framing of prenatal screening test results and women's health-illness orientations as determinants of perceptions of fetal health and approval of amniocentesis

Abstract

Framing effects of medical test results and interactions of these effects with personal perspectives were investigated in the context of prenatal screening. Hundred and Thirty-three pregnant women undergoing the ‘triple-test’ were assessed as having health or illness orientations, and were randomly presented with reassuring/moderate/severe diagnoses framed in normal/abnormal terms, forming a 2 × 3 × 2 between subjects design. Evaluations of fetus' health and recommendations to perform amniocentesis were assessed. Findings showed healthier evaluations of the fetus and weaker recommendations to perform amniocentesis in normal versus abnormal framings. An interaction was found between framing, diagnosis, and personal orientations: women with health orientations receiving a moderate diagnosis framed in abnormal terms were significantly more inclined to recommend amniocentesis than illness-oriented women given the same diagnosis; the normal/abnormal framing of severe diagnoses yielded opposite effects on health-oriented versus illness-oriented women. The influences of framing effects and health/ illness orientations on health perceptions and behavioral intentions were discussed.     

Feeling Committed to Work: How Specific Forms of Work-Commitment Predict Work Behavior and Performance Over Time

Previous research revealed that commitment to more specific foci than the organization as a whole is better suited to predict specific employee behaviors. We extend this research by proposing and evaluating specific forms of work commitment that are applicable across a broad range of work situations: work-group, work-content, and work-results commitment. Two studies (N ₁ = 16,389; N ₂ = 482) supported the distinction between these forms of work commitment, in addition to affective and continuance organizational commitment. Corroborating our predictions, organizational commitment predicted organizational turnover intentions and actual turnover, whereas the three forms of work commitment substantially improved the prediction of self-reported (Study 1) and objective (Study 2) measures of internal mobility and job performance over time.     

Connecting the dots: Mobilizing theory to reveal the big picture in social psychology (and why we should do this)

During the past 20 years, practices in social psychology have drifted toward the publication of brief research reports as the main outlet for empirical findings, resulting in an exponential increase of the number of publications in our field. Recent developments questioning the reliability of these findings have increased the focus on (methodological) details and have prompted efforts to establish the robustness of isolated phenomena. Both types of developments carry the danger of impeding rather than promoting progress in the field. We can only build a cumulative knowledge base when we succeed in connecting these dots. Developing and examining broader theories about psychological processes and their implications can help connect different insights and elucidate their further implications in a way that can be used and understood within and beyond the boundaries of our discipline. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A Gentle Critique of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Mourning Religion</Emphasis>

This article offers three points of critical reflection about Mourning Religion, a collection of essays edited by William Parsons, Diane Jonte-Pace and Susan Henking, (University of Virginia Press 2008). It is suggested that the word “religion” and related terms ought to have been contextualized, that Melanie Klein’s theories ought to have been used more extensively and that nostalgia expressed for the loss of an idealized paternal authority ought to have been made more explicit.     

Perceived Church-Based Needs and Assets for HIV/AIDS Prevention in an Urban Nigerian Community

Health intervention programs have the potential to use church-based assets to address a wide range of health issues. This study examined the assets Nigerian church members believed their churches needed, including the assets they thought they had to engage in HIV/AIDS prevention activities. Eight hundred and thirty members from 83 churches completed a questionnaire designed from forum focus group data. Respondents were males and females aged 18 years old and above, with primary, secondary, university, or vocational education, and were more likely to be married than single (never married), separated, divorced, widowed or remarried. The data revealed that church members needed access to health promotion assets, including the expertise of members who are health professionals to engage in HIV/AIDS prevention activities. We recommend an intensive HIV/AIDS prevention reorientation-training workshop for church leaders to ensure a sustainable plan to address HIV/AIDS prevention needs.     

Working memory and insight in the nine-dot problem

In the present article, we examine the contribution of working memory (WM) to solution of the nine-dot problem, a classic insight problem. Prior research has generally demonstrated a limited role for WM in the solution of insight problems, which are typically assumed to be solved without conscious planning. However, MacGregor, Ormerod, and Chronicle (2001) proposed an information-processing model that solves the nine-dot problem by relying on a visual WM mechanism, which they term lookahead. In the present research, we examine whether performance on the nine-dot problem is indeed predicted by WM capacity. The results indicated that spatial WM capacity predicted the tendency to draw lines outside the configuration of dots and predicted the solution on a hint-aided version of the problem. Furthermore, within those solving the problem, higher spatial WM capacity was also related to faster solutions. The results support the information-processing model and suggest a more essential role for WM and planning in insight problem solving than has previously been acknowledged.     

How Nice of Us and How Dumb of Me: The Effect of Exposure to Benevolent Sexism on Women’s Task and Relational Self-Descriptions

This research demonstrates how women assimilate to benevolent sexism by emphasizing their relational qualities and de-emphasizing their task-related characteristics when exposed to benevolent sexism. Studies 1 (N?=?62) and 2 (N?=?100) show, with slightly different paradigms and measures, that compared to exposure to hostile sexism, exposure to benevolent sexism increases the extent to which female Dutch college students define themselves in relational terms and decreases the extent to which they emphasize their task-related characteristics. Study 3 (N?=?79) demonstrates that benevolent sexism has more pernicious effects when it is expressed by someone with whom women expect to collaborate than when no collaboration is expected with the source of sexism. The implications of these results are discussed.     

William Stern and discursive psychology

This paper examines some conceptual and methodological affinities between Stern's philosophy of psychology and discursive psychology. Stern's concept of the person as unitas multiplex finds currency in recent attempts to do justice both to the discursive domain of human life as well as its material foundation in the body. The person as embodied conscious actor is captured for instance in discursive analyses of first person pronoun use, a universal practice of both locating oneself spatio-temporally and displaying one's culturally differentiated moral qualities. We consider how contemporary research inspired by Vygotsky's cultural-historical approach and Wittgenstein's works in some ways fulfill Stern's original propositions while also highlighting the cultural specificity of personhood.     

“Self‐promotion”: How regulatory focus affects the pursuit of self‐interest at the expense of the group

Self‐interested behavior may have positive consequences for individual group‐members, but also negatively affects the outcomes of the group when group‐level and individual‐level interests are misaligned. In two studies, we examined such self‐interested, group‐undermining behavior from the perspective of regulatory focus theory. We predicted that when individual and group interests are out of alignment, individuals under promotion focus would be more likely than individuals under prevention focus to pursue individual success at the expense of their group. Two studies provided support for this prediction. Promotion oriented individuals were more willing to act in their self‐interest (at the expense of their group) than individuals under prevention focus when self‐interested goals were not compatible with cooperation. No effect of regulatory focus on group loyalty was found when cooperation formed the only viable route to individual success. We discuss how these findings extend our understanding of the role of regulatory focus in social situations and of the practice of ensuring loyalty in contexts where individual and group goals are misaligned while cooperation is an important part of group success.