Guarding the perimeter: The outside-inside dichotomy in disgust and bodily experience

Blending phenomenological and evolutionary approaches, three studies explored the relationship between the body, the self, and disgust. Study 1 demonstrated that body parts that interface with the environment are sensed more than internal body parts, and are more intimately associated with the self. Studies 2 and 3, exploring the bodily distribution of disgust via organ transplantation scenarios, revealed that (a) transplantation of interface body parts is more disgusting than transplantation of internal parts; (b) others' interface parts elicit greater disgust than others' internal parts; and (c) individual differences in disgust sensitivity manifest primarily in reasoning about interface parts. The outer/inner dichotomy is a fundamental feature of the relationship between body and self, reflecting the adaptive utility of concentrating attention on the interface with the environment. Correspondingly, disgust, the emotion that protects the organism from contamination, is focused on the intersection between the body and the environment.     

Key questions regarding work engagement

This article discusses the concept of work engagement and summarizes research on its most important antecedents. The authors formulate 10 key questions and shape a research agenda for engagement. In addition to the conceptual development and measurement of enduring work engagement, the authors discuss the importance of state work engagement. Further, they argue that the social context is crucial and may set the stage for a climate for engagement with an important role for management. Engaged employees conserve their own engagement through a process of job crafting. After discussing possible dark sides of engagement and the relationship between engagement and health, the article closes with a discussion of organizational interventions to increase work engagement.     

Towards a multilevel approach of employee well-being

In this commentary, I respond to Ilies, Aw & Pluut’s (Intraindividual models of employee well-being: What have we learned and where do we go from here?, European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, in press) call for a theory that distinguishes between traits and states of employee well-being. I use Job Demands–Resources theory to illustrate how we may integrate within- and between-person approaches and findings to design an overall multilevel model of employee well-being. My perspective builds on Ilies et al. and recent findings of research combining relatively stable “traits” with fluctuating states of employee well-being. My goals with this commentary are three-fold: (1) give more insight into possible differences between variables at different levels of analysis; (2) use research to show how trait and state levels of (predictors of) employee well-being may interact; (3) propose a multilevel model that may stimulate future research on the topic.     

Just more of the same,or different? An integrative theoretical framework for the study of cumulative interruptions at work

We propose a theoretical framework that explores the accumulation of work interruptions and their effects. Most research studies have dealt with interruptions as isolated phenomena, ignoring the simultaneous or sequential occurrence of interruptions common in everyday life. We fill this gap and provide insight into the process of the accumulation of interruptions by mapping deep-level regulation onto an observable sequence of actions. Furthermore, we explain how cumulative interruptions can lead to qualitatively different effects because of the interaction and joint development of isolated effects, identifying some mediating and moderating factors. In doing so, we disclose the relationships between the effects of single interruptions found in laboratory studies and the impacts on health and well-being of multiple interruptions found in applied research.     

Stability and change model of job resources and work engagement: A seven-year three-wave follow-up study

Using the stability and change model, conservation of resources theory and the job demands-resources model, this study aimed to determine: (1) the extent to which work engagement and job resources can be explained by a component reflecting stability and a component reflecting change in these constructs, and (2) the strength and direction of the relationship between work engagement and job resources when their stable components are controlled for. The study was carried out among 1,964 Finnish dentists over a seven-year time period (2003–2010), using a three-wave dataset. Some of the dentists had changed jobs during the follow-up, and therefore the research questions were validated among groups of job stayers and job changers. The stability and change models were examined using structural equation modelling. The results showed that 69–77% of the variance of dentists’ work engagement, and 46–49% of the variance of job resources was explained by the component reflecting stability. However, although there was a positive relationship between job resources and work engagement, the primary direction of this relationship could not be determined. Either job resources or work engagement may be considered as the initiator of this relationship. Job change did not affect the results.     

“Toxin handling” and well-being: The case of the human resources manager

This study uses the job demands–resources model and multiple role theory to gain an understanding of the “toxin handling–well-being” relationship. “Toxin handlers” are empathetic managers willing to try to address pain and suffering in organizations (Frost, 2007). We use data from semistructured, in-depth interviews with HR managers to investigate the impact of the toxin handling role on well-being. The interviews indicate that toxin handling does not necessarily lead to the toxin handler’s ill health, because factors such as organizational and personal resources can influence that relationship. Further, toxin handlers can face very different toxin handling demands. These differences in the toxin handler’s resources and demands can lead to the full spectrum of possible health consequences of toxin handling (from decreased to enhanced health) for different toxin handlers.     

The Effects of Library User-Education Programmes on the Information-Seeking Behaviour of Brisbane College of Theology Students

ABSTRACT

An increasing proportion of students entering the Brisbane College of Theology (BCT) are adult learners and engaged in theological education for general academic purposes or personal enrichment. In meeting the needs of these students, the user-education programmes conducted by the BCT Libraries endeavour to address the Australian Information Literacy Standards.¹ The literature reveals that information literacy is learned through experience primarily shaped by both librarians and faculty. This case study, which uses an adaptation of Biggs' model of presage, process, and product, looks at the information search process from the perspective of one theological library. As a phenomenographic study, it examines the interconnected theories of students' experience, perception, approach, and learning outcomes in the information search process. It will be shown here that user-education programmes and mediation with the librarian significantly influence the information-seeking behaviour of students.     

Exploring personality preferences in relation to psychological career resources among managerial staff in the Western Cape fast food industry

The study explored the relationship between individuals' personality preferences (as measured by the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, Form M) and their psychological career resources (as measured by the Psychological Career Resources Inventory) and whether the personality types differed significantly in terms of their psychological career resources. The participants were a non-probability sample (N?=?81; females?=?74%, blacks?=?78%) of managerial-level staff from five fast food franchise restaurants in the Western Cape, South Africa. Quantitative statistical procedures were used to explore the association between the participants' personality preferences and psychological career resources. Findings suggest introverted and extraverted personality type preferences to be significantly associated with the participants' psychological career resources. Major differences were observed for the introverted sensing feeling perceiving (ISFP), extraverted sensing feeling judging (ESFJ), introverted sensing feeling judging (ISFJ), extraverted sensing thinking judging (ESTJ) and introverted sensing thinking judging (ISTJ) personality types in their relationship to the career preference of variety/creativity, need for career growth/development, their self/other skills and social connectivity.     

Friendship Similarity During Early Adolescence: Gender and Racial Patterns

We studied the relationship of reciprocity, gender, and racial composition (Caucasian, African American, cross-race) of adolescent friendship dyads to similarity and proximity in 136 young adolescents. We found that adolescents selected friends who were of the same gender and race and that female dyads were more similar than male dyads on verbal achievement and several personality dimensions. Caucasian dyads were more similar than African American dyads on verbal achievement, mental alertness, and dominance. African American adolescents had more contact with their best friends outside school, whereas Caucasian adolescent friends had more in-school contact. African American students had fewer reciprocal relationships than the Caucasian students. Cross-race friendships were less reciprocal than same-race friendships. Race and gender were important in determining friendship patterns. Similarity and proximity were more important than reciprocity in understanding early adolescent friendships.     

What is A Philosophical Question?

There are many ways of understanding the nature of philosophical questions. One may consider their morphology, semantics, relevance, or scope. This article introduces a different approach, based on the kind of informational resources required to answer them. The result is a definition of philosophical questions as questions whose answers are in principle open to informed, rational, and honest disagreement, ultimate but not absolute, closed under further questioning, possibly constrained by empirical and logico‐mathematical resources, but requiring noetic resources to be answered. The article concludes with a discussion of some of the consequences of this definition for a conception of philosophy as the study (or “science”) of open questions, which uses conceptual design to analyse and answer them.