The goals of the current study were to examine the antecedents and boundary conditions of a new construct called unethical pro-organizational behavior (UPB) defined as behaviors that are unethical but at the same time helping the organizations (e.g., giving a low performing employee a letter of recommendation to help him/her find a job in another organization). Drawing from social exchange theory, antecedents such as leader-member exchange, perceived organizational support, idiosyncratic deals, and leader-member exchange were hypothesized to be positively related to UPB Three moderators of the impact of the social exchange variables on UPB: were also investigated: moral identity, psychological entitlement, and supervisor's embodiment of the organization. Data was collected in a cross-sectional survey from 269 employees and 144 supervisors. The hypotheses were tested using correlations and moderated multiple regressions. The results indicate that none of the hypotheses were supported. However, there were some interesting unexpected findings as some social exchange variables were found to correlate negatively with UPB. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.

This study proposes a model to test the relationships amongst supervisors' health behaviors and leadership behaviors. Specifically, 107 supervisor-subordinate pairs responded to a cross-sectional survey. Supervisors provided self-reports of their health behaviors (physical activity, diet, sleep, alcohol/tobacco use) and perceived well-being. Subordinates rated the supervisors' perceived leadership style and the quality of relationships they share at work. Results were mixed with support largely being found for previously established relationships between (a) physical activity, sleep duration and quality, and well-being, and (b) leadership behaviors and supervisor-subordinate relationship quality. The primary thesis of this study--that leaders with improved health behaviors and well-being will engage in more active leadership behaviors and fewer passive behaviors--was not supported. This study served as a first-step towards a more sophisticated understanding of how a healthy lifestyle impacts leaders' at-work behaviors and performance.

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is highly recurrent. Researchers have proposed that certain traits predispose people to repeated episodes of this disorder. The current study examined the hypothesis that maladaptive emotional responding to stimuli would predict a worse depression outcome over six months. Participants were 58 individuals--18 controls, 22 individuals with MDD, and 18 individuals with minor depression (mD; subthreshold depression)--who participated in a diagnostic interview and emotion-modulated startle procedure at time one, and who returned for a second diagnostic interview six months later at time two. An identical emotion-modulated startle procedure was then repeated at time two with 33 individuals--12 controls, 14 individuals with MDD, and 7 individuals with mD. Startle probes were presented during unpleasant, neutral, and pleasant pictures, as well as during inter-trial intervals (ITI) in the absence of pictures. We used eye-blink startle responses to predict the time two level of depression severity and the likelihood of depression recurrence. Time one startle in the context of neutral pictures predicted depression outcomes at time two, such that larger time one startle responses during neutral pictures were associated with the presence of a time two depressive episode and higher time two self-report scores of depression severity (Beck Depression Scale scores). In addition, startle responses during ITIs (occurring in the absence of pictures) also predicted depression outcome, but in the opposite direction. Specifically, larger time one startle responses during ITIs were associated with better time two depression outcomes. We discuss the implications of these results.

Homophobic attitudes pervade our society and specifically our justice system, which negatively impact legal protection for lesbian victims of intimate partner violence (IPV). Juror stereotypes about IPV victims and perpetrators as well as their biases based on sexual orientation may be a hindrance to IPV cases being reported and successfully prosecuted. The primary goal of this study was to investigate the impact that mock jurors’ attitudes toward homosexuals and gender roles, and their acceptance of myths about domestic violence had on their perceptions of lesbian IPV. Heterosexual undergraduate students (N = 259) read a trial summary in which the defendant was charged with physically assaulting her same-sex partner. The trial varied as to whether the victim and defendant were depicted via images as feminine or masculine and thus were either stereotypical or counter-stereotypical. Participants rendered verdicts and made judgments about the victim and defendant (e.g., credibility, sympathy). Results indicated that a masculine victim indirectly increased the likelihood of rendering guilty verdicts by increasing anger toward the defendant. Participants with negative attitudes toward lesbians rated the defendant as low in credibility, and when the victim was masculine, these participants had more anger toward the defendant than participants with more positive attitudes. Participants high on hostile sexism (i.e., attitudes that justify male power) or domestic violence myth acceptance (i.e., endorsement of false beliefs that justify physical aggression against intimate partners) minimized the seriousness of the incident, which decreased the likelihood of rendering guilty verdicts. Participants low in benevolent sexism (i.e., feelings of protectiveness toward women that support traditional gender roles) rated the incident as lower in seriousness and had less anger toward the defendant for a feminine victim paired with a masculine defendant. Participants high in benevolent sexism rated the incident as less serious when the victim and defendant were both feminine, and had more anger toward the defendant when the victim was masculine and the defendant was feminine. Results provide insight into the relationships between victim and defendant stereotypicality and individual differences in attitudes on mock juror decision-making in lesbian IPV cases.

The current study examined the efficacy of various neuropsychological measures for differentiating ADHD and comorbid ADHD from malingered ADHD in a large state university sample. The sample consisted of 23 nonclinical individuals assigned to malinger ADHD (NLM), 9 nonclinical individuals responding honestly (NLH), 22 individuals with diagnoses of ADHD only (ADHD-H), 9 individuals with comorbid ADHD/Learning Disorder presentations (ADHD-LD), and 13 individuals with comorbid ADHD/Anxiety presentations (ADHD-ANX). Due to limited sample sizes, the ADHD-LD and ADHD-ANX participants were pooled to create a comorbid ADHD group (ADHD-CO n = 22). The study utilized a simulation design with a NLM group instructed to feign ADHD while the other groups responded under standard instructions. The TOMM, LMT, NV-MSVT, and CTIP variables performed well, but the DMT did not. The WAIS-IV and WJ-III variables did not adequately differentiate malingered and comorbid ADHD.

This investigation compared the essential tasks of career counselors and vocational evaluators by surveying experts and practitioners in each specialization. Although both services advise persons about their work and training options, career counseling often takes place in university career centers and vocational evaluation is made available in not-for-profit settings. The null hypothesis is that there are no differences in task importance or frequency between these two jobs. Previous literature and current job descriptions from Florida workplaces are used to identify tasks, which are then presented to experts for input regarding frequency and relative importance to job performance. Tasks endorsed by Delphi method were also rated by persons working at these occupations for both frequency and importance to job performance. Current practitioners included persons working as career counselors in Florida state universities and as vocational evaluation vendors under the state of Florida Department of Education. Examination of means, mean differences, and standard deviations indicate differences in the task ratings between experts and practitioners and between practitioners of these populations. Correlations between practitioners did not reveal any strong positive relationships between tasks, but there was a negative relationship between these two professions when rating the relative importance of teaching counselees self-directed techniques. Even though the results did not pass the tests of assumption for multiple analyses of variance (MANOVA), significant differences are suggested. These differences include a proclivity for career counselors to teach self-direction, and a proclivity for vocational evaluators to provide and present assessments, make recommendations, and perform transferable skills analysis. Implications for education and professional certification point to a need for additional instruction for vocational evaluators in the areas of report writing, concluding services, and fulfilling the role they play in interdisciplinary activities. Both groups of counselors endorsed the use of basic counseling skills to understand and overcome personal problems, which typically requires licensure.

The aim of this research is to examine the relation between the change in globalization and change in personal values (work and general life values). An analysis across 28 years and 53 countries suggests that changes in different personal values have different relations with the change in globalization. Moreover, this relation is influenced by the demographic characteristics of the sample. The present research contributes to the literature in the following ways: 1) linking globalization (an economic concept) and personal values (a psychological concept), 2) providing an analysis of the relation between the change in personal values and the change in globalization across 28 years and 53 countries, 3) using an objective measure of globalization to examine the globalization phenomenon, and 4) including a large number of personal values (12 values) which provides a rich source of information.

A qualitative investigation is proposed to examine flow experiences in professional ballet modern dancers in order understand the nature of this psychological experience. It is not well understood where and when professional dancers experience flow, and whether or not their subjective experience is correlated to what an audience evaluates in a dancer’s performance. The study of performance quality and subjective experience of the dancer has not been studied within the dance movement analysis literature. This is an important topic to research to further understand what factors facilitate or debilitate a professional dancer’s well-being. This study aims to determine any facilitating and mediating factors of flow experiences in professional ballet and modern dancers. Additionally, it aims to address whether a dancer’s performance is perceived as being competent, and if the dancer’s experiences of the performance matches the levels of competency. Two hundred professional ballet and modern dancers (100M, 100F) will participate in this study. These participants will be recruited from the professional companies based in the United States. This study will also analyze the relationship that the reported flow scores have with evaluations of performance competency. Each participant will be interviewed to determine their personal experiences of flow, if they have had any. Following the interview, they will complete the Activity Experience Scale – 2 (DFS-2). A researcher will observe a rehearsal and a performance to evaluate each participant using the Performance Competency Evaluation Measure. Following the rehearsal or performance, the participant will complete the Event Experience Scale-2 (FSS-2). The mean scores from the FSS-2 will be analyzed using a two-by-two factorial ANOVA to determine if modern dancers experience significantly higher levels of flow in performance with no effect across gender. The effects of performance competency evaluations between the style of dance and mean flow scores were examined using mediation analysis and Sobel’s test. Additionally, it is predicted that the number of hours of rehearsal and performances will be established as a mediating factor between the style of dance and mean flow scores. The same methodology will be used for mediation analysis to test this hypothesis.

Death, dying, and the actual loss of life are some of the broadest sweeping concepts that typically evoke a wide array of emotions from sadness and anger to fear and despondence. It is unlikely that the first words associated with death are comedy, humor, or laughter. However, that is precisely what creators and comedians of dark, death, and gallows humor seek to achieve. For my senior capstone project, I have created a short fictional narrative film encompassing the traits of a dark comedy. However, noticing that few dark comedies delve into topics surrounding suicide, I wondered if it was possible to achieve the same comedic and filmic effects with suicide as dark comedies do with death. Is it possible to generate humor from suicide and desiring death? What is implied if humor is derived from the inability to reach death on one’s own volition?

Most investigative interviewing protocols, including the National Institute of Justice’s 1999 guidelines on collecting eyewitness evidence, recommend building rapport with cooperative witnesses to increase the quality and quantity of details obtained at recall. To date, only three published articles have empirically addressed the effects of rapport-building on adult witness memory, and all suggest an increase in witness accuracy under certain conditions. However, to our knowledge no research has addressed the importance of the investigator when building rapport and whether rapport can increase witness susceptibility to suggestive-leading questions – the aim of the current research. Specifically, this project examined the effects of change in interviewer between rapport and retrieval, and the effects of interviewer suggestion after rapport eyewitness memory accuracy. Participant witnesses (N=198) viewed a videotaped mock convenience store robbery followed by rapport-building or a standard police interview about non-crime related details (rapport manipulation). One week later all participants were interviewed about the mock crime they witnessed either by the same or a different interviewer (interviewer manipulation). All witnesses were interviewed about the mock crime using open-ended questions about the event, witnesses, suspect, and location followed by a series of specific suggestive questions containing both correct- and incorrect-leading information about the crime. Videotaped and transcribed witness reports were scored for accurate and false information by two independent raters. Findings indicated that, contrary to all hypotheses, neither rapport-building on day 1 nor change in interviewer on day 2 (one week later) manipulations resulted in significant effects on the primary accuracy dependent measures on day 2, including open-ended and suggestive-leading questions. The present study was the first to investigate the effect of rapport-building on eyewitness recall after a delay, whether changing interviewers across the investigation impacts recall, and whether rapport can act as a safeguard by inoculating witnesses against investigator-provided misinformation. These null findings further suggest that future research should disentangle the specific conditions under which rapport-building facilitates witness recall need to be disentangled in future research.