The Anatomy of Antagonism: Exploring the Relations of 20 Lexical Factors of Personality with Machiavellianism, Grandiose Narcissism, and Psychopathy

Despite being the focus of extensive research over the past two decades, the structure of the “Dark Triad”—or, as I will refer to it here, the “Aversive Triad”—is still shrouded in confusion. Much of this confusion stems from disagreements over (1) which aspects of personality unite Machiavellianism, grandiose narcissism, and psychopathy and (2) which aspects of personality differentiate Machiavellianism, grandiose narcissism, and psychopathy. The present set of studies attempts to answer these two questions by using the 20-Lexical Factor Model of Personality (Lex-20) to decompose the Aversive Triad into smaller elements of personality. In Study 1, the Aversive Triad is assessed using the three most popular measures of each trait, thus capturing how the traits are most commonly represented in the existing literature. Study 2 builds upon Study 1 by using a wider array of Aversive Triad measures to capture the diversity of ways that these traits have been represented in the existing literature. Study 3 further builds upon Study 1 and Study 2 by using broader samples of participants recruited from the US, India, and Nigeria to examine whether the results found using US undergraduate students in Study 1 and Study 2 generalize to other populations. At least among the US samples, the findings for the three studies were fairly consistent. The Aversive Triad traits were united by a core of egotism, manipulativeness, temperamentality, deceitfulness, cruelty, and prejudice. Machiavellianism was further defined by aspects of cynicism (e.g., negativity) and reservedness (e.g., low directness). It was not, however, defined by greater organization, which is inconsistent with the theoretical notion that Machiavellian individuals engage in long-term machinations. The results for grandiose narcissism were theoretically consistent; it was defined by aspects of extraversion (e.g., talkativeness) and self-promotion (e.g., sophistication). The results for psychopathy were also theoretically consistent, with psychopathy being defined by excessive cruelty and a reckless lifestyle (e.g., disorganization). The findings from the Indian and Nigerian samples departed from those found in the US samples, perhaps because of low internal consistencies among some of the scales for the Lex-20 factors in these two countries

Animal House: The Dark Tetrad traits and membership in sororities and fraternities

5 pagesVery little is known about the relationship between antagonistic personality traits and membership in Greekletter organizations (GLOs). The present study (N = 2191) examined the association between the Dark Tetrad traits—Machiavellianism, grandiose narcissism, psychopathy, and everyday sadism—and membership in sororities and fraternities. Participants who were high in grandiose narcissism were more likely to be in sororities and fraternities, whereas participants who were high in Machiavellianism and everyday sadism were less likely to be in these organizations. Psychopathy was not significantly associated with membership in GLOs. Taken together, the present results suggest that members of GLOs are not necessarily more manipulative, cold-hearted, or cruel than their non-GLO counterparts, but they may be more entitled, domineering, and status-seeking

Boundary Work and Transactive Memory Systems in Teams: Moderating Effects of the Visibility Affordance

Individuals in work teams frequently cross boundaries across teams, often by using information and communication technologies (ICTs). The current study investigates the effects of members’ boundary work and the visibility affordance of teams’ ICTs on Transactive Memory Systems (TMS) in teams. Survey data from 212 full-time employees whose work hours were divided between multiple teams reveals that boundary spanning enhances the focal team’s TMS credibility and specialization and negatively influences TMS coordination. Additionally, boundary reinforcement positively affects TMS credibility and coordination. The visibility affordance has a direct positive impact on all three dimensions of TMS and a moderating effect for boundary reinforcement such that higher visibility overrides the positive direct effect of boundary reinforcement on TMS. These findings suggest that different types of boundary work contribute to different dimensions of TMS and that teams might consider prioritizing the use of ICTs with high visibility to enhance their TMS

Testing of the 'Always Events' approach to improve the patient experience in the emergency department

Maintaining quality of care and meeting patient expectations in the face of rising demand within emergency departments (ED) is a significant challenge for clinicians. This study tested the Always Events (AE) approach as a means to identify AE's relevance to patient care in the ED and act on this to address patient concerns. The project team looked to identify aspects of care patients would like to see improved within the minor injuries stream (MIS). Following triage, patients typically have presentations that do not require admission and require a single interaction with a clinician. Interventions seeking to improve patient experience were created and impact was monitored using patient feedback using a quality improvement (QI) framework. AEs were identified via convenience sampling using a short semistructured survey questionnaire. Patients were asked 'What should always happen in the Emergency Department?' Communication and information provision regarding how the department worked were identified as key themes. Two interventions, an educational poster and a video campaign, were designed and implemented. Improvement was assessed via convenience sampling of patient questionnaires using a 5-point Likert scale and free-text responses. Initial patient satisfaction levels regarding information provision stood at 80%, rising to 88% after our poster intervention and 92% by the end of the video intervention. Understanding of how the ED functions was initially 83% in the baseline sample before rising to 86% following poster and video interventions. Patient questionnaires indicated that information provision directly from staff was variable throughout the study period. Implementing the AE approach in the MIS has improved patient experience. Our poster intervention had the greatest benefit regarding patient understanding of the ED and information provision. This project has also indicated that the AE method can be successfully combined with a QI tool and applied in the ED to address patient needs

On the Role of Intrinsic Value in Terms of Environmental Education

AbstractAn understanding of instrumentally valuable nature resulted from anthropocentrism is incapable of producing long-term, real solutions to deal with environmental problems. It is obvious that these problems cannot be handled staying within the current understanding of nature-human relationship and without broaden the extent of ethics in a way to involve non-human entities. Human beings are prone to protect what they consider as intrinsically valuable. Further, they have a tendency to value the things around them and it can be improved. Thus, a big part of this can be succeeded through environmental education. Therefore, in this paper, I discuss the role of intrinsic value in terms of environmental education to handle the environmental problems, and investigate a new account of subjective intrinsic value about nature

Uniting resilience research and practice with an inequalities approach

The concept of resilience has evolved, from an individual-level characteristic to a wider ecological notion that takes into account broader person–environment interactions, generating an increased interest in health and well-being research, practice and policy. At the same time, the research and policy-based attempts to build resilience are increasingly under attack for responsibilizing individuals and maintaining, rather than challenging, the inequitable structure of society. When adversities faced by children and young people result from embedded inequality and social disadvantage, resilience-based knowledge has the potential to influence the wider adversity context. Therefore, it is vital that conceptualizations of resilience encompass this potential for marginalized people to challenge and transform aspects of their adversity, without holding them responsible for the barriers they face. This article outlines and provides examples from an approach that we are taking in our research and practice, which we have called Boingboing resilience. We argue that it is possible to bring resilience research and practice together with a social justice approach, giving equal and simultaneous attention to individuals and to the wider system. To achieve this goal, we suggest future research should have a co-produced and inclusive research design that overcomes the dilemma of agency and responsibility, contains a socially transformative element, and has the potential to empower children, young people, and families

Confidence intervals for a spatially generalized, continuous simulation flood frequency model for Great Britain

There is growing interest in the application of "continuous simulation'' conceptual rainfall-runoff models for flood frequency estimation as an adjunct to event-based or statistical design methodology. The approach has advantages that stem from the use of models with continuous water balance accounting. Conceptual rainfall-runoff models usually require calibration, which in turn requires gauged rainfall and flow data. One of the key challenges is therefore to develop ways of generalizing models for use at ungauged sites. Recent work has produced a prototype scheme for achieving this aim in Great Britain for two catchment models by relating model parameters to spatial catchment properties, such as soils, topography, and geology. In this paper we present an analysis of the uncertainty associated with one of the generalized models ( the "probability distributed model'') in terms of confidence intervals for simulations at test sites that are treated as if they were ungauged. This is done by fitting regression relationships between hydrological model parameters and catchment properties so as to estimate the parameters as distribution functions for the ungauged site case. Flood flow outputs are then simulated from the parameter distributions and used to construct approximate confidence intervals. Comparison with gauged data suggests that the generalized model may be tentatively accepted. Uncertainty in the modeled flood flows is often of a similar order to the uncertainty surrounding a more conventional statistical model, in this case a single-site generalized Pareto distribution fitted to the gauged data

Where Do I Come From? Metaphors in Sex Education Picture Books for Young Children in China

This study examines the types of verbal, pictorial, and multimodal metaphors in the genre of sex education picture books for young children in Mainland China. Although being an educational discourse genre that is essentially concerned with transmitting scientific facts, sex education picture books employ a range of metaphors that categorize and construe the biological knowledge of human reproduction in a way that not only facilitates young children’s understanding of scientific concepts but also instills in them particular values and moralities that are socioculturally conditioned. An examination of the source domains from which the metaphors are drawn and the target domains onto which the metaphors are mapped reveals three types of metaphor, namely, personification, domestication, and cross-experience metaphors. The analysis of seven sex education picture books for pre-school children suggests that these types of metaphor are used purposefully for addressing pedagogical as well as ideological concerns in the introduction of sex-related knowledge in Mainland China