Evolution by Natural Selection: Darwin's Gift to Science and Religion

The argument-from-design, based on biological evidence, was elaborated by William Paley in his Natural Theology (1802). It was revived in the 1990s by several authors, with a new moniker, the theory of intelligent design. In The Origin of Species (1859), Darwin advanced a scientific explanation of the design of organisms: evolution by natural selection. Organisms are pervaded by imperfections, dysfunctions, cruelties, and even sadism. The theory of evolution accounts for these mishaps, by natural selection, so that they need not be attributed to God's explicit design. The theory of evolution by natural selection is Darwin's gift to religion, in addition to its centrality in biology.     

Psychosocial wellbeing in the Central and Eastern European transition: An overview and systematic bibliographic review

This paper presents the results of a systematic review of literature on the psychosocial wellbeing of populations in Central and Eastern Europe during the transition period subsequent to the fall of the Soviet Bloc. A revision of research addressing emotional wellbeing trends in this period and theoretical models was carried in order to verify their validity in the analysis of empirical studies. Hence, a systematic bibliographic review was conducted, aiming to find possible subjective mediators between social variables derived from changes and emotional wellbeing. The results of the review show that subjective mediators such as locus of control, perceived control, self‐efficacy beliefs, perceived familial support, and the subjective evaluation of social change explain part of the relationship between macrosocial changes and emotional wellbeing. Results appear coherent with proposed multidimensional models of social change and mental health, although further research should be conducted to determine the specific weight of these phenomena in individual emotional wellbeing.     

Detection of emotional faces: low perceptual threshold and wide attentional span

In two experiments, prime face stimuli with an emotional or a neutral expression were presented individually for 25 to 125 ms, either in foveal or parafoveal vision; following a mask, a probe face or a word label appeared for recognition. Accurate detection and sensitivity (A') were higher for angry, happy, and sad faces than for nonemotional (neutral) or novel (scheming) faces at short exposure times (25-75 ms), in both the foveal and the parafoveal field, and with both the probe face and the probe word. These results indicate that there is a low perceptual threshold for unambiguous emotional faces, which are especially likely to be detected both within and outside the focus of attention; and that this facilitated detection involves processing of the affective meaning of faces, not only discrimination of formal visual features.     

Incremental Validity of Alexithymia, Emotional Coping and Humor Style on Happiness and Psychological Well-Being

This study attempts to ascertain whether alexithymia, suppression and reappraisal coping, and humor styles account for incremental variance in happiness (Lyubomirsky’s scale) and psychological well-being (Ryff’s scale), after controlling for Big Five traits and emotional positivity ratio of previous day’s mood. A total of 355 psychology undergraduates (72 % women) responded to measures of each construct, and two hierarchical multiple regressions were carried out for happiness and psychological well-being. The Big Five were entered in the first regression block, alexithymia was entered in a second block, and affiliative, self-enhancing, aggressive and self-defeating humor style, reappraisal and suppression coping were entered in the third block, and previous day’s mood in the last step. Alexithymia accounted for a small proportion of variance in psychological well-being, controlling for the Big Five traits. Suppression and affiliative, self-enhancing and self-defeating humor explained a complementary amount of variance in happiness and psychological well-being, controlling for the previous day’s mood, confirming the association of emotional regulation and affect with judgments of happiness and well-being. Taking into account humor and suppression, the multivariate association of alexithymia disappears. Results suggest that low suppression, low self-critical use of humor and affiliative humor are correlates of psychological well-being, whereas self-enhancing humor and low suppression are correlates of happiness, playing a mediational role between personality traits and well-being.     

Correlates of Happiness Among Older Spanish Institutionalised and Non-Institutionalised Adults

The overall objective of this study was to explore the current (i.e., at the time of the study) and past (i.e., over their lifetimes) happiness of 65-year-old and older men and women who had different personal and socio-demographic characteristics. We also investigated the role of affect balance and life satisfaction as sources of participants’ subjective well-being, as well as the contribution of other psychosocial variables, including self-efficacy, optimism, health and quality of life, stress, social support and leisure, and of socio-demographic conditions. Further, we examined the influence of institutionalisation on happiness and on the aforementioned psychosocial variables. Participants voluntarily completed self-reports regarding all of these variables. Participants’ current happiness (M = 6.6 on a 0–10 scale) was significantly lower than their past happiness (M = 7.7). The happiness of the institutionalised participants did not differ from that of the non-institutionalised participants, although significant differences were found for a number of psychosocial variables. Affect balance and life satisfaction were significant correlates and predictors of current happiness, which was also associated with many psychosocial variables and was further predicted by past happiness, health indicators and some life dimensions assessed as perceived sources of one’s own happiness, such as a sense of autonomy and independence. Our results highlight the importance of establishing both happiness and its correlates to develop interventions aimed at promoting subjective well-being in older people, given that, compared to earlier periods in life, happiness may be reduced in late adulthood.     

The Cross‐cultural Transportability of Situational Judgment Tests: How does a US‐based integrity situational judgment test fare in Spain?

Despite the globalization of HRM, there is a dearth of research on the potential use of contextualized selection instruments such as situational judgment tests (SJTs) in other countries than those where the selection instruments were originally developed. Therefore, two studies are conducted to examine the transportability of an integrity SJT that was originally developed in the United States to a Spanish context. Study 1 showed that most SJT scenarios (16 out of 19) that were developed in the United States were also considered realistic in a Spanish context. In Study 2, the item option endorsement patterns converged to the original scoring scheme, with the exception of two items. In addition, there were high correlations between the original US empirical scoring scheme and two empirical scoring schemes that were tailored to the Spanish context (i.e., mode consensus scoring and proportional consensus scoring). Finally, correlations between the SJT integrity scores and ratings on a self‐report integrity measure did not differ significantly from each other according to the type of scoring key (original US scoring vs. Spanish scoring keys). Overall, these results shed light on potential issues and solutions related to the cross‐cultural use of contextualized selection instruments such as SJTs.     

Perceived positive and negative consequences after surviving cancer and their relation to quality of life

Surviving childhood cancer has multiple implications on both physical and psychological domains of the individual. However, its study and possible effects on health‐related quality of life (HRQoL) outcomes of adolescent survivors has been understudied. The objective of this study was twofold; to assess positive and negative cancer‐related consequences (psychosocial and physical) in a sample of adolescent cancer survivors and to explore their relationship with HRQoL outcomes. Forty‐one participants answered two questions about positive and negative consequences in the aftermath of cancer and filled in the KIDSCREEN‐52 self‐reported version. Data were analysed using mixed methods approach. Overall, 87.8% of the studied sample identified positive consequences and 63.4% negative consequences in survivorship. Four positive categories and five negative categories with regard to cancer‐related consequences were found. Changed perspectives in life narratives seem to be the positive consequence more related to HRQoL (physical well‐being, mood & emotions, autonomy, social support & peers), followed by useful life experience (physical well‐being, autonomy, social support & peers). Psychological impact was the most referred negative consequence with a significant detrimental effect on social support and peers HRQoL dimension. Even if the majority of survivors reported benefit finding in the aftermath of cancer, concomitant positive and negative consequences have been found. However, findings only reveal a significant relationship between positive narratives and HRQoL, and negative consequences do not seem to have a significant influence on overall HRQoL in survivorship.     

Humor styles and personality: A meta‐analysis of the relation between humor styles and the Big Five personality traits

This research summarizes the knowledge generated in social psychology and positive psychology about the relationship between humor styles, personality and wellbeing. Specifically, a meta‐analysis was performed with the results of 15 studies on humor styles measured by the Humor Styles Questionnaire (Martin, Puhlik‐Doris, Larsen, Gray & Weir, 2003) in correlation with the personality traits measured by the Big Five Personality model (measured with different scales). Following the steps presented by Rosenthal (1991) for meta‐analysis in the case of correlational research, we calculated the total mean r as an indicator of effect size. Results show that affiliative humor has a strong and homogeneous relation to neuroticism and extraversion. The homogeneity and heterogeneity found between variables and possible explanations are discussed in the conclusion.     

History of Religious Delusions and Psychosocial Functioning Among Mexican Patients with Paranoid Schizophrenia

The association between global functionality and religiosity among patients from developing and predominantly Catholic countries warrants attention. To compare religiosity and psychosocial functioning in Mexican schizophrenia patients with and without a history of religious delusions, seventy-four patients with paranoid schizophrenia were recruited. Patients with a history of religious delusions had more psychiatric hospitalizations and poorer psychosocial functioning compared with those without a history of religious delusions. No differences emerged between groups in the total scores of religiosity scales. A history of religious delusions rather than religiosity itself may have an influence on psychosocial functioning among Mexican patients with schizophrenia.     

The Influence of Change-Oriented Leadership and Psychological Safety on Team Learning in Healthcare Teams

Purpose

Researchers have identified team learning as an important predictor of team performance. In healthcare organizations, it is especially critical for care quality and hospital performance that teams engage in learning behaviors to reduce errors and improve service effectiveness. The main objective of this study is to examine the role of change-oriented leadership in the learning process and outcomes of healthcare teams.

Design/Methodology/Approach

The sample comprises a total of 698 healthcare professionals working in 107 teams at different public hospitals throughout Spain. Members of teams were invited to participate voluntarily by completing an anonymous individual questionnaire.

Findings

The results show a mediating effect of team learning on the relationship between change-oriented leadership and team performance and psychological safety and team performance.

Originality/Value

Our study contributes to the literature by investigating the role of change-oriented leadership in facilitating team learning behaviors. Moreover, this study advances our understanding of the mediators of the relationship between team leadership and outcomes by testing to assess whether specific change-oriented leader behaviors nurture psychological safety, team learning and, therefore, performance.