The political glass cliff: When left-wing orientation leads to minority candidate choices for hard-to-win seats

IntroductionGlass cliff evidence shows that women and ethnic, racial, and immigration (ERI) groups are more likely to face precarious leadership positions than majority groups. In politics, this is illustrated by minority candidates running for harder-to-win seats than majority candidates.ObjectiveThe present research extends these correlational findings on ERI populations to an experimental setting and investigates the underlying reasons.MethodTwo scenario-based experimental studies were conducted with voting populations in France and Switzerland, who took the role of party decision-maker. In Study 1 (n = 64), we manipulated candidate origin and measured the choice of political ward (hard vs. easy-to-win), while in Study 2 (n = 151), we manipulated ward winnability and measured candidate choice (ERI minority vs. majority).ResultsOverall, findings suggest that ERI minority (compared to majority) political candidates were more likely to be matched with hard-to-win than easy-to-win political wards. Of interest, this finding only occurred for participants with a political left-wing orientation. Moreover, both studies investigated the reasons underlying such tendency and, in particular, focused on participants’ motivation to implement change.ConclusionThe discussion confronts hostile and benign motives for glass cliff decisions and highlights the potentially distinct consequences for minority candidates.     

The role of motives in exercise participation†

The aim was to better understand the role of motives in exercise participation. It was hypothesised that motives influence exercise participation by influencing behavioural regulation, and that motives are themselves influenced by personality traits. Data were from a cross-sectional questionnaire survey of 252 office workers, mean age 40 years. Analysis was by structural equation modelling. According to the final model, appearance/weight motive increased external regulation, thereby reducing participation, and also increased introjected regulation. Health/fitness motive increased identified regulation, thereby increasing participation. Social engagement motive increased intrinsic regulation. Neuroticism increased appearance/weight motive, openness increased health/fitness motive, and conscientiousness, without affecting motives, reduced external and introjected regulation. It is inferred that exercise promotion programmes, without denigrating appearance/weight motive, should encourage other motives more conducive to autonomous motivation.     

Inhibitory control as a moderator of threat-related interference biases in social anxiety

This research examines control over the effect of arousal, a dimension of affect, on judgement. Past research shows that high processing motivation enhances control over the effects of affect on judgement. Isolating and studying arousal as opposed to valence, the other dimension of affect, and its effect on judgement, we identify boundary conditions for past findings. Drawing from the literature on processes by which arousal influences judgement, we demonstrate that the role of motivation is contingent upon the type of judgement task (i.e., memory- versus stimulus-based judgement). In stimulus-based judgement, individuals exert greater control over the effect of arousal on judgement under low compared to high motivation. In contrast, in memory-based judgement individuals exert greater control over the effect of arousal under high compared to low motivation. Theoretical implications and avenues for future research are discussed.     

Developmental Changes in Semantic Verbal Fluency: Analyses of Word Productivity as a Function of Time,Clustering, and Switching

We investigated age-related improvement in semantic category verbal fluency (VF) in 309 Dutch schoolchildren attending first to ninth grade. Quantitative analyses of number of correct responses as a function of time as well as qualitative analyses of clustering and switching were conducted. Overall, Dutch VF task performance, i.e., number of correct responses over 60 seconds, was not established before mid-adolescence. This is in line with previously published studies, using VF number of correct responses over 60 seconds as the main outcome measure and examining VF task performance across other cultures and languages (e.g., Italian, French, Hebrew). Next, mean cluster size, a measure of lexico-semantic knowledge, was not established until at least grade 3. In contrast, performance on the VF outcome measures “number of switches/clusters” was established at least 4 years later. Qualitative and quantitative Design Fluency (DF) outcome measures support the notion that the numbers of switches/clusters are valid measures of higher order cognitive functions, such as strategy use and cognitive flexibility. In line of this, VF number of correct responses during 16–60 seconds, a measure of controlled information processing, is established at least 2 years later (i.e., grades 7–8) than number of correct responses during the first 15 seconds time slide, a measure of automatic processing. Finally, environment, i.e., the level of parental education, primarily affected automatic and lexico-semantic knowledge. No effects of sex on VF performance were found. These data suggest that the alternative scoring methods of VF tasks can be used to acquire knowledge on development of lower and higher order cognitive functions in healthy children and the influence of the environment on it.     

The role of forget-cue salience in list-method directed forgetting

Research suggests that manipulating the wording of the forget cue in list-method directed forgetting affects the magnitude of directed forgetting both in younger children (Aslan, Staudigl, Samenieh, & Bauml, in press) and in older adults (Sahakyan, Delaney, & Goodmon, 2008). This occurs when the forget cue overemphasises the importance of forgetting in the current context. The present experiment investigated whether de-emphasising forgetting affected the magnitude of list-method directed forgetting in college adults. Some participants received overt forget cues that explicitly instructed them to forget earlier studied items, whereas others received covert forget cues that implied forgetting by emphasising selective remembering (e.g., “you will only need to remember some of the items”). Results indicated equivalent directed forgetting for both types of cues. However, regardless of the type of cue received, participants who reported using specific forgetting strategies in response to the forget cue showed directed forgetting, whereas those that reported doing nothing did not show any effects. The results underscore that successful directed forgetting requires engagement of controlled processes.     

Drinking Motives as Mediators of Social Anxiety and Hazardous Drinking Among College Students

Although social anxiety (SA) and alcohol use disorders commonly co-occur, the relationship between these variables in college populations has been inconsistent. The present study tested the hypothesized model that negatively reinforcing, but not positively reinforcing, drinking motives (or reasons for drinking) would mediate the association between SA and three aspects of hazardous drinking (quantity/frequency, consequences, and dependence symptoms) in an ethnically diverse sample of college drinkers (N = 817; mean age = 19.9 years, range = 18–29). Structural equation modeling (SEM) results using the asymmetrical distribution of products test indicated that coping motives partially mediated the relationship between SA and negative consequences and dependence symptoms but not the quantity/frequency outcome. Contrary to the hypothesized model, conformity motives did not mediate the association between SA and hazardous drinking. As expected, positive reinforcement motives did not mediate the SA–hazardous drinking association. Multigroup SEM analyses revealed that the mediation models did not differ for men (n = 215) and women (n = 602). Overall, the present findings support extant research and theoretical models regarding the mediating role of coping motives in the relationship between SA and problem drinking, suggesting a potential pathway for the development and maintenance of SA and alcohol use disorder comorbidity. Such findings could contribute to improved intervention programs by targeting coping drinking motives and building coping skills.     

Alcohol‐Related Consequences Among Intercollegiate Student Athletes: The Role of Drinking Motives

This study examined drinking motives as predictors of alcohol‐related consequences among student athletes and nonathletes. Results indicated that the highest level of alcohol‐related consequences was reported by student athletes with high levels of both coping and conformity motives.     

Self-improvement and cooperation: How exchange relationships promote mastery-approach driven individuals' job outcomes

In the present research we argue that mastery-approach goals may be beneficial in social achievement contexts because these goals lead to constructive exchange relationship building. An examination of three methodologically complementary studies revealed that mastery-approach goals lead to more cooperative and higher-quality exchange relationships than performance-approach goals and are, ultimately, associated with better job outcomes, as well. The results of a questionnaire study demonstrated that mastery-approach goals are more strongly related to cooperative motives and more weakly related to competitive motives than performance-approach goals. Furthermore, an experimental study indicated that mastery-approach driven individuals show a higher concern for others and are more strongly inclined to cooperate with an exchange partner when engaged in a complex reasoning task than performance-approach driven individuals. Finally, an organizational field study showed that team–member exchange mediates the effect of mastery-approach goals on job performance, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment.     

Service learning in custodial settings in South Africa

This study describes the findings of a community engaged service learning program in which nine female and three male students ranging between 22 and 31 years of age from a large South African university participated in a study conducted in two metropolitan areas of South Africa. They were all senior level students registered for Criminological Evaluation and Assessment, a practically-oriented module aimed at equipping students with the required knowledge and skills to conduct criminological assessments. The students voluntarily assisted correctional centres with the assessment of sentenced offenders and in the compilation of individualized Correctional Sentence Plans (CSP) to inform the rehabilitation process of offenders. Students reported their reflections on their service learning experiences using on-line interviews and with question prompts. Extracts from the thematic data analysis suggest students perceived themselves to be instrumental to the Department of Correctional Services in the fulfilment of its goals, while they benefitted from enhanced learning and social responsibility.