Negative Affectivity and Drinking in Adolescents: An Examination of Moderators Predicted by Affect Regulation Theory

This investigation examined potential moderators of the longitudinal relation between negative affectivity and drinking. Specifically tested was the degree to which alcohol expectancies and coping styles moderate the relation between negative affectivity in early adolescence and drinking in middle and late adolescence. Four hundred ninety nine early adolescents completed inventories of negative affectivity, coping style, and tension reduction expectancies, and were followed up with inventories of drinking in middle and late adolescence. Constructive coping moderated the relation between negative affectivity and drinking in middle adolescence, such that only those with poor coping skills exhibited this positive relation. Although early negative affectivity was directly related to drinking in late adolescence, no interactions between negative affectivity and expectancies or coping were detected for drinking at that age. This absence of consistent moderating effects indicates significant limitations in the ability of the traditionally-conceived affect regulation model to reliably predict adolescent drinking. This research was conducted at the Center for Education and Drug Abuse Research (CEDAR) which is located in the School of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh and is supported by grant P50-DA-05605 from the National Institute on Drug Abuse.     

Factors Influencing Employee Intentions to Provide Honest Upward Feedback Ratings

Based on current research involving rater motivation, we examined several factors hypothesized to influence employee intentions to provide honest upward feedback. Survey data were collected from a demographically diverse sample of hospital employees (n = 203). In summary, we found empirical support for generalizing extant models of rater motivation to an upward feedback context: cynicism towards upper management and the upward feedback process, understanding upward feedback, and opportunity to observe their supervisors were the primary predictors of employee intentions to provide honest upward feedback ratings, mediated by the (a) extent to which employees perceived positive benefits would result from rating their supervisors honestly, (b) the extent to which employees feared retaliation by their supervisors, and (c) rater self-efficacy.

Overcoming the winner's curse: an adaptive learning perspective

The winner's curse phenomenon refers to the fact that the winner in a common value auction, in order to actually win the auction, is likely to have overestimated the item's value and consequently is likely to gain less than expected and may even lose (i.e., it is said to be “cursed”). Past research, using the “Acquiring a company” task has shown that people do not overcome this bias even after they receive extensive feedback. We suggest that the persistence of the winner's curse is due to a combination of two factors: variability in the environment that leads to ambiguous feedback (i.e., choices and outcomes are only partially correlated) and the tendency of decision makers to learn adaptively. We show in an experiment that by reducing the variance in the feedback, performance can be significantly improved. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Duties and Responsibilities Towards the Poor

Thomas Pogge has argued that we have strong negative duties to assist the global poor because we harm them through our contribution to the global economic order. I argue that Pogge’s concept of harm is indeterminate. The resources of any group will typically be affected by at least two economic schemes. Pogge suggests that the responsibility for any affected group’s shortfall from a minimum standard ought to be shared between the contributing schemes. I argue that shared responsibility can be interpreted in two different ways. Unfortunately, both interpretations are problematic. Lastly, I suggest a strategy for amending this problem.

Using performance feedback to enhance implementation fidelity of the problem-solving team process

Implementation integrity is a potentially critical issue for problem-solving teams (PST) and most response-to-intervention models. The current study hypothesized that providing performance feedback, which has consistently been shown to increase implementation integrity, to PSTs would enhance the procedural integrity of the process. The PSTs for three elementary schools were provided performance feedback with a 20-item checklist created from the literature. A multiple-baseline design across schools revealed an immediate change in level after providing performance feedback. The resulting percentages of non-overlapping data were 90.9%, 90.0%, and 100%. However, PSTs still did not monitor student progress, assess the effectiveness of the intervention, or measure the integrity with which the intervention was implemented even after receiving feedback. Thus, providing performance feedback could be a method to increase the fidelity with which critical components of data-based problem-solving are implemented, but these data suggest the need for additional research.     

Dysphoria and Mobilization of Mental Effort: Effects on Cardiovascular Reactivity

Two studies examined the influence of dysphoria on motivational intensity in a student sample. Participants worked on a memory task (Study 1) or a mental concentration task (Study 2) without fixed performance standard (“do your best”). Based on their scores on the Center for Epidemiologic Studies – Depression Scale (L. S. Radloff, 1977), dysphoric and nondysphoric students were compared with regard to their effort-related cardiovascular reactivity during task performance. As predicted on the basis of the mood-behavior-model (G. H. E. Gendolla, 2000) and motivational intensity theory (J. W. Brehm & E. A. Self, 1989), dysphoric participants showed stronger cardiovascular reactivity while working on the cognitive tasks than nondysphoric participants. In Study 1, nondysphoric participants performed better on the memory task than dysphoric participants. Theoretical implications are discussed.

A diathesis-stress model of engagement in risky behaviors in Chinese adolescents

The current study examined whether the association between the occurrence of negative events and increased engagement in risky behavior is moderated by maladaptive and/or adaptive coping strategies. At time 1, 411 adolescents (ages 14–19) from Yue Yang, Hunan, completed self-report measures assessing coping strategies, engagement in risky behaviors, and the occurrence of negative events. Once a month for the subsequent 6 months, adolescents completed measures assessing engagement in risky behaviors and the occurrence of negative events. In line with our hypotheses, results of hierarchical linear modeling analyses indicated that adolescents possessing high levels of maladaptive coping strategies reported greater engagement in risky behaviors following the occurrence of negative events than adolescents possessing low levels. In contrast to our hypotheses, the association between the occurrence of negative events and increased engagement in risky behavior was not moderated by adaptive coping strategies.     

Using goal setting, task clarification, and feedback to increase the use of the hands-free technique by hospital operating room staff

We evaluated the effects of a behavioral treatment on the safe passing of sharp instruments using the hands-free technique among hospital operating room personnel during surgical procedures. Treatment consisted of participative goal setting, task clarification, and feedback. The average percentage of sharp instruments passed safely increased from 32% to 64% and 31% to 70% between baseline and treatment phases in the inpatient and outpatient surgery units, respectively. Five-month follow-up data suggested maintenance of treatment effects. These findings suggest the utility of organizational behavior management strategies in reducing risky behavior in hospital settings.     

The perseverance effect in the debriefing paradigm: Replication and extension

A classic study conducted by Ross, Lepper, and Hubbard (1975) revealed a perseverance effect wherein people who received positive performance feedback on an alleged social perceptiveness test reported more favorable self-perceptions in this domain than those who received negative feedback despite the fact that they had received standard outcome debriefing (i.e., been informed about the false, predetermined, and random nature of the feedback) prior to reporting self-assessments. The present studies extend this past research by revealing that (a) there is a form of outcome debriefing (i.e., informing participants about the bogus nature of the test as well as the bogus nature of the feedback) that effectively eliminates the perseverance effect, (b) the perseverance effect that occurs after standard outcome debriefing is limited to perceptions of specific task-relevant skills rather than more global abilities, and (c) affective reactions do not underlie the perseverance effect that occurs in the false feedback paradigm.     

Failure to warn: How student race affects warnings of potential academic difficulty

In two studies, we document “failure to warn”—a reduced likelihood of warning Black students against potential academic difficulty compared to White students. In both studies, participants placed in the role of academic advisors saw a highly challenging academic course plan, attributed to either a Black or a White student, and gave Black students less warning about the potential negative consequences of taking on the proposed plan. Study 1 (N = 172) demonstrates this effect using undergraduate peer academic advisors, and Study 2 (N = 58) provides evidence that this effect is moderated by Internal Motivation to Respond Without Prejudice (Plant & Devine, 1998), suggesting that this effect is driven by the fear that discouraging an ambitious Black student might reflect prejudice. This well-intentioned concern can have the ironic consequence of leading the recipients of this advice into academic difficulties.