114 research outputs found

    Confrontation: An Interpersonal Response to Ostracism

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    Confrontation is defined as expressing displeasure with mistreatment and is a behavioral response to ostracism – being ignored and excluded by others. According to the temporal need-threat model of ostracism, targets’ interpersonal behaviors following ostracism act to restore depleted need satisfaction and mood. The aims of this research were 1) to examine the use of confrontation in response to ostracism, and 2) to study its effectiveness as a coping method. In sum, these studies established confrontation as a frequent response to ostracism that is influenced by both the targets’ psychological response and the social context in which it occurs. Four experiments were conducted using participants from an introductory psychology subject pool. Study 1 manipulated ostracism to targets’ attitudes towards contacting the sources of ostracism. Study 2 used a mixed design and behavioral measure of confrontation to examine how frequently people confront, and potential effects on need-satisfaction and mood over time. Study 3 manipulated the coping method used following ostracism to compare confrontation’s effectiveness to a solo writing task and a distraction task. Study 4 examined individual differences and contextual factors that influence the likelihood of confrontation. Study 1 found that while participants most preferred to take no action, public contact with the ostracism sources was preferred over other options. In Study 2, one in three ostracized participants chose to confront, more frequent than included participants. Study 3 found that confrontation was more effective for reducing anger than the writing task. Distraction was more effective in increasing need-satisfaction compared to the confrontation task. Study 4 showed that male gender, need-depletion, and negative affect increased the likelihood of confrontation. However, these effects varied based on whether or not participants believed they were playing with members of their racial in-group or out-group. In sum, confrontation was a common response to ostracism. The usage of confrontation was influenced by sadness as well as interactions between social context and psychological responses or individual differences

    Examining Workplace Ostracism Experiences in Academia: Understanding How Differences in the Faculty Ranks Influence Inclusive Climates on Campus

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    Research on the retention of women in academia has focused on challenges, including a chilly climate, devaluation, and incivility. The unique consequences of workplace ostracism – being ignored and excluded by others in an organizational setting – require focus on this experience as another interpersonal challenge for women in academia. The purpose of this study is to examine differences in the faculty experiences and outcomes of workplace ostracism, and to determine if these experiences are affected significantly by the gender composition of an employee’s specific department. Participants were recruited at two time points to complete campus climate surveys that were distributed to faculty at a large, public, research university. We examined the number of reported ostracism experiences (Study 1) and perceived information sharing (Study 2) among male and female university faculty. The findings indicated that female faculty members perceived more workplace ostracism than male faculty members. Analyses of department gender ratios suggested that the proportion of women in the department did not reduce the amount of workplace ostracism experienced by women. No gender differences were found in perceived information sharing. However, we found that Faculty of Color, both men and women, reported more frequent information exclusion than White faculty. These results have important implications for theoretical and practical understandings of workplace demography and suggest that it is necessary to look at subtle, ambiguous forms of discrimination in order to increase retention of faculty from underrepresented groups in academia

    A Small Molecule Inhibitor of Redox-Regulated Protein Translocation into Mitochondria

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    SummaryThe mitochondrial disulfide relay system of Mia40 and Erv1/ALR facilitates import of the small translocase of the inner membrane (Tim) proteins and cysteine-rich proteins. A chemical screen identified small molecules that inhibit Erv1 oxidase activity, thereby facilitating dissection of the disulfide relay system in yeast and vertebrate mitochondria. One molecule, mitochondrial protein import blockers from the Carla Koehler laboratory (MitoBloCK-6), attenuated the import of Erv1 substrates into yeast mitochondria and inhibited oxidation of Tim13 and Cmc1 in in vitro reconstitution assays. In addition, MitoBloCK-6 revealed an unexpected role for Erv1 in the carrier import pathway, namely transferring substrates from the translocase of the outer membrane complex onto the small Tim complexes. Cardiac development was impaired in MitoBloCK-6-exposed zebrafish embryos. Finally, MitoBloCK-6 induced apoptosis via cytochrome c release in human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) but not in differentiated cells, suggesting an important role for ALR in hESC homeostasis

    Self-regulation: differences by year and area in college students

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    Neste estudo procura-se analisar a existência de diferenças nas estratégias auto-regulatórias de alunos universitários em áreas de formação distintas. Participaram 518 alunos de três níveis (inicial, intermédio e final) das áreas de ciências e humanidades. Aplicou-se a escala “CHE – Comportamentos e hábitos de estudo e aprendizagem”, que avalia cinco dimensões: estratégias cognitivas de transformação e manipulação da informação, organização e planeamento de rotinas, gestão e monitorização, aquisição e selecção da informação, e reforço motivacional. Verificou-se uma maior utilização das estratégias cognitivas e metacognitivas de gestão e monitorização apesar dos resultados não indicarem diferenças substantivas entre os alunos diferenciados por nível e área. Os resultados podem indicar estabilidade nos comportamentos ou limitações no tipo de instrumento e amostra utilizada. O estudo de mudanças nestas estratégias deverá ser conduzido com recurso a delineamentos longitudinais. O impacto da estabilidade deverá ser ponderado na elaboração de projectos de intervenção.In this study we seek to analyze the existence of differences in self-regulating strategies of university students in distinct graduation areas. 518 students of three levels (initial, intermediate and final) of science and humanities fields participated. We used the scale “Behavior and study skill”, which evaluates five dimensions: cognitive strategies of transformation and manipulation of information, organization and planning of routines, management and monitoring, information acquisition and selection, and motivational reinforcement. A higher use of cognitive and metacognitive strategies of management and monitoring was noted although the results do not indicate major differences between students in different levels and graduation areas. The results can indicate stability in the behaviors or limitations in the type of instrument and in the sample used. The study of changes in these strategies must be carried out having in mind longitudinal outlines. The impact of the stability should be taken into account while elaborating intervention projects.(undefined

    Educação, empoderamento e lutas pelo reconhecimento: a questão dos direitos de cidadania

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    A revisão em baixa de certos direitos de cidadania, como os sociais e os laborais, em contextos de ajustamento estrutural e de crise econômica, está a reacender as lutas pelo reconhecimento, já não propriamente em termos de reconhecimento cultural ou identitário, como de fato se verificou, com intensidade, nas duas últimas décadas, mas em termos de reconhecimento jurídico, ou seja, de respeito por expectativas que podem ser satisfeitas porque estão legalmente protegidas. A educação, sendo fiel à sua vocação de defesa da integridade da pessoa humana, pelo menos desde a afirmação iluminista desse valor, não se pode alhear dessas brigas pelo reconhecimento jurídico. Tem seguramente um papel a desempenhar nessas contendas, mas qual, e de que modo? Esta é a questão de investigação que leva a demandar três objetivos: o primeiro consiste em associar a educação às brigas pelo reconhecimento, convocando, para o efeito, a “gramática moral dos conflitos sociais” de Honneth; o segundo, vinculando educação e empoderamento, procura mostrar que este último, não obstante dissensos interpretativos, pode ser interessante para definir o envolvimento da educação nas lutas pelo reconhecimento jurídico; o terceiro, por fim, consiste em delimitar as principais articulações desse papel em termos de empoderamento. A investigação, conjugando o quadro analítico honnethiano com a revisão de literatura sobre diagnósticos da “recessão jurídica” que hoje se vive em diversos contextos, nomeadamente nos países europeus mais fortemente atingidos pelas políticas de austeridade como modelo ou paradigma de resposta à crise do euro, das dívidas públicas e do Estado de bem-estar social, leva a concluir que a “era dos direitos” está sob ameaça e que a educação, mediante práticas de empoderamento bem delineadas, pode ser estratégica na potenciação de reações individuais e sociais ao ressurgimento desse tipo de ameaça.(undefined

    Homework self-regulation strategies: a gender and educational-level invariance analysis

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    This study investigates the measurement invariance as a function of gender and educational level of the Homework Behavior Questionnaire (Ktpc), an instrument developed to assess students' homework self-regulation strategies. A sample of 1400 elementary and middle school students was used. Results of confirmatory factor analysis indicated a good fit of the theoretical model composed of three dimensions: planning, execution and evaluation of the homework completion. The results also provided evidence for the existence of metric invariance and partial scalar measurement invariance across boys and girls and across the elementary school and the middle school students. The reliability of the scores in the three dimensions was high. Girls obtained higher scores than boys in planning, execution and evaluation. Middle school students had lower scores in planning compared to the elementary school students. These findings are discussed, and their implications for practice are highlighted.This study was partially conducted at the Psychology Research Centre (UID/PSI/01662/2013), University of Minho, and supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology and the Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education, through national funds, and co-financed by FEDER, through COMPETE2020, under the PT2020 Partnership Agreement (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007653). The first author is also supported by grant SFRH/BPD/102549/2014 from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

    Life experiences throughout the ifespan: What do people say (or not) about them?

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    Life experiences have been a topic of interest for researchers and clinicians for decades. Current knowledge is rooted in two distinct approaches, i.e., personality psychology and psychosomatics. Whereas the first is interested in ordinary life stories of nonclinical individuals, based on a more qualitative, in-depth, and person-driven approach, psychosomatics stresses negative events, mainly in clinical samples, and presents a more quantitative, general, and construct-driven approach. Consequently, available evidence is dispersed and unrelated and many basic questions remain unanswered. This study aimed to explore occurrence, developmental stage, valence, and impact of life experiences and to analyze critical answering patterns (i.e., “I don’t remember,” missingness). Through a cross-sectional retrospective design, 394 adults from the community answered the Lifetime Experiences Scale, which covers 75 life experiences organized in eight domains (i.e., school, job, health, leisure, living conditions, adverse experiences, achievements, and people and relationships). Occurrence of life experiences varied greatly, and the mean number of experiences reported was approximately 30. Regarding developmental stage, most experiences were reported in just one stage—mainly adulthood—however, some could be considered chronic. Globally, life experiences tended to be clearly rated as positive or as negative; additionally, assessed experiences were mainly appraised as positive. Moreover, participants presented their experiences as significant, rating them as high impact. Overall, critical answering patterns were not very expressive: “I don’t remember” and missing answers were below 2 and 5%, respectively, in the majority of experiences. These findings offer several important new insights, suggesting that life experiences are mainly an idiosyncratic topic.This manuscript is part of a doctoral dissertation, which had the support of the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), through the PhD grant with the reference SFRH/ BD/76022/2011, funded by POPH-QREN-Typology 4.1-Advanced Training, reimbursed by the European Social Fund and national funds from State Budget. This study was conducted at Psychology Research Centre (UID/PSI/01662/2013), University of Minho, and supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology and the Portuguese Ministry of Education and Science through national funds and co-financed by FEDER through COMPETE2020 under the PT2020 Partnership Agreement (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007653).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

    The frequency of cyclonic wind storms shapes tropical forest dynamism and functional trait dispersion

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    As cyclonic wind storms (hurricanes and typhoons) increase in frequency and intensity with climate change, it is important to understand their effects on the populations and communities of tropical trees they impact. Using tree demographic data from four large, tropical forest dynamics plots that differ in cyclonic storm frequency, we compare tree population and community dynamics. Additionally, we assess the effect of cyclonic storms on three functional traits, specific leaf area, wood density, and tree height of the dynamic tree assemblages. Mortality, growth and recruitment rates and the intrinsic rates of population growth of species differed across the plots, and were most dynamic, especially for stems 1–2 cm in diameter, at the plot which had an intermediate level of cyclonic storm frequency. Functional assemblages of species had the greatest degree of temporal variation in relation to disturbance, as measured by the change in functional divergence for the two plots with more intermediate cyclonic storm recurrence. Therefore, cyclonic storms affecting these plots generally have a greater effect on forest composition and dynamism than comparable cyclonic storms do on the plot which experiences cyclonic storms more frequently. Thus, we provide some evidence that community-wide demographic resistance to cyclonic storms is generally lower at an intermediate frequency of storms. While cyclonic storm strength and timing are important determinants of the within forest variation in tree dynamics and functional trait assemblages, we also show that cyclonic storm timing and frequency shapes tropical forest dynamics and functional composition across forests. We conclude that, over a given time interval, sites with intermediate levels of damaging cyclonic wind disturbance express a greater potential for life-history variation in the forest community, when compared to sites with less or more frequent disturbance
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