Applied Psychology Research Articles

Seeing you seeing me: Stereotypes and the stigma magnification effect.

[Correction Notice: An Erratum for this article was reported in Vol 101(5) of Journal of Applied Psychology (see record 2016-21000-001). In the article, Table 2 contained a production-related formatting error. Values from column 11 onward were shifted upwards in the table. All versions of this article have been corrected.] Despite an increased interest in the phenomenon of stigma in organizations, we know very little about the interactions between those who are stigmatized and those who stigmatize them. Integrating both the perceptions of the stigmatized worker and the stigmatizing customer into one model, the present study addresses this gap. It examines the role of stereotypes held by customers of stigmatized organizations and metastereotypes held by the stigmatized workers themselves (i.e., their shared beliefs of the stereotypes customers associate with them) in frontline exchanges. To do so, data regarding frontline workers (vendors) of homeless-advocate newspapers from 3 different sources (vendors, customers, trained observers) were gathered. Multilevel path-analytic hypotheses tests reveal (a) how frontline workers' prototypicality for a stigmatized organization renders salient a stigma within frontline interactions and (b) how stereotypes by customers and metastereotypes by frontline workers interact with each other in such contacts. The results support a hypothesized interaction between frontline workers' metastereotypes and customers' stereotypes-what we call the "stigma magnification effect". The study also derives important practical implications by linking stigma to frontline workers' discretionary financial gains. (PsycINFO Database Record

‘No more Turkish music!’ The acculturation strategies of teachers and ethnic minority students in Flemish schools

ABSTRACTWhile considerable research has focused on the process and factors affecting acculturation, there is little research that investigates how members of minority and majority groups define acculturation in educational settings. Ethnographic research and qualitative interviews in three secondary schools in Flanders (Belgium) show that teachers and ethnic minority students have different ideas and expectancies regarding the concept ‘integration’, which appears to affect student–teacher relationship. Berry et al.’s [1989. “Acculturation Attitudes in Plural Societies.” Applied Psychology: An International Review 3 (2): 185-206. doi:10.1111/j.1464-0597.1989.tb01208.x.] acculturation orientations are used as a theoretical template to analyse teachers’ and ethnic minority students’ discourses about acculturation. Analyses reveal that students of immigrant descent perceive acculturation mainly in terms of the establishment of intergroup contact. In contrast, teachers find it harder to disconnect cultural maintenance from contact and participation. By suggesting some form of cultural adoption, teachers hope to socialise their ethnic minority students into the culture of the dominant ethnic group and prepare them for their future. These distinct interpretations of ‘integration’ in everyday life (which actually refers to acculturation) often leads to misunderstandings between ethnic minority students and their teachers, even to conflict, as many students feel that their cultural background is disparaged and not fully valued in school.

HARKing's Threat to Organizational Research: Evidence From Primary and Meta‐Analytic Sources

We assessed presumed consequences of hypothesizing after results are known (HARKing) by contrasting hypothesized versus nonhypothesized effect sizes among 10 common relations in organizational behavior, human resource management, and industrial and organizational psychology research. In Study 1, we analyzed 247 correlations representing 9 relations with individual performance in 136 articles published in Journal of Applied Psychology and Personnel Psychology and provide evidence that correlations are significantly larger when hypothesized compared to nonhypothesized. In Study 2, we analyzed 281 effect sizes from a meta‐analysis on the job satisfaction–job performance relation and provide evidence that correlations are significantly larger when hypothesized compared to nonhypothesized. In addition, in Study 2, we documented that hypothesized variable pairs are more likely to be mentioned in article titles or abstracts. We also ruled out 13 alternative explanations to the presumed HARKing effect pertaining to methodological (e.g., unreliability, publication year, research setting, research design, measure contextualization, publication source) and substantive (e.g., predictor–performance pair, performance measure, satisfaction measure, occupation, job/task complexity) issues. Our results suggest that HARKing seems to pose a threat to research results, substantive conclusions, and practical applications. We offer recommended solutions to the HARKing threat.

They made you perfect: A test of the Social Reaction Model of Perfectionism.

Perfectionism serves as a mediator in the relationship between difficult life experiences and psychological distress, but to date no research has examined the effect of recalled peer victimization on perfectionism and adult depressive symptomatology (DS). The present study assessed the Social Reaction Model of Perfectionism (SRMP; Flett, Hewitt, Oliver, & Macdonald (2002b). Perfectionism in children and their parents: A developmental analysis. In G. L. Flett and P. L. Hewitt (Eds.), Perfectionism: Theory, research, and treatment (pp. 89-132). Washington: American Psychological Association), which proposes that perfectionism (self-oriented, other-oriented and socially prescribed perfectionism) results from harsh experiences. This may include experiences of peer victimization (physical, verbal and indirect). The model was extended to also include adult DS and rumination (brooding and reflection). Self-report questionnaires measuring recalled childhood experiences of peer victimization (Owens, Daly, & Slee (2005). Aggressive Behavior, 31, 1-12. doi: 10.1002/ab.20045), current trait perfectionism (Hewitt & Flett (1991). Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 60, 456-470. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037//0022-3514.60.3.456), rumination (Nolen-Hoeksema & Morrow (1991). Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 61, 115-121. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.61.1.115) and DS (Radloff (1977). Applied Psychological Measurement, 1, 386-401. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/014662167700100306) were completed by 338 adult participants (54% female). Path-analyses revealed recalled indirect victimization to be associated with adults' self-oriented and socially prescribed perfectionism. However, only socially prescribed perfectionism mediated the relation between recalled indirect victimization and adult DS. Brooding rumination also mediated the effect of socially prescribed perfectionism upon DS. The findings support the SRMP, and extend the theory to include the effects of perfectionism on rumination and DS.

Politics and “Applied Psychology”? Theoretical Concepts that Question the Disciplinary Community

This paper responds to a set of problems in contemporary psychology that cluster around the notion that the discipline might be “applied” to the real world, and that such application would thereby serve as the methodological and conceptual grounding for “political psychology.” The specific problems addressed comprise “interpretation” of material in the quantitative and qualitative traditions, the notion of “application” as such which rests on the prior modelling of individual and collective psychological phenomena, the conceptions of “politics” that operate in disciplinary interventions, the idealisation of “community” in different traditions of community psychology in the US and Europe, and finally “psychology” itself as the background against which these other problems are elaborated. In response to these problems the paper describes political theoretical concepts from feminist interventions in Left practice and brings them to bear on the discipline of psychology, turning the direction of travel of concepts around so that psychology itself rather than the outside world becomes the object to which ideas are “applied.” The five political theoretical concepts described here are: “performativity,” “standpoint,” “the personal as political,” the “tyranny of structurelessness,” and “intersectionality.”

Leader narcissism and follower outcomes: The counterbalancing effect of leader humility.

[Correction Notice: An Erratum for this article was reported in Vol 100(4) of Journal of Applied Psychology (see record 2015-29666-001). The last name of the second author was misspelled in the Online First version of the article. All versions of this article have been corrected.] In response to recent calls to theorize and examine how multiple leader characteristics may work together in their effects, the current research examines how leader narcissism and humility interact to predict perceived leader effectiveness and follower (i.e., direct-report) job engagement and performance. Although an examination of leaders who are narcissistic yet humble may seem oxymoronic and even paradoxical, researchers have suggested that seemingly contradictory personal attributes may exist simultaneously and may actually work together to produce positive outcomes. Results from survey data from followers and leaders working for a large health insurance organization showed that the interaction of leader narcissism and leader humility is associated with perceptions of leader effectiveness, follower job engagement, and subjective and objective follower job performance. Together, these results suggest that narcissistic leaders can have positive effects on followers when their narcissism is tempered by humility.

Hallucinatory Activity in Schizophrenia: The Relationship with Childhood Memories, Submissive Behavior, Social Comparison, and Depression

ICAP 2015: 17th International Conference on Applied Psychology. Tokyo, Japan, May 28-29, 2015.

Critical Appraisal in the Context of Integrations of Qualitative Evidence in Applied Psychology: The Introduction of a New Appraisal Tool for Interview Studies

There are varied approaches to the use of appraisal guidelines in qualitative research (QR). Drawing on my experience of critically appraising interview-based studies, included in a qualitative review in psychotherapy research that is under preparation, I reached the following conclusion: that such an appraisal process could benefit from the employment of appraisal criteria that would facilitate a consistent, transparent, and comprehensive comparative appraisal of the included studies. To meet these requirements, I have developed a new, qualitative appraisal tool which, unlike existing appraisal frameworks, uses highly operationalised and specialised criteria tailored to the needs of interview studies in psychology/psychotherapy. I believe that this tool could be highly suitable for assisting with the appraisal process in similar reviews integrating qualitative evidence. Here I present this tool for consideration and discuss its potential practical utility and its theoretical implications for the field of QR in psychology. I finally recommend safeguards against its uncritical use.

Complex trauma: Applied psychology in a ‘looked after children’ therapeutic residential setting with education

This article outlines the theory of complex trauma. It considers how best to disseminate psychological theory in a residential setting for looked after children with behavioural, emotional and social difficulties education, and a fostering service attached.

Los laboratorios de psicología en la Argentina. Proyectos e instrumentos, enseñanza y psicología aplicada

Los laboratorios de psicología en la Argentina. Proyectos e instrumentos, enseñanza y psicología aplicada

Interview with Jonathan Grudin on “Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing”

Jonathan GrudinMicrosoft ResearchOne Microsoft WayRedmond, WA 98052United Statesjgrudin@microsoft.comJonathan Grudin is a Principal Researcher at Microsoft Research in the fields of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW). Grudin is a pioneer of the field of CSCW and one of its most prolific contributors. He was awarded the inaugural CSCW Lasting Impact Award in 2014 on the basis of this work. Prior to working at Microsoft Research, Grudin was a Professor of Information and Computer Science at the University of California, Irvine from 1991 to 1998. His career has also spanned numerous institutions. He worked at Wang Laboratories as a Computer Programmer (1974-1975 and 1983-1986). He was a Visiting Scientist in the Psychology and Artificial Intelligence Laboratories at MIT (1976-1979) and then a NATO Postdoctoral Fellow at the Medical Research Council’s Applied Psychology Unit (now known as the Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit (1982-1983)

“The House of the Seven Women”: the Fading of Generational Boundaries in the Family

Underlying the constitution of the “family body” we find the generational past, transmitted and appropriated by successive generations. The family psyche, like the individual psyche, needs to be embedded in a body, which can be thought of as a family habitat, topically represented by the family's house or home. The house operates as a container for intersubjective contents of the family structure, in which family memories, affects, and ideals are deposited. The sense of belonging is constructed through what is lived, shared, and narrated within the family group. In this home environment, generational boundaries can be understood as walls of transmission; these allow the psychic support of the “family body”, operate as a symbolic filter, and therefore enable the individuation processes of family members. In this study, we discuss a family psychotherapy case, in which seven women—members of four cohabiting generations—were treated. This “house of the seven women” suffered from the fading of generational boundaries, evidenced by the women's difficult coexistence in a home marked by non-elaborated or unexpressed traumatic memories. This case was treated by the family psychotherapy unit of the Service of Applied Psychology (SPA) of the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro.

Roots in the Great Plains: The Applied Psychology of Harry Hollingworth ed. by Ludy T. Benjamin Jr. and Lizette Royer Barton (review)

Reviewed by: Roots in the Great Plains: The Applied Psychology of Harry Hollingworth ed. by Ludy T. Benjamin Jr. and Lizette Royer Barton C. James Goodwin Roots in the Great Plains: The Applied Psychology of Harry Hollingworth. Edited by Ludy T. Benjamin Jr. and Lizette Royer Barton. Akron: University of Akron Press, 2013. vii + 349 pp. Illustrations, index. $34.95 paper. This book is the first of a two-volume autobiography highlighting the life and work of Nebraska native Harry Hollingworth (1880–1956), a figure well known among historians of psychology; he was a pioneer in the field that eventually came to be called industrial psychology. Although trained as a laboratory psychologist, Hollingworth made his reputation by completing applied research projects for a variety of corporations. The title of the second volume of the autobiography, From Coca-Cola to Chewing Gum: The Applied Psychology of Harry Hollingworth, hints at the range of Hollingworth’s applied projects. Both volumes are reprinted in facsimile format, part of a series of publications from the Center for the History of Psychology at the University of Akron; the purpose of the series is to make important archival material at the center widely available. Hollingworth wrote the autobiography in 1940, just a few years after the untimely death of his wife, research collaborator, and fellow Nebraskan, Leta Stetter Hollingworth (1886–1939). This first volume of the Hollingworth autobiography, especially the first two-thirds of it, will be of special value to those interested in the social and cultural history of the Great Plains at the end of the nineteenth century. It documents Hollingworth’s early years—his childhood and adolescence as a largely self-educated son of a carpenter in rural Nebraska, and the jobs he took on to save for and remain in college (ranging from teacher to carpenter to gravedigger). The final third of the volume, mainly his years at University of Nebraska, will interest historians of psychology, for it was here that Hollingworth’s future became determined when he encountered (1) the love of his life, Leta Stetter, and (2) what came to be called the New Psychology—a laboratory-based strategy for examining psychological phenomena. This was a time when psychology was separating itself from philosophy and physiology and becoming a discipline of its own—a transition reflected in Hollingworth’s stated ambition when entering Nebraska “to specialize in philosophy and in that new and decidedly vague thing called psychology” (250). At Nebraska, Hollingworth came under the influence of Thaddeus Bolton, a PhD student of G. Stanley Hall’s at Clark University, one of the first schools in the United States to offer graduate training in the New Psychology. Recognizing Hollingworth’s talent in his laboratory course, Bolton quickly hired him as a course assistant. This helped alleviate some of Hollingworth’s financial burden, while at the same time strengthening his commitment to this new field. Bolton became a lifelong colleague. This first volume of the autobiography ends with Hollingworth’s initial failure to get into graduate school, his brief time as a high school principal, and his eventual invitation to graduate study at Columbia University. Volume 2 of the autobiography documents the Columbia years and Hollingworth’s subsequent career as an applied psychologist. The strength of this first volume of the Hollingworth autobiography lies in the rich descriptions of the struggles of a young man trying to escape poverty in rural Nebraska and shape a meaningful life for himself. Although the level of detail is occasionally excessive, the patient reader will gain valuable insight into that independent, pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps mentality (“the cult of self-reliance,” 69) characteristic of life in the often harsh environment of the Great Plains in the late nineteenth century. C. James Goodwin Department of Psychology Western Carolina University Copyright © 2015 Center for Great Plains Studies, University of Nebraska–Lincoln

Correlational effect size benchmarks.

Effect size information is essential for the scientific enterprise and plays an increasingly central role in the scientific process. We extracted 147,328 correlations and developed a hierarchical taxonomy of variables reported in Journal of Applied Psychology and Personnel Psychology from 1980 to 2010 to produce empirical effect size benchmarks at the omnibus level, for 20 common research domains, and for an even finer grained level of generality. Results indicate that the usual interpretation and classification of effect sizes as small, medium, and large bear almost no resemblance to findings in the field, because distributions of effect sizes exhibit tertile partitions at values approximately one-half to one-third those intuited by Cohen (1988). Our results offer information that can be used for research planning and design purposes, such as producing better informed non-nil hypotheses and estimating statistical power and planning sample size accordingly. We also offer information useful for understanding the relative importance of the effect sizes found in a particular study in relationship to others and which research domains have advanced more or less, given that larger effect sizes indicate a better understanding of a phenomenon. Also, our study offers information about research domains for which the investigation of moderating effects may be more fruitful and provide information that is likely to facilitate the implementation of Bayesian analysis. Finally, our study offers information that practitioners can use to evaluate the relative effectiveness of various types of interventions.

Are We Correcting Correctly?

The formulae for attenuation correction in meta-analysis treat reliabilities as if they were independent of each other. The current study puts this assumption of independence to the test by empirically examining the correlation among predictor and criterion reliability estimates across studies. Interdependence of reliabilities would result in either overestimation or underestimation of population correlations depending on the direction of the relationship between the reliabilities. We conducted two studies to examine the extent to which predictor and criterion reliabilities correlate across studies. Study 1 is based on 628 pairs of reliability estimates from 518 studies published in the Academy of Management Journal and the Journal of Applied Psychology between 2004 and 2011, while Study 2 is based on 564 pairs of reliability estimates from 347 studies included in a meta-analysis on perceived organizational support (POS) and some of its antecedents and outcomes. The findings in both studies show substantial correlations between predictor and criterion reliability coefficients across studies. Our article discusses important implications from these findings for future research and for the future conduct of meta-analyses.

Small sample mediation testing: misplaced confidence in bootstrapped confidence intervals.

Bootstrapping is an analytical tool commonly used in psychology to test the statistical significance of the indirect effect in mediation models. Bootstrapping proponents have particularly advocated for its use for samples of 20-80 cases. This advocacy has been heeded, especially in the Journal of Applied Psychology, as researchers are increasingly utilizing bootstrapping to test mediation with samples in this range. We discuss reasons to be concerned with this escalation, and in a simulation study focused specifically on this range of sample sizes, we demonstrate not only that bootstrapping has insufficient statistical power to provide a rigorous hypothesis test in most conditions but also that bootstrapping has a tendency to exhibit an inflated Type I error rate. We then extend our simulations to investigate an alternative empirical resampling method as well as a Bayesian approach and demonstrate that they exhibit comparable statistical power to bootstrapping in small samples without the associated inflated Type I error. Implications for researchers testing mediation hypotheses in small samples are presented. For researchers wishing to use these methods in their own research, we have provided R syntax in the online supplemental materials.

The Psychophysiology of Sport and Exercise

Event Abstract Back to Event The Psychophysiology of Sport and Exercise David L. Neumann1, 2* 1 Griffith University, Menzies Health Institute Queensland, Australia 2 Griffith University, School of Applied Psychology, Australia A psychophysiological perspective offers many advantages to advancing theory and practice in sport. It also presents several challenges. Research will be reviewed that shows how physiological measurements have increased our understanding of affective states and cognitive processes in sport and exercise, particularly in regards to the effects of different attentional focus strategies and goal setting. Measures discussed will include ECG, EMG, VO2, and respiratory flow and the sport tasks will include golf, pistol shooting, cricket, cycling, rowing, running, and strength training. In this work, a triangulation of physiological-motor-verbal data has proved to be a useful framework to address the theoretical and methodological challenges that result from a psychophysiological approach. Practical applications, including a cognitive training approach to biofeedback enhanced sport performance, are also discussed. Keywords: Sport, Exercise, Heart Rate, EMG, Respiratory gas analysis, respiratory flow Conference: ASP2015 - 25th Annual Conference of the Australasian Society for Psychophysiology, Sydney, Australia, 2 Dec - 4 Dec, 2015. Presentation Type: Oral Presentation Topic: Psychophysiology Citation: Neumann DL (2015). The Psychophysiology of Sport and Exercise. Conference Abstract: ASP2015 - 25th Annual Conference of the Australasian Society for Psychophysiology. doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2015.219.00051 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 22 Oct 2015; Published Online: 30 Nov 2015. * Correspondence: Prof. David L Neumann, Griffith University, Menzies Health Institute Queensland, Gold Coast, Australia, D.Neumann@griffith.edu.au Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers David L Neumann Google David L Neumann Google Scholar David L Neumann PubMed David L Neumann Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.

A meta-analysis of personality and workplace safety: addressing unanswered questions.

[Correction Notice: An Erratum for this article was reported in Vol 100(2) of Journal of Applied Psychology (see record 2015-08139-001). Table 3 contained formatting errors. Minus signs used to indicate negative statistical estimates within the table were inadvertently changed to m-dashes. All versions of this article have been corrected.] The purpose of this meta-analysis was to address unanswered questions regarding the associations between personality and workplace safety by (a) clarifying the magnitude and meaning of these associations with both broad and facet-level personality traits, (b) delineating how personality is associated with workplace safety, and (c) testing the relative importance of personality in comparison to perceptions of the social context of safety (i.e., safety climate) in predicting safety-related behavior. Our results revealed that whereas agreeableness and conscientiousness were negatively associated with unsafe behaviors, extraversion and neuroticism were positively associated with them. Of these traits, agreeableness accounted for the largest proportion of explained variance in safety-related behavior and openness to experience was unrelated. At the facet level, sensation seeking, altruism, anger, and impulsiveness were all meaningfully associated with safety-related behavior, though sensation seeking was the only facet that demonstrated a stronger relationship than its parent trait (i.e., extraversion). In addition, meta-analytic path modeling supported the theoretical expectation that personality's associations with accidents are mediated by safety-related behavior. Finally, although safety climate perceptions accounted for the majority of explained variance in safety-related behavior, personality traits (i.e., agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism) still accounted for a unique and substantive proportion of the explained variance. Taken together, these results substantiate the value of considering personality traits as key correlates of workplace safety.

Toward a meaningful metric of implicit prejudice.

[Correction Notice: An Erratum for this article was reported in Vol 100(5) of Journal of Applied Psychology (see record 2015-40760-001). there are errors in some of the values listed in Table 6 that do not alter any of the conclusions or substantive statements in the original article. The corrected portion of Table 6 is in the correction. The positive intercepts in this table represent the estimated IAT score when the criterion has a value of zero (suggesting attitudinal neutrality), except in the equation examining voter preference in Greenwald et al. (2009), where the intercept estimated the IAT score of Obama voters.] The modal distribution of the Implicit Association Test (IAT) is commonly interpreted as showing high levels of implicit prejudice among Americans. These interpretations have fueled calls for changes in organizational and legal practices, but such applications are problematic because the IAT is scored on an arbitrary psychological metric. The present research was designed to make the IAT metric less arbitrary by determining the scores on IAT measures that are associated with observable racial or ethnic bias. By reexamining data from published studies, we found evidence that the IAT metric is "right biased," such that individuals who are behaviorally neutral tend to have positive IAT scores. Current scoring conventions fail to take into account these dynamics and can lead to faulty inferences about the prevalence of implicit prejudice.

IMPLEMENTATION OF ACTION RESEARCH IN EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION

The study aimed to implement action research method in educational institution for the sake of positive reforms and to initiate process of progress by using combination of Organizational Psychology and Administration. It is observed that those educational institutions who do not meet the needs of advanced technology and serve with limited capacity gradually lose their position. The organizational research strategies discussed in this study were applied by author during Feb, 2011-Aug,2012 while performing the duties as Head of the Department at Applied Psychology, Islamia University Bahawalpur, Pakistan. The implementations could be helpful to apply these strategies in similar or other various fields.