State mood,task performance,and behavior at work: A within-persons approach

We examine the intra-individual relationships between state mood and the primary components of the individual-level criterion space (task performance, organizational citizenship behavior, and work withdrawal) as they vary within the stream of work. Using experience-sampling methods, 67 individuals in a call center responded to surveys on palmtop computers at random intervals 4–5 times each day for 3 weeks (total N = 2329). These data were matched to objective task performance obtained from organizational call records (total N = 1191). Within-persons, periods of positive mood were associated with periods of improved task performance (as evidenced by shorter call time) and engaging in work withdrawal. Trait meta-mood moderated these relationships. Specifically, individuals who attended to their moods had a stronger relationship between mood and speed of task performance (call time) and individuals able to repair their mood cognitively evidenced a weaker relationship between mood and withdrawal. Implications and the use of within-persons designs are discussed.     

Social Categorization and the Perception of Groups and Group Differences

The classification of human beings into distinct groups is a fundamental feature of social perception. Problematic phenomena, such as prejudice, discrimination, and intergroup conflict, are commonly traced back to categorization. We explore the minimal conditions under which categorization occurs and the basic mechanisms by which it affects cognition and behavior. We show that comparisons between groups are not necessary for categorization, reveal the conditions under which people overestimate or underestimate differences between groups, and sketch a model showing how social categorization gives rise to differences in the evaluation of ingroups and outgroups and to differences in the accuracy of judgments of ingroups and outgroups. We conclude with reflections on intergroup conflict and the role of moral judgment in such conflicts.     

Murder and faith: a reflected case study of pastoral interventions in traumatic grief

Pastoral response to death in the family of a congregate is familiar terrain for most ministers. Pastors are often called upon to pray for the sick, comfort the bereaved, and preside at memorial services and graveside gatherings. While most get some orientation in the work of death and dying in seminary, few are prepared to minister effectively to church members who suffer traumatic bereavement caused by human-perpetrated violence. This paper describes the power of facilitated cathartic narrative, bearing witness, and reflective meaning-making in a case study involving a pastor, his wife, and the grief-stricken widow of a murdered comrade in ministry.     

Muslim veil as politics: political autonomy, women and Syariah Islam in Aceh

This article examines the interlinking of political autonomy, Syariah law and women in contemporary Aceh. Looking at Aceh’s historical precedents, current sociocultural and political developments cannot be seen as manifestations of Islamic revival. It would be misleading to look at the implementation of Syariah Islam in general and the enforcement of veiling in particular as signs of the radicalization of Islam. Islam in Aceh has always had political meanings. It shapes an identity characterized by a long collective history of rebellion against foreign oppression and repression. The revival however is seen in notions of gender dominance and order, which have profound consequences for women’s lives. Using articles from 2005 to 2006 in Serambi, a locally published newspaper in Aceh, an assessment is made of how Syariah Islam has affected women’s lives.

Assessment of Discipline Styles Among Parents of Preschool Through School-Age Children

The Parenting Scale (D.S. Arnold, S.G. O'Leary, L.S. Wolff, & M.M. Acker, 1993) is a self-report measure of parenting practices that has demonstrated sound psychometric properties when used with the parents of young children. However, less is known about the use of this measure with parents of older children. This study was conducted to examine the psychometric properties and factor structure of the Parenting Scale in a normative sample of parents with children 2–12 years old. Findings reveal that the psychometric properties remain strong among the parents of elementary school children, with minimal differences in scores as a function of children's age. However, the data suggest that the factor structure may differ from that proposed by the authors. Although statistically significant correlations with ADHD symptoms were revealed, the magnitude of these correlations was relatively small. Suggestions for future research and clinical use of this scale are discussed.     

A comparison of recollective memory and source monitoring

Participants in recognition memory experiments are often asked for additional information about their memories after each positive recognition response. Two experiments were conducted that were identical, except that the first asked participants to make remember/familiar judgments about the items they recognized, and the second asked them to make source judgments. The similarity between the recollection and source judgment data has implications for measurement issues and theory development.     

Recognition of Facial Expressions of Emotion by Children with Emotional and Behavioral Disorders

Interpreting and responding appropriately to facial expressions of emotion are important aspects of social skills. Some children, adolescents, and adults with various psychological and psychiatric disorders recognize facial expressions less proficiently than their peers in the general population. We wished to determine if such deficits existed in a group of 133 children and adolescents with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD). The subjects were receiving in-patient psychiatric services for at least one of substance-related disorders, adjustment disorders, anxiety disorders, mood disorders or disruptive behavior disorders. After being read stories describing various emotional reactions, all subjects were tested for their ability to recognize the 6 basic facial expressions of emotion depicted in Ekman and Friesen's (1976) normed photographs. Overall, they performed well on this task at levels comparable to those occurring in the general population. Accuracy increased with age, irrespective of gender, ethnicity, or clinical diagnosis. After adjusting for age effects, the subjects diagnosed with either adjustment disorders, mood disorders, or disruptive behavior disorders were significantly more accurate at identifying anger than those without those diagnoses. In addition, subjects with mood disorders identified sadness significantly more accurately than those without this diagnosis, although the effect was greatest with younger children.     

Can genetic risk information enhance motivation for smoking cessation? An analogue study.

Protection motivation theory and the extended parallel processing model are used to predict the motivational impact of information regarding a genetic susceptibility to heart disease. One hundred ninety-eight smokers read 1 of 3 vignettes: gene positive, gene negative, or standard smoking risk information. Analyses examined whether the impact of type of risk information was moderated by smokers' self-efficacy (SE) levels. Key outcomes were intention to quit and intention to attend an information session about quitting. There were significant main effects of SE and of receiving gene-positive risk information on intentions to quit. There was a significant Risk x SE interaction on intentions to attend an information session. SE was not associated with intentions to attend the information session for smokers in the gene-positive group. Intentions to attend the session were negatively associated with SE for smokers in the lower risk groups. Implications for using genetic risk information to motivate smoking cessation are discussed.     

Validation de la version française d’une échelle abrégée de coping religieux : Brief-RCOPE

The involvement of religious beliefs and practices in the way of coping with stressful events is coined by the term of religious coping. It is commonly distinguished the positive from the negative patterns of religious coping (i.e., a secure and a less secure relationship with God respectively) as assessed by the Brief RCOPE. The interest for the religious coping patterns lies in their predictive value for the quality of the adjustment to stress. After controlling for the effects of sociodemographic variables, and nonreligious coping measures, the positive pattern is a significant predictor of well-being while the negative pattern promotes a poorer physical and mental health. This study was designed to validate the French version of the Brief RCOPE.