Do Personal Dispositions Affect the Relationship Between Psychosocial Working Conditions and Workplace Bullying?

There is scarce research on the interaction between psychosocial working conditions and being a target of workplace bullying with individual characteristics as a moderator. We therefore examined 3,363 employees from 60 Danish workplaces to test whether sense of coherence moderates the relationship between the job demand-control model and bullying. This work is exploratory in nature, as no previous study to assess this moderation was found. Hierarchical linear regressions showed that demand-control model was significantly associated with bullying. Sense of coherence displayed a significant though practically negligible moderating effect. This suggests that negative psychosocial working conditions are associated with bullying independently of personal characteristics, at least in terms of sense of coherence.     

Influence of strain rate on the orientation dependence of microstructure in nickel single crystals

The deformation microstructures of nickel single crystals (99.945 wt.%) during dynamic plastic deformation and quasi-static compression to a true strain of 0.20 were comparatively investigated. The deformation microstructures are orientation dependent, forming cell structure, slip plane aligned or not slip plane aligned extended boundaries. It is found that the orientation spread decreases, remains unchanged and becomes enhanced when loading along 〈0?0?1〉, 〈0?1?1〉 and 〈1?1?1〉, respectively, as strain rate increases.     

Arctic cognition: a study of cognitive performance in summer and winter at 69°N

Evidence has accumulated over the past 15 years that affect in humans is cyclical. In winter there is a tendency to depression, with remission in summer, and this effect is stronger at higher latitudes. In order to determine whether human cognition is similarly rhythmical, this study investigated the cognitive processes of 100 participants living at 69°N. Participants were tested in summer and winter on a range of cognitive tasks, including verbal memory, attention and simple reaction time tasks. The seasonally counterbalanced design and the very northerly latitude of this study provide optimal conditions for detecting impaired cognitive performance in winter, and the conclusion is negative: of five tasks with seasonal effects, four had disadvantages in summer. Like the menstrual cycle, the circannual cycle appears to influence mood but not cognition. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Down the Garden Path: The Role of Conditional Inference Processes in Self‐Persuasion

In a controlled experiment, information format and prior knowledge of risk‐related decision attributes altered the response to decision conflict produced by negatively correlated attributes (NCA) in choice under uncertainty. When dominated choice alternatives were presented in a format in which the displayed attributes were not negatively correlated, decision makers used a simple choice process based on the displayed information. This allowed them to detect the dominated alternatives, regardless of their prior knowledge. However, when the same alternatives were presented in a format in which the displayed attributes were negatively correlated, the more‐knowledgeable decision makers used a compensatory choice process based on the displayed attributes and, consequently, missed the dominated alternatives. The less‐knowledgeable participants, who were unable to use the displayed attributes because of their lack of expertise, calculated the nondisplayed attributes and detected the dominated alternatives. With NCA, the more‐knowledgeable participants followed a conflict‐resolution strategy using the displayed NCAs, whereas the less‐knowledgeable individuals followed a conflict‐avoidance strategy using the uncorrelated, nondisplayed attributes that inadvertently revealed the dominance structure of the decision. The implications of person factors for the effects of NCA and in other types of decisions with NCA are discussed.     

Multivariate strategies in functional magnetic resonance imaging

We discuss aspects of multivariate fMRI modeling, including the statistical evaluation of multivariate models and means for dimensional reduction. In a case study we analyze linear and non-linear dimensional reduction tools in the context of a 'mind reading' predictive multivariate fMRI model.     

Illusory bands in orientation and spatial frequency: a cortical analog to Mach bands

Illusory bands at a luminance transition in space (ie an edge) are well known. Here we demonstrate illusory bands of enhanced orientations or spatial frequencies at transitions between higher-contrast and lower-contrast image content along the orientation and spatial-frequency dimensions--the dimensions of cortical spatial coding. We conclude that this illusion is a consequence of cortical-level suppression of units of similar orientations and spatial frequencies and serves to aid texture segmentation while providing efficient neural coding.     

Cognitive behavioral therapy reduces suicidal ideation in schizophrenia: results from a randomized controlled trial

Patients with schizophrenia are at high risk of suicide. Cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) has been shown to reduce symptoms in schizophrenia. This study examines whether CBT also changes the level of suicidal ideation in patients with schizophrenia compared to a control group. Ninety ambulatory patients with symptoms of schizophrenia resistant to conventional antipsychotic medication were randomized to CBT or befriending. They were assessed using the Comprehensive Psychopathological Rating Scale, including a rating of suicidal ideation at baseline, post intervention, and after 9 months. Post-hoc analysis revealed that CBT provided significant reductions in suicidal ideation at the end of therapy, and sustained at the follow-up. Further research is required to substantiate these findings and determine the process and mechanisms through which this reduction is achieved.     

The carry-over effect of competition: The impact of competition on prejudice towards uninvolved outgroups

Following realistic group-conflict theory, negative interdependence between groups (e.g., competition) leads to prejudice towards the opposing outgroup. Based on research on mindset priming, it is hypothesized that competition increases prejudice, regardless of whether the derogated outgroup is involved in the competition or not. In Experiment 1, participants remembered an event involving either competition or cooperation; in Experiments 2 and 3 they participated in a competitive, cooperative, or individual assessment of their knowledge. Subsequent measures indicated that competition results in higher levels of prejudice, even when it is not related to the intergroup context. Additional evidence suggests that this effect is not driven by the transfer of negative affect or ego-depletion. Possible underlying cognitive processes are discussed.