Platelet MAO-B, personality, and psychopathology

The article investigates the relationships between platelet monoamine oxidase-B (MAO-B) activity, personality, and psychopathology (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders [4th ed.; American Psychiatric Association, 1994] diagnoses. These relationships were assessed in 178 incarcerated male juvenile delinquents. Even after controlling for smoking, the authors found that both Internalizing and Externalizing Psychopathology were negatively related to MAO-B activity. In the final reduced model, novelty seeking fully mediated the relationships between MAO-B and Externalizing Psychopathology but not between MAO-B and Internalizing Psychopathology. It was hypothesized that low platelet MAO-B activity does not directly predispose individuals to psychopathology but is related to specific personality traits, which in turn represent a vulnerability factor for psychopathology. Future studies should help clarify the nature of the relationships between personality, biological markers, and psychopathology.     

The importance of job autonomy, cognitive ability, and job-related skill for predicting role breadth and job performance

Role theory suggests and empirical research has found that there is considerable variation in how broadly individuals define their jobs. We investigated the theoretically meaningful yet infrequently studied relationships between incumbent job autonomy, cognitive ability, job-related skill, role breadth, and job performance. Using multiple data sources and multiple measurement occasions in a field setting, we found that job autonomy, cognitive ability, and job-related skill were positively related to role breadth, accounting for 23% of the variance in role breadth. In addition, role breadth was positively related to job performance and was found to mediate the relationship between job autonomy, cognitive ability, job-related skill, and job performance. These results add to our understanding of the factors that predict role breadth, as well as having implications for how job aspects and individual characteristics are translated into performance outcomes and the treatment of variability in incumbent reports of job tasks.     

Turnover intentions and voluntary turnover: the moderating roles of self-monitoring, locus of control, proactive personality, and risk aversion

This article explores moderators of the relationship between turnover intentions and turnover behavior to better explain why some employees translate intentions into behavior and other employees do not. Individual differences in self-monitoring, locus of control, proactive personality, and risk aversion were examined. Results indicate that self-monitoring and risk aversion moderate the intentions-turnover link. Specifically, the relationship between turnover intentions and turnover is stronger for low self-monitors and those lower in risk aversion. Locus of control moderated the relationship in 1 of 2 samples such that the relationship was stronger for those with an internal locus of control. Proactive personality, however, did not directly moderate the relationship between intentions and turnover behaviors.     

The evolution of domain-general mechanisms in intelligence and learning

For both humans and animals, domain-general mechanisms are fallible but powerful tools for attaining evolutionary goals (e.g., resources) in uncertain, novel environments that were not recurrent features of the environment of evolutionary adaptedness. Domain-general mechanisms interact in complex ways with domain-specific, information-encapsulated modules, most importantly by manipulating information obtained from various modules in attempting to solve novel problems. Mechanisms of general intelligence, particularly the executive functions of working memory, underlie analogical reasoning as well as the decontextualization processes that are central to human thought. Although there is a variety of evolved, special purpose learning devices, learning is also characterized by domain-general mechanisms that are able to achieve evolutionary goals by making novel and serendipitous associations with environmental cues.     

Gender differences in leg stiffness and stiffness recruitment strategy during two-legged hopping

The authors compared leg stiffness (K(VERT)), muscle activation, and joint movement patterns between 11 men and 10 women during hopping. Physically active and healthy men and women performed continuous 2-legged hopping at their preferred rate and at 3.0 Hz. Compared with men, women demonstrated decreased K(VERT); however, after the authors normalized for body mass, gender differences in K(VERT) were eliminated. In comparison with men, women also demonstrated increased quadriceps and soleus activity, as well as greater quadriceps-to-hamstrings coactivation ratios. There were no significant gender differences for joint movement patterns (p>.05). The relationship between the observed gender differences in muscle recruitment and the increased risk of anterior cruciate ligament injury in women requires further study.     

A cross-cultural investigation into the relationships between personality traits and work values

Over 500 working individuals from 2 European countries (Great Britain and Greece) participated in a 2-study investigation into the relationships between the Big Five personality factors and individuals' work values. In Study 1 (N = 314), British employees completed the 60-item NEO-Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI; P. T. Costa & R. R. McCrae, 1989) and the Work Values Questionnaire (WVQ; Mantech, 1983), which comprises 37 items measuring intrinsic (e.g., autonomy) and extrinsic (e.g., pay) work values. In Study 2 (N = 216), Greek employees completed a Greek language measure of the Big Five and a translated version of the WVQ. The authors observed a similar factor structure for the WVQ items in both studies. Personality traits, age, and gender explained between 5% and 13% of the variance in the WVQ subscales. As a result of the 2 studies, the authors concluded that there are robust associations between certain personality traits and work values, although they do not clearly follow the intrinsic vs. extrinsic distinction.     

An illustration of multilevel factor analysis

The factor analysis of repeated measures psychiatric data presents interesting challenges for researchers in terms of identifying the latent structure of an assessment instrument. Specifically, repeated measures contain both within and between individual sources of variance. Although a number of techniques exist for separating out these 2 sources of variance, all are problematic. Recently, researchers have proposed that exploratory multilevel factor analysis (MFA) be used to appropriately analyze the latent structure of repeated measures data. The chief objective of this report is to provide a didactic step-by-step guide on how MFA may be applied to psychiatric data. In the discussion, we describe difficulties associated with MFA and consider challenges in factor analyzing life event appraisals in psychiatric samples.     

Concordant Spiritual Orientations as a Factor in Physician--Patient Spiritual Discussions: A Qualitative Study

Objectives: To understand the impact of physicians and patients religious/spiritual orientation on discussions of spiritual issues. Methods: We performed semi-structured interviews of 10 Missouri family physicians and 10 patients of these physicians, selecting subjects nonrandomly to represent a range of demographic factors, practice types, and chronic or terminal illness. We coded and evaluated transcribed interviews for themes. Results: Respondents expressed that similar belief systems facilitate patient–physician spiritual interactions and bring confidence to their relationships. Those holding dissimilar faiths noted limited ability to address spiritual questions directly. They cited significant barriers to spiritual interaction but considered that ecumenism, use of patient-centered care, and negotiation skills lessen these barriers. Conclusions: Our respondents view spirituality similarly to other aspects of the physician–patient relationship involving differing viewpoints. Where discordance exists, cross-cultural, patient-centered, diplomatic approaches facilitate spiritual discussions.     

Variation, repetition, and choice

Experiment 1 investigated the controlling properties of variability contingencies on choice between repeated and variable responding. Pigeons were exposed to concurrent-chains schedules with two alternatives. In the REPEAT alternative, reinforcers in the terminal link depended on a single sequence of four responses. In the VARY alternative, a response sequence in the terminal link was reinforced only if it differed from the n previous sequences (lag criterion). The REPEAT contingency generated low, constant levels of sequence variation whereas the VARY contingency produced levels of sequence variation that increased with the lag criterion. Preference for the REPEAT alternative tended to increase directly with the degree of variation required for reinforcement. Experiment 2 examined the potential confounding effects in Experiment 1 of immediacy of reinforcement by yoking the interreinforcer intervals in the REPEAT alternative to those in the VARY alternative. Again, preference for REPEAT was a function of the lag criterion. Choice between varying and repeating behavior is discussed with respect to obtained behavioral variability, probability of reinforcement, delay of reinforcement, and switching within a sequence.     

An examination of Euro-American and African-American differences in social physique anxiety among college women

Many studies have examined sex differences in social physique anxiety; however, few researchers have examined possible perceptual differences in such anxiety based on ethnicity. The present purpose was to examine social physique anxiety among college-age women of Euro-American and African-American descent. Participants (N = 91) from physical activity classes at a university located in the southeastern United States completed the Social Physique Anxiety Scale. The participants were 67 Euro-Americans and 24 African Americans. An independent t test yielded a significant difference (p =.01) between groups on Eklund's scale, which supports the hypothesis.