Covert Behaviours Research Articles

Evaluations of pro-environmental behaviours in preschool age

ABSTRACT This research explored early ecological-moral sense, by investigating 2.5- and 5-year-old children’s evaluations of overt and covert pro-environmental actions using both rewarding and reaching paradigms (N = 96; 100% White). In Experiment 1, the overt pro-environmental action was compared with the action of harming the environment. In Experiment 2, the covert pro-environmental action was compared with the action of harming the environment. The results showed a reaching preference for the agent that performed overt pro-environmental behaviours only in older children, and a tendency to reward it in both age groups (Experiment 1). No preference for the agent that displayed covert pro-environmental behaviours or a tendency to reward it was found in all children (Experiment 2). These findings demonstrate an age-increased environmental morality.

Racial diversity at work: a psychodynamic perspective

This study aimed to provide new insights for diversity management by applying the psychodynamic principles of defence mechanisms and basic assumption mentality. Diversity is an important part of modern society and organisations. However, the evidence of diversity management remains inconsistent. Two opposing social theories have primarily been the focus of the scientific literature. Some scholars argue that these theories may be insufficient as they do not necessarily account for more covert forms of discrimination and experiences. We adopt a psychodynamic perspective because it has long promoted the influence of covert behaviours and subjective experiences. Ten participants were recruited using the purposeful sampling method. Participants identified as either being White, Black, Asian, or Other which was one of the three main inclusion criteria. The second being participants had no formal managerial authority and all worked in racially diverse teams in different organisations. Participants were recruited from organisations in The UK, The Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, and Australia. Individual interviews lasted 20–30 minutes and were conducted using Microsoft Teams and transcripts were coded using Nvivo 12. Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) was applied to uncover themes and psychodynamic principles were applied to make sense of participants lived experiences. The findings suggest that participants’ anxieties were exacerbated by socio-environmental factors and adverse workplace experiences that negatively interfered with job performance and relationships in the workplace. Ethnic minorities reported more stressors primarily due to a conflict and discrepancy between the self and their work environment. Reducing uncertainty, leadership emotional competence, and effectively managing work boundaries were protective factors. Recommendations and limitations are discussed.

How does the UK public think and feel about people with visual impairment: a review of existing evidence.

Despite legislation to protect people with visual impairment (V.I.) from discrimination in the United Kingdom (UK), the latter continue to experience overt and covert negative behaviours. Perceived discrimination has been associated with an adverse impact on identity, health and well-being, while negative attitudes have been identified as the biggest barrier to participation in everyday life. This article provides a narrative review of existing evidence of how the UK public treats (behaviours), thinks (perceptions) and feels (attitudes) about people with V.I. Despite limitations, the findings suggest that there is a gap between the behaviours reported by people with V.I. and the attitudes expressed by members of the UK public. Social psychological theories are used to explore possible reasons for this gap, and ways in which it may be addressed. As such, the article provides an example of how social psychological theories can be used to address problems in an applied context.

Measuring the reliability of proxy respondents in behavioural assessments: an open question.

In behavioural assessment, information can be gathered from internally referenced self-reports or from proxy informants. This study aimed to fine-tune a brief but reliable method for evaluating the proxy accuracy in cases where responses obtained from adult and older adults' patient cannot be considered reliable. We generated a set of items reflecting both overt and covert behaviours related to the basic instrumental activities of daily living. The psychometric properties of the content, factorial, and criterium validity of these items were then checked. The Proxy Reliability Questionnaire-ProRe was created. We tested the frequency of "I don't know" responses as a measure of proxy reliability in a sample of healthy older adults and their proxies, and in a second sample of proxy respondents who answered questions about their parents. As expected, response precision was lower for items characterizing covert behaviours; items about covert compared to overt behaviours generated more "I don't know" answers. Proxies provided less "I don't know" responses when evaluating the parent, they claimed they knew better. Moreover, we tried to validate our approach using response confidence. Encouragingly, these results also showed differences in the expected direction in confidence between overt and covert behaviours. The present study encourages clinicians/researchers to how well the proxy the patient know each other, the tendency of proxies to exhibit, for example, response bias when responding to questions about patients' covert behaviours, and more importantly, the reliability of informants in providing a clinical assessment of neurocognitive diseases associated with aging.

Nurse-to-nurse horizontal violence in Chinese hospitals and the protective role of head nurse's caring and nurses' group behaviour on it: A cross-sectional study.

This study aimed to analyse the prevalence of nurse-to-nurse horizontal violence in Chinese hospitals and examine the effects of head nurse's caring and nurse's group behaviour on horizontal violence. Horizontal violence is a serious global problem affecting the nursing profession, but little is known of the issue in Chinese hospitals. Increasing evidence has showed that leadership and group factors are important in facilitating horizontal violence. Whether the head nurse's caring and group behaviour perceived by nurses has protective effects against horizontal violence remains unclear. A cross-sectional online-based questionnaire study was performed in seven general hospitals in Hubei Province, China. Data related to the demographic information, horizontal violence, head nurse's caring and group behaviour were collected. Descriptive analyses, chi-squared tests and logistic regression were used for data analysis. In total, 1942 valid questionnaires were collected, with a 92.70% effective response rate (1942/2095). Of those, 59.1% (1148/1942) of respondents had experienced horizontal violence at least once in the previous 6 months. Covert negative behaviours were more frequently reported. Compared with the low level, moderate and high levels of the head nurse's caring showed a lower risk of horizontal violence (odds ratio [OR] = 0.400, p < .001; OR = 0.128, p < .001); moderate and high levels of group behaviour also showed a reduced risk (OR = 0.601, p < .001; OR = 0.221, p < .001). Horizontal violence is common among Chinese nurses. The head nurse's caring and maintaining a good climate of nurses' group behaviours could serve as protective factors for preventing horizontal violence. This study helps nursing managers identify which specific negative behaviours occur frequently and require special attention. It suggests that nursing managers attach importance to improving their caring ability towards nurses and to creating an amicable climate of group behaviour to buffer against horizontal violence.

High level of expressed emotions in the family of people with schizophrenia: has a covert abrasive behaviours component been overlooked?

BackgroundHigh expressed emotion (EE) in a patient's family is a known risk factor of relapse in schizophrenia. The three components of high EE – criticism, hostility and emotional over-involvement – were developed through a data-driven approach and a focus on overt abrasive behaviours. The influence of covert abrasive behaviours has not been explored. Aims and methodsThis study aims to explore both overt and covert abrasive behaviours through semi-structured interviews conducted with 22 people with schizophrenia, who were recruited through iterative purposive sampling. ResultsThematic analysis suggests that participants' experiences of overt abrasive behaviours resonate with the three-factor structure of high EE, except “emotional over-involvement” is renamed to “over-involvement” to focus on behaviours and embrace different levels or types of emotional reactions. Regarding covert abrasive behaviours, two domains are proposed: disassociation and apathy, which focus on family members' disengaging actions and indifferent attitudes respectively. While both overt and covert abrasive behaviours cause psychological distresses and behavioural reactions on the participants, their precise impacts are not entirely the same. ConclusionPeople with schizophrenia experience both overt and covert abrasive behaviours with family members. The findings of this study may expand the conceptualization of high EE, enhance its content validity, and provide an extended conceptual framework for developing more comprehensive measures.

An evidence synthesis of strategies, enablers and barriers for keeping secrets online regarding the procurement and supply of illicit drugs

This systematic review attempts to understand how people keep secrets online, and in particular how people use the internet when engaging in covert behaviours and activities regarding the procurement and supply of illicit drugs. With the Internet and social media being part of everyday life for most people in western and non-western countries, there are ever-growing opportunities for individuals to engage in covert behaviours and activities online that may be considered illegal or unethical. A search strategy using Medical Subject Headings terms and relevant key words was developed. A comprehensive literature search of published and unpublished studies in electronic databases was conducted. Additional studies were identified from reference lists of previous studies and (systematic) reviews that had similar objectives as this search, and were included if they fulfilled our inclusion criteria. Two researchers independently screened abstracts and full-texts for study eligibility and evaluated the quality of included studies. Disagreements were resolved by a consensus procedure. The systematic review includes 33 qualitative studies and one cross-sectional study, published between 2006 and 2018. Five covert behaviours were identified: the use of communication channels; anonymity; visibility reduction; limited posts in public; following forum rules and recommendations. The same technologies that provide individuals with easy access to information, such as social networking sites and forums, digital devices, digital tools and services, also increase the prevalence of inaccurate information, loss of privacy, identity theft and disinhibited communication. This review takes a rigorous interdisciplinary approach to synthesising knowledge on the strategies adopted by people in keeping secrets online. Whilst the focus is on the procurement and supply of illicit drugs, this knowledge is transferrable to a range of contexts where people keep secrets online. It has particular significance for those who design online/social media applications, and for law enforcement and security agencies.

Sensemaking as ‘Self’-defence: Investigating spaces of resistance in precarious work

The plight of workers inhabiting the lowest strata of the occupational hierarchy, their scope for progressive resistance and collectivization is a topic of lasting significance, addressed in a number of seminal studies. Since the advent of neoliberalism and rise of precarious, that is, insecure, atypical, zero-hour, short-term and temporary employment, the matter has, once again captured public attention and led to debates between labour market theorists and policy makers. Researchers have, so far, considered the complex neoliberal causes behind the phenomenon of precarious work and mapped in detail the antagonistic relationship between labour and capital in a variety of organizational contexts. However, there is an ongoing need to study worker resistance at the micro and symbolic levels, exhibited not only through mundane, covert and everyday behaviours but through identity work in defending against subjugation of a worker’s ‘Self’. Applying Weick’s framework in 71 in-depth interviews with workers in low-pay and low-skill industries such as hospitality and care, I identify three types of narratives, retrospective, collective and appreciative, through which participants practice sensemaking as ‘Self’-defence. In doing so, I propose that sensemaking narratives enable participants to orient and interpret the atomized terrain of postmodern work, finding both enjoyment and fulfilment. Through this argument, I contribute to the subjectivity debate by showing that ‘soft’ forms of resistance should not be dismissed as harmless substitutes of the real deal but underscore precarious workers’ lasting ability to construct meaningful ‘Selves’ within postmodern working contexts.

Women in Academic Arena: Struggles, Strategies and Personal Choices

Gender issues have been a research concern within the education community at all levels in the last few decades as education is regarded as a critical tool in development and the most effective tool to empower women to be able to live a more productive life as they access higher education. Despite the increase in access to higher education and women being in the majority in the teaching profession; it is still a herculean task for women attain top management positions especially in African universities because of cultural factors and patriarchal system of leadership. This situation is often described as a “chilly climate” due to both overt and covert behaviours and systemic barriers that needs attention. This paper therefore highlights the narrative stories of women leaders in Tai Solarin University of Education, in Nigeria where the researcher works as told by selected women leaders of their struggles, challenges and choices in the course of duty.

Protocol for the design of an instrument to measure preadolescent children's self-report of covert aggression and bullying

IntroductionCovert bullying in schools is associated with a range of academic, social, emotional and physical health problems. Much research has focused on bullying, but there remains a gap in understanding...

TCH-050 Use of Electroencephalography (EEG)-Based Metrics to Test the Gustatory Properties of Liquid Trimethoprim Formulations

BackgroundIt is well known that the gustatory properties of a formulation strongly affect patient adherence to a treatment. However measuring these properties is highly subjective and difficult, especially for the...

The Invisibility of Covert Bullying Among Students: Challenges for School Intervention

Covert bullying behaviours are at least as distressing for young people as overt forms of bullying, but often remain unnoticed or unacknowledged by adults. Thisinvisibilityis increased in schools by inattention to covert bullying in policy and practice, and limited staff understanding and skill to address covert behaviours. These factors can lead to a school culture that appears to tolerate and thus inadvertently encourages covert bullying. This study explores these dynamics in Australian primary and secondary schools, including the attitudes of over 400 staff towards covert bullying, their understanding of covert bullying behaviours, and their perceived capacity to address these behaviours both individually and at a whole-school level. While most respondents felt a responsibility to intervene in bullying situations, nearly 70% strongly agreed with statements that staff need more training to address covert bullying. Only 10% of respondents described their current whole-school strategies as very effective in reducing covert bullying, and fewer than 40% reported their school had a bullying policy that explicitly referred to covert bullying. These results suggest an urgent need for sustainable professional development to enhance school staff understanding, skills and self-efficacy to address covert bullying through school policy and practice, and the need to identify and consolidate effective strategies to better address these behaviours.

Current Evidence of Best Practice in Whole-School Bullying Intervention and Its Potential to Inform Cyberbullying Interventions

AbstractIn 2004, a set of validated guidelines for school bullying prevention and management was released by the Child Health Promotion Research Centre in Australia to guide schools' action to prevent and manage bullying behaviours. At this time little was known about cyber and other forms of covert bullying behaviours. These guidelines were updated in 2010 to include current research that provides a greater understanding of all forms of bullying behaviour. This article describes a summary of the current empirical evidence used to update these guidelines particularly related to relatively new and emergent forms of bullying, such as cyberbullying. Meta-analyses and reviews that assessed the effectiveness of school-based bullying interventions were examined to inform the relevance of the previously validated guidelines and to identify potential intervention strategies to reduce cyberbullying. This review confirmed the importance of a systematic whole-school approach to effectively prevent and manage all forms of bullying behaviours in schools (including cyberbullying) and the need to strengthen capacity supports to enable schools to put evidence into informed practice.

Cognitive Consistency in Purchase Behaviour: Theoretical &amp; Empirical Analyses

The fundamental thrust of consistency theories is to enforce equilibrium among one’s cognitions. Man seeks haemostatic states among his cognitive elements or avoids conflicting stimuli. He loves the familiar; the unfamiliar is always discomforting and disturbing though common knowledge tells us that actual behaviour turns what seems novel at the pre-decision stage into familiar following series of learning and experience. The Heider’s balance theory, Osgood’s congruity model and Festinger’s cognitive dissonance theory are the three popular schools of thought that provide the foundational theories of cognitive consistency This paper critically analyzed and synthesized the major theoretical and empirical body of knowledge of these schools with a view to proffering a tripartite approach (involving the consumers, the organizations and the governments) to solving inconsistency among cognitive elements (e.g.; values, beliefs, knowledge and attitudes). These schools were specifically looked into and assessed in terms of their individual real world application and/or empirical fertility. Each represents an improvement upon the other with Festinger’s theory providing the most elaborate perspective of emphasizing on psychological tension and means of achieving consistency within and between the cognitive system and ultimately overt and covert behaviours.

Dialectical Behaviour Therapy: Description, research and future directions.

Theoretical and Philosophical Foundations of DBT. A central dialectic between acceptance and change lies at the heart of DBT. In developing DBT, Linehan initially attempted to apply behavioural theory and change strategies to clients presenting with BPD and suicidal behaviour. She experienced several difficulties in these early stages of treatment development. Clients' were frequently non-collaborative in-session, did not practise agreed homework assignments and often did not return for subsequent treatment sessions at all. Linehan hypothesised that these 'therapy-interfering behaviours' arose because the clients experienced the strong focus on changing emotions, thoughts and behaviours as invalidating. Indeed, as clients often believe they are incapable of change, the whole notion of a treatment based on change is fundamentally invalidating. In response to these concerns, she searched for a philosophy / theoretical approach that strongly emphasised acceptance. Zen principles and practise underpin the acceptance-based components of DBT. To house these two contrasting approaches, Linehan uses dialectical philosophy. The following sections of this paper discuss these three foundations of the treatment in more detail. Pushing for Change: Behavioural Theory & Problem-Solving DBT like 'first wave' cognitive -behavioural treatments emphasises behavioural theory, rather than cognitive theory common to second wave treatments such as Cognitive Therapy for depression (Hayes, Follette & Linehan, 2004). Like 'first wave' therapies 'third wave' therapies, of which DBT was perhaps one of the first, take a radical behaviourist perspective to mental phenomenon. Thus, any response of an organism, such as thinking, emoting, sensing, as well as overt motor behaviour constitutes behaviour. The emphasis on behavioural theory in DBT influences the treatments approach to diagnosis and case conceptualisation. Consistent with a radical behaviourist stance, DBT views the diagnostic criteria of BPD (DSM-IV, 2000, p. 710) as simply descriptions of the overt and covert behaviours of the client and, crucially, that when these behaviours stop the diagnosis ceases to exist. Indeed, to a radical behaviourist: 'A self or personality is at best a repertoire of behaviour imparted by an organized set of contingencies' (Skinner, 1974, p. 167). This approach contrasts with other theoretical models of personality and personality disorder that consider the diagnostic criteria as symptoms of an underlying 'borderline personality' organisation. A behavioural approach to diagnosis provides a more hopeful perspective to clients. In pre-treatment, DBT therapists describe the behavioural understanding of the diagnosis, identify behavioural targets for treatment and describe and demonstrate how DBT delivers behavioural change. Outlining that changing both their overt and covert behaviours removes the diagnosis orients clients towards recovery. DBT emphasises classical and operant conditioning in case conceptualisation. DBT therapists conduct behavioural analyses to comprehend both the classically conditioned links in the chain of events leading up to problematic behaviour and the functional (operant) consequences of the behaviour. For example, a client with a history of childhood sexual abuse frequently experienced increases in guilt and suicidal ideation whilst preparing for bed. Analysis of the increases in ideation revealed a classically conditioned association between going to bed and thoughts of suicide. The client learnt this association in childhood as the perpetrator would tell her she deserved to die during the abusive episodes, which occurred in her bed, for which she experienced intense guilt. In the present, following the increases in suicidal ideation, the client would search for self-harm implements. As she began to search, she experienced relief from guilt as she now believed that she was doing 'the right thing'. …

Factors predicting recidivism in childand adolescent fire-setters: A systematic review of the literature

Fires set by young people account for a large proportion of fire-related public property damage and deaths. Law enforcement and mental health professionals alike seek ways to prevent fire-setters from repeating their criminal behaviour. This article presents a comprehensive review of empirical studies of fire-setting recidivism. The purpose of this study was to identify potential predictors of recidivism in children and adolescents who set fires. Six articles and two dissertation abstracts were selected for systematic review according to specific inclusion/exclusion criteria. Previous involvement in fire-setting behaviour was found to be the best single predictor of recidivistic fire-setting. In addition, recidivists were noted to have greater levels of interest in fire and fire-related activities, displayed more covert antisocial behaviours, and were more likely to be male and older than non-recidivists. Recidivists also reported poorer social skills and higher levels of family dysfunction than other fire-setters. These factors should be further investigated and evaluated, and incorporated in risk assessment tools, interventions, and outcome measures.

The need for self‐report data in the assessment of stuttering therapy efficacy: repetitions and prolongations of speech. The stuttering syndrome

Bloodstein reviewed hundreds of studies that investigated the efficacy of therapeutic protocols for ameliorating the stuttering syndrome. Surprisingly, almost all were effective in significantly reducing overtly perceptible behaviours such as repetitions and prolongations of speech sounds. These results seem highly improbable considering that many of the treatment methods were diametrically opposed in their principles and implementation procedures (e.g. psychoanalysis, drug therapy, behaviourism, cognitive behavioural therapy and auditory feedback devices with rate control, etc.). In addition, time and more ecologically valid methods such as self-report measures demonstrate that overt measures of success are tenuous, their ameliorative effects tend to diminish drastically over time and show poor generalizability. Further, the real conundrum in stuttering therapy is the failure to acknowledge stuttering as a complete syndrome of continuous compensatory behaviours. To highlight how self-report measures serve as a primary tool to understand the syndrome-like nature of stuttering and to test the efficacy of the therapy outside the confines of the clinic and the needs of the people who stutter. In the past, therapeutic efficacy has typically been measured by the reduction in overtly observable and countable events of stuttering such as repetitions and prolongations. However, recent neuroimaging data and our research suggest that the stuttering syndrome is more than the mere presence of peripheral speech disruptions. Stuttering is a central, experiential sense of 'loss of control' that manifests itself across a continuum of compensatory behaviours from the central nervous system outwards to the speech periphery. In other words, aberrant neural activity, as well as covert stuttering behaviours, subperceptual stuttering forms and overt speech disruptions are all effects or compensations for the central involuntary 'neural block'. Hence, by counting only perceptible portions of the disorder, efficacy measures 'fail to capture' the experiential sense of 'loss of control' and the covert compensatory behaviours of the disorder (i.e. avoidances of words or situations, substitutions, circumlocutions, subperceptual stuttering forms, etc.). Furthermore, unnatural sounding speech, decreased ease of speech production, elevated levels of clinic room fluency and poor reliability in counting stuttering behaviours confound the overt measures in the clinic milieu. Therefore, while overt measures remain important, used in isolation, they cannot provide a 'true metric' of efficacy. Any efficient and effective means of evaluating intervention methods over the long-term should include a form of self-report as a primary tool as it best accesses the experiential sense of 'loss of control' and other covert behaviours. Overt measures should be used to supplement or complement the self-report data.

Review: stimulants improve overt and covert aggression related behaviours in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

Connor DF, Glatt SJ, Lopez ID, et al. Psychopharmacology and aggression. I: A meta-analysis of stimulant effects on overt/covert aggression-related behaviors in ADHD. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry2002 Mar;...

The role of clinical directorate managers in facilitating evidence-based practice: a report of an exploratory study.

This paper presents an exploration of the role of clinical directorate managers in facilitating evidence-based practice. It reports on a small qualitative study which explored the perceptions held by directorate managers regarding their role in facilitating evidence-based practice for their nursing teams. Insights were sought into the nature of the overt and covert behaviours which the managers used in encouraging nurses to base their practices on research evidence. The sample consisted of 10 directorate managers from two teaching hospitals in one Trust, whose characteristics were not atypical from other directorate managers. Data were collected using semi-structured, tape-recorded interviews. Interviews focused on manager's backgrounds, professional responsibilities and practices, personal research agendas and socio-political influences. Findings revealed some constraining influences on the development of evidence-based practice, such as the Clinical Managers' budget allocations, and the policies and goals of the Trust. However, in respect of the managers' own practices, whilst some facilitative behaviours were identified, the data suggested that clinical managers were behaving in a manner which actually inhibited the development of evidence-based nursing practice. It would appear that in the post-reform National Health Service (NHS) clinical managers find themselves in a difficult position which gives rise to a practical failure to use their position and organizational authority to influence the utilization of research in practice. The implications of these findings for an evidence-based health service are discussed.

Productivity, Satisfaction and Involvement: A Brief Note on Some Conceptual Issues

Increasing productivity is the major goal of every successful organisation, be it private or public, service or manufacturing. In order to achieve this goal, the organisation has to depend to a large extent on both covert and overt behaviours of its members. The covert behaviours of organisational members refer to such psychological phenomena as job satisfaction, involvement and other related attitudes and beliefs. The overt behaviours, on the other hand, refer to directly observable behaviours such as absenteeism, tardiness, and other forms of on‐the‐job behaviour. It is the task of organisational psychologists to identify these behaviours and establish specific causal relationships between these behaviours and productivity.