Trust that binds: the impact of collective felt trust on organizational performance

The impact of employees' collective perceptions of being trusted by management was examined with a longitudinal study involving 88 retail stores. Drawing on the appropriateness framework (March, 1994; Weber, Kopelman, & Messick, 2004), the authors develop and test a model showing that when employees in an organization perceive they are trusted by management, increases in the presence of responsibility norms, as well as in the sales performance and customer service performance of the organization, are observed. Moreover, the relationship between perceptions of being trusted and sales performance is fully mediated by responsibility norms.     

Structural brain abnormalities in psychopaths-a review

The biological basis of psychopathy has not yet been fully elucidated. Few studies deal with structural neuroimaging in psychopaths. The aim of this article is to review these studies in order to contribute to our understanding of the biological basis of psychopathy. Data in the literature report a reduction in prefrontal gray matter volume, gray matter loss in the right superior temporal gyrus, amygdala volume loss, a decrease in posterior hippocampal volume, an exaggerated structural hippocampal asymmetry, and an increase in callosal white matter volume in psychopathic individuals. These findings suggest that psychopathy is associated with brain abnormalities in a prefrontal-temporo-limbic circuit-i.e. regions that are involved, among others, in emotional and learning processes. Additionally, data indicate that psychopathic individuals cannot be seen as a homogeneous group. The associations between structural changes and psychopathic characteristics do not enable causal conclusions to be drawn, but point rather to the important role of biological brain abnormalities in psychopathy. To gain a comprehensive understanding of this, psychopathy must be viewed as a multifactorial process involving neurobiological, genetic, epidemiological and sociobiographical factors.     

Infant crying and maternal holding in the first 2 months of age: an Italian diary study

This study aims to confirm previous North American and North European findings about the normal developmental pattern of infant crying by studying the crying of Italian babies. A cohort of 70 healthy, full‐term Italian infants was assessed longitudinally at 2, 5 and 8 weeks of age. Mothers were asked to fill in 24‐h behaviour diaries for 3 consecutive days at each age. Results show significant differences in the amount of daily crying between 2 and 8 weeks and between 5 and 8 weeks. Different from other similar studies, no significant cry peak at 5 weeks was found in the Italian babies, but the amount of time Italian mothers spent holding their babies showed a peak at 5 weeks. Infants cried more during the evenings and mothers carried them most during this part of the day. Significant correlations between maternal holding and infant crying were found both concurrently and predictively. The amount of infant crying at 2 weeks predicted the amount of holding at 5 weeks. Results confirmed previous findings about the individual stability of daily crying in the first 8 weeks of age, but future research should take account of cultural variations in maternal holding in studying infant crying in different societies. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Putting the brakes on prejudice rebound effects: An ironic effect of disparagement humor

When people high in prejudice censor prejudice in one setting, they can experience a prejudice rebound effect—subsequently responding with more prejudice than otherwise. Disparagement humor fosters the release rather than suppression of prejudice. Thus, two experiments tested the hypothesis that exposure to disparagement humor attenuates rebound effects. Participants suppressed prejudice by writing fewer anti-gay thoughts about same-sex adoption (Experiment 1) or by reporting greater support for same-sex civil rights (Experiment 2) when expecting to share their responses with others (non-prejudice norm condition) but not if others first exchanged anti-gay jokes (prejudice norm condition). High-prejudice participants then exhibited prejudice rebound in the non-prejudice norm condition only. They rated a gay man more stereotypically (Experiment 1) and allocated greater budget cuts to a gay student organization (Experiment 2) in the non-prejudice norm condition.     

The Theological Misappropriation of Christianity as a Civilizing Force

The theological misappropriation of Christianity as a civilizing force occurs when individuals convert to Christianity due to deception that ignores the faith-based aspect of Christianity. The history of Western education in India illustrates the hidden curriculum that Christian missionaries employed to disrupt the Indian educational system. This unnerving pedagogy points to the need for a postcolonial theoretical framework that relates the inescapable hybridity of religion and culture where Orientalism has the potential to occur. To press the ongoing urgency of this discussion, I convey how the history of British India connects to my lived-reality as an American Hindu. Overall, I point to hybridity as a lived paradox of ambiguous conflict that embraces interfaith relations. I offer implications for Christian missionaries today to foster authentic interfaith connections without engaging in colonizing ideologies.     

Observed maternal responses to adolescent behaviour predict the onset of major depression

Two mechanisms have been proposed regarding relations between parental responses to adolescent affective behaviours and the development of depression: the elicitation of parental negativity and the suppression of parental aggression. This study aimed to investigate the boundary conditions under which these two mechanisms operate in relation to the prospective prediction of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) onset in adolescence. A community sample of 159 adolescents (aged 11–13 years) with no history of MDD completed a family interaction assessment with their mothers, and were followed-up with a diagnostic interview 2–3 years later. Results showed that onset of MDD was prospectively predicted by the elicitation of maternal aggression in response to adolescent aggression (in girls only) and maternal dysphoria in response to adolescent aggression, as well as the suppression of maternal aggression and dysphoria in response to adolescent dysphoria. Thus, support was obtained for both the elicitation of negativity mechanism in relation to maternal responses to adolescents’ aggressive behaviours, and the suppression of aggression mechanisms in relation to maternal responses to adolescents’ dysphoric behaviours. Mothers’ responses to adolescents’ aggressive and dysphoric behaviours may differentially influence the risk of MDD onset for adolescents over time.     

Vanishing Boundaries: When Teaching About Religion Becomes Spiritual Guidance in the Classroom

Abstract. This article revisits the pedagogical dilemma of maintaining neutrality in the religious studies/theology classroom. I argue that if the boundary between teaching about religion and actually teaching spirituality seems to be vanishing, it is because the boundary was inappropriately constructed in the first place. To the extent that the religious concepts, even when compressed into religious studies categories, inherently inspire personal transformation, how can a boundary exist between the ideas students encounter and the power of those ideas to transform? Spiritual guidance emerges naturally in the academic study of religion, and those of us who teach in the field might as well get used to it. In explaining my position, I draw on my experience as a teaching assistant in Professor Walter Capps's course, “Religion and the Impact of the Vietnam War.” I, then, develop a pragmatic teaching strategy, neutral enthusiasm, which preserves the important neutrality of classroom presentation in religious studies courses, yet recognizes the unavoidable evocative power present in the intellectual territory that is religion. Neutral enthusiasm allows the content to do the work.     

Stereotypic horses (Equus caballus) are not cognitively impaired

Animal Cognition - Stereotypies in animals are thought to arise from an interaction between genetic predisposition and sub-optimal housing conditions. In domestic horses, a well-studied...     

Walking through doorways differentially affects recall and familiarity

Previous research has reported that walking through a doorway to a new location makes memory for objects and events experienced in the previous location less accurate. This effect, termed the location updating effect, has been used to suggest that location changes are used to mark boundaries between events in memory: memories for objects encountered within the current event are more available than those from beyond an event boundary. Within a computer‐generated memory task, participants navigated through virtual rooms, walking through doorways, and interacting with objects. The accuracy and their subjective experience of their memory for the objects (remember/know and confidence) were assessed. The findings showed that shifts in location decreased accurate responses associated with the subjective experience of remembering but not those associated with the experience of knowing, even when considering only the most confident responses in each condition. These findings demonstrate that a shift in location selectively impacts recollection and so contributes to our understanding of boundaries in event memory.