Use of Socially Dependent Bases of Power: French and Raven's Theory Applied to Workgroup Leadership1

This study examines how supervisors from three different organizations use social power in workgroups. A sample of 127 leaders completed a self-report questionnaire describing social influence attempts using a scale derived from French and Raven's (1959) five bases of social power. The results show no significant differences between organizations in use of the bases of social power. Referent and Expert powers were used significantly more frequently by these leaders than Legitimate, Reward, and Coercive powers. The number of subordinates supervised within the workgroup was significantly correlated with increased use of Coercive power by the workgroup leader. These results are discussed in terms of the potential for using socially dependent influence to explain leaders' direction of workgroup members.     

Checking behavior in a threatening situation

The purpose of the present study was to determine whether compulsive checking was associated with greater checking behavior and slower performance in a personally relevant and potentially threatening task. Students in an abnormal psychology class completed the Maudsley Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory and the Everyday Checking Behavior Scale early in the semester. One month later during the first examination they were asked to record the number of times they went over (checked) each exam question after first answering it. The amount of time taken by subjects to complete this and the final exam was also recorded. The MOCI-check subscale and ECBS were correlated with the number of answer checks. MOCI-check scores were also correlated with the time taken to complete each exam. It was suggested that the characteristic of indecisiveness may be responsible for these relationships.     

Orthographic depth and the interaction of visual and auditory processing in word recognition

We studied the influence of word frequency and orthographic depth on the interaction of orthographic and phonetic information in word perception. Native speakers of English and Serbo-Croatian were presented with simultaneous printed and spoken verbal stimuli and had to decide whether they were equivalent. Decision reaction time was measured in three experimental conditions: Clear print and clear speech, degraded print and clear speech, and clear print and degraded speech. Within each language, the effects of visual and auditory degradation were measured, relative to the undegraded presentation. Both effects of degradation were much stronger in English than in Serbo-Croatian. Moreover, they were the same for high- and low-frequency words in both languages. These results can be accounted for by a parallel interactive processing model that assumes lateral connections between the orthographic and phonological systems at all of their levels. The structure of these lateral connections is independent of word frequency and is determined by the relationship between spelling and phonology in the language: simple isomorphic connections between graphemes and phonemes in Serbo-Croatian, but more complex, many-to-one, connections in English.     

Scham und Familienbeziehungen bei Bulimie

Background

Empirical studies show a relationship between family factors and disturbed eating behavior. Feelings of shame are associated with a higher level of eating disorder symptoms and with family relations perceived as being dysfunctional. Thus shame can be understood as a mediator of the relationship between dysfunctional family relations and eating disorder symptoms.

Material and methods

For 69 female patients, including 55 with bulimia nervosa and 14 with eating disorder not otherwise specified (EDNOS) between 14 and 22 years of age, who participated in a comparative study of psychotherapy outcome, eating disorder symptoms (EDI, EDE-Q), general psychiatric symptoms severity (SCL-90R), level of shame (TESE-KJ) and perceived family relations (FB-A) were measured at the beginning of psychotherapy.

Results

The higher the feeling of shame the more dysfunctional the perceived family relationships were and the more the eating disorders and general symptoms severity were reported. Shame was a partial mediator of the relationship between family functionality and symptoms.

Discussion

Feelings of shame could originate in dysfunctional family relationships but could also evoke more negative perceptions of interpersonal relationships. The direction of causality could not be proven in the correlative design; nevertheless, shame contributes to an understanding of the mechanisms between dysfunctional family relationships and eating disorder symptoms.     

ON LOSS AND MELANCHOLY: AN AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL ESSAY

One of the dominant motifs by social scientists dealing with issues of loss assumes an upsetting of balance or equilibrium as central to the experience - an upsetting that is in need of "restoration." This article challenges that motif both theoretically and experientially, drawing on autobiographical narrative to navigate the complex terrain of irrevocable loss. Our story tells of the lives of our two children, Aristéa and Kade, and of Kade's death in the depths of a Romanian orphanage. We offer the concept of "melancholy" to suggest that the incongruity or pain that we feel, as a result of Kade's death and our simultaneous struggle to "save" Aristéa, can never be alleviated.     

Thomas Bradwardine on God and the Foundations of Modality

Scholars have claimed that the fourteenth-century thinker Thomas Bradwardine held that God's will freely determined what was necessary, possible and impossible and in this regard, he was a medieval precursor to Descartes. In this article, I argue against this interpretation of Bradwardine. I show that Bradwardine held that objects derive their modal status based on whether God's necessary and immutable being isrepugnant or non-repugnant to their existence. I offer readings of thepassages in which Bradwardine appears to state that God's will determines modality that render them consistent with the non-voluntarist interpretation of his modal theory.     

The Influence of Confirmation Bias on Memory and Source Monitoring

Two experiments were conducted to examine whether recognition memory for information and/or its source are influenced by confirmation bias. During Phase 1, subjects were shown a summary about the issue of gun control and asked to indicate a position on the issue. During Phase 2, 12 abstracts (Experiment 1) or social media posts (Experiment 2) were shown, one at a time. Posts in Experiment 2 were associated with either friends or strangers. Participants indicated whether they wanted to read a more extensive version of each abstract (Experiment 1) or post (Experiment 2). Phase 3 was the memory phase. Thirty-two abstract titles (Experiment 1) or posts (Experiment 2) were shown one at a time. Participants indicated yes or no, and whether they recognized the titles/posts from the last phase. Recognition memory for information that supported the participants' viewpoint was higher than that for opposing information.     

Studies of Family Relations Test Patterns: 1. Test Inhibition

An empirical investigation of Bene and Anthony's (1957) “tenderness vs. toughness” hypothesis of inhibition in boys was conducted. Examination of the Family Relations Test (FRT) protocols of 217 boys (age range, 7 years 2 months to 12 years 10 months; IQ range, 80 to 132) referred to Calgary School Board psychologists, showed Bene and Anthony's hypothesis to be valid in this sample. Evidence is given to suggest that each of the eight scoring categories should be viewed separately for inhibition trends and not summed over any of the three dimensions, intensity, direction, and valence. The relation of FRT Inhibition to reason for referral was examined but only in the eight-year-old group was any significant relationship found.