a more strict criterion of two acts a week, these figures were significantly reduced. Exposure to bullying was found to be associated with increased self-reported strain reactions.     

Job insecurity and the benefits of work

The presented study combines conservation of resource theory with latent deprivation theory to explain the negative relationship between job insecurity and mental health. Specifically, we propose that people who face the threat of job insecure would perceive worse access to the benefits of work, which would explain the negative effect of job insecurity on mental health. In a two-wave study, employees rated their perceived job insecurity, their access to the benefits of work, and their mental health. Cross-sectional multiple mediation analysis at Time 1 (n = 295) and Time 2 (n = 236) showed that the negative relationship between job insecurity and mental health was partly due to a perceived lack of the benefits of work. Longitudinal results (n = 173) revealed that job insecurity was related to a decrease in financial benefits, which in turn predicted mental health. However, this effect was only visible if it was not controlled for prior levels of the benefits of work. The results are discussed with regards to conservation of resource theory and latent deprivation theory and the potential of this framework for explaining negative mental health effects of job insecurity.     

Inglehart‐Welzel's Traditional vs. Rational index revisited: A comparison between China and the West

Inglehart‐Welzel's ‘Traditional‐Rational’ Index has been widely accepted as a way to summarize changes in values between agricultural and industrial societies. An empirical re‐examination of the Index using the most recent World Values Survey data, however, suggests that it fails to represent the value profiles of mainland Chinese. I introduce a five‐item measurement called ‘Confucian Index of interpersonal relations’. It aims to capture some salient values in Chinese culture and show that, in China, Confucian values that govern interpersonal relations within one's immediate social environment are not in conflict with support for democratic government and social liberal values, such as tolerance and trust. The opposite is very much true in the rich West, where those who endorse ‘Confucian’ values are less tolerant of social diversity and where Inglehart's Index does make a lot of sense.     

Hesitation in communication: Does minority status delay responses?

Past studies indicated that people in a minority (vs. majority) position are slower to express their public/political opinion, and the larger the difference between the size of the two positions, the slower the response. Bassili termed this the minority‐slowness effect (MSE). In the current study, two experiments were conducted to demonstrate that MSE extends to people's understanding of utterances and explored the cognitive basis for this. Participants were asked to judge if an utterance is a ‘direct’ or an ‘indirect’ expression. The results show that participants in the minority (vs. majority) took longer to respond, and the larger the difference between the size of majority and minority, the longer the response latency (Study 1a). Furthermore, participants were aware of their own minority position (Study 1b). In Study 2, when participants were deprived of cognitive resources, MSE disappeared, presumably because participants lack the cognitive resources required to conform to utterance interpretation as favoured by the majority.     

Cognitive Mechanisms Underlying Decrements in Mental Synthesis in Older Adults

The extent and nature of age-related differences in mental synthesis was examined in light of Baddeley's working memory model and resource theories. Mental synthesis performance of 30 young, young-old, middle-old and old-old adults was examined using a dual-task experiment and individual differences approach. Age-related differences in mental synthesis were shown, with an unprecedented heightened decrement evident after the age of 85. The central executive was not a mechanism of this decline. Executive function, speed of information processing, and working memory capacity were mechanisms underlying this decline, and together accounted for 86% of the age-related variance in mental synthesis. Environmental support enhanced mental synthesis.     

Antecedents and consequences of adolescents' motivations to join the family business

This study investigates the career development of adolescents with a family business background through a motivational lens. Drawing on self-determination theory, antecedents and consequences of three succession motivations (autonomous, e.g., career interest; introjected, e.g., family obligation; external, e.g., job opportunities) were analyzed in a sample of 152 adolescents in family firms. Structural equation modeling revealed that parental relational support and adolescent's perceived entrepreneurial competence predicted autonomous motivation, whereas parental control related to introjected motivation. Moreover, autonomous motivation related positively to offspring's succession likelihood. Findings point to the relevance of parental career-specific behaviors in the early process of career and succession planning in family firms.     

Lexical access revisited: Evidence from picture-pseudoword interference

In the present picture–word interference experiments, auditory pseudoword distractors were constructed to be semantically, phonologically, or doubly (semantically and phonologically) similar to the target. The degree and the location of segmental overlap with the target and/or the semantic alternative were varied systematically. The results reveal that different degrees of overlap with the target and/or the semantic alternative induce a fine-grained pattern of interference effects in picture naming, while the location of overlap is less influential. Implications of the present findings for models of lexical retrieval are discussed.     

The Factor Structure of the Figural Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking: A Meta-Confirmatory Factor Analysis

To investigate the factor structure of the Figural Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (Figural TTCT), a meta-confirmatory factor analysis was performed. A sample of 33 correlation matrices from 26 studies (N_individuals = 6,982) was included in the meta-analysis. Four different factor models previously presented in the literature were tested to determine which model fits the data best. The results supported a 2-factor structure model in which fluency and originality subscales loaded on the innovative factor; elaboration, abstractness of titles, and resistance to premature closure subscales loaded on the adaptive factor. Implications, limitations, and suggestions for future research are discussed.