Sexual harassment expanded: An examination of the relationships among sexual harassment,sex discrimination,and aggression in the workplace

We hypothesized that sexual harassment is part of a broader behavioral family including aggression and discrimination. We examined whether the relationships between these types of mistreatment can be represented well by a general factor that relates to other workplace variables. Evidence from military datasets showed that sexual harassment, sex discrimination, and workplace aggression can be conceptualized as a more general factor that functioned well in an integrated model of sexual harassment and was experienced differently by men and women. Thus, there is utility in examining these types of mistreatment both together and independently, both for research and prevention purposes.     

Using Raw VAR Regression Coefficients to Build Networks can be Misleading

Many questions in the behavioral sciences focus on the causal interplay of a number of variables across time. To reveal the dynamic relations between the variables, their (auto- or cross-) regressive effects across time may be inspected by fitting a lag-one vector autoregressive, or VAR(1), model and visualizing the resulting regression coefficients as the edges of a weighted directed network. Usually, the raw VAR(1) regression coefficients are drawn, but we argue that this may yield misleading network figures and characteristics because of two problems. First, the raw regression coefficients are sensitive to scale and variance differences among the variables and therefore may lack comparability, which is needed if one wants to calculate, for example, centrality measures. Second, they only represent the unique direct effects of the variables, which may give a distorted picture when variables correlate strongly. To deal with these problems, we propose to use other VAR(1)-based measures as edges. Specifically, to solve the comparability issue, the standardized VAR(1) regression coefficients can be displayed. Furthermore, relative importance metrics can be computed to include direct as well as shared and indirect effects into the network.     

Impaired face detection may explain some but not all cases of developmental prosopagnosia

Developmental prosopagnosia (DP) is defined by severe face recognition difficulties due to the failure to develop the visual mechanisms for processing faces. The two‐process theory of face recognition (Morton & Johnson, 1991) implies that DP could result from a failure of an innate face detection system; this failure could prevent an individual from then tuning higher‐level processes for face recognition (Johnson, 2005). Work with adults indicates that some individuals with DP have normal face detection whereas others are impaired. However, face detection has not been addressed in children with DP, even though their results may be especially informative because they have had less opportunity to develop strategies that could mask detection deficits. We tested the face detection abilities of seven children with DP. Four were impaired at face detection to some degree (i.e. abnormally slow, or failed to find faces) while the remaining three children had normal face detection. Hence, the cases with impaired detection are consistent with the two‐process account suggesting that DP could result from a failure of face detection. However, the cases with normal detection implicate a higher‐level origin. The dissociation between normal face detection and impaired identity perception also indicates that these abilities depend on different neurocognitive processes.     

Smells like cooperation? Unpleasant body odor and people's perceptions and helping behaviors

Scents are omnipresent in our daily world and they are of great importance as represented by the use of perfumes or fragrances in the work environment. Even though it has been argued that bad scents invoke negative judgments, we argued and demonstrated that a bad body odor elicits feelings of pity in others (Experiment 1) and increases prosocial behavior (Experiment 2). Further, we showed that only if a person is not held accountable for his own body odor this elevated other's prosocial behavior (Experiment 3). These findings provide a novel perspective on the way human body odor affects our perceptions and consequent behaviors.     

Psychotherapeuten und ihre psychischen Probleme

A cliché about psychotherapists, psychologists and psychiatrists is that they themselves apparently all have mental problems. This review article analyzes the state of research on the topic based on a databank search in PubMed using the terms “(mental disorders OR suicide) AND (psychologists OR psychiatrists OR therapists OR psychoanalysts)” and an analysis of relevant review articles. In the databank search only ten publications were identified which related to any mental problems of therapists. These partially confirmed an increased risk of suicide, increased mental problems, such as depression, increased burnout risk and increased problems in childhood (e.g. sexual abuse and parentification) and showed that research deficits clearly exist. With respect to coping with such risks, the topics training therapy, personal therapy, self-care, and additional opportunities are discussed. In conclusion the implications for research and practice are discussed.     

Familiar Verbs Are Not Always Easier Than Novel Verbs: How German Pre‐School Children Comprehend Active and Passive Sentences

Many studies show a developmental advantage for transitive sentences with familiar verbs over those with novel verbs. It might be that once familiar verbs become entrenched in particular constructions, they would be more difficult to understand (than would novel verbs) in non‐prototypical constructions. We provide support for this hypothesis investigating German children using a forced‐choice pointing paradigm with reversed agent‐patient roles. We tested active transitive verbs in study 1. The 2‐year olds were better with familiar than novel verbs, while the 2½‐year olds pointed correctly for both. In study 2, we tested passives: 2½‐year olds were significantly below chance for familiar verbs and at chance for novel verbs, supporting the hypothesis that the entrenchment of the familiar verbs in the active transitive voice was interfering with interpreting them in the passive voice construction. The 3½‐year olds were also at chance for novel verbs but above chance with familiar verbs. We interpret this as reflecting a lessening of the verb‐in‐construction entrenchment as the child develops knowledge that particular verbs can occur in a range of constructions. The 4½‐year olds were above chance for both familiar and novel verbs. We discuss our findings in terms of the relative entrenchment of lexical and syntactic information and to interference between them.     

Meaning without fulfilment

Some philosophers argue that a necessary component of a meaningful life is positive affect. The implication of this type of view is that a meaningful life necessarily feels good. I respond primarily to Susan Wolf's version of this type of view; for Wolf, meaningful lives are necessarily fulfilling lives. In contrast to Wolf, I argue that people do sometimes find parts of their lives to be meaningful when the feeling of fulfilment is absent. I propose an alternative subjective condition that does not involve positive affect. I argue that meaningful parts of our lives obtain their value through their relationship to our practical identities.     

DOES FATHERS' PRENATAL MENTAL HEALTH BEAR A RELATIONSHIP TO PARENTING STRESS AT 6 MONTHS?

This study aimed to explore fathers’ mental health and retrospectively reported adverse childhood experiences during pregnancy, as well as various pathways predicting self‐reported stress at 6 months’ postpartum as assessed by the Parenting Stress Index (PSI; R.R. Abidin, 1990 ). A total of 835 fathers contributed data to the study. Data collection comprised five time points during pregnancy and one at 6 months’ postpartum. The main analyses were performed using linear regression and path analyses. First, linear regression analyses showed that paternal anxiety symptoms during pregnancy predicted stress scores in the PSI child domain at 6 months (coefficient = 0.36). Second, path analyses showed that depressive symptoms during pregnancy predicted parenting stress in the child domain, mediated by spousal disharmony at 6 months’ postpartum (coefficient = 0.77). Third, adverse childhood experiences scores predicted parenting stress in the child domain by two different pathways: one mediated by anxiety symptoms in pregnancy (coefficient = 0.29) and the other by depressive symptoms in pregnancy and experienced spousal disharmony at 6 months’ postpartum (coefficient = 0.77). The findings suggest that fathers’ symptoms of anxiety and depression during pregnancy as well as adverse childhood experiences predict paternal stress and a negative perception of their children's behavior at 6 months’ postpartum.