Developing agency through good work: Longitudinal effects of job autonomy and skill utilization on locus of control

An internal locus of control has benefits for individuals across multiple life domains. Nevertheless, whether it is possible to enhance an individual's internal locus of control has rarely been considered. The authors propose that the presence of job autonomy and skill utilization in work can enhance internal locus of control, both directly and indirectly via job satisfaction. Three waves of data over a four-year period from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey (N = 3045) were analyzed. Results showed that job autonomy directly shaped internal locus of control over time, as did job satisfaction. Skill utilization did not play a role in terms of affecting locus of control, and the indirect effects of both job autonomy and skill utilization via job satisfaction were weak. This study suggests the importance of job autonomy in promoting the development of an employee's internal locus of control.     

得失情境下第三方惩罚决策差异的神经机制：基于rTMS的研究

本研究应用低频rTMS技术,通过在第三方惩罚（研究1）及第三方惩罚和第三方补偿（恢复性惩罚）并存的情况下（研究2）,对个体双侧vmPFC功能进行抑制,探索vmPFC在得失情境下第三方惩罚决策中的作用。研究1结果表明,rTMS抑制右侧vmPFC功能将降低损失情境下的第三方惩罚,收益情境下未发生改变。研究2得到与研究1一致的结果,且第三方惩罚减少程度更大,第三方补偿并未发生改变。这些结果强调了vmPFC与第三方惩罚紧密相关,在第三方判断得失情境的影响时起关键作用。     

Detecting deception through small talk and comparable truth baselines

The present experiment investigates similarities in participants' nonverbal and verbal behaviours when responding to baseline and investigative questions, comparing two different types of baselines. Police literature suggests to obtain a baseline through small talk, whereas academic literature underlines the importance of baseline and investigative themes to be comparable. First, a baseline was obtained (either small talk or comparable), then the investigative questioning started. During the investigative questioning, participants either truthfully reported a set of actions they had actually performed or lied about them. Findings revealed that truth tellers and liars in the small talk condition did not differ in their level of similarity when responding to the baseline and investigative questions. In the comparable truth condition, levels of verbal similarity between the baseline and investigative questions were higher for truth tellers than for liars, but only for one variable: spatial detail. Results therefore showed that a small talk baseline should not be used to assess interviewees' credibility, and that a comparable truth baseline, although better than a small talk baseline, is still problematic.     

心理咨询中的突然获益：工作同盟及初始症状的影响

对82位当事人在咨询中的症状改变过程进行纵向研究,检验突然获益模式（Sudden Gain, SG）的发生及其与咨询效果的联系,并探索初始症状水平、工作同盟对SG的影响。结果表明,24.93%的当事人经历了SG,咨询效果显著好于其他当事人;SG组与对照组在初始症状水平和总体工作同盟水平上差异显著。结论：SG出现于本土心理咨询中,经历SG的当事人取得了更好的咨询效果,工作同盟与初始症状水平与SG的发生相关。     

Children’s sequential information search is sensitive to environmental probabilities

We investigated 4th-grade children’s search strategies on sequential search tasks in which the goal is to identify an unknown target object by asking yes–no questions about its features. We used exhaustive search to identify the most efficient question strategies and evaluated the usefulness of children’s questions accordingly. Results show that children have good intuitions regarding questions’ usefulness and search adaptively, relative to the statistical structure of the task environment. Search was especially efficient in a task environment that was representative of real-world experiences. This suggests that children may use their knowledge of real-world environmental statistics to guide their search behavior. We also compared different related search tasks. We found positive transfer effects from first doing a number search task on a later person search task.     

Ideal body shape preferences and eating disorder scores in adolescent women

Abstract

Using the body figure-preference ratings of Fallon and Rozin (1985), this study investigated the relationship between body shape preferences and eating disorder scores in a sample of adolescent women. These young women were found to express a large degree of body dissatisfaction, which was positively related to eating disorder symptomology. For the sample as a whole, there was no difference between ratings of the ideal figure and that perceived as most attractive. However, the Bulimia and Perfectionism scales did offer unique prediction of the ideal figure, over and above the Attractive figure. It was concluded that young women with high bulimic scores wish to be thinner than what they perceive as attractive. The present study suggests that what motivates this wish is the search for perfectionism.     

Coactive processing of sensory signals for in-group but not out-group stimuli

ABSTRACT

There is ample evidence showing that decision times are shorter when detecting two targets for which the same response is required, compared to when only one of the targets is present—resulting in a redundancy gain. Though effects of perceptual manipulations on redundancy gains are established, effects of social associations are still unclear. Here, we examined for the first time whether associating arbitrary stimuli with in-group as opposed to out-group targets modulates redundancy gains. Participants made associations between a shape, a colour and either in- or out-group labels. They then had to discriminate whether in- or out-group stimuli appeared (single or redundant features). Responses to in-group but not to out-group stimuli violated predictions of models in which the associated features are processed independently, and were consistent with in-group stimuli being processed with super-capacity. Our results, replicated across two experiments, providing the first evidence that there is enhanced perceptual integration for information associated with an in-group.     

Responsible Teenage Fatherhood in a South African Historically Disadvantaged Community

The study analysed the relationships between teacher ratings and standardised test scores in Reading and Mathematics for students receiving learning support for learning difficulties (n = 60, mean age= 16.3). Teacher ratings were found to significantly predict pupils' performance in Reading. Students with extended learning support had significantly higher teacher attainment ratings in both Reading and Mathematics. Teacher judgment ratings combined with standardized test scores were reliable for assessing instructional effectiveness. Standardised tests were more reliable than teacher ratings in assessing academic attainment.     

The ‘workshy’

Abstract

This article is an attempt to apply the Kleinian ‘positions’ to long-term unemployment and to use them to suggest an alternative to punitive concepts such as ‘workshy’, while discussing the paradox in which a sincere attempt to find work exists alongside behaviour which seems designed to sabotage it. Such sabotaging behaviour not only offers secondary gains but affords channels for projections which mitigate unresolved aggression. While effective in coping with long-term unemployment, these mechanisms inhibit development and ‘benign cycles’ are gridlocked. Change and growth are seen as threats and aggression cannot be worked through and must be projected. Persecutory anxieties and a lack of enrichment by ‘otherness’ results and is reinforced by the reality of chronic unemployment. No opportunity for reparative work exists, so ‘concern’ and a sense of responsibility are inhibited. Narcissistic omnipotence and grandiosity is a feature. Long-term unemployment and homelessness show similar revolving door patterns connected to similar coping mechanisms.     

Extending the Debate Between Spearman and Wilson 1929: When do Single Variables Optimally Reproduce the Common Part of the Observed Covariances?

The covariances of observed variables reproduced from conventional factor score predictors are generally not the same as the covariances reproduced from the common factors. We sought to find a factor score predictor that optimally reproduces the common part of the observed covariances. It was found algebraically that—under some conditions—the single observed variable with highest loading on a factor reproduces the non-diagonal elements of the observed covariance matrix more exactly than the conventional factor score predictors. This finding is linked to Spearman's and Wilson's 1929 debate on the use of single variables as factor score predictors. A population-based and a sample-based simulation study confirmed the algebraic result that taking a single variable can outperform conventional factor score predictors in reproducing the non-diagonal covariances when the nonzero loading size and the number of nonzero loadings per factor are small. The results indicated that a weighted aggregation of variables does not necessarily lead to an improvement of the score over the variable with the highest loading.