The effects of leader illegitimacy on leaders' and subordinates' responses to relinquishing power decisions

This research examined how leader illegitimacy affects leaders' and subordinates' responses to relinquishing power decisions. The processes underlying responses to leader illegitimacy and relinquishing power were also examined. Across four studies, participants were placed in leader roles (Studies 1a/1b) or subordinate roles (Studies 2a/2b) in an online competition. In Studies 1a/1b, participants assigned a leadership role learned, via a leadership skills test, that their leadership was illegitimate or legitimate. By contrast, in Studies 2a/2b, participants assigned a subordinate role were confronted with either an illegitimate leader who retained their power after performing poorly or a legitimate leader who received the leader role after a poor‐performing leader had relinquished their power. Results demonstrated that leaders who felt they did not belong in their leadership role relinquished more power when their leadership was illegitimate (vs. legitimate) and subordinates who felt less in control and greater anger supported illegitimate (vs. legitimate) leaders less.     

The Effect of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy on Irrational Career Beliefs of Students of Electrical Electronics and Other Engineering Trades in Technical Colleges in Nigeria

Irrational beliefs are factors that can explain students’ emotional and/or pragmatic problems. Irrational career beliefs are career myths, maladaptive cognitions and inaccurate beliefs regarding career and the work world which impact negatively on career decision-making. The present research investigated the effectiveness of rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT) on irrational career beliefs of students of electrical electronics, automobile trade, building/woodwork and mechanical trades in technical colleges in Nigeria. Using a pretest–posttest control group, 173 participants were assessed quantitatively at four time points. One-way ANOVA, repeated-measures ANOVA and paired sample t test were utilized for analysis of data. Posttest results indicated that the irrational career beliefs of the REBT participants declined significantly compared to a waitlist control group. Furthermore, results of both 3- and 6-months follow-up evaluations showed that the significant reduction in irrational career beliefs of the REBT participants was maintained. Therefore, supporting interventions which aim to promote functional career beliefs and thoughts among the citizens, beginning from the early school years to the graduate school level and in the workplaces, should be considered a top policy issue in Nigeria. Further studies are needed to examine whether exposing students to an REBT program can lead to less anxiety related to career decision-making and improved career self-efficacy beliefs.     

The Confluence of Adverse Early Experience and Puberty on the Cortisol Awakening Response

Associations between early deprivation/neglect in the form of institutional care with the cortisol awakening response (CAR) were examined as a function of pubertal status among 12- and 13-year-old post-institutionalized youth. CARs indexed hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical reactivity. Post-institutionalized youth were compared to youth adopted internationally from foster care (adoption control) and to nonadopted youth reared in families comparable in parental education and income to the adoptive families. Post-institutionalized youth exhibited a blunted CAR if they were at earlier but not if they were at later stages of puberty. Similarly, for both groups of internationally adopted youth combined, earlier but not later stages of puberty were associated with more blunted CARs at higher but not lower levels of parent-reported pre-adoption physical and social neglect.     

Three-dimensional spatial representation in freely swimming fish

Research on spatial cognition has focused on how animals encode the horizontal component of space. However, most animals travel vertically within their environments, particularly those that fly or swim. Pelagic fish move with six degrees of freedom and must integrate these components to navigate accurately—how do they do this? Using an assay based on associative learning of the vertical and horizontal components of space within a rotating Y-maze, we found that fish (Astyanax fasciatus) learned and remembered information from both horizontal and vertical axes when they were presented either separately or as an integrated three-dimensional unit. When information from the two components conflicted, the fish used the previously learned vertical information in preference to the horizontal. This not only demonstrates that the horizontal and vertical components are stored separately in the fishes’ representation of space (simplifying the problem of 3D navigation), but also suggests that the vertical axis contains particularly salient spatial cues—presumably including hydrostatic pressure. To explore this latter possibility, we developed a physical theoretical model that shows how fish could determine their absolute depth using pressure. We next considered full volumetric spatial cognition. Astyanax were trained to swim towards a reward in a Y-maze that could be rotated, before the arms were removed during probe trials. The subjects were tracked in three dimensions as they swam freely through the surrounding cubic tank. The results revealed that fish are able to accurately encode metric information in a volume, and that the error accrued in the horizontal and vertical axes whilst swimming in probe trials was similar. Together, these experiments demonstrate that unlike in surface-bound rats, the vertical component of the representation of space is vitally important to fishes. We hypothesise that the representation of space in the brain of vertebrates could ultimately be shaped by the number of the degrees of freedom of movement that binds the navigating animal.     

Social support,coping, and depressive symptoms in cardiac illness among Hispanic and non-Hispanic White cardiac patients

In Multi-Trait Multi-Method (MTMM) studies of causal attributions for laboratory events, there is little evidence of convergent and discriminant validity for attribution measures. We report the first MTMM study to investigate the validity of two methods of eliciting causal beliefs for an illness, specifically, myocardial infarction. Adult respondents (N?=?107) listed causes of MI, then completed questionnaire rating scales for causal beliefs for MI. Measures were compared using both Campbell and Fiske's approach to MTMM analyses, and a Confirmatory Factor Analysis approach. Neither single item measures causal beliefs, nor scales of causal beliefs derived using exploratory factor analysis provided much evidence of convergent and discriminant validity. Confirmatory factor analysis showed that a model containing only causal belief factors provided a moderately good fit to the data. Adding a questionnaire method factor significantly improved the fit of the model, as well as substantially changing the pattern of factor loadings: loadings of questionnaire items on causal belief factors were markedly reduced. These results highlight major problems with the measurement of causal beliefs, and in particular question the validity of factor analysis of questionnaire measures of causal beliefs. They also suggest that at least some of the MI causal belief factors reported in the literature are artefacts of common questionnaire method variance.     

Time orientation and health-related behaviour: Measurement in general population samples

Research on health behaviour and time orientation has been hindered by a lack of consensus about appropriate measurement. Study 1 assessed the reliability of the Consideration of Future Consequences Scale (CFC) and the Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory (ZTPI) in a general population sample (n?=?300). Although more reliable, the CFC was less readable. Study 2 assessed the validity of a shortened ZTPI, measuring future and present orientation, and the full CFC. The measures had good discrimination to distinguish interpersonal differences. Construct validity of present, but not future, orientation as measured by the ZTPI, was evidenced by its mediation of the association between socioeconomic status and expectations of participating in diabetes screening. The CFC mediated this relationship more weakly. Further investigation of present orientation in understanding health-related behaviour is warranted.     

Genetic counselling: Predicting patient outcomes

Abstract

With the rapid development of genetic testing, the demand for genetic counselling is increasing. Yet there is little known about what makes for effective or efficient genetic counselling. The aim of the current study is to determine the main factors influencing outcomes of genetic consultations. One hundred and thirty one routine consultations conducted in a regional genetics centre were audiotaped, transcribed and coded. The main predictors of outcome tested were pre-interview patient and counsellor expectations; pre-interview patient concerns; length of consultations; counsellor directiveness; and the extent to which social and emotional issues are addressed in the consultation. The main outcomes were the patient's view of the extent to which their expectations were met, their satisfaction with information provided, and concern about the problem they were referred with.

Although there were six significant correlations between the process of consultation and outcome variables, multivariate analyses revealed no significant predictors of any of the outcomes. Using multiple regression analyses, small amounts of variance in patient outcomes were predicted by patient and counsellor variables assessed before the consultation, but none was predicted by any of the process measures made of the consultation. Various explanations are considered to explain the lack of influence of process variables upon outcomes. One possible explanation for these findings is that the consultation has a minimal effect upon patient outcomes. Alternatively, the study, in design or analysis, was not sufficiently sensitive to detect the influential aspects of the consultation.     

Differential response patterns to disgust-related pictures

ABSTRACT

In the present study, attentional bias was investigated as a potential predisposing mechanism for the contamination-related subtype of obsessive-compulsive disorder (C-OC disorder). Fifty healthy participants with varying degrees of subclinical C-OC symptoms performed a visual search task to measure differential attentional biases elicited by neutral, disgust-, and fear-specific pictorial material. Participants had to find a target picture within five neutral distractor pictures randomly presented on different locations in an array. The task was to decide whether the array contained an unpleasant target picture or not. In randomly-selected emotional trials, participants were further asked about the content of the picture and the confidence of their answer. The results show that the reaction times significantly differed between the emotional and neutral pictures. Participants were significantly more confident in answering questions referring to fear compared to disgust pictures. This effect was marginally amplified in participants with higher C-OC symptoms. We discuss the results within the framework of the cost and benefit hypothesis, which postulates that disgust evolutionarily elicits stronger uncertainty compared to fear, owing to the ambiguous nature of the stimuli. Increased uncertainty might be an important but underestimated factor for pathological disgust experience, such as in obsessive-compulsive disorder.     

Has Average Joe Got Inner Conflicts? Positioning the Self and the Meaning of Mid-Range Scores on the Big Five Traits

In this article we explore dilemmas with interpreting mid-range scores on Big Five personality traits. Using dialogical self theory, we hypothesized that mid-trait individuals would report more conflict between I-positions congruent with the trait domain concerned, for example, conflict between I-as-bold and I-as-reserved in the domain of Extraversion. A community sample of 147 participants completed a Big Five trait measure, the NEO Personality Inventory (NEO PI-R), and the I-Position Inventory (IPI). The IPI contains 88 I-position statements generated from previous research and clinical assessments. Fifty-two of the statements form 26 opposing pairs (e.g., I-as-optimist vs. I-as-pessimist). To measure the most salient I-position conflicts, respondents were asked to rank these pairs (only the top five pairs were ranked). In support of the conflict hypothesis, for three of the Big Five traits, individuals who scored mid-range reported more conflict between I-positions congruent with the trait than did respondents in the upper and lower quartiles of the distribution (significant for Extraversion, Openness to Experience, and Agreeableness). We argue the findings highlight problems of interpretation for mid-range trait scores that arise from the limitations of aggregation methods, but also from a compromised theoretical foundation. Trait theory masks dynamic processes as well as social contexts.     

Twilight of a Dilemma: A Réplique

In light of the nine open peer commentaries, we further explicate the social projection model and highlight its boundaries. We acknowledge that our model—like any extant model—cannot account for all the available empirical data. Yet the model is strong because it explains cooperation in a variety of social dilemmas and experimental games while deploying only one psychological construct as a parameter. Compared with its competitors, the social projection model more openly recognizes the struggle with uncertainty a person caught in a social dilemma must confront. In a series of simulations (and brute math), we show that cooperation can survive when players (humans) stay the Bayesian course.