Self-interest and other-orientation in organizational behavior: Implications for job performance, prosocial behavior, and personal initiative.

In this article, the authors develop the self-concern and other-orientation as moderators hypothesis. The authors argue that many theories on work behavior assume humans to be either self-interested or to be social in nature with strong other-orientation but that this assumption is empirically invalid and may lead to overly narrow models of work behavior. The authors instead propose that self-concern and other-orientation are independent. The authors also propose that job performance, prosocial behavior, and personal initiative are a function of (a) individual-level attributes, such as job characteristics when employees are high in self-concern, and (b) group-level attributes, such as justice climate when employees are high in other-orientation. Three studies involving 4 samples of employees from a variety of organizations support these propositions. Implications are discussed for theory on work behavior and interventions geared toward job enrichment and team-based working. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Disentangling role perceptions: How perceived role breadth, discretion, instrumentality, and efficacy relate to helping and taking charge.

The objective of this study was to empirically disentangle role perceptions related to organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) that have been confounded in past research, investigate their unique relationships with both an affiliative (helping) and a challenging (taking charge) form of OCB, and determine their relative importance in explaining these 2 forms of OCB. The authors also examined whether role discretion and role breadth independently moderate the procedural justice-to-OCB relationship. The authors surveyed 225 engineers in India and their direct supervisors. The results showed that 3 of the 4 facets of OCB role perception explain unique variance in either helping or taking charge, and that role breadth moderates the relationships between procedural justice and both helping and taking charge. The authors discuss implications of these findings for OCB theory and research, as well as for managerial practice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Cognition and emotion: From order to disorder, second edition.

Reviews the book, Cognition and emotion: From order to disorder, second edition by Mick Power and Tim Dalgleish (see record 2007-10431-000). In this book, the authors provide a detailed analysis of emotion with an explicit focus on differences and similarities between "disordered" emotion and normative emotional experience. What sets this text apart from other books on cognition and emotion is its attempt to describe the philosophical and historical underpinnings of work on emotion. Another unique feature of this text is that the authors go beyond just describing the various theories of emotion by comparing and contrasting the arguments advanced by the theories and highlighting the strengths and limitations of each theory. This book is divided into two parts: Part 1 is a review of the major theories of emotion, and Part 2 consists of reviews of research on five basic emotions, as well as illustrations of how the SPAARS framework can be used to explain normative and nonnormative variants of these emotions. Power and Dalgleish suggest that readers can choose either to read the book in its entirety or to focus on the sections that are of interest. Overall, this second edition of Cognition and Emotion is a readable and engaging book. This book is not a primer; as noted earlier, some parts of it are conceptually heavy. For this reason, the most appropriate audience for this book is advanced graduate students who already have some background in research on basic emotion or psychopathology and who are looking to enhance their knowledge base. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

In defense of Piaget's theory: A reply to 10 common criticisms.

The developmental theory of Jean Piaget has been criticized on the grounds that it is conceptually limited, empirically false, or philosophically and epistemologically untenable. This study attempts to rebut these criticisms by showing that most of them (a) derive from widespread misinterpretations of the work of Piaget; (b) fail to appreciate the 2 central issues of his thinking—how new forms of thinking emerge during ontogenesis and how they become psychologically necessary; (c) incorrectly assume that many controversies concerning his theory can be settled empirically or methodologically before they are clarified conceptually; (d) ignore various modifications of Piagetian theory, particularly those advanced after 1970; and (e) forget the dialectical, constructivist, and developmental nature of Piaget's unique approach to human development. Although the authors do not claim there is a "true" Piaget to be discovered, or that the problems with his theory vanish when it is better understood, they do claim that important aspects of Piaget's work have not been assimilated by developmental psychologists. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Investing in the Personality Vulnerability Research Program--Current Dividends and Future Growth: Rejoinder to Coyne, Thompson, and Whiffen (2004).

The authors do not see any benefit to J. C. Coyne. R. Thompson, and V. Whiffen's (2004) proposal to draw sharp boundaries between psychodynamic vulnerability theories, research on the onset of syndromal depression, and research with vulnerable, nondepressed populations. These domains have been and remain mutually relevant. Coyne et al. did not bring forward new evidence concerning the 6 issues addressed by D. C. Zuroff. M. Mongrain. and D. A. Santor (2004); consequently, the authors stand by their conclusions. According to Lakatos (as cited in B. Gholson & P. Barker. 1985), scientists justifiably continue to invest in research programs as long as the programs remain progressive. The personality vulnerability program is theoretically and empirically progressive and merits continued investment. Nevertheless, the field would benefit if Coyne et al. articulated a systematic contextualist research program to compete with the personality research program. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Are Current Theories of Panic Falsifiable?

The authors examine 6 theories of panic attacks as to whether empirical approaches are capable of falsifying them and their heuristic value. The authors conclude that the catastrophic cognitions theory is least falsifiable because of the elusive nature of thoughts but that it has greatly stimulated research and therapy. The vicious circle theory is falsifiable only if the frightening internal sensations are specified. The 3-alarms theory postulates an indeterminate classification of attacks. Hyperventilation theory has been falsified. The suffocation false alarm theory lacks biological parameters that unambiguously index dyspnea or its distinction between anticipatory and panic anxiety. Some correspondences postulated between clinical phenomena and brain areas by the neuroanatomical hypothesis may be falsifiable if panic does not depend on specific thoughts. All these theories have heuristic value, and their unfalsifiable aspects are capable of modification. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Cognition as intuitive statistics.

Reviews the book, Cognition as intuitive statistics by Gerd Gigerenzer and David J. Murray (see record 1987-97295-000). Psychologists tend to think of their statistical methods simply as neutral tools. The use of a particular statistical technique is not supposed to influence one's psychological theorizing. Methods and theories are entirely different things, just like facts and theories are quite different. These sharp distinctions are generally accepted as articles of faith. They are not empirically based but are part of the philosophical legacy of positivism which continues to have a strong hold on our discipline. According to this philosophy methods and facts are both supposed to be theory-neutral, so that they can be used to test the claims of rival theories. Now, the post-positivist phase in the philosophy of science has been going on for long enough to have had some effect on the rhetoric, if not on the practice, of psychological investigation. In particular, the distinction between theories and facts is not likely to be insisted upon as dogmatically as it was in the heyday of logical positivism. But the parallel distinction between theories and methods has seldom been explicitly questioned in psychology. Gigerenzer and Murray's book goes a long way towards filling this gap. Their thesis is that after psychologists came to take a specific statistical methodology for granted in their research they began to base their theoretical models of human cognition on the psychologists' own statistical practice. Gigerenzer and Murray illustrate their general thesis by drawing on examples from four areas of psychological research: signal detection theory, perception, memory and thinking. In each case they combine a broad historical account with a detailed critical assessment of some contemporary work. The value of such an approach is that it opens up a refreshing new perspective on the research literature in these fields, making visible fundamental assumptions which normally remain hidden. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Once, twice, or three times as harmful? Ethnic harassment, gender harassment, and generalized workplace harassment.

Despite scholars’ and practitioners’ recognition that different forms of workplace harassment often co-occur in organizations, there is a paucity of theory and research on how these different forms of harassment combine to influence employees’ outcomes. We investigated the ways in which ethnic harassment (EH), gender harassment (GH), and generalized workplace harassment (GWH) combined to predict target individuals’ job-related, psychological, and health outcomes. Competing theories regarding additive, exacerbating, and inuring (i.e., habituating to hardships) combinations were tested. We also examined race and gender differences in employees’ reports of EH, GH, and GWH. The results of two studies revealed that EH, GH, and GWH were each independently associated with targets’ strain outcomes and, collectively, the preponderance of evidence supported the inurement effect, although slight additive effects were observed for psychological and physical health outcomes. Racial group differences in EH emerged, but gender and race differences in GH and GWH did not. Implications are provided for how multiple aversive experiences at work may harm employees’ well-being. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Special issue on self-determination theory: A Canadian contribution.

A number of theories have been proposed to account for the role of motivation in human functioning. Amongst these theories, self-determination theory (e.g., Deci & Ryan, 1985) has been especially influential. Canadian researchers have played a key role in the development of this important theory. The collection of articles in this special issue concern self-determination theory. Following an introductory article by Deci and Ryan, a total of nine articles appear. These articles review research in a variety of contexts on various important themes, such as work, education, relationships, parenting, health, environmental issues, and psychotherapy. Finally, a concluding article provides some reflection on these articles and proposes directions for future research. As such, this special issue celebrates the role that Canadian researchers have played, and continue to play, in testing and refining this major motivation theory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Using frame-of-reference training to understand the implications of rater idiosyncrasy for rating accuracy.

Frame-of-reference (FOR) rater training is one technique used to impart a theory of work performance to raters. In this study, the authors explored how raters' implicit performance theories may differ from a normative performance theory taught during training. The authors examined how raters' level and type of idiosyncrasy predicts their rating accuracy and found that rater idiosyncrasy negatively predicts rating accuracy. Moreover, although FOR training may improve rating accuracy even for trainees with lower performance theory idiosyncrasy, it may be more effective in improving errors of omission than commission. The discussion focuses on the roles of idiosyncrasy in FOR training and the implications of this research for future FOR research and practice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The place and promise of theory in rehabilitation psychology research.

Objective: Although rehabilitation psychology is more focused on empirical evidence and clinical application than theory development, the authors argue for the primacy of theory and explain why theories are needed in and useful for rehabilitation psychology. Impediments to theory development are discussed, including the difficulties of applying psychological theories in multidisciplinary enterprises and the difficulties in developing a theory-driven research program. The authors offer suggestions by reviewing research settings, knowledge gained through controlled studies, grantsmanship, and then identify topical areas in which new theories are needed. Researcher-practitioners are reminded that rehabilitation psychology benefits from a judicious mix of scientific rigor and real-world vigor. Conclusions: The authors close by advocating for theory-driven research programs that embrace a methodological pluralism, which will, in turn, advance new theory, produce meaningful research programs that inform practice, and realize the goals of this special issue of Rehabilitation Psychology--advances in research and methodology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

In search of a relational theory.

The author searched for empirically based theories and models with an interpersonal and relational focus. This search was conducted in spite of academic and professional psychology’s general avoidance of theory building coupled with an exaggerated reliance on empirical evidence, producing a chaotic proliferation of models unrelated to each other. Requirements for any theory are verifiability, applicability, redundancy, and fruitfulness. Many two-factor relational theories and models derive from the two assumptions of space and time. From these models and theories two stand out: attachment theory and relational competence theory (RCT). Both theories attempt to link heretofore separate fields: research and practice. The major asset of attachment theory has been a multitude of studies in the English-speaking world. The major shortcoming of RCT is that research to support the validity of its models has been conducted only in Italy. However, many test instruments, enrichment programs, and interactive practice exercises for some models of RCT are available in English. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychological well-being in retirement: The effects of personal and gendered contextual resources.

Although prior research points to the gendered nature of work and private routines, surprisingly few studies have explored the influence of gender on the sources of psychological well-being in retirement. Drawing on resource theories and theories on the gendered division of labor, this study examines how preretirement resources relate to retirees' psychological well-being by using data from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study. It is hypothesized that possessing key resources prior to retirement as well as losing or gaining resources in the transition to retirement influence retirees' well-being and that these effects are partially conditioned by gender. Results indicate that preretirement physical health, tenacity in goal pursuit, and flexibility in goal adjustment are beneficial for men's and women's well-being alike. By contrast, financial assets and job dissatisfaction are more strongly related to men's psychological well-being in retirement and preretirement social contacts to that of women. Thus, the study underscores the importance of considering gendered resources in retirement research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Implicit cognition in the prediction of substance use among drug offenders.

This research evaluated the utility of motivationally relevant implicit memory measures in predicting marijuana and alcohol use in a sample of culturally diverse drug offenders. In addition, the authors examined whether cultural variables interacted with these predictive effects. Implicit memory was assessed with measures of word association (cue-behavior and outcome-behavior association) that implicitly activates drug-related memory associations to drug cues. Results indicate that the implicit memory measures used in this research were significant predictors of alcohol and marijuana use. Acculturation, ethnicity, and gender did not modify the relationships between implicit memory and substance use. The results are consistent with psychopharmacological theories contending that (a) repeated experience with drugs influences motivationally relevant associations in memory and (b) these associations perpetuate drug use. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Contemporary theories of learning.

The authors indicate that "It is the purpose of this textbook for university and college students to explain the most important theories of learning in the clearest and simplest possible language, to show the relevance of each of them to the educational process, and to point out that in spite of the many conflicts between these theories they have a common ground upon which can be based an intelligible pattern of classroom procedure". Each aspect of this purpose is in itself a large and important undertaking that makes quite different demands upon the authors and requires different evaluation criteria. Two responsibilities are assumed in accomplishing the first part of their purpose: (a) to indicate their criteria for selecting material from a theory, and (&) to explain each theory accurately. As the chapters are written the student is likely to infer that the volume presents unabridged theories of seven men (Thorndike, Guthrie, Hull, Skinner, Wheeler, Tolman and Dewey) and two positions- Functionalism and Gestalt. Since no selection criteria were indicated, the authors are open to the criticism that they have promised more than they have delivered. Also, Thorpe and Schmuller have not always been accurate. A fundamental difficulty is inherent in the approach taken by the authors to accomplish their second purpose. At the present time it is not possible to apply entire systems of learning to problems because they are not highly developed, logically integrated sets of axioms and postulates. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Divergent effects of transformational and passive leadership on employee safety.

The authors concurrently examined the impact of safety-specific transformational leadership and safety-specific passive leadership on safety outcomes. First, the authors demonstrated via confirmatory factor analysis that safety-specific transformational leadership and safety-specific passive leadership are empirically distinct constructs. Second, using hierarchical regression, the authors illustrated, contrary to a stated corollary of transformational leadership theory (B. M. Bass, 1997), that passive leadership contributes incrementally to the prediction of organizationally relevant outcomes, in this case safety-related variables, beyond transformational leadership alone. Third, further analyses via structural equation modeling showed that both transformational and passive leadership have opposite effects on safety climate and safety consciousness, and these variables, in turn, predict safety events and injuries. Implications for research and application are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relationship of emotional exhaustion to work attitudes, job performance, and organizational citizenship behaviors.

The authors investigated the negative consequences of emotional exhaustion for individual employees and their employers. On the basis of social exchange theory, the authors proposed that emotional exhaustion would predict job performance, 2 classes of organizational citizenship behavior, and turnover intentions. In addition, the authors posited that the relationship between emotional exhaustion and effective work behaviors would be mediated by organizational commitment. With only a few exceptions, the results of 2 field studies supported the authors' expectations. In addition, emotional exhaustion exerted an independent effect on these criterion variables beyond the impact of age, gender, and ethnicity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Emotion and cognition in psychotherapy: The transforming power of affect.

Theory and research on emotion in both psychology and psychotherapy are reviewed to demonstrate the importance of emotion in human functioning and psychotherapeutic change. A proposal is made for the importance of integrating empirically supported emotion-focused change processes into psychotherapeutic work. Five principles of change in the emotion domain-emotion awareness; expression; regulation; reflection on emotion; and the more novel principle of emotion transformation, by which emotion is changed by emotion-are offered as processes of change that are rapidly gathering empirical support. The result of emotion coming of age will be the expansion of theories of dysfunction and of treatment to include emotion-focused coping and emotional processes of change. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Men and psychotherapy: An investigation of alexithymia, intimacy, and masculine gender roles.

Psychological theories have long emphasized the roles of emotions in healthy functioning and in psychotherapy. However, the masculine socialization process has been hypothesized to encourage men to devalue and restrict much of their emotional experiencing (e.g., Brannon, 1976; Levant, 1992; O'Neil, 1981). This study of 208 men used two operationalizations of traditional masculine gender role socialization and found evidence that men reporting greater gender role conflict also acknowledged greater levels of alexithymia and fear of intimacy, even after controlling for socially desirable responding. Implications for psychotherapy and for future theory and research are noted. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)