Illness Beliefs and Coping Strategies of Diabetic Women

The present study examines the relationship between illness beliefs and coping strategies in diabetic women patients. Measures of illness beliefs and coping strategies were administered to 100 diabetic women. Patients, who believed more strongly in psychosocial, supernatural, and environmental causes of illness, adopted avoidance coping strategies, whereas those who believed less strongly in these causes adhered to approach coping strategies. Patients, who held a strong belief in disease control by themselves and doctors, used approach coping strategies, whereas those who believed in supernatural control of illness used avoidance coping strategies. Approach coping was linked to less severe consequences of illness, less pain, and greater hope for positive outcomes of illness.     

Effects of organizational citizenship behaviors on selection decisions in employment interviews

This article reports on an experiment examining the effects of job candidates' propensity to exhibit organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) on selection decisions made in the context of a job interview. We developed videos that manipulated candidate responses to interview questions tapping task performance and citizenship behavior content in 2 administrative positions. Results obtained from 480 undergraduates provided support for our hypotheses that job candidates who exhibited higher levels of helping, voice, and loyalty behaviors were generally rated as more competent, received higher overall evaluations, and received higher salary recommendations than job candidates who exhibited lower levels of these behaviors. These effects held even after taking into account candidate responses regarding task performance. We also found that candidate responses to OCB-related questions tended to have a greater effect on selection decisions for the higher level position (supervisor of administrative personnel) than for the lower level one (administrative assistant). Finally, content analyses of open-ended responses indicated that participants' selection decisions were particularly sensitive to candidates who exhibited low levels of voice and helping behaviors. Implications and future research are discussed.     

Rater training revisited: An updated meta‐analytic review of frame‐of‐reference training

The present study updates Woehr and Huffcutt's (1994) rater training meta‐analysis and demonstrates that frame‐of‐reference (FOR) training is an effective method of improving rating accuracy. The current meta‐analysis includes over four times as many studies as included in the Woehr and Huffcutt meta‐analysis and also provides a snapshot of current rater training studies. The present meta‐analysis also extends the previous meta‐analysis by showing that not all operationalizations of accuracy are equally improved by FOR training; Borman's differential accuracy appears to be the most improved by FOR training, along with behavioural accuracy, which provides a snapshot into the cognitive processes of the raters. We also investigate the extent to which FOR training protocols differ, the implications of protocol differences, and if the criteria of interest to FOR researchers have changed over time.     

Step by step: A microgenetic study of the development of strategy choice in infancy

To examine patterns of strategy choice and discovery during problem‐solving of a novel locomotor task, 13.5‐ and 18‐month‐old infants were placed at the top of a staircase and encouraged to descend. Spontaneous stair descent strategy choices were documented step by step and trial by trial to provide a microgenetic account of problem‐solving in action. Younger infants tended to begin each trial walking, were more likely to choose walking with each successive step, and were more likely to lose their balance and have to be rescued by an experimenter. Conversely, older infants tended to begin each trial scooting, were more likely to choose scooting with each successive step, and were more likely to use a handrail to augment balance on stairs. Documenting problem‐solving microgenetically across age groups revealed striking similarities between younger infants' strategy development and older children's behaviour on more traditionally cognitive tasks, including using alternative strategies, mapping prior experiences with strategies to a novel task, and strengthening new strategies. As cognitive resources are taxed during a challenging task, resources available for weighing alternatives or inhibiting a well‐used strategy are reduced. With increased motor experience, infants can more easily consider alternative strategies and maintain those solutions over the course of the trial.