Optimism and Positivity Biases in Performance Appraisal Ratings: Empirical Evidence from Professional Soccer

Using unique assessment data for players from a German Bundesliga club’s youth academy, we tested four core hypotheses on how player ratings and rater or ratee-related characteristics reflect the (prospective) optimism bias and (retrospective) positivity bias. The results indicate not only that the ratings of predicted and remembered performance are indeed higher than the talents’ actual performance throughout a season, but that these differences depend positively on the rater’s organizational experience and negatively on the amount of ratee data available. They also suggest that (prospective) anticipation is even more positively biased than (retrospective) recollection of player performances, underscoring the asymmetry between looking forward and looking backward.     

Diffusion of an effective skin cancer prevention program: design, theoretical foundations, and first-year implementation.

This article describes the design and theoretical foundations of the Pool Cool Diffusion Trial and reports 1st-year findings. Aims of the study are to evaluate the effects of 2 strategies for diffusion of the Pool Cool sun safety program on implementation, maintenance, and sustainability; improvements in environmental supports for sun safety in swimming pools; and sun protection habits and sunburn among participating children. There was a high rate of program participation (86.6%; n=375 swimming pools) in the 1st year and somewhat lower study participation (75.8%). Analysis of pool manager surveys revealed a time effect for overall sun safety programs and for sun safety policies, environmental strategies, and programs for pool users. There were few differences in implementation between treatment groups in year one.     

Gender and History of Suicidality: Are These Factors Related to U.S. College Students’ Current Suicidal Thoughts,Feelings, and Actions?

Gender and history of suicidality (HS vs. NoHS) were related to current symptoms of depression, reasons for living, and reports of self-destructive and life-threatening behavior in a college student sample. Overall, college men reported engaging in more life-threatening and potentially suicidal behavior than college women on the Life Attitudes Schedule (LAS). No gender effects were obtained on the symptoms of depression and reasons for living measures. Results suggest that the LAS may be a particularly effective way to identify college students at risk for self-destructive and suicidal behavior. As expected, HS individuals were more depressed, had fewer reasons for living, and reported engaging in more current suicidal and life-threatening behavior than NoHS participants. However, gender and history of suicidality were found to interact. NoHS women reported avoiding a variety of injury-producing and health-diminishing behaviors that were common for all other groups of college students. Meanwhile, HS women endorsed fewer current reasons for living than did NoHS women, NoHS men, and NoHS men. These findings were interpreted both with regard to cultural and gender-specific expectations for the expression of self-destructive, suicidal, and life-threatening behavior. Implications for the prevention of college women's and men's suicidal behavior were also noted.     

Social Identity and Corporate Mergers

Corporate mergers require proper human resources management to reach their financial and strategic objectives and minimize negative consequences for employee well‐being. Understanding the antecedents of employees’ identification with the merged organization during the corporate merger is crucial, because stronger post‐merger identification results in less conflict and higher levels of motivation. Unfortunately, employees often identify more strongly with their pre‐merger organizations than with the merged organization. One influential approach to understanding the processes underlying organizational identification is the social identity approach ( Tajfel & Turner, 1986 ; Turner, Hogg, Oakes, Reicher, & Wetherell, 1987 ). Research applying this perspective to organizational mergers shows that levels of identification with the merged organization are partly explained by status and dominance differences of the involved organizations, by motivational threats and uncertainties during the merger, and by the representation of the post‐merger identity. Leaders and managers of corporate mergers are able to influence these processes and, thus, to provide a path for successful merger integration.     

Development and Validation of the State Moral Elevation Scale: Assessing State-Level Elevation Across Nonclinical and Clinical Samples

Journal of Happiness Studies - Research on moral elevation has steadily increased and identified several psychosocial benefits that bear relevance to both the general population and people with...