Stranger Danger: The Role of Perpetrator and Context in Moderating Reactions to Sexual Harassment

The majority of research on sexual harassment focuses on achievement contexts where the perpetrator of the harassment is known to the victim. More recent work has begun to explore sexual harassment perpetrated by strangers in public places. The current work sought to bridge the gap between research on sexual harassment in achievement contexts and stranger harassment. In doing so, the current work manipulated factors related to three important distinctions between these topics: the relationship between the perpetrator and victim, the location, and the type of sexually harassing behavior. The current study provides evidence that stranger harassment elicits more negative reactions than harassment from a coworker. Additionally, harasser type interacted with harassment type, with situations involving strangers making physical contact eliciting the most negative reactions. Thus, the current work suggests a need for more research on stranger harassment, as well as on additional factors that may operate differently depending on harasser type.     

Examining Project Commitment in Cross-Functional Teams: Antecedents and Relationship with Team Performance

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to test a model positing both antecedents and consequences of project commitment for members of cross-functional teams. Signaling theory and previous research guided study hypotheses.

Design/Methodology/Approach

We collected primary data from 142 team members and 31 team leaders across 24 cross-functional product development teams nested within six manufacturing organizations in the US and Canada.

Findings

Findings suggest that project commitment among team members is an important driver of team performance as rated by the team leader. In addition, several factors contribute toward shaping project commitment among cross-functional team members, including team leaders’ encouragement of self-expectation, as well as team members’ perceptions of an organization’s support for the team project.

Implications

Cross-functional teams are often charged with completing projects critical to the profitability, growth, and even survival of a firm. Especially as we show that members’ project commitment is a meaningful predictor of team performance, managers may draw insight from study results as to what actions may be taken to promote the development of this important psychological state among members of cross-functional teams.

Originality/Value

Use of cross-functional teams for accomplishing a wide variety of firm objectives is becoming commonplace in organizations. Although theorized as an important construct in cross-functional team settings, empirical examinations of the nature and implications of project commitment have been limited. By examining both antecedents and potential team performance consequences of project commitment in multiple organizations, we contribute toward filling this gap.     

Relationships Among the Sport Competition Anxiety Test,the Sport Anxiety Scale,and the Collegiate Hockey Worry Scale

This study examined the degree to which the Sport Competition Anxiety Test (SCAT; Martens, 1977) and the Sport Anxiety Scale (SAS; Smith, Smoll, & Schutz, 1990) shared variance with the four subscales of the Collegiate Hockey Worry Scale (CHWS; Dunn, 1999)a sport-specific measure of athletes' dispositional tendencies to worry about performance failure, negative social evaluation, physical danger, and situational uncertainty. Participants were 178 male intercollegiate ice hockey players. Correlation and regression analyses reinforced the links between worries about failure and negative social evaluation to competitive trait anxiety (CTA). However, neither the SCAT nor the SAS shared more than 5.8% of the variance surrounding athletes' worries pertaining to physical danger and situational uncertainty. Findings are discussed in the context of Martens, Vealey, and Burtons' (1990) recommendation to develop instruments with separate subscales measuring different situational components of CTA.     

Expertise in Ultra-Endurance Triathletes Early Sport Involvement,Training Structure,and the Theory of Deliberate Practice

Abstract

The theory of deliberate practice (Ericsson, Krampe, & Tesch-Römer, 1993) is predicated on the concept that the engagement in specific forms of practice is necessary for the attainment of expertise. The purpose of this paper was to examine the quantity and type of training performed by expert UE triathletes. Twenty-eight UE triathletes were stratified into expert, middle of the pack, and back of the pack groups based on previous finishing times. All participants provided detailed information regarding their involvement in sports in general and the three triathlon sports in particular. Results illustrated that experts performed more training than non-experts but that the relationship between training and performance was not monotonic as suggested by Ericsson et al. Further, experts' training was designed so periods of high training stress were followed by periods of low stress. However, early specialization was not a requirement for expertise. This work indicates that the theory of deliberate practice does not fully explain expertise development in UE triathlon.     

The Transnational Alliance for Genetic Counseling: Promoting International Communication and Collaboration

The Transnational Alliance for Genetic Counseling seeks to promote communication and collaboration among genetic counselor educators, internationally. Connecting and building global relationships among colleagues also promotes the development of the genetic counseling profession. Genetic counselors everywhere can achieve deeper understanding of their work by seeking international perspectives.     

The nature of stress experienced by lesbians and gay men

Abstract

This study examined both the meanings and sources/causes of stress from the perspectives of lesbians and gay men (n=30), using a series of focus groups. The findings suggest that stress is considered a part of life itself, and is perceived to contain both negative (e.g. detrimental effects on health and overall functioning, unfairness, out-of-control), and positive (e.g. a motivator, growth-facilitator) elements. The sources/causes of stress (i.e. stressors) identified include stress experienced from the “coming out” process, stress in family relations and intimate relationships, conflict over one's sexuality given society's homophobic and heterosexist attitudes toward lesbians and gay men, as well as stress from financial and work-related issues. More importantly, this study suggests that culture/ethnicity, gender, and aging, which are interconnected with one's sexual identity, play an important role in shaping the experiences of stress among lesbians and gay men.     

Reading Comprehension in Children with ADHD: Cognitive Underpinnings of the Centrality Deficit

We examined reading comprehension in children with ADHD by assessing their ability to build a coherent mental representation that allows them to recall central and peripheral information. We compared children with ADHD (mean age 9.78) to word reading-matched controls (mean age 9.89) on their ability to retell a passage. We found that even though children with ADHD recalled more central than peripheral information, they showed their greatest deficit, relative to controls, on central information—a centrality deficit (Miller and Keenan, Annals of Dyslexia 59:99–113, 2009). We explored the cognitive underpinnings of this deficit using regressions to compare how well cognitive factors (working memory, inhibition, processing speed, and IQ) predicted the ability to recall central information, after controlling for word reading ability, and whether these cognitive factors interacted with ADHD symptoms. Working memory accounted for the most unique variance. Although previous evidence for reading comprehension difficulties in children with ADHD have been mixed, this study suggests that even when word reading ability is controlled, children with ADHD have difficulty building a coherent mental representation, and this difficulty is likely related to deficits in working memory.     

Evidence for an Error Detection Mechanism In Motor Skills

One of the fundamental predictions of the Adams (1971) closed-loop theory is that S should develop over practice a perceptual trace which forms the basis of an error detection mechanism. If knowledge of results (KR) is withdrawn, S can use the error detection mechanism to guide performance in its place. To test this notion, 10 Ss practiced 170 trials of a discrete ballistic response, attempting to produce a 9.5-in. manual slider movement in exactly 150 msec., with KR present except on Trials 11-20 and 141-170. There was an increasing correspondence between the actual errors and Ss’ estimation of them as practice continued, and ratings of confidence increased, both of which were indicative of a developing error detection mechanism. During KR withdrawal trials, Ss displayed no worsening of performance, and even continued to learn slightly, suggesting that the error detection mechanism acted as a substitute for KR. The results generally supported Adams’ theory.     

The Effectiveness of Sentence Cues in Measuring the Big Three Motives

Despite the popularity of free response measures in the motivation literature, research geared toward the development of a standard battery of cues for measuring the Big Three motives (achievement, affiliation, power) has been lacking. The current research examined the effectiveness of sentence cues in eliciting motive imagery in two studies (students, entrepreneurs) comprising 242 men and women. Results indicated that sentence cues were effective in eliciting achievement and affiliation imagery, but not power imagery. In addition, an examination of the subcategories underlying each motive scoring system indicated that there were several infrequently scored subcategories in the achievement and power motive scoring systems that could be considered for removal.     

Computer Analysis of Sentence Completions

Sentence completions of two groups of high school students distinguished by a sociometric instrument as Liked or Disliked were submitted to the General Inquirer computer system for retrieval and content analysis of verbal text.

The General Inquirer analyzed the sentence completions by tagging the text with categories based on psychosociological theories. Frequency counts for each category indicate systematic differences in the strength and direction of the verbal text of Liked and Disliked students.

Inferences drawn about the personalities of Liked and Disliked students on the basis of the psychosociological theories in the dictionary seem reasonable in terms of the sociometric ratings.

The General Inquirer may have good potential as an objective method of scoring sentence completions particularly with an expanded text and a dictionary containing theories directly pertinent to the theory underlying a set of sentence completions. Further research on sentence completions using the General Inquirer seems warranted.