Bus drivers' exposure to bullying at work: an occupation-specific approach

The present study employs an occupation-specific approach to examine bus drivers' exposure to bullying and their trait anger, job engagement, job satisfaction and turnover intentions. A total of 1,023 bus drivers from a large public transport organization participated in the study. The findings show that bus driving can be a high risk occupation with regard to bullying, since 70% of the bus drivers had experienced one or more acts typical of bullying during the last six months. As many as 11% defined themselves as victims of bullying, 33% of whom (i.e. 3.6% of the total sample) see themselves as victims of frequent bullying. Colleagues were most frequently reported as perpetrators. Exposure to bullying was negatively related to job engagement and job satisfaction and positively related to turnover intentions. Job engagement and job satisfaction mediated the relationship between bullying and intention to leave, respectively. Trait anger had an interaction effect on the relationship between bullying and turnover intentions. This study indicates that workplace bullying has context-specific aspects that require increased use of context-specific policies and intervention methods.     

Discrete emotion norms for nouns: Berlin affective word list (DENN–BAWL)

The Berlin Affective Word List (BAWL, Võ, Jacobs, &; Conrad, Behavior Research Methods, 35, 606-609, 2006) and the BAWL-R (Võ et al. in Behavior Research Methods 38, 606-609, 2009) are two commonly used lists to investigate affective properties of German words. The two-dimensional valence and arousal model of affect underlying the BAWL is traditionally contrasted with models describing affect in discrete emotional categories, which, however, are not currently incorporated in the BAWL. In order to allow future studies to investigate affective processing from both perspectives—or to directly compare them—in the present study, we collected data by assigning nouns taken from the BAWL-R to discrete emotion intensities, which in turn allowed the assignment to discrete emotion categories. In the study, we present Discrete Emotion Norms for Nouns–Berlin Affective Word List (DENN–BAWL). Using these ratings and the psycholinguistic indexes from the BAWL-R, the DENN–BAWL allows researchers to design experiments using highly controlled and reliable word material. Data have been archived at www.fu-berlin.de/allgpsy/DENN-BAWL     

Risks and realities: dyadic interaction between 6-month-old infants and their mothers in opioid maintenance treatment

A number of studies point to methadone exposure in utero as a possible risk factor in the developing mother–infant relationship in the first year of life. This study is part of a larger, national follow-up of 38 infants prenatally exposed to methadone or buprenorphine and 36 comparison, low-risk infants. The aim of the present paper is to assess the quality of mother–infant relationship when the infants are 6 months old. Videotaped mother–infant interactions were rated in a global scale (NICHD). Maternal and infant contributions collapsed into the variables “infant style” and “maternal style” showed that the only factor making significant contribution to the outcome measure “dyadic mutuality” was maternal style. The importance of group membership (exposed versus non-exposed), was reduced when controlling for maternal drug use prior to opioid maintenance treatment (OMT), maternal depression and parenting stress as well as infants’ developmental status and sensory-integrative functions. This suggests that prediction of dyadic mutuality should be based on individual characteristics rather than group characteristics. These results support previous research findings that methadone and buprenorphine use per se does not have direct influence on the quality of early mother–infant relationship, but tailored follow-up procedures targeting drug-free pregnancies and parenting support are beneficial for women in OMT and their children.     

Knowing your own mate value: sex-specific personality effects on the accuracy of expected mate choices

Knowing one's mate value (mate-value accuracy) is an important element in reproductive success. We investigated within- and between-sex differences in this ability in a real-life speed-dating event. A total of 190 men and 192 women filled out a personality questionnaire and participated in speed-dating sessions. Immediately after each date, participants recorded who they would choose as mates and who they expected would choose them. In line with evolutionarily informed hypotheses, results indicated that sociosexually unrestricted men and more agreeable women showed greater mate-value accuracy than sociosexually restricted men and less agreeable women, respectively. These results have important implications for understanding mating behavior and perhaps the origin of sex differences in personality.     

How does it feel? Workplace bullying,emotions and musculoskeletal complaints

The present study examines experienced emotions among self-labelled victims of ongoing workplace bullying and tests whether emotions mediate the relationship between exposure to bullying and health in the form of musculoskeletal complaints. A total of 1,024 employees from a Norwegian public transport company participated in the study, in which 116 self-labelled victims were identified. Ten positive and 10 negative emotions were measured (PANAS). The results showed significant differences in emotional experiences between victims and non-victims regarding all 10 negative emotions and one out of 10 positive emotions. Victims felt less "interested" and more "afraid," "upset," "angry," "guilty," "nervous," "hostile," "frustrated," "ashamed," "scared" and "stressed" than did non-victims. Further, the results pointed to both positive and negative emotions as mediators of the relationship between exposure to bullying and musculoskeletal complaints. In particular the negative emotion "stress" acted as a significant mediator regarding this relationship. Hence, emotions seem to be central to understanding the detrimental effects of bullying on the victims' health.     

Attachment dismissal predicts frontal slow-wave ERPs during rejection by unfamiliar peers

Attachment representations are thought to provide a cognitive-affective template, guiding the way individuals interact with unfamiliar social partners. To examine the neural correlates of this process, we sampled event-related potentials (ERPs) during exclusion by unfamiliar peers to differentiate insecure-dismissing from securely attached youth, as indexed by the child attachment interview. Thirteen secure and 10 dismissing 11- to 15-year-olds were ostensibly connected with two peers via the Internet to play a computerized ball-toss game. Actually, peers were computer generated, first distributing the ball evenly, but eventually excluding participants. Afterward children rated their distress. As in previous studies, distress was related to a negative left frontal slow wave (500-900 ms) during rejection, a waveform implicated in negative appraisals and less approach motivation. Though attachment classifications were comparable in frontal ERPs and distress, an attachment-related dismissal dimension predicted a negative left frontal slow wave during rejection, suggesting that high dismissal potentially involves elevated anticipation of rejection. As expected, dismissal and self-reported distress were uncorrelated. Yet, a new approach to quantifying the dissociation between self-reports and rejection-related ERPs revealed that dismissal predicted underreporting of distress relative to ERPs. Our findings imply that evaluations and regulatory strategies linked to attachment generalize to distressing social contexts in early adolescence.     

Recall of enacted and nonenacted instructions compared: forgetting functions

Summary Three experiments are reported in which under one condition subjects were given instructions to perform a series of acts (SPTs) and to remember the acts performed, and under a second condition were asked to remember the same verbal instructions without being required to perform any acts. Different groups of subjects were tested at different retention intervals. The forgetting curves for the two conditions differ with respect to intercept, but are similar in slope. The similarity in slope for the two conditions is present irrespective of differences in intercept. Several methodological issues are discussed as well as the nature of the relationship between recall of SPTs and verbal instructions.     

Individual response patterns and the effects of different behavioral methods in the treatment of agoraphobia

The importance of individual response patterns in agoraphobic patients was examined in the present study. Forty psychiatric outpatients with agoraphobia were assessed in individually relevant natural phobic situations. During this behavioral test their heart rates were measured continuously, and self-ratings of experienced anxiety were made at fixed intervals. On the basis of their reactions in the test situation, the patients were divided into two groups showing different response patterns—behavioral and physiological reactors. Within each group the patients were randomly assigned to one behaviorally-focused method (exposure in vivo, E) and one physiologically-focused method (applied relaxation, AR). The patients were treated individually for 12 sessions. Both treatments yielded significant improvements on most measures; 60% of the E group and 70% of the AR group patients were clinically improved after treatment. The between-group comparisons showed that both treatments did equally well both for behavioral and physiological reactors. Thus, the differential effects for these methods obtained in previous studies were not seen.