Creative Self-Efficacy: An Exploration of Its Antecedents,Consequences, and Applied Implications

Creativity and innovation are at the core of important outcomes such as economic and sales growth, production of articles and students' learning. Thus, it is not surprising to find research articles on creativity and innovation across different disciplines such as business, psychology, and education. Given the importance of understanding creativity and innovation, we reviewed the empirical literature examining the antecedents and consequences of creative self-efficacy in the work domain. Our review used the theory of individual creative action and social cognitive theory as guiding frameworks to place creative self-efficacy in the creativity and innovation process, define creativity and innovation, explore how creative self-efficacy has been measured, examine the antecedents and consequences of creative self-efficacy, point out gaps in knowledge and offer suggestions for future research and provide some applied implications. One important finding was that creative self-efficacy has made a significant contribution as a process variable explaining how several organizational and personal factors influence creative outcomes via their influence on creative self-efficacy.     

Familiarity increases subjective positive affect even in non-affective and non-evaluative contexts

Previous research shows that the experience of familiarity involves the experience of positive affect. In two experiments we clarify and extend this research by showing that the experience of familiarity involves the experience of positive affect even when the nature of the experimental task is non-affective and non-evaluative and even when participants are actively performing other cognitive operations—that the association of familiarity and positive affect is not disrupted by (non-affective and non-evaluative) judgments regardless of whether familiarity does or does not play a role in those judgments. Experiment 1 used a non-affective but evaluative task and Experiment 2 a completely non-evaluative task. Both studies manipulated familiarity through re-exposure and showed that processing familiar stimuli induced a pleasurable subjective experience.     

Exploring and Estimating the Revenues and Profits of Participants in Stolen Data Markets

Researchers have begun to explore the problem of mass data breaches, where consumer information is acquired by cybercriminals and sold in open markets on-line. Although studies document the social processes of the market and relationships between buyers and sellers, few have considered the revenues earned from market transactions. This study explored these issues using a sample of threads from 10 Russian language and 3 English language Web forums used to sell stolen data. Estimates were generated on the total number of transactions completed by participants along with the advertised prices for the two most common forms of personal information sold. The findings demonstrated that buyers may earn a range of revenues from the sale of stolen data, although this figure was smaller than the potential profits earned from fraudulent use and identity crimes by data buyers. The implications of this study for cybercrime research and policy are explored in detail.     

Narrative Practices and Positive Aging: A Reflection about Life Celebration in a Group of Old Women

The main objective of this article is to address the impact of narrative practices in life celebration after the age of 80 and in the co-construction of a community-positive future. We share here an exploratory reflection about the narratives of a group of older women integrated in a community project. The Wednesday Tea Project (Chá das Quartas) has been ongoing for 4 years, and involves a group of old women experiencing high levels of loneliness and isolation in their small village in Portugal. The Wednesday Tea Project is based on positive psychology methodologies and consists of ritualized sessions that encourage participatory group dynamics. To describe how this project has highlighted the benefits of narrative practices, we utilized a series of scaffolding questions. Some of the most relevant outcomes of this project are: (a) the deconstruction of the dominant social discourse; (b) the publication of a book; (c) the reduction of loneliness feelings by re-membering significant figures; and (d) new levels of action both to women and the community as a consequence of a re-authoring process. Narrative practices seem to have contributed to the consolidation of all time dimensions, giving these women the opportunity to celebrate life after the age of 80, while also allowing the community to be part of and to benefit from the process. A reflection about the contributions of this article to a paradigm change toward positive aging is presented.     

Differentiation of Self,Mate Selection,and Marital Adjustment: Validity of Postulates of Bowen Theory in a Spanish Sample

This research investigates relationships between differentiation of self, mate selection, and marital adjustment in a Spanish sample of 118 heterosexual couples (N = 236). In line with Bowen theory, greater differentiation of self and greater similarity in partners' differentiation of self levels each predicted greater marital adjustment. Contrary to theory, gender differences were observed on the S-DSI, with males showing higher total differentiation scores than females, and hypothesized links between differentiation of self and mate selection were not observed. Implications for therapy and suggestions for future research with the S-DSI are discussed.     

How do trainees choose their first psychotherapy training? The case of training in psychotherapy integration

Future trainees go through difficult decision-making processes when starting their first psychotherapy training. The choice of training in psychotherapy integration is a specific type of this process. In this study, qualitative data were obtained from the motivational letters, in-depth semi-structured interviews and e-mail questionnaires of 26 future trainees to answer the research question, ‘How do trainees choose their first psychotherapy training?’ We primarily employed the grounded theory approach as well as consensual qualitative research to shed light on the central category of Gaining Certainty to enter the training. This category was elaborated into a four-phase model, specifically comprised of the: (1) Critical Comparison, (2) Identification, (3) Self-Confirmation and (4) Waiting phases. The model was then discussed in connection with relevant concepts, such as the degree of complexity and flexibility within the epistemological development of trainees [Vasco, A. B., &; Dryden, W. (1994). The development of psychotherapists’ theoretical orientation and clinical practice. British Journal of Guidance &; Counselling, 22(3), 327–341].     

Perceiving emotions: Cueing social categorization processes and attentional control through facial expressions

Individuals spontaneously categorise other people on the basis of their gender, ethnicity and age. But what about the emotions they express? In two studies we tested the hypothesis that facial expressions are similar to other social categories in that they can function as contextual cues to control attention. In Experiment 1 we associated expressions of anger and happiness with specific proportions of congruent/incongruent flanker trials. We also created consistent and inconsistent category members within each of these two general contexts. The results demonstrated that participants exhibited a larger congruency effect when presented with faces in the emotional group associated with a high proportion of congruent trials. Notably, this effect transferred to inconsistent members of the group. In Experiment 2 we replicated the effects with faces depicting true and false smiles. Together these findings provide consistent evidence that individuals spontaneously utilise emotions to categorise others and that such categories determine the allocation of attentional control.     

Are future generations that belong to language minorities entitled to group rights?

In this article, I investigate to what extent future generations that belong to language minorities are entitled to group rights that protect their linguistic identity. In particular, I assess whether these future generations are entitled to assistance rights, symbolic claims, self-government rights and exemptions from the law. To address this I outline three arguments supporting group rights for current generations and raise the question of whether these arguments, which are true for current generations, will also be true for future generations. The answer defends the entitlement of future generations to group rights against two counterarguments. The first is that future generations have no interest in preserving their language and therefore there is no normative justification for group rights. The second is that there is a duty to eliminate group rights in order to avoid malign consequences of these rights for future generations.     

Three Decades of State Feminism and Gender Equality Policies in Multi-governed Spain

Spain’s evolution from an authoritarian regime to a well-established multi-governed democracy in a short period of time, has been accompanied by incredibly rapid social change and a varied (depending on the governmental period), but overall steady, consideration of gender equality as a political priority. This has also led to the rapid development and consolidation of women’s and equality machineries–state feminism–and well-established policies devoted to promoting gender equality over the last three decades, both at national and regional governmental levels. This article aims to present a consolidated policy area which has enough elements to survive and to keep on developing, although in an increasingly fragmented manner, among regions, despite the ongoing economic crisis and the conservative political turn. Based on theories of state feminism and discursive politics, this article analyzes four important elements for understanding this claim and the evolution of national and regional Spanish gender policies and institutions during the last three decades: women’s machinery, the relations between that machinery and women’s and feminist movements, the policy discourses present in gender equality policies, and the policy instruments used by those machineries and policies.     

Social-cognitive antecedents of hand washing: Action control bridges the planning–behaviour gap

Objectives. To examine motivational and volitional factors for hand washing in young adults, using the Health Action Process Approach (HAPA) as a theoretical framework.

Design. In a longitudinal design with two measurement points, six weeks apart, university students (N = 440) completed paper-based questionnaires.

Main outcome measures. Prior hand washing frequency, self-efficacy, outcome expectancies, intention and action planning were measured at baseline, and coping planning, action control and hand washing frequency were measured at follow-up.

Results. A theory-based structural equation model was specified. In line with the HAPA, the motivational factors of self-efficacy and outcome expectancies predicted intention, whereas the volitional factors of planning and action control mediated between intention and changes in hand washing frequency. Action control was confirmed as the most proximal factor on hand washing behaviour, thus representing a bridge of the planning–behaviour gap.

Conclusions. Both motivational and volitional processes are important to consider in the improvement of hand hygiene practices. Moreover, the statistically significant effects for planning and action control illustrate the importance of these key self-regulatory factors in the prediction of hand hygiene. The current study highlights the importance of adopting models that account for motivational and volitional factors to better understand hand washing behaviour.