The Adaptation and Validation of Quality of Work Life Scale to Turkish Culture

The aim of this research is to adapt the Quality of Work Life Scale developed by Sirgy et al. (Social Indicators Research, 55, 241–302, 2001) to Turkish culture, and to examine its psychometric properties. The research has been conducted on 254 academics who are affiliated to the Faculty of Education and Faculty of Science and Letters of four different universities in Ankara, Turkey. In order to provide the lingual equivalence, bilingual group pattern was used, and an English version of the scale was applied to a group of 34 academicians who are fluent in both English and Turkish. Nearly 1 month after this application, the Turkish version of the same form was applied once again to the same 34 people. The construct validity of the scale was conducted by using the Confirmatory Factor Analysis method. As a result of the study, it was determined that the original scale and its Turkish form yielded similar results. The fact that internal consistency is high is proved. Croanbach alpha coefficient was found as 0.84. This result indicates that the internal consistency of the test and accordingly the reliability are high and close to the original QWL scale. As a result of the Confirmatory Factor Analysis applied, it was determined that the Turkish form gave a factorial structure which was similar to the original scale and that no problems occurred in the course of using the scale total points. It is concluded that this scale, with its extremely comprehensible language, will contribute to defining the level of quality of the work life of those who work in Turkey and understand their behaviors and attitudes towards their work.     

Levels-of-processing effects on "remember" responses in recognition for familiar and unfamiliar tunes

We investigated the effect of level-of-processing manipulations on "remember" and "know" responses in episodic melody recognition (Experiments 1 and 2) and how this effect is modulated by item familiarity (Experiment 2). In Experiment 1, participants performed 2 conceptual and 2 perceptual orienting tasks while listening to familiar melodies: judging the mood, continuing the tune, tracing the pitch contour, and counting long notes. The conceptual mood task led to higher d' rates for "remember" but not "know" responses. In Experiment 2, participants either judged the mood or counted long notes of tunes with high and low familiarity. A level-of-processing effect emerged again in participants' "remember" d' rates regardless of melody familiarity. Results are discussed within the distinctive processing framework.     

Courtship learning in Drosophila melanogaster: Diverse plasticity of a reproductive behavior

Mechanisms for identifying appropriate mating partners are critical for species propagation. In many species, the male uses multiple sensory modalities to search for females and to subsequently determine if they are fit and receptive. Males can also use the information they acquire in this process to change their courtship behavior and reduce courtship of classes of targets that are inappropriate or unreceptive. In Drosophila, courtship plasticity, in the form of both nonassociative and associative learning, has been documented—the type of learning depending on the nature of the trainer. The conditions in which the male is presented with the training target can profoundly alter the cues that he finds salient and the longevity of the memory that he forms. With the exception of habituation and sensitization, these types of plasticity have an operant component in that the male must be courting to respond to the behavior-altering cues. Courtship plasticity is therefore a complex and rich range of behaviors rather than a single entity. Our understanding of these plastic behaviors has been enhanced by recent advances in our understanding of the circuitry underlying courtship itself and the identification of chemical cues that drive and modify the behavior. Courtship learning is providing a window into how animals can use a variety of sensory inputs to modulate a decision making process at many levels.When confronted with a potential mate, Drosophila melanogaster males perform a stereotyped courtship ritual. This behavior serves at least two obvious functions for the male. The first is to prime conspecific females for copulation. During courtship, the female is assessing the male''s suitability, and if the song he sings (Burnet et al. 1971; von Schilcher 1976a) and pheromones he emits (Grillet et al. 2006; Kurtovic et al. 2007) are correct for her species and of sufficient quality, her willingness to copulate is increased. She will slow her locomotion, present her abdomen to the male, and then spread her wings and genital plates to allow him to mount (Lasbleiz et al. 2006). A second function of courtship is that it allows a male to accumulate information about the target courtship object to assess its suitability and receptiveness. The male uses auditory, mechanosensory, visual, and chemosensory signals from the target to make this assessment (for review, see Villella and Hall 2008; Ejima and Griffith 2009).Since D. melanogaster males will avidly initiate courtship of a wide variety of inappropriate and/or unreceptive targets, including immature males, sexually immature virgin females, mated females, and heterospecific females, the information obtained during courtship is critical to deciding whether to increase the intensity of his effort or terminate pursuit of the target. In the last several years, courtship has become a favored model for those researchers interested in how the nervous system specifies “innate” behaviors. While it is true that a male does not have to be instructed to produce adequate courtship (Hall 1994; Clyne and Miesenbock 2008), this apparently stereotyped behavior is far from static: It can be modified in a dizzying number of ways by experience. In this paper, we will discuss how information gathered during courtship can allow males to learn about specific types of courtship objects and broadly modify future behavioral responses to a particular class of target.     

A Review of Lewis R. Rambo and Charles E. Farhadian’s <Emphasis Type="Italic">The Oxford Handbook of Religious Conversion</Emphasis>

This is a review of the Oxford Handbook of Religious Conversion. Drawing upon research on Germans converting to Islam and Turks converting to Christianity, converting is understood as complex fusion of individual choice and cultural/political conflict.     

Predictors of relationship satisfaction during the COVID-19 pandemic

Prior work and theory suggest many vulnerabilities, stressors, and adaptive processes shape relationship satisfaction. In the current research, we used machine learning to understand which constructs have greater predictive importance for perceived changes in satisfaction since the pandemic began and satisfaction over the prior week. In a large sample collected at the beginning of the pandemic (N = 1873; Study 1), relationship processes were most predictive, explaining up to 70% of variance in satisfaction. Feeling appreciative of one's partner and being satisfied with quality time spent with one's partner were consistently top predictors of satisfaction. We also examined whether these important predictors were associated with changes in relationship satisfaction across the first year of the pandemic in a longitudinal subsample (N = 618; Study 2). Appreciation and satisfaction with quality time were associated with high and relatively stable relationship satisfaction over time.     

Role conflicts of family members in family firms

The existence of role conflict among organizational members tends to create tensions inside organizations worldwide. However, in the context of family firms, having a dual role of being a member of a family and a member of the firm can represent interesting differences that make family firms an important form of organization to study. Following the tenets of the stewardship theory, our article develops a model where reciprocal altruism represents an antecedent to role conflict among family members. We further argue that perceptions of collective efficacy among family members have a moderating effect on the relationship between reciprocal altruism and role conflict. Last, we propose that role conflict in family firms reduces the family firm performance. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.     

The interaction between baseline trait anxiety and trauma exposure as predictor of post-trauma symptoms of anxiety and insomnia

In this study a prospective design was used to investigate the interaction between baseline trait anxiety and exposure to traumatic situations on post-trauma symptoms of anxiety and insomnia in a sample of Swedish peacekeeping soldiers serving in Kosovo. The result showed that pre-trauma trait anxiety interacted with exposure to traumatic situations predicting a higher post-trauma distress. Further, baseline trait anxiety and baseline symptoms of anxiety and insomnia predicted post-trauma symptoms of anxiety and insomnia. The results support a diathesis stress model in which high trait anxiety interacts with trauma exposure in the elicitation of anxiety-related distress but the study needs to be replicated before further conclusions can be drawn.     

Sequential effects in face-attractiveness judgment

A number of studies have shown that current-trial responses are biased toward the response of the preceding trial in perceptual decisionmaking tasks (the sequential effect-Holland and Lockhead, 1968 Perception & Psychophysics 3 409-414). The sequential effect has been widely observed in evaluation of the physical properties of stimuli as well as more complex properties. However, it is unclear whether subjective decisions (e.g., attractiveness judgments) are also susceptible to the sequential effect. Here, we examined whether the sequential effect would occur in face-attractiveness judgments. Forty-eight pictures of male and female faces were presented successively. Participants rated the attractiveness of each face on a 7-point scale. The results showed that the attractiveness rating of a given face assimilated toward the rating of the preceding trial. In a separate experiment, we provided the average attractiveness rating by others for each trial as feedback. The feedback weakened the sequential effect. These findings suggest that attractiveness judgment is also biased toward the preceding judgment, and hence the sequential effect can be extended into the domain of subjective decisionmaking.