When procedural fairness does not influence how positive I feel: the effects of voice and leader selection as a function of belongingness need

The present research examined the effect of receiving voice or not on positive affect as a function of how the enacting authority was selected and the extent to which people experienced strong belongingness needs. Participants were asked to generate ideas with respect to an electronic portfolio. Their opinions were then evaluated by a group leader who was either appointed by the experimenter, elected by the group and who reflected the participant's own choice, or elected by the group but who did not reflect the participant's own choice. This group leader then gave participants the opportunity to voice their ideas or not. Participants reported positive affect did not vary as a function of receiving voice or not when the enacting leader was elected and did not reflect the participant's own choice. The voice effect on positive affect did, however, appear in the other two leadership selection conditions. Further, this pattern was found only among those with a strong need to belong. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Web‐based stimulus preference assessment and reinforcer assessment for videos

This study replicated and extended the use of a web‐based multiple‐stimulus‐without‐replacement preference assessment (Curiel, Curiel, Li, Deochand, & Poling, 2018) by adding a web‐based single‐operant reinforcer assessment. Five adults diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder participated in this study. The web‐based program identified preference hierarchies for 4 of the 5 participants, and the single‐operant reinforcer assessment confirmed that the highly preferred videos functioned as reinforcers. Advantages of computer‐based stimulus preference and reinforcer assessments are discussed.     

Psychological distress with relationship satisfaction is moderated by anticipatory relational savoring among non-deployed military partners

This study recruited participants whose partners were deployed for active-duty military service to examine whether anticipatory relational savoring moderated the association of psychological distress with relationship satisfaction. Two weeks prior to their partner's deployment (T1), participants (N = 73) completed a self-report measure of relationship satisfaction. Then, 2 weeks into their partner's deployment (T2), participants completed self-report measures of stress, loneliness, and depression (combined into a composite index of psychological distress), and relationship satisfaction. Participants also completed a stream-of-consciousness task at T2 in which they imagined and discussed their partner's return from deployment. We coded the stream-of-consciousness task for anticipatory relational savoring regarding their upcoming reunion with their deployed partner. We found that anticipatory relational savoring moderated the association of psychological distress with during-deployment relationship satisfaction after adjusting for demographics, interpersonal variables, and deployment-specific variables; the association did not hold after adjusting for pre-deployment relationship satisfaction, and thus was robust when considering the distress-satisfaction association during the deployment but was not when considering changes in relationship satisfaction from pre- to during-deployment. We discuss the potential importance of anticipatory relational savoring for this unique population.     

Factor analysis of the Spanish Burnout Inventory among public administration employees

Burnout has been recognized as an important stress‐related problem. Researchers have been troubled by some of the psychometric limitations of the questionnaires developed to evaluate burnout. This study was designed to assess the factor structure of the Spanish Burnout Inventory in a sample of 548 Brazilian public administration employees. This instrument comprises 20 items distributed in four dimensions: enthusiasm toward the job (5 items), psychological exhaustion (4 items), indolence (6 items), and guilt (5 items). The factor structure was examined through confirmatory factor analysis. To assess the factorial validity of the Spanish Burnout Inventory, four alternative models were tested. The four‐factor model obtained an adequate data fit for the sample, χ²(164) = 514.358, p < .001, RMSEA = .062, GFI = .910, NFI = .915, CFI = .940, and AIC = 606.358. The results showed that the four‐model factor of the Spanish Burnout Inventory possesses adequate psychometric properties in the Brazilian cultural context. Implications for future research and practice are also discussed.     

Dispositional optimism,optimism priming,and prevention of ego depletion

Exerting self‐control leads to a diminished capacity to carry out successive acts of self‐control, a process termed ego depletion. The present study investigated whether dispositional optimism, priming of an optimistic orientation, or their interaction can counteract the ego depletion effect. A total of 160 participants performed a self‐control‐demanding weight‐lifting task on two occasions. Half of the participants were depleted between the two weight‐lifting tasks. Because depletion of self‐regulatory resources can undermine optimism half of the participants in the depletion, and no‐depletion condition were primed for an optimistic orientation before performing the second self‐control task. Results demonstrated an interaction between dispositional optimism and optimism priming. Only in participants high in dispositional optimism did the optimism prime lead to undiminished persistence on the weight‐lifting task. These results demonstrate that dispositional optimism may lead to improved goal persistence in the face of adversity only under conditions in which optimistic schemas are activated. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Scientists’ Argumentative Reasoning

Reasoning, defined as the production and evaluation of reasons, is a central process in science. The dominant view of reasoning, both in the psychology of reasoning and in the psychology of science, is of a mechanism with an asocial function: bettering the beliefs of the lone reasoner. Many observations, however, are difficult to reconcile with this view of reasoning; in particular, reasoning systematically searches for reasons that support the reasoner’s initial beliefs, and it only evaluates these reasons cursorily. By contrast, reasoners are well able to evaluate others’ reasons: accepting strong arguments and rejecting weak ones. The argumentative theory of reasoning accounts for these traits of reasoning by postulating that the evolved function of reasoning is to argue: to find arguments to convince others and to change one’s mind when confronted with good arguments. Scientific reasoning, however, is often described as being at odds with such an argumentative mechanisms: scientists are supposed to reason objectively on their own, and to be pigheaded when their theories are challenged, even by good arguments. In this article, we review evidence showing that scientists, when reasoning, are subject to the same biases as are lay people while being able to change their mind when confronted with good arguments. We conclude that the argumentative theory of reasoning explains well key features of scientists’ reasoning and that differences in the way scientists and laypeople reason result from the institutional framework of science.     

High Trait Cheerfulness Individuals are More Sensitive to the Emotional Environment

The aim of this paper was to study whether trait cheerfulness modulates changes in state cheerfulness as a result of exposing participants to affective stimuli. Two studies with a within-participant experimental design were carried out. Forty-eight (33 women) and sixty-four (45 women) undergraduate psychology students were selected as Sample 1 and Sample 2, respectively, for scoring high or low on the Trait Form of the State-Trait-Cheerfulness Inventory (STCI-T; Ruch et al. in Humor Int J Humor Res 9:303–339, 1996; Ruch et al. in Personal Individ Differ 22:477–491, 1997). Participants watched amusing, neutral, and sad film clips and reported their affective states before and after viewing them. In the second study, heart rate and skin conductance level were also recorded. Results showed that people with high trait cheerfulness reported greater changes in state cheerfulness when exposed to both amusing and sad film clips, showing larger increases and decreases in state cheerfulness, respectively, than participants with low trait cheerfulness. Effects were not mediated by social desirability. Furthermore, people with low trait cheerfulness showed a greater heart rate deceleration during the visioning of the clips compared to high trait cheerfulness participants, especially in an amusing scene with high emotional load. No modulation on trait cheerfulness was found for skin conductance level. Data with self-report and electrophysiological measures are discussed, highlighting that high trait cheerfulness people are more permeable to affective events, perhaps showing a better understanding and management of them.     

The Nurturing Program: An Intervention for Parents of Children with Special Needs

Evidence-based psychosocial family interventions enhancing empathy and empowerment are particularly beneficial to families of children who have developmental disabilities. This study assessed the effectiveness of an intervention called the Nurturing Program for Parents and Their Children with Special Needs and Health Challenges (SNHC). Eighty-seven families were enrolled and randomly assigned to a control or treatment group. Forty-six families in the control group received individualized case management (CM) services and forty-one families in the treatment group were assigned to 12 sessions of the SNHC curriculum along with case management services. Before and after the intervention, participants in both conditions completed the Adult and Adolescent Parenting Index-2 assessing parents’ attitudes toward child rearing and the Family Empowerment Scale (FES) measuring family empowerment. Caregivers in the intervention condition improved in empathy towards children’s needs, F(1, 54)?=?4.52, p?=?.04; and all families, both control group and treatment group, improved their attitudes towards the use of corporal punishment by posttest, F(1, 54)?=?6.56, p?=?.013. Also, all caregivers increased in their empowerment over the course of the intervention, F(1, 50)?=?13.28, p?=?.001. Attrition, 22–26% among CM and 51–56% among SNHC+CM, limited generalizability as did participants not completing all SNHC sessions. Despite these limitations, findings suggest that early interventions catering to families of children with developmental disabilities have a positive impact on parenting. To varying degrees, both conditions provided caregivers with tools that positively affected the quality of the parent–child relationships and promoted empowerment.