Defying conventional wisdom: A meta-analytical examination of the differences between demographic and job-related diversity relationships with performance

Conventional wisdom in the diversity literature holds that job-related dimensions of diversity are the domain of positive performance, whereas demographic dimensions of diversity are the domain of negative performance effects. In a meta-analysis (N = 146 studies, 612 effect sizes), we show that this conclusion may be based on rater biases; it does not apply to studies involving more objective assessments of performance, assessments that cannot be influenced by knowledge of a team’s composition. We also show that the influence of job-related diversity is moderated by task complexity and that job-related diversity is more positively related to innovative performance than to in-role performance. We discuss how these results invite a reconsideration of the role of the job-related/demographic diversity distinction and provide suggestions on how to further advance our understanding of diversity’s effects.     

Counseling in the Philippines: Past,Present, and Future

The history of colonization and persistent attempts at self‐governance in the Philippines parallel the beginnings of counseling in the country, which were largely influenced by the United States. Because of the Guidance and Counseling Act of 2004 and the Psychology Act of 2009, counseling is on its way to professionalization and regulation. Counseling is growing in depth and credibility, as evidenced by applications in practice that are not only indigenous but powerfully relevant.     

Unemployed Adults’ Career Thoughts,Career Self‐Efficacy,and Interest: Any Similarity to College Students?

Little empirical knowledge about unemployed adults exists during a time when this group needs substantial career assistance. Because there is greater empirical understanding of college student career development compared with what is known about unemployed adults, a chi square and analyses of covariance were used to compare the career thinking, self‐efficacy, and interests of 169 unemployed adults seeking public job center assistance with that of 200 college students. Additionally, a diverse sample of 2,444 unemployed adults is demographically reviewed. Unemployed adults reported a higher level of Realistic interests and similar levels of negative career thinking and career decision‐making self‐efficacy compared with college students.     

Humour Perception and Creation between Parents and 3‐ to 6‐month‐old Infants

Humour and laughter are universal to the human psychological experience and have serious developmental and evolutionary implications. Despite the early emergence of laughter in infancy, infants have been largely ignored in the humour research and humour has been largely ignored in the infant research. The present study describes the emergence of humour perception and creation in a sample of 20 parent–infant dyads who were followed from ages 3‐to‐ 6 months. The study examined how infants discover that absurd nonverbal behaviour, known as ‘clowning’, is amusing in the context of social engagement with caregivers. Results indicate that parents primarily use clowning when attempting to amuse their infants and pair these behavioural absurdities with affective cues like smiling and laughing. As they got older, infants were more likely to laugh and smile in response to clowning. Infants' ability to create humor via clowning also increased with age, starting with simple shrieks at 3 months to imitating absurd actions by 5 months. These increases are partly potentially explained by accompanying increases in parental smiling, laughing and clowning in response to infant clowning. Future research should employ more diverse samples and experimentally investigate the role of parental affect and social referencing in infants' interpretation of absurd behavior. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Role of Personality in Relation to Gender Differences in School Subject Choices in Pre-University Education

Boys and girls to some extent differ in personality characteristics while they also prefer different school subjects in secondary education. This study has attempted to unravel the relations among gender, personality, and students?? subject choices. The study was based on a sample of 1,740 9th grade pre-university students throughout the Netherlands (average age 15?years). We used the Five-Factor Personality Inventory (FFPI) of Hendriks, Hofstee, and De Raad (1999a) to measure the students?? personalities. The research questions were: (1) To what extent are students?? personality characteristics related to their subject choices in secondary education? (2) Do students?? personality characteristics mediate the gender ?C subject choice relation? And if yes, which personality characteristics are responsible for this? (3) Is the relation between personality characteristics and subject choices different for boys and girls? We found several associations between personality characteristics and students?? subject choices. Although the relationship between gender and students?? subject choices was slightly attenuated after the inclusion of the personality characteristics in the multinomial logistic regression analyses, gender remained an important predictor of the students?? choices. The personality factor Extraversion partially mediated the relation between gender and students?? choice of advanced mathematics, chemistry, and physics versus a more language and culturally-oriented set of school subjects. Furthermore, gender was found to moderate the relation between the personality factor Autonomy and students?? choice of advanced mathematics, chemistry, and physics versus a more language and culturally-oriented set of school courses.