Actual and ideal conflict styles and job distress in a health care organization

Employees (N = 176) of a large metropolitan health care corporation completed the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Inventory (TKI; K. W. Thomas & R. H. Kilmann, 1974), and the authors computed scores on each of 5 characteristic conflict styles (competing, collaborating, compromising, accommodating, and avoiding). Respondents again completed the TKI, this time by identifying their ideal conflict styles. Participants also provided ratings of job distress and demographic information. Compromising and avoiding were the most strongly endorsed actual conflict styles, and avoiding was the most strongly endorsed ideal conflict style. Respondents viewed their ideal conflict style as more competitive, less collaborative, and more avoidant than their actual conflict style. Job distress did not correlate with actual or ideal conflict styles. However, participants whose actual conflict style matched their ideal conflict style reported lower distress, especially if they perceived a high level of destructive conflict in their work environment. Distress was also lowest for respondents in high managerial positions and respondents who had been in the organization for a short time.     

What do you mean "drunk"? Convergent validation of multiple methods of mapping alcohol expectancy memory networks

The configuration and activation of memory networks have been theorized as mechanisms that underlie the often observed link between alcohol expectancies and drinking. A key component of this network is the expectancy "drunk." The memory network configuration of "drunk" was mapped by using cluster analysis of data gathered from the paired-similarities task (PST) and the Alcohol Expectancy Multi-Axial Assessment (AEMAX). A third task, the free associates task (FA), assessed participants' strongest alcohol expectancy associates and was used as a validity check for the cluster analyses. Six hundred forty-seven 18-19-year-olds completed these measures and a measure of alcohol consumption at baseline assessment for a 5-year longitudinal study. For both the PST and AEMAX, "drunk" clustered with mainly negative and sedating effects (e.g., "sick," "dizzy," "sleepy") in lighter drinkers and with more positive and arousing effects (e.g., "happy," "horny," "outgoing") in heavier drinkers, showing that the cognitive organization of expectancies reflected drinker type (and might influence the choice to drink). Consistent with the cluster analyses, in participants who gave "drunk" as an FA response, heavier drinkers rated the word as more positive and arousing than lighter drinkers. Additionally, gender did not account for the observed drinker-type differences. These results support the notion that for some emerging adults, drinking may be linked to what they mean by the word "drunk." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).     

Using Baby Books to Increase New Mothers' Self‐Efficacy and Improve Toddler Language Development

Maternal self‐efficacy (MSE) has been shown to be important, yet little is known about how it develops over time and whether increasing knowledge about child development and parenting results in feeling more efficacious, especially for first‐time mothers. Furthermore, research is lacking about whether increased maternal self‐efficacy results in better child outcomes such as more receptive and expressive language. Using a randomized three‐group design, this study explores whether educational books, embedded with information about typical child development and optimal parenting, increase MSE for women over the first year and a half of motherhood and whether these increases result in better language skills for children at 18 months of age. Hierarchical linear model analyses show that MSE starts high and remains high and that providing educational books further increases the development of MSE. Increases in MSE have a positive impact on children's language skills, as does providing books, irrespective of educational content. These findings support the importance of MSE and demonstrate an inexpensive way to increase MSE and improve child outcomes. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Positron lifetime study of an Al-1.7at.% Mg-1.1at.% Cu alloy

The behaviour of vacancies during isothermal ageing following quenching of an Al-1.7at.% Mg-1.1at.% Cu alloy has been studied by positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy. The positron lifetime parameters vary in parallel with the Vickers hardness of the alloy, suggesting simultaneous migration of vacancies and changes in the size and concentration of vacancies containing clusters and dislocation loops. The results also explain the long hardness plateau observed previously in ageing experiments carried out between 100 and 240°C in terms of a continuous growth of Mg-Cu-vacancy clusters during ageing. The vacancy concentration of the clusters increases gradually until the setting in of the cluster Guinier-Preston-Bagaryatsky zone transformation.     

Developing the Horizons of the Mind: Reich's Response to the Commentators

Some aspects of my writing the monograph Developing the Horizons of the Mind (2002) are highlighted, the central characteristics of relational and contextual reasoning (RCR) are explained, and the contributions to this symposium by John Albright, Varadaraja V. Raman, and John Teske are discussed.     

Chronic and temporary distinct expectancies as comparison standards: automatic contrast in dispositional judgments

In 4 studies, the authors examined whether making outcome expectancies distinct resulted in their use as comparison standards and, consequently, in contrastive dispositional inferences for a target's behaviors. The expectancies examined were based on either chronic future-event expectancies (Study 1) or temporary, manipulated expectancy standards (Studies 2-4). Analyses revealed that when contextual expectancies were distinct or separable from target information, participants' dispositional judgments were contrasted from them under cognitive load and overcorrected (assimilated to them) under no load. These effects were mediated by participants' behavior categorizations. Evidence suggestive of a proceduralized form of correction for task difficulty and an effortful awareness-based correction for the effects of expectancies also were found. Results are examined in light of recent models of the dispositional inference process.