<p> Abstract Although the poor performance of most professionals who are trained and experienced in deception detection is inexplicable, research has been able to single out some professionals who have developed an exceptional understanding of the kind of knowledge it takes to deceive others. Individual differences in ability to detect deceit have rarely been approached in research designs where ability was broken down into personality traits. This was a non-experimental correlational study, which sought to examine the degree to which elements or facets of personality dimensions self-compassion, agreeableness, and openness could predict the ability to detect deception. A sample of convenience comprised of student participants (N=201) was drawn from a local community college. It used a regression model to examine the maximum likelihood that deception detection ability can be predicted. This was accomplished though specific measurements derived from three paper-and-pencil questionnaires, the deception detection ability scores obtained from the BBC survey, &ldquo;Spot the Fake Smile,&rdquo; the self-compassion values obtained from the Neff self-compassion scale (2003), and the agreeableness and openness values obtained from the NEO-PI-R personality inventory (Costa &amp; McCrae, 2010). The self-compassion subscales and the agreeableness and openness subscales were combined totaling 18 predictor variables where 17 of the 18 predictor variables retained the null hypothesis. Although hypothesis testing provided a meager beginning for bridging the gap between personality domains and deception detection ability, practical significance precludes the transferability of the results without further investigation.</p>

<p> In many organizational settings, companies use the team concept in order to accomplish organizational goals in a timely and efficient manner. In manufacturing settings, organizations use the team concept to complete tasks such as building products in bulk quantities, as well as provide safety to employees. In this type of setting, every team has a team leader who is responsible for providing support to the team members (coworkers) and ensuring that the team accomplishes organizational goals. In many organizations, there is a disparity in teams. Some teams are successful in completing organizational goals and have high team morale, while other teams struggle in meeting goals and have low team morale. Many possible factors play in to explaining why there are disparities in teams. One possible explanation for disparity in teams is empathy. The research study conducted was an exploratory qualitative case study involving interviews with 14 team leaders of an automotive factory in the United States. The purpose of the case study was to examine the role of empathy used by team leaders with their coworkers. The results from the data collection found the following themes: reciprocation, offering supportive behaviors, better work culture, relationship building, increased team morale, increased involvement in running the business, recognition, determining factors for deciding to use empathy, and connection with coworkers.</p>

<p> Research on the Big Five Factors of personality has generally demonstrated its predictive ability in regards to a variety of psychological constructs. This study addressed whether or not the Big Five Factors of personality had the same predictive ability in regards to an intercultural mindset, a constructivist construct that determines how individuals assess and interact with difference, and an individual&rsquo;s tendency to self-enhance their intercultural mindset. Since most of the research has been focused on the Big Five Factors of personality, the subfacets of each of the Big Five Factors were also examined to determine if the subfacets provided a better predictive model. Data collected from first year college students in a Midwest parochial university through a cross-sectional design was utilized. Maximum Likelihood Methods were then utilized to reduce the number of personality factors for an intercultural mindset and the self-enhancement of an intercultural mindset followed by multiple backwards regressions to determine the potential relationships. Extraversion was negatively correlated and Agreeableness was positively correlated to an intercultural mindset at the Big Five level of personality (<i>p</i> = 0.005, R² = 0.056, <i>f</i>² = 0.059), while Excitement Seeking was negatively correlated and Ideas were positively correlated to an intercultural mindset at the subfacet level of personality (p = 0.002, R² = 0.068, <i>f</i>² = 0.073). While the effect size of these two research questions is small, it does provide some understanding to the value that self-reflection, the ability to cope with anxiety, and a capacity for cognitive complexity may play in developing an intercultural mindset. For the self-enhancement of an intercultural mindset, Extraversion was positively correlated and Agreeableness was negatively correlated at the Big Five level of Personality (<i>p</i> = 0.005, R² = 0.056, <i>f</i>² = 0.059), while Excitement seeking and Anxiety were both positively correlated at the subfacet level of personality (<i>p</i> = 0.000, R² = 0.084, <i> f</i>² = 0.092). It appears that cognitive complexity, effective coping strategies for anxiety, and empathy are necessary skills to minimize the self-enhancement of an intercultural mindset.</p>

<p> This qualitative phenomenological study on the experiences of female circumcision survivors in Sierra Leone is needed to assist human rights organizations campaigning against harmful traditional practices to eradicate female circumcision in the country. Using the experiences of survivors will potentially help shape the message and communication style by human rights activists that will promote a harmonious relationship between both parties to work together in the process of eradication. There were two cohorts involved in this research, the cultural cohort involved 30 women who have gone through female circumcision, and a Western cohort which involved 30 staff of five human rights organizations directly working on the eradication of female circumcision. The thematic formulation built upon social constructivism and psychological paradigm resulted in ten thematic areas from both cohorts. The traditional notion of culture that the initiators extensively draw to exploit in accomplishing their didactic purposes is urgent to discern while recalling the indelible scars that the Sierra Leoneans left on the psychic paradigm of the tribal communities.</p><p>

<p> Homesickness has been conceptualized in many ways, including having an attachment to home and disliking one&rsquo;s new environment (Archer et al., 1998). Studies have shown that at least 94% of students reported feelings of homesickness during their first ten weeks of college (English et al., 2017). Homesickness correlates positively with anxiety and depression (Archer et al., 1998), can lead to thoughts of suicide (Watt &amp; Badger, 2009), disrupts concentration, leads to forgetfulness (Burt, 1993; Fisher &amp; Hood, 1987), and is associated with lower GPA and lower retention rates (Sun et al., 2016). This study aimed to examine how social identities and identity formation impact homesickness in college students. Specifically, we sought to determine the degree to which variables such as persistent whole relationships, maintenance of previous groups, previous and current group compatibility, new whole relationships formed, and new group memberships mediated the relationship between 1) distance and, 2) commitment to identity and outcome variables including homesickness and subjective well-being. Our results support the notion that having whole relationships, forming new groups, and group compatibility are important factors in predicting homesickness and subjective well-being. Direct effects were found from commitment to an identity to homesickness and subjective well-being for those who moved away from home. Commitment to identity was also a significant predictor for subjective well-being for those students who still lived at home.</p><p>

The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that survivors of cancer and especially those who survived beyond medical expectations are more likely to have had a cancer-prone personality before diagnosis that changed in a positive direction some time after diagnosis than heart disease survivors. Three groups of survivors: (1) heart-disease survivors (N = 31), (2) cancer survivors with non-exceptional recoveries (N = 35), and (3) cancer survivors who survived despite less than a 25% expectancy that they would (N = 19) were compared. As hypothesized, both cancer groups exhibited significantly more cancer-prone characteristics before diagnosis than the heart disease group. They converged to a similar point at the present time. There was a tendency for the exceptional survivor group to exhibit more of the cancer-prone characteristics before diagnosis than the other cancer group. When a subsample of exceptional survivors who survived despite a less than 1% expectancy of survival was examined, they exhibited a significantly greater change in personality from before diagnosis to the present time than the remaining cancer groups and the heart disease group. Similar patterns were found on the two subscales of Depression and Anger, suggesting their importance in the Cancer-prone Personality. Demographics and gender were partialled out of the analyses. A path analysis implicating parental relationships in predicting cancer-prone personality and cancer-prone personality in predicting cancer was discussed.

<p> The purpose of this paper will be to discuss current research in color preference and personality types and add new value to the literature by evaluating the relationship between personality type and color preference for color combinations from a consumer behavior perspective. In order to accomplish the aims of this work, a quantitative color preference survey was created and administered to 97 participants to determine individual color preference for analogous, complimentary, identical, and random color combinations. In addition, participants completed the 16 PF personality assessment to determine the personality factor scores of Extraversion and Independence. The results of this study suggest relationships between the personality types of Extroversion and Independence and color preference for random color combinations. These findings add value to color and personality research and can be strategically applied in a business organization&rsquo;s branding, product design, marketing, or sales training efforts to positively influence consumer-purchasing decisions. </p>

<p> There are many factors that influence the success of employees in organizations, one of which is the perception of interactional justice. Interactional justice combines two forms of justice: informational justice (the degree to which employees are given relevant information) and interpersonal justice (whether employees are treated with dignity and respect) (Bies &amp; Moag, 1986; Patient &amp; Skarlicki, 2014). The present study sought to explore how perceptions of interactional justice during a performance review influence appraisal satisfaction, workplace self-efficacy, and counterproductive work behaviors. A survey was designed to measure the degree to which 138 employees perceived interactional justice during their performance appraisal as well as their appraisal satisfaction, workplace self-efficacy, and their prevalence in engaging in counterproductive work behaviors. Correlational analyses revealed that employees who perceive high levels of interactional justice during their performance appraisal feel more satisfied with the appraisal, more capable or self-efficacious at work, and engage in counterproductive work behaviors less often than those who perceive low levels of interactional justice. Also, a mediated regression revealed that appraisal satisfaction partially mediated the relationship between interactional justice and self-efficacy. Ultimately, these findings demonstrate the impact that interpersonal exchanges have on employees and their work behaviors.</p>

<p> Perfectionism has been referred to as &ldquo;the tyranny of the should&rdquo; (Horney, 1950). Decades of research has provided links between the personality constructs of perfectionism and locus of control and depression. The purpose of this study was to examine the potential for locus of control orientation to contribute to the relationship between perfectionism and depression, primarily focusing on a &ldquo;middle&rdquo; group (neither internal, nor external locus of control). Results indicate that the &ldquo;middle&rdquo; group for locus of control are less likely to have depressive symptoms when paired with perfectionism.</p>

<p> There is a long history in psychological science of studying the negative sequelae that follow exposure to traumatic or other adverse life events. A large body of evidence has accumulated showing that individuals who have experienced major adversity are at higher risk for both mental and physical illness. However, while it is certainly true that some individuals experience these deleterious outcomes following adversity, the majority of individuals appear to be resilient to adversity. Moreover, some people even demonstrate personal growth following the experience. These observations have given rise to an interest in understanding how people make meaning out of threatening experiences, as well as the mechanisms through which people display resilience and even growth following adversity. </p><p> Relevant to this, a mounting body of research coming out of personality and narrative psychology has argued that a person&rsquo;s identity is formed by developing an autobiographical life narrative that reconstructs past experiences, acknowledges the present, and projects into the future. This is called &ldquo;narrative identity.&rdquo; These life stories are not objective recounts of past experiences; rather, they are insights into who individuals views themselves as now. As such, individuals have some ability to shape past adversities insofar as they are able to choose how they will ultimately narrate the experience and incorporate it into their own sense of identity. </p><p> There are two major types of scenes that come up in life stories that have importance to how one fares in the face of adversity. Some people develop stories of redemption, where negative experiences are transformed into something positive. Conversely, some people narrate stories of contamination, where positive experiences are subsequently ruined by something negative. The use of redemptive imagery in the life story is positively associated with indicators of psychological well-being, whereas the use of contamination sequences is negatively associated with well-being. However, whether redemption and contamination narrations are associated with physical health remains unknown. </p><p> To address this, I report on data drawn from a larger longitudinal study of midlife American adults. At the baseline visit, participants underwent an extensive life story interview and completed various questionnaires. Five years later they underwent the same procedure. Within a year of this second visit, they filled out additional questionnaires related to mood, well-being, and health, and also had their blood drawn to assess cardiometabolic health indicators. For metabolic properties, height, weight, waist circumference, blood pressure, total cholesterol, and glycosylated hemoglobin (a method of assessing average plasma glucose levels over the past 3 months) were assessed at the time of the study visit, and these variables were used to index metabolic syndrome related components and risk. At that time, serum was also frozen to allow for future batch testing of inflammatory proteins and markers. From this serum, C-reactive protein (CRP) and lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A₂ (Lp-PLA₂) were quantified in all participants to assess markers of general systemic inflammation (CRP) as well vasculature specific inflammation (Lp-PLA₂). Additionally, a panel of inflammatory chemical messengers &ndash; called cytokines &ndash; were assayed as broader indicators of peripheral inflammatory activity. These cytokines were interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-8 (IL-8), interleukin-10 (IL-10), interferon-&gamma; (IFN&gamma;), and tumor necrosis factor &alpha; (TNF&alpha;). Levels of the various inflammatory markers and cytokines (CRP, Lp-PLA2, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, IFN&gamma;, and TNF&alpha;) were z-scored and summed to create a composite inflammatory variable. </p><p> This study has three overarching sets of hypotheses, as well as one set of exploratory hypotheses. First, the usage of redemptive sequences in individuals&rsquo; life stories should be associated with better cardiometabolic health outcomes. This should be evidenced by better subjective self-reported health, fewer components related to metabolic syndrome as well as lower metabolic risk, lower levels of CRP, less risk of having a CRP value falling in the &ldquo;high cardiovascular risk&rdquo; category, and lower levels of composite inflammation. Second, the usage of contamination sequences in individuals&rsquo; life stories should be associated with poorer cardiometabolic health outcomes. This should be evidenced by worse subjective self-reported health, more components related to metabolic syndrome as well as higher metabolic risk, higher levels of CRP, more risk of having a CRP value falling in the &ldquo;high cardiovascular risk&rdquo; category, and higher levels of composite inflammation. Third, there should be an interaction between the presence of redemption sequences and the presence of contamination sequences in predicting the various cardiometabolic health outcomes. (Abstract shortened by ProQuest.)</p>