Conflicts and conflict management styles as precursors of workplace bullying: A two-wave longitudinal study

Abstract

The psychological contract is currently a popular concept. It has been used in several recent analyses of individuals' careers. However, there are a number of unresolved conceptual and empirical issues surrounding the psychological contract. These are described and discussed. The main issues concern the extent to which the psychological contract between employee and employer is mutual, the importance or otherwise of the promissory element, the distinction between transactional and relational contracts, and the detection of, and response to, contract violation. It is concluded that the psychological contract is probably a valuable concept, but that it needs more careful definition and more rigorous empirical testing.     

Working conditions predicting interpersonal relationship problems at work

Interpersonal relationships have been shown to be an important component of the psychosocial work environment that may affect health, job satisfaction, and productivity. The question whether interpersonal relationships at work are influenced by other psychosocial working conditions such as demands and control has not been studied. The aim of the present study is to investigate if high work demands and aspects of low work control could predict three indicators of detrimental interpersonal relationships at work. In a representative Swedish cohort study, data were obtained in two waves three years apart from 4049 participants, who did not change their jobs between the waves. These data were analysed by multiple logistic regression analyses. Odds ratios adjusted for possible confounders and negative interpersonal relationships at base-line showed that high demands predicted serious conflict and exclusion by co-workers. Low skill discretion predicted exclusion by co-workers. It is argued that these prospective findings are of relevance to interventions targeting troublesome and detrimental interpersonal relationships at work and that the findings can be important in understanding the development of work-related mental ill-health.     

Shifting foundations: religious belief change and adjustment in college students

In a sample of 154 college students, prevalence of religious belief change and its relationship to religiosity and coping variables were examined twice over the course of one month. Students who reported belief change (62%) scored higher than those who did not on measures of religiosity and fared worse on adjustment measures. Significant differences in coping strategies were noted, with the change group using more religious coping and alcohol and drugs to cope. Within the change group, a higher degree of change was related to higher levels of religiousness and religious coping, and poorer adjustment at baseline and follow-up.     

Action representation across ages and cultures: Recognition of action means–end change in German and Chinese children and adults

Actions can be represented as a hierarchy of goals and means, whereas the granularity of the top level depends on the action's complexity. So far, most evidence comes from imitation studies. We explored this issue by evaluating the detection of means and end changes in a recognition paradigm across ages and cultures. German and Chinese preschoolers (n = 53) and adults (n = 58) studied videos of tool-use actions differing in complexity and familiarity. In the test phase, participants judged identical, means-changed and end-changed actions as same or different. Changes of the actions' end were generally identified more accurately independent of age and culture. Means' changes, but not ends' changes, were detected more frequently for complex than for simple actions. Changes in familiar actions were recognised better than changes in unfamiliar actions. The data supports a hierarchical model of action representation where the end information is superordinate to means information.     

Interpreting effect sizes when controlling for stability effects in longitudinal autoregressive models: Implications for psychological science

Effect sizes in longitudinal studies often are dramatically smaller than effect sizes in cross-sectional studies. Indeed, autoregressive models (which are often used in longitudinal studies but not in cross-sectional studies) control for past levels on the outcome (i.e., stability effects) in order to predict change in levels of the outcome over time and thus may greatly reduce the magnitude of the effect of a predictor on the outcome. Unfortunately, however, there have been no attempts to differentiate guidelines for interpreting effect sizes for longitudinal studies versus cross-sectional studies. Consequently, longitudinal effect sizes that fall below the universal guidelines for “small” may be incorrectly dismissed as trivial, when they might be meaningful. In the current paper, we first review the present guidelines for interpreting effect sizes. Next, we discuss several examples of how controlling for stability effects can dramatically attenuate effect sizes of other predictors, in order to support our argument that the current guidelines may be misleading for interpreting longitudinal effects. Finally, we conclude by making recommendations for researchers regarding the interpretation of effect sizes in longitudinal autoregressive models.     

Teaching children to understand metaphors as a path leading to theory of mind development

The objective of the present study was to verify whether metaphors could be a tool in examining and teaching children's theory of mind (ToM) ability. Searching for sources of ToM development, we tried to stimulate mind-reading ability via metaphors. A group of 109 children participated in the project. Four and five-year-old participants (mean age 4 years, 11 months) were randomly divided into three groups: two experimental groups (with two kinds of prompts: direct, linguistic and indirect, contextual) and the controls. All the participating children were to solve three false beliefs and one metaphors test (with or without prompts). The results show that metaphors may provide an ecologically relevant and reliable tool for testing ToM in children. Although the methods employed to teach metaphors understanding proved ineffective, a critical analysis of the results provides important suggestions for further research.     

Analyzing the role of culture in shaping American childhood: A twentieth-century case

Widespread beliefs about the nature and functions of children change over time, and affect actual treatment of children within and without the family. Significant changes in beliefs about children developed in the United States from the 1920s onward, with emphasis both on emotional value and on weakness or vulnerability. Increased consumption of expert advice played a key role in this shift, along with cultural translation of new issues concerning child labor and schooling. Key changes occurred in all industrial societies, but American culture generated some distinctive features that continue to show up in the anxieties many parents harbor about children and their effort to intervene on their children's behalf.     

Notes on contributors

ABSTRACT

Climate engineering with stratospheric sulfate aerosol injections (SSAI) has the potential to reduce risks of injustice related to anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases. Relying on evidence from modeling studies, this paper makes the case that SSAI could have the potential to reduce many of the key physical risks of climate change identified by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Such risks carry potential injustice because they are often imposed on low-emitters who do not benefit from climate change. Because SSAI has the potential to reduce those risks, it thereby has the potential to reduce the injustice associated with anthropogenic emissions. While acknowledging important caveats, including uncertainty in modeling studies and the potential for SSAI to carry its own risks of injustice, the paper argues that there is a strong case for continued research into SSAI, especially if attention is paid to how it might be used to reduce emissions-driven injustice.     

An institutional political economy view on Thomas Nagel's ‘minimum humanitarian morality’ in global justice

Thomas Nagel's conservative position of the political conception for world politics and his insightful ‘Minimum Humanitarian Morality’ (MHM) view on global justice are laudable. He admits that the path from anarchy to justice must go through injustice. But Nagel does not clearly identify the conditions under which we put up with global injustice. This paper reviews the conception of MHM through the lens of the institutional political economy. In my view, to recognize the degree of structural failure (weakness in governance) as well as the degree of transition failure (elite bargain or personalization of power being interlocked) in each state can give us a hint on how to conceptualize and apply Nagel's MHM. We also argue that the scope and degree of humanitarian aid may vary in accordance with the options to global justice open to each state.