A New David Preparing for a New Goliath: A Question of Corporate Competence

Like the biblical David practicing his skill in defense of his flock, small companies are now gearing up their resident competencies in redesigning their organization in order to be flexible with changing needs. Like David, the day of facing Goliath may come without warning. This article tells the story of a small company engaged in rapid growth. The participative redesign of the organizational structure is presented as a narrative against the background of a simplified model of organizational design and the method of implementation. Key success factors are illustrated not only through anecdotes but also through measurements of results at the end of the first year.     

In Search of Complexity: Seeking to Integrate Feminist and Evolutionary Perspectives in Psychology

This Special Section of Sex Roles, “Commentaries on the Special Issue: Feminist Reappraisals of Evolutionary Psychology” (Smith and Konik 2013), continues the interchange among researchers who are approaching psychology from evolutionary and/or feminist perspectives that began in the May 2011 issue. This introduction to the current Special Section focuses on two themes: (1) constraints caused by both disciplinarity and the researcher’s location need to be transcended, and (2) nature and nurture must be recognized as interrelated concepts when utilizing evolutionary and feminist frameworks. In addressing these themes, we highlight how they are apparent in the collection of works published in this Special Section. It is clear that both feminist and evolutionary scholarship has matured to the point where, given appropriate conceptual complexity, both can continue to develop.     

The Illusion of Transparency: Assessment of Sex Differences in Showing and Hiding Disgust

The illusion of transparency occurs when one overestimates the ability of others to discern one's internal states, including emotions. Two experiments demonstrated this illusion using the emotion of disgust. Male and female tasters were given drinks, including one that was very unpleasant tasting. Tasters either displayed spontaneous facial expressions (Experiment 1) or tried to conceal their expressions (Experiment 2). Male and female observers rated tasters' expressions and tried to identify the disgusting drink based on the tasters' facial expressions. Results demonstrated the illusion of transparency (e.g., tasters overestimated the percentage of observers who correctly identified the disgusting drink) and suggested that the illusion was partly attributable to the inability of people to set aside their own knowledge when considering the perception of others who do not share this knowledge. Females were less successful than males at hiding their disgust but there was no sex difference in the susceptibility to the illusion.     

The Benefits of Stepping Into Others' Shoes: Perspective Taking Strengthens Transactive Memory

Perspective taking is an important requirement for effective communication. Teams working on knowledge-intensive tasks should benefit particularly. In a laboratory study, we examined whether perspective taking (vs. egocentrism) facilitated transactive memory when team members' knowledge was either different or similar. Perspective taking led teams to form more accurate transactive memory and agree more regarding each other's knowledge assessments. Corresponding effects were found when knowledge was similar. However, no interaction emerged. Our study shows that perspective taking is a cognitive state that can be induced with a short intervention and that can positively influence team-level outcomes such as transactive memory.     

How Group Analysis Cures: An Exploration of Narcissistic Rage in Group Treatment

This paper addresses the use of group analysis in treating individuals for whom chronic narcissistic rage is a prominent feature of their character. Such individuals are often especially suspicious of participating in group experiences, as their sensitivity to slight and circumscribed empathy for others often leaves them vulnerable to being attacked and ostracized in groups. Their history often reveals experiences in which they were either the scapegoat of the family or of the playground, often both. Such individuals, however, may also long for inclusion and acceptance, and thus participation in a therapeutic group may be a particularly important part of their continued development. An extended clinical vignette illustrates how such work occurs within a therapeutic group using a self-psychological model. Narcissistic rage as manifested within the group-as-a-whole or groupself is also examined.     

Limitations of distal effect anticipation when using tools

Modern technologies progressively create workplaces in which the execution of movements and the observation of their consequences are spatially separated. Challenging workplaces in which users act via technical equipment in a distant space include aviation, applied medical engineering and virtual reality. When using a tool, proprioceptive/tactile feedback from the moving hand (proximal action effect) and visual feedback from the moving effect point of the tool, such as the moving cursor on a display (the distal action effect) often do not correspond or are even in conflict. If proximal and distal feedback were equally important for controlling actions with tools, this discrepancy would be a constant source of interference. The human information processing system solves this problem by favoring the intended distal action effects while attenuating or ignoring proximal action effects. The study presents an overview of experiments aiming at the underlying motor and cognitive processes and the limitations of visual predominance in tool actions. The main findings are, that when transformations are in effect the awareness of one's own actions is quite low. This seems to be advantageous when using tools, as it allows for wide range of flexible sensorimotor adaptations and – may be more important – it evokes the feeling of being in control. Thus, the attenuation of perceiving one's own proximal action effects is an important precondition for using tools successfully. However, the ability to integrate discordant perception-action feedback has limits, especially, but not only, with complex transformations. When feature overlap between vision and proprioception is low, and when the existence of a transformation is obvious proximal action effects come to the fore and dominate action control in tool actions. In conclusion action–effect control plays an important role in understanding the constraints of the acquisition and application of tool transformations.     

Identifying Barriers and Catalysts to Fostering Pro-Environmental Behavior: Opportunities and Challenges for Community Psychology

In this paper, we report on an exploratory study of perceived barriers and catalysts to increasing pro-environmental behavior among people associated with the environmental movement. Perceived barriers include time, money, low efficacy and hopelessness. Catalysts focus on changing social norms, especially through education and institutional support. We discuss the tragedy of the commons and free-riding as impediments to change. We use this study as an entryway to hypothesize opportunities and challenges that community psychologists face in motivating and supporting actions to reduce the impact of global climate change. We provide examples of how community psychologists can foster these changes. In short, we argue that community psychology is well positioned to take a leading role in the fight for a carbon neutral future.     

Factor structure of the BASC-2 Behavioral and Emotional Screening System Student Form

The BASC-2 Behavioral and Emotional Screening System (BESS) Student Form (Kamphaus & Reynolds, 2007) is a recently developed youth self-report rating scale designed to identify students at risk for behavioral and emotional problems. The BESS Student Form was derived from the Behavior Assessment System for Children-Second Edition Self-Report of Personality (BASC-2 SRP; Reynolds & Kamphaus, 2004) using principal component analytic procedures and theoretical considerations. Using 3 samples, the authors conducted exploratory factor analyses (EFA) and confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) to understand the underlying factor structure of the BESS Student Form. The results of the EFA suggested that the SRP contained a 4-factor (i.e., Personal Adjustment, Inattention/Hyperactivity, Internalizing, School Problems) emergent structure, which was supported by CFA in 2 additional samples. Practical and research implications are discussed.     

Effectiveness of Pre-counseling Genetic Education Workshops at a Large Urban Community Health Center Serving Low-Income Chinese American Women

Chinese American pregnant women and women of childbearing age face economic, cultural and linguistic barriers in accessing mainstream health care services. The Charles B. Wang Community Health Center developed a culturally and linguistically competent genetic education workshop for high-risk Chinese American prenatal patients. Patients referred for genetic counseling for thalassemia, abnormal triple screen results, and/or advanced maternal age were recruited to participate in the workshop. The workshop provided basic “genetic 101” education, focusing on topics that were directly relevant to the patients’ reasons for referral. The effectiveness of the workshop was measured using a quasi-experimental design with pre-post surveys administered to intervention and control group participants. The evaluation also included a genetic counselor assessment and a pilot study of genetic counseling appointment length. Overall, workshop participants showed significant increases in knowledge, positive attitude and self-efficacy regarding genetic services as compared to their control group counterparts. The pilot appointment length study data revealed that the workshop reduced the length of the genetic counseling appointment time by 40%. These positive findings suggest that it would be worthwhile to replicate the genetic education workshop at other health agencies serving Chinese-speaking populations and that further evaluation research should be conducted.