Learning From Service: The Effect of Helping on Helpers' Social Dominance Orientation

Helping behavior can affect the power dynamics between social groups ( Nadler, 2002 ). The present research investigated whether helping also affects one's views of those power dynamics, as indexed by social dominance orientation (SDO) scores ( Pratto, Sidanius, Stallworth, & Malle, 1994 ). College students in an introductory psychology course were randomly assigned to a helping (service learning) group or a control group. Students in the helping group participated in 18 hr of community service over 9 weeks, and showed a significant decrease in SDO, compared to the control group. Empathy mediated the relationship between helping and SDO. The pedagogical implications of service learning are also discussed, as are the potential moderating roles of helping type and contact.     

APPROACH OR AVOIDANCE (OR BOTH?): INTEGRATING CORE SELF‐EVALUATIONS WITHIN AN APPROACH/AVOIDANCE FRAMEWORK

Core self‐evaluations (CSE) represent a new personality construct that, despite an accumulation of evidence regarding its predictive validity, provokes debate regarding the fundamental approach or avoidance nature of the construct. This set of studies sought to clarify the approach/avoidance nature of CSE by examining its relation with approach/avoidance personality traits and motivation constructs (Study 1); we subsequently examined approach/avoidance motivational mechanisms as mediators of the relation between CSE and job performance (Study 2). Overall, the studies demonstrate that CSE is best conceptualized as representing both (high) approach tendencies and (low) avoidance tendencies; implications of these findings for CSE theory are discussed.     

Associations Between Hypochondriacal Symptoms and Illness Appraisals,and Their Moderation by Self‐Focused Attention

Hypochondriacal symptoms are associated with cognitive biases in the ways that illness is appraised. Self‐focused attention (SFA) may augment or reduce these biases. Using a healthy sample, this study examined relationships between hypochondriacal symptoms, assessed using the Illness Attitudes Scale; and illness appraisals, assessed using the Illness Perception Questionnaire–Revised. Participants were exposed to an SFA manipulation or a non‐SFA control, were given a health message about influenza, and were asked to imagine having the disease. Hypochondriacal symptoms were linked to higher symptom perceptions, greater perceptions of personal and treatment control, and higher disease coherence. SFA augmented the relationship between hypochondriacal symptoms and personal control. Findings are discussed in terms of illness appraisal biases and attentional components of these biases.