The Value of Values for Understanding Organizational Life: Editor’s Introduction to the Lead Article

In this introduction to the lead article on “Values at Work”, I summarize key points made in the lead article and its commentaries including those relating to the mechanisms and boundary conditions of value–behavior relationships. I highlight links with the organizational and management literature, which pays increasing attention to the role of values in organizations. I note that there are many synergies yet to be explored between, on the one hand, work on values traditionally rooted in social and cross-cultural psychology and as represented by the lead article and commentaries and, on the other hand, management and organizational research. One example is research on the values of strategic leaders and considering values as decision-making standards that can shape organizations and their management.     

The Interplay between Conscious and Automatic Self-Regulation and Adolescents' Physical Activity: The Role of Planning, Intentions, and Lack of Awareness

This study investigated the interplay between conscious and automatic self‐regulatory variables and adolescents’ physical activity. It was hypothesised that intention, planning, and lack of awareness would predict adolescents’ behaviour. One hundred and fifty‐five individuals (aged 13 to 17 years) completed questionnaires in two waves (with a time gap of 10 days). The results of cross‐lagged panel analysis suggested that both past behaviour and planning predicted physical activity at follow‐up, whereas physical activity predicted intention. Although lack of awareness, a facet of automatic processes, was negatively related to physical activity, the nested model comparison analysis indicated that the relation between lack of awareness and physical activity might be negligible. Among the self‐regulatory processes, planning was found to be the most important predictor of adolescents’ physical activity, although past behaviour remained the strongest predictor of future behaviour. Cette recherche porte sur l’interaction entre les variables autorégulatrices conscientes et automatiques et l’activité physique des adolescents. On a fait l’hypothèse que l’intention, la planification et l’absence de prise de conscience allaient prédire le comportement des adolescents. 155 individus âgés de 13 à 17 ans ont rempli des questionnaires en deux temps avec un intervalle de dix jours. Les résultats d’une analyse en panel retardé croisé montrent que la conduite antérieure et la planification prédisent l’activité physique qui s’ensuit alors que l’activité physique prédit l’intention. Bien que le manque de prise de conscience, une facette des processus automatiques, soit négativement corréléà l’activité physique, l’analyse de variance indique que la relation entre l’absence de prise de conscience et l’activité physique pourrait être négligeable. Des différents processus d’autorégulation, c’est la planification qui est apparue comme étant le prédicteur majeur de l’activité physique des adolescents, bien que la conduite passée reste le prédicteur le plus fiable du comportement à venir.     

Anterior cingulate cortex and cognitive control: Neuropsychological and electrophysiological findings in two patients with lesions to dorsomedial prefrontal cortex

Whereas neuroimaging studies of healthy subjects have demonstrated an association between the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and cognitive control functions, including response monitoring and error detection, lesion studies are sparse and have produced mixed results. Due to largely normal behavioral test results in two patients with medial prefrontal lesions, a hypothesis has been advanced claiming that the ACC is not involved in cognitive operations. In the current study, two comparably rare patients with unilateral lesions to dorsal medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) encompassing the ACC were assessed with neuropsychological tests as well as Event-Related Potentials in two experimental paradigms known to engage prefrontal cortex (PFC). These included an auditory Novelty Oddball task and a visual Stop-signal task. Both patients performed normally on the Stroop test but showed reduced performance on tests of learning and memory. Moreover, altered attentional control was reflected in a diminished Novelty P3, whereas the posterior P3b to target stimuli was present in both patients. The error-related negativity, which has been hypothesized to be generated in the ACC, was present in both patients, but alterations of inhibitory behavior were observed. Although interpretative caution is generally called for in single case studies, and the fact that the lesions extended outside the ACC, the findings nevertheless suggest a role for MPFC in cognitive control that is not restricted to error monitoring.