Moral spillovers: The effect of moral violations on deviant behavior

Two experiments investigated whether outcomes that violate people’s moral standards increase their deviant behavior (the moral spillover effect). In Study 1, participants with and without a moral mandate (i.e., a strong attitude rooted in moral conviction) read about a legal trial in which the outcome supported, opposed or was unrelated to their moral mandate. Relative to when outcomes supported moral mandates, when outcomes opposed moral mandates people judged the outcome to be less fair, were more angry, were less willing to accept the outcome, and were more likely to take a borrowed pen. In Study 2, participants who recalled another person’s moral violation were more likely to cheat on an experimental task relative to angry or neutral condition participants. Taken together, results provide evidence for moral spillover: outcomes that violate moral standards increase deviant behavior.     

Videoconferencing and forensic mental health in Australia

Videoconferencing is in common use in Australian forensic mental health services. It provides opportunities to link remote prisons, courts, and psychiatric clinics with distant specialist services, and enables a range of activities including assessment, treatment and feedback, expert testimony, education, and inter-service planning. These functions are acceptable to patients and clinicians, and in Australia videoconferencing minimizes disruption to small services and their patients, who might otherwise face lengthy journeys. In particular, marginalized patient groups, including indigenous people and prisoners, may receive better services. The evidence base supports use of videoconferencing despite a number of practical, legal, and clinical issues that may reduce its effectiveness compared with face-to-face assessments. Videoconferencing technologies are critical to effective forensic mental health services in Australia.     

The Role of Core Self-Evaluations in Explaining Depression and Work Engagement among Managers

The present study tests interaction effects between working characteristics and core self-evaluations (CSE) among managers. Based on the job demands-resources model, we outline that CSE is a buffer for negative health-related consequences initialized by facing high job demands. Moreover, we hypothesize that CSE is positively linked to job resources and motivation. A sample of 282 managers participated in the study in Germany. Results based on hierarchical regression analysis confirmed that high CSE significantly weakens the positive relationship between high job demands and depression among managers. Furthermore, a significant interaction effect between job resources and CSE on work engagement was found. Therefore, the study reveals that it seems unlikely that CSE biases how managers appraise the environment since individuals low in CSE benefitted more from favorable working conditions than those high in CSE. Suggestions for future research as well as implications for theory and practice are derived.     

Child Abuse—Suicide Resilience Link in African American Women: Interpersonal Psychological Mediators

The interpersonal-psychological theory of suicidal behavior (IPTS) is an exemplary model for understanding the desire for suicidal behavior. As such, it is important to explore its applicability in ethnoracial minority groups at increasing risk for suicidal behavior, such as low-income, African American women. Guided by the IPTS, the current study used 5 parallel mediation models to examine if there are links between individual types of childhood abuse (physical, sexual, emotional) and suicide resilience, and between cumulative abuse (higher levels of abuse inclusive of all three types, more types of severe levels of abuse) and suicide resilience, and whether the three components of the model (thwarted belongingness, perceived burdensomeness, acquired capability for suicide) mediate these associations. In a sample of low-income, African American women (n = 179), higher levels of each of the 3 types of childhood abuse and cumulative abuse correlated with lower levels of suicide resilience. Parallel mediation analyses using bootstrapping techniques revealed that increased acquired capability for suicide mediated all 5 associations and perceived burdensomeness mediated 3 of the links (emotional abuse, cumulative abuse, and cumulative abuse–severe with suicide resilience). Attention is paid to the clinical implications of the findings in terms of attending to the acquired capability for suicide and suicide resilience in the assessment and treatment of low-income, suicidal, African American women.     

Professional Counselors’ Interest in Counseling Older Adults

The authors surveyed professional counselors (N = 956) to examine self‐efficacy in counseling older adults, contact with older adults, and ageism as related to their interest in working with older adults. Higher self‐efficacy, contact, and positive ageism predicted increased interest. These results and implications for counseling older adults are discussed.     

Self-awareness, deindividuation, and social identity: unraveling theoretical paradoxes by filling empirical lacunae

In an effort to examine paradoxes involving self-awareness, deindividuation, and social identity, this article reports the results of a study that examines the effects of a range of manipulation operationalizations of self and social identity on a complement of measurement operationalizations of self and social identity. Specifically, participants completed measures of self-awareness and ethnic social identity while confronted with their mirror image, while wearing a mask, or while exposed to a family tree delineating their ethnicity. Patterns of mean levels of self-awareness and ethnic social identity are used to examine the paradox of depersonalization and deindividuation, the paradox of (a)symmetrical activation of components of identity, and the paradox of deindividuation and the search for identity. Discussion considers the limitations of this approach and considers the implications of these results for the long-standing study of the interplay between self and social identity.     

Spirituality, depression, and loneliness among Jewish seniors residing in New York City

This article reports the results of research that examined a randomized group of 118 Jewish seniors who were clients of one of three Jewish social service agencies in New York City. They were interviewed by four Clinical Pastoral Education residents at the Jewish Institute for Pastoral Care. During the interview, participants were asked to respond to the questions contained in the Brief Depression Scale, Version 3 of the UCLA Loneliness Scale, and the Index of Core Spiritual Experience--INSPIRIT. A statistically significant positive correlation was found between the depression and loneliness scores, r(116) = .56, p < .001. Spirituality was not correlated with either of these scales. Both depression and loneliness were significantly higher among women, among people who had physical impairments and those who had been victims of Nazi persecution. Depression and loneliness were inversely related to participants' ability to venture out of their house and to their relationship with their families. Having a sense of meaning or purpose in life was also inversely related to depression and loneliness. Spirituality tended to be higher among women, those participants, with more years of religious education, and those with physical impairments, but only the gender effect was statistically significant.