Using system-wide trust theory to make predictions about dependence on four diagnostic aids

System-wide trust strategy can occur when operators are exposed to multiple aids of different reliabilities. D. Keller and S. Rice (2009) showed that when a perfectly reliable aid was presented concurrently with an unreliable aid, participants tended to treat the 2 aids as a unit (system-wide trust) rather than as different units with different reliabilities (component-specific trust). Limitations to their original study prevented the authors from making strong conclusions about a pervasive system-wide trust strategy across domains. The current study revisits this theoretical issue by increasing the number of aids, manipulating the amount of information and feedback participants were given, and using a single-task paradigm rather than a dual-task paradigm. Results were conclusive. While providing information and feedback were beneficial to overall performance, dependence measures indicated that system-wide trust strategies were pervasive across almost all of the manipulations. We discuss the theoretical and applied implications of these data.     

Positive affective processes underlie positive health behaviour change

Positive health behaviours such as physical activity can prevent or reverse many chronic conditions, yet a majority of people fall short of leading a healthy lifestyle. Recent discoveries in affective science point to promising approaches to circumvent barriers to lifestyle change. Here, we present a new theoretical framework that integrates scientific knowledge about positive affect with that on implicit processes. The upward spiral theory of lifestyle change explains how positive affect can facilitate long-term adherence to positive health behaviours. The inner loop of this spiral model identifies nonconscious motives as a central mechanism of behavioural maintenance. Positive affect experienced during health behaviours increases incentive salience for cues associated with those behaviours, which in turn, implicitly guides attention and the everyday decisions to repeat those behaviours. The outer loop represents the evidence-backed claim, based on Fredrickson’s broaden-and-build theory, that positive affect builds a suite of endogenous resources, which may in turn amplify the positive affect experienced during positive health behaviours and strengthen the nonconscious motives. We offer published and preliminary evidence in favour of the theory, contrast it to other dominant theories of health behaviour change, and highlight attendant implications for interventions that merit testing.     

Distinguishing intellectual humility and general humility

Two studies provide evidence for distinguishing intellectual humility (IH) from general humility (GH). Humility involves (a) an Accurate View of Self and (b) the ability to regulate egotism and cultivate an other-oriented stance; IH is a subdomain of humility that involves (a) having an accurate view of one’s intellectual strengths and limitations and (b) the ability to negotiate ideas in a fair and inoffensive manner. First, we present a theoretical framework for distinguishing these constructs. In Study 1, with a sample of undergraduate students (N = 1097), we used confirmatory factor analysis to provide empirical evidence for this distinction. We also found that IH predicted unique variance in openness to experience relative to GH. In Study 2, we examined additional evidence of discriminant validity with another sample of college students (N = 355). IH also predicted unique variance in need for cognition, objectivism, and religious ethnocentrism relative to GH.     

REDUCING NONCOMPLIANCE TO FOLLOW-UP APPOINTMENT KEEPING AT A FAMILY PRACTICE CENTER

In this study, we evaluated follow-up appointment keeping at a family practice center. To determine if noncompliance could be reduced, four treatments were implemented: no-treatment control, modified appointment card, free follow-up, and a reduced rate follow-up. Thereafter, the reduced rate follow-up was implemented again to determine the extent noncompliance could be reduced for all eligible patients. Incentives significantly increased follow-up appointment keeping, whereas the modified appointment card was ineffective. A cost analysis suggested that the no-treatment control and modified appointment card conditions were the least expensive, but also the least effective. The incentive conditions were more expensive, but the reduced rate condition generated the most net revenue. Questionnaire data suggested that the incentive conditions had an effect on noncompliance and may be considered for use in other medical settings.     

Leadership ratings for male and female military cadets

Ratings of leadership ability for 1096 male and 91 female cadets at the U.S. Military Academy (West Point) were examined for gender differences. Males were rated significantly higher than females for two of the three rating periods. Correlates of these ratings were examined in an effort to explore the meaning of such ratings for males and females. For both male and female cadets, situationally specific correlates of leadership ratings were identified. Physical ability and performance were most highly correlated with leadership ratings during summer training camp, while academic ability and performance were most highly correlated with these ratings during the academic year. These correlations were generally higher for females than for males. The value of such information to organizational newcomers and the means by which such information might be transmitted to them were discussed.     

Appointed and Elected Leader Responses to Favorableness of Feedback and Level of Task Activity from Followers1

Leader evaluations of four types of followers, providing either positive or negative feedback with either high or low task activity, were studied. Forty-six subjects, 20 female and 26 male, were randomly placed in the appointed or elected conditions of leader legitimacy and told they were leading four same-sex followers in a group problem-solving task. The dependent measure was a score made up of their semantic differential ratings of each follower. A three-way interaction indicated that elected and appointed leaders responded differentially to high and low activity followers under the negative feedback condition, but similarly under the positive feedback condition. In addition, a main effect showed that elected leaders were generally more positive than appointed leaders in judgments of their followers. The results were interpreted within a social exchange perspective on leader-follower relations.     

Leader esteem for the least preferred co-worker score, training, and effectiveness: an experimental examination.

A laboratory experiment supported Fiedler's Contingency Model analysis of leadership training. The effect of leadership training on group performance was contingent on leadership style, that is, the leader's relation to his least preferred co-worker (LPC). Training improved the performance of high LPC leaders, but was detrimental to the performance of groups with low LPC leaders. High intelligence leaders profited more from training than low intelligence leaders, but low intelligence leaders were more productive overall. Leader LPC times Intelligence interactions indicated that follower satisfaction and interpersonal affect were highest for groups with high LPC-low intelligence leaders or low LPC-high intelligence leaders. Implications for contingency theories of leadership are discussed.