Anger and Gender Effects in Observed Supervisor-Subordinate Dyadic Interactions

This study investigates the effects of a supervisor's anger and supervisor's and subordinate's gender on evaluations made by observers of interacting supervisor-subordinate dyads. In a laboratory experiment, 370 undergraduates viewed one of eight video-tapes representing the conditions of the 2 (gender of supervisor) × 2 (gender of subordinate) × 2 (presence or absence of anger) design and then completed evaluations of the supervisor and the subordinate. A field study using 265 employees from three organizations replicated the laboratory results. In spite of constant dialogue in the interactions across all eight conditions, supervisors expressing anger were rated lower and female supervisors were rated higher by observers. Subordinates were rated higher when interacting with an angry supervisor and when interacting with a male supervisor. Main effects of supervisor's gender may reflect over-evaluation of unexpected, albeit average, performance. The joint supervisor and subordinate effects are interpreted as reflecting a dyadic rating effect in which high ratings assigned to one member of the dyad are accompanied by lower ratings assigned to the other member.     

Doing It Differently: Unleashing Student Creativity

Student assignments and assessment – is there life beyond the ten‐page essay? Drawing on the theory of multiple intelligences and experience with an assignment in which students were asked to address course content in anything but an essay, the author considers the challenges and virtues of a creative format that does not rely exclusively on linguistic intelligence. The process, presentations, and evaluative approach employed in an assignment that called upon student creativity in a “Women and the Bible” course are described, and pedagogical and practical considerations explored. The analysis of a particularly memorable student submission reveals layers of complexity seldom achieved in a conventional essay format.     

Perspective taking and prejudice reduction: the mediational role of empathy arousal and situational attributions

This research was designed to examine whether perspective taking promotes improved intergroup attitudes regardless of the extent that stereotypic perceptions of outgroups are endorsed, as well as examining the mechanisms (attributional or empathy related) by which perspective taking motivates improved intergroup attitudes. Participants were presented with an interview segment where an African American interviewee discussed the difficulties experienced as a result of his membership in a negatively stereotyped group. Materials were presented in a 2 (perspective taking: other focused or objective focused) × 2 (target stereotypicality: confirming or disconfirming) between participants design. Findings revealed that the manipulation of target stereotypicality influenced subsequent stereotype endorsement; those exposed to a stereotype confirming target later endorsed more stereotypic perceptions of African Americans than did those exposed to a stereotype disconfirming target. However, perspective taking promoted improved intergroup attitudes irrespective of stereotypicality; those encouraged to adopt the perspective of the target later reported more favourable intergroup attitudes than did those who remained detached and objective listeners. Whereas empathy partially mediated the relation between perspective taking and intergroup attitudes, situational attributions were a stronger and more reliable mediator. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Chinese Churches and the Ecumenical Movement from an Asian Perspective

The involvement of Chinese churches and Chinese Christians with the ecumenical movement preceded the establishment of the World Council of Churches in 1948. Recurring themes in the encounter have been de‐colonization and indigenization, church unity and post‐denominationalism, and Asian regional ecumenism. There was also a determination among Chinese church leaders to reconfigure mission and relations between churches in the West and those in Asia. These concerns have their origins in the chequered history of Christian missions and their association with imperialism in the last century.     

ADHD and Depression Symptoms in Parent Couples Predict Response to Child ADHD and ODD Behavior

Parents of children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) often have elevated ADHD and depressive symptoms, both of which increase the risk of ineffective parenting and interparental discord. However, little is known about whether child ADHD/ODD behavior and parent ADHD or depressive symptoms uniquely or synergistically predict the quality of parenting and interparental communication during triadic (mother-father-child) interactions. Ninety parent couples, including 51 who have children diagnosed with ADHD, were randomly assigned to interact with a 9–12 year-old confederate child (84 % male) exhibiting either ADHD/ODD-like behavior or typical behavior. Parents reported their own ADHD and depressive symptoms, and parents and observers rated the quality of parenting and interparental communication during the interaction. Actor-partner interdependence modeling indicated that child ADHD/ODD behavior predicted less positive and more negative parenting and communication, independent of adult ADHD and depressive symptoms. Parent couples including two parents with elevated ADHD communicated more positively while managing children exhibiting ADHD/ODD behavior than couples managing children behaving typically or couples with only one parent with elevated ADHD symptoms. Couples including one parent with, and one parent without, elevated ADHD or depressive symptoms parented less positively and more negatively, and communicated more negatively, when managing children exhibiting ADHD/ODD behavior than when managing children behaving typically. Taken together, depending on the similarity of ADHD and depressive symptom levels in parent couples, adults managing children exhibiting ADHD/ODD behavior may parent or communicate positively or negatively. Findings highlight the need to consider the psychopathology of both parents when treating children with ADHD in two-parent homes.     

career beliefs and job satisfaction in adults with symptoms of attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder

The authors evaluated dysfunctional career beliefs and subsequent low job satisfaction in adults reporting significant symptoms of attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Participants (N= 81) completed the Adult Attention Deficit Disorders Evaluation Scale (S. B. McCarney & P. D. Anderson, 1996), the Career Thoughts Inventory (J. P. Sampson, G.W. Peterson, J. G. Lenz, R. C. Reardon, & D. E. Saunders, 1996), and the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (D. J. Weiss, R. V. Dawis, G. W. England, & L. H. Lofquist, 1967). Regression analyses confirmed that ADHD symptoms were significantly predictive of dysfunctional career beliefs, decision‐making confusion, commitment anxiety, and external conflict.     

Different measures of risk perceptions and distress yield different patterns of results: the importance of specificity in measurement and theory

There is little consensus on how to conceptualize and measure both cognitive perceptions of risks and affective responses to risks. We report data on two measures of risk perceptions and affective responses, as well as attendance behaviour, for 226 women who received a normal test result and 180 women who received a first or non-consecutive inadequate cervical smear test result. Different measures of risk perceptions (cognition) and distress about test result (affect) were not always strongly associated, often yielding markedly different patterns of results. This highlights the need for more precise reporting of measures and greater specificity of theoretical predictions. Suggestions for further studies investigating cognitive and affective reactions to health risk information are outlined.     

The functional independence of trait self-knowledge: commentary on Sakaki (2007)

In a recent paper, Sakaki (2007) proposed that Klein and Loftus's conclusion that semantic and episodic trait self-knowledge are functionally independent (e.g., Klein, Babey, & Sherman, 1997; Klein & Loftus, 1993a; Klein, Loftus, Trafton, & Fuhrman, 1992b) was based on questionable assumptions and not supported by the available evidence. In this paper we show that Sakaki (2007) has misinterpreted our position on the independence of self-knowledge, omitted mention of large portions of the relevant research at odds with her contention, and conducted her studies with procedures we explicitly warned against due to interpretive ambiguities associated with their use.