The role of resilience in individual innovation

Organisations in today‘s changing environment face significant challenges, requiring continual innovation. A critical factor in their response may be employees‘ resilience, the ability to apply high levels of effort and persistence while initiating, promoting and applying new ideas. However, despite growing evidence of the value of many positive psychological characteristics in organisational behaviour, the role of resilience in individual innovation has received little attention in the literature. This thesis describes two studies of this issue. First, current perspectives and definitions of resilience were reviewed, revealing a need for an improved definition, a re-examination of its dimensions and a new measure. A new construct based in the positive psychology framework is proposed. Unlike previous studies viewing resilience as recovery from adversity, in the present view adversity is an opportunity for employees to grow as a person. This distinction between ‗survival‘ and ‗growth‘ perspectives can be traced back to humanistic psychology. A measure of this new construct was developed, building on existing measures, and tested on 167 managers from large organisations in Indonesia. Exploratory factor analysis revealed two dimensions to the new construct: developmental persistency, a combination of perseverance and commitment to growth, and positive emotion. Study 2 validated the results of Study 1 and assessed the causal model linking resilience to innovative behaviour using 241 managers from companies and industries comparable to Study 1. Confirmatory factor analysis using two-step structural equation modelling showed two primary findings. First, construct validity was demonstrated by the factor analysis results and by correlations with related constructs. The correlation between developmental persistency and positive emotion was moderate, and the reliability of each construct was reasonably acceptable. Second, factor analysis confirmed that Janssen‘s (2000) measure of innovative behaviour is better treated as multidimensional – comprising idea generation, idea promotion and idea implementation rather than unidimensional. Finally, the causal relationships between the dimensions of resilience and the dimensions of innovative behaviour were positive, as hypothesised. Four paths had moderately large and statistically significant coefficients: from developmental persistency to idea implementation and idea promotion, and from positive emotion to idea promotion and idea generation. Two paths had low and insignificant coefficients: from developmental persistency to idea generation and from positive emotion to idea implementation. In light of these findings, suggestions for future research are presented and theoretical and practical implications, including interventions to increase employees‘ resilience, are explored

The relationship between attentional bias, anxiety sensitivity and metacognitive beliefs in substance abuser: with an emphasis on mediating effects of emotion regulation strategies

Background: Several studies have shown that Attentional Bias plays a role in the beginning, persistence and relapse of Substance Abuse Disorder. Therefore, identifying the factors related to Attentional Bias in Substance Abusers is important. In so doing, the present study was aimed at examining the relationship between attentional bias, Anxiety Sensitivity and Metacognitive Beliefs in Substance Abusers with an emphasis on mediating effects of Emotion Regulation Strategies.Methods: The present study is fundamental in terms of the objective and descriptive regarding data collection which was conducted within the framework of a correlation study. The statistical universe comprised a group of soldiers in Tehran who were considered as Substance Abusers and had been referred to Addiction Treatment Centers of Baharestan County. Among the statistical universe, 120 participants were selected by non-random purposive sampling. Finally, Anxiety Sensitivity, Metacognitive Beliefs, Emotional Regulation Strategies and the Stroop test questionnaires were conducted on the sample. For sorting, processing and analysis of data and the evaluation of the research hypothesis, we used the SPSS and LISREL. To examine the relationship between variables, the Pearson correlation and path analysis were used.Results: Pearson correlation results indicated that Anxiety Sensitivity, Metacognitive Beliefs, Suppression, and Reappraisal have a significant relationship with the Attentional Bias.The results of the path analysis revealed that the direct effect of Anxiety Sensitivity and Metacognitive Beliefs on the Attentional Bias is not significant, but these structures may have an effect on the Attentional Bias only through the mediator variables (Suppression and Reappraisal).Conclusion: An individual resorts to metacognitive beliefs to get rid of the negative emotions caused by high Anxiety Sensitivitybut these emotions get intensified in this process and the individual in the long term experiences Substance Abuse through avoidance strategies such as Suppression.Therefore, whenthe personexperiences negative emotions, he will have an Attentional Bias toward liberating signs of Substance Abuse inside and outside

Positive affect and mindfulness as predictors of resilience amongst women leaders in higher education institutions

ORIENTATION : Psychological resources are the factors that appear to have a significant impact on how leaders adapt to adversity and remain resilient. Positive affect and mindfulness are the psychological resources that positively relate to the levels of resilience of women leaders in higher education institutions. RESEARCH PURPOSE : The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of positive affect and mindfulness on the levels of resilience of women leaders in higher education institutions in South Africa. MOTIVATION FOR THE STUDY : Identifying the internal resources women leaders use to facilitate resilience will allow higher education institutions to prioritise these resources in leadership support programmes to assist these women leaders. RESEARCH APPROACH/DESIGN AND METHOD : A cross-sectional survey design was used to collect data in a purposive sample of n = 255 women leaders in four South African higher education institutions. Pearson’s correlation analyses, multiple regression analyses and mediation analysis were used to analyse the data. MAIN FINDINGS : Findings indicated that positive affect and mindfulness were found to be significant predictors of resilience. Additionally, mindfulness was found to be a partial mediator in the relationship between positive affect and resilience. PRACTICAL/MANAGERIAL IMPLICATIONS : Higher education institutions can assist women leaders by investing in psychological resources such as mindfulness and positive affect to enhance the levels of resilience. CONTRIBUTION/VALUE-ADD : This study contributes to the limited research on the role of internal resources to enhance resilience in a workplace setting and more specifically amongst women leaders.http://www.sajhrm.co.zaam2021Human Resource Managemen

The social cognitions of victims of bullying:A systematic review

The nature of the relation between victimization of bullying and social information processing is unclear. The prevention hypothesis predicts that victims focus more on negative social cues to prevent further escalation. In contrast, the reaffiliation hypothesis predicts that victims focus more on positive social cues to restore the social situation. Alternatively, the desensitization hypothesis predicts that victims become increasingly insensitive to social cues because of a numbing effect. This systematic review examines evidence for these three hypotheses on the relation between victimization and social information processing. The focus is on two phases of social information processing: encoding of social information (attending to and registration of social cues) and interpreting social information (making sense of multiple social cues simultaneously). These phases are important prerequisites for behavioral responses. The systematic search led to the inclusion of 142 articles, which were published between 1998 and 2021 and received quality assessment. The studies included on average about 1600 participants (range: 14–25,684), who were on average 11.4 years old (range: 4.1–17.0). The topics covered in the literature included attention to and accurate registration of social cues, peer perception, attribution of situations, empathy, and theory of mind. The results were most often in line with the prevention hypothesis and suggested that victimization is related to a negative social-cognitive style, as shown by a more negative perception of peers in general and more negative situational attribution. Victimization seemed unrelated to abilities to empathize or understand others, which contradicted the desensitization hypothesis. However, desensitization may only occur after prolonged and persistent victimization, which to date has been sparsely studied. The reaffiliation hypothesis could not be thoroughly examined, because most studies did not include positive social cues. In bullying prevention, it is important to consider the negative social information processing style related to victimization, because this style may impede the development of positive social interactions

A clinician\u27s guide to working with female veterans and their children

The influx of females into the military in recent years has drawn increasing attention to the impact of extended and often repeated deployments on parent-child attachment. The challenges associated with deployment may be particularly taxing on young children due to their emotional and cognitive immaturity, lack of coping skills and dependence on their caregivers for daily functioning. While children’s reaction to parental deployment varies by age, the longer and more frequently a parent is deployed, the greater the psychological, health and behavioral risk for the child. These adjustments can be complicated when mothers suffer psychological distress related to combat exposure, military sexual trauma, increasing their risk of suffering from symptoms of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and depression. These adjustment and mental health issues, in combination with prolonged separation, will all complicate the reestablishment of a secure attachment bond with their children. This manual seeks to provide clinicians with a comprehensive overview of the unique deployment-related stressors of female veterans, and their impact on mental health and reintegration. With a focus on the parent-child relationship, this manual will utilize attachment theory as the foundation to understand how the change, disruption, stress and loss experienced during deployment affects young children and their mothers. Moreover, this manual discusses mindfulness-based treatment interventions and practical tools to guide clinicians in aiding female veterans to prepare their children for deployment, cope with deployment, and reestablish the attachment bond upon returning home

Towards a psychological framework on time perception in patients with chronic tinnitus

Although disabling tinnitus is a chronic auditory phantom sensation, current knowledge on time perception (i.e., subjective time) in sufferers is limited and unsystematic. This theoretical analysis provides a first approach to this topic, highlighting the heterogeneity of time perception in humans as shown in various research areas. This heterogeneity is inherently related to goal attainment. Our immediate perception of time is restricted to present moment and recent past, whereas our sense of time is mostly future-oriented and represented as our past in a mental time line. The heterogeneity of time translates into a tension between anticipated changes one wants to see happen and full commitment that is required to goal attainment. Tinnitus sufferers are intensely aware of this tension in their self-perception. Their most compelling desire is that they no longer perceive tinnitus, but they get closer to this goal only by avoiding to put all their thoughts into it. Our analysis provides new perspectives on acceptance of tinnitus in relation to this time paradox. Building on the Tolerance model and the role of self-awareness in time perception, we contend that the main way for patients to gain long-term self-confidence is to engage in the present moment. Attention to this attitude is obscured in chronic sufferers by worries and ruminations associated with the ongoing presence of tinnitus. We provide arguments that time perception is a social perception, emphasizing the role of rewarding interactions in helping sufferers to overcome the feeling of being prevented from living in the moment. In the course of improvement towards acceptance, different changes in time perception are hypothesized that promote individuals’ disengagement from unattainable goal (i.e., tinnitus suppression). A framework for future research is proposed, which distinguishes individuals’ behaviors and associated emotions in relation to the time paradox

Attention Restraint, Working Memory Capacity, and Mind Wandering: Do Emotional Valence or Intentionality Matter?

Attention restraint appears to mediate the relationship between working memory capacity (WMC) and mind wandering (Kane et al., 2016). Prior work has identifed two dimensions of mind wandering—emotional valence and intentionality. However, less is known about how WMC and attention restraint correlate with these dimensions. Te current study examined the relationship between WMC, attention restraint, and mind wandering by emotional valence and intentionality. A confrmatory factor analysis demonstrated that WMC and attention restraint were strongly correlated, but only attention restraint was related to overall mind wandering, consistent with prior fndings. However, when examining the emotional valence of mind wandering, attention restraint and WMC were related to negatively and positively valenced, but not neutral, mind wandering. Attention restraint was also related to intentional but not unintentional mind wandering. Tese results suggest that WMC and attention restraint predict some, but not all, types of mind wandering

Consume happy: the relationship with food for fat women with a history of early psychological adversity

Obesity is recognised as a worldwide epidemic; however, little is known about the psychological influences on the development and maintenance of obesity. There is increasing evidence that early adverse experience impact adult health, but very little empirical data, beyond naming emotional regulation as a mediating factor has been produced. This research project tried to fill this gap in relation to obesity. In the context of this study, the relationships with food, its origins, development and meanings were central rather than a focus on weight and the body. Seven semi-structured interviews of women who were obese and had reflected on the impact of their childhood experiences on their weight, were conducted to collect the data and constructionist grounded theory methodology was applied to analyse the results of this study. As a result of data analysis six major categories were developed; abuse, neglect, loss, emotionally unavailable caregiver, adaptive emotional regulation strategies and food. The analysis of the data revealed multiple adversities in the context of early interpersonal relationships which were marked by inadequate nurturing and emotional scarcity or deprivation along with a complex and multi-layered relationship to food and eating. Food offered relational intimacy, securing feelings of safety, love and connection in challenging early environments. Consequently, eating developed as a very effective emotional regulation strategy. In this context, I propose the idea of ‘consuming happy’ as an important and distinct process specific to this population that has its roots in the early trauma and attachment difficulties. This research proposes that the cumulative effect of the multiple ongoing traumas and challenges of an emotionally disadvantaged early caregiving system, laid the foundation for a complex relationship with food in adulthood. In this perspective the body is not the problem; instead the body offers an insight into developmental trauma which is reflected through eating behaviours. The implications of this study are discussed in terms of their applicability and contribution to clinical practice, service provision and in relation to the wider context of the understanding and treatment of obesity. This research is a call to recognise the interface between eating, attachment and trauma in order to offer compassionate and informed healthcare and to dismantle the prejudices held against fat individuals. Whilst this study highlighted a value of a developmentally informed, trauma-sensitive perspective to obesity, limitations of this research project are discussed and further research ideas put forward