Aggressiveness and Perceived Marital Quality: The Moderating Role of a Family-Supportive Work Climate

In this article, we examined the impact of language (i.e., native English speakers vs. non-native English speakers) on two aspects of information processing associated with multinational coalition operations in a simulated precrisis, command and control (C2) headquarters (HQ). First, we examined the impact of language on situation awareness (SA) and confidence in the participants' SA responses. Second, we examined the participants' responses to questions about various aspects of language, information sharing, decision-making, identity, and cultural issues that exist within a multinational coalition operation C2 HQ. The primary findings from this work revealed that there was very little impact of language on SA and confidence and that both language groups overwhelmingly shared the same views on information sharing, decision-making, and organizational/cultural issues.     

The induction of shared identity: the positive role of individual distinctiveness for groups

This article examines inductive processes of social identity formation, the bottom-up processes by which individual group members influence a social identity, integrating it with work on entitativity. Three studies tested the prediction that feelings of individual distinctiveness mediate the relation between inductive social identity formation and entitativity and that entitativity in turn predicts identification. The studies provided consistent support for this theoretical model over alternative models, using a range of different social groups and methods. Study 1 found support for the model in self-selected small groups. Study 2 supported it with a much broader set of groups that were not self-selected. Finally, Study 3 varied levels of inductive social identity formation systematically by varying group size and provided direct support for the hypothesized causal relations.     

Sensitivity to time interval changes in speech and tone conditions

The main goal of the present experiment was to verify whether sensitivity to time interval changes in speech is greater than sensitivity to time interval changes between tones. The 12-syllable sentences were delivered in French (the main language of the participants) or in a foreign language (Slovenian) that was totally unfamiliar to the participants. Two types of sub-sequences were induced within the series of stimuli (sub-sequences in sentences or in tone sequences). Discrimination, as revealed by the Weber fraction in each condition, was much better in the tone conditions than in the speech conditions. Nevertheless, discrimination was excellent in all conditions: Weber fractions below 2% with tones and around 4.5% in the speech conditions. Moreover, the study revealed that familiarity with a particular language does not affect performance and that inducing internal sub-sequences within tone conditions, as opposed to using a series of equal intervals, does not lead to better discrimination. The fact that discrimination is better with tones than with sentences indicates that the extensive training provided by speech does not lead to higher sensitivity to time interval variations than simple tones do. Instead, it seems to indicate that the different acoustical variations in speech reduce the capability to discriminate time interval variations.     

Output order reflects the cognitive accessibility of goals

Goal accessibility--the ease or speed with which a goal is activated--increases the likelihood that it will be acted on. The present studies validate output order as a measure of goal accessibility that can be applied to goal lists in both laboratory and naturalistic settings. In three studies, output order (the order in which goals are listed in a free-response format) was related to self-reported goal value but was not redundant with it. Furthermore, output order was affected by motivational priming whereas value was not, and order associated with typical student goals (e.g., achievement) compared with atypical goals (e.g., power). Output order is well suited to bring the study of accessibility to naturalistic studies of goals and goal pursuit.     

Up north and down south: Implicit associations between topography and cardinal direction

Route planners show a reliable tendency to select south- relative to north-going routes between two horizontally (east/west) aligned landmarks, suggesting the application of a north-is-up heuristic (Brunyé, Mahoney, Gardony, & Taylor, 2010). The source of this north-is-up bias remains unknown, and there is no strong evidence to suggest that it is due to explicit strategy use. In four experiments, we attempt to further elucidate the source of this effect by testing whether it can be attributed to implicit associations between cardinal direction (north/south) and topography (mountainous/level terrain). Experiments 1 and 2 used an adapted Implicit Association Test and demonstrate automatically activated judgements that associate north with mountainous and south with relatively level terrain. Experiment 3 rules out the possibility that this effect is due to the local topography of New England by replicating in participants from the topographically dissimilar Midwestern United States. Finally, Experiment 4 tests the relative contribution of implicit versus explicit associations between cardinal direction and topography in predicting route-planning asymmetries; we show that implicit associations are a stronger predictor of southern route biases than explicit processes. Overall, results demonstrate that the conceptualization of space can be driven by physically unfounded implicit associations between cardinal directions and topographical features, and these associations are at least partially responsible for southern route preferences.     

Unlike a Fool, He Is Not Defiled: Ascetic Purity and Ethics in the Samnyāsa Upanisads

The authors of the Samnyāsa Upanisads, manuals of ascetic lifestyle and practice, recommend that wanderers renounce behavioral standards of their formerly Brahmin householder life, including ritual purity and familial duties. Patrick Olivelle argues that these ascetics are thereafter considered impure and corpse– or ghoul–like, clearly lacking in dharma. However, these Upanisads counsel pursuing mental purity and moral behavior, and modeling oneself after the perfection of the Absolute. This essay investigates ascetic notions of purity and identity, and virtues such as non–violence and kindness cultivated in forest isolation. Is ascetic dharma universal in intent, and is it conceptually opposed to householder dharma? What type of ethics is admired by the authors, what type deprecated? Olivelle’s position is reevaluated, as is Jeffrey Kripal’s notion that monistic mysticism does not support ethics adequately.     

To see or not to see: effects of exercising in mirrored environments on sedentary women's feeling states and self-efficacy.

Effects of a mirrored exercise environment and body image concerns on changes in exercise-induced feeling states and self-efficacy were examined among 58 sedentary women (mean age = 20.7 years). Participants performed a 20-min bout of exercise in front of either a mirrored or a nonmirrored wall. Feeling states and self-efficacy were measured pre- and postexercise. Multilevel linear modeling indicated that regardless of their level of body image concern, women in the mirrored condition felt worse after exercising than women in the unmirrored condition. There were no effects of the environment or body image on self-efficacy. Results are consistent with predictions of objective self-awareness theory and have implications for promoting exercise among sedentary women.     

Mode and tempo relative contributions to “happy-sad” judgements in equitone melodies

Judgement of emotion conveyed by music is determined notably by mode (major-minor) and tempo (fast-slow). This suggestion was examined using the same set of equitone melodies, in two experiments. Melodies were presented to nonmusicians who were required to judge whether the melodies sounded “happy” or “sad” on a 10-point scale. In order to assess the specific and relative contributions of mode and tempo to these emotional judgements, the melodies were manipulated so that the only verying characteristic was either the mode or the tempo in two “isolated” conditions. In two further conditions, mode and tempo manipulations were combined so that mode and tempo either converged towards the same emotion (Convergent condition) or suggested opposite emotions (Divergent condition). The results confirm that both mode and tempo determine the “happy-sad” judgements in isolation, with the tempo being more salient, even when tempo salience was adjusted. The findings further support the view that, in music, structural features that are emotionally meaningful are easy to isolate, and that music is an effective and reliable medium to study emotions.     

Need satisfaction,work–school interference and school dropout: An application of self-determination theory

Background. In many parts of the world, it is common for secondary school students to be involved in part-time employment. Research shows that working can have a negative impact on school engagement. However, the majority of studies have focused on the amount of time that students spend working rather than on the quality of work experience and its influence on school engagement. Aims. This study explored the relation of part-time work and school experiences to dropout intentions among secondary school and junior college students. The study was conceptualized from a self-determination theory perspective (Deci & Ryan, 2000). Sample. Participants were 3,248 students from rural and suburban schools in the greater region of Montreal, Canada. Method. Questionnaires were used to assess the number of hours worked, the extent to which work interfered with or facilitated school functioning, autonomy, competence, and relatedness experienced in the work and school domains. School performance and school dropout intentions were also assessed. Results. A curvilinear relation between work hours and dropout intentions was found, reflecting that part-time work began to be associated with higher dropout intentions only when students worked more than 7 hr per week. Analyses also showed that work–school interference was related to dropout intentions, and that this variable served to mediate the relation of employer autonomy support to dropout intentions. Conclusions. These results suggest that both the quantity and the quality of students’ part-time work experiences need to be considered when examining the relation of work to school engagement.