Predicting post-event processing in social anxiety disorder following two prototypical social situations: State variables and dispositional determinants

This study investigated self-reported state (anxiety, physical symptoms, cognitions, internally focused attention, safety behaviors, social performance) and trait (social anxiety, depressive symptoms, dysfunctional self-consciousness) predictors of post-event processing (PEP) subsequent to two social situations (interaction, speech) in participants with a primary diagnosis of social anxiety disorder (SAD) and healthy controls (HC). The speech triggered significantly more intense PEP, especially in SAD. Regardless of the type of social situation, PEP was best predicted by situational anxiety and dysfunctional cognitions among the state variables. If only trait variables were considered, PEP following both situations was accounted for by trait social anxiety. In addition, dysfunctional self-consciousness contributed to PEP-speech. If state and trait variables were jointly considered, for both situations, situational anxiety and dysfunctional cognitions were confirmed as the most powerful PEP predictors above and beyond trait social anxiety (interaction) and dysfunctional self-consciousness (speech). Hence, PEP as assessed on the day after a social situation seems to be mainly determined by state variables. Trait social anxiety and dysfunctional self-consciousness also significantly contribute to PEP depending on the type of social situation. The present findings support dysfunctional cognitions as a core cognitive mechanism for the maintenance of SAD. Implications for treatment are discussed.     

The impact of political skill on career success of employees' representatives

Works councillors are elected representatives of employees in German companies. It is their job to protect and bargain the interests of the employees with the company. We investigated the impact of 558 works councillors' individual political skill on their career success, where career ascendancy is based on success in upward elections and not on appointments by supervisors. The participants were from core German industries mostly working in large companies. We found that the stronger works councillors' political skill the more successful they were in their career still after controlling for sex, age, and union membership. Implications and limitations of the study and consequences for future research are discussed.     

To help or not to help an outgroup member: The role of the target's individual attributes in resolving potential helpers' motivational conflict

When people are faced with the decision of whether or not to help an outgroup member, they often experience conflicting motivational tendencies due to the concurrent presence of factors prompting help and factors prompting non‐help. We argue that one way of how people deal with this conflict is by taking a closer look at the target's individual attributes, especially at those indicating the target's benevolence. Findings of Experiment 1 (N = 96), in which we manipulated intercultural dissimilarity between participants and a (fictitious) recipient of help and normative pressure to help as two factors affecting motivational conflict, support this basic assumption. Specifically, response latencies analyses confirmed that participants assigned a culturally highly dissimilar target spent more time on inspecting target‐related information when normative pressure, and thus motivational conflict, was high than when it was low. Experiment 2 (N = 141) extended these findings by demonstrating that providing potential helpers with explicit information about an outgroup member's benevolence increased helping intentions through reducing their negative interaction expectancies (and thus motivational conflict). As expected, this mediational relationship could only be observed for participants assigned a culturally highly dissimilar target. Experiment 3 (N = 46) replicated these mediation findings in a within‐subjects design. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Job insecurity and well-being: The moderating role of job dependence

Job insecurity has become more relevant during the last decades as more flexibility from the workforce and organizations is demanded in the labour market. It has frequently been suggested that job insecurity is a more severe stressor for those who are more dependent on their job. The present study investigates the association between job insecurity and employee well-being by focusing on how employees’ dependence on the job moderates this relationship. Two types of financial dependence (subjective financial dependence and relative contribution to the household income) were studied, along with an indicator of a more psychological dependence on work in general (work involvement). In addition to this, both quantitative and qualitative job insecurity were included. The proposed relations were tested in a sample of Swedish accountancy firm employees. The results of moderated hierarchical regression analyses showed that subjective financial dependence, household contribution, and work involvement moderated the relation between both job insecurity dimensions and job satisfaction. No moderations were found with mental well-being as an outcome. This implies that the extent to which someone depends on their job is important for how job insecurity relates to job satisfaction.     

Active hippocampus during nonconscious memories

The hippocampal formation is known for its importance in conscious, declarative memory. Here, we report neuroimaging evidence in humans for an additional role of the hippocampal formation in nonconscious memory. We maskedly presented combinations of faces and written professions such that subjects were not aware of them. Nevertheless, the masked presentations activated many of the brain regions that unmasked presentations of these stimuli did. To induce a nonconscious retrieval of the faces and face-associated occupational information, subjects were instructed to view the previously masked faces and to guess the professional category of each person--academic, artist, and workman. Guessing the professional category of previously masked versus new faces activated the left and right hippocampal formation and right perirhinal cortex as well as bilateral fusiform areas and fronto-temporal areas known to mediate the retrieval of semantic information. These activations within the semantic processing system suggest that conceptual knowledge acquired during masking was nonconsciously retrieved. Our data provide clues to an analogous role of the hippocampus in conscious and nonconscious memory.     

How Alluring Are Dark Personalities? The Dark Triad and Attractiveness in Speed Dating

Dark Triad traits (narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism) are linked to the pursuit of short‐term mating strategies, but they may have differential effects on actual mating success in naturalistic scenarios: Narcissism may be a facilitator for men's short‐term mating success, while Machiavellianism and psychopathy may be detrimental. To date, little is known about the attractiveness of Dark Triad traits in women. In a speed‐dating study, we assessed participants' Dark Triad traits, Big Five personality traits, and physical attractiveness in N = 90 heterosexual individuals (46 women and 44 men). Each participant rated each partner's mate appeal for short‐ and long‐term relationships. Across both sexes, narcissism was positively associated with mate appeal for short‐ and long‐term relationships. Further analyses indicated that these associations were due to the shared variance among narcissism and extraversion in men and narcissism and physical attractiveness in women, respectively. In women, psychopathy was also positively associated with mate appeal for short‐term relationships. Regarding mating preferences, narcissism was found to involve greater choosiness in the rating of others' mate appeal (but not actual choices) in men, while psychopathy was associated with greater openness towards short‐term relationships in women. Copyright © 2016 European Association of Personality Psychology     

Explaining Social Disparities in Mathematical Achievement: The Role of Motivation

This study examined the role of motivation as a mediator of the relationship between parents' socio‐economic status (SES) and children's standardized test achievement in math. We employed a one‐year longitudinal approach using Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2003 and a follow‐up exam in 2004. The sample consisted of N = 6020 German students (mean age 15.5 years, SD = .55) who continued school after Grade 9 (PISA 2003) and were in Grade 10 at the time of PISA 2004. Children completed measures related to their parents' SES, math‐specific self‐concept, task‐specific and global self‐efficacy, and interest, intelligence and mathematical competence. We found a small to moderate correlation between parents' SES and children's achievement. All motivational constructs partially mediated the relationship between father's SES as well as a family index for SES (economic, social, and cultural status) and children's mathematical competence, but only math‐specific self‐concept and self‐efficacy were significant mediators for mother's SES. Even when simultaneously considering the mediating effect of children's intelligence and prior achievement, the mediation effects of motivation remained significant. These results are important for our understanding of educational equality. Copyright © 2016 European Association of Personality Psychology