Ethical Leadership and Unethical Pro-Organisational Behaviour: The Mediating Mechanism of Reflective Moral Attentiveness

This study examines the mediating effects of reflective moral attentiveness on the relationship between ethical leadership and subordinates’ unethical pro-organisational behaviour (UPB). Based on two-wave survey data obtained from 233 employees in 60 teams from Chinese government agencies, we found that ethical leadership was positively related to reflective moral attentiveness. In addition, we found that reflective moral attentiveness mediated the relationship between ethical leadership and UPB, such that ethical leadership negatively influenced subordinates’ unethical pro-organisational behaviour through enhancing reflective moral attentiveness.     

The separate and combined effects of a dangerous context and an epinephrine injection on sensory preconditioning in rats

Four experiments examined the effects of a dangerous context and a systemic epinephrine injection on sensory preconditioning in rats. In each experiment, rats were exposed to presentations of a tone and light in stage 1, light-shock pairings in stage 2, and test presentations of the tone alone and light alone in stage 3. Presentations of the tone and light in stage 1 occurred in either a safe or a previously shocked context, and/or under a systemic injection of epinephrine. Experiment 1 showed that a trace interval of 20 sec between presentations of the tone and light produced sensory preconditioning of the tone in a previously shocked context but not in a safe context, while experiment 2 provided evidence that this trace preconditioning was associative, due to the formation of a tone-light association. Experiment 3 showed that, in a safe context, exposure to the trace protocol under the influence of an epinephrine injection also produced sensory preconditioning of the tone, while experiment 4 provided evidence that a shocked context and an epinephrine injection have additive effects on trace preconditioning. These findings are discussed in relation to theories of trace conditioning. They suggest that the release of epinephrine by danger enhances attention and/or working memory processes, and thereby associative formation across a trace interval.

Animals learn about stimuli that signal motivationally significant events such as the availability of food or imminence of danger and use this information to guide food-seeking or defensive behaviors (Pearce and Bouton 2001). Animals also learn about the relations between affectively neutral stimuli, but do not always express this learning in behavior; presumably because the events lack motivational significance. A protocol used to reveal this learning is what Brogden (1939) termed sensory preconditioning. This protocol consists in three stages. In stage 1, subjects (e.g., rats) are exposed to a signaling relation between two neutral stimuli, such as a sound whose presentations are followed by a light. In stage 2, rats are exposed to a signaling relation between one of these stimuli, for example, the light, and a motivationally significant event, such as aversive shock unconditioned stimulus (US). In stage 3, rats exhibit defensive responses (e.g., freezing [Holmes et al. 2013; Wong et al. 2019] or suppression of appetitively rewarded lever pressing [Rescorla 1980]) when tested with the conditioned visual stimulus (CS) and when tested with the sensory preconditioned auditory stimulus, even though the latter stimulus was never paired with the aversive US. Control groups have confirmed that the defensive responses elicited by the sensory preconditioned sound are due to its association with the light in stage 1 rather than to generalization of such responses from the light, and to the association between the light and the aversive US in stage 2 rather than to any unconditioned ability of the light to imbue the tone with fear-eliciting properties (Rizley and Rescorla 1972).Our previous work used the sensory preconditioning protocol to examine the substrates of the association produced by pairing two affectively neutral, auditory and visual stimuli, specifically focusing on the roles of two regions in the medial temporal lobe, the perirhinal cortex (PRh), and basolateral amygdala complex (BLA). This work showed that the nature of the experience in the context before the pairings determines whether the PRh or BLA is selected for forming the association between the paired stimuli. When rats are exposed to the pairings in a familiar, safe context, formation of the association requires neuronal activity, including activation of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors, in the PRh but not the BLA (Holmes et al. 2013). In contrast, when rats are exposed to the pairings in an equally familiar but previously shocked (and hence dangerous) context, formation of the association requires neuronal activity, including NMDA receptor activation, in the BLA but not the PRh (Holmes et al. 2013).Our previous work using the sensory preconditioning protocol also showed that the circumstances of associative formation differed when the auditory and visual stimuli (a pure tone sound and flashing light, respectively) were presented in a safe or dangerous context (Holmes and Westbrook 2017). Rats were placed into a safe or a previously shocked context and exposed to presentations of a sound and a light. For half of the rats in each group, every presentation of the sound was followed immediately by presentation of the light, whereas for the remaining rats in each group, every presentation of the sound was followed 20 sec later by presentation of the light. The 20-sec trace interval was selected to reduce the likelihood of associative formation among rats exposed to tone-light pairings in the safe context, and thereby, maximize our capacity to detect any effect of the dangerous context on associative formation. All rats then received pairings of the light and foot shock, and, finally, test presentations of both the sound and the conditioned light. There were no differences among the four groups in the levels of defensive/fear responses (freezing) elicited by the conditioned light, but there were such differences in the levels of freezing elicited by the sound. Specifically, rats that had been exposed to the 20-sec trace interval between the sound and light in a dangerous context froze more to the sound than rats that had been exposed to the trace interval in a safe context, and critically, just as much as rats exposed to the contiguous relation between the sound and light in either the safe or dangerous context (which did not differ).A potential mechanism by which the dangerous context might have enabled associative formation across the trace interval rests in its activation of peripheral and central adrenergic systems. There is considerable evidence that exposure to foot shock in a distinctive context increases levels of epinephrine in the periphery, and via its effects on systems that respond to stress, norepinephrine in the amygdala (Hatfield et al. 1999; McIntyre et al. 2002; McGaugh 2004). Increased epinephrine and norepinephrine levels are thought to enhance learning about cues that signal danger, including auditory and visual stimuli paired with foot shock (e.g., Rodrigues et al. 2009). Increases in these levels have also been identified with enhanced memory for affectively neutral experiences. For example, object recognition memory is enhanced by BLA infusions of norepinephrine, and this enhancement is blocked by coadministration of the β-adrenergic receptor antagonist, propranolol (Roozendaal et al. 2006, 2008). Such evidence suggests that a systemic injection of epinephrine may influence sensory preconditioning in the same way as a dangerous context; and hence that a 20-sec trace interval between the auditory and visual stimuli under a systemic injection of epinephrine will support sensory preconditioning in a safe context, as does such an interval in a dangerous context.The present study tested this suggestion. It had two specific aims. The first aim was to replicate our previous finding that test presentations of the tone elicit freezing among rats exposed to the trace interval between tone and light presentations in a dangerous, but not in a safe context (experiment 1). We additionally sought to show that danger acts directly on associative formation between the tone and the light in the trace protocol, thereby enabling the tone to elicit freezing at test (experiment 2). The second aim was to determine whether a systemic injection of epinephrine prior to placement in a safe context functions like a dangerous context to enable associative formation in the trace protocol, as indexed by the test levels of freezing to the tone (experiment 3). We additionally sought to determine whether an epinephrine injection and a dangerous context have additive effects on associative formation in the trace protocol (experiment 4).     

A matter of taste: Nietzsche and the structure of affective response

ABSTRACT

Nietzsche’s work is filled with references to taste. He frequently expresses his own judgements of taste and criticizes or praises individuals and groups on account of their taste. Some recent attempts to account for Nietzsche’s understanding of taste argue that Nietzsche understands affective response, when guided by good taste, as being appropriate to, or merited by, the intrinsic features of the object. This is in direct contrast to anti-realist accounts of Nietzsche’s taste, according to which his evaluative judgements have no special epistemic status. In this article, I argue against objectivist or universalist readings of Nietzsche’s judgements of taste. However, in doing so I aim to show that affective responses do not thereby turn out to be arbitrary. Nietzsche suggests that by engaging with one’s affective responses, one can organizes them into a coherent and unified taste. This process of unification is central to Nietzsche’s understanding of value and self-creation.     

Liability to Deception and Manipulation: The Ethics of Undercover Policing

Does undercover police work inevitably wrong its targets? Or are undercover activities justified by a general security benefit? In this article I argue that people can make themselves liable to deception and manipulation. The debate on undercover policing will proceed more fruitfully if the tactic can be conceptualised along those lines, rather than as essentially ‘dirty hands’ activity, in which people are wronged in pursuit of a necessary good, or in instrumentalist terms, according to which the harms of undercover work are straightforwardly overcome by its benefits. This article motivates the ‘liability view’ and describes its attractions, challenges, and implications.     

Dimensions of Religion Associated with Suicide Attempt and Suicide Ideation in Depressed,Religiously Affiliated Patients

There is substantial evidence to support the claim that religion can protect against suicide ideation, suicide attempts, and completed suicide. There is also evidence that religion does not always protect against suicidality. More insight is needed into the relationship between suicidal parameters and dimensions of religion. A total of 155 in‐ and outpatients with major depression from a Christian Mental Health Care institution were included. The following religious factors were assessed: religious service attendance, frequency of prayer, religious salience, type of God representation, and moral objections to suicide (MOS). Multiple regression analyses were computed. MOS have a unique and prominent (negative) association with suicide ideation and the lifetime history of suicide attempts, even after controlling for demographic features and severity of depression. The type of God representation is an independent statistical predictor of the severity of suicide ideation. A positive‐supportive God representation is negatively correlated with suicide ideation. A passive‐distressing God representation has a positive correlation with suicide ideation. High MOS and a positive‐supportive God representation in Christian patients with depression are negatively correlated with suicide ideation. Both are likely to be important markers for assessment and further development of therapeutic strategies.     

Volitional Change in Adult Attachment: Can People Who Want to Become Less Anxious and Avoidant Move Closer Towards Realizing Those Goals?

People value relationships and want to relate to both friends and romantic partners in a secure and comfortable fashion. But can individuals move towards realizing this goal of their own volition? To address this question, across three studies with a combined total of more than 4000 participants, we developed and validated a new measure of people's desires to change their attachment anxiety and avoidance. In Study 1, we created the new, 16-item Change Goals—Experiences in Close Relationships measure. In Study 2, we replicated the Change Goals—Experiences in Close Relationships' factor structure and demonstrated that it correlates in theoretically expected ways with criterion variables (e.g. people who were high in undesirable traits such as anxiety or avoidance generally wanted to change those traits; change goals were linked to dissatisfaction with relevant life domains). Finally, in Study 3, we conducted a 16-wave, weekly longitudinal study. Results indicated that goals to change attachment anxiety and avoidance predicted corresponding growth across time (e.g. people who wanted to become less anxious tended to experience declines in attachment anxiety across time). Thus, our research provides a new measure for studying changes in attachment and suggests people may be able to increase in attachment security per their own volition. © 2019 European Association of Personality Psychology