Does self-threat promote social connection? The role of self-esteem and contingencies of self-worth.

Six studies examined the social motivations of people with high self-esteem (HSE) and low self-esteem (LSE) following a threat to a domain of contingent self-worth. Whether people desired social contact following self-threat depended on an interaction between an individual's trait self-esteem and contingencies of self-worth. HSE participants who strongly based self-worth on appearance sought to connect with close others following a threat to their physical attractiveness. LSE participants who staked self-worth on appearance wanted to avoid social contact and, instead, preferred a less interpersonally risky way of coping with self-threat (wanting to enhance their physical attractiveness). Implications for theories of self-esteem, motivation, and interpersonal processes are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Leadership selection in social dilemmas—Not all prefer it: The moderating effect of social value orientation.

The present study investigated the effect of social value orientation and group efficiency on contribution behavior and preferences for a variety of leader types in a situation where personal and collective interests were at odds (i.e., a public goods dilemma). Participants were asked to imagine that they were participating in a public goods dilemma, and their social value orientation (i.e., preexisting differences in evaluating outcomes between oneself and others) was assessed. The results revealed that people concerned with issues such as fairness and efficiency (i.e., pro-socials) more often contributed their own endowment, and, under circumstances of group failure, they exhibited a stronger preference for a leader than people who were mainly concerned with their personal self-interest (i.e., pro-selfs). Moreover, pro-socials also exhibited a stronger preference for responsible and efficient leaders than pro-selfs. The results are discussed in terms of leadership and social value orientation theories. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Do gender differences in help avoidance vary by ethnicity? An examination of African American and European American students during early adolescence.

The present research examined whether the nature of gender differences varies by race for two types of academic engagement in the classroom (help avoidance and voice with the teacher) in a sample of early adolescents (N = 456; 55% female, 60% African American and 40% European American) making the transition to middle school. Growth curve analyses indicated that help avoidance increased over time, voice remained stable, and achievement declined. In line with hypotheses based on cultural variations in the female role, there were no gender differences in help avoidance for African American students, whereas for European American students, girls were lower in help avoidance than were boys. For African American students, there were no gender differences in voice with the teacher, whereas for European American students, girls were higher than were boys. These group differences were present at all 3 waves. For all students, increases in help avoidance negatively predicted changes in achievement, whereas increases in voice positively predicted achievement. Results underscore the importance of examining gender and ethnicity together to understand academic adjustment during early adolescence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Habitual size and projective size: The logic of spatial systems in children’s drawings.

The current study analyzed figure size modification in different types of spatial context (C. Lange-Küttner, 1997, Lange-Küttner, 2004) for sequence and practice effects. Children of 7, 9, and 11 years of age, as well as 17-year-olds, drew figures in a series of ready-made spatial axes systems, which (a) logically increased in dimensional complexity as in child development, (b) were randomized in sequence, or (c) were absent, as a control condition for figure size reduction through practice. Already 7-year-olds could subtly adapt figure size in the logical sequence, but the amount of size reduction stayed within the same size range as in the other two conditions. Only at 9 years of age did children show sensitivity to spatial constraints, with smaller figures in both the logical and random sequence than in the control condition. At 11 years of age, the spatial scale of figure size was maximized, particularly so in children who could change perspective and construct a bird’s-eye view, whereas this effect was attenuated in the 17-year-olds. Implications of the results for domain-specific conceptual development are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Work and Mexican American parent–adolescent relationships: The mediating role of parent well-being.

This study of Mexican American two-parent families (N = 246) examined the role of parents' well-being (i.e., depressive symptoms, role overload) as a potential mechanism through which parent occupational conditions (i.e., self-direction, hazardous conditions, physical activity, work pressure) are linked to parent–adolescent relationship qualities (i.e., warmth, conflict, disclosure). Depressive symptoms mediated the links between maternal and paternal work pressure and parent–adolescent warmth, conflict, and disclosure. For mothers, depressive symptoms also mediated the links between self-direction and mother–adolescent warmth, conflict, and disclosure; for fathers, role overload mediated the links between work pressure and hazardous conditions with father–adolescent warmth. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of ethnicity in observers’ ratings of mother–child behavior.

This study examined the role of ethnicity in untrained observers’ ratings of videotaped mother–child interactions. Participants were Black, White, and Latino undergraduates (N = 109), who rated videotapes of 4 Black, 4 White, and 4 Latino mother–child dyads. Overall, participants of different ethnicities showed more similarities than differences in their ratings of parent–child behavior. There was, however, evidence that participant ethnicity and parent–child ethnicity interacted for ratings of child defiance/negative emotion. Black and White participants differed in their ratings of Black and White children’s defiance/negative emotion, with members of each ethnic group favoring children of their own ethnic group. Intergroup contact appeared to play a role in ratings of parent behavior among Black observers. Black observers who reported low intergroup contact tended to rate Black mothers high on strictness and low on permissiveness. More research is needed to better understand the role of ethnicity in observers’ ratings of parent and child behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

How does religiosity enhance well-being? The role of perceived control.

Religiousness and spirituality (R/S) are consistently linked with positive indicators of well-being, but the mechanisms behind these associations remain largely unknown. We hypothesize that an individual's level of perceived control (PC) acts as a mediator of this relationship and that this effect is stronger in older adults. Participants were 529 adults from the Notre Dame Study of Health and Well-Being (aged 31–88). Regression analyses tested both mediating and moderating functions of PC for three different R/S components (religious practices, daily spiritual experiences, and religious/spiritual coping); composite variables were used for PC and subjective well-being (SWB) in all analyses. These effects were tested using the full sample, as well as separately by age group (early midlife, aged 31–49; late midlife, aged 50–59; and later life, aged 60 and over), in order to discover any age differences that may exist. Results revealed differences by both R/S dimension and age group: PC partially mediated the religious practices-SWB relationship in the full sample and in the later life group; the effects of religious/spiritual coping and spiritual experiences on SWB were partially mediated by PC in the full sample, the late midlife group, and the later life group; and none of the R/S-SWB relationships were mediated in the early midlife group. Moderating effects were indicated by significant interactions between PC and spiritual experiences in the full sample, PC and religious coping in the full sample, and PC and religious practices in the later life group. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Do the weary care about racioethnic similarity? The role of emotional exhaustion in relational demography.

Diversity theorists have hypothesized that similarity leads to both greater identification among individuals and reduced interpersonal conflict within organizations. Little research, however, has been conducted to identify boundary conditions for this relationship. The authors investigated the interactive effects of supervisor–subordinate racioethnic similarity and emotional exhaustion on organizational commitment in two studies. In Study 1, racioethnic supervisor–subordinate similarity related positively to commitment, but only among employees low in emotional exhaustion. In Study 2, we observed a significant indirect effect of racioethnic similarity on loyalty through supervisor support. Moreover, the support–loyalty linkage was significantly stronger for employees low in emotional exhaustion. Thus, the effects of supervisor–subordinate racioethnic similarity on employee commitment appear contingent upon employee emotional exhaustion. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

When does self-esteem relate to deviant behavior? The role of contingencies of self-worth.

Researchers have assumed that low self-esteem predicts deviance, but empirical results have been mixed. This article draws upon recent theoretical developments regarding contingencies of self-worth to clarify the self-esteem/deviance relation. It was predicted that self-esteem level would relate to deviance only when self-esteem was not contingent on workplace performance. In this manner, contingent self-esteem is a boundary condition for self-consistency/behavioral plasticity theory predictions. Using multisource data collected from 123 employees over 6 months, the authors examined the interaction between level (high/low) and type (contingent/noncontingent) of self-esteem in predicting workplace deviance. Results support the hypothesized moderating effects of contingent self-esteem; implications for self-esteem theories are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

How does context affect assessments of facial emotion? The role of culture and age.

People from Asian cultures are more influenced by context in their visual processing than people from Western cultures. In this study, we examined how these cultural differences in context processing affect how people interpret facial emotions. We found that younger Koreans were more influenced than younger Americans by emotional background pictures when rating the emotion of a central face, especially those younger Koreans with low self-rated stress. In contrast, among older adults, neither Koreans nor Americans showed significant influences of context in their face emotion ratings. These findings suggest that cultural differences in reliance on context to interpret others' emotions depend on perceptual integration processes that decline with age, leading to fewer cultural differences in perception among older adults than among younger adults. Furthermore, when asked to recall the background pictures, younger participants recalled more negative pictures than positive pictures, whereas older participants recalled similar numbers of positive and negative pictures. These age differences in the valence of memory were consistent across culture. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Do promises matter? An exploration of the role of promises in psychological contract breach.

Promises are positioned centrally in the study of psychological contract breach and are argued to distinguish psychological contracts from related constructs, such as employee expectations. However, because the effects of promises and delivered inducements are confounded in most research, the role of promises in perceptions of, and reactions to, breach remains unclear. If promises are not an important determinant of employee perceptions, emotions, and behavioral intentions, this would suggest that the psychological contract breach construct might lack utility. To assess the unique role of promises, the authors manipulated promises and delivered inducements separately in hypothetical scenarios in Studies 1 (558 undergraduates) and 2 (441 employees), and they measured them separately (longitudinally) in Study 3 (383 employees). The authors’ results indicate that breach perceptions do not represent a discrepancy between what employees believe they were promised and were given. In fact, breach perceptions can exist in the absence of promises. Further, promises play a negligible role in predicting feelings of violation and behavioral intentions. Contrary to the extant literature, the authors’ findings suggest that promises may matter little; employees are concerned primarily with what the organization delivers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Does emotion processing require attention? The effects of fear conditioning and perceptual load.

This study examined the impact of perceptual load on the processing of unattended threat-relevant faces. Participants performed a central letter-classification task while ignoring irrelevant face distractors, which appeared above or below the central task. The face distractors were graded for affective salience by means of aversive fear conditioning, with a conditioned angry face (CS+), an unconditioned angry face (CS?), and a neutral control face. The letter-classification task was presented under conditions of both low and high perceptual load. Results showed that fear conditioned (i.e., CS+) angry face distractors interfered with task performance more than CS? angry or neutral face distractors but that this interference was completely eliminated by high perceptual load. These findings demonstrate that aversively conditioned face distractors capture attention only under conditions of low perceptual load. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of mentor trust and protégé internal locus of control in formal mentoring relationships.

This study examined the relationship between mentor trust, protégé internal locus of control, and the mentoring functions reported by protégés. The matched mentor–protégé sample came from a formal mentoring program in China. We found a positive relationship between protégés’ internal locus of control and the extent of mentoring functions they reported receiving. Mentors’ affect-based trust was positively related to the extent of mentoring functions protégés reported receiving regardless of their internal locus of control. However, mentors’ cognition-based trust was positively related to protégés’ report of the extent of mentoring functions only for protégés who were lower in internal locus of control. The theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of structural ledges at phase boundaries—III. F.C.C.-B.C.C. interfaces in Kurdjumov-Sachs orientation

The ledge mode of misfit accommodation is extended to {111} f.c.c.∥{110} b.c.c. interfaces with the Kurdjumov-Sachs (KS) orientation relationship. As with the Nishiyama-Wassermann (NW) relationship the geometric quantities are uniquely related by the misfit ratio r of atomic diameters. A rigid lattice analysis shows that the driving forces for a KS orientation relationship are significantly larger than those for the NW-x and even more so than those for the NW-y relationships. The rigid analysis also predicts that the terrace width which satisfies the periodicity conditions for a stepped interface are well within the terrace widths which allow significant energy gains. The models developed for the NW analysis are modified for KS configurations and employed to sum energies for the terrace patches, tilt misfit dislocations and the riser interface energy. Comparing this energy with that of a planar interphase boundary comprised of only misfit compensating dislocations shows that a stepped interphase boundary is energetically favored at r values near and greater than r_KS but less than r_NW-y.     

Marital conflict and the quality of young children's peer play behavior: The mediating and moderating role of parent–child emotional reciprocity and attachment security.

Parent–child attachment security and dyadic measures of parent–child positive and negative emotional reciprocity were examined as possible mediators and moderators of the connection between marital conflict and children's peer play behavior. Eighty parents were observed in a laboratory play session with their 15- to 18-month-old child. Subsequently, at 36 months children were observed interacting with peers at their child care setting. Connections between marital conflict and children's positive peer interaction were mediated by mother–child attachment security, mother–child positive emotional reciprocity, and father–child negative emotional reciprocity. Connections between marital conflict and children's negative peer interaction were mediated by mother–child positive emotional reciprocity and father–child attachment security. Parent–child attachment security and negative emotional reciprocity emerged as important moderators of the connection between marital conflict and children's peer play behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Where do anxious children “fit” best? Childcare and the emergence of anxiety in early childhood.

The goal of this study was to explore the role of childcare history as a potential moderating factor in the development of anxiety in early elementary school. Data were drawn from multiple cycles of the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth. At Time 1, the sample included n = 3,100 children aged 4 to 5 years. Based on parent ratings at Time 1, groups of extremely anxious, aggressive, and comorbid children were identified, as well as a comparison group. Parents also reported on children's primary care experiences (e.g., centre-based care, home-based care, no care). Two years later, teachers provided ratings of child anxiety and aggression in elementary school. Results indicated an interaction between early behavioural risk group and childcare type in the prediction of later anxiety. Anxious children who participated in home-based care were significantly less anxious 2 years later than anxious children in the centre-based care or no-care groups. Results are discussed in terms of the importance of the fit between child characteristics and childcare type in the emergence of anxiety in early childhood. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of play therapists in children’s transitions: From residential care to foster care.

Permanency planning operates on the belief that all children have the right to stable housing. This approach to child welfare has been implemented as a way to protect children from the negative outcomes associated with long-term residential care and multiple foster home placements. When a child is ready to leave residential care and return to a family living environment, there are multiple steps involved in the selection of a family and a child’s preparation for discharge. Play therapists perform many roles in these cases, all of which are critically important to children’s success in their new environments. This article’s aims are to (a) describe the various roles of play therapists in the residential-to-foster care transition process, (b) highlight several therapeutic techniques play therapists can use in their work with children preparing to leave residential care and enter a new foster home, and (c) discuss some of conflicting feelings that accompanies such sensitive work. A case study will further illustrate the ways in which play therapists can advocate for children who are ready to leave residential care. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)