Trait Entitlement and Perceived Favorability of Human Resource Management Practices in the Prediction of Job Satisfaction

Purpose  

Inconsistency in offerings of human resource management (HRM) practices across organizations is potentially problematic for employees with high levels of entitlement as they tend to believe they get less than they deserve. The purpose of this study was to examine the moderating effect of trait entitlement on the relationship between the favorability of HRM practices and job satisfaction.     

A new method for studying problem solving and tool use in stingrays (Potamotrygon castexi)

Testing the cognitive abilities of cartilaginous fishes is important in understanding the evolutionary origins of cognitive functions in higher vertebrates. We used five South American fresh water stingrays (Potamotrygon castexi) in a learning and problem-solving task. A tube test apparatus was developed to provide a simple but sophisticated procedure for testing cognitive abilities of aquatic animals. All five subjects quickly learned to use water as a tool to extract food from the testing apparatus. The experimental protocol, which gave the animals the opportunity of correcting a wrong visual cue decision, resulted in four out of five subjects correcting an error rather than making an initial right choice. One of five subjects reached 100% correct trials in the visual discrimination task. The ability to use water as an agent to extract food from the testing apparatus is a first indication of tool use in batoid fishes. Performance in the instrumental task of retrieving food from a novel testing apparatus and the rapid learning in the subsequent discrimination/error correction task shows that cartilaginous fish can be used to study the origins of cognitive functions in the vertebrate lineage.     

Infant heart transplantation after cardiac death: ethical and legal problems

The donation of organs after cardiac death in infants is not morally justified and should not be continued.     

Semantics of primate gestures: intentional meanings of orangutan gestures

Great ape gesture has become a research topic of intense interest, because its intentionality and flexibility suggest strong parallels to human communication. Yet the fundamental question of whether an animal species’ gestures carry specific meanings has hardly been addressed. We set out a systematic approach to studying intentional meaning in the gestural communication of non-humans and apply it to a sample of orangutan gestures. We propose that analysis of meaning should be limited to gestures for which (1) there is strong evidence for intentional production and (2) the recipient’s final reaction matches the presumed goal of the signaller, as determined independently. This produces a set of “successful” instances of gesture use, which we describe as having goal–outcome matches. In this study, 28 orangutans in three European zoos were observed for 9 months. We distinguished 64 gestures on structural grounds, 40 of which had frequent goal–outcome matches and could therefore be analysed for meaning. These 40 gestures were used predictably to achieve one of 6 social goals: to initiate an affiliative interaction (contact, grooming, or play), request objects, share objects, instigate co-locomotion, cause the partner to move back, or stop an action. Twenty-nine of these gestures were used consistently with a single meaning. We tested our analysis of gesture meaning by examining what gesturers did when the response to their gesture did not match the gesture’s meaning. Subsequent actions of the gesturer were consistent with our assignments of meaning to gestures. We suggest that, despite their contextual flexibility, orangutan gestures are made with the expectation of specific behavioural responses and thus have intentional meanings as well as functional consequences.     

Experimentally manipulated high in‐group status can buffer personal self‐esteem against discrimination

We present an experiment in which the relative status of an in‐group and the discriminatory nature of a decision maker's intergroup behaviour (in‐group‐favouring/out‐group‐favouring/even‐handed) were independently manipulated to observe their effects on self‐esteem. Adopting a Social Identity Theory framework, and following from previous empirical work, we predicted that discrimination against one's in‐group would lead to lower self‐esteem among members of a low‐status group but not among members of a high‐status group. This prediction was confirmed. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Lmx And Job Tension: Linear And Non-Linear Effects And Affectivity

We examined whether linear or non-linear LMX-job tension relationships existed, and if these effects were consistent across levels of negative (NA) and positive (PA) affect. Results indicated that NA and PA moderated the non-linear LMX-job tension relationship. Specifically, the LMX-job tension association was best depicted by an inverted-U form for high NAs. Tension was highest when LMX was moderate and lowest when LMX was either low or high. Tension increased minimally for low NAs across levels of LMX. For high PAs, the relationship was linear and inverse. Conversely, a U-shaped form best represented the LMX-job tension relationship for low PAs. Implications, strengths and limitations, and directions for future research are discussed.     

Great ape gestures: intentional communication with a rich set of innate signals

Animal Cognition - Great apes give gestures deliberately and voluntarily, in order to influence particular target audiences, whose direction of attention they take into account when choosing which...     

Something torn or burst or unbearable: a psychoanalytically-informed exploration of the experience of somatic symptoms

Experiences of and responses to bodily symptoms have long held interest, from earlier roots in hysteria to the most recent category of somatic symptom disorder (SSD) in DSM 5. SSD’s focus on distress implies that symptoms hold meaning for individuals. This study used a psychoanalytically-informed, multiple interview method and analysis to explore such possible meanings. Six participants were interviewed on three occasions each, with four themes emerging as follows: (1) a foreign body in charge; (2) left alone with the foreign body; (3) the body works for the mind; and (4) the body mirrors the mind. Bion’s idea of an active container-contained function and the construct of psychic pain formed a useful framework for understanding themes. The distress that lies in somatic symptoms was formulated as potentially stemming from an initial difficulty with containment in the primary object relationship. It is argued that distress may indicate a struggle with suffering that is not only somatic but also psychological in nature; and that the symptomatic body may have reached its limits in containing psychic pain. Implications for working clinically include the importance of close and sustained attention, through the clinician’s reverie, to somatic and emotional feeling states to help guide treatment.