Procedural justice and layoff survivors' commitment: a quantitative review

Layoffs are common in today's organizations. Most studies that have examined the correlation between procedural justice and the organizational commitment of layoff survivors have yielded positive correlations, but the magnitude of the correlations varies widely. This study is the first to estimate the population correlation and to identify the primary sources that cause variation in the correlation across studies. The results indicated that justice and commitment correlations can always be expected to be positive. Based on a total sample size of 9080 individuals, the estimated mean population correlation was .34. Variation was primarily explained by attributes of the justice measure where multiple items scales and scales composed of both interactional and procedural justice items yielded higher correlations than single item measures. Therefore, it is important that employers recognize the substantial assuaging affect that procedural and interactional justice can have on survivors' organizational commitment.     

Trunk orientation induces neglect-like lateral biases in covert attention

The purpose of this study was to resolve a paradox in the literature on the effects of body orientation on spatial attention. Neuropsychological studies have found that real or simulated trunk rotation relieves contralesional inattention in patients with unilateral neglect, suggesting that trunk orientation affects how attention is allocated to space. However, in two previous studies, trunk orientation did not affect spatial attention in other populations. In this study, we investigated the effects of trunk orientation on the performance of a covert attention task by neurologically intact adults. The covert attention task allowed the evaluation of the effects of trunk orientation on both the allocation of attention to space and the ability to shift that attention to new locations. As in previous research, trunk orientation did not affect participants' response times (RTs) to validly cued targets. However, rotating participants' trunks to the left increased their RTs to invalidly cued targets on the right and decreased their RTs to invalidly cued targets on the left. These results indicate that trunk orientation induces directional biases in the ability to shift attention. Thus, for intact participants, trunk rotation created lateral biases in the covert attention task similar to those seen in neglect patients.     

Walking reveals trunk orientation bias for visual attention

Our trunks influence where we perform actions in space. Thus, trunk direction may define a region of spacethat is accorded special treatment by the attention system. We investigated conditions under which a trunk orientation bias for attention might be relevant for healthy adults. Three experiments compared visual detection performance for participants standing and walking on a treadmill. Together, the experiments disambiguate the relative contributions of motor activity, motor load, and cognitive load on trunk orientation biases. In Experiment 1, trunk orientation biases (i.e., faster target detection for targets in front of the body midline) were observed in both forward and sideways walking conditions, but not in standing conditions. In Experiment 2, we ruled out the notion that the trunk orientation bias arose from increased motor activity; in fact, the bias was greatest when participants walked at an unusually slow pace. In Experiment 3, we directly compared motor load with cognitive load in a dual-task paradigm; cognitive load influenced overall performance speed, but only motor load produced trunk orientationbias. These results suggest that a trunk orientation bias emerges during walking and motor load conditions.     

Toward measurement of social exchange resources: reciprocal contributions and receipts

This study investigates development of measures for the social resources which may be exchanged in working relationships, such as between supervisors and subordinates or between employees and work group peers. Items designed to measure social resource categories were administered to a heterogeneous sample of 260 employees from diverse organizations. This sample was fairly evenly divided by sex, age, job type, and employment tenure. Analysis showed both contribution and receipt of social resources can be distinctly measured for four different categories (information, respect, liking, and effort).     

The Influence of Function,Topography, and Setting on Noncontingent Reinforcement Effect Sizes for Reduction in Problem Behavior: A Meta-analysis of Single-Case Experimental Design Data

Richman et al. (J Appl Behav Anal 48:131–152, 2015) completed a meta-analytic analysis of single-case experimental design data on noncontingent reinforcement (NCR) for the treatment of problem behavior exhibited by individuals with developmental disabilities. Results showed that (1) NCR produced very large effect sizes for reduction in problem behavior, (2) NCR implemented with the functional reinforcer resulted in a slightly larger effect size compared to NCR using nonfunctional reinforcers, and (3) schedule thinning for the delivery of reinforcers typically produced temporary and modest increases in levels of problem behavior. The purpose of the current study was to conduct follow-up analyses to determine whether treatment implementation setting, topography, or the function of problem behavior influenced the treatment effect size for problem behavior exhibited by individuals with developmental disabilities. Follow-up analyses showed that NCR effect sizes were very similar across inpatient and outpatient settings and across aggression and property destruction versus self-injurious behaviors. Results showed that NCR effect size for treatment of problem behavior maintained by a form of social reinforcement was slightly greater than problem behavior maintained by automatic reinforcement. Results are discussed in terms of applying NCR in school settings as an initial treatment for problem behaviors that can interfere with academic, adaptive, and vocational skill acquisition for students with developmental disabilities.     

Investigating the role of exogenous cueing on selection history formation

An abundance of recent empirical data suggest that repeatedly allocating visual attention to task-relevant and/or reward-predicting features in the visual world engenders an attentional bias for these frequently attended stimuli, even when they become task irrelevant and no longer predict reward. In short, attentional selection in the past hinders voluntary control of attention in the present. But do such enduring attentional biases rely on a history of voluntary, goal-directed attentional selection, or can they be generated through involuntary, effortless attentional allocation? An abrupt visual onset triggers such a reflexive allocation of covert spatial attention to its location in the visual field, automatically modulating numerous aspects of visual perception. In this Registered Report, we asked whether a selection history that has been reflexively and involuntarily derived (i.e., through abrupt-onset cueing) also interferes with goal-directed attentional control, even in the complete absence of exogenous cues. To build spatially distinct histories of exogenous selection, we presented abrupt-onset cues twice as often at one of two task locations, and as expected, these cues reflexively modulated visual processing: task accuracy increased, and response times (RTs) decreased, when the cue appeared near the target’s location, relative to that of the distractor. Upon removal of these cues, however, we found no evidence that exogenous selection history modulated task performance: task accuracy and RTs at the previously most-cued and previously least-cued sides were statistically indistinguishable. Thus, unlike voluntarily directed attention, involuntary attentional allocation may not be sufficient to engender historically contingent selection biases.