A systems approach to ethical problems

Codes of professional ethics and cases designed to teach ethical decision making are written for individual professionals and ignore the systems level of analysis. They typically employ a lineal view of causality and overvalue placement of blame as a component of ethical problem solving. This article takes a systems approach to ethical problems and identifies aspects of systems that promote or impede ethical decision making. Psychological abuse of children is used as an example of a problem requiring a coordinated, systemic response to ethical issues such as autonomy, privacy, and confidentiality.     

Internalization of conflict and attitude change

In a 2 × 2 × 2 design, eighty smokers were exposed to an anti-smoking appeal attributed either to an expert source (superior status) or a minority source (inferior status). Subjects were either allowed or not to smoke during the experiment. In addition subjects had to memorize part of the appeal and a recall task either followed after reading the appeal (completed task) or not (uncompleted task). The results show that the expert source produces more attitude change than the minority when the tension induced by the source is weakened (either by the opportunity to smoke or task completion). In contrast the minority has more impact when subjects are not able to smoke or when the task is not completed, which is to say when the conflict has been internalized. An explanation of these effects is offered in terms of the more defensive forms of resistance involved with respect to sources of superior status compared to more assertive forms with respect to minorities.     

The impact of raters' cognition on judgment accuracy: An extension to the job analysis domain

Eighty-six incumbents of three different jobs produced job-analytic ratings using either a decomposed (task-based) or a holistic (job-based) rating strategy. Approximately half of them received rater training in making inferential decisions. When tasks were less complex than the job as a whole, rating decomposition generally had positive effects on ratings' quality. Similarly, when the number of tasks rated was low to moderate, rater training was effective. A contingency approach, where limitations concerning the use of rating decomposition and inferential training were outlined, should serve to inform future uses and theories of rating aids in job analysis.We would like to acknowledge David Dorsey for his significant contribution to the rater training program. This article is a summary of the doctoral dissertation of Juan Sanchez, which was conducted under the supervision of Edward Levine.     

Outgroup prejudice and perceptions of prosocial intergroup behaviors

How people perceive outgroup prosocial behaviors is an important but under‐researched aspect of intergroup relations. In three experiments conducted in two cultural contexts (Italy and Kosovo) and with two different populations (adolescents and adults; N = 586), we asked participants to imagine being offered help by an outgroup versus ingroup member. Participants attributed fewer prosocial motives to and were less willing to accept help from the outgroup (vs. ingroup) member. This was particularly true for highly prejudiced participants and when the outgroup was described negatively. Participants' perceptions of the outgroup helper's prosocial motives and expected quality of the interaction with the helper mediated the effect of helper's group membership on willingness to accept the help (Experiment 3). We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these findings for intergroup relations.     

手机成瘾与抑郁：社交焦虑和负性情绪信息注意偏向的多重中介作用

为考察手机成瘾与抑郁的关系, 研究同时整合情绪和认知两方面因素, 探讨了社交焦虑和负性情绪信息注意偏向在手机成瘾和抑郁之间的多重中介作用。研究1共有545名大学生完成了大学生手机成瘾倾向量表、贝克抑郁量表和社会交往焦虑量表。研究2选取51名大学生采用问卷法和2(配对面孔表情的情绪类型: 负性、中性) × 2(探测点位置: 与负性情绪面孔表情同侧、与负性情绪面孔表情异侧)的被试内实验设计。结果表明: (1)手机成瘾、社交焦虑和抑郁两两间存在显著正相关, 且社交焦虑在手机成瘾和抑郁之间起完全中介作用; (2)社交焦虑和负性情绪信息注意偏向在手机成瘾与抑郁的关系中起链式中介作用, 而负性情绪信息注意偏向在手机成瘾与抑郁间的单独中介效应不显著。具体而言, 手机成瘾通过两条路径影响抑郁: 一是社交焦虑的单独中介作用; 二是社交焦虑→负性情绪信息注意偏向的链式中介作用。     

Balancing fit and parsimony to improve Q-matrix validation

The Q-matrix identifies the subset of attributes measured by each item in the cognitive diagnosis modelling framework. Usually constructed by domain experts, the Q-matrix might contain some misspecifications, disrupting classification accuracy. Empirical Q-matrix validation methods such as the general discrimination index (GDI) and Wald have shown promising results in addressing this problem. However, a cut-off point is used in both methods, which might be suboptimal. To address this limitation, the Hull method is proposed and evaluated in the present study. This method aims to find the optimal balance between fit and parsimony, and it is flexible enough to be used either with a measure of item discrimination (the proportion of variance accounted for, PVAF) or a coefficient of determination (pseudo-R²). Results from a simulation study showed that the Hull method consistently showed the best performance and shortest computation time, especially when used with the PVAF. The Wald method also performed very well overall, while the GDI method obtained poor results when the number of attributes was high. The absence of a cut-off point provides greater flexibility to the Hull method, and it places it as a comprehensive solution to the Q-matrix specification problem in applied settings. This proposal is illustrated using real data.     

The effects of cooperative learning on trait emotional intelligence and academic achievement of Spanish primary school students

Increasing the students' academic achievement in the international evaluation arena is a challenge for our country, and cooperative learning and emotional intelligence may be a solution for this problem. The link between cooperative learning, emotional intelligence, and academic achievement has been poorly studied so far. The objective of the present investigation was to examine the influence of cooperative learning on trait emotional intelligence and academic achievement. The methodology used was a quasi-experimental design with pre/post-measurements and experimental/control groups. The participants were primary education students (n = 692) and teachers (n = 24) from eight public schools in Madrid, Spain. The instruments used were the Emotional Quotient-Youth Version questionnaire and internal and external assessment tests. Our results indicated that cooperative learning improved scores of one dimension of trait emotional intelligence, change adaptability, and students' academic achievement (Mathematics and Spanish Language). We discussed the possible implications of these outcomes for educational practice.     

Are emotionally intelligent people less prejudiced? The importance of emotion management skills for outgroup attitudes

People vary in their ability to understand, process, and manage information about one's own and others’ emotions, a construct known as Emotional Intelligence (EI). Past research highlighted the importance of EI in interpersonal relations as well as the key role of emotions underlying outgroup prejudice. Remarkably, hardly any research has investigated the associations between EI and outgroup prejudice. In three studies (total N = 922) conducted in Spain and the United Kingdom, we measured emotional intelligence using self-report and performance tests and prejudice toward a variety of outgroups. Results showed that those with stronger performance-based emotion management skills expressed lower generalized ethnic prejudice (Studies 1–3), more positive attitudes toward immigrants (Study 2a) and refugees (Study 2b), and less homophobic attitudes (Study 3). This negative association between emotion management and prejudice was found with different performance-based EI measures and held after controlling for self-perceived EI (Study 1) and self-reported abilities to regulate emotions (Study 3). Study 3 further demonstrated that higher empathy partly accounted for the association between emotion management and prejudice. The findings suggest that emotion management abilities play an important, but so far largely neglected role in generalized prejudice.     

Mediation of the stigma in the influence of negative symptomatology over recovery in psychosis

Background/Objective: The interest in recovery processes in psychotic disorders has boosted the necessity of knowledge about the factors that could influence in such recovery. Negative symptomatology and the stigma have been negatively linked to the recovery process in psychosis. The aim of this investigation is to improve the understanding of how the recovery process is affected by negative symptomatology based on the analysis of the mediating effects of the internalized stigma. Method: The sample was composed of 114 people that had experienced, at some point in their life, at least one clinically relevant psychotic episode. CAPE-42, STORI and ISMI were used for the evaluation. The macro PROCESS for SPSS was used. The indirect effect was calculated using 10.000 samples of bootstrap for the bootstrap confidence intervals (IC) corrected for bias. Results: The results show that the influence of negative symptomatology predicts the stigmatization of the person regarding his disorder. This predicts a negative influence in the recovery process of the psychosis. Conclusions: These results back the importance of adding the reduction of the stigma as a specific strategy to improve the recovery process in psychotic disorders.