Organizational climate in Spanish Public Health Services: Administration and Services Staff

The main goal of this research is to explore the organizational climate perceived by administrative and healthcare personnel working in Spanish healthcare services, analyzing the differences according to their health specialization, sex, age and professional status. The sample was made up of 3,787 individuals working in the administrative and healthcare services of the Public Health System of the Principality of Asturias, 88.7 % were working in specialist care and 11.3 % in primary care. Mean age was 51.88 (standard deviation of 6.28); 79.9 % were women and 20.1 % men. The organizational climate was assessed with the CLIOR scale. The organizational climate perceived is moderately positive, with a global mean of 3.03 on a scale of 1 to 5 points. The differences are statistically significant (p < .01) according to specialty, age and profession. A better working climate is perceived in primary care than in specialist care, and among older as compared to younger workers. The results indicate that the working climate perceived by administration and services staff employees in the Spanish healthcare context is moderately positive, with a better perceived climate in primary care than in specialist care.     

Feelings and motives underlying Machiavellian behavioural strategies; narrative reports in a social dilemma situation

This study explored the reasons and motives underlying the decisions of individuals with strong Machiavellian attitudes (High Machs). One hundred and fifty undergraduate students completed the Mach‐IV test, and their contributions to, financial success in and narrative reports of a public goods game were analysed. High Machs contributed less to the public good and gained more benefit than Low Machs. Analysis of the narrative reports showed that High Machs used significantly fewer verbs referring to emotional involvement and first person plural verb forms, than did Low Machs. This study confirmed previous findings that High Machs have a cool and rational character and a proself orientation and showed that their lack of group orientation may account for their low cooperation in social dilemmas. The results of narrative content analysis provide a new perspective on the motives and values behind High Machs' decisions and success in different fields of social life.     

Emotional labour strategies as mediators of the relationship between public service motivation and job satisfaction in Chinese teachers

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between teachers' public service motivation (PSM) and their job satisfaction levels and to investigate the mediating effects of surface acting (SA) and deep acting (DA) on that relationship. The teacher PSM scale, as well as emotional labour strategies and intrinsic satisfaction (IS) and extrinsic satisfaction (ES) scales, were administered to 317 primary and middle school teachers. Results indicated that PSM among Chinese teachers was significantly and positively related to both IS and ES. Furthermore, structural equation modelling analysis showed that SA and DA played mediating roles in the PSM‐IS and PSM‐ES relationships, respectively. These findings provide a new perspective that explains the mechanism underlying the association between PSM among teachers and their job satisfaction levels. Finally, the possible explanations and implications are discussed.     

Anger and the virtues: a critical study in virtue individuation

Aristotle and others suggest that a single virtue – ‘good temper’ – pertains specifically to anger. I argue that if good temper is a single virtue, it is constituted by aspects of a combination of other virtues. I present three categories of anger-relevant virtues – those that (potentially) dispose one to anger; those that delay, mitigate, and qualify anger; and those required for effortful anger control – and show how virtues in each category make distinct contributions to good temper. In addition to clarifying the relationship between anger and the virtues, my analysis has theoretical implications for virtue individuation more generally, and practical implications for character cultivation.     

Demand for mitigating the risk of COVID-19 infection in public transport: The role of social trust and fatalistic beliefs

The rapid surge of COVID-19 cases worldwide drew attention to COVID-19 infection as a new source of risk in transport. The virus introduced a need for viral transmission mitigation as a major priority when selecting a mode of travel, and caused a significant drop in public transport use. The recovery of public transport use in the post-COVID period requires that the transport authorities favourably address people’s demand for mitigation of the risk of COVID-19 transmission in public transport. The present study aims to explore the role of risk perception, worry and priority of COVID-19 risk reduction along with fatalistic beliefs and public trust in authorities in explaining public demand for risk mitigation. The present study is among the first to investigate the role of fatalistic beliefs, social trust and risk perception for public transport and public demand for risk mitigation. The link between priority of infection prevention and demand for risk mitigation has also been less explored in public transport research. An online survey was conducted among university students in Iran between 19th April and 16th June 2020, during the first wave of the pandemic, when the country was a major epicentre of the disease. A total of 271 out of 370 respondents whose dominant mode on university travels was public transport were included in the analysis. Results of structural equation modelling confirmed the paradox of trust, indicating that social trust is negatively associated with perceived risk of COVID-19 infection, which in turn may lead people to place less importance on COVID-19 prevention as a priority in travel mode choice, and consequently demand less risk mitigation efforts to prevent COVID-19 infection in public transport. Dissimilar to trust, however, the results revealed no relationship between fatalistic beliefs and risk perception, but a significant direct effect of fatalistic beliefs on demand for risk mitigation. To reinforce public demand for mitigating the risk of COVID-19 in public transport, the study calls on policymakers to exploit public trust resources for more effective risk communication, through disseminating the gradually accumulating evidence-based information regarding the infectivity and the virulence of COVID-19 and the scientific risk of infection. The study also underlined the potential importance of considering fatalistic beliefs when developing effective risk communication policies and practices to enhance public support for COVID-19 risk mitigation in public transport.     

Experiences of older adults interacting with a shared autonomous vehicle and recommendations for future implementation

IntroductionA recognised potential benefit of autonomous vehicles is increased mobility for older adults. However, this group is more apprehensive about adoption, which may hinder uptake. Shared autonomous vehicles (SAVs) represent a use case that may be especially relevant for older people due to emerging applications in retirement villages and similar precincts. However, little research has examined the SAV-related concerns of older adults and strategies to address them. This study used an exploratory approach involving SAV exposure to identify strategies that may increase older people’s receptiveness to SAVs.MethodOlder adults living in retirement villages (n = 63) were interviewed while interacting with an SAV to examine their needs, expectations, and concerns regarding SAVs. The interview data were coded and thematically analysed.ResultsParticipants recommended the following approaches to ensuring SAVs are useful and acceptable to older adults: providing physical accessibility for those with mobility impairments, comfortable and practical internal layouts, and operating SAVs on convenient routes at useful speeds. Strategies such as exposing older adults to SAVs in operation to encourage uptake and initially ensuring a human assistant is present were suggested methods of increasing receptivity.DiscussionThe findings suggest older passengers are likely to share many of the same reactions to SAVs as the broader population, but with a stronger focus on issues relating to accessibility and the physical layout of the vehicles. The solutions to these issues suggested by the study participants may be useful for those designing SAVs for use in older people’s settings and beyond.     

The give-or-take-some dilemma: An empirical investigation of a hybrid social dilemma

We describe and empirically investigate a hybrid social dilemma that merges give-some and take-some dilemmas by allowing individuals to choose to either give or to take resources from a shared resource pool. Study 1 finds that (a) group size increases the inequality among group members and the likelihood of creating the public good, while reducing the amount of wasted resources; (b) larger bonuses increase provision rates; and (c) asymmetry in the wealth distribution of the group members induces higher levels of inequality of the final outcomes. Following the logic of appropriateness, players with high (low) endowments were more likely to give toward (take from) the shared resource. Study 2 finds that the tendency of the players with high (low) endowments to give (take) is amplified as the difference between endowment levels increased, and the players’ behavior is correlated with, and predictable from, independent judgments of what is perceived as appropriate.     

Should I save or should I not kill? How people solve moral dilemmas depends on which rule is most accessible

The literature on how people solve moral dilemmas often focuses on situations in which individuals have to make a decision where different moral rules are in conflict. In some of these situations, such as in footbridge dilemmas, people have to choose between sacrificing a few people in order to save many. The present research focuses on how people decide what to do in dilemmas involving conflicting moral rules. We propose that the rule that is cognitively most accessible during the decision making process (e.g., “Save lives” or “Do not kill”) will influence how people solve these moral dilemmas. Three studies are reported that indeed demonstrate that the most accessible rule influences willingness to intervene within footbridge dilemmas. This effect is found even when the accessibility of the rule is induced subliminally.     

Participation, Power, and the Role of Community Psychology in Environmental Disputes: A Tale of Two Nuclear Cities

This paper examines public participation and the role of community psychology in an emerging environmental dispute relevant to global climate change (GCC)-whether nuclear power represents a "green" solution. From a dialectical position, we explore the nuclear debate as it is linked to GCC, and more specifically, how participation in related federally-mandated processes may be shaped by power. We present qualitative data from public meetings in two nuclear communities and analyze these data through a lens of social power and environmental justice, including an examination of nukespeak and telepolitical appeals to highlight the complexity of the issues, how the appearance of successful participation may be deceptive, and how consensus may be manipulated. We argue that CP should consider GCC to be one of the most significant social problems of our time and make every effort to be involved in the search for truly "green" solutions.     

The Public Opinion Survey of Human Attributes--Stuttering (POSHA-S): summary framework and empirical comparisons

Purpose

The Public Opinion Survey of Human Attributes-Stuttering (POSHA-S) was developed to make available worldwide a standard measure of public attitudes toward stuttering that is practical, reliable, valid, and translatable. Mean data from past field studies as comparisons for interpretation of POSHA-S results are reported.

Method

Means for POSHA-S items (converted to −100 to +100 scales), components comprising clusters of items, subscores comprising clusters of components, and Overall Stuttering Scores comprising two subscores for stuttering were generated from 64 samples, totaling 2876 respondents who completed experimental versions of the POSHA-S.

Discussion

Lowest, highest, and median sample values, which vary with the addition of new sample data to the growing POSHA-S database archive, provide points of comparison for any potential sample rather than predetermined values.

Conclusions

The final POSHA-S, together with an ongoing and growing archive, can provide increasingly meaningful comparisons for stakeholders measuring public attitudes toward stuttering.Educational objectives: (1) Describe the subscores and components of the POSHA-S, (2) describe the Overall Stuttering Score of the POSHA-S, and (3) describe the format for interpretation of the POSHA-S.