Social communication fears: Factor analysis and gender invariance of the short-form of the personal report of confidence as a speaker in Spain

Public speaking is a highly prevalent fear that prevents from successful social communication. The Personal Report of Confidence as a Speaker (PRCS) is one of the most commonly used measures to assess people’s fear of public speaking. However, few studies have evaluated its factor structure. In this paper, two studies analyzed the psychometric properties of the short form of the PRCS (Hook, Smith, & Valentiner, 2008) and its convergent validity with the Self Statements During Public Speaking (SSPS) scale in Spain. Study 1 (N = 190) provided information about exploratory factor analysis and internal consistency. Study 2, with a different sample (N = 392), complemented Study 1 with confirmatory factor analysis, internal consistency, convergent validity with SSPS and test of measurement invariance across gender groups. Results of exploratory factor analysis yielded a one factor solution. Different indices of the confirmatory factor analysis (CFI, TLI, SRMR, RMSEA) confirmed a good fit. Internal consistency was high in both studies and convergent validity with SSPS was found. Evidence of configural, metric and scalar invariance across gender groups was obtained. These findings support the use of the short form of the PRCS and suggest that it is a useful instrument for public speaking assessment.     

What to Say to an Online Support‐Seeker? The Influence of Others' Responses and Support‐Seekers' Replies

Research on online support forums has largely overlooked the quality of support provision. The present experiment examined how others' responses and a support-seeker's reply can influence action‐focused supportiveness, emotion‐focused supportiveness, and politeness of readers' support messages. Results showed that the supportiveness of others' comments was associated with subsequent readers' perceptions of public opinion toward the support‐seeker and readers' liking of the support‐seeker, which in turn influenced the quality of readers' support messages.     

Joint presentation reduces the effect of emotion on evaluation of public actions

In four experiments conducted on the world wide web, subjects evaluated the priority of policies presented separately or presented jointly in pairs, and/or reported their emotional responses to the problem that each policy addressed. Strength of emotional responses was more strongly related to priority when policies were presented separately than when they were presented jointly. We found evidence for one mechanism that could produce these results: joint presentation increases the evaluability of the policies, thus increasing the influence of cognitive evaluations of importance on priority judgements, and reducing the relative influence of emotional responses. We also found evidence that importance can affect emotional responses. We found no evidence for other mechanisms in which the emotions evoked by one item spread to the other item in joint presentation. The role of evaluability points to the applied value of evaluating policies in the context of alternatives.     

The Emergence and Evolution of the Expression “Conflict of Interests” in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Science</Emphasis>: A Historical Overview, 1880–2006

The tendency is strong to take the notion of "conflict of interests" for granted as if it had an invariant meaning and an ethical content independent of the historical context. It is doubtful however, from an historical and sociological point of view, that many of the cases now considered as instances of "conflicts of interests" would also have been conceived and perceived as such in, say, the 1930s. The idea of a "conflict of interests" presupposes that there are indeed interests in conflict. Conversely, as long as there is a consensus among the different groups involved, they will not conceive and even less denounce a given practice as being an instance of a "conflict of interests". In this article we will show that the content of the discussions over conflicts of interests has changed over time in close relation with the transformations of the research system. In other words: there are social conditions for the emergence of "conflicts of interests". The changing meaning of the notion is assessed by analyzing the presence of the expression "conflicts of interests" in the magazine Science over the past century. Three different meanings emerge and their content has evolved in close link with the changing structure of the relations between the scientific community first with the State and then with industry. It moved from a situation external to the scientific community to a debate going on inside the scientific community generated by the growing relations between university and industries.     

To Serve or Not to Serve: Ethical and Policy Implications

The Institute of Medicine (IOM) is one of the nation's more influential health‐related non‐profit organizations. It plays a large role in shaping health policy by commissioning panels to develop “white papers” describing research and recommendations on a variety of health topics. These white paper publications are often used to help make policy decisions at the legislative and executive levels. Such a prominent institution might seem like a natural ally for policy‐related collaborative efforts. As community psychologists, we strongly endorse efforts to positively influence public policy at the national level. However, while serving on influential panels and commissions like the IOM might seem to be very much part of the ethos of our discipline, there are occasions when such institutions are pursuing a mission that inadvertently has the potential to instigate divisive friction among community activists and organizations. A case study is presented whereby I describe my decision not to accept an invitation to serve on a controversial IOM panel. I explore the ethical challenges regarding maintaining my independence from this institution and its attempt to redefine chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), as well as the process of searching for alternative avenues for collaborating with community activists to influence policy related to these debilitating illnesses.     

Prévention des risques psychosociaux au sein d’établissements publics d’enseignement agricole : quand le diagnostic organisationnel participe d’une amélioration de la qualité de vie au travail

The aim of this article is to show that a diagnosis of psychosocial risks based on a mixed and participative methodology contributes to improving the quality of life at work. It is based on a “Quality of life at work” approach set up within a public educational institution for agricultural studies. The quantitative part includes the Job Content Questionnaire by Karasek, Siegrist's Effort/Reward Imbalance Questionnaire, the Maslach Burnout Inventory, the Negative Acts Questionnaire (revised) and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale from Zigmond and Snaith. The qualitative part is based on focus group discussions. Results have brought to light the groups of employees which are most exposed to risks, especially those in the “school life” sector. They also show that lack of recognition, support and communication are problems experienced by all the staff members of the school. In order to enhance employees’ quality of life within the working environment, a multitude of co-constructed “tailor-made” ways and means of improvement have been suggested. The study shows how the selected methodology contributes to the quality of the diagnosis.     

哈贝马斯在汉语世界的历史效果--以《公共领域的结构转型》为例

本文的着眼点不是全面而系统地梳理哈贝马斯在汉语学界被接受的历史过程,而是试图以哈贝马斯的代表作《公共领域的结构转型》作为范例,通过该书在汉语学界近十年来的接受、研究与应用,来阐述哈贝马斯在汉语世界的历史效果,并试图为建立哈贝马斯与汉语世界之间的良性互动关系寻找途径。     

On the near miss in public good dilemmas: How upward counterfactuals influence group stability when the group fails

In two studies we investigated the impact of degree of collective failure in a public good dilemma (near miss vs. large miss) on group members' negative reactions (negative affect, attributions of responsibility for the failure, and intention to leave the group). The results show that upward counterfactual thinking has more impact on members' negative responses when experiencing a near miss rather than a large miss. In Experiment 1, the results show that in the case of a near miss (and not a large miss), negative affect and attributions of responsibility were higher when other-focused counterfactuals rather than self-focused counterfactuals were elicited. Negative affect was found to mediate the effect on attributions of responsibility. Experiment 2 replicates these findings on a wider range of negative responses and reveals that the effect of counterfactual thought on willingness to leave the group in the case of a near miss is mediated by attributions of responsibility.     

Social desirability, approval and public good contribution

Behaviour in public good experiments is usually attributed partly to rational self-interest and partly to social norms and preferences. This paper examines if sensitivity to social desirability affects public good contribution and in what way. A pre-experimental measure of social desirability (SDS17) was used to match partners in a two-person public good game. Half the participants received experimenter approval based upon their investment. Contrary to predictions, the highest public good investment was by low social desirability participants in the approval condition. Social desirability was not positively related to pro-social behaviour. We consider its relation to experimental and social conformity.