A Short Measure of Transformational Leadership

This study reports the development of a short measure of transformational leadership: the Global Transformational Leadership scale (GTL). The study sample was 1,440 subordinates who assessed the leader behaviour of 695 branch managers in a large Australian financial organisation. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis showed that the GTL measured a single construct of leadership and had satisfactory reliability. Evidence for the convergent and discriminant validity is presented. We conclude that the GTL has a number of potential uses as an assessment and selection tool and in leadership research.     

The association of childhood intelligence with mortality risk from adolescence to middle age: Findings from the Aberdeen Children of the 1950s cohort study

There is growing evidence that childhood IQ is inversely associated with mortality in later life. However, the specificity of this association in terms of causes of death, whether it is continuous over the whole range of IQ scores and whether it is the same according to age and sex is not clear. In a large cohort (N = 11,603) of a complete population of children born in one city in the UK in the early 1950s, IQ measured at age 7 years (using a routinely administered picture test) was found to be inversely associated with mortality between the ages of 15 and 57 years. For every 1 SD increase in IQ at 7, the all cause mortality hazard ratio was 0.79 (95% CI 0.73, 0.85). On adjustment for a range of perinatal factors, father's social class at birth, number of sibs in the household and childhood height and weight, this was attenuated slightly to 0.81 (0.74, 0.88). Almost identical associations of IQ with mortality were seen for men and women as well as at younger (15–39) and older (40+) ages. These associations were across the entire IQ range, although some of the high mortality in the lowest category of IQ (< 70) was accounted for by causes associated with congenital disorders. Overall, external causes of death showed the strongest association, with weaker associations being seen for cancer. Further work is required to understand the mechanisms whereby childhood IQ has such a robust association with mortality in later life.     

Forbidding Science: Some Beginning Reflections

Growing powers to manipulate human bodies and minds, not merely to heal disease but to satisfy desires, control deviant behavior, and to change human nature, make urgent questions of whether and how to regulate their use, not merely to assure safety and efficacy but also to safeguard our humanity. Oversight in democratic societies rightly belongs to the polity, not merely to self-appointed experts, scientific or ethical. Yet the task of governing the uses of dangerous knowledge is daunting, and there is little evidence that we have the will or the wisdom to do it well.

Feeling the beat: the meaning of rap music for ethnically diverse Midwestern college students--a phenomenological study

Despite its national and international appeal, rap is considered one of the most controversial of music genres. Given the political charge it generates, rap music has spawned research across the social and health sciences. The majority of the research has investigated its impact on African Americans. Further, the research has tended to focus on negative aspects of the music; there has been a dearth of in-depth qualitative studies that explore how rap impacts the listener. Our phenomenological study explores that impact on ethnically diverse college students. Results indicate a profound psychological and educational effect and the discussion goes on to highlight the potential and innovative ways rap music can be utilized with adolescents in fields such as education, risk reduction programs, and counseling psychology.     

Type of Job Loss and its Impact on Decision Control, Mastery, and Depression: Comparison of Employee and Company-Stated Reasons

In the present study, we explore agreement between company versus self-reported reasons for job loss and the degree of perceived control employees report over the job loss, looking to see if either job loss type or perceived control is related to subsequent levels of mastery and depression. Two thousand two hundred seventy-nine of 3,700 (61%) employees responded to a survey at Time One; of these participants, 310 later lost their jobs and were mailed a Time Two survey. Comparison of self- versus company-reported reasons for the job loss from the 171 usable surveys (55% response rate) revealed relatively good agreement. Roughly one third of the former employees, however, categorized the job loss in more than one way. There was also a very strong tendency for employees to report that they had very high control over the decision to leave the company, and nearly all employees reported improvements to their levels of mastery and depression; exceptions to this pattern were observed for those losing their jobs due to “rule violation” or “involuntary layoff.” Control over the job loss was related to Time Two levels of mastery and depression, but only weakly related to changes in these outcomes moving from Time One to Time Two.     

Die nominaliftifche Grundlegung der Mathematik

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Reducing excessive questions in adults at adult-day training centers using differential-reinforcement-of-low rates

Differential-reinforcement-of-low rate (DRL) schedules are often used to reduce, not eliminate, behavior. We systematically replicated Austin and Bevan (2011) to determine whether the number of questions asked by two adults with intellectual disabilities working at adult-day-training centers could be reduced using a full-session DRL. The full-session DRL involved delivery of a reinforcer at the end of the day if the number of questions asked was less than a specified number during the entire session. Questions, up to a specified number, were also reinforced within-session. The full-session DRL reduced the number of questions asked by both participants and increased duration of task engagement for one participant.