This replication study sought to analyze the effects of behavioral observability and overall impressions on rater agreement, as recently examined by Roch, Paquin, & Littlejohn (2009) and Scott (2012). Results from the study performed by Roch et al. indicated that raters are more likely to agree when items are either more difficult to rate or less observable. In the replication study conducted by Scott, the results did not support the relationship which Roch et al. found between observability and rater agreement, but did support the relationship previously found between item difficulty and rater agreement. The four objectives of this replication study were to determine whether rater agreement is negatively related to item observability (Hypothesis 1) and positively related to difficulty (Hypothesis 2), as well as to determine whether item performance ratings are closer to overall impressions when items are less observable (Hypothesis 3) and more difficult to rate (Hypothesis 4). The sample was comprised of 152 undergraduate students tasked with providing performance ratings on an individual depicted in a video of a discussion group. Results indicated that agreement was negatively correlated with both observability (supporting Hypothesis 1) and difficulty (not supporting Hypothesis 2), and that ratings were closer to overall impressions when items were less observable (supporting Hypothesis 3), but not when items were more difficult to rate (not supporting Hypothesis 4).

In recent times, situational judgment tests (SJTs) have emerged as an instrument of choice in organizations. This emergence is partly due to the high costs associated with developing and conducting high fidelity simulations such as assessment centers, coupled with the recent economic downturn affecting many organizations. The current study sought to validate an SJT as a low cost, alternate form of assessing leadership within an organizational context. A content validation study was carried out by retranslating items into eight dimensions and calibrating item responses. This study resulted in a content valid measure of leadership knowledge. Future studies should focus on further evaluating the psychometric properties of this new leadership assessment. Alternate forms reliability, convergent validity, and divergent validity studies, in particular, should be conducted to evaluate the new test.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between narcissism, cultural adjustment, and leadership of expatriates. Specifically, it was predicted that cultural adjustment would partially mediate the relationship between narcissism and selfperceptions of leadership effectiveness such that narcissism would be negatively related to cultural adjustment, and cultural adjustment would be positively related to selfperceptions of leadership effectiveness. It was also predicted that cultural adjustment would partially mediate the relationship between narcissism and LMX perceptions such that narcissism would be negatively related to cultural adjustment, and cultural adjustment would be positively related to LMX perceptions. Fifty-three participants completed an online survey through Qualtrics. Participants consisted of individuals who were teaching abroad for an extended period of time. Results indicated support for the mediating role of cultural adjustment in the relationship between narcissism and perceived leadership effectiveness, but not in the relationship between narcissism and LMX perceptions. Results also indicated positive correlations between narcissism and cultural adjustment. The implications and limitations of these findings are discussed, and multiple directions for future research are suggested.

This study examined the relationship of the serve-specific core self-evaluation scale (SS-CSES) with serve performance of inter-collegiate volleyball athletes. The SSCSES is a modified version of the core self-evaluations scale (CSE). It was hypothesized that SS-CSES would be related to serve performance, that SS-CSE would be more related to serve performance than CSE, and that SS-CSE would have incremental validity over CSE when predicting serve performance. Responses to the two scales and selfassessments of server performance were collected online through self-report questionnaire. Additionally, NCAA serve statistics were collected by the researchers. Results indicated that SS-CSE was a stronger predictor of performance than CSE, and all other hypotheses were supported.

The present study examined justice perceptions of an intercollegiate athlete who was punished for a team rule violation outside of competition. This scenario study is a modified replication of Severs’ (2009) study on justice perceptions of intercollegiate athletes; one additional factor, importance of the next competition, was examined in the current study. Perceptions of fairness and perceptions of likelihood of deterring future misconduct were examined using a factorial design with two levels of punishment severity (severe and moderate), two levels of misconduct severity (severe and moderate), two types of punishment distribution (consistent and conditional), and two types of game importance (exhibition and post-season). Consistently applying punishment had a highly significant effect on perceptions of fairness to the punished athlete and to teammates, and on the likelihood the punishment will deter future misconduct by the punished athlete and by teammates. Interactions, with small effects, indicated that the severity of the punishment should match the severity of the violation; that females more than males perceive conditional punishment as less fair; and that the importance of the next competition increases fairness perceptions of conditional punishment. Implications for practice are clear. Consistently apply team rules and punishment for violations of those rules is effective in creating perceptions of fairness of the punishment and deterring future misconduct.

Previous research on information avoidance has revealed that people choose to avoid negative health information, but that this effect is interrupted by self-affirmation (Howell & Shepperd, 2013). The current study aimed to contribute to the field’s understanding of the conditions under which self-affirmation reduces information avoidance by using a unique affirmation: secure attachment figures. I hypothesized that activating a secure attachment would serve as the affirmation necessary for participants to choose to view their risk information for a fictitious enzyme deficiency. However, when given a choice, participants in both the experimental and control conditions chose to view this information. At best, these results demonstrate that psychological resources of a social nature were effective in protecting people from undesirable health risk information. At worst, they present a failure to replicate previous research. Explanations for why the results were unexpected and future modifications to the paradigm are discussed.

Children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) per DSM-5 criteria are characteristically limited in their ability to interact socially due to conversational speech delays. Typically, children with ASD experience a more constrained number of appropriate initiations and responses in conversations with peers. Previous research has shown the benefits of using scripted language to increase verbalizations in these children. However, limited research has been conducted on the use of technology to increase social interactions between children with ASD. This study will be based on hypotheses and results from the dissertation, “Teaching Conversational Speech to Children with Autism Using a Text Message Intervention” by Denise Grosberg. Grosberg evaluated the performance of a text message intervention (TMI) procedure using scripted language to teach conversational speech with typically developing peers. The present study used a multiple baseline design across dyads to again assess the efficacy of a text message intervention between dyads of children with ASD, including younger and lower-functioning participants. Results demonstrated an increase in appropriate conversational speech through the TMI and an increase in unscripted language following the intervention. Seven of the participants generalized the behavior across peers and settings as well as after a two-week follow-up period. Data are discussed in terms of the percentage of appropriate phrases used, as a function of appropriate phrases, inappropriate phrases, and the number of times a participant did not respond.

In this study, a new measure of mature religiosity was created. One hundred and fifty students were administered an 80 item scale based upon a consensus meaning of mature religiosity. The results of this administration were factor analyzed. Seven First Order Factors and two Second Order Factors emerged which could be adequately assessed by 50 of the 80 item. The revised 50 item scale was administered to 130 students. During the same administration, the students also responded to measures of personal maturity (Dogmatism Scale, Internal-External Locus of Control Scale, Social Desirability Scale) and other measures of mature religiosity (Intrinsic-Extrinsic Religious Orientation Scale, Interactional Scale from the Religious Life Inventory). One factor was found to overlap with the Intrinsic Religious Orientation Scale. It is also related to both the Interactional Scale and the Extrinsic Religious Orientation Scale, but the correlation was not enough to indicate duplication of those scales. The new scale was also found to be correlated with the Internal-External Locus of Control Scale, the Social Desirability Scale, and to be negatively correlated with the Dogmatism Scale.

The attentional blink occurs when detection of a second target (T2) is impaired when it occurs between 180 to 450 ms after the first target (T1) in a rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP). The attentional blink can be affected by relevant emotional stimuli, like emotional faces, such that an emotional T1 enhances the attentional blink, and an emotional T2 attenuates it. However, not all studies use the same type of face stimuli, and there is debate over whether schematic and photo-realistic faces are processed in the same way. Furthermore, the effect of emotion on the attentional blink should differ with age, given the tendency for younger adults to display a negativity bias and for older adults to display a positivity effect. Very little research has been conducted on the attentional blink with emotional stimuli in older adults. In fact, the effect of emotional faces, which are arguably more salient stimuli than other stimuli such as emotional words, on the attentional blink has not been investigated in older adults. Therefore, this study sought to examine the impact of emotional faces on the attentional blink in younger and older adults using photo-realistic faces with angry, happy, and neutral expressions as targets in a RSVP. Although older adults did perform worse overall, there were no age differences in the effect of emotion on the attentional blink. Angry faces, as well as happy faces to a limited extent, increased the attentional blink when they served as T1. Neither the angry or happy faces as T2 were able to attenuate the blink. Given that emotional faces affected the attentional blink at T1 but not at T2, it may be the case that the emotional expressions served to maintain attention, rather than to capture it. Future studies are necessary to test this idea, as well as to more directly test the differential effect of emotional photorealistic and schematic faces on the attentional blink.

Twenty naïve male and female hooded rats were randomly divided into four groups of five subjects each. The Observe Helpless group was allowed to observe Helpless subjects receive signaled, inescapable electric shock, after which they were tested for effective escape response acquisition. Subjects in the Observe Naïve group were allowed to observe Naïve subjects being given escape-avoidance training using signaled presentations of electric shock, after which the Observe Helpless group was given similar escape-avoidance training. Results indicate that there were significant differences in the acquisition of effective escape responses between the Observe Helpless group and the other two groups. Possible explanations for these differences, as well as implications for further research, are discussed.