The Mentoring Relationship as a Context for Psychological Contract Development

This study examined the mentoring relationship as a context for the development of psychological contracts and investigated the obligations that mentors and protégés feel that they owe and are owed in the mentoring relationship. By using psychological contract theory, we develop new insights into the dynamics of the mentoring relationship and extend psychological contract research by applying the theory to a relation outside the employer–employee context. Results indicate that both parties perceive that they owe and are owed obligations, and these perceptions are influenced by the formality of the relationship and the supervisory status of the mentor. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

RESPONSIBILITY AND RATIONAL ABILITIES: DEFENDING AN ASYMMETRICAL VIEW*

Abstract: In this paper, I defend a view according to which one is responsible for one's actions to the extent that one has the ability to do the right thing for the right reasons. The view is asymmetrical in requiring the ability to do otherwise when one acts badly or for bad reasons, but no such ability in cases in which one acts well for good ones. Despite its intuitive appeal, the view's asymmetry makes it a target of both of the main camps in the debate over responsibility. In addressing objections, I explore the relationship between fairness and responsibility, and the nature of the ability to do otherwise.     

A prototype analysis of infidelity

The current research tested whether the concept of infidelity is prototypically organized and whether laypeople's conceptualizations of infidelity are consistent with how researchers have operationalized this construct. Across 4 studies, results indicated that infidelity is indeed prototypically organized as individuals are able to list and rate how central certain features are to the infidelity construct. Furthermore, there was evidence that the centrality ratings influenced how individuals processed information in a series of memory tasks and narratives about infidelity experiences. Laypeople are less likely than researchers to consider the presence of particular behaviors (i.e., flirting, kissing, and sexual intercourse) as defining qualities of infidelity. Instead, laypeople focus more on the concealment of behaviors and the resulting emotional fallout from infidelity.     

Attitudes toward marriage: Embeddedness and outcomes in personal relationships

This study examines marriage attitudes, attitude embeddedness, personal relationship outcomes, and parental marital status and conflict using 400 undergraduate students. In a conceptual replication of Prislin and Ouellette (1996) , more embedded marriage attitudes are more predictive of evaluations of general marriage issues and relationship scenarios than less embedded attitudes. Consistent with findings that marriage attitudes influence relationship quality ( Amato & Rogers, 1999 ), more embedded attitudes predict relationship conflict, commitment, desirability of alternatives, and expectations of relationship success. Recollections of high parental conflict are associated with greater relationship conflict, and individuals with divorced parents report more negative marriage attitudes. Future research on relationship attitudes, their strength, and consequences of parental divorce and conflict for offspring marriage attitudes is discussed.     

Changes in Behaviour and Body Weight Following a Single or Double Social Defeat in Rats

In a series of experiments, the consequences of a single and double social conflict on various behaviours and body weight in rats were studied. Animals were subjected to social defeat by placing them into the territory of an aggressive male conspecific for one hour, either once, or twice at the same time on two consecutive days. To assess the consequences of social defeat, three experiments were performed with independent groups of rats. In the first experiment, an open field test was performed two days after the last conflict. Locomotor activity was strongly reduced after social defeat. There were no differences between the single and double defeat group. To assess the effects of social defeat on subsequent social behaviour, a second experiment was performed in which experimental animals were confronted with an unfamiliar non-aggressive rat two days after a single or double conflict. Social defeat resulted in a reduction of social contact with the unfamiliar conspecific. There was no difference between the single and double conflict group. In the third experiment, the effects of social conflict on food intake, body weight and saccharine preference were measured. Food intake was not affected after a single conflict, but in the double conflict group food intake was decreased for several days. Body weight gain was decreased after both single and double social defeat. The decrease was stronger in the double conflict group. Water intake and saccharine preference were not significantly affected. This study revealed that social defeat in rats causes pronounced changes in various behaviours and body weight. Different aspects of behaviour are differentially affected by defeat with respect to the magnitude and time course of the changes induced. Moreover, different behavioural parameters are differentially sensitive to repetition of the stressor.