Permission to be prejudiced: Legitimacy credits in the evaluation of advertisements

We investigated discrimination in the context of evaluating advertisements, based on the suppression model (justification‐suppression model [JSM]) of prejudice expression. Previous research has demonstrated that when people are given an opportunity to give a high rating to an ad featuring a Black model, a sense of nonprejudice is created, which, in turn, provides an opportunity to discriminate subsequently without feeling prejudiced. We extended the JSM by investigating whether the acquisition of legitimacy credits (a moral authority earned by demonstrating nonprejudice) is a sufficient condition to release the expression of prejudice. We found that subjects who first evaluated a high‐quality ad featuring a Black model felt eligible to use legitimacy credits in subsequent evaluations. But in a subsequent study, participants who acquired these credits evaluated Black model ads more negatively than White model ads only when these ads were of low quality. The implications for evaluating the subtle way that prejudice affects rating of models of color in advertisements are discussed.     

Development of a simple pressure and heat stimulator for intra- and interdigit functional magnetic resonance imaging

For this study, we developed a simple pressure and heat stimulator that can quantitatively control pressure and provide heat stimulation to intra- and interdigit areas. The developed stimulator consists of a control unit, drive units, and tactors. The control unit controls the stimulation parameters, such as stimulation types, intensity, time, and channel, and transmits a created signal of stimulation to the drive units. The drive units operate pressure and heat tactors in response to commands from the control unit. The pressure and heat tactors can display various stimulation intensities quantitatively, apply stimulation continuously, and adjust the stimulation areas. Additionally, they can easily be attached to and detached from the digits. The developed pressure and heat stimulator is small in total size, easy to install, and inexpensive to manufacture. The new stimulator operated stably in a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) environment without affecting the obtained images. A preliminary functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) experiment confirmed that differences in activation of somatosensory areas were induced from the pressure and heat stimulation. The developed pressure and heat stimulator is expected to be utilized for future intra- and interdigit fMRI studies on pressure and heat stimulation.     

Religion,religiosity, and South Korean consumer switching behaviors

• This study investigated the relationship between religious affiliation and level of religiosity and consumer product‐ and store‐switching behavior among South Korean consumers. Comparisons in switching behavior are reported for three different denominational groups prevalent in South Korea (Buddhism, Catholicism, and Protestantism), non‐religious affiliated respondents, and among persons exhibiting different levels of religiosity. Religious affiliation, including non‐affiliation, was not found to be significantly related to switching behavior. However, consumers reporting high levels of religiosity were found to be significantly less likely to engage in product purchase‐ and store‐switching behaviors than those reporting lower levels of religiosity. Consumers reporting high levels of religiosity are also less likely to engage in product purchase switching behavior than non‐religious affiliated consumers (i.e., no religiosity consumers). This pattern held across denominations. Statistically significant differences in switching behavior were not obtained between consumers reporting low levels of religiosity and those respondents who expressed no religious affiliation.

Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Contagious leaders and followers: Exploring multi-stage mood contagion in a leader activation and member propagation (LAMP) model

A theoretical framework is offered to explain mood contagion processes in groups. Specifically, we describe and test a two-stage leader activation and member propagation (LAMP) model that starts with the activation of the contagion process by leaders (Stage 1), followed by the mutual propagation of the mood among members (Stage 2). Results from 102 self-managing groups provide support for the LAMP model. Group mood convergence was negatively related to attribute diversity (in extroversion and neuroticism) between the leader and group members (Stage 1) and among group members (Stage 2). In both stages, group members’ susceptibility to emotional contagion and interpersonal attraction had positive main effects on group mood convergence, and moderated the relationship between attribute diversity and mood convergence in groups. The findings offer new insights into group mood convergence, as it unfolds over time.     

The Interactive Effect of Conscientiousness and Agreeableness on Job Performance Dimensions in South Korea

While much is known about the effects of personality traits on performance, there is still limited empirical evidence that examines how personality traits may interact with each other to impact dimensions of performance. This study examined how conscientiousness and agreeableness interact to predict both task performance and organizational citizenship behavior using a sample of 113 bank employees in South Korea. The interaction between the two personality traits was significantly related to both dimensions of performance.     

Individual and Contextual Predictors of Creative Performance: The Mediating Role of Psychological Processes

Studies on creativity have identified critical individual and contextual variables that contribute to individuals' creative performance. However, the psychological mechanisms through which these factors influence creative performance have not yet been systematically investigated. This study explored potential psychological processes that mediate the effects of various individual and contextual variables on the creative performance of individuals. The results, based on longitudinal, multisource data, show that underlying psychological processes (creative self-efficacy and creativity intention) completely mediated the effect of individual (motivation, personality, ability) and contextual factors (social influences from leaders and peers) on creative performance. This study informs the literature of potential psychological mechanisms through which individual and contextual factors influence the creative performance of individuals.     

The Profession of Family Therapy in South Korea: Current Status and Future Directions

The authors present a brief overview of the family therapy field in South Korea. Since its introduction in the late 1970s, family therapy has been developing into a professional field with education and training institutions, practice settings, credentials, and practitioners holding memberships in various professional organizations. While such issues as family values and types, filial piety, violence, interethnic marriage, and social polarization have resulted in an increased demand for family therapy, such services are not readily accessible to Korean families in need. Efforts should be made in increasing number of competent family therapists by strengthening both academic and clinical requirements for credentialing. Efforts are also needed in increasing accessibility of family therapy services by making them more available within a variety of human service contexts.     

Word recognition during reading: The interaction between lexical repetition and frequency

Memory studies utilizing long-term repetition priming have generally demonstrated that priming is greater for low-frequency than for high-frequency words and that this effect persists if words intervene between the prime and the target. In contrast, word-recognition studies utilizing masked short-term repetition priming have typically shown that the magnitude of repetition priming does not differ as a function of word frequency and does not persist across intervening words. We conducted an eyetracking-while-reading experiment to determine which of these patterns more closely resembles the relationship between frequency and repetition during the natural reading of a text. Frequency was manipulated using proper names that were either high-frequency (e.g., Stephen) or low-frequency (e.g., Dominic). The critical name was later repeated in the sentence, or a new name was introduced. First-pass reading times and skipping rates on the critical name revealed robust repetition-by-frequency interactions, such that the magnitude of the repetition-priming effect was greater for low-frequency than for high-frequency names. In contrast, measures of later processing showed effects of repetition that did not depend on lexical frequency. These results are interpreted within a framework that conceptualizes eye-movement control as being influenced in different ways by lexical- and discourse-level factors.     

Evaluation of counseling outcomes at a university counseling center: the impact of clinically significant change on problem resolution and academic functioning

The main purpose of this study was to investigate how receiving personal counseling at a university counseling center helps students deal with their personal problems and facilitates academic functioning. To that end, this study used both clinical and academic outcome measures that are relevant to the practice of counseling provided at a counseling center and its unique function in an institution of higher education. In addition, this study used the clinical significance methodology (N. S. Jacobson & P. Truax, 1991) that takes into account clients' differences in making clinically reliable and significant change. Pre-intake and post-termination surveys, including the Outcome Questionnaire (M. J. Lambert, K. Lunnen, V. Umphress, N. Hansen, & G. Burlingame, 1994), were completed by 78 clients, and the responses were analyzed using clinical significance methodology. The results revealed that those who made clinically reliable and significant change (i.e., the recovered group) reported the highest level of improvement in academic commitment to their educational goals and problem resolution, compared with those who did not make clinically significant change. The implications of the findings on practice for counseling at university counseling centers and for administrators in higher education institutions are discussed.