How leaders self-regulate their task performance: evidence that power promotes diligence, depletion, and disdain

When leaders perform solitary tasks, do they self-regulate to maximize their effort, or do they reduce effort and conserve their resources? Our model suggests that power motivates self-regulation toward effective performance-unless the task is perceived as unworthy of leaders. Our 1st studies showed that power improves self-regulation and performance, even when resources for self-regulation are low (ego depletion). Additional studies showed that leaders sometimes disdain tasks they deem unworthy, by withholding effort (and therefore performing poorly). Ironically, during ego depletion, leaders skip the appraisal and, therefore, work hard regardless of task suitability, so that depleted leaders sometimes outperform nondepleted ones. Our final studies replicated these patterns with different tasks and even with simple manipulation of framing and perception of the same task (Experiment 5). Experiment 4 also showed that the continued high exertion of leaders when depleted takes a heavy toll, resulting in larger impairments later. The judicious expenditure of self-control resources among powerful people may help them prioritize their efforts to pursue their goals effectively.     

A Multimethod Examination of the Effect of Insomnia Symptoms on Anxious Responding to a Social Stressor

A growing number of studies identify insomnia symptoms as a potential risk factor for the development of anxiety disorders. However, little research has examined potential mechanisms through which insomnia could confer increased risk for anxiety. A separate line of literature suggests sleep is necessary for adaptive emotional and behavioral responding to stressors, a potential mechanism linking insomnia symptoms to anxiety risk. To test whether insomnia symptoms affect emotional and behavioral responding to an anxiety-relevant stressor, the current study recruited a sample of 99 undergraduates with varying levels of insomnia symptoms. Participants completed self-report and psychophysiological measures before, during, and after an impromptu speech task. Results indicated that, after covarying for negative affectivity, increased insomnia symptoms were significantly associated with elevated anticipatory anxiety and skin conductance response prior to the speech, and increased skin conductance response, emotion regulation difficulties, and safety aid use during the speech. Taken together, results provide evidence for the notion that insomnia symptoms are associated with maladaptive emotional and behavioral responding to an anxiety-relevant stressor.     

Renewal during functional communication training

Functional communication training (FCT) is one of the most commonly prescribed interventions for the treatment of severe destructive behavior exhibited by individuals with intellectual disabilities. Although highly effective, FCT has been shown to fail in some cases when treatment is introduced into the child's typical environment. Basic and translational research on renewal provides a model for studying the relapse of destructive behavior following successful response to treatment in clinic settings using FCT. In the present study, we evaluated whether relapse of destructive behavior could be attributed to the discriminative control of the home context, which was historically correlated with reinforcement for destructive behavior. We implemented baseline contingencies in the home setting with caregivers acting as interventionists (i.e., Context A). We then implemented FCT in a treatment clinic with trained therapists (i.e., Context B). Finally, we introduced FCT in the home setting with caregivers implementing the treatment procedures (i.e., return to Context A). For three of four participants we observed the relapse of destructive behavior consistent with operant renewal. We discuss the implications of these findings with respect to strategies designed to promote generalization of FCT across settings during the treatment of severe destructive behavior.     

Callous-Unemotional Traits Only Versus the Multidimensional Psychopathy Construct as Predictors of Various Antisocial Outcomes During Early Adolescence

The aim of this study was to compare callous-unemotional (CU) traits versus the multidimensional psychopathy construct in their ability to predict future and stable antisocial behavior. At baseline, a community sample of 996 Cypriot 12-year old adolescents (52% girls) completed measures that tap conduct problems (CP) and psychopathic traits, including CU. CP, aggression, and substance use were self-reported at 1–3 year follow-ups. Youths were assigned to six mutually exclusive groups based on their baseline levels of CP and psychopathic traits. Youth with CP scoring high on all three psychopathic traits dimensions (Psychopathic Personality?+?CP) showed the most robust and highest risk for future and stable CP, aggression, and substance use, followed by youth who were high on all three psychopathic traits dimensions but displayed no concurrent CP (Psychopathic Personality Only) and CP youth with low levels of psychopathic traits (CP Only). Youth with CP who merely manifested callous-unemotional traits (Callous-Unemotional?+?CP) were only at risk for future CP. The findings suggest that the CU traits-based approach for subtyping children with CP is less informative compared to a subtyping approach using various psychopathic traits dimensions in predicting future and stable forms of various antisocial outcomes. These findings and their consistency with prior work indicate the need for additional research to examine the various psychopathic traits dimensions rather than focusing solely on CU traits, especially for CP subtyping purposes.     

The Formal Systems Response to Violence Against Women in India: A Cultural Lens

Violence against women (VAW) has become an increasingly salient issue in India, with women at risk for different forms of gendered violence. While there may be universal elements in the international phenomenon of violence against women, it is a complex, multifaceted phenomenon that takes shape in a particular sociocultural context. The current study employs a narrative framework to systematically examine how culture is expressed in the formal systems response and women's help‐seeking in two metropolitan cities in India. Specifically, we sought to understand, among formal system responders (a) what characterizes the dominant cultural narratives on violence against women in India; and (b) how these are reflected in community narratives of formal responders. Interviews were conducted with formal responders working in different types of local agencies (e.g., police, health centers, and non‐governmental agencies). The paper illustrates the major themes that emerged from participants’ narratives describing the multilevel influences that shape the formal system response to violence against women and women's help‐seeking efforts. The implications of these findings for effective response and directions for future research are summarized.     

Learning from your mistakes: does it matter if you’re out in left foot,I mean field?

Studies have shown that generating errors prior to studying information (pencil–?) can improve target retention relative to passive (i.e., errorless) study, provided that cues and targets are semantically related (pencil–ink) and not unrelated (pencil-frog). In two experiments, we manipulated semantic proximity of errors to targets during trial-and-error to examine whether it would modulate this error generation benefit. In Experiment 1, participants were shown a cue (band–?) and asked to generate a related word (e.g., drum). Critically, they were given a target that either matched the semantic meaning of their guess (guitar) or mismatched it (rubber). In Experiment 2, participants studied Spanish words where the English translation either matched their expectations (pariente–relative) or mismatched it (carpeta–folder). Both experiments show that errors benefit memory to the extent that they overlap semantically with targets. Results are discussed in terms of the retrieval benefits of activating related concepts during learning.     

“Mummy,keep it steady”: phonetic variation shapes word learning at 15 and 17 months

Fifteen‐month‐olds have difficulty detecting differences between novel words differing in a single vowel. Previous work showed that Australian English (AusE) infants habituated to the word‐object pair DEET detected an auditory switch to DIT and DOOT in Canadian English (CanE) but not in their native AusE (Escudero et al., 2014 ). The authors speculated that this may be because the vowel inherent spectral change variation (VISC) in AusE DEET is larger than in CanE DEET. We investigated whether VISC leads to difficulty in encoding phonetic detail during early word learning, and whether this difficulty dissipates with age. In Experiment 1, we familiarized AusE‐learning 15‐month‐olds to AusE DIT, which contains smaller VISC than AusE DEET. Unlike infants familiarized with AusE DEET (Escudero et al., 2014 ), infants detected a switch to DEET and DOOT. In Experiment 2, we familiarized AusE‐learning 17‐month‐olds to AusE DEET. This time, infants detected a switch to DOOT, and marginally detected a switch to DIT. Our acoustic analysis showed that AusE DEET and DOOT are differentiated by the second vowel formant, while DEET and DIT can only be distinguished by their changing dynamic properties throughout the vowel trajectory. Thus, by 17 months, AusE infants can encode highly dynamic acoustic properties, enabling them to learn the novel vowel minimal pairs that are difficult at 15 months. These findings suggest that the development of word learning is shaped by the phonetic properties of the specific word minimal pair.     

RETRACTED ARTICLE: Losing control: Mostly incongruent lists postpone,but do not eliminate,the Stroop effect

Identifying the color (e.g., red) of a color word that is incongruent (e.g., “BLUE”) can be remarkably difficult. The Stroop effect is a measure of the interference between activity from word and color pathways. The efficacy of these pathways is thought to be highly contingent on the frequency of incongruent trials within a block. A block of trials with mostly incongruent (MI) trials typically results in a smaller Stroop effect than a block with mostly congruent (MC) trials. This reduction of the Stroop effect has been largely attributed to the strategic list-wide control of the word pathway. Here, the time course of the Stroop effect was explored using speed-accuracy tradeoff functions (SATfs) in tasks with 50 % congruent, MC, and MI trials. In the MC and 50 % congruent condition, color-word congruency affected the rate parameter of the SATf. In the MI condition, however, congruency affected the asymptote. This evidence is consistent with the idea that the strategic control of the word pathway is an effortful, temporary phenomenon, prone to buckle if responding is held in check.     

Prevalence of renewal of problem behavior: Replication and extension to an inpatient setting

Individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities who exhibit problem behavior often receive behavioral assessment and treatment in specialized inpatient and outpatient clinics. However, problem behavior sometimes reemerges as a function of changes in contexts and stimulus conditions, such as returning to the home environment. This reemergence is called renewal. Recently, Muething et al. (2020) found that renewal occurred in over half (67%) of cases from an outpatient clinic. Their sample was obtained exclusively from an outpatient setting and despite the applied relevance of renewal, its clinical prevalence in other populations is unknown. Accordingly, we replicated Muething et al.’s procedures and analyzed renewal in 37 inpatient treatment applications across 34 cases via consecutive‐controlled case series. Renewal was present in 59% of cases; however, we found that renewal occurred in only 24% of context changes compared to 42% reported by Muething et al. Various factors related to the prevalence of renewal were evaluated.