The prospective relationship between role stressors and new cases of self‐reported workplace bullying

In line with the “Work environment hypothesis,” role stressors have been proposed as important antecedents of bullying in the workplace. Only a few longitudinal studies on the relationship between role stressors and bullying exist, however, and earlier studies have largely been cross‐sectional. The aim of the present prospective study was to determine whether role stressors at baseline predict new cases of workplace bullying at follow‐up. A total of 2,835 Norwegian employees participated at both baseline and follow‐up, with an interval of two years between the measurements. The study supports the hypotheses that role ambiguity and role conflict, independently, contribute to subsequent new reports of workplace bullying. However, there was a weak reverse effect: reporting being bullied at work at baseline predicted reporting increased levels of role ambiguity and role conflict at follow‐up. Even though the results may indicate a circular relationship between the variables at hand, the weak reverse relationship seems to have little practical impact compared to the stronger relationship from role stressors to bullying. Hence, the results mainly support the hypotheses stating that role ambiguity and role conflict, independently, predict subsequent exposure to workplace bullying.     

Are integrative or distributive outcomes more satisfactory? The effects of interest‐based versus value‐based issues on negotiator satisfaction

Negotiation research usually distinguishes between integrative and distributive outcomes. Integrative outcomes satisfy the negotiation parties' most important interests (by trading off less important for more important issues). In contrast, distributive outcomes require negotiators to give up their most important interests (as they make concessions on both less and more important issues). Integrative outcomes are more beneficial, but do they offer greater satisfaction? In this research, we hypothesized that satisfaction with integrative versus distributive outcomes depends on whether people negotiate interest‐based or value‐based issues. Three experiments consistently revealed that people in interest‐based negotiations were more satisfied with integrative outcomes, whereas those in value‐based negotiations tended to be more satisfied with distributive outcomes. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Burnout and the Fine‐Tuning of Cognitive Resources

We examined the performance in a constant foreperiod task in two samples screened for either high or low scores on the core burnout dimension emotional exhaustion. In line with our expectations, participants scoring high on emotional exhaustion exhibited a specific deficit with respect to maintaining a high level of response readiness at longer foreperiods. This demonstration of a modulation of constant foreperiod performance by burnout adds to the growing body of evidence suggesting that exhaustion is related to deficits in basic cognitive mechanisms underlying the fine‐tuning of cognitive resources according to task demands. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Use of Situational Judgment Tests in Personnel Selection: Are the different methods for scoring the response options equivalent?

The different methods used to score the response options in situational judgment tests (SJTs) carried out as part of the personnel selection process were compared by creating different keys for a single SJT, and the potential benefits of an innovative method combining existing methods were examined. The results, based on a sample of 1,194 candidates, point to some interesting differences between scoring methods. First, the innovative method created the lowest mean, near 60%. Second, the single‐best‐answer method produced the largest variance. The curve of the rank‐ordering method was the closest to a normal distribution. Finally, evidence suggests that the best‐and‐worst‐answer method and the innovative method provide the best results regarding construct validity. In sum, although no clear conclusion could be drawn about which methods should be preferred to score SJTs, results indicate that the new method could prove to be very interesting.     

Vague Quantifiers Demonstrate Little Susceptibility to Frame of Reference Effects

Applied Research in Quality of Life - Comparison standards that people use when responding to survey questions, also called Frames of Reference (FoRs), can influence the validity of self-report...     

Assessments in Psychotherapy with Suicidal Patients: The Precedence of Alliance Work

Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy - In this article the aim was to explore how therapists handle suicide risk assessment in connection with patient’s experience of alliance in...     

Measuring Spiritual Needs in a Secular Society: Validation and Clinimetric Properties of the Danish 20-Item Spiritual Needs Questionnaire

Journal of Religion and Health - In secular cultures, such as Denmark, tools to measure spiritual needs are warranted to guide existential and spiritual care. We examined the clinimetric properties...     

Harmonized Phenotypes for Anxiety,Depression, and Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

In multi-cohort consortia, the problem often arises that a phenotype is measured using different questionnaires. This study aimed to harmonize scores based on the Child Behaviour Check List (CBCL) and the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) for anxiety/depression and ADHD. To link the scales, we used parent reports on 1330 children aged 10–11.5 years from the Raine study on both SDQ and CBCL. Harmonization was done based on Item Response Theory. We started from existing CBCL and SDQ scales related to anxiety/depression and ADHD (theoretical approach). Next, we conducted a data-driven approach using factor analysis to validate the theoretical approach. Both approaches yielded similar scales, validating the combination of existing scales. In addition, we studied the impact of harmonized (IRT-based) scores on the statistical power of the results in meta-analytic gene-finding studies. The results showed that the IRT-based harmonized scores increased the statistical power of the results compared to sum scores, even with an equal sample size. These findings can help future researchers to harmonize data from different samples and/or different questionnaires that measure anxiety, depression, and ADHD, in order to obtain the larger sample sizes, to compare research results across subpopulations or to increase generalizability, the validity or statistical power of research results. We recommend using our item parameters to estimate harmonized scores that represent commensurate phenotypes across cohorts, and we explained in detail how other researchers can use our results to harmonize data in their studies.

     

It was intuitive,and it felt good: a daily diary study on how people feel when making decisions

ABSTRACT

In daily life, people make plenty of decisions, either intuitively or based on analysis. So far, research has examined when decision-making leads to correct or biased outcomes. In the present study, we adopted a different perspective and explored how decision-making is associated with how people feel. In an observational study, 134 healthy participants retrospectively reported on six evenings which decisions they had made during that day (total N?=?3,850 decisions). They were also asked to indicate how they had felt before/after each decision. Multilevel regression analyses revealed that (a) people reported having felt better prior to intuitive as compared to analytical decisions, (b) people reported having felt better after as compared to before the decision, and (c) this increase in positive feeling was more pronounced for intuitive decisions. The latter two associations were robust to statistically controlling for the life domain in which the decisions occurred, the decisions’ importance and ease, and daily mood. The retrospective design and the single-item measure of mood are among the limitations of this study. Altogether, the results are in line with the idea that making everyday life decisions intuitively makes people feel good.