Positive affective tone and team performance: The moderating role of collective emotional skills

Research on affect as a group-level phenomenon has shown that over time, individual members within a group become highly similar in their affect (i.e., members experience and display similar emotions and moods), and often become similar enough that the aggregation of individuals’ affect can meaningfully represent the “affective tone” of the group. It is generally assumed that a more positive affective tone will lead to better team performance. We challenge the conclusion that positive affective tone is always good for team performance, suggesting that the relationship between positive affective tone and team performance is subject to moderating influences. Across two studies, we demonstrate that the self-reported collective emotional skills of team members play a crucial role in determining whether positive affective tone is beneficial or detrimental to team performance. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.     

Cognitive schemas as longitudinal predictors of self-reported adolescent depressive symptoms and resilience

Given that depression risk intensifies in adolescence, examining associates of depressive symptoms during the shift from childhood to adolescence is important for expanding knowledge about the etiology of depression symptoms and disorder. A longitudinal youth report was employed to examine the trajectory of both the content and structure of positive and negative schemas in adolescence and also whether these schemas could prospectively predict depressive symptoms and youth-reported resilience. One hundred and ninety-eight participants (aged 9 to 14) were recruited from four schools to complete measures of youth depressive symptoms, resilience, and schema content and structure. Those who consented to a follow-up study completed the same measures online (50 participants completed). Negative and positive schema content and structure were related over time. After controlling depressive symptoms/resilience at Time 1, negative schema content was the only significant predictor (trend level) of depressive symptoms and resilience at Time 2. Implications for cognitive theories and clinical practice are discussed.     

Profiles of wisdom among emerging adults: Associations with empathy,gratitude, and forgiveness

The objective of this cross-sectional study was to examine multidimensional profiles of wisdom among emerging adults. We expected individuals who displayed deeper perspective across multiple dimensions of wisdom to also report greatest adjustment in reports of empathy, gratitude, and forgiveness. Two hundred and sixty-three undergraduate students reported dispositional empathy, gratitude, and forgiveness. Participants also responded to situational vignettes concerning gratitude and forgiveness. Wisdom was measured by coding written advice to hypothetical dilemmas. Cluster analyses supported four wisdom profiles: ‘Procedure-Focused,’ emphasizing methods for addressing challenges; ‘Fact-Focused,’ accentuating factual knowledge; ‘Shallow Perspective,’ showing less perspective across all dimensions; and ‘Deep Perspective,’ showing greater perspective across all dimensions. Participants in the ‘Shallow Perspective’ profile reported less empathy than those in the ‘Deep Perspective’ and ‘Procedure-Focused’ profiles. There were no differences in gratitude and forgiveness across clusters. Results suggest that emerging adults who have more fully developed perspectives about life challenges show greater interpersonal strengths.     

The construct and measurement of spontaneous attention to a number

The Spontaneous Attention to a Number (SAN) construct serves a different purpose than Hannula-Sormunen and colleagues’ Spontaneous Focus on Number (SFON) construct. As an extension of Eleanor J. Gibson’s differentiation theory, the premise of SAN is that children’s step-wise construction of small number concepts enables them to perceptually differentiate among increasingly larger numbers—to distinguish reliably between “oneness” or “twoness” and larger numbers, then between “threeness” and “larger numbers,” and eventually between “fourness” and larger numbers. In contrast, SFON refers to the tendency to attend to numbers in general—an attentional process that, unlike SAN, is separate from enumeration skill. Not surprisingly, then, although the prototype for both the SAN and SFON tasks is Nancy C. Jordan and colleagues’ non-directive nonverbal number task, the independent development of the SAN and SFON tasks resulted in key differences in how they are administered and scored and to whom they are administered.     

From Dispositions to Goals to Ideology: Toward a Synthesis of Personality and Social Psychological Approaches to Political Orientation

We review existing research on the associations between political orientation and Big Five traits such as Openness to Experience and Conscientiousness. We suggest that analyzing these traits at the aspect level sheds light on motivational mechanisms underlying these links. For example, we present evidence that only one of the two aspects of Conscientiousness (“Orderliness”) reliably predicts conservatism. To account for this relationship, and to more generally describe how traits translate into political orientation, we present a new model, the Disposition‐Goals‐Ideology (DiGI) Model. The DiGI model outlines specific interrelationships among dispositions, goals, and ideological beliefs that help to shape individual differences in political orientation.     

The effectiveness of the peak relational training system and corresponding changes on the VB‐MAPP for young adults with autism

The current investigation sought to extend prior research evaluating the use of the PEAK Relational Training System as a comprehensive treatment model in improving language skills demonstrated by individuals with autism. Baseline PEAK‐Direct Training and Verbal Behavior Milestone Assessment and Placement Program (VB‐MAPP) assessments were conducted across 3 adult male participants, and scores on the PEAK‐Direct Training assessment were used to select targets for intervention. Language instruction guided by the PEAK‐Direct Training module was implemented for 45 to 69 days across participants. Results suggest that participants mastered target skills throughout the training phase, and VB‐MAPP test probes showed an increasing trend. Follow‐up probes suggested that scores on the VB‐MAPP maintained when training was discontinued. In addition, participants demonstrated an increase in assessment scores on the PEAK‐Direct Training assessment in the follow‐up phase, including the mastery of untargeted verbal skills.     

Difficult Terminations in Group Therapy: A Self Psychologically Informed Perspective

In group therapy, terminations that are neither planned nor anticipated are sometimes referred to as difficult. This complex issue of difficult terminations is used as a vehicle to challenge the prevailing, though often unspoken, assumption that the goal of the group therapist is to keep the members in the group. The author presents the notion that the leader needs to maintain a balance between the group as a treatment context, and the goal of that context. The goal of group-as-treatment context is to provide for the therapeutic needs of each individual patient in the group. Self psychology provides a basis for redefining the therapy group as a treatment context. A specific rationale, goal, and process of that redefinition is presented along with illustrative case material. With this understanding, unanticipated terminations can be as readily accepted and understood as ones that are planned. All terminations are viewed as further opportunities to understand how a patient defines his or her sense of self, sense of other, and sense of self with other.     

Processing Product Unique Features: Alignability and Involvement in Preference Construction

Consumers often form preferences based on the presented attributes of choice options. Previous research has suggested that consumers tend to form their preferences using the attributes that are related to common aspects between the options (i.e., alignable differences) and ignore attributes that are unique to individual options (i.e., nonalignable differences). We combine cognitive psychology and motivation research from social psychology and propose that consumers’ preference formation can be systematically affected by whether they focus more on alignable differences or more on nonalignable differences of the options as a function of consumers’ involvement with the task. The results of 3 experiments show that preference judgment favors alignable differences over nonalignable differences in a low‐motivation condition. In contrast, high motivation to process information enables consumers to increase their use of nonalignable differences in preference formation, which can result in a preference reversal relative to the low‐motivation condition. The results suggest that a preference reversal occurs when the nonalignable differences of the target option are superior to both the nonalignable differences and the alignable differences of the reference option. However, the reversal does not occur when the nonalignable differences of the target option are superior only to the nonalignable differences of the reference option. Theoretical and managerial implications relating to differentiation, positioning, and communication strategies for innovative brands are discussed.