Locus of control,perceived responsibility for prior fate,and helping behavior

One-hundred-and-sixty adolescents participated in two studies designed to investigate the relationship between $\text{I}\text{E}$ and helping behavior as mediated by the perceived cause of another's need. In the first study, Ss were given the opportunity to help, either “indirectly” or “directly,” a supervisor who had been over- or underpaid in a prior similar task. Internals helped more in the “direct” help than the “indirect” help conditions but their helping behavior and their perceptions of their supervisors were not consistent. The perceptions of the externals were relatively consistent with their greater help of the “overpaid” supervisor. In study 2, the Ss were given additional information to increase the possibility of their making causal attributions as a function of the supervisor's prior fate. Once again, the external subjects' helping behavior reflected their perception of their supervisor's merit. The internal subjects exhibited relatively little helping behavior regardless of their supervisors' prior fate or perceived competence.     

Responsive parenting: An approach to training parents of problem children

Two behavior modification groups for parents of problem children between the ages of two and ten were conducted along the lines of the Responsive Teaching Model. The two groups met for 10 and 8 weeks, respectively, with six families represented in each group. In Responsive Parenting (RP), parents are taught to observe and measure their children's problematic behavior. Subsequently, each parent develops a home project designed to modify this behavior; 11 of the 12 parents developed a successful home project. In addition, the attendance was approximately 90% and the completion of weekly assignments was close to 100%. Paper-and-pencil measures revealed that the parents were very satisfied with the parent-training group and rated their children as improved on a bipolar adjective checklist. These results are discussed with regard to implications for the delivery of mental health services for children. Future research directions are delineated.     

The Impact of Decision Timing on the Effectiveness of Leaders’ Apologies to Repair Followers’ Trust in the Aftermath of Leader Failure

Purpose

The aim of the present research was to investigate how a negative decision outcome generated by a leader in a hasty, timely, or delayed manner impacts upon the need for, and the effectiveness of apologies to restore followers’ trust.

Design/Methodology/Approach

Data were collected using five studies in which the effects of timing of an incorrect decision on the trust repair process were investigated.

Findings

In the aftermath of a leader’s failure, followers experienced a delayed incorrect decision as a more severe transgression than a hasty or a timely incorrect decision. This effect was mediated by procedural fairness concerns (Study 1). The present findings also revealed an interesting paradox. Specifically, in the delayed condition followers expressed the highest need for an apology (Studies 2 and 3), but at the same time expected an apology to be less effective for enhancing trustworthiness than in the timely and the hasty condition (Study 3). Moreover, we also showed that the actual provision of an apology was effective for restoring both trustworthiness (Study 4) and trust (Studies 4 and 5) in the timely and the hasty condition, but ineffective in the delayed condition.

Implications

The present research shows that when the outcome of a decision is uncertain, it is better to make a decision (too) soon rather than (too) late.

Originality/Value

Despite the ubiquity of timing errors in daily life, our studies are the first to focus on the role of timeliness of decisions in the trust repair process.

     

The structure and developmental course of Positive Youth Development (PYD) in early adolescence: Implications for theory and practice

Using data from Grades 5 to 7 of the longitudinal 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development (PYD), this research assessed the structure and development of PYD. Building on Grade 5 findings, that “Five Cs” (Competence, Confidence, Connection, Character, and Caring) could be empirically defined as latent constructs converging on a second-order construct, labeled PYD, we used structural models to assess the fit of this original model for Grades 5, 6, and 7. Results indicated that PYD continued to be a robust construct that can be defined comparably for Grades 6 and 7, as it was in Grade 5. We discuss implications for future research and for applications of the finding that, across the three years of early adolescence that we assessed (about ages 10 to 12), there is continuity in the structure of PYD.