When learning is not enough: A process model of expatriate adjustment as cultural cognitive dissonance reduction

Although considerable organizational research exists on the topic of expatriate adjustment and early departure, little has focused on the actual psychological processes causing change in adjustment outcomes. Specifically, researchers have not focused on cognitive dissonance that arises from adopting or condoning culturally expected behaviors that are inconsistent with the expatriate’s own values or attitudes. We propose that dissonance experiences and the methods used for dissonance reduction influence expatriates’ adjustment outcomes and, in turn, their tendency for early departure. We further specify key situational and individual difference constructs that regulate these causal relationships. Along with a greater understanding of cross-cultural adjustment, the current model suggests new directions for expatriate research and management.     

Effects of enclosure size on sexual behavior of Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica)

The authors determined whether results of experiments on copulatory and affiliative behavior of pairs of Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica) conducted in a closely confining apparatus would predict behavior in a large enclosure in which female quail could avoid contact with male quail. As found previously in studies of closely confined quail, in a large enclosure containing numerous barriers, both unmated female quail and mated female quail laying unfertilized eggs were more likely to remain near a confined male quail than were mated female quail laying fertilized eggs. Furthermore, the number of copulations that a pair engaged in when closely confined predicted the number of copulations that they engaged in when they were in the large enclosure. Patterns of affiliation and of mating in a confining laboratory apparatus thus predicted behavior in a larger enclosure that provided female quail with opportunity to avoid contact with male quail.     

Yemeni debates on the status of non‐Muslims in Islamic law

This essay examines Yemeni legal debates, in the period between the fifteenth and nineteenth centuries, regarding the status of and relations with non‐Muslims inside and outside the Islamic state. The legal works considered in this paper are written by Zaydi scholars, but they are informed by all other Muslim legal traditions. Studies of the Islamic law of nations and of the dhimma system have traditionally fluctuated between either wholesale condemnation or unqualified apologetic defence. And yet, as the works examined in this essay illustrate, the Islamic legal position on each of the controversial aspects of the laws of non‐Muslims is diverse, and it does not lend itself to essentialist classifications. Moreover, this diversity demonstrates the internal flexibility of the law and its inherent potential for reforming itself.     

A Contrastive Analysis of Emotional Terms in Bed-Night Stories Across Two Languages: Does it Affect Learners' Pragmatic Knowledge of Controlling Emotions? Seeking Implications to Teach English to EFL Learners

Journal of Psycholinguistic Research - The present investigation aimed at studying emotional terms (ETs) in Persian and English bed-night stories for children by adopting a contrastive analysis...     

Knowledge of results after relatively good trials enhances self-efficacy and motor learning

Objectives

This study sought to determine whether learners’ self-efficacy and motor learning was affected by the type of feedback they were provided.

Method

Participants (N = 24, M age = 19.51 years, SD = 1.08) were randomly assigned into one of two groups: knowledge of result after good versus poor trials. The task included throwing a tennis ball with the non-dominate hand to a target while wearing vision distorting goggles. Participants completed the Self-Efficacy Scale (Bandura, 2006) before performing each block of 6 trials. A retention test without knowledge of results was conducted 24 h after the practice phase.

Results

The results demonstrated that learners’ motor learning was increased by providing knowledge of results after good rather than poor trials. Furthermore, the Self-Efficacy Scale results revealed that learners’ self-efficacy was enhanced by positive feedback.

Conclusions

The current findings indicate that positive feedback impacts learner’s self-efficacy, and enhances performance and motor learning.     

Working Memory Capacity and Self-Repair Behavior in First and Second Language Oral Production

This study explores the relationship between working memory capacity and self-repair behavior in first (L1) and second language (L2) oral production. 40 Iranian intermediate EFL learners participated in this study. Their working memory capacity was measured via a version of listening span test. The participants performed two oral narrative tasks, one in their L2 (English) and one in their L1 (Farsi). Then, they were asked to listen to their own narrations and comment on the repairs they made in their speech. Self-repairs were analyzed and categorized taking into account the participants’ stimulated recall comments. Results of the analyses pointed to positive correlations between the participants’ working memory capacity and self-repairs in the L2 but not in the L1. Also, results revealed that whereas in the case of L1, the participants effectuated different-information and appropriacy repairs more than error-repairs, in the case of L2 more error-repairs were made.     

Religiosity and posttraumatic stress in a sample of East African refugees

The present study focused on organisational religious activity (ORA), non-organisational religious activity (NORA), and intrinsic religiosity as potential moderators of the relationship between traumatic exposure and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms in a sample of 59 East African refugees living in the United States. Results demonstrated a moderating effect for ORA (ΔR² = .054, p = .009) and NORA (ΔR² = .047, p = .013) on symptoms of PTSD. High ORA was associated with reduced PTSD symptoms for participants reporting relatively low traumatic exposure. However, results indicated that neither ORA nor NORA buffered against the development of PTSD symptoms as traumatic exposure increased.     

Identity matters,culture wars: An account of Al-Huda (re)defining identity and reconfiguring culture in Pakistan

Middle-class and upper-class urban Pakistani women affiliated with Al-Huda, an Islamic school for women created in Islamabad in the early 1990s, are actively engaged in cultural construction as they first alter their ideology and behaviour, and then encourage others to alter theirs in order to live their lives as Muslims within a particular religious framework. While the presence of a variety of ideological systems in Pakistani society prevents Al-Huda's religious discourse from creating a monolithic culture infused by particular values and behaviours, it is nevertheless attempting to accomplish just that as it builds upon particular cultural codes that already exist in the country; for instance, those that intricately tie being a Pakistani with being a Muslim. Al-Huda takes this connection a step forward by specifying what being a Muslim entails based on their understanding of Muslim piety, hence promoting and constructing a particular kind of culture as authentic and desirable.     

Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility Attributions on Employees’ Creative Performance: The Mediating Role of Psychological Safety

This study contributes to the growing literature on individual-level outcomes of corporate social responsibility (CSR). Employing a sample of 339 subordinate–supervisor dyads, we explored the differential impact of CSR attributions on employees’ creative performance in the telecom industry. We also introduced and tested the role of psychological safety as a mediator underlying this relationship. The results indicate that although intrinsic CSR attributions are not directly related to creative performance, extrinsic CSR attributions have a significant negative effect on creative performance. We also found that psychological safety mediates the positive relationship between intrinsic CSR and creative performance and the negative relationship between extrinsic CSR and creative performance. Directions for future research and implications for practice are discussed.