Antecedents and consequences of the frequency of upward and downward social comparisons at work

The current paper examines the dispositional and situational antecedents, as well as the attitudinal and behavioral consequences, of the frequency of upward and downward social comparisons. We predicted social comparison frequency would be influenced by uncertainty-related antecedents, and that social comparisons in organizations would be characterized by contrast, not assimilation, effects. A large and occupationally diverse sample of 991 employed adults was surveyed at three separate points in time over a 12–16 week period. Our results, based on structural equation modeling, indicated that (a) role ambiguity, task autonomy, and core self-evaluations were significant predictors of upward social comparison, (b) upward social comparison was significantly negatively related to job satisfaction and affective commitment, (c) downward social comparison was significantly positively related to job satisfaction and affective commitment, and (d) upward and downward social comparisons had significant positive and negative indirect effects on the frequency of job search behaviors, respectively. The findings are discussed in terms of their general implications for understanding the importance of directional social comparison processes in organizational settings.     

Forming and reacting to overall fairness: A cross-cultural comparison

This study compared the cross-cultural formation and reactions toward overall fairness perception of employees from the US, China, Korea, and Japan. Distributive justice was related to overall fairness less strongly for Americans and Japanese than for Chinese and Koreans. In contrast, interactional justice was related to overall fairness more strongly for Americans and Japanese than for Chinese and Koreans. As expected, materialism seems to provide a coherent account of these cultural differences. In addition, overall fairness showed a stronger effect on turnover intention for Americans than for Chinese and Koreans. For job satisfaction, the effect of overall fairness was stronger for Americans than for Chinese, Koreans, and Japanese. Power distance seems to provide an adequate account of these cultural differences.     

How formulating implementation plans and remembering past actions facilitate the enactment of effortful decisions

Building on prior research studying effortful decision making and enactment processes (Bagozzi, Dholakia, & Basuroy, 2003; BDB), we identify and provide an in‐depth understanding of two specific self‐regulatory strategies: (1) formulating an implementation plan, and (2) remembering past actions, that decision makers can use in facilitating enactment of effortful decisions. The results of three experiments, in which the decision maker's goal and self‐regulatory strategy were manipulated, showed that for goals that decision makers chose volitionally, the motivational effects of both these strategies lay in increasing levels of proximal implementation‐related variables (implementation intentions, plan completeness, plan enactment, and goal realization) significantly. In contrast, for goals that were assigned to participants, these strategies' motivational effects additionally extended to significantly increasing distal goal‐related variables (goal desire, goal intentions, perceived self‐efficacy, and implementation desires). The theoretical implications of our findings are discussed, and future research opportunities are explored. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Women’s occupational career patterns over 27 years: Relations to family of origin, life careers, and wellness

This study aimed at identifying and describing occupational career patterns (OCPs) from age 16 to 43 by applying optimal matching techniques to sequence data obtained from a sample of Swedish women. Women’s occupational trajectories were found to be diverse. Upward mobility (3 patterns) and stable careers (4 patterns) were prevalent, but there were also women characterized by downward mobility, fluctuation and being outside the labor market (1 pattern each). Women’s OCPs were related to family of origin, but more strongly to their overall life career (i.e., multiple role constellations over the life course). The study indicates that occupational mobility patterns do matter in terms of job perceptions, work attitudes, and quality of life. The results generally confirm the popular belief of the advantage of upward mobility, followed by stable occupational careers, whereas women with downward or fluctuating careers fared worst.     

Against Anthropocentrism: A Jobian Appeal to Science on Theology's Behalf

Abstract : The author asks how science can affect the work of the theologian and uses the experience of Job in the “wild” as pointing toward a new seeing. From science's study of temporality the theologian may learn (1) that humans belong with the (other) creatures, against anthropocentrism, (2) that the traditional distinction between creation and preservation inadequately recognizes God's continuing creative work, and (3) that Christian soteriology needs to address the “groaning” (Romans 8) of the whole creation. While science may help the theologian see thus newly, theology needs to retain its own integrity, as represented by the distinction between creation and fall.     

How do implementation intentions promote goal attainment? A test of component processes

Implementation intentions are plans that specify the when, where, and how of goal striving in advance, and have been shown to enhance rates of goal attainment compared to merely forming respective goal intentions. The present research investigated whether the accessibility of the specified situation (cue accessibility) and the strength of the association between the specified situation and the intended response (cue-response linkage) explain the impact of implementation intentions on goal achievement. Findings indicated that participants who planned how to undertake a verbal task better attained their goal compared to participants who did not form a plan. Crucially, implementation intention effects were mediated by the accessibility of the specified cue and by the strength of cue-response links. These findings support the idea that implementation intentions benefit performance because control of behavior is delegated to specified situational cues that initiate action automatically.     

A model of working memory capacity in the radial-arm maze task

The radial arm maze is one of the most commonly used tests for assessing working memory in laboratory animals. However, to date, there exists no quantitative method of estimating working memory capacity from performance on this task. Here, we present a mathematical model of performance on the radial arm maze from which we can derive estimates of capacity. We derive explicit results for the two most commonly used measures of performance as functions of number of arms in the maze and memory capacity, assuming a uniform random search. We simulate random non-uniform search strategies. Comparing our model to previous experiments, we show that our model predicts a working memory capacity in the range of 3-9 at the level of performance observed in these experiments. This estimate is within the typical estimate of human working memory capacity. Performance of rats on large mazes (e.g. 48 arms) has been used as evidence that the working memory capacity of rats may be significantly larger than that of humans. We report that memory capacity in the range 3-9 is sufficient to explain the performance of rats in very large radial mazes. Furthermore, when we simulate non-uniform random search strategies observed in the experiments, the resulting estimates do not differ significantly from those assuming a uniform random search. We conclude that a list-based model of working memory with modest capacity is more powerful than previously expected.     

Shared intention and personal intentions

This article explores the question: what is it for two or more people to intend to do something in the future? In a technical phrase, what is it for people to share an intention? Extending and refining earlier work of the author’s, it argues for three criteria of adequacy for an account of shared intention (the disjunction, concurrence, and obligation criteria) and offers an account that satisfies them. According to this account, in technical terms explained in the paper, people share an intention when and only when they are jointly committed to intend as a body to do such-and-such in the future. This account is compared and contrasted with the common approach that treats shared intention as a matter of personal intentions, with particular reference to the work of Michael Bratman.     

Self-regulation and the hypothesis of experience-based selection: Investigating indirect conscious control

The assumption that the contents of our conscious visual experience directly control our fine-tuned, real-time motor activity has been challenged by neurological and psychophysical evidence that suggest the two processes work semi-independently of each other. Clark [Clark, A. (2001). Visual experience and motor action: Are the bonds too tight? The Philosophical Review, 110, 495–519; Clark, A. (2002). Is seeing all it seems? Action, reason and the grand illusion. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 9, 181–202; Clark, A. (2006). Vision as dance? Three challenges for sensori-motor contingency theory. PSYCHE, 12 (1). Available from http://www.psyche.cs.monash.edu.au] argues that such evidence implies a more indirect relationship between conscious visual experience and motor-control where the function of visual consciousness is not to control action but to select what actions are to be controlled. In this paper, I argue that this type of dynamic also exists at the wider level of self-regulation where conscious intent appears to indirectly control the enactment of the intended behaviour. I argue that by drawing parallels between Clark’s proposed dynamic and self-regulation, the former is not only bolstered by a previously unrecognised source of support but our understanding of the latter can help to further elucidate Clark’s proposed mechanism of indirect conscious control.     

预搜索过滤分心物的机制

如果先呈现若干分心物,然后添加靶子与其他分心物,那么就会改善搜索——预搜索效应。对于过滤分心物的潜在机制,研究者相继提出了主动抑制说、突然呈现说与时间分离说等理论。这些理论都有其合理的一面,能解释一些特定的实验现象,但任何单一机制都无法解释所有的实验现象。文章提出,未来的研究应该整合已有的实验现象与理论,系统考察旧客体与新客体的作用,重点整合抑制说与突现说,它们可能是一个连续体的两端