The Evolution of Competition

Human competition is, at least partially, responsible for some of the transcended achievements of the species (walking on the moon, the polio vaccine, etc.), but the forces unleashed by competition have also led to profound human suffering (warfare, domination of one group by another group, etc.). In this article, the authors approach competition from an evolutionary perspective, applying Darwin’s theories of natural and sexual selection to understand better the nature of human competition. From the perspective of evolutionary psychology, humans engage in competition to gain resources, including status, food, and mating opportunities. Males tend to engage in more overt and aggressive forms of competition than females, but both sexes desire access to material and cultural goods associated with reproductive fitness. In the last roughly seventy years, the nature of men’s competition has transformed dramatically leading to declines in both within and between-group violence. As developed societies have succeeded in suppressing more overt and destructive forms of male–male competition, men attempt to gain status through occupational success, cognitive sophistication, moral signaling, and other relatively nonviolent behaviors. In this sense, men’s and women’s competition is more similar than it was a century ago. However, women’s competition is still less visible and relies on more indirect mechanisms (e.g., spreading gossip, subtle use of body language). For this reason, female–female competition has attracted less study than male–male competition. Fortunately, in the last decade, psychologists have partially redressed this imbalance.

The Economic Attainment of Mexican Refugees during the Age of Mass Migration

Research on immigrant economic integration generally focuses on the influence of human capital on later occupational success. This research, however, often ignores other individual-level and contextual-level influences on later attainment and when in settlement they are likely to matter. We therefore create a unique panel dataset that follows a Mexican refugee population from arrival and through settlement in the early twentieth century. This novel data source allows us to examine both individual and contextual characteristics on occupational attainment at different points in time. Our analyses show that individual characteristics beyond human capital measures are likely to matter at first arrival, but their effects attenuate over time. This is especially true for perceived skin complexion, persons travelled with, and age which hold large effects on occupational outcomes at first arrival, but smaller effects after longer settlement. Furthermore, we are able to explore the role context of settlement plays on economic attainment. Consistent with previous research, we find that more favorable contexts are associated with better outcomes than less favorable contexts. This research has implications for the understanding of the adaptation and integration of refugee and immigrant populations by shedding light on what and when different variables influence later attainment.

Which Integration Policies Work? The Heterogeneous Impact of National Institutions on Immigrants’ Labor Market Attainment in Europe

Can specific policies support the economic integration of immigrants? Despite the crucial importance of this question, existing evidence is inconclusive. Using data from the European Social Survey, we estimate the effects of integration and anti-discrimination policies, alongside social expenditure and labor market regulation, on the labor market performance of 6,176 non-European immigrants across 23 European countries. We make three contributions: 1) we investigate the distinct role of discrete policy areas for labor market integration outcomes, 2) we allow for heterogeneous effects of policies on immigrants with different characteristics, and 3) we examine immigrants’ occupational attainment while accounting for their selection into employment. We find that immigrants’ employment chances are negatively associated with national levels of expenditure on welfare benefits but positively associated with policies facilitating immigrant access to social security. We also find that labor market rigidity is negatively associated with immigrants’ occupational attainment, but we find little evidence that policies aimed at supporting the transferability of immigrants’ qualifications promote their occupational success. Our results strongly suggest that anti-discrimination policies are important for immigrant economic integration. Yet while these policies are associated with greater occupational success for all female immigrants, they seem to be only positively associated with the occupational attainment of higher-skilled and non-Muslim immigrant men. As this article suggests, anti-discrimination policies can foster immigrants’ labor market success, yet these policies currently fail to reach those who face the strongest anti-immigrant sentiments — that is, unskilled male immigrants and Muslim immigrant men.

Gateways to Occupational Success

Education is a gateway to occupational success for emerging adults. Differences in access and uptake in higher education are thus a primary explanation for social stratification. In this chapter, the authors consider what might explain the Indigenous gap in educational attainment. Using multiple cohorts of the Longitudinal Study of Australian Youth, they show that the typical processes of educational mobility are similar across Indigenous and non-Indigenous emerging adults and have remained fairly constant in recent decades. Rather, educational inequality appears to result from lower attainment in both Indigenous parents and their children. Pursuing this lower level of attainment, the authors show that standard Western models of educational attainment fail to fully explain Indigenous educational inequality. They suggest a need to consider the unique knowledges and experiences of Indigenous people. They also argue that research needs to pay greater attention to the intersection between Indigenous status and other minority or marginalized statuses.

The joint power of personality and motivation dynamics for occupational success: Bridging two largely separated fields

When establishing a career in adulthood, two major socioemotional ingredients are expected to affect people’s success: how people act (personality) and what motivates them to act this way (motivation). However, little is known about whether and how personality and motivation change together and how their possible dynamic interplay predicts success. We investigated the roles that changes in personality and expectancy beliefs played in explaining occupational success in 4121 participants assessed after high school ( Mage = 22.80, SDage = 0.70; 63% female) and about 20 years later. We used latent change models and moderated structural equation modeling to investigate correlated change and latent change interactions of personality and expectancy beliefs in predicting success. Results illustrated that besides being related in a nomological net, personality and expectancy beliefs also illustrated a strong interrelatedness in change across time. We found the clearest joint change dynamics between emotional stability, conscientiousness, self-concept, and self-efficacy. Changes in personality and expectancy beliefs were furthermore associated with objective and subjective occupational success. The results call for a more integrative view on personality-motivation dynamics across time for understanding the long-term adaptive ingredients of occupational success stories in adulthood.

Spatial Ability Stress Test for Screening and Selection: The Development of SCOUT-R

Spatial abilities are often predictive of occupational success. Specifically, they are thought to play a role in aviator success and thus, are evaluated in Naval and Air Force aviation selection. However, the selection process only includes a single assessment of spatial ability which recent findings have called into question its validity. The creation of a speeded spatial ability stress test with face validity for the Navy and Marine Corps aviation community was investigated. We developed SCOUT-R, a multitask environment where participants quickly discriminated target objects from distractors, all of which could appear in any 90° orientation. The results showed the speeded presentation affected subjective workload and task strategy; however, target discrimination improved as the speed of presentation increased. The implications for SCOUT-R as a spatial ability selection test are considered.

Exploring Moderation Effects of Education and the Role of Personality Attribution in a Convergent Model of Successful Psychopathy

In recent years, there has been an increasing focus on the successful psychopath: An individual who manages to achieve occupational success despite exhibiting core psychopathic traits such as callousness. Several studies suggest this phenomenon is underpinned by a specific configuration of adaptive psychopathic traits that may facilitate positive behaviour in combination with protective variables such as education. In addition, research indicates that psychopathic personalities may be further enabled in occupational domains by specific facial cues pertaining to their underlying personality traits. The present study examined these assertions in a two-part cross-sectional design. Part 1 assessed the extent to which self-report psychopathy (as a function of education) predicted professional success in an occupational sample of 161 participants. In part 2, a convenience sample of 131 participants selected their preferred leaders from male- and female-face pairs communicating high and low psychopathy. Regression analyses revealed that psychopathy was negatively (but not significantly) related to professional success when expressed as a function of education. Conversely, a repeated-measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed that low psychopathy was preferred in female, relative to male, target faces. Overall, the results provided little support for psychopathy having positive impacts on professional success.

The personality of the future teacher in the context of the challenges of the innovation space

The paper systematizes approaches to the study of the higher school teacher's work, presents the results of the analysis of the psychological component of his professional self-effectiveness in the space of modern innovations. The content of the article reveals the features of the teacher as a subject of professional activity in the educational environment of the University. The article describes the psychological determinants of success of teacher in terms of resources and risks of modern innovation space, presented mechanisms of development and manifestations of occupational success factors, conditions, strategies and professional development of the teacher of the future, reflecting the current format of supporting the development of the subject training. The article describes the phenomenological and instrumental components of success, factors and conditions for the formation of successful professional behavior, as well as forms and ways of representing success in interaction with students. The article shows the psychological function of competence and reference in the professional activity of a higher school teacher, the role of sociogenic needs of a teacher in self-development, personalization, self-actualization and self-realization in interaction with students. Features of interpretation of the personality image of the future teacher from the point of view of modern students are presented.

Does Attractiveness Lead to or Follow From Occupational Success? Findings From German Associational Football

Prior research has provided evidence that attractiveness is associated with work-related advantages. It is less clear, however, whether attractiveness is an antecedent or a consequence of professional success. To answer this question, associational football in Germany is used as an exemplifying case. Portrait pictures of German football players were retrieved, one picture from a very early career stage and one from a very late one. Attractiveness of these portraits was assessed by the “truth of consensus” method. Panel regression models are applied to analyze changes in attractiveness and relate these changes to professional success. Findings show that success as a footballer cannot be predicted with attractiveness at early career stages. Instead, the increase of attractiveness over time is more pronounced among very successful players. It is thus concluded that successful individuals are not more attractive in the very beginning, but improve their appearance throughout their careers.