Driver social desirability scale: A Turkish adaptation and examination in the driving context

Self-report data collection methods are widely used techniques to gather information in studies related to road safety. One of the most considerable limitations of self-reports is social desirability bias. One way to overcome the possible detrimental effects of socially desirable responding is to control it by using social desirability scales. With respect to that, the present study aims to adapt the Driver Social Desirability Scale into Turkish, examine its construct validity, and investigate the relationship between social desirability and driving-related measures. A total of 351 drivers between the ages of 19 and 59 completed a questionnaire including a demographic information form, the Driver Behavior Questionnaire (DBQ), the Driver Skill Inventory (DSI), the Two-Dimensional Social Desirability Scale (SDS), and the Driver Social Desirability Scale (DSDS). Factor analysis supported the two-factor structure of the DSDS in the Turkish sample. Social desirability correlated positively with age and driving experience. Female drivers reported higher levels of driver impression management, while male drivers scored higher on self-deception. Driver impression management was associated negatively with violations and perceptual-motor skills and positively with safety skills. Lastly, driver self-deception was positively related to violations, positive driver behaviors, perceptual-motor skills, and safety skills. The study shows that the Turkish version of the DSDS is a reliable and structurally valid instrument with incremental validity compared to the general social desirability measure in predicting driving-related outcomes.     

Magnitude,timing and duration of mood state and cognitive effects of acute moderate exercise in major depressive disorder

BackgroundAcute exercise generally improves mood state and cognitive functioning in healthy adults. However, the impact of acute exercise on primary symptoms in adults with major depressive disorder (MDD) is poorly understood. The present randomized cross-over study evaluated the magnitude, timing, and duration of the psychological effects of 30 min of moderate-intensity cycling exercise compared to quiet rest in 30 adults (21 female) with MDD.MethodsDepressed mood state (Profile of Mood States Short Form-Depression; POMS-D), state anhedonia (anhedonia Visual Analog Scale [VAS], and Dimensional Anhedonia Rating Scale [DARS]), and cognition (inhibition via Stroop and working memory via the 2-back task) were assessed pre, mid, post, 25-, 50- and 75-min after each session.ResultsGeneralized estimating equations demonstrated significant session by time interactions for POMS-D and VAS indicating small-to-large improvements in mood state and anhedonia up to 75 min post-exercise (p < 0.05; Cohen’s d ranges: POMS [-0.69, -0.95]; DARS, [-0.02, 0.16]; VAS [0.33, 0.83]) with greater immediate effects that lessened somewhat across time. For cognition, Stroop reaction time improved during exercise, but was worse at 25- and 50-min post-exercise compared to quiet rest (p < 0.05); no differences were found for 2-back reaction time.LimitationsThe small sample and continued psychological effects at 75 min indicate a potentially longer-lasting response than was measured herein.ConclusionPerforming short bouts of moderate intensity exercise appears to be effective for management of key symptoms (anhedonia, depressed mood state) in adults with MDD. The time immediately post-exercise may be ideal for performing emotionally challenging tasks and/or tasks where a low symptom severity would be helpful (e.g., psychotherapy).     

多元文化经历对领导者能力及发展的影响

随着全球化发展的深入, 越来越多的企业领导者具有多元文化经历。多元文化经历是指个体具有直接或间接与外国文化元素或人群进行交互的经历。拟从领导者发展(leader development)和领导力发展(leadership development)两个层面, 全面地探讨多元文化经历对企业领导者能力形成及发展的影响：第一, 探讨多元文化经历对领导者能力发展(包括个人层面、关系层面和社会层面能力)的影响及内部机制; 第二, 探讨多元文化经历对领导力发展(包括领导力涌现、领导力选拔和领导力效能)的影响及内部机制。项目成果不仅能够丰富领导者能力形成与发展等组织管理相关理论, 还能为企业的全球化管理及国际化人才培养实践提供建议。     

The influence of item order on intentional response distortion in the assessment of high potentials: Assessing pilot applicants

An experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of item order and questionnaire content on faking good or intentional response distortion. It was hypothesized that intentional response distortion would either increase towards the end of a long questionnaire, as learning effects might make it easier to adjust responses to a faking good schema, or decrease because applicants' will to distort responses is reduced if the questionnaire lasts long enough. Furthermore, it was hypothesized that certain types of questionnaire content are especially vulnerable to response distortion. Eighty‐four pre‐selected pilot applicants filled out a questionnaire consisting of 516 items including items from the NEO five factor inventory (NEO FFI), NEO personality inventory revised (NEO PI‐R) and business‐focused inventory of personality (BIP). The positions of the items were varied within the applicant sample to test if responses are affected by item order, and applicants' response behaviour was additionally compared to that of volunteers. Applicants reported significantly higher mean scores than volunteers, and results provide some evidence of decreased faking tendencies towards the end of the questionnaire. Furthermore, it could be demonstrated that lower variances or standard deviations in combination with appropriate (often higher) mean scores can serve as an indicator for faking tendencies in group comparisons, even if effects are not significant.     

Working with Older Adults: Predictors of Attitudes Towards Ageing in Psychology and Social Work Students,Faculty, and Practitioners

The Australian population is experiencing a rapid ageing of the population, and as such, an increased need for gerontological practitioners in the helping professions will continue to grow. Terror management theory (TMT), which was used to frame this study, posits that because of the fact that humans are aware of their own mortality, they are compelled to avoid the anxiety associated with it. Personal ageing and interaction with older adults may be reminders of the unavoidable decline and death that faces us all. The purpose of this study is to examine comfort in spending time with older adults amongst students, academic teaching staff, and practitioners in the fields of psychology and social work. We sought to determine if TMT helped predict fear of being with older adults. Ageism, contact with older adults, and known demographic factors associated with attitudes towards older adults were also examined. Hierarchical multiple regression explained nearly 46% of the variance in comfort with older adults and indicated that fear of ageing, positive ageism, negative ageism, contact with older adults, and sex were significant predictors. Educational efforts aimed at addressing beliefs about ageing and older adults may contribute to further comfort in working with older adults.     

The impact of pressured information management on boys' and girls' psychological functioning

This study involving 463 adolescents examined the impact of pressured information management with mothers on boys' and girls' subsequent psychological functioning. This novel concept of pressured information management involved both pressured secrecy and disclosure and was defined as the degree to which adolescents feel they have no choice but to engage in these strategies. While pressured secrecy was especially aversive for girls, yielding associations with both depression and anxiety, it was related to stress only in boys. Pressured disclosure was less detrimental, and in fact, had a positive influence on girls' anxiety over time. Alternate models for these effects were considered but not supported by the data. Together, these findings highlight the importance of considering teens' reasons for engaging in different information management strategies and suggest adolescents who feel they have no choice but to keep secrets or disclose information to mothers may experience psychological consequences that are gender-specific.     

The bias in the bias: Comparative optimism as a function of event social undesirability

We present a new event-level predictor of comparative optimism: comparative optimism is larger for more socially undesirable events. A meta-analysis shows that event social undesirability predicts comparative optimism effect sizes reported in the literature, over and above the effects of other known predictors. Four experiments corroborate this finding and demonstrate the key role played by respondents’ impression management motives. The effect of social undesirability decreases with stronger than usual anonymity assurances, increases with greater impression management tendencies, and reverses when people want to make a negative impression. Because social undesirability is correlated to other known predictors of comparative optimism (e.g., controllability, severity), it is important to take its effects into account when assessing the effect of other event characteristics. The current research adds to, and bridges, the literatures on event-level predictors and impression management in comparative optimism.