Psychological Perspectives on Entrepreneurship: Cognitive and Social Factors in Entrepreneurs' Success

Why are some entrepreneurs so much more successful than others in starting new companies—ones that create wealth for their societies as well as themselves? Growing evidence suggests that the answer involves the influence of both cognitive and social factors. Successful entrepreneurs appear to think differently than other persons in several respects (e.g., they are less likely to engage in counterfactual thinking but more likely to show overconfidence in their judgments). Similarly, successful entrepreneurs appear to be higher in social competence —the ability to interact effectively with others (e.g., they are better at social perception and adapting to new social situations). These results suggest that the principles and findings of psychology can be invaluable to researchers in the field of entrepreneurship, providing important insights into the factors that influence entrepreneurs' success.     

Classifying the sense of community trajectories among South Korea adolescents

We examined the longitudinal patterns of the sense of community among the middle and the late adolescents. For this purpose, we used the latent class growth analysis to explore the trajectories of the sense of community, and multinomial logistic regression was conducted to identify the significant predictors. The data for this study were taken from the Korean Children and Youth Panel Survey from 2010 to 2016. The major findings are as follows. First, three latent classes were identified: low‐, middle‐, and high‐level increasing group. Gender, mobile phone addiction, parental affection, household income, peer and teacher relationship, and school activities were significantly associated with the latent classes. On the basis of the results, implications with suggestions for future research were discussed.     

Principles of Discipleship and Church Growth from Acts 2:46-47

The purpose of this article is to make a comprehensive exegesis of the text of Acts 2:46-47 and to extract basic biblical principles for the work of discipleship. Along with this topic, this article also analyzes the aspect of the growth of the church, since the study text indicates that the Lord added new converts to the church, although the church itself had an internal task to fulfil. Even though church growth has generally been distanced from doctrinal catechesis in the church in the same way that theology is divorced from ecclesiastical practice, this work attempts to show that a responsible and simple exegesis of the text can integrate the “theory” of doctrine with missionary practice and the responsibility to make disciples, so that the church increases in membership.     

Inaction inertia in retirement saving

In retirement saving, many people miss out on early opportunities to save and subsequently fail to take adequate actions for a long time thereafter. We examined whether these two observations—the initial failure to act and the subsequent inertia—could be related through the phenomenon of inaction inertia. In Experiment 1 (N = 180), participants were less likely to save for retirement when the difference in annual return between the current opportunity and the missed opportunity was large versus small. In Experiment 2 (N = 180), participants were less likely to start saving for retirement when reminded of a missed opportunity 10 years ago versus 1 year ago. These data constitute the first demonstration of inaction inertia in retirement saving: People's reluctance to act on attractive saving opportunities may be induced by their previous inaction. In Experiment 3 (N = 340) and Experiment 4 (N = 628), we find that the observed inertia is the product of a tendency to underestimate exponential growth combined with a focus on past opportunities. Building on this mechanism, Experiment 5 (N = 916) provided evidence for a potential remedy; the inaction inertia effect completely disappeared when focus was shifted from required contributions to future outcomes.     

Marital satisfaction in covenant versus standard marriages: Is there a difference?

After the rapid increase of the American divorce rate in the late 20th century, one of the most conspicuous efforts of the marriage movement in the 1990s that was used to increase marital stability was the legislation of the covenant marriage license, a more restricted marriage license issued in three different states of the U.S. To investigate the marital life of newlywed covenant versus standard couples, a large-scale 5-year couple study was conducted between 1998 and 2003 in Louisiana. The present study uses this large-sample, multiple-wave, multiple-group dyadic dataset to examine differences in co-development and divorce rates in 297 covenant and 380 standard mixed-sex couples using a multiple group growth curve modeling and survival analysis. We examined differences in marital trajectories between covenant and standard couples as well as between husbands and wives in each marital group. The results show (1) that the couples in both groups experienced, on average, declines in marital satisfaction, and such a decline was slower in covenant husbands than their wives as well as those in standard marriages, and (2) that co-development in marital satisfaction was more prominent in standard marriages than in covenant marriages, meaning standard couple's marital satisfaction declined at a more similar rate than that of covenant couples. We provide possible explanations and discuss practical implications.     

A technique for facilitating the creation of mind

There are two forces operating in people. One resists pain and violently opposes integration. The other force is slowly bringing coherence and integration to what is inside. There has been a tendency within psychoanalysis to focus on the former. In this paper the author focuses on the latter. The hypothesis here is that if the analyst focuses upon the signs of integration that this assists the process of growing self-awareness. The negative transference emerges as the undeveloped aspects of the psyche are recognized by the patient.     

Judeo-Christian Clergy and Personal Crisis: Religion,Posttraumatic Growth and Well Being

This study investigated the psychological impact of personal traumatic events in a sample of 30 Judeo-Christian clergy. Use of religion-based coping strategies following a difficult life event was expected to facilitate posttraumatic growth, and posttraumatic growth was, in turn, expected to result in greater current well being. Both predictions were supported. In addition, higher levels of rumination soon after the event were associated with greater posttraumatic growth. The results indicated that clergy benefited from both positive and negative styles of religious coping, and that posttraumatic growth was not associated with greater well being for this sample. Deborah Proffitt, M.A., is in private practice in Charlotte, North Carolina. Arnie Cann, Ph.D., is a Professor in the Psychology Department at the University of North Carolina Charlotte. A social psychologist, he is involved in research on posttraumatic growth and interpersonal relationships. Lawrence G. Calhoun, Ph.D., is a Professor in the Psychology Department at the University of North Carolina Charlotte. A clinical psychologist, he has studied posttraumatic growth and responses to crises. Richard G. Tedeschi, Ph.D., is a Professor in the Psychology Department at the University of North Carolina Charlotte. A clinical psychologist, he has studied posttraumatic growth and bereavement issues.