One ring to rule them all: Master discourses of enlightenment—and racism—from colonial to contemporary New Zealand

We interrogated historical continuity and change in discourses of enlightenment and racism through the analysis of 160 years of New Zealand Speeches from the Throne (1854–2014, 163 speeches). Enlightenment discourses of benevolence and perfectibility were prevalent in all periods, much more so than racism. ‘Old‐fashioned’ racism took the form of an assumed civilizational superiority (including accusations of ‘barbarism’) during colonization, with ‘modern’ racism taking forms like blaming Māori for not ‘productively’ using the land. Both declined to almost zero by the 20th century, undermining the idea of ‘old‐fashioned’ versus ‘modern’ racism. Utilitarian discourses peaked in the late 19th to early 20th centuries as justification for Māori land alienation. ‘Master discourses of enlightenment’ consisted of a central core of social representations that changed at the periphery, with a gradual expansion of symbolic inclusion of Māori in discourses of national identity to the point where biculturalism is the dominant discourse for elites today.     

Individual-based relative deprivation (IRD) decreases prosocial behaviors

Five studies investigated the relationship between individual-based relative deprivation (IRD) and prosocial behaviors. Study 1 found that income satisfaction, a concept closely related to IRD, was negatively associated with prosocial values across cultures. Study 2 found a negative association between IRD and prosocial aspirations among a sample of Chinese university students. Study 3 revealed a negative association between IRD and volunteer behaviors. In Studies 4 and 5, we found that laboratory-induced IRD decreased undergraduate students’ prosocial values and behaviors. Moreover, Study 5 also found that the tendency to prioritize self-interest over others’ mediated the effect of IRD on prosocial behaviors. Implications of these findings are discussed.     

Age Differences in the Variance of Personality Characteristics

In contrast to mean‐level comparisons, age group differences in personality trait variance have received only passing research interest. This may seem surprising because individual differences in personality characteristics are exactly what most of personality psychology is about. Because different proposed mechanisms of personality development may entail either increases or decreases in variance over time, the current study is exploratory in nature. Age differences in variance were tested by comparing the standard deviations of the five‐factor model domain and facet scales across two age groups (20 to 30 years old versus 50 to 60 years old). Samples from three cultures (Estonia, the Czech Republic and Russia) were employed, and two methods (self‐reports and informant‐reports) were used. The results showed modest convergence across samples and methods. Age group differences were significant for 11 of 150 facet‐level comparisons but never consistently for the same facets. No significant age group differences were observed for the five‐factor model domain variance. Therefore, there is little evidence for individual differences in personality characteristics being systematically smaller or larger in older as opposed to younger people. We discuss the implications of these findings for understanding personality development. Copyright © 2015 European Association of Personality Psychology     

Formation of profuse <c+a> dislocations in deformed calcium-containing magnesium alloys

We report that <c+a> pyramidal slipping could be more easily activated in textured Mg–Ca alloys with increasing Ca contents dissolved in α-Mg matrix under tensile deformation, and it is proposed that the decreased stacking fault energy plays the critical rule. In contrast, only twins and <a> basal dislocations are observed in the compressed samples. The results would provide insight into understanding of the deformation mechanism and designing more ductile Mg alloys.     

Applicant Reactions to Selection Methods in China

This study examines applicant reactions to ten popular selection methods in China. Using a sample of 294 graduates we found that Chinese applicants’ reactions were highly favorable for work sample tests, interviews, and written ability tests, whereas Guanxi (i.e., relying on personal contacts when applying for a job) and graphology were perceived as the least favorable selection methods. Guanxi was also perceived as significantly less fair method compared with all others on all seven procedural dimensions studied. These findings suggest that Guanxi as an informal selection channel might threaten the fairness of personnel selection in China. Implications for the design of selection systems in Chinese companies are discussed, and ramifications for future research into applicant reactions are considered.     

Intelligence as the efficiency of cue-driven retrieval from secondary memory

Complex-span (working-memory-capacity) tasks are among the most successful predictors of intelligence. One important contributor to this relationship is the ability to efficiently employ cues for the retrieval from secondary memory. Presumably, intelligent individuals can considerably restrict their memory search sets by using such cues and can thereby improve recall performance. We here test this assumption by experimentally manipulating the validity of retrieval cues. When memoranda are drawn from the same semantic category on two successive trials of a verbal complex-span task, the category is a very strong retrieval cue on its first occurrence (strong-cue trial) but loses some of its validity on its second occurrence (weak-cue trial). If intelligent individuals make better use of semantic categories as retrieval cues, their recall accuracy suffers more from this loss of cue validity. Accordingly, our results show that less variance in intelligence is explained by recall accuracy on weak-cue compared with strong-cue trials.     

When Does a Proactive Personality Enhance an Employee’s Whistle-Blowing Intention?: A Cross-Level Investigation of the Employees in Chinese Companies

To identify the boundary conditions for proactive employees making whistle-blowing decisions, we developed a cross-level model comprising employee proactive personality and two types of whistle-blowing intentions that incorporates the influences of organizational- and individual-level attributes. Analyses of data collected from 432 Chinese employees in 32 companies indicated that proactive personality was positively related to internal whistle-blowing intention and even more positively related to external whistle-blowing intention when individuals were working in organizations characterized by an instrumental ethical climate and employees with a high level of moral identity.     

Parent Prediction of Autism Spectrum Disorder in Infants at Risk: A Follow-up Study

Later-born siblings of children with autism spectrum disorder are considered at biological risk for autism spectrum disorder and the broader phenotype. Early screening may detect first signs of autism spectrum disorder and expedite diagnosis and early intervention. In this follow-up study, we re-examine a validated second-degree autism spectrum disorder screener for children at biological risk of autism spectrum disorder, the parent observation of early markers scale. Using available follow-up information up to age 13 years, 110 children (the original 108 infants plus 2 infants recruited after the completion of the original study) were divided into three groups: diagnosed group (n?=?13), lost diagnosis group (n?=?5), and undiagnosed group (n?=?92). The parent observation of early markers scale continued to show acceptable predictive validity. The parent observation of early markers scale total scores and mean number of elevated items were significantly higher in the diagnosed group than the undiagnosed group. The lost-diagnosis group did not differ from the undiagnosed group on parent observation of early markers scale total scores and elevated items at any age, but the lost-diagnosis group had significantly lower total scores, and number of elevated items than the diagnosed group starting at 18 months. Both autism spectrum disorder core and subsidiary behaviors differentiated the diagnosed and undiagnosed groups from 9 to 36 months of age. We hereby provide further evidence that the parent observation of early markers scale may serve as a low-cost early screener for autism spectrum disorder in at-risk children and pinpoint specific developmental ,and behavioral problems that may be amenable to very early intervention.     

Exploring correlations between positive psychological resources and symptoms of psychological distress among hematological cancer patients: a cross-sectional study

Hematological cancer patients experience high levels of psychological distress during diagnoses and intensive treatments. The aim of the present study is to explore the effects of positive psychological resources on depressive and anxiety symptoms in hematological cancer patients. This survey was conducted in a hospital during the period from July 2013 to April 2014. A total of 300 inpatients were recruited and finally 227 of them completed the questionnaires. Questionnaires included demographic and clinical variables, the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale, the Self-Rating Anxiety Scale, the Life Orientation Scale-Revised, the General Perceived Self-Efficacy Scale, and the Resilience Scale-14. Results showed that the prevalence of depressive and anxiety symptoms was 66.1 and 45.8%, respectively. Both optimism (β = ?.479, p < .001) and resilience (β = ?.174, p < .05) were negatively associated with depressive symptoms, and optimism (β = ?.393, p < .001) was negatively associated with anxiety symptoms. However, resilience (β = ?.133, p > .05) was not significantly associated with anxiety symptoms, and self-efficacy was not significantly associated with depressive (β = ?.032, p > .05) or anxiety symptoms (β = ?.055, p > .05). The results suggest that hematological cancer patients who possess high levels of positive psychological resources may have fewer symptoms of psychological distress. The findings indicate that enhancing positive psychological resources can be considered in developing intervention strategies for decreasing depressive and anxiety symptoms.