The Effects of a Job-Interview Skills Workshop on Drug-Abuse Clients

By performing a field experiment, we tested the hypothesis that a job-interview skills workshop would improve the employment status of subjects with drug-abuse problems. Subjects from a drug-abuse treatment program were randomly assigned either to an experimental situation that included a workshop that stressed behavioral interview skills, such as preparing for an interview, application completion, grooming, nonverbal communication, and phrasing of answers to interviewer questions, or to a control group that received no treatment. A 6-months follow-up of subjects showed no significant attitudinal differences between the two groups. All three behavioral measures of employment status showed either significant differences or strong trends in favor of the experimental group, however. Possible alternative explanations of results were discussed and future research suggested.     

LEADERSHIP IN ACTION TEAMS: TEAM LEADER AND MEMBERS’ AUTHENTICITY,AUTHENTICITY STRENGTH,AND TEAM OUTCOMES

A field study was conducted with 47 Army action teams spanning 9 weeks to assess the influence of team leader authenticity on team authenticity and team outcomes. Results showed that team leader authenticity at Time 1 predicted teamwork behavior and team productivity at Time 3, with these relationships mediated by team authenticity at Time 2. We further explored the moderating role of authenticity strength in the team authenticity–teamwork behavior relationship. Team authenticity interacted with authenticity strength such that the team authenticity–teamwork behavior relationship was stronger when authenticity strength was higher rather than lower. Implications of these findings for theories of shared leadership, team leadership, and authentic leadership are discussed.     

BALD-FACED LIES! LYING WITHOUT THE INTENT TO DECEIVE

Abstract:  Surprisingly, the fact that the speaker is lying is sometimes common knowledge between everyone involved (the addressee, the general audience, bystanders, etc.). Strangely, we condemn these bald-faced lies more severely than disguised lies. The wrongness of lying springs from the intent to deceive – just the feature missing in the case of bald-faced lies. These puzzling lies arise systematically when assertions are forced. Intellectual duress helps to explain another type of non-deceptive false assertion: lying to yourself. In the end, I conclude that the apparent intensity of our disapproval of non-deceptive lies is a rhetorical illusion.     

Therapists Ratings of Fundamentalist and Nonfundamentalist Families in Therapy: An Empirical Comparison

Using the Family Health Scale, Part I of an instrument developed for this study, two randomly selected groups of certified family therapists rated either nonfundamentalist or fundamentalist families in therapy on eight recognized indicators of family health. Factor analysis yielded eight factors accounting for 66% of the variance between groups. Cannonical discriminant function analysis revealed that therapists rated fundamentalist families as significantly less healthy on three of the eight factors and more healthy on one factor. Part II of this instrument, the Religion Impact Scale assessed the effects of church community and church teachings upon families. For fundamentalists, the church and concomitant belief system had a significant impact upon family organization and functioning. Theoretical and clinical implications of these findings are discussed.