Optimism predicting employees' creativity: The mediating role of positive affect and the positivity ratio

We examine how optimism predicts creativity both directly and through the mediating role of positive affect and the positivity ratio (the ratio between the frequency of positive and negative affective states). Five hundred and ninety five employees reported their positive and negative affect, as well as their optimism. Their creativity was reported by supervisors. The main findings are the following: (1) optimism predicts creativity both directly and through the mediating role of positive affect and the positivity ratio; (2) the relationship between the positivity ratio and creativity is curvilinear, in such a way that an “excessive” ratio is detrimental to creativity. The findings stress the relevance of optimism both for individuals and organizations, and suggest that examining positivity ratios is fruitful in the creativity domain, as it has been in other domains, and that negative affect should not be viewed simply as an obstacle when studying employees' creativity.     

Religiosity and fear of death: a three‐nation comparison

Numerous studies have sought to determine if religiosity is correlated with fear of death. Findings have been anything but consistent, with reports of negative relationships, positive relationships, no relationship, and even curvilinear associations. To shed light on this still contentious issue, the present study was undertaken among college students in three countries – Malaysia, Turkey, and the United States. Overall, the patterns in all three countries were similar. When linearity was assumed, there is a substantial positive correlation between most religiosity measures and fear of death. Assuming curvilinearity added slightly to the strength of the relationships in the US data and nothing to data from Malaysia or Turkey. Other findings were that on average females were more religious and feared death more than did males, and Muslims expressed considerably greater fear than did members of any other major religion. Results were discussed in the context of a new theory – called death apprehension theory. Among other things, it specifically predicts that death apprehension will be positively related to most religious beliefs and practices.     

Identifying and explaining apparent universal sex differences in cognition and behavior

With growing recognition that there are universal sex differences in cognition and behavior, four theories have been proposed to account for these differences: the founder effect theory, the social structuralist theory, the evolutionary theory, and the evolutionary neuroandrogenic (ENA) theory. The latter of these theories is described in considerable detail as offering an explanation for most of 65 recently identified apparent universal sex differences (AUSDs) in cognition and behavior. Regarding “ultimate causes” (why), ENA theory asserts that (a) evolutionary-genetic factors incline females to bias their mate choices toward males who are loyal and competent provisioners of resources and (b) males are merely a genetic variant on the female sex selected for responding to female mating biases. In terms of “proximate causes” (how), the theory maintains that high exposure to androgens has evolved to alter the male brain functioning in two specific ways relative to most female brains: (a) suboptimal arousal and (b) a rightward shift in neocortical functioning. These two functional patterns are described and hypothesized to incline males and females to learn differently in many respects. The most fundamental differences involve males learning ways of either complying with or circumventing female mate preferences. Numerous universal sex differences in cognition and behavior are hypothesized to result from these evolved neurohormonal factors, including most of the 65 AUSDs herein summarized in seven categorical tables.     

Digit ratios and preferences for aggressive content in entertainment

Digit ratios (2D:4D) contain information concerning an individual’s propensity towards aggression. Our study adds the first clue to better understanding the relationship between 2D:4D and exposure to aggressive contents in entertainment products. Our findings suggest that individuals with low 2D:4D prefer aggressive contents such as action films, sports telecast, killing and achieving games, hip-hop music, and erotic video clips rather than do individuals with high 2D:4D. Also individuals with low 2D:4D tend to demonstrate less preference for romance films than individuals with high 2D:4D. In addition, we found that low 2D:4D was associated with a preference for sports instead of other genres of entertainment products. Therefore, 2D:4D (a putative correlate of prenatal sex steroids) helps us to better understand the rationale of individuals’ preferences for media violence.     

Sexual arousal and the pursuit of attractive mating opportunities

From an evolutionary perspective, sexual arousal may function, in part, to motivate the pursuit of attractive mating opportunities. We designed a study to test three aspects of this hypothesis. Several hundred heterosexual men and women completed a short survey about sexual arousal in response to a casual sex mating opportunity. We replicated previous research documenting that men report greater sexual arousal than women in response to a short-term mating opportunity. We argue that it is unlikely that a “downplaying of alternatives” psychology evolved, whereby mated individuals rate opposite-sex targets as less attractive than do unmated individuals, but instead that men and women have a relationship-seeking psychology, motivating them to pursue attractive mating opportunities. The results supported this relationship-seeking psychology rather than a downplaying alternatives psychology. Discussion addresses directions for future research on the motivational properties of sexual arousal.     

Nothing But Stereotypes? Negligible Sex Differences Across Creativity Measures in Science,Arts, and Sports Adolescent High Achievers

Previous research has focused on understanding when, why, and how sex differences in creativity occur, as results vary across samples, measures, and methodologies. In the current study we investigated sex differences in creativity among 984 high achieving adolescents in three expertise areas: Sciences, Arts, and Sports. Eight creativity indicators were analyzed: Alternative uses task (AUT) fluency; creative self-efficacy (CSE); intraindividual strengths (difference between CSE and AUT Fluency); five self-reported creativity scales: Self/everyday, scholarly, performance, mechanical/scientific, artistic. The results showed negligible sex differences ( $n_{\mathrm{p}}^2$ = .01), with females performing better in AUT Fluency and males self-rating their CSE higher. No sex differences were found in self/everyday, scholarly and performance creativity. Males self-rated their mechanical/scientific creativity ( $n_{\mathrm{p}}^2$ = .06) higher than females; while females self-rated their artistic creativity ( $n_{\mathrm{p}}^2$ = .02) higher in comparison to males. Our results extend the existing literature by finding negligible sex differences in adolescent expert groups. However, some stereotypical differences emerged, for example, females with Sciences expertise rated their mechanical/scientific creativity lower than males with and even without Sciences expertise. Results call for further investigation into the links between sex differences, expertise, and specific creativity domains.     

Investigating the Role of Religion‐Supported Secular Programs for Explaining Initiation into First Sex

Research finds that religious youth, compared to less religious youth, are more likely to delay their sexual debut (sometimes until marriage). This study is one of the first to examine the influence of involvement in religion‐supported secular activities for shaping initiation into vaginal sex. Does involvement in religion‐sponsored secular programs produce any health‐related benefits for youth? Using two waves of data from the National Study of Youth and Religion this study finds that among teens who have engaged in some of the precursors to first sex, namely, sexual touching, involvement in religion‐sponsored secular activities is associated with lower odds of having first sex between W1 and W2. Conservative attitudes about sex outside of marriage explain, in part, the relationship. Conversely, network overlap, the number of friends who belong to a youth group, and pressure from friends and partners to have sex do not significantly mediate the relationship.     

The Influence of Sex,Gender, Self-Discrepancies,and Self-Awareness on Anger and Verbal Aggressiveness Among U.S. College Students

Abstract

Among a sample of 445 U.S. college students, the authors examined the extent to which individual differences (e.g., sex, gender, self-discrepancies, self-awareness) explained anger tendencies and verbal aggressiveness. Regression analyses showed that (a) the tendency to repress anger (anger-in) was explained by masculinity, desire to be masculine, and public self-awareness, R ² = .19, F(11, 433) = 8.44, p < .001; (b) the tendency to express anger (anger-out) was explained by sex, masculinity, and public self-awareness, R ² = .17, F(11, 433) = 7.38, p < .001; and (c) willingness to be verbally aggressive was explained by sex, femininity, and private self-awareness, R ² = .32, F(11, 433) = 16.94, p < .001. In addition, different types of individual difference variables accounted for anger tendencies and verbal aggressiveness across sex and gender categories, suggesting that anger and verbal aggressiveness may be driven by different psychological processes across types of participants.     

Effects of pre-trial response requirements on self-control choices by rats and pigeons

Parallel experiments with rats and pigeons examined whether the size of a pre-trial ratio requirement would affect choices in a self-control situation. In different conditions, either 1 response or 40 responses were required before each trial. In the first half of each experiment, an adjusting-ratio schedule was used, in which subjects could choose a fixed-ratio schedule leading to a small reinforcer, or an adjusting-ratio schedule leading to a larger reinforcer. The size of the adjusting ratio requirement was increased and decreased over trials based on the subject's responses, in order to estimate an indifference point-a ratio at which the two alternatives were chosen about equally often. The second half of each experiment used an adjusting-delay procedure-fixed and adjusting delays to the small and large reinforcers were used instead of ratio requirements. In some conditions, particularly with the reinforcer delays, the rats had consistently longer adjusting delays with the larger pre-trial ratios, reflecting a greater tendency to choose the larger, delayed reinforcer when more responding was required to reach the choice point. No consistent effects of the pre-trial ratio were found for the pigeons in any of the conditions. These results may indicate that rats are more sensitive to the long-term reinforcement rates of the two alternatives, or they may result from a shallower temporal discounting rate for rats than for pigeons, a difference that has been observed in previous studies.