Keeping up day-specific effects of transformational leadership: the role of followers’ emotion regulation

This diary study examines the role of day-specific transformational leadership for followers’ personal initiative. Building on Affective Events Theory, we proposed a direct effect of day-specific transformational leadership on followers’ personal initiative on the same day. Furthermore, we took a closer look at lagged effects of day-specific transformational leadership. More specifically, we hypothesized that positive effects of one day’s transformational leadership can endure until the next day for followers who apply beneficial emotion regulation strategies. We conducted a diary study over five consecutive working days among 97 employees. Two-level hierarchical linear modelling supported our hypotheses. As expected, day-specific transformational leadership positively predicted followers’ personal initiative on the same day. Furthermore, concerning the association between day-specific transformational leadership and followers’ personal initiative on the following day, there was a positive relation for followers applying beneficial emotion regulation strategies in terms of high cognitive reappraisal and low expressive suppression, respectively.     

Towards a conceptual and empirical differentiation between workplace bullying and interpersonal conflict

This study investigates the defining features that distinguish workplace bullying from interpersonal conflict – being frequency, negative social behaviour, power imbalance, length and perceived intent – by contrasting the characteristics of conflict incidents in a group of workplace bullying victims versus a group of non-victims. A group of 47 victims and 62 non-victims were identified based on a questionnaire time 1 and time 2 (time lag of 6 months). The conflict incidents were assessed between time 1 and time 2 using an event-based diary study that was filled out for a period of two times 20 working days with a break of 4 months in between. Hierarchical linear modelling (HLM) showed that conflict incidents differed for victims versus non-victims, in line with the defining aspects of workplace bullying: victims’ conflict incidents related more to the work context and included more personal and work-related negative social behaviour. Victims perceived more inferiority and less control in the conflicts, indicated more continuation of previous conflict incidents and reported more negative intentions from their opponent. These findings validate the conceptual differentiation between interpersonal conflict and workplace bullying, while at the same time adhering to their related nature.     

Rational emotive behaviour therapy in high schools to educate in mental health and empower youth health. A randomized controlled study of a brief intervention

Rational emotive behaviour therapy (REBT) is effective in reducing distress in several target groups. No other study has tested the mental health effects on adolescents in a high school setting while expanding a Cognitive Behaviour-based therapy, REBT, into the concept of mental health literacy. The format of the ABC model, which is an important element of REBT, functioned as a working manual in and between three sessions. This study tested whether knowledge and practical use of the ABC model increased self-esteem and hope, and reduced symptoms of anxiety and depression, and dysfunctional thinking. Sixty-two high school students with subclinical levels of anxiety and depression were randomly allocated into three groups; three individual REBT sessions, or three individual attentional placebo (ATP) sessions or no sessions (control). However, dysfunctional thinking, self-esteem and hope were not measured in the control group. Repeated measures with ANOVA and t-tests were conducted. Both REBT and ATP significantly reduced symptoms of anxiety and depression, but only REBT was significantly different from the control group at the six-month follow-up. Only REBT significantly reduced dysfunctional thinking, and both REBT and ATP significantly increased self-esteem and hope. REBT had both an immediate and a long-term effect. The findings show the potential positive effects of educating well-documented psychological techniques as ordinary education in school. Further research might contribute to decide whether or not to change the school system by enclosing mental health literacy classes for all students.     

Law and Gospel,and Youth and Family Ministry

Abstract : If “faith comes through hearing” the word of God comprised in law and gospel, how do the imperatives that characterize ‘Youth and Family Ministry’ make such hearing possible? Here, literature delineating ‘Youth and Family Ministry’ is analyzed in light of its biblical foundations. The primary lens implemented in this analysis is the law/gospel hermeneutic advocated by Martin Luther and other reformers.     

Luther Research and Ecumenism

Abstract : The article discusses the fundamental conceptual problems underlying the ecumenical vocabulary. These problems result from issues present available in academic studies that often aim at emphasizing the great divide between Luther and medieval theology, as well as providing a justification for the specific and distinctive characteristics of Lutheran theology. The author aims at overcoming the problematic confessionalism which results from these conceptual presuppositions.     

Selective exposure and information quantity: how different information quantities moderate decision makers' preference for consistent and inconsistent information

Empirical evidence on selective exposure to information after decisions is contradictory: Whereas many studies have found a preference for information that is consistent with one's prior decision, some have found a preference for inconsistent information. The authors propose that different available information quantities moderate these contradictory findings. Four studies confirmed this expectation. When confronted with 10 pieces of information, decision makers systematically preferred decision-consistent information, whereas when confronted with only 2 pieces of information, they strongly preferred decision-inconsistent information (Study 1). This effect was not due to differences in processing complexity (Study 2) or dissonance processes (Study 3) but could be traced back to different salient selection criteria: When confronted with 2 pieces of information, the salient selection criterion was information direction (consistent vs. inconsistent), which caused a preference for inconsistent information. In contrast, when confronted with more than 2 pieces of information, the salient selection criterion was expected information quality, which caused a preference for consistent information (Study 4).     

Self-regulation and selective exposure: the impact of depleted self-regulation resources on confirmatory information processing

In the present research, the authors investigated the impact of self-regulation resources on confirmatory information processing, that is, the tendency of individuals to systematically prefer standpoint-consistent information to standpoint-inconsistent information in information evaluation and search. In 4 studies with political and economic decision-making scenarios, it was consistently found that individuals with depleted self-regulation resources exhibited a stronger tendency for confirmatory information processing than did individuals with nondepleted self-regulation resources. Alternative explanations based on processes of ego threat, cognitive load, and mood were ruled out. Mediational analyses suggested that individuals with depleted self-regulation resources experienced increased levels of commitment to their own standpoint, which resulted in increased confirmatory information processing. In sum, the impact of ego depletion on confirmatory information search seems to be more motivational than cognitive in nature.     

Self-Development as a Spiritual Process: The Role of Empathy and Imagination in Finding Spiritual Orientation

According to a dialogical view on self, self-development is characterized by integrating different perspectives in the internal dialogue that constitutes the self. This article explores the spiritual dimension of this process, referring to exchanging and integrating perspectives on what makes one’s life meaningful or fulfilling. It is argued that empathy and imagination are basic capacities for self-development and spiritual orientation, and that art and religion can contribute to this process by functioning as languages of personal resonance.     

Wayne Martin on judgment

Wayne Martin’s Theories of Judgment marks a significant advance in the philosophical analysis of judgment. He understands that the domain of judgment is so large that it allows only a selective treatment. We can expand Martin’s insight by acknowledging that this domain is, in fact, hypercomplex and therefore unsurveyable in Wittgenstein’s sense. Martin’s treatment of judgments can, however, be extended in a number of directions. Of particular importance is it to understand the linguistic aspect of theoretical judgments, the challenges to the synthetic conception of judgment constituted not only by existential, but also by impersonal and negative judgments, and the exploration of the links between the notions of judgment and truth.

The association between retrospective outcome evaluations and pre-post-treatment changes in psychodynamic group-psychotherapy

In the present study of 203 patients in psychodynamic group psychotherapy, we explore associations between patient and therapist global retrospective outcome evaluations (ROE), and pre-post-treatment changes on the Symptom Check List 90 Revised (SCL-90-R) and non-symptomatic focus of therapy. There were no significant associations between ROE, diagnoses and demographic variables, and pre-treatment SCL-90-R associations were negligible (less than 4% of overlapping variance). SCL-90-R subscale improvement expressed as residual gain score explained the overall largest percent of variance in both patients and therapists (44% and 25%, respectively) when compared with raw difference scores (32% and 18%), and percent reduction from baseline (34% and 23%). Moreover, ROE/end-state adjustment associations were substantial (42% and 24%). Therapists' evaluation of change showed the strongest association with improvement in non-symptomatic focus of therapy, while patients' evaluation had the strongest association with improvement in SCL-Depression. It is concluded that retrospective evaluations reflect changes related to treatment. However, unexplained variance may be independent of symptomatic state, and associated with personality factors or domains not captured by standard questionnaires.