The effect of social learning on avoidance of aposematic prey in juvenile great tits (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Parus major</Emphasis>)

Social learning plays an important role in acquiring new foraging skills and food preferences in many bird species but its potential role in learning to avoid aposematic prey has never been studied. We tested the effect of social learning on the acquisition of avoidance of aposematic insect prey (firebug Pyrrhocoris apterus; Heteroptera) in juvenile, hand-reared great tits (Parus major). Behaviour towards aposematic prey was compared between two groups of birds: (1) the observers that were, prior to encounter with firebugs, allowed to watch the experienced conspecific demonstrator repeatedly refuse to attack the prey, and (2) the control birds that lacked this opportunity. Observing an experienced demonstrator was not sufficient for learning complete avoidance, because birds from both groups attacked at least the first firebug they had encountered in avoidance training. However, the opportunity to observe the avoidance behaviour of another bird significantly increased the rate of subsequent individual learning of observers in comparison with control birds. Social learning also decreased mortality of firebugs killed by the birds during the avoidance learning. Socially enhanced learning to avoid aposematic prey might be a mechanism important especially for naive juvenile birds learning from their parents, but it could also enhance learning in adults from their more experienced flock mates. Because social learning of avoidance may also lead to decreased mortality of aposematic prey, its effect should be taken into account in scenarios considering evolution and maintenance of prey warning signals.     

Therapy Expectations of Adolescents with Depression Entering Psychodynamic Psychotherapy: A Qualitative Study

Patient expectations about therapy have been regarded as a common factor affecting the course and outcome of psychotherapy. However, little is known about the expectations of adolescents. We aimed to explore the therapy expectations of young people (YP) with depression prior to psychotherapy. We conducted semi-structured interviews with six YP (5 female, 15–19 years old) entering psychodynamic outpatient treatment. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. The careful analysis of the YPs’ accounts yielded the following four key themes: not knowing but being cautiously hopeful; therapy as a long and difficult process; therapy as a place to understand oneself and to develop; and the importance of the professional and interpersonal skills of the therapist. The findings suggest to foster realistic treatment and outcome expectations while at the same time individual therapists should pay careful attention to the specific expectations that YP bring into therapy.     

Two sides of the career resources coin: Career adaptability resources and the impostor phenomenon

Considering the impostor phenomenon (IP) as an important psychological construct in the context of career development requires a theoretical grounding. Using the career construction model of adaptation as a guiding framework, we investigated how the IP is related to adaptive readiness (represented by core self-evaluations), career adaptability resources, and adapting responses, namely, career planning, career decision-making difficulties, career exploration, and occupational self-efficacy. We used parallel multiple mediation modeling to investigate specific indirect effects through concern, control, curiosity, confidence, and the IP. We conducted an online study with 289 university students. Results indicated a positive effect of core self-evaluations on career planning, career exploration, and occupational self-efficacy and a negative effect on career decision-making difficulties through adaptability resources. The IP emerged as a “maladaptability” resource: That is, it might be a hindrance to adaptive coping and behavior and consequently promote maladaptive coping and behavior by decreasing career planning and occupational self-efficacy and increasing career decision-making difficulties. Supplementary negative effects of the IP on adaptability resources are discussed.     

The Role of Perceived Employability,Core Self-Evaluations,and Job Resources on Health and Turnover Intentions

According to Conservation of Resources (COR) theory, this study investigated the explanatory role of perceived employability, over and above core self-evaluations (CSE) and job resources, in relation to different aspects of health (physical and mental) and turnover intentions. Based on data obtained from a sample of 274 Romanian blue-collar employees (59.5% men), hierarchical multiple regressions revealed that perceived employability adds a significant variance compared to variance due to CSE and job resources with respect to aspects of health and turnover. The results highlight the role of perceived employability in health – on an individual level, and in decisions to leave the organization – on an organizational level. The findings are of value because they inform organizations how to design human resources strategies in order to retain a healthy workforce.     

Muslims Love Jesus,Too? Corrective Information Alters Prejudices Against Islam

The present study examined whether prejudices towards Islam can be altered through corrective information. A total of 1715 German participants were first asked to appraise their opinions towards Judaism, Christianity and Islam (the ratings pertained to progressiveness, tolerance, peacefulness). Subsequently, questions regarding knowledge about religious topics were posed to participants. Questions were selected to elicit common prejudices pertaining to Islam. The correct answers were then displayed along with detailed explanations. Finally, participants were asked to rate their current opinion towards the three religions once again. Opinions towards Islam were largely negative at baseline but improved significantly after presentation of the correct answers. The present study suggests that prejudices against Islam are partially fueled by knowledge gaps.     

With or Without Them: Improving Self-Control in Juvenile Offenders

Increasing self-control is a key-factor in the rehabilitation process of young criminals. Based on two well-established theories of self-control, we tested a short mindfulness training and the motivational effect of group identification on a standard self-control measurement in an sample of 57 incarcerated male youth from a German youth detention center. In accordance with our hypothesis, both treatments led to higher self-control than a control group. These findings indicate that mindfulness and group identification foster self-control even in an untrained sample of incarcerated young men and contribute therefore to resource-oriented successful rehabilitation programs.     

The implicit cognition of reciprocal exchange: automatic retrieval of positive and negative experiences with partners in a prisoner's dilemma game

Models of reciprocity imply that cheater detection is an important prerequisite for successful social exchange. Considering the fundamental role of memory in reciprocal exchange, these theories lead to the prediction that memory for cheaters should be preferentially enhanced. Here, we examine whether information of a partner's previous behaviour in an interaction is automatically retrieved when encountering the face of a partner who previously cheated or cooperated. In two studies, participants played a sequential prisoner's dilemma game with cheaters and cooperative partners. Alternating with the game blocks, participants were asked to classify the smiling or angry facial expressions of cooperators and cheaters. Both experiments revealed congruence effects, reflecting faster identification of the smiles of cooperators (Experiments 1 and 2) and faster identification of the angry facial expressions of cheaters (Experiment 2). Our study provides evidence for the automatic retrieval of the partner's behaviour in the game, regardless of whether partners cheated or cooperated, and thus provides further evidence against the cheater detection hypothesis.     

Social Job Resources as Sources of Meaningfulness and its Effects on Nurses’ Vigor and Emotional Exhaustion: A Cross-Sectional Study Among Spanish Nurses

This study investigates the mediating role of psychological meaningfulness among social job resources (i.e., coworkers and supervisor support), vigor, and emotional exhaustion in a nursing context. In spite of progress in understanding which organizational influence affects nurses’ vigor and emotional exhaustion, the psychological mechanisms assumed to underlie the associations have not been fully explored. The sample for this study consisted of 171 nurses from Spanish hospitals (54.4 %) and Primary Care Centers (45.6 %). The mediation model was tested using the bootstrapping procedure. Our findings confirmed that psychological meaningfulness fully mediates the impact of social job resources on vigor at work. Moreover, psychological meaningfulness partially mediated the impact of social job resources on emotional exhaustion. Results suggest that meaningfulness plays an important role in the connection between job resources, vigor, and emotional exhaustion. The findings contribute to our understanding of the psychological processes that can explain how job resources contribute to the energetic aspect of burnout and engagement among nurses. Providing nurses with more social job resources, such as coworker and supervisor support, could activate their levels of personal meaningfulness and thus enhance their levels of well-being at work.     

Exploring Spirituality and Unchurched Religions in America,Sweden, and Japan

A typology of churched and unchurched religions is developed and then used to analyse the status of unchurched spirituality in the United States, Sweden, and Japan. In the United States, churched religions remain strong, while most of those who say they have no religious preference are quite religious, merely unchurched. In Sweden, the lack of participation in the state church seems to be more than offset by a rapid rise in unchurched religion, especially among the young. Japan's celebrated lack of religion is found to be merely a lack of churched religions, as the Japanese are devoted followers of unchurched faiths. In conclusion, the relative lack of authority of unchurched religions is examined.