Perceived versus used workplace flexibility in Singapore: predicting work-family fit

This study examined the relationship of 2 types of workplace flexibility to work-family fit and work, personal, and marriage-family outcomes using data (N = 1,601) representative of employed persons in Singapore. We hypothesized that perceived and used workplace flexibility would be positively related to the study variables. Results derived from structural equation modeling revealed that perceived flexibility predicted work-family fit; however, used flexibility did not. Work-family fit related positively to each work, personal, and marriage-family outcome; however, workplace flexibility only predicted work and personal outcomes. Findings suggest work-family fit may be an important facilitating factor in the interface between work and family life, relating directly to marital satisfaction and satisfaction in other family relationships. Implications of these findings are discussed.     

Assessing the Influence of Psychosocial and Career Mentoring on Organizational Attractiveness

Past research on mentoring in organizational settings has focused on psychosocial and career mentoring functions more senior employees provide to new hires. In this study, we examined whether the perceived quality of psychosocial and career functions of pre‐hire mentoring and realistic job previews (RJPs) provided to students through mentoring impact organizational attraction and potential applicants' intentions to pursue or accept jobs at their mentors' organization, and ultimately their acceptance of positions with their mentors' organization. We compared face‐to‐face mentoring with online mentoring. A field study was conducted (n=194 European graduate students). Findings indicate that the quality of psychosocial mentoring plays a larger role in organizational attraction and intentions to pursue jobs than the perceived level/quality of career mentoring functions, with RJPs functioning as a suppressor variable. Obtaining a job with the mentors' organization was related to career, but not to psychosocial mentoring functions or RJPs.     

Children with ADHD in Residential Care

Little is known about the characteristics or functioning of children with ADHD in residential care as compared to their non-ADHD peers. This study evaluated data on 538 children with (n = 125) and without (n = 413) ADHD in residential care to determine demographic, mental health, behavioral, and treatment (i.e., medication use) characteristics. Results revealed that both groups presented elevated risks, however, scores for children with ADHD indicated even greater levels of need. Specifically, differences were found between the two groups on demographics (e.g., family reunification status, restrictiveness of prior out-of-home placements), behavior (e.g., attention problems, rule-breaking and aggressive behaviors) and medication status. Findings suggest there is a need for aftercare services to help support families as children transition from care, interventions to address behavior, and medication management through assessment and monitoring.     

Delayed memory for visual—haptic exploration of familiar objects

Long-term memory of haptic, visual, and cross-modality information was investigated. In Experiment 1, subjects briefly explored 40 commonplace objects visually or haptically and then received a recognition test with categorically similar foils in the same or the alternative modality both immediately and after 1 week. Recognition was best for visual input and test, with haptic memory still apparent after a week's delay. Recognition was poorest in the cross-modality conditions, with performance on the haptic-visual and visual-haptic cross-modal conditions being nearly identical. Visual and haptic information decayed at similar rates across a week delay. In Experiment 2, subjects simultaneously viewed and handled the same objects, and transfer was tested in a successive cue-modality paradigm. Performance with the visual modality again exceeded that with the haptic modality. Furthermore, initial errors on the haptic test were often corrected when followed by the visual presentation, both immediately and after 1 week. However, visual test errors were corrected by haptic cuing on the immediate test only. These results are discussed in terms of shared information between the haptic and visual modalities, and the ease of transfer between these modalities immediately and after a substantial delay.     

Effects of Resolving to Change One's Own Behavior: Expectations vs. Experience

The “false-hope syndrome” suggests that unrealistic expectations are responsible for the cycle of repeated failure and renewed efforts at self-change characterizing many self-changers. Our hypotheses were that: (1) committing to a particular self-change task would inflate initial expectations, (2) participants would be unsuccessful relative to their expectations, and (3) more elevated expectations would lead to more negative outcomes. Participants were randomly assigned to either increase their physical activity or reduce their stress through meditating or were assigned to a no-change control group. In accordance with Hypotheses 1 and 2, exercise participants had more positive expectations about their resolutions immediately after committing to them, and both exercise and meditation participants were unsuccessful relative to their expectations. With respect to Hypothesis 3, however, having more positive expectations about one's resolution did not predict a worse outcome.     

The association between high status positions and aggressive behavior in early adolescence

The present study examined the association between high status social positions in early adolescence and both overt and relational aggression. A sample of 234 sixth graders (132 girls, 102 boys) completed peer nominations assessing aggression, social centrality, and coolness. Data analyses were based on all sixth graders who received peer nominations, for a total sample size of 417 students (224 girls, 193 boys). Hierarchical linear modeling was used to examine both within-peer group differences and between-peer group differences. Results indicated relational aggression was related to higher overall social centrality and being nominated as cool even when controlling for overt aggression. Overt aggression appeared to be related to higher overall social centrality and being nominated as cool, but this relationship was much weaker when relational aggression was controlled. Although girls used relational aggression more often and boys used overt aggression more often, the use of relational aggression by either gender was related to membership in high status peer groups and high status within the peer group. Implications of the findings and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

Organizational context and face-to-face interaction: Influences on the development of trust and collaborative behaviors in computer-mediated groups

Using adaptive structuration theory as a framework [DeSanctis, G., & Poole, M. S. (1994). Capturing the complexity in advanced technology use: Adaptive structuration theory. Organization Science, 5(2), 121–147], we examined the influence of organizational context (competitive versus cooperative) and introductory meeting communication medium (face-to-face versus electronic) on the development of trust and collaborative behaviors of dyads communicating electronically. Based on a sample of 208 senior business students operating in computer-mediated (CM) dyads while performing a strategic decision-making simulation, we found that context, introductory communication medium, and time interacted to influence trust and collaborative behaviors. The pattern of development of trust and collaborative behaviors differed for the same introductory communication medium in different context conditions. Further, the level of trust and collaboration for dyad members in the competitive/electronic introductory meeting condition lagged significantly behind those in the other conditions. The findings suggest that introductory face-to-face interaction plays a more important role in facilitating the development of trust and collaboration in a CM environment when the context is competitive.     

Influence of Counselor Spirituality and Training on Treatment Focus and Self‐Perceived Competence

Spirituality is a potential area of concern for counseling clients. This study presents the empirical results of a survey completed by 572 counselors to determine if counselors' spiritual beliefs, experiences, or training had an impact on their focus of therapy or self‐perceived competence. A counselor's personal spirituality, spiritual experience, and spirituality training did significantly influence treatment focus as well as self‐perceived competence to counsel a client with spiritual concerns.     

Do Early Nouns Refer to Kinds or Distinct Shapes? Evidence From 10-Month-Old Infants

ABSTRACT— What is the nature of early words? Specifically, do infants expect words for objects to refer to kinds or to distinct shapes? The current study investigated this question by testing whether 10-month-olds expect internal object properties to be predicted by linguistic labels. A looking-time method was employed. Infants were familiarized with pairs of identical or different objects that made identical or different sounds. During test, before the sounds were demonstrated, paired objects were labeled with one repeated count-noun label or two distinct labels. Results showed that infants expected objects labeled with distinct labels to make different sounds and objects labeled with repeated labels to make identical sounds, regardless of the objects' appearance. These findings indicate that the 10-month-olds' expectations about internal properties of objects were driven by labeling and provide evidence that even at the beginning of word learning, infants expect distinct labels to refer to different kinds.     

Beauty Revisited: The impact of attractiveness,ability, and personality in the assessment of employment suitability

This study examined the relative weight that hiring managers place on applicants' attractiveness, general mental ability (GMA), and the Big Five personality dimensions in assessing employment suitability for high and low customer contact positions. A sample of 130 managers from 43 hotel properties in the United States and Canada evaluated applicant profiles that varied on these dimensions. The policy capturing results demonstrated that attractiveness does impact employment suitability ratings across positions. However, attractiveness is valued less than GMA and conscientiousness. The attractiveness weight was greater in the evaluation of high customer contact positions, suggesting that attractiveness may be perceived as more job‐relevant for positions where employees interact extensively with people outside the organization. These findings are discussed along with implications for practice and future research attention.