Dynamic orientation cues decrease the viewpoint cost of mental rotation

Mental rotation, as a covert simulation of motor rotation, could benefit from spatial updating of object representations. We are interested in what kind of visual cue could trigger spatial updating. Three experiments were conducted to examine the effect of dynamic and static orientation cues on mental rotation, using a sequential matching task with three-dimensional novel objects presented in different views. Experiment 1 showed that a rotating orientation cue with constant speed reduced viewpoint costs in mental rotation. Experiment 2 extended this effect with a varied-speed rotating orientation cue. However, no such benefit was observed with a static orientation cue in Experiment 3. These findings indicated that a visually continuous orientation cue is sufficient to elicit spatial updating in mental rotation. Furthermore, there may be differences in the underlying mechanisms of spatial updating on the basis of constant-speed rotating cues and varied-speed rotating cues.     

A job characteristics approach to explain workplace bullying

This article analyses job characteristics as antecedents of workplace bullying, in line with the early Scandinavian research tradition. Research thus far suggests a large variety of possible job related antecedents. Recent review findings and methodological criticism, however, suggests that these findings need to be treated with caution. Warr's Vitamin model is used to summarize relevant job-related antecedents of workplace bullying. All relationships are tested simultaneously in a hierarchical regression analysis, controlling for covariates. A large and heterogeneous sample of Belgian workers is used to test the hypotheses (n = 6175). The results show that task autonomy is not significantly related to bullying. In line with earlier research, role conflicts and role ambiguity are the most important antecedents. Also (lack of) participation in decision making, (lack of) skill utilization, workload, cognitive demands, changes in the job, job insecurity, and (lack of) task-related feedback are found to be directly related to workplace bullying. These findings are discussed in the light of the literature and some suggestions for practice are formulated.     

The effect of response style bias on the measurement of transformational,transactional, and laissez-faire leadership

Transformational, transactional, and laissez-faire leadership are considered to be three distinct leadership styles. In this research we argue that response style behaviour in the form of acquiescence and extreme response style can distort the measurement of these dimensions of leadership. Using a sample of 864 employees selected from 135 work teams, this research demonstrates that (1) response styles affect measurement; (2) divergent validity of the three dimensions increases when response styles are taken into account; (3) gender is spuriously related to leadership upon response styles; and (4) team ratings substantially change when controlling for response styles bias. As a secondary topic of this research, we elaborate on a relatively new approach in diagnosing response styles, i.e., a confirmatory latent-class factor analysis. We explain the advantages of this approach and illustrate the steps a researcher has to take in conducting this type of analysis.     

The world turns at 33 and 45: Defining simple cutoff scores for the Negative Acts Questionnaire–Revised in a representative sample

Workplace bullying is a serious hazard in every day working life that needs to be assessed carefully. In order to achieve such a goal, both victims of severe bullying as well as targets of less intensive bullying need to be identified, the latter in order to prevent further escalation into severe bullying. Previous research has mainly offered simple and crude measures of who is and who is not a victim of bullying. In this article we show how cutoff scores for the scale Negative Acts Questionnaire–Revised (NAQ-R) can be calculated. Based on a representative sample of the Norwegian workforce, we formulated 2 cutoff points or thresholds for the NAQ-R with a Receiver Operation Characteristic curve. Employees with a score lower than 33 are not bullied, employees with a score between 33 and 45 may be considered as being bullied occasionally, and employees who score above 45 can be considered to be victims of workplace bullying. As the NAQ-R is used in more than 300 research projects worldwide, we hope to inspire other scholars to define similar cutoff points. In addition, we hope that clear cutoff scores may be of assistance to practitioners for designing interventions regarding workplace bullying in line with the identified problems.     

Trajectories of change in dimensions of forgiveness among older adults and their association with religious commitment

Forgiveness is a complex construct with an important role in religious traditions worldwide, and is associated with mental and physical health outcomes. This seven-year longitudinal study examined changes within individuals during, and differences based on birth cohort, in forgiveness during late life. Growth curve analysis was used to analyse the general pattern of change across the course of older adulthood in eight dimensions related to forgiveness. Increases over time were observed in forgiveness of others, conditionality of forgiveness of others, forgiveness of self, feelings of being forgiven by God, and feelings of being forgiven by others. Decreases over time were observed in difficulty forgiving oneself, and perceptions of conditionality in God's forgiveness. Religious commitment was related to reporting more a more forgiving attitude on seven of these dimensions, but also to more perceived conditionality in God's forgiveness. Finally, differences in mean levels of forgiveness emerged between birth cohorts.     

Religious involvement,helping others,and psychological well-being

This study has two goals. The first goal is to see if involvement in religion is associated with providing tangible support to family members and strangers. The second goal is to see if providing tangible support to family members and strangers is associated with well-being. A conceptual model, which was developed to address these issues, contains the following core relationships: (1) individuals who go to church more often will receive more spiritual support from coreligionists; (2) those who receive more spiritual support will provide more tangible assistance to family members and strangers; and (3) people who help family members and strangers will report greater life satisfaction and higher self-esteem. Findings from a nationwide survey support all but one of these relationships. More specifically, the results suggest that providing tangible support to family members is associated with greater well-being, but providing tangible support to strangers is not associated with well-being.     

Church service roles and anticipated support among older Mexican Americans

The purpose of this study is to see how feelings of anticipated support arise in church. Anticipated support refers to the belief that coreligionists will provide assistance in the future if the need arises. This model contains the following hypothesis: (1) people who affiliate with conservative Protestant congregations will be more deeply committed to their faith, (2) individuals who are more committed to their faith will attend church more frequently, (3) people who go to church more often will be more likely to occupy church service roles, (4) those who occupy church service roles will feel more highly valued by their coreligionists, (5) individuals who feel they are valued highly by fellow church members will receive more emotional support from them, and (6) people who receive more emotional support at church will have stronger anticipated support beliefs. Data from a nationwide survey of older Mexican Americans support these hypotheses.     

Rehabilitative Beit Midrash as a means for advancing the community integration of Ultra Orthodox Jewish persons with severe mental illness

ABSTRACT

Religious Jews with severe mental illness often encounter barriers to involvement in religious activities in their community affecting their ability to become integrated into their community. Therefore, a study was conducted in Israel examining the contribution to community integration through a programme providing religious persons with mental illness an opportunity to participate in religious studies. An A-B research design was implemented among 42 Ultra-Orthodox Jewish persons with severe mental illness utilising a culturally-oriented structured instrument. The study showed that the opportunity for involvement in religious studies could advance the participants’ sense of social interaction in their community as well as their sense of psychological integration with other religious people. It also strengthened their confidence in their ability to further get involved in religious studies in the community. Rehabilitation services providing persons with severe mental illness an opportunity for involvement in religious studies can act as a springboard for advancing their community integration.     

Disengagement of the location negative priming effect: The influence of an intervening response

Reaction time is significantly longer when a target stimulus arises at a location that has just contained a distractor event, relative to when it appears at a new location [i.e., called, the location negative priming (NP) effect]. The NP effect is eliminated when the second of two paired trials (i.e., prime-to-probe trials) predictably lacks a distractor when the preceding trial contains both a target and a distractor event (T+D), but not when a prime distractor appears alone (D-only). We tested the possibility that the failed NP process disengagement seen with D-only prime trials resulted because they do not require the production of an overt intervening response. This possibility was supported. Results also showed that the intervening response had to meet prerequisites; namely, the response had to be prime-generated, i.e., come from the subset of experimental responses and have engaged in a conflict with the prime distractor-activated response.     

Context effects in recognition memory: the role of familiarity and recollection

A variant of the process dissociation procedure was coupled with a manipulation of response signal lag to assess whether manipulations of context affect one or both of the familiarity and search processes described by the dual process model of recognition. Participants studied a list of word pairs (context+target) followed by a recognition test with target words presented in the same or different context, and in the same or different form as study (singular/plural). Participants were asked to recognize any target word regardless of changes to form (inclusion), or to only recognise words that were presented in the same form (exclusion). The standard context reinstatement effect was evident even at the short response lags. Analyses of the estimates of the contributions of familiarity and search processes suggest that the context effect demonstrated here can be attributed in part to the influence of familiarity on recognition, whereas the effect on recollection was less clear.