Proactive Personality at Work: Seeing More to Do and Doing More?

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to develop and test a model relating proactive personality to job behaviors (task and citizenship behaviors) through the intervening mediator of perceived role breadth.

Design/methodology/approach

Survey data were obtained from 530 faculty members in 69 U. S. research universities.

Findings

Proactive personality was positively related to task behavior and OCB. Perceived role breadth mediated the relationship between proactive personality and OCB, but did not mediate the relationship between proactive personality and task behavior. Despite not viewing their role more broadly, individuals higher in proactive personality engaged more frequently in both task behavior and OCB; and also worked more hours per week.

Implications

Having a better understanding of proactive individuals is important in terms of managing them. Because these individuals tend to do more in their jobs and subsequently work more hours, they may be more susceptible to burnout and may require additional help in determining priorities and balancing their work and lives.

Originality/value

This is the first study to show that proactive personality is positively related to the frequency with which these individuals engage in task and citizenship behavior. Although role breadth is generally an antecedent of such job behaviors, individuals higher in proactive personality engage more frequently in task behaviors regardless of whether or not they perceive them as part of their role. This is one of the first studies to show that working more hours each week is a potential cost of having a proactive personality.     

Health Survey of Adults with Neurofibromatosis 1 Compared to Population Study Controls

Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) is a genetic, autosomal dominant multi-organ disease characterized by susceptibility to tumor formation, changes in skin pigmentation, skeletal abnormalities, and neuropsychological deficits. Clinical studies have shown impaired health-related quality of life (HQoL) in adults with NF1. However, little is known about HQoL in non-clinical NF1 samples. We conducted a cross-sectional self-report survey of 142 persons with NF1 (M age?=?50.3 years, SD?=?12.0, range 32 to 80; 62.0% females) recruited from non-clinical settings. Several HQoL domains, including life satisfaction, mental health, sleep, pain, gastrointestinal problems, oral health, and social support, were compared between the NF1 sample and 46,293 controls from the HUNT3 population study. We also examined gender differences within the NF1 sample and predictors of HQoL. Compared to controls, the NF1 sample reported significantly poorer life satisfaction, mental health, sleep, and oral health, and more pain, gastrointestinal problems, comorbid diseases, and memory problems. Several HQoL domains were significantly correlated. Mental health was the only unique significant predictor of overall life satisfaction. Women with NF1 reported significantly more mental health, sleep, and pain problems than men with NF1. Mental health assessment and management should be integrated into clinical care of persons with NF1 to potentially improve their HQoL.     

Introduction: A Cognitive Science Slam in Honor of Guy Van Orden

Illusory depth perception experienced in driving simulators is afforded by monocular depth information contained in visual displays. Presumably binocular convergence and binocular disparity, though useful for depth perception in real environments, may poorly contribute to illusory depth in a driving simulator. Instead, they may generate conflicting information by revealing the distance of the display screen and its flatness. Nevertheless, illusory depth induced by monocular information contained in visual displays usually produces enough immersion and realism to create the illusion of driving in a real environment.

Many authors have noted improved depth perception in paintings, photographs, and even in drawings when viewed monocularly. However, this effect, known as monocular advantage, has never been explored in driving simulation. The purpose of this experiment was to assess whether the effect might exist in driving simulation. It was expected that drivers would perceive distances in depth better and more accurately with a monocular than with a binocular viewing of the display. Distance estimates were evaluated for two types of driving maneuvers referred to as alignment and bisection. Results showed that when significant performance differences between monocular and binocular viewing conditions occurred, target cars were perceived farther in depth and more accurately using monocular vision.

Alternative viewing conditions using both eyes are discussed at the end of the article.     

Happy,sad, scary and peaceful musical excerpts for research on emotions

Three experiments were conducted in order to validate 56 musical excerpts that conveyed four intended emotions (happiness, sadness, threat and peacefulness). In Experiment 1, the musical clips were rated in terms of how clearly the intended emotion was portrayed, and for valence and arousal. In Experiment 2, a gating paradigm was used to evaluate the course for emotion recognition. In Experiment 3, a dissimilarity judgement task and multidimensional scaling analysis were used to probe emotional content with no emotional labels. The results showed that emotions are easily recognised and discriminated on the basis of valence and arousal and with relative immediacy. Happy and sad excerpts were identified after the presentation of fewer than three musical events. With no labelling, emotion discrimination remained highly accurate and could be mapped on energetic and tense dimensions. The present study provides suitable musical material for research on emotions.Keywords.     

Is Established Knowledge About Cross-Cultural Differences in Individualism–Collectivism Not Applicable to the Military? A Multi-Method Study of Cross-Cultural Differences in Behavior

Preparing for international military collaboration includes raising knowledge about cultural differences. The differences in individualism–collectivism between countries are among the most central aspects likely to impact collaboration. However, are the differences in individualism–collectivism between countries as documented in a significant amount of civilian research (e.g., Hofstede, 2001a Hofstede, G. (2001a). Culture’s consequences: Comparing values, behaviors, institutions, and organizations across nations (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. [Google Scholar]) generalizable to a military context? Or are the differences not the same in a military context, as suggested by Soeters (1997) Soeters, J. L. (1997). Value orientations in military academies: A thirteen country study. Armed Forces and Society, 24, 7–32. 10.1177/0095327X9702400101[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar] on the bases of a values survey? Quasi-experiments were conducted in a distributed collaborative computer game environment. The study is multimethod, employing self-reporting, observer ratings and direct behavioral measures, and it is the first study of cross-cultural differences in individualism–collectivism in behavior in a military context. By studying differences in collectivist-type behaviors in a sample of military officers (N = 154) in 4 different countries (the United States, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Norway), this study seeks to determine whether the cross-cultural differences in values found by Soeters from a military context are reflected in behavior. The study also includes a values survey using Hofstede’s (2007) Hofstede, G. (2007). Values survey module 1994 (VSM-94). Retrieved from www.geerthofstede.com [Google Scholar] measurement tool, the Values Survey Module (VSM), consistent with Soeters’ study. The study is considered exploratory because of a somewhat limited sample. The results from the 6 different measures of collectivist behaviors provide no support for the suggestion that cross-cultural differences in individualism–collectivism are not the same in military organizations as in civilian organizations. Although not conclusive, the results raise doubt concerning the appropriateness of using the VSM in military samples. The implications are discussed.     

A comparison of coping strategies in patients with fibromyalgia,chronic neuropathic pain,and pain‐free controls

Patients suffering from chronic pain may benefit from learning adaptive coping strategies. Consensus on efficient strategies for this group of patients is, however, lacking, and previous studies have shown inconsistent results. The present study has examined coping strategies in two distinctly different groups of chronic pain patients and a group of healthy controls. Thirty neuropathic pain (NP) patients, 28 fibromyalgia (FM) patients, and 26 pain‐free healthy controls completed the Coping Strategy Questionnaire (CSQ‐48/27) and rated their daily pain. The results showed that FM and NP patients did not cope differently with pain. The only difference between the groups was that FM patients felt more in control of their pain than NP patients. Both patient groups used more maladaptive/passive coping strategies, but surprisingly also more adaptive/active coping strategies than healthy controls. However, FM patients with high levels of passive strategies felt less in control than FM patients with low levels of passive strategies. This was not seen in NP patients. An important implication for clinical practice is therefore that passive coping strategies should be restructured into active ones, especially for FM patients. Otherwise, the same psychological treatment model can be applied to both groups since they use similar coping styles.     

Age-related changes in word retrieval vary by self-reported anxiety but not depression symptoms

Tip-of-the-tongue states (TOTs) are known to increase in frequency across adulthood, but there is wide variability in older adults’ TOT rates, suggesting that individual difference factors contribute to TOT incidence. We investigated the role of affect by examining the relationship between self-reported anxiety and depression symptoms and the frequency of TOTs during a laboratory task. Participants were young, middle-aged and older adults in a population-based sample of adults aged 18–87. Increased anxiety was associated with fewer TOTs for the middle-aged group but more TOTs for the older adult group. There was no relationship between anxiety and TOTs for younger adults and no relationships between depression symptoms and TOT incidence for any age group. We discuss our results in terms of attentional control theory, which provides an explanation of how age may affect the relationship between anxiety and TOTs.     

Mirror-drawing skill in children with specific language impairment: Improving generalization by incorporating variability into the practice session

This study aimed to investigate the procedural deficit hypothesis (PDH) in children with specific language impairment (SLI) by using a mirror-drawing task, a sensorimotor adaptation paradigm that does not involve sequence learning and has never before been used in SLI. A total of 30 school-aged children with SLI matched to 30 typically developing (TD) control children had to trace several figures seen only in mirror-reversed view in two practice sessions separated by a one-week interval. Two practice conditions were compared: a constant condition in which children had to trace the same figure throughout the learning trials, and a variable one in which they had to trace different figures in each trial. The results revealed a similar learning pattern between SLI and TD children in both practice conditions, suggesting that initial learning for a non-sequential procedural task is preserved in SLI. However, the children with SLI generalized the mirror-drawing skill in the same way as the TD children only if there was variability in the way the material was trained (variable practice). No significant schedule effects were observed in the control group.     

What “Mice Trap” tells us about the mental lexicon

Level ordering has proven inadequate as a morphological theory, leaving unexplained the experimental results taken to support it as a component of innate grammar—young children’s acceptance of irregular plurals in English compounds. The present study demonstrates that these results can be explained by slower access to the grammatically preferred singulars of irregular nouns when compounds are created on-line from plural stimuli. Experiments on English noun–noun compound production and on production of either singular or plural forms from the same or opposite form confirmed that more irregular than regular plurals were used in compounds, and showed that producing irregular singulars from plurals was slower than producing regular singulars. Plural responses were also slower when cue and required response number differed.     

VoiceRelay: voice key operation using visual basic.

Using a voice key is a popular method for recording vocal response times in a variety of language production tasks. This article describes a class module called VoiceRelay that can be easily utilized in Visual Basic programs for voice key operation. This software-based voice key offers the precision of traditional voice keys (although accuracy is system dependent), as well as the flexibility of volume and sensitivity control. However, VoiceRelay is a considerably less expensive alternative for recording vocal response times because it operates with existing PC hardware and does not require the purchase of external response boxes or additional experiment-generation software. A sample project demonstrating implementation of the VoiceRelay class module may be downloaded from the Psychonomic Society Web archive, www.psychonomic.org/archive.