Anticipated Regret and Time Perspective: Changing Sexual Risk-taking Behavior

In two studies we test the effects of anticipated affective reactions such as regret on behavioral expectations and behavior. These effects were examined in the context of sexual risk-taking behavior. More specifically, we tested the impact of the anticipated feelings associated with unsafe sex on sexual risk-taking behavior. We assumed a difference between the feelingsabout unsafe sex and the feelings people anticipate to haveafter this behavior. Two studies tested the hypothesis that respondents who are induced to focus on their anticipated, post-behavioral feelings are more likely to report negative feelings such as regret and to adopt safer sexual practices than respondents who are asked to focus on their feelings about the behavior itself. Study 1 shows that anticipated feelings after unsafe sex were more negative than feelings about the behavioral act itself, and that respondents who were asked to consider these anticipated feelings expressed stronger expectations to reduce their risk in future interactions. Thus, asking respondents to take a wider time perspective, and to consider the feelings they would haveafter having had unsafe sex, resulted in ‘safer’ behavioral expectations. Study 2 replicates the findings of Study 1, and also yielded a reliable effect of the time perspective manipulation on actual, self-reported behavior. Respondents who were asked to report on their anticipated feelings after unsafe sex showed less risky behavior in the five months following the experiment than the remaining respondents. Thus, the induced focus on post-behavioral emotions increased the likelihood of preventive behavior. Implications of these findings for behavioral intervention programs are discussed.     

Degrading situations and antisocial behaviour: an experimental approach to delinquency

What are the social psychological processes likely to lead individuals to commit antisocial behaviour? Two experiments are presented showing that students experiencing a publicly degrading situation (a failure on a fictitious test) agreed more often than non-degraded students to participate in a theft to the detriment of a fellow student or even to the detriment of a teacher. We were able to exclude an interpretation in terms of imitation or revenge and suggest that a publicly degrading situation places subjects in a kind of social dependency state which is expressed by a vulnerability to influence. These results are discussed with due regard to the criminological and social psychological literature.     

ARE HIGHLY STRUCTURED JOB INTERVIEWS RESISTANT TO DEMOGRAPHIC SIMILARITY EFFECTS?

This study examines the extent to which highly structured job interviews are resistant to demographic similarity effects. The sample comprised nearly 20,000 applicants for a managerial-level position in a large organization. Findings were unequivocal: Main effects of applicant gender and race were not associated with interviewers’ ratings of applicant performance nor was applicant–interviewer similarity with regard to gender and race. These findings address past inconsistencies in research on demographic similarity effects in employment interviews and demonstrate the value of using highly structured interviews to minimize the potential influence of applicant demographic characteristics on selection decisions.     

Intercultural Effectiveness,Authoritarianism, and Ethnic Prejudice

This study examined the extent to which intercultural effectiveness dimensions (cultural empathy, open‐mindedness, social initiative, emotional stability, flexibility) and right‐wing authoritarianism (RWA) predicted the ethnic prejudice of 166 Australian respondents toward Indigenous Australians. Intercultural effectiveness was assessed on the Multicultural Personality Questionnaire, and RWA was assessed on the RWA scale, whereas ethnic prejudice was measured on the Modern Racism Scale. The results revealed that intercultural effectiveness (open‐mindedness, flexibility, cultural empathy) was inversely related to ethnic prejudice, with open‐mindedness being the main predictor. Intercultural effectiveness was also inversely related to RWA, the latter being directly related to ethnic prejudice. The implications of these findings for the potential role of intercultural effectiveness in combating ethnic prejudice are discussed.     

Social Identity Patterns in Culturally Diverse Organizations: The Role of Diversity Climate1

Many of the problems associated with cultural diversity in organizations stem from individuals' tendencies to categorize their social environment into “us” and “them.” We present the results of a field study (N = 1111) showing that diversity climate—an organizational climate characterized by openness toward and appreciation of diversity—may be the key to reducing these problems. The results show that diversity climate is positively related to cultural identity for majority members, and to organizational identity for minority members. In organizations with a strong diversity climate, both majority and minority members identify with the organization and their cultural groups simultaneously, thus displaying a dual identity. Diversity climate is positively related to job‐related outcomes for both groups, but particularly for minority members.     

Second‐Generation Leader Categorization Research: How Subordinates' Self‐ and Typical Leader Perceptions Moderate Leader Categorization Effects

Leader categorization theory proposes that the more leaders match their subordinates' cognitive image (prototype) of an ideal leader the easier it is for subordinates to “categorize” them as leaders and consequently follow their leadership. Based on self‐concept research, we extend this perspective and argue that the relationship assumed in leader categorization theory should be stronger when subordinates perceive themselves to represent the ideal leader prototype. Further, this moderating effect should be stronger when subordinates perceive the ideal leader prototype to not only be an abstract ideal category, but one that is generally also met in reality; i.e., when it is met by typical leaders. Findings of a cross‐sectional study with employees in Germany (N = 297) support both predictions.     

Self-Presentation and Exercise

Preliminary research indicates that self-presentation may be an important antecedent and consequence of physical activity because it may affect people's exercise cognitions, attitudes, and behaviors. The specific purposes of this article were to review the literature on self-presentational processes with regard to (a) exercise behavior, (b) motivation to engage in physical activity, (c) the characteristics of the exercise environment, (d) subjective responses to acute exercise, and (e) the effects of exercise interventions on self-presentational concerns. Implications of a self-presentational perspective for examining exercise adherence and developing physical activity interventions are discussed.     

Knock,knock, anybody home? Psychological availability as link between work and relationship

This research investigated how negative and positive residuals of the workday spill over into the partner relationship. To unravel the mechanism of this spillover, this study introduces the concept of “psychological availability,” which refers to the individual's ability and motivation to direct psychological resources at the partner. A survey was conducted among 313 Dutch dual‐earner couples with children, using dyadic data analysis to analyze both partners simultaneously in 1 model. Psychological availability mediated the link between negative and positive work‐related residuals (i.e., work‐related negative mood, exhaustion, rumination and work‐related positive mood and vigor, respectively) and marital behavior. The findings suggest that partners' workday residuals spill over into the marital relationship through being more or less psychologically available for each other.     

Directed Evolution

Though we humans are immensely more gifted than other animals, yet we are not the outcome of an inevitable selection of the 'fittest'. Nor on the other hand is our importance diminished by our evolutionary inheritance. Besides, we are already here! Faith in inevitable progress is a 'scientific', not a Christian, delusion. We realise that the universe has its own rules and complications which intrude on our lives and often thwart our choices. It is therefore legitimate to talk of chance, but we often fail to appreciate the real significance of this word. Chance is not a cause; in essence it refers to our own consciousness that we are immersed in circumstance, and it has no reality without our own purposiveness. Thus chance is not some blind and indifferent or even hostile cosmic mystery; it is the occasion of our own responses, and it even offers the opportunity of human growth. Just as we accept the laws (and dangers) of physics (e.g. gravitation), as the framework of our ordered existence, so also we may accept the surprises of chance without any despairing conclusion either from our latest researches in astronomy or from a fatal accident in the street.