Positive emotion infusions of elevation and gratitude: Increasing help-seeking intentions among people with heightened levels of depressive symptomatology

Three online studies assessed a new approach for increasing help seeking among people with depressive symptomatology (i.e. a positive emotion infusion, PEI). A PEI refers to the induction of positive emotion such that people’s mindsets – including perceptions of help-seeking – are temporarily altered. Study 1 (n = 382) indicated that help-seeking intentions are negatively correlated with depressive symptomatology and positively correlated with elevation and gratitude. Studies 2 and 3 implemented fully randomized experimental designs. In Study 2, two elevation-based (Study 2a, n = 285) and two gratitude-based (Study 2b, n = 338) emotion inductions increased levels of elevation and gratitude, respectively. Results of Study 3a (n = 390) indicate a causal relationship between experiencing the story-based elevation induction and increased help-seeking intentions. The two gratitude-based PEIs (Study 3b, n = 466) were unsuccessful at influencing help-seeking; auxiliary analyses indicate the possibility of iatrogenic effects. Overall, the potential of PEIs was indicated, as was need for caution.     

The psychophysics of contingency assessment

The authors previously described a procedure that permits rapid, multiple within-participant evaluations of contingency assessment (the "streamed-trial" procedure, M. J. C. Crump, S. D. Hannah, L. G. Allan, & L. K. Hord, 2007). In the present experiments, they used the streamed-trial procedure, combined with the method of constant stimuli and a binary classification response, to assess the psychophysics of contingency assessment. This strategy provides a methodology for evaluating whether variations in contingency assessment reflect changes in the participant's sensitivity to the contingency or changes in the participant's response bias (or decision criterion). The sign of the contingency (positive or negative), outcome density, and imposition of an explicit payoff structure had little influence on sensitivity to contingencies but did influence the decision criterion. The authors discuss how a psychophysical analysis can provide a better understanding of findings in the literature such as mood and age effects on contingency assessment. They also discuss the relation between a psychophysical approach and an associative account of contingency assessment.     

Maternal aggression in rats: Changes over pregnancy and lactation in a sprague-dawley strain

Maternal aggression in a Sprague-Dawley strain of laboratory rat (Charles River CD) was explored from Day 1 after mating on Day 0 through Day 24 of lactation (L0-L24). Aggression toward unfamiliar male “intruders” during 10-min tests was low among nonpregnant, nonlactating females and during the first 10 days of gestation. Frequency of attack on intruders increased moderately but significantly by Gestation Day 16 (G16; Experiment 1) or G21 (Experiment 2), a prepartum phenomenon not previously reported in laboratory rats. Levels of aggression were highest, however, during the first 9 days of lactation, when attacks averaged more than 6 per 10-min session. Attacks declined sharply in frequency after L14 and by L24 did not exceed levels observed among nonpregnant females. Experiment 3 examined the importance of the test site (home cage with nest and pups, if any, vs unfamiliar cage without nest or pups) to agonistic behavior associated with pregnancy and lactation. Late pregnant females tested in a novel cage were not aggressive; however, females tested shortly after delivering their pups were highly aggressive, averaging over four attacks per 5-min session. In novel cage tests frequency of attack remained high through L4 but declined significantly by L7. These data are consistent with the hypothesis that maternal aggression at its onset is primarily under hormonal control, but becomes increasingly dependent upon external factors, presumably pup stimulation, during the postpartum period.     

Extending Corporate Social Responsibility Research to the Human Resource Management and Organizational Behavior Domains: A Look to the Future

Although issues of corporate social responsibility (CSR) have become an important topic of research, there have been few studies on this topic conducted in the fields of human resource (HR) management and organizational behavior (OB). To address this gap, we edited a special issue of Personnel Psychology that explicitly focuses attention on CSR in the HR/OB domains. In this introductory editorial, we synthesize and extend the four articles published in the special issue. We also address issues relating to the conceptualization and measurement of CSR, the application of microlevel theories to CSR, and the practical and methodological implications of research in this domain. Finally, we provide suggestions for future research linking CSR with some of the most frequently studied topics in HR/OB. We propose that a focus on HR/OB will improve our understanding of the antecedents and consequences of CSR and also benefit HR/OB in terms of bridging the science–practice and micro–macro gaps.     

Environmental attitudes, knowledge, intentions and behaviors among college students

College students (N = 90) reported their pro-environment behaviors as well as their pro-environment intentions, their explicit and implicit attitudes about the environment, and their knowledge about environmental issues. Intentions and knowledge significantly and independently predicted behavior. Environmental knowledge was not significantly related to attitudes. Implicit and explicit attitudes were significantly but only moderately related. Only explicit attitudes, however, were strongly related to intentions, and intentions completely mediated the influence of explicit attitudes on behavior. Men were found to be more knowledgeable than women about environmental issues; older students had more favorable implicit and explicit environmental attitudes. This research suggests that knowledge about the environment and explicit attitudes influence behavior through different pathways, which may have implications for interventions seeking to increase environmentally friendly behavior.     

Working in the Uncharted Technology Frontier: Characteristics of Women Web Entrepreneurs

The numbers of women choosing to become entrepreneurs has been steadily increasing for the past two decades. Recently, the Internet has provided a new venue for business that may be especially appealing for women. This study was conducted to explore gender- and business-related characteristics of women who own Internet businesses. Two hundred and eight women web entrepreneurs responded to an on-line survey. The results indicated that the types of businesses participants owned could be differentiated based on characteristics of the women web entrepreneurs. Specifically, women owning retail businesses reported less familiarity with computers and geared their Internet businesses more to women. In addition, participants defined the success of their Internet businesses in multiple ways that reflected their current life roles.This research was partially funded by an Initiatives for Women Grant from the University at Albany. A previous version of this article was presented at the Association for Women in Psychology conference in 2003.