Are rating-based procedures reliable for derivation of typicality judgments from children?

The aim of the present study was to examine whether a rating-based procedure that has already been used by other investigators can be used for derivation of typicality ratings from children. The evidence reported in the study establishes that such a procedure cannot be reliably used for this purpose. The results show that children rated category items in terms of personal preferences rather than as a function of how representative they considered the items to be of their superordinate category. On the basis of these findings, an alternative method based on the family resemblance scores of the category members was proposed in order to derive typicality ratings from young children. This family resemblance method of obtaining typicality judgments may be useful to investigators interested in assessing how children process categorical information.     

Perceptions and experience of workplace bullying in five different working populations

Whilst aggression in the workplace has been systematically studied in recent years, research into workplace bullying per se still remains quite limited. In this article, we report the findings from an investigation into employees' perceptions of social and organizational work conditions and experiences of bullying at work. Six‐hundred‐seventy‐seven employees from five different working populations (managers, teachers, technicians, call centre operators, and engineers) completed the Workplace Relationships Questionnaire (WRQ). This paper presents the results of the analysis, linking the experiences of bullying and perceptions of social and organizational work conditions. The present findings predictably identify victims and non‐bullied participants, and also indicate the existence of a new category of employee affected by the problem of bullying; bullied/non‐victims. Bullied/non‐victims may provide crucial insights into the ways that company practices and policies impact negatively on the whole workforce. Aggr. Behav. 29:489–496, 2003. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

How positive and negative contact experiences relate to identification and acculturation of persons with a migration background: Differentiating between majority,minority, and religious group identity

Badea, Jetten, Iyer, and Er-Rafiy proposed a model that specifies immigrants’ experienced rejection by majority and minority groups and social identification with these groups as predictors of their acculturation attitudes. The present research tested an extended version of this model by assessing (i) both positive and negative contact experiences with majority and minority groups, (ii) social identification with these groups and religious groups, and (iii) acculturation attitudes. We surveyed individuals with Greek (N = 186) and Turkish (N = 138) migration background living in Germany. The proposed model yielded a good fit with the empirical data and showed that positive and negative contact with majority and minority groups predicted minority members’ acculturation attitudes, mediated via identification with the majority, minority, and religious group. Our findings support the extended model and contribute to a broader understanding of contact–identification–acculturation links in the context of migration.     

The Relationship Between Organizational Practices and Values with Burnout and Engagement

Organizational practices and values have the potential to reduce burnout and increase feelings of job engagement. The aim of the present study was to assess the relationship between organizational practices and values with burnout and engagement among a sample of nurses. Specifically, practices and values were operationalised as support, goals, innovation and rules. A cross-sectional study of 214 Nurses (response rate = 71.3%) working both inside a hospital and community health centers in the North of Greece was conducted. Participants did not differ in the examined variables with regard to gender, age, tenure or educational level. Analyses indicated that nurses working inside the hospital reported significantly higher scores on emotional exhaustion and depersonalization, and lower scores on dedication. Controlling for organizational practices, organizational values was negatively associated with emotional exhaustion, and positively associated with dedication. Consistent with the Job-Demands Resource (JD-R) model, both practices and values were significant resources for nurses. As predicted, organizational values were more significantly associated with burnout and engagement. The practical implications for practitioners are that interventions that are based on changing values have the potential to ameliorate feelings of exhaustion and buffer feelings of dedication. Organizational culture is established as an important element of work behaviors. The present study was to first to assess practices and values among a sample of Greek healthcare professionals. The research provides evidence that in healthcare values are more important than practices with regard to well-being.     

Validity study of the Moral Judgment Test in Physical Education: development and preliminary validation

Teaching ethical behavior is an aspect of physical education. The purpose of the study was to present the construction and to estimate validity of a test which assesses physical education students' moral judgment, the Moral Judgment Test in Physical Education. The sample comprised 281 male and female participants (95 in Grades 7 to 9, 92 in Grades 10 to 12, and 94 university students), who completed Lind's Moral Judgment Test and the Moral Judgment Test-PE version. The validity of the latter was assessed using four criteria of Lind's moral theory. Analysis indicated that the Moral Judgment Test-PE had adequate construct validity and correlated positively, although relatively weakly, with the original test, so the new version has sufficient construct validity to be used in physical education.     

Evaluation of students’ social ability: Greek version of checklists for aggressive behaviour and social insecurity in elementary education

The school environment plays an important role in children’s socialization. The present report was concerned with the study of aggressive behaviour and social insecurity among elementary school students in Greece. For this purpose, Petermann and Petermann’s (2001; 2003) checklists for structured observation of aggressive behaviour (Checklist of Aggressive Behaviour; CAB) and social insecurity (Checklist of Social Insecure Behaviour; CSIB) were used. The primary aim was to examine the psychometric characteristics of the Greek versions of CAB and CSIB. Overall, 500 Greek elementary school students (M _age  = 9.46  ±  1.7) participated in the study. Students’ social behaviour was evaluated by their teachers. Confirmatory factor analysis results showed adequate factorial structure for both checklists, the χ² was significant, and absolute and incremental fit indices were at acceptable levels. Internal consistency coefficients were also at satisfactory and acceptable levels. The analysis of correlation provided evidence on the construct validity of the checklists. No gender differences were found in all aspects of aggressive and socially insecure behaviours. The findings of the study provide initial evidence on the validity and reliability of the checklists and imply that they are valuable instruments for the assessment of aggression and social insecurity in the school context.

AD/HD Symptoms and Conduct Problems: Similarities and Differences in Maternal Perceptions

Several theories attempt to explain the high co-occurrence of Attention Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder (AD/HD) and Conduct Problems (CP). A strong possibility is that AD/HD behaviours lead to the development of CP, due to family coercive interaction patterns, maintained through parental false beliefs regarding child problem behaviour. We compared maternal perceptions about AD/HD behaviors and CP, and the possible reactions elicited by such behaviours. The sample consisted of 317 mothers of boys and girls aged 4–6. Four versions of The Parental Account of the Causes of Childhood Problems Questionnaire were used, in which a vignette was ascribed to either a boy or a girl displaying some of the major AD/HD behaviours or CP. The results showed that CP were perceived as significantly more severe than AD/HD behaviours. Moreover, AD/HD behaviours were attributed to biological causes more often than CP, and less strict rearing practices were chosen for AD/HD symptoms. Our findings provide evidence that mothers usually perceive AD/HD behaviours and CP as separate entities and may behave accordingly with their children.     

Re-examining the contribution of visuospatial working memory to inhibition of return

Castel and colleagues (Percept Psychophys 65(6):970–981, 2003) proposed that visuospatial working memory is needed to retain and update the irrelevant but attended location in an inhibition of return (IOR) procedure. In a series of three experiments, we re-examined this hypothesis by loading visuospatial working memory and manipulating the timing of encoding. When the visuospatial memory items were presented right after the cue, as in Castel et al. (Percept Psychophys 65(6):970–981, 2003), we replicated the lack of IOR in the dual-task condition (Experiment 1). However, when we presented the visuospatial memory items before the spatial cue, to control for retroactive interference in encoding, we found robust IOR effects (Experiment 2); the effect remained strong even when participants were prevented from using verbal labels to rehearse the memory material (Experiment 3). We conclude that IOR does not seem to depend on retaining the position of the irrelevant cue in visuospatial working memory.