Stress effects on affiliation preferences among subjects possessing the type A coronary-prone behavior pattern

An experiment tested the hypothesis that when subjects who display the Type A coronary-prone behavior pattern are placed under stress, they prefer to wait for the stressful event with others, but desire to work under stress alone. One half of 25 Type A and 25 Type B (non-coronary-prone) subjects were told that they would receive painful electric shock while working on a mental task, while the other one half were told that they would receive subliminal stimulation. Both groups were then given the choice of waiting for the event with others or alone and the choice of working on the task alone, in the company of others, or in a leader-directed group. The results showed that Type As relative to Type Bs tended to wait in the company of others regardless of threat level, but displayed a marked preference to work alone under high threat. This decision to work alone was not influenced by waiting preference. Subsequent correlational studies showed that coronary patients (n = 40) reported a greater preference for working alone when under pressure than matched controls (n = 40), as did Type A college students (77% vs. 14% for Type Bs) when asked their preference within the context of the structured interview that is used to assess the Type A pattern. The significance of the findings for increasing the understanding of affiliative preferences and coronary-prone behavior are discussed.     

To Whistleblow or Not to Whistleblow: Affective and Cognitive Differences in Reporting Peers and Advisors

Traditional whistleblowing theories have purported that whistleblowers engage in a rational process in determining whether or not to blow the whistle on misconduct. However, stressors inherent to whistleblowing often impede rational thinking and act as a barrier to effective whistleblowing. The negative impact of these stressors on whistleblowing may be made worse depending on who engages in the misconduct: a peer or advisor. In the present study, participants are presented with an ethical scenario where either a peer or advisor engages in misconduct, and positive and the negative consequences of whistleblowing are either directed to the wrongdoer, department, or university. Participant responses to case questions were evaluated for whistleblowing intentions, moral intensity, metacognitive reasoning strategies, and positive and negative, active and passive emotions. Findings indicate that participants were less likely to report the observed misconduct of an advisor compared to a peer. Furthermore, the findings also suggest that when an advisor is the source of misconduct, greater negative affect results. Post-hoc analyses were also conducted examining the differences between those who did and did not intend to blow the whistle under the circumstances of either having to report an advisor or peer. The implications of these findings for understanding the complexities involved in whistleblowing are discussed.

     

When Treatment is Traumatic: An Empirical Review of Interventions for Pediatric Medical Traumatic Stress

Pediatric medical traumatic stress (PMTS) is common among injured/ill children and is associated with elevated distress, treatment non‐adherence, and poor health outcomes. As survivorship of life‐threatening pediatric injury and illness continues to increase alongside rapid medical advancements, rates of PMTS and negative sequelae are expected to grow; however, research on prevention and treatment of PMTS is limited. The current study sought to systematically review the literature using a developmental framework to highlight research gaps. Sixteen peer‐reviewed studies were identified via a systematic literature search. Consistent with best practices for treatment of childhood trauma, caregiver involvement and CBT principles served as the foundation for most interventions. All studies reported improvements in PMTS; however, among the most methodologically rigorous, few found statistically superior reductions in PMTS between intervention and control groups. While many studies focused on a specific developmental stage and discussed developmental considerations, others took a “one‐size‐fits” approach. Interventions that demonstrated the most promising findings were online, self‐guided, or time‐limited. Future research would benefit from expanding diversity of participants, continuing to evaluate novel delivery methods, and integrating developmental considerations along with trauma‐informed care (TIC) approaches, given their useful framework for understanding child traumatic stress responses and avenues for prevention and treatment.     

Ethical Dilemmas in Protecting Susceptible Subpopulations From Environmental Health Risks: Liberty,Utility, Fairness,and Accountability for Reasonableness

Various U.S. laws, such as the Clean Air Act and the Food Quality Protection Act, require additional protections for susceptible subpopulations who face greater environmental health risks. The main ethical rationale for providing these protections is to ensure that environmental health risks are distributed fairly. In this article, we (1) consider how several influential theories of justice deal with issues related to the distribution of environmental health risks; (2) show that these theories often fail to provide specific guidance concerning policy choices; and (3) argue that an approach to public decision making known as accountability for reasonableness can complement theories of justice in establishing acceptable environmental health risks for the general population and susceptible subpopulations. Since accountability for reasonableness focuses on the fairness of the decision-making process, not the outcome, it does not guarantee that susceptible subpopulations will receive a maximum level of protection, regardless of costs or other morally relevant considerations.     

The role of amount,cognitive elaboration,and structural consistency of attitude‐relevant knowledge in the formation of attitude certainty

Despite their intuitive plausibility and prominence in theorizing regarding attitude certainty, past studies have provided equivocal evidence for the role of informational and structural consistency factors in perceptions of attitude certainty. The present research attempted to overcome methodological and conceptual limitations in past research in order to establish that amount, cognitive elaboration, and structural consistency of attitude‐relevant knowledge are in fact determinants of attitude certainty. As predicted, certainty was influenced by experimental manipulations of all three constructs. Mediational analyses suggested that the amount and elaboration of information manipulations were mediated by subjective impressions of knowledge. Subjective impressions of amount of thought partially mediated the effects of manipulated elaboration. Finally, perceived ambivalence mediated the effects of manipulated consistency of knowledge. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

In search of those boundary conditions that might influence the effectiveness of supportive supervision

Supportive supervision is doubtlessly beneficial in many instances in organizations. Paustian‐Underdahl, Shanock, Rogelberg, Scott, Justice, and Altman ( 2013 ) have examined the predictors of supportive supervision. We might suggest that they have underidentified those factors that impact the potential influence of supportive supervision and suggest a more comprehensive approach to this important variable.     

Assessing the Effectiveness of Self-Talk Interventions on Endurance Performance

Self-talk in sport has been widely researched with somewhat conflicting results (Van Raalte et al., 1995 Van Raalte, J. L., Brewer, B. Brewer, Lewis, B. Lewis, Linder, D. Linder, Wildman, G. and Kozimor, J. 1995. Cork! The effects of positive and negative self-talk on dart throwing performance.. Journal of Sport Behavior, 18: 508–58.  [Google Scholar]; Perkos et al., 2002 Perkos, S., Theodorakis, Y. and Chroni, S. 2002. Enhancing performance and skill acquisition in novice basketball players with instructional self-talk.. The Sport Psychologist,, 16: 368–383. [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of three different self-talk interventions on endurance performance. Participants were nine cyclists who performed a 20-minute cycling ergometer workout two times per week for five weeks. At each workout participants were requested to cycle as far as possible. A multiple-baseline design was utilized, which after varying baseline lengths allowed for the implementation of one out of three self-talk interventions: self-regulated positive self-talk, assisted positive self-talk, and assisted negative self-talk. Results revealed a performance increase in all groups with the greatest increase being found in the assisted positive self-talk condition.