Wisdom in the Military Context

On the basis of the Berlin wisdom paradigm, we define wisdom in the military context as expert knowledge and judgment concerning in extremis military operations. We measured wisdom in the military context by asking participants to give advice to an inexperienced officer facing an in extremis operation; subsequently, we coded their responses. Data were provided by 74 senior noncommissioned officers (NCOs) in the U.S. defense forces. In support of convergent validity, wisdom in the military context was positively related to general objective wisdom and general self-assessed wisdom. Relationships of wisdom in the military context and general objective wisdom with Big Five personality characteristics were nonsignificant, whereas general self-assessed wisdom was positively related to extraversion, agreeableness, and openness to experience, and it was negatively related to neuroticism. The findings provide initial support for the validity of the new wisdom in the military context measure. We discuss several implications for future research and practice regarding wisdom in the military context.     

A church-based peer-led group intervention for mental illness

Religion and spirituality (R/S) can be powerful supports and provide important coping resources for individuals in recovery. Faith communities seem to offer many advantages for recovery-oriented support, but have rarely been the setting for empirically examined psychosocial rehabilitation efforts. This study describes the outcomes for individuals in Living Grace Groups (LGGs), a peer-led group intervention for mental illness that is based in churches and integrates R/S. Persons at all active LGGs were surveyed before and after participation using well-validated scales for recovery, psychiatric symptoms, and spirituality. LGGs attracted individuals with a broad range of persistent psychiatric difficulties, who described religion as important to them and rated the groups as very helpful. Participants reported improvements in recovery and spirituality as well as reductions in psychiatric symptoms. R/S-integrated support groups may improve care by increasing cultural match, as well as providing more access to recovery-oriented care by tapping the resources of faith communities.     

Subjective socioeconomic status and departmental identity interact to reduce depressive tendencies and negative affective responding for female undergraduates

How do subjective socioeconomic status (SES) and departmental identity promote the mental health of female undergraduates? We conducted a questionnaire study (Study 1) and an experimental study (Study 2) with undergraduates enrolled in a women's junior college to examine whether subjective SES and group identity have an interactive effect on mental health. Results indicated that in participants with high subjective SES, increased identification with their reference in‐group (the academic department) was associated with a decreased tendency for depression (Study 1). These individuals also showed reduced negative affect when responding in situations of social exclusion (Study 2). These effects were absent, or had a reduced intensity in participants with low subjective SES. In sum, subjective SES and departmental identity interact to reduce depressive tendencies and negative affective responding for female undergraduates. Individuals with higher subjective SES may gain more benefits from group identity. We have discussed the implications of these findings.     

Coordinated policy action and flexible coalitional psychology: How evolution made humans so good at politics

The observation that politics makes strange bedfellows may be hackneyed, but it is also often true: Politicians and other actors in the policy process routinely align themselves on specific issues with actors with whom they otherwise have broad disagreements. This fits with social psychological research showing that humans have a coalitional psychology that is remarkably flexible, allowing us to feel strong bonds toward the coalitions to which we belong but to also break those bonds and move on to new coalitions when circumstances change. How is this flexibility possible? Here we examine the possible ways in which evolutionary forces helped shape our species’ trademark flexible coalitional psychology, focusing in particular on gene-culture coevolution and cultural group selection. We conclude with some examples of coordinated policy action among erstwhile foes in contemporary politics.     

Social group norms,school norms,and children's aggressive intentions

This study examined whether the effect of social group norms on 7‐ and 10‐year‐old children's aggression can be moderated or extinguished by contrary school norms. Children (n=384) participated in a simulation in which they were assigned membership in a social group for a drawing competition against an outgroup. Participants learnt that their group had a norm of inclusion, exclusion, or exclusion‐plus‐relational aggression, toward non‐group members, and that the school either had a norm of inclusion, or no such norm. Findings indicated that group norms influenced the participants' direct and indirect aggressive intentions, but that the school norm moderated the group norm effect, with the school's norm effect tending to be greater for indirect vs. direct aggression, males vs. females, and younger vs. older participants. Discussion focused on how school norms can be developed, endorsed, and presented so that they have their most lasting effect on children. Aggr. Behav. 36:195–204, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Consider the Children

Summary

In this article, we consider interventions for children exposed to family violence in light of the research on children's problems associated with witnessing family violence. Next, we review risk and protective factors related to these children's adjustment with the view that all children are not similarly affected by exposure to family violence. Against this background, we then move to consider directions for interventions from a systemic perspective. We take into account not only the exposure to interactions between their mother and father, but also children's relationships with their mother, father, and siblings, as well as within broader systems such as the peer group, the school, and the community. We consider the critical challenges within each of these important systems for children exposed to family violence, and we propose some potential interventions to address the problems. Finally, we summarize an evaluation of an intervention that incorporates some of the elements identified by a systemic perspective. The evaluation revealed a significant improvement in children's self-reports of depression and anxiety over the course of the program. Mothers rated their children as significantly improved in emotional and hyperactive behaviour problems. There was no relation between mothers' involvement in counselling and children's improvement. Overall, the results suggest that the Peer Group Counselling Program effectively provided support to children exposed to family violence. Finally, we discuss the steps necessary to support children and families in moving toward violence-free lives.     

道德领导与员工建言：一个调节-中介模型的构建与检验

近年来, 研究者就如何激发员工公开讲出自己的观点、意见和问题进行了大量的探索。其中, 道德领导对员工建言的效应受到了越来越多研究的关注。在以往研究的基础上, 本研究构建了一个调节-中介模型以探讨道德领导影响员工建言的中介心理机制及其边界条件。根据社会交换理论和社会信息加工理论, 本文分别提出两种不同的中介变量-- 责任知觉和心理安全感-- 来解释道德领导与员工建言之间的关系。在此基础上, 本研究进一步假设权力距离会正向调节变量之间的间接关系。通过对某一零售企业239名员工的两阶段调查, 我们对以上研究假设进行了检验, 结果总体上支持了本研究的理论预期。本研究的发现有利于我们了解道德领导影响建言行为的心理机制, 指导管理者采取有针对性的措施, 以期有效地管理企业中的员工建言行为。