They Both Matter: Reality and Belief: Reply.

Responds to the comment by Kamyar Arasteh (see record 2004-14611-007) on the Eidelson and Eidelson article (see record 2003-03645-004) which made an important contribution, at a critical juncture, to the discussion of international conflicts by identifying core dimensions that allow for the systematic examination of the problem. The authors appreciate Arasteh's thought-provoking comments about their article and they are grateful for the opportunity to respond. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Dangerous ideas: Five beliefs that propel groups toward conflict.

The toll in death, suffering, and displacement caused by conflicts engaging groups defined by ethnicity, nationality, religion, or other social identities has reached staggering proportions over the past decade. With expertise in research and intervention, psychologists have critical contributions to make to more fully understanding and more effectively confronting this distressing global phenomenon. The authors focus on the parallels between the core beliefs of individuals and the collective worldviews of groups that may operate to trigger or constrain violent struggles. On the basis of a review of relevant literatures, 5 belief domains--superiority, injustice, vulnerability, distrust, and helplessness--are identified as particularly important for further study. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Comparing perceived injustices from supervisors and romantic partners as predictors of aggression": Correction to Dupré et al. (2010).

Reports an error in "Comparing perceived injustices from supervisors and romantic partners as predictors of aggression" by Kathryne E. Dupré, Nick Turner, Julian Barling and Chris B. Stride (Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, np). Advance online publication. doi: 10.1037/ a0020520), the order of authorship was listed incorrectly. The correct order of authorship follows: Kathryne E. Dupré, Julian Barling, Nick Turner, and Chris B. Stride All versions of this article have been corrected. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2010-19351-001.) To examine the predictive effects of perceived injustice in two different interpersonal relationships (i.e., working relationship with a supervisor, romantic relationship with a partner) on aggression enacted in those relationships, we computed a series of multilevel regressions on 62 heterosexual couples with all 124 partners employed part-time and working for different supervisors. Higher levels of perceived supervisor injustice predicted higher supervisor-directed aggression, whereas higher levels of perceived partner injustice predicted lower supervisor-directed aggression. An interaction between perceived partner injustice and anger predicted higher levels of partner-directed aggression. Implications and recommendations for future research on the relationship specificity of perceived injustice are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Comparing perceived injustices from supervisors and romantic partners as predictors of aggression.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 15(4) of Journal of Occupational Health Psychology (see record 2010-22711-002). Advance online publication. doi: 10.1037/ a0020520), the order of authorship was listed incorrectly. The correct order of authorship follows: Kathryne E. Dupré, Julian Barling, Nick Turner, and Chris B. Stride. All versions of this article have been corrected.] To examine the predictive effects of perceived injustice in two different interpersonal relationships (i.e., working relationship with a supervisor, romantic relationship with a partner) on aggression enacted in those relationships, we computed a series of multilevel regressions on 62 heterosexual couples with all 124 partners employed part-time and working for different supervisors. Higher levels of perceived supervisor injustice predicted higher supervisor-directed aggression, whereas higher levels of perceived partner injustice predicted lower supervisor-directed aggression. An interaction between perceived partner injustice and anger predicted higher levels of partner-directed aggression. Implications and recommendations for future research on the relationship specificity of perceived injustice are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Organizational Injustice and Psychological Strain.

Characterizing perceived injustice as a form of stress, we examined the main and interactive relationships among interactional, procedural, and distributive injustice and psychological strain while controlling for job insecurity. Using moderated multiple regression analysis with a sample of 1,083 government employees, we show that interactional, procedural, and distributive injustice are all unique predictors of psychological strain that account for significant unique variance beyond that explained by job insecurity. Those individuals who perceive more interactional, procedural, or distributive injustice at work reported a higher degree of strain. However, there were no significant interactive effects, suggesting that these three categories of perceived injustice do not interact to predict symptoms of psychological strain. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Historical Conflict and Incitement Also Provoke the Journey to Terrorism.

Comments on F. M. Moghaddam's article (see record 2005-01817-002), which uses the metaphor of a narrowing staircase "to provide a more in-depth understanding of terrorism", describes the journey as being provoked by how people perceive of levels of fairness and experience feelings of relative deprivation. If the masses perceive injustice and feel deprived and cannot adequately influence the procedures through which such perceptions can improve, some are likely to begin climbing the staircase that eventually leads to enrollment in terrorist groups. The author points out two factors that also encourage such perceptions receive minimal attention in Moghaddam's article: historical conflict and current organized incitement. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Toward an integrative social identity model of collective action: A quantitative research synthesis of three socio-psychological perspectives.

An integrative social identity model of collective action (SIMCA) is developed that incorporates 3 socio-psychological perspectives on collective action. Three meta-analyses synthesized a total of 182 effects of perceived injustice, efficacy, and identity on collective action (corresponding to these socio-psychological perspectives). Results showed that, in isolation, all 3 predictors had medium-sized (and causal) effects. Moreover, results showed the importance of social identity in predicting collective action by supporting SIMCA's key predictions that (a) affective injustice and politicized identity produced stronger effects than those of non-affective injustice and non-politicized identity; (b) identity predicted collective action against both incidental and structural disadvantages, whereas injustice and efficacy predicted collective action against incidental disadvantages better than against structural disadvantages; (c) all 3 predictors had unique medium-sized effects on collective action when controlling for between-predictor covariance; and (d) identity bridged the injustice and efficacy explanations of collective action. Results also showed more support for SIMCA than for alternative models reflecting previous attempts at theoretical integration. The authors discuss key implications for theory, practice, future research, and further integration of social and psychological perspectives on collective action. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sympathy and support for industrial actions: A justice analysis.

Investigated the effects of different causes of grievance and different types of industrial action on observers' justice perceptions and their sympathy toward and support for grievants in industrial actions. Results indicated that grievances based on interactional injustice generated a stronger perception of unfairness, more sympathy, and more support than did grievances based on procedural injustice, which in turn generated a stronger perception of unfairness, more sympathy, and more support than did grievances based on distributive injustice. Ss also expressed less support for strikes than for sit-ins, but no such difference because of the types of industrial action taken was found for perceived fairness and sympathy. Finally, the ratings on perceived fairness, sympathy, and support were more discrepant among the 3 types of grievance for sit-ins than for strikes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Some Thoughts on the "Staircase to Terrorism"

Comments on F. M. Moghaddam's article (see record 2005-01817-002) which uses the metaphor of a narrowing staircase "to provide a more in-depth understanding of terrorism." In the article, "staircase to terrorism," a person will become a terrorist because he or she experiences "injustice and the feelings of frustration and shame" on "the ground floor." If this situation does not change on higher floors, particularly on the fourth and fifth floors, this person will realize that terrorism is the only way to have a "democratic participation in addressing perceived justices." Therefore, the prevention and end of terrorism will be achieved "only by reforming conditions on the ground floor." People who perceive injustices and unfairness in a given political system may, indeed, try to destroy that system with terrorism. But this is political terrorism, not the form of Islamic fundamentalist terrorism or messianic terrorism directed by Osama bin Laden and Abu Musad al-Zarqawi. The author concludes that the metaphor may explain the origin of political terrorism but not the origin of Islamic fundamentalist or messianic terrorism. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sentiment d'injustice subie, comportements transgressifs et légitimation chez des footballeurs.

The purpose of the present study was to demonstrate the effects of the undergone feeling of injustice on the adoption and justification of aggressive behaviours. Male soccer players (196) completed a questionnaire presenting fair or unfair situations. They had to choose one of the four proposed reactions (no aggression, verbal aggression, nonhurting physical aggression, hurting physical aggression) and to justify it on a five point Likert scale. The results of this study showed that players who were confronted with injustice chose more aggressive reactions than players who were not. Furthermore, all players, whatever the experimental condition, justified the adoption of unaggressive behaviours. However, a negative correlation between the chosen behaviour and its justification was found among players who were not confronted with injustice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Healing the wounds of organizational injustice: Examining the benefits of expressive writing.

Clinical and health psychology research has shown that expressive writing interventions—expressing one's experience through writing—can have physical and psychological benefits for individuals dealing with traumatic experiences. In the present study, the authors examined whether these benefits generalize to experiences of workplace injustice. Participants (N = 100) were randomly assigned to write on 4 consecutive days about (a) their emotions, (b) their thoughts, (c) both their emotions and their thoughts surrounding an injustice, or (d) a trivial topic (control). Post-intervention, participants in the emotions and thoughts condition reported higher psychological well-being, fewer intentions to retaliate, and higher levels of personal resolution than did participants in the other conditions. Participants in the emotions and thoughts condition also reported less anger than did participants who wrote only about their emotions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Organizational Justice and Stress: The Mediating Role of Work-Family Conflict.

This study examined the relationship between organizational justice and stress and whether work-family conflict was a mediator of the relationship. Distributive, procedural, interpersonal, and informational injustice were cast as stressors to explore their relationships with the stress levels of 174 faculty members employed at 23 U.S. universities. The results revealed that procedural and interpersonal justice had the strongest relationships with stress, and that these effects were mediated by work-family conflict. The presence of justice seemed to allow participants to better manage the interface of their work and family lives, which was associated with lower stress levels. These results were observed even when controlling for job satisfaction and the presence of organizational work-family policies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Getting even for customer mistreatment: The role of moral identity in the relationship between customer interpersonal injustice and employee sabotage.

Research on the "dark side" of organizational behavior has determined that employee sabotage is most often a reaction by disgruntled employees to perceived mistreatment. To date, however, most studies on employee retaliation have focused on intra-organizational sources of (in)justice. Results from this field study of customer service representatives (N = 358) showed that interpersonal injustice from customers relates positively to customer-directed sabotage over and above intra-organizational sources of fairness. Moreover, the association between unjust treatment and sabotage was moderated by 2 dimensions of moral identity (symbolization and internalization) in the form of a 3-way interaction. The relationship between injustice and sabotage was more pronounced for employees high (vs. low) in symbolization, but this moderation effect was weaker among employees who were high (vs. low) in internalization. Last, employee sabotage was negatively related to job performance ratings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychoanalysis and the disenfranchised: From therapy to justice.

"Neurotic misery" is not the only treatable source of suffering that can be subtracted from the sum of unavoidable "everyday unhappiness." Social inequality and injustice represent another powerful source of unnecessary suffering that, in principle, can be modified and diminished. This article explores the implications of psychoanalytic understanding for developing better approaches to addressing this dimension of human distress, which has been largely neglected in the psychoanalytic literature. In the process, it also reexamines some commonly held assumptions about the nature of the psychoanalytic process and considers how new observations deriving from work with people from different cultural and class origins can contribute to the refinement and further development of psychoanalytic propositions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Understanding Customer Reactions to Brokered Ultimatums: Applying Negotiation and Justice Theory.

There has been little research examining customer reactions to brokered ultimatum game (BUG) contexts (i.e.. exchanges in which 1 party offers an ultimatum price for a resource through an intermediary, and the ultimatum offer is accepted or rejected by the other party). In this study, the authors incorporated rational decision-making theory and justice theory to examine how customers' bids, recommendations, and repatronage behavior are affected by characteristics of BUG contexts (changing from an ultimatum to negotiation transaction, response timeliness, and offer acceptance or rejection). Results indicated that customers attempt to be economically efficient with their bidding behavior. However, negotiation structures, long waits for a response, and rejected bids create injustice perceptions (particularly informational and distributive injustice), negatively influencing customers' recommendations to others and their repatronage. The authors then discuss the practical and theoretical implications of their results. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Angry, guilty, and conflicted: Injustice toward coworkers heightens emotional labor through cognitive and emotional mechanisms.

This study drew on fairness theory and affective events theory to explain why individuals' emotional labor is impacted by injustice extended toward coworkers by their customers. Pairs of participants worked side by side as customer-service representatives for a simulated organization. They interacted with fair/unfair customers as well as observed face-to-face service encounters between their coworker and fair/unfair customers. Results indicated that participants' emotional labor increased both as a result of unfairness directed toward themselves as well as toward their coworkers. These effects were mediated by both discrete emotions and fairness-related counterfactual thinking and were significant even when the participants themselves had been treated fairly. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Behind closed doors: In-home workers' experience of sexual harassment and workplace violence.

The authors developed and tested a structural model predicting personal and organizational consequences of workplace violence and sexual harassment for health care professionals who work inside their client's home. The model suggests that workplace violence and sexual harassment predict fear of their recurrence in the workplace, which in turn predicts negative mood (anxiety and anger) and perceptions of injustice. In turn, fear, negative mood, and perceived injustice predict lower affective commitment and enhanced withdrawal intentions, poor interpersonal job performance, greater neglect, and cognitive difficulties. The results supported the model and showed that the associations of workplace violence and sexual harassment with organizational and personal outcomes are indirect, mediated by fear and negative mood. Conceptual implications for understanding sexual harassment and workplace violence, and future research directions, are suggested. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Jahoda on Civil Liberties.

This is not a scientific paper. But then, neither was the article to which these comments apply (Amer. Psychologist, 1956, 11, 234-240). Jahoda's paper represents an attempt to justify her particular political beliefs and convictions by use of hypotheses and indeed the use of some references. Although every paragraph of the article is biased by hypotheses and loose constructs, space does not permit taking these up one at a time; this comment examines two of the cornerstones of the article. Recently articles like Jahoda's and the highly emotionalized concern of some psychologists over conformity, civil liberties, and academic freedom has made psychologists, as a professional group, appear to be anti-anticommunists. This as an unfortunate and unscientific situation. If social psychologists have any unresolved and unchanneled tensions, it might be suggested that they concern themselves with real civil liberties dilemmas, rather than garbing the black cat of "academic freedom" with an intellectualized mink coat and chasing it wildly through a coal bin at midnight. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Injustice and the legitimation of revolution: Damning the past, excusing the present, and neglecting the future.

To generate ideas about how theories of distributive and procedural justice might be usefully expanded, this article content analyzes the ways leaders of violent, 20th-century revolutions describe the injustice of a status quo system of reward distribution, justify bloodshed, assess the balance of power, and envision a perfectly just future. Results suggest that conceptualizations of injustice should be broadened by incorporating emotional and ideological concerns, by examining the effects of legitimated and delegitimated contexts for assessments of outcome distribution, and by specifying conditions under which complex and simplified justice judgments are likely. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Work group attributes and grievance activity.

5hypotheses concerning the relation of grievance submission to nature and setting of work activity were tested. The hypotheses were that a particular plant has no effect on grievance submission, number of grievances submitted has no relation to nature of work, number of grievances "won" has no relation to nature of work, grievance goals do not vary by nature of work, rate of grievance submission is not related to nature of work. Results showed grievance submission does vary by plant and certain work groups won more grievances. The other 3 hypotheses were not supported. However, an overall tabulation of grievance activity makes all results somewhat tenuous. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)