Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder in the Media

Scholars have long been concerned that mass media depictions of those with mental disorders foster stigma. Research is needed extricating how particular disorders are represented and perceived, such as obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). This article examines what images of obsessions and compulsions exist in the media, and how persons interpret these. It employs two methods: qualitative in-depth interviews and content analysis. Data indicate the media represents obsessions and compulsions in distinguishable ways that both reinforce and complicate common media stereotypes of those with mental disorders—fostering a stigma hierarchy and having contradictory effects on mental health literacy.     

But we’re here to help! Positive buffers of the relationship between outsider incivility and employee outcomes

Incivility from sources outside the organization (e.g., customers, patients) is increasingly recognized as an important workplace stressor, having been linked to a variety of negative outcomes. It is therefore becoming more important to understand not only the negative effects of outsider incivility, but also potential buffers of these negative effects. As such, the current study sought to explore the impact of outsider incivility directed towards emergency workers (called “victim” incivility) and to identify and test potential positive psychological buffers of the relationship between victim incivility and burnout, physical symptoms and objective absenteeism. Specifically, utilizing a resource perspective, we sought to determine whether work engagement and empathy buffered these negative effects. Survey data from 208 firefighters at two time points showed that victim incivility predicted burnout, physical symptoms and absenteeism, and that both engagement and empathy ameliorated some negative outcomes of victim incivility, including burnout and physical symptoms. Theoretical and practical implications of the research are discussed and areas for future research are proposed.     

Internet-Based,Unproctored Assessments on Mobile and Non-Mobile Devices: Usage,Measurement Equivalence,and Outcomes

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to determine the usage rates, measurement equivalence, and potential outcome differences between mobile and non-mobile device-based deliveries of an unproctored, non-cognitive assessment.

Design/Methodology/Approach

This study utilized a quasi-experimental design based on archival data obtained from applicants who completed a non-cognitive assessment on a mobile (n = 7,743; e.g., smartphones, tablet computers) or non-mobile (n = 929,341; e.g., desktop computers) device as part of an operational, high-stakes pre-employment selection process.

Findings

One percent of applicants used mobile devices to complete the assessment. Multiple-group confirmatory factor analysis indicated the assessment was equivalent across mobile and non-mobile devices at the configural, metric, scalar, and latent mean levels. A comparison of observed score means using one-way and factorial ANOVAs demonstrated that the use of mobile and non-mobile devices did not produce any practically significant score differences on the assessment across devices or applicant demographic subgroups.

Implications

Industry and technological trends suggest mobile device usage will only increase. Thus, demonstrating that mobile device functionality and hardware characteristics do not change the psychometric functioning or applicant outcomes for a non-cognitive, text-based selection assessment is critical to talent assessment.

Originality/Value

This study provides the first empirical examination of the usage of mobile devices to complete talent assessments and their impact on assessment properties and applicant outcomes, and serves as the foundation for future research and application of this growing technological trend in pre-employment assessment.

     

Frege's Puzzle for Perception

According to an influential variety of the representational view of perceptual experience—the singular content view—the contents of perceptual experiences include singular propositions partly composed of the particular physical object(s) a given experience is about or of. The singular content view faces well‐known difficulties accommodating hallucinations; I maintain that there is also an analogue of Frege's puzzle that poses a significant problem for this view. In fact, I believe that this puzzle presents difficulties for the theory that are unique to perception in that strategies that have been developed to respond to Frege's puzzle in the case of belief cannot be employed successfully in the case of perception. Ultimately, I maintain that this perceptual analogue of Frege's puzzle provides a compelling reason to reject the singular content view of perceptual experience.     

Disentangling the Role of Religiosity in Human Papillomavirus Vaccination Amidst COVID-19 Pandemic

Journal of Religion and Health - Religion is a complex and sociocultural driver of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination decisions, but its exact role has been mixed/unclear. We used a...     

The punishment that sustains cooperation is often coordinated and costly

Experiments are not models of cooperation; instead, they demonstrate the presence of the ethical and other-regarding predispositions that often motivate cooperation and the punishment of free-riders. Experimental behavior predicts subjects' cooperation in the field. Ethnographic studies in small-scale societies without formal coercive institutions demonstrate that disciplining defectors is both essential to cooperation and often costly to the punisher.     

The regulatory benefits of high levels of affect perception accuracy: A process analysis of reactions to stressors in daily life

Individuals attuned to affective signals from the environment may possess an advantage in the emotion-regulation realm. In two studies (total n = 151), individual differences in affective perception accuracy were assessed in an objective, performance-based manner. Subsequently, the same individuals completed daily diary protocols in which daily stressor levels were reported as well as problematic states shown to be stress-reactive in previous studies. In both studies, individual differences in affect perception accuracy interacted with daily stressor levels to predict the problematic outcomes. Daily stressors precipitated problematic reactions-whether depressive feelings (Study 1) or somatic symptoms (Study 2)-at low levels of affect perception accuracy, but did not do so at high levels of affect perception accuracy. The findings support a regulatory view of such perceptual abilities. Implications for understanding emotion regulation processes, emotional intelligence, and individual differences in reactivity are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).     

9 Suicide in San Francisco,CA: A Comparison of Caucasian and Asian Groups, 1987–1994

Completed suicides in the city of San Francisco, California, were examined across all ages in the racial groups of Caucasians (n = 798) and Asians (n = 124) from 1987 to 1994. A comparison of Caucasians and Asians showed that there were differences between them in their rates across all age groups. The major findings are: (1) Caucasians predominately used gunshot to complete suicide whereas Asians predominately used hanging to complete suicide, (2) Asian women over the age of 85 have the highest rates across both groups and genders, (3) Asians, as compared to Caucasians, used fewer drugs and alcohol at time of death. Theoretical connections between differences in suicide and definition of the self, as influenced by culture, are discussed.