Life Satisfaction and Incumbent Voting: Examining the Mediating Effect of Trust in Government

Journal of Happiness Studies - An emerging body of evidence suggests a causal relationship between wellbeing and incumbent voting. However, the evidence is primarily founded upon established...     

Essentialism goes social: belief in social determinism as a component of psychological essentialism

Individuals tend to explain the characteristics of others with reference to an underlying essence, a tendency that has been termed psychological essentialism. Drawing on current conceptualizations of essentialism as a fundamental mode of social thinking, and on prior studies investigating belief in genetic determinism (BGD) as a component of essentialism, we argue that BGD cannot constitute the sole basis of individuals' essentialist reasoning. Accordingly, we propose belief in social determinism (BSD) as a complementary component of essentialism, which relies on the belief that a person's essential character is shaped by social factors (e.g., upbringing, social background). We developed a scale to measure this social component of essentialism. Results of five correlational studies indicate that (a) BGD and BSD are largely independent, (b) BGD and BSD are related to important correlates of essentialist thinking (e.g., dispositionism, perceived group homogeneity), (c) BGD and BSD are associated with indicators of fundamental epistemic and ideological motives, and (d) the endorsement of each lay theory is associated with vital social-cognitive consequences (particularly stereotyping and prejudice). Two experimental studies examined the idea that the relationship between BSD and prejudice is bidirectional in nature. Study 6 reveals that rendering social-deterministic explanations salient results in increased levels of ingroup favoritism in individuals who chronically endorse BSD. Results of Study 7 show that priming of prejudice enhances endorsement of social-deterministic explanations particularly in persons habitually endorsing prejudiced attitudes.     

The moderating role of ethnicity in the relation between religiousness and mental health among ethnically diverse college students

Many studies have documented the links between dimensions of religiousness with mental health (e.g., Hackney and Sanders 2003; Mofidi et al. 2006). However, very little is known about whether these links differ across ethnic groups. This study examined the contribution of dimensions of religiousness to the prediction of mental health in an ethnically diverse sample of 413 college students (167 European Americans, 83 African Americans, 81 Asian Americans, and 82 Latino Americans). Results indicated significant ethnic differences across dimensions of religiousness. African Americans were significantly higher on religious engagement and religious conservatism than the other ethnic groups and significantly lower on religious struggle than European Americans. Moderated multiple regressions revealed that increases in religious struggle was associated with poorer mental health for African Americans and Latino Americans, while increases in religious engagement and ecumenical worldview were associated with better mental health for African Americans. The findings indicate that ethnicity is an important factor to consider when examining the link between religiousness and mental health.     

Relative visual saliency differences induce sizable bias in consumer choice

Consumers often need to make very rapid choices among multiple brands (e.g., at a supermarket shelf) that differ both in their reward value (e.g., taste) and in their visual properties (e.g., color and brightness of the packaging). Since the visual properties of stimuli are known to influence visual attention, and attention is known to influence choices, this gives rise to a potential visual saliency bias in choices. We utilize experimental design from visual neuroscience in three real food choice experiments to measure the size of the visual saliency bias and how it changes with decision speed and cognitive load. Our results show that at rapid decision speeds visual saliency influences choices more than preferences do, that the bias increases with cognitive load, and that it is particularly strong when individuals do not have strong preferences among the options.     

Are supervisors and coworkers likely to witness employee counterproductive work behavior? An investigation of observability and self–observer convergence

Supervisor and coworker ratings (i.e., “observer ratings”) remain a common manner of measuring counterproductive work behavior (CWB) despite long‐standing doubts that observers have the opportunity to witness the work behaviors they are expected to rate. We conducted 2 studies that evaluated the observability of CWB items and consequences of observability. First, we show that many CWBs are unlikely to be witnessed by supervisors or coworkers—specifically, behaviors such as “spends too much time fantasizing or daydreaming instead of working” and “discussed confidential company information with an unauthorized person” were found to be lowest in observability, whereas “cursed at someone at work” or “acted rudely toward someone at work” were relatively higher in observability (though observability was generally low). Second, a meta‐analysis revealed variability in item‐level relationships (correlations and mean differences) between self‐ratings and observer ratings for specific CWB scale items (i.e., items from Bennett & Robinson, 2,000). Important, this variability was partially explained by observability—behaviors with low self–observer convergence tend to have low levels of observability, whereas behaviors with higher levels of convergence tend to have higher levels of observability. This study demonstrates that supervisor and coworker ratings of CWB may be susceptible to an observability bias resulting from rating behaviors they have not likely witnessed.     

Patient Suicide: The Experience of Flemish Psychiatrists

The experience of the most distressing patient suicide on Flemish psychiatrists is described. Of 584 psychiatrists, 107 filled a self‐report questionnaire. Ninety‐eight psychiatrists had been confronted with at least one patient suicide. Emotional suffering and impotence were the most common feelings reported. Changes in professional practice were described and included a more structured approach to the management of suicidal patients. Colleagues and contact with the patient's family were the most frequently used sources of help, whereas team case review and colleagues were rated as the most useful ones. Patient suicide leads to emotional suffering and has a considerable professional impact.