Feelings Of Unfairness Research Articles

The company you keep: Is socialising with higher-status people bad for mental health?

Socialising with higher-status individuals can be hypothesised to exert opposing influences on the mental health of the ego. On the one hand, socialising with higher-status alters might enable individuals to access valuable resources. On the other hand, status-discrepant friendships could be detrimental to mental health by engendering feelings of unfairness. We sought to examine the impact of status-discrepant social relationships on depressive symptoms in the 2012 Korean General Social Survey (KGSS), a nationally representative sample. We show that socialising with higher-status people is positively associated with depressive symptoms. There is no significant difference between those socialising with equivalent-status or with lower-status alters. Perceived unfairness also increase depressive symptoms. Respondents socialising with higher-status alters tend to report greater depressive symptoms as their perceived unfairness increases. Gender-stratified analyses reveal that the detrimental impact of status-discrepant relationships are observed for men only, not for women. These findings suggest that socialising with higher-status people can be a net detriment for mental wellbeing by increasing stress/frustration or decreasing psychological resources such as self-esteem, and that these effects are more pronounced for individuals who perceive that society is unfair. This pattern appears stronger for men, which might be associated with gender roles internalised through gender socialisation processes.

Effects of police agency diversification on officer attitudes

PurposeIn light of recent calls to increase the diversity of America’s police, the purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of agency and leadership diversification on officer job satisfaction and reported perceptions of fairness within the organization, factors known to influence retention and performance.Design/methodology/approachA survey of 15,236 officers representing 88 agencies was used, as well as other agency- and community-level variables. Multi-level models were used to assess how these individual- and agency-level variables, including measures of diversification, affected job satisfaction and perceptions of fairness.FindingsDiversification in agency leadership positions was found to improve perceptions of fairness among all officers, in addition to ameliorating some feelings of unfairness among African-American officers. Diversification of the sworn ranks, in comparison to the population of the community, however, was not found to significantly affect the outcome measures.Research limitations/implicationsThe study only examined the effects of diversification on officer perceptions. Future studies that link measures of diversification to citizen perceptions are needed to understand how members of the public respond to the image and characteristics of sworn personnel in their communities.Practical implicationsThe results indicate the importance of retention and promotion of more diverse leadership in police agencies.Originality/valueThis study is one of the first to assess the effects of diversification in such a large sample of agencies of all types and sizes throughout the USA.

Signs of Spiritual Distress and its Implications for Practice in Indian Palliative Care.

Introduction:Given the particularity of spirituality in the Indian context, models and tools for spiritual care that have been developed in Western countries may not be applicable to Indian palliative care patients. Therefore, we intended to describe the most common signs of spiritual distress in Indian palliative care patients, assess differences between male and female participants, and formulate contextually appropriate recommendations for spiritual care based on this data.Methods:Data from 300 adult cancer patients who had completed a questionnaire with 36 spirituality items were analyzed. We calculated frequencies and percentages, and we compared responses of male and female participants using Chi-squared tests.Results:Most participants believed in God or a higher power who somehow supports them. Signs of potential spiritual distress were evident in the participants’ strong agreement with existential explanations of suffering that directly or indirectly put the blame for the illness on the patient, the persistence of the “Why me?” question, and feelings of unfairness and anger. Women were more likely to consider illness their fate, be worried about the future of their children or spouse and be angry about what was happening to them. They were less likely than men to blame themselves for their illness. The observations on spirituality enabled us to formulate recommendations for spiritual history taking in Indian palliative care.Conclusion:Our recommendations may help clinicians to provide appropriate spiritual care based on the latest evidence on spirituality in Indian palliative care. Unfortunately, this evidence is limited and more research is required.

Effects of Cash Transfers on Community Interactions: Emerging Evidence

This article examines evidence of the effects of national cash transfer programmes on community interactions and discusses the transformative potential of such programmes. The findings indicate positive effects of social transfers on strengthening ‘bonding’ social capital and on breaking patterns of exclusion, but also point to negative effects, particularly in fuelling intra-community tensions and generating feelings of unfairness resulting – for the most part – from targeting-related issues. Evidence remains limited on the formation of ‘bridging’ and ‘linking’ social capital and on the development of mobilisation processes to drive broader processes of social transformation and changes in the status quo.

Effects of Conditional Sales Promotion Tactics on Consumers' Feelings of Unfairness

ABSTRACTThe purpose of this research is to demonstrate the negative effects of the conditional sales promotion tactics on nonpreferred consumers' feelings of unfairness from the viewpoint of motivation. A two-by-two between-subjects design experiment was conducted to examine the consumers' psychological mechanism. The results show that three types of consumers' perceptions—tactic attractiveness, task difficulty, and tactic irrationality—positively affected their feelings of unfairness. The results show an important mediating role among consumers' perceptions, short-term consumption intention and long-term satisfaction. This research provides new insights for future research and concrete strategic suggestions for retailers.

Employee reactions to talent pool membership

Purpose – Despite a large literature on talent management there is very little research on the comparative attitudes of employees in talent pools with those not in talent pools. This is an important omission as employee reactions should influence how effective talent programmes are and how they can be designed and evaluated. Consequently, the purpose of this paper is to explore the work-related attitudes of employees who are members and non-members of talent pools. Design/methodology/approach – Matched samples of employees working in a single public sector, scientific organization were surveyed using a standard survey and open questioning to elicit and compare the voices of included and excluded employees. Findings – Employees in talent pools were more positive about their future prospects than employees outside talent pools who reported feelings of lower support from the organization, stronger feelings of unfairness and had lower expectations of the organization’s interest in them. Research limitations/i...

Wind energy development in Ontario: a process/product paradox

The Province of Ontario is aggressively pursuing renewable energy development, but not without significant turbulence. Ontario's Green Energy Act (2009) reflects this aggressive pursuit, and is aimed at making the province a global leader in renewable energy development. Wind energy is an integral but controversial part of these commitments. While several installations have been built or announced, conflicts surrounding the development of the technology continue to grow. This article documents, analyses and interprets media coverage in order to understand public discourse potentially driving support for and resistance to wind energy development (WED) in Ontario. Contrary to numerous studies which have elucidated public attitudes towards WED, the media discourse analysed suggests that roadblocks to public acceptance of the technology are more rooted in the development process (renewable energy policies and their implementation) rather than the products of WED (wind turbines). The study highlights the need for increased procedural justice to ameliorate feelings of unfairness which play a key role in fuelling resistance to the technology.

Listening to your heart and feeling yourself: effects of exposure to interoceptive signals during the ultimatum game

The ultimatum game (UG) is commonly used to study the tension between financial self-interest and social equity motives. Here, we investigated whether experimental exposure to interoceptive signals influences participants' behavior in the UG. Participants were presented with various bodily sounds--i.e., their own heart, another person's heart, or the sound of footsteps--while acting both in the role of responder and proposer. We found that listening to one's own heart sound, compared to the other bodily sounds: (1) increased subjective feelings of unfairness, but not rejection behavior, in response to unfair offers and (2) increased the unfair offers while playing in the proposer role. These findings suggest that heightened feedback of one's own visceral processes may increase a self-centered perspective and drive socioeconomic exchanges accordingly. In addition, this study introduces a valuable procedure to manipulate online the access to interoceptive signals and for exploring the interplay between viscero-sensory information and cognition.

Psychological insulin resistance among low-income, U.S. racial minority patients with type 2 diabetes

AimsTo examine psychological insulin resistance (PIR), the unwillingness to accept insulin therapy, within a unique U.S. population of patients with diabetes. MethodsA cross-sectional survey of PIR among low-income, U.S. Latino and African-American (AA) patients with type 2 diabetes recruited from a diabetes specialty clinic. ResultsData from 136 insulin-naïve respondents (57% female, 69% Latino, mean age 51.1±10.3 years; $200–$1000 median monthly household income; grade 8–12 median education) revealed a 48% prevalence of complete unwillingness to begin insulin. In comparing Latinos to AA, Latino respondents were younger, lived fewer years in the U.S., had less education, were more likely unwilling to use insulin (53% vs. 30%, p=0.03), and reported a more negative attitude to 8 of 9 PIR domains (p≤0.01 for each). Fewer years in the U.S. predicted greater unwillingness and a more negative attitude on 8 of 9 PIR domains (p≤0.03 for each); and less education predicted greater feelings of unfairness (p=0.01). ConclusionsPIR is highly prevalent among low income, U.S. Latino patients with type 2 diabetes. Our data may help to better guide culturally appropriate counseling regarding insulin use.

Remediation as a Civil Rights Issue in the California State University system

From the foreward by Gary Orfield: As we face the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, college opportunity has been negatively impacted by drastic cuts and the rising cost of education. In California specifically, higher education opportunity seems to be nearly out of reach for low-income students, academically unprepared students, and students of color. Historically, higher education has been considered a mechanism of upward mobility. Considered part of the “American Dream,” parents encourage their children to strive for this goal, even if parents themselves never attended college.Academically underprepared students, or this lacking the basic skills of math ad/or English to be at college-level, represent over half of entering freshmen at the CSU. What these startling numbers really represent is a growing number of underprepared students graduating California high schools, often with excellent grades, yet being denied admission of the state’s public institutions. Despite California’s commitment to universal access to all who can benefit and tuition-free education, what we are seeing is an inability to uphold this social contract at the cost of student’s futures.The negative impact of budget cuts has been felt beyond the students and their families. Recent pay cuts, furloughs, and other declines in financial support have also impacted faculty and staff at the CSU campuses. Increasingly, faculty and staff have feelings of unfairness, as they struggle to provide services and quality education to students, yet experience enormous cut after cut. Morale continues to plummet as faculty and staff are expected to perform the duties of educating the stat’s youth, ye the value of education seems practically non-existent within the state’s budget priorities. Also available at: http://civilrightsproject.ucla.edu

Loyalty Conflict, Feelings of Unfairness, and Young Adults' Individuation Difficulties in Separated and Nonseparated Families

This study investigated the effect of family structure (separated or nonseparated parents) and gender on young adults' loyalty conflict, feelings of unfairness toward parents, and individuation difficulties, using a sample of 264 Italian participants. The predictive power of parent–child variables on children's individuation was also tested. Results show the effect of family structure on feelings of unfairness and on individuation difficulties, as well as gender differences. Feelings of unfairness can predict individuation difficulties.

Confidence in the economy in times of crisis: Social representations of experts and laypeople

This study investigates experts’ and laypeople's social representations of the financial and economic crisis, as widely discussed in the media after the fall of Lehman Brothers in 2008. Financial experts (n=156) and laypeople (n=153) with low versus high confidence in the economic recovery spontaneously associated thoughts and beliefs about the crisis and to economic and political stakeholders. Following a mixed-methods approach, they evaluated economic stakeholders with regard to six trust items. The study was conducted in March 2010 in Austria, which was moderately affected by the crisis. The results indicate that economic variables (e.g., unemployment) were central to the social representations of the crisis, while underlying feelings of unfairness and egoism surfaced during the ongoing process of association. The social representation did not comprise a general criticism of the economic system. The differences between the subgroups depended on identification-based self-protection and economic knowledge. Experts and laypeople tended to attribute the economic crisis to specific stakeholders in a self-protecting way: experts blamed the media, laypeople blamed the managers, and both blamed the politicians. Interestingly, the subgroups tended to evaluate the banks as being relatively neutral. Expertise and differentiated economic knowledge was related to confidence in the economic recovery. Thus, the perceived capability of politicians in terms of competence and morality seems crucial for regaining public confidence in the economy.

Multi-Stakeholder Road Pricing Game: Solution Concepts

A road pricing game is a game where various stakeholders and/or regions with different (and usually conflicting) objectives compete for toll setting in a given transportation network to satisfy their individual objectives. We investigate some classical game theoretical solution concepts for the road pricing game. We establish results for the road pricing game so that stakeholders and/or regions playing such a game will beforehand know what is obtainable. This will save time and argument, and above all, get rid of the feelings of unfairness among the competing actors and road users. Among the classical solution concepts we investigate is Nash equilibrium. In particular, we show that no pure Nash equilibrium exists among the actors, and further illustrate that even “mixed Nash equilibrium” may not be achievable in the road pricing game. The paper also demonstrates the type of coalitions that are not only reachable, but also stable and profitable for the actors involved.

Limbic Justice—Amygdala Involvement in Immediate Rejection in the Ultimatum Game

Imaging studies have revealed a putative neural account of emotional bias in decision making. However, it has been difficult in previous studies to identify the causal role of the different sub-regions involved in decision making. The Ultimatum Game (UG) is a game to study the punishment of norm-violating behavior. In a previous influential paper on UG it was suggested that frontal insular cortex has a pivotal role in the rejection response. This view has not been reconciled with a vast literature that attributes a crucial role in emotional decision making to a subcortical structure (i.e., amygdala). In this study we propose an anatomy-informed model that may join these views. We also present a design that detects the functional anatomical response to unfair proposals in a subcortical network that mediates rapid reactive responses. We used a functional MRI paradigm to study the early components of decision making and challenged our paradigm with the introduction of a pharmacological intervention to perturb the elicited behavioral and neural response. Benzodiazepine treatment decreased the rejection rate (from 37.6% to 19.0%) concomitantly with a diminished amygdala response to unfair proposals, and this in spite of an unchanged feeling of unfairness and unchanged insular response. In the control group, rejection was directly linked to an increase in amygdala activity. These results allow a functional anatomical detection of the early neural components of rejection associated with the initial reactive emotional response. Thus, the act of immediate rejection seems to be mediated by the limbic system and is not solely driven by cortical processes, as previously suggested. Our results also prompt an ethical discussion as we demonstrated that a commonly used drug influences core functions in the human brain that underlie individual autonomy and economic decision making.

Declines in Marital Satisfaction Among New Mothers: Broad Strokes Versus Fine Details

Key Words: life events and/or transitions, National Survey of Families and Households, parenthood, wives' employment. Dew and Wilcox (2011), in this issue, provide important insights into the family and marital changes that may accompany the transition to motherhood for American women. Using the first two waves of National Survey of Families and Households (NSFH; Sweet, Bumpass, & Call, 1988), Dew and Wilcox examined 569 married women, 347 of whom became mothers for the first time between Wave 1 and Wave 2. Consistent with previous research (e.g., Belsky, 1985; Cowan et al., 1985), women who became mothers were more likely to experience a decline in self-reported marital satisfaction, a decline in time spent with their spouses, and increased perceptions of inequality of housework than were women who did not become mothers. Dew and Wilcox also found support for a mediated model in which the decline in new mothers' marital satisfaction could be attributed to accompanying changes in spousal time and perceived unfairness in housework. Also consistent with previous research (e.g., Belsky & Rovine, 1990), Dew and Wilcox (2011) report that marital satisfaction did not decline for all new mothers. Strikingly, the proportions of mothers whose marital satisfaction remained stable or increased over time were not different from those of women who did not have children. In fact, becoming a mother was directly related to marital satisfaction in only two of the six models that Dew and Wilcox examined. In models that included changes in spousal time, housework, and/or unfairness, the transition to parenthood no longer accounted for unique variance in satisfaction. Dew and Wilcox (2011) succeed in beginning to address the social and psychological complexity of changes that accompany the transition to parenthood. We were particularly intrigued with findings suggesting that, for many women, feelings of social isolation may accompany new motherhood. For example, new mothers spent less time with their spouses, less time in paid employment, and more time in housework, and in turn they were less satisfied in their marriage. Findings also indicated that women's interpretations of household changes were important to consider. Specifically, new mothers' increased time spent on housework was associated with increased feelings of unfairness in the division of household labor, and that perceived unfairness was linked to decreased marital satisfaction. Thus, the broad strokes of the Dew and Wilcox (2011) study both replicate and extend existing research. They addressed interesting questions about the factors contributing to self-reported marital decline for new mothers; however, although the study offers a broad perspective on this significant area of research, we found important details and complexities to be blurred. We were particularly concerned about details in three areas: the nature of the study sample, the measurement of key constructs, and the statistical analysis of change processes. SAMPLE LIMITATIONS The replication of key findings from the transition to parenthood literature in a larger, more representative sample has the potential to extend the literature. Much of the early research was rooted in samples that were primarily European American, well educated, and middle to upper class. In contrast, the NSFH was designed to be nationally representative, and it oversampled both African American and Mexican American participants. Unfortunately, the current subsample of the NSFH was both more homogeneous than the larger sample and more similar to previous samples than would be ideal. As a result of both attrition and inclusion criteria, Dew and Wilcox (2011) examined a subsample that was 90% European American, had higher incomes, worked more, were older, had more education, spent more time with their husbands, and had greater marital satisfaction than did the women lost to attrition or divorce. …

‘It’s only right that we get involved’: service‐user perspectives on involvement in learning disability services

Accessible summary Government policy talks about how important it is that people who use services get a say in what happens. People with learning disabilities don’t always get as much of a say as other people. We asked some people with learning disabilities how services could listen to them more. The group told us that sometimes they were treated unfairly and other times they were listened to. They wanted more of a say about what happens in services. They had some ideas about how to do this. This article talks about how important it is to listen to those ideas and give people with learning disabilities a real say in what happens in services. SummaryPromotion of service‐user and carer involvement is part of the mainstream policy agenda in health and social care [Crit Soc Policy25 (2005) 164]. Much effort has been invested into involving people with learning disabilities in decisions regarding aspects of their lives through advocacy projects and the utilisation of person‐centred planning approaches. However, people with learning disabilities continue to be a group of people who are the ‘most excluded, least independent and most likely to lack control in every day life’ [Sociology of Health and lllness 30 (2008) 532]. This article describes a focus group that was conducted to explore the lived experiences of people with learning disabilities as users of services. Thematic analysis revealed three key themes: feelings of unfairness and inequality; experiences of inclusion and power; and future visions. Implications for practice are discussed.

Oxytocin Level May Determine Strength of Maternal Bond

Oxytocin Level May Determine Strength of Maternal Bond

Symptoms to Use for Diagnostic Criteria of Hwa-Byung, an Anger Syndrome

ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to identify the characteristic symptoms which can be used for the diagnosis of hwa-byung, a culture-related anger syndrome in Korea.MethodsThe symptoms of the Hwa-byung Scale were correlated with the Korean versions of the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (K-HDRS) and the State and Trait Anger Inventory (K-STAXI) in 89 patients, who were diagnosed as having major depressive disorder, dysthymic disorder, anxiety disorders, somatoform disorders, or adjustment disorder according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fourth edition (DSM-IV) criteria and who had self-labeled hwa-byung. Also, the symptoms of the Hwa-byung Scale were correlated with each other.ResultsThe symptoms of the Hwa-byung Scale which were significantly correlated with the state anger of the K-STAXI but not with the depressive mood (item 1 of K-HDRS) included feelings of unfairness, subjective anger, external anger, heat sensation, pushing-up in the chest, dry mouth, and sighing. The symptoms which were significantly correlated with state anger and depressed mood included respiratory stuffiness, "haan" and hate. The symptoms which were not significantly correlated with depressed mood and state anger included going-out, epigastric mass, palpitation, headache/pain, frightening easily, many thoughts, and much pleading. These symptoms also showed higher correlation with each other in the correlation matrix.ConclusionOur findings suggest that hwa-byung is different from depressive syndrome in terms of its symptom profile, and suggest what symptoms should be included in the diagnostic criteria of hwa-byung, an anger disorder.

Socio-economic effects of the material science in JAERI

A socio-economic networking (SEN) of the public funded basic research (PFBR) in the Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute (JAERI) was studied by the bibliometric method combined with the international nuclear database INIS. As PFBR, Material Science (MS) research of JAERI is chosen. The appropriateness of the present bibliometric method is discussed. The authors believe that this method is applicable to studying the socio-economic effect on PFBR. The shortcoming of it is, however, the use of the inevitable usage of biased EBRF (ranked keywords), accompanied with the feeling of unfairness. The authors confirm that the S-matrix has a potential capability to show the quantitative magnitude of co-operation among research institutions avoiding significant bias.

A holistic approach to the productivity paradox

Both the public and private sectors have since the 1980s relentlessly cut the size of their workforces. The downsizing has regularly been reported to lead to closure of a whole or a part of a corporation or organization. Some studies which have analyzed the closures have reported that remarkable, counterintuitive improvements in labor productivity occurred during the time-period between the closure announcement and the final working day. Testing an elaborated cybernetic model on a Swedish case study, and on an exploratory basis, this paper proposes a holistic approach to generate a better understanding of this phenomenon. The main holistic pattern is a new order where management control is replaced by more “Self-management” on the plant level, and very strong psychological reactions based on feelings of unfairness.