A Social Identity Approach to Sport Psychology: Principles, Practice, and Prospects.

Drawing on social identity theory and self-categorization theory, we outline an approach to sport psychology that understands groups not simply as features of sporting contexts but rather as elements that can be, and often are, incorporated into a person's sense of self and, through this, become powerful determinants of their sport-related behavior. The underpinnings of this social identity approach are outlined, and four key lessons for sport that are indicative of the analytical and practical power of the approach are presented. These suggest that social identity is the basis for sports group (1) behavior, (2) formation and development, (3) support and stress appraisal, and (4) leadership. Building on recent developments within sport science, we outline an agenda for future research by identifying a range of topics to which the social identity approach could fruitfully contribute

The Incidence and Persistence of Cyclical Job Loss in New Zealand

In New Zealand, the impact of the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) was milder than in most other developed countries, with employment declining by 2.5 percent between 2008q4 and 2009q4. Job and worker turnover rates both declined, signalling a reduction in labour market liquidity and difficulties for new entrants and high-turnover groups of workers (Fabling and Maré, 2012). The current paper documents the extent and composition of employment change between 2000 and 2011, focusing on the 2008-2010 period, when the labour market impacts of the GFC were strongest. As in previous downturns, the incidence of cyclical job loss and unemployment fell disproportionately on young and unskilled workers. The paper identifies, by age, gender and earnings level, the sensitivity of employment growth and labour market flows to aggregate employment fluctuations and also to relative fluctuations across industries and regions. The accession rate is particularly sensitive to the economic cycle, most strongly for young workers. Differences in the size of cyclical employment fluctuations reflect differing responsiveness to common shocks and not exposure to different industry and local shocks. Finally, the paper traces outcomes for workers whose jobs end, summarising their duration out of work and the wage increases or reductions they experience when they secure employment. Workers who left or lost jobs spent longer out of work after the GFC and settled for lower earnings growth when they did find a job. Both of these effects had partly but not fully abated within 3 years of the onset of the GFC

Narcissistic Features in Young Adolescents: Relations to Aggression and Internalizing Symptoms

Recent research and theory suggest narcissistic features contribute to aggression in adults. The present study examined the association of narcissistic features with aggression and internalizing symptoms in 233 students of 5th–8th grade at three inner-city schools. A factor analysis of the Narcissistic Personality Inventory in this sample revealed three factors: Adaptive Narcissism, Exploitativeness, and Exhibitionism. Regression analyses were used to predict the association of these three narcissistic features with self-, teacher-, and peer-reported aggression and self-reported internalizing symptoms. Results indicate narcissistic exploitativeness positively predicted self-reported proactive aggression, and narcissistic exhibitionism positively predicted internalizing symptoms. Narcissism and self-esteem interacted to predict teacher-reported aggression and self-reported internalizing symptoms. Results are discussed in the context of existing theories of narcissism, threatened egotism, and self-perception bias.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/45298/1/10964_2004_Article_485227.pd

Young Offenders’ Emotion Recognition Dysfunction Across Emotion Intensities: Explaining Variation Using Psychopathic Traits, Conduct Disorder and Offense Severity

Antisocial individuals have problems recognizing negative emotions (e.g. Marsh & Blair in Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews 32:454–465, 2009); however, due to issues with sampling and different methods used, previous findings have been varied. Sixty-three male young offenders and 37 age-, IQ- and socio-economic status-matched male controls completed a facial emotion recognition task, which measures recognition of happiness, sadness, fear, anger, disgust, and surprise and neutral expressions across 4 emotional intensities. Conduct disorder (YSR), and psychopathic and callous/unemotional traits (YPI) were measured, and offenders’ offense data were taken from the Youth Offending Service’s case files. Relative to controls, offenders were significantly worse at identifying sadness, low intensity disgust and high intensity fear. A significant interaction for anger was also observed, with offenders showing reduced low- but increased high-intensity anger recognition in comparison with controls. Within the young offenders levels of conduct disorder and psychopathic traits explained variation in sadness and disgust recognition, whereas offense severity explained variation in anger recognition. These results suggest that antisocial youths show specific problems in recognizing negative emotions and support the use of targeted emotion recognition interventions for problematic behavior

Decision making in humans: the effect of manipulating the central noradrenergic system

Objectives: Damasio has proposed an influential model of human decision making - the Somatic Marker Hypothesis (SMH), where he argues that somatic feedback to the brain influences decision making in humans. It is proposed that when choosing between options that differ in relative risk, a somatic marker (for example, a "gut feeling") feeds back to the brain and influences cognitive appraisal. This study tested the hypothesis that the noradrenergic system may play a part in this afferent feedback process. Methods: Thirty healthy young adults were randomly allocated to receive placebo, 4 mg, or 8 mg reboxetine ( a new selective noradrenergic reuptake inhibitor that acts to increase central noradrenergic activity). It is hypothesised that enhancement of central noradrenergic activity may amplify the effect of afferent feedback, and lead to altered decision making. All subjects completed the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), a computerised card playing game where the player is instructed to try and win as much money as possible over 100 selections from one of four decks. Results: There were no significant differences between the three groups in gambling task performance. Conclusions: This result suggests that central noradrenergic activity may not be critically involved in the afferent feedback mechanism that is central to the somatic marker hypothesis