How much self-presentation behavior do applicants from the United Arab Emirates exhibit?

Applicants from different cultures vary in their self-presentation behavior during job interviews. This study investigates self-presentation behavior in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the second largest economy in the Arab world. Specifically, it examines self-presentation behavior of applicants from the UAE and compares it to the behavior of American, European, and Chinese applicants from previous studies. The randomized response technique was used to gather self-presentation prevalence data of 111 UAE applicants regarding self-presentation behavior in their last job interview. Prevalence rates were lower than those from the United States and from China but higher than those from Iceland and from Switzerland. Results indicate that though UAE culture values modesty, UAE applicants still engage in distinct self-presentation behavior.     

The spacing effect in 4- to 9-year-old children

Experiment 1 of the current research failed to replicate Toppino and Di George’s (1984) finding that older children but not preschoolers showed a spacing effect. Instead, we obtained the spacing effect in all the age groups tested (preschool, kindergarten, first-grade, and third-grade children). The effect was demonstrated with two types of material, words and pictures. Experiment 2 focused on the role that very brief spacings, with no intervening items between repetitions, play in later retention. Age groups and materials were the same as in Experiment 1. Four different levels of spacing were included (0-, 1.1-,2.5-, and 5-sec intervals). The spacing effect was again obtained for all age groups with both words and pictures. The results of both experiments suggest that the spacing effect does not emerge with development.     

Psychiatric and substance use disorders as risk factors for attempted suicide among adolescents: a case control study

The objective of this research was to test substance-related and non-substance-related psychiatric disorders as predictors of attempted suicide among adolescents. Ninety-six psychiatrically disordered suicide attempters were matched one-to-one to 96 psychiatrically disordered non-attempters on age, race, gender, and the presence/absence of major depression. Conditional logistic regression was used to test psychiatric risk factors for their power to predict attempted suicide among adolescents. Bipolar disorder, cocaine use disorders, and conduct disorder were found to be predictive of attempted suicide in univariate testing. Bipolar disorder, inhalant use disorders, cocaine use disorders, and hallucinogen use disorders were found to be predictive of attempted suicide, after adjusting for all other covariates. Loglinear analyses revealed high odds ratios associated with the comorbidities of alcohol use disorder with conduct disorder and drug use disorders with conduct disorder in both groups. Higher rates of cocaine use disorder/conduct disorder, hallucinogen use disorder/conduct disorder, and alcohol use disorder/ conduct disorder were found among suicide attempters. Evaluation of these particular comorbid conditions should be part of the adolescent suicide risk assessment.     

Anchors distort estimates of expected duration

This research explored the effect of presenting participants an anchor, which is a salient standard of comparison, before asking them to estimate the amount of time they believe they will need to complete a task (expected duration estimation). Such anchors can be assumed to be common in real-life situations, e.g., duration suggestions made by work colleagues. Participants were 32 students (M age = 23.1 yr., SD = 3.2; 28 women) who received course credit for participating. In the presence or absence of one of two anchors they had to estimate how much time they would need to work on a catalogue task. Actual time needed for the task was also measured. As predicted, analysis showed that estimates of expected duration were distorted in the direction of the anchors, i.e., estimations were assimilated into the presented anchor value. The implications for time management are discussed.     

Writing brains: tracing the psyche with the graphical method

At the end of the 19th century, the graphic method kindled attempts to use it for investigating psychic processes. In Germany, Hans Berger took up this line of research, later to become the pioneer of electroencephalography (EEG). This trajectory of Berger's work is analyzed as an "enabling constraint" guiding him toward the EEG at a time when nobody else was pursuing this line of research and also causing serious methodological problems. In the epistemological perspective of this analysis, many of his problems extend beyond the local context of his work and point toward ambiguities surrounding the project to trace the psyche with the graphic method. From the mid-1930s, the EEG inspired ongoing attempts to decipher the specific meanings of these recordings, and large ensembles of machinery were mobilized, molding concepts of the psyche according to the results and the specifications of the graphic method.     

Dating Violence Prevention Programming: Directions for Future Interventions

Dating violence among college students is a widespread and destructive problem. The field of dating violence has seen a substantial rise in research over the past several years, which has improved our understanding of factors that increase risk for perpetration. Unfortunately, there has been less attention paid to dating violence prevention programming, and existing programs have been marred with methodological weaknesses and a lack of demonstrated effectiveness in reducing aggression. In hopes of sparking new research on dating violence prevention programs, the current review examines possible new avenues for dating violence prevention programming among college students. We discuss clinical interventions that have shown to be effective in reducing a number of problematic behaviors, including motivational interventions, dialectical behavior therapy, mindfulness, and bystander interventions, and how they could be applied to dating violence prevention. We also discuss methodological issues to consider when implementing dating violence prevention programs.     

Dissociable stages of problem solving (II): first evidence for process-contingent temporal order of activation in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex

In a companion study, eye-movement analyses in the Tower of London task (TOL) revealed independent indicators of functionally separable cognitive processes during problem solving, with processes of building up an internal representation of the problem preceding actual planning processes. These results imply that processes of internalization and planning should also be distinguishable in time and space with respect to concomitant brain activation patterns. To investigate this possibility, here we conducted analyses of fMRI data for left and right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) during problem solving in the TOL task by accounting for the trial-by-trial variability of onsets and durations of the different cognitive processing stages. Comparisons between stimulus-locked and response-locked modeling approaches affirmed that activation in left dlPFC was elicited particularly during early processes of internalization, comprising the extraction of goal information and the generation of an internal problem representation, whereas activation in right dlPFC was predominantly attributable to later processes of mental transformations on this representation, that is planning proper. Thus, present data corroborate the proposal that often observed bilateral dlPFC activation patterns during complex cognitive tasks such as problem solving may reflect functionally and, to some extent, even temporally separable processes with opposing lateralizations.     

Incivility in Meetings: Predictors and Outcomes

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to provide a deeper understanding of uncivil meeting behaviors (UMBs) by exploring their frequency, potential predictors, and perceived impact on meeting outcomes. Five forms of UMBs were identified and examined. Key situational variables (meeting characteristics) and individual differences (Big Five factors and the Dark Triad of personality) were explored as potential predictors of UMBs.

Methodology

We collected data from two independent samples of meeting participants (N _s  = 345, 170) via two online surveys. We used confirmatory factor analysis, correlations, hierarchical multiple regressions, and relative weight analyses to analyze the data.

Findings

The findings demonstrated that attendees’ perceptions of UMBs were linked to lower ratings of meeting satisfaction and effectiveness. In particular, the ratings were most affected by the observation of attendees who did not participate actively and who showed inappropriate interpersonal behavior. Results further suggest situational variables (meeting purpose and meeting norms) and individual differences (narcissism, psychopathy, and agreeableness) as potential predictors of UMBs.

Implications

By showing the consequences of UMBs on meeting outcomes and by providing insights into potential causes of engagement in UMBs, this study offers valuable input for running and leading work meetings.

Originality/Value

No previous study has empirically examined how different forms of UMBs affect meeting outcomes. Additionally, the paper introduces situational and personality variables that may act as potential predictors of UMBs.