Nonverbal immediacy mediates the relationship between interpersonal motives and belongingness

While belongingness is a predictor of mental and physical health, the lack of social bonds is an issue for many people in occidental countries. This issue calls for global and affordable solutions. In this study, we notably investigated (a) the presumed positive relationships between agentic and communal interactional motives and belongingness, and (b) the mediating role of self-reported nonverbal immediacy - an indicator of availability to interact - in these relationships. Cross-sectional and longitudinal data were collected by means of questionnaires to test these hypotheses (NCrossectional = 344; NLongitudinal = 126) using the General Belongingness Scale, the Nonverbal Immediacy Scale, and the Bem Sex Role Inventory. Results supported the hypotheses: Interpersonal motives and nonverbal immediacy are associated cross-sectionally to belongingness, nonverbal immediacy mediates the interpersonal motives - belongingness relationship and positive changes in nonverbal immediacy is also related to increased belongingness. Practical and research implications are discussed

Ethnomethodological studies of nurse-patient and nurse-relative interactions: A scoping review

Objectives: Researchers in nursing science interested in the study of nurse-patient and nurse-relative interactions have displayed an ever increasing interest in ethnomethodology and conversation analysis. This review assesses the scope of this literature. We categorize the papers in thematic categories determined both inductively and deductively and synthesize the main findings of this literature within category. Finally we discuss the interactional determinants of the lack patient participation, the limitations of the field, and focus on implications. Design: A scoping review on nurse-patient and nurse-relative interactions. Data sources: Forty articles focusing on nurse-patient interactions and nurse-relative interactions. All the articles relied on ethnomethodology and/or conversation analysis. Review methods: A literature search has been carried out on Medline (all articles until June 2016; keywords were: nurs*.ab. and “conversation analysis”; nurs*.ab. and ethnomethodology). A similar search was performed on other platforms. The scope of the literature was identified by inductively and deductively analyzing the themes of the relevant articles. Results: Six thematic categories emerged: Organization of nurse-patient interaction (eleven articles); Organization of mediated nurse-patient interaction (seven articles); Information, explanation and advice (eight articles); Negotiation and influence asymmetry (six articles); Managing emotions in critical illness (two articles); and Interacting with patients presenting reduced interactional competences (six articles). Conclusions: Across most thematic categories it appeared that patient participation is far from ideal as interactional asymmetry was most observed in favor of nurses. When the encounters occurred at the patients’ homes this pattern was reversed. Computer-mediated interactions were often reported as nonoptimal as the standardized process constrained communication and delayed patients’ presentation of their ailments. Micro-analyses of interaction present a clear potential for the development of guidelines for nurse-patient interactions. Implications for practice are described

Managing perturbations during handover meetings: a joint activity framework

Aim To document the prevalence of perturbations of handover meetings and understand how nurses manage temporal, physical and social meeting boundaries in response to perturbations. Background Handovers are joint activities performed collaboratively by participating nurses. Perturbations of handover are frequent and may potentially threaten continuity of care. Design We observed and videotaped handovers during five successive days in four nursing care units in two Swiss hospitals in 2009. Methods Videorecordings were transcribed. All perturbations during the handovers were noted. We performed content analysis of the sources of perturbations from the notes and interactional micro-analyses of handover interactions based on video and transcripts. Results Nurses are the most frequent sources of perturbations during handovers. Perturbations are collaboratively managed. A tacit division of labour is enacted via multimodal communication strategies, whereby perturbations are dealt with using both linguistic and bodily signals

Burnout-depression overlap: A study of New Zealand schoolteachers

We examined the overlap of burnout with depression in a sample of 184 New Zealand schoolteachers. Burnout and depressive symptoms were strongly correlated with each other (r = .73; disattenuated correlation: .82) and moderately correlated with dysfunctional attitudes, ruminative responses, and pessimistic attributions. All the participants with high frequencies of burnout symptoms were identified as clinically depressed. Suicidal ideation was reported by 36% of those participants. Three groups of teachers emerged from a two-step cluster analysis: “low burnout-depression,” “medium burnout-depression,” and “high burnout-depression.” The correlation between the affective-cognitive and somatic symptoms of depression was similar in strength to the burnout-depression correlation. Consistent with recent results obtained in Europe and the U.S., our findings suggest that burnout is a depressive syndrome

The Dark Triad of personality and attitudes toward cognitive enhancement

Background Cognitive enhancement (CE) refers to the voluntary improvement of human cognitive capabilities. Few studies have examined the general attitude of the public towards CE. Such studies have suggested that the use of CE is considered largely unacceptable by the public. In parallel, past research indicates that individuals scoring high on the Dark Triad of personality (Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy) and competitiveness have atypical views of ethical questions. In this study, we examined (a) whether attitudes towards CE are associated with individual differences in the Dark Triad of personality as well as in trait and contextual competitiveness and (b) whether the Dark Triad moderates the effect of trait and contextual competitiveness on attitudes towards CE. Method US employees ( N = 326) were recruited using Mechanical Turk. Participants completed a web survey. Data were analyzed by means of (robust) hierarchical regression and (robust) ANCOVAs. Results The Dark Triad of personality and one of its subscales, Machiavellianism, predicted positive attitudes towards CE. Neither trait competitiveness nor contextual competitiveness were linked to general attitudes towards CE, but the DT was a positive moderator of the association between contextual competitiveness and positive attitudes. Conclusion Our findings extend the incipient knowledge about the factors relating to favourable views of CE by highlighting the role of dark personality traits in shaping such views. Our study further shows contextual factors can play a differentiated role with respect to such attitudes depending upon dark personality traits. Implications for policy-making are discussed

How perceived substance characteristics affect ethical judgement towards cognitive enhancement

Some individuals seek to enhance their cognitive capabilities through the use of pharmacology. Such behavior entails potential health risks and raises ethical concerns. The aim of this study was to examine whether a precursor of behavior, ethical judgement towards the use of existing biological cognitive enhancers (e.g., coffee, legal and illegal drugs), is shaped by the perceived characteristics of these cognitive enhancers. Students and employees com- pleted an online questionnaire which measured perceived characteristics of 15 substances presented as potential cognitive enhancers and a measure of ethical judgement towards these cognitive enhancers. Results of mixed model regression analyzes show that ethical judgement is more favourable when cognitive enhancers are perceived as being legal, familiar, efficient, and safe for users' health, supporting all hypotheses. Results further show that 36% of variance (in the null model) lies at the level of cognitive enhancers and 21% at the level of participants. In conclusion, cognitive enhancers vary widely in terms of ethical judgement, which is explained by the perception of the mentioned characteristics. Implications regarding prevention and policy-making are discussed

The interactive shaping of social learning in transmission chains.

International audienceThis study investigated the social transmission of memories and skills collected from a collaborative cooking task (ravioli-making) and across transmission chains. The transmission over three generations of pairs of participants occurred under two conditions. In the interactive condition, transmissions over generations occurred in face-to-face conversations, whereas in the non-interactive condition, generations video-recorded their instructions to the next generations. We analyzed the effects of verbal and embodied features of informational transfer on task performance. Our results show that performances improved over generations regardless of interactivity. In the discussion we suggest that tools (like cooking utensils) may have operated as cultural affordances encapsulating and transmitting important cultural knowledge for the successful completion of the task