Culture or Context: a Qualitative Approach Investigating the Relationship of Scheduling Styles and Situational Context in Uganda and Germany

Previous literature suggested that different countries and regions are associated with different temporal cultures resulting in according scheduling styles: people in anglo-european countries supposedly plan and structure their life predominantly according to the clock (clock time orientation) while people in some other parts of the world are more prone to live their lives in disregard of clock time but follow inner needs and/or the structure given by the events that happen in their lives (event time orientation). However, recent research shows that scheduling styles are also adaptive responses to situational demands and event and clock timing are associated with different experiences of control. Transferring these findings to a cross-cultural setting, we investigated whether situational context is the predominant factor explaining the application of different scheduling styles. To this end, we used a mixed-methods approach with semi-structured interviews exploring whether participants from Uganda and Germany (employees with fixed working hours) differ in the level to which they structure their narratives of daily routines of time associated with work primarily in reference to the clock while recounting free time predominantly in reference to events and/or inner needs. Our data, processed using qualitative content analysis, show this pattern for the participants from both countries. Overall interviewees from Germany do not refer to the clock more often than their Ugandan counterparts. This suggests that individuals’ scheduling styles reflect intersituational adaptations to a given demand for synchronization rather than being kind of a strong cultural imprint on individuals.

Individual differences in resilience to stress are associated with affective flexibility

Cognitive flexibility, the capacity to adjust behavior to changing situational demands, is frequently linked to resilience because of its important contribution to stress regulation. In this context, particularly affective flexibility, defined as the ability to flexibly attend and disengage from affective information, may play a significant role. However, there are so far only very few empirical investigations that directly explore the link between flexibility and resilience to stress. In the present study, the relationship of cognitive and affective flexibility and resilience was examined in 100 healthy participants. Resilience was measured with three self-report questionnaires, two defining resilience as a personality trait and one focusing on resilience as an outcome in the sense of stress coping abilities. Cognitive and affective flexibility were assessed in two experimental task switching paradigms with non-affective and affective materials and tasks, respectively. The cognitive flexibility paradigm additionally included measures of cognitive stability and dispositional cognitive flexibility. In the affective flexibility paradigm, we explicitly considered the affective valence of the stimuli before and during task switching. Response time switch costs in the affective flexibility paradigm were significantly correlated to all three self-report measures of resilience. Regarding the valence of the stimuli, the correlation with resilience was not specific to costs when switching from negative to positive information or vice versa. For cognitive (i.e., non-affective) flexibility, a significant correlation of response time switch costs was found with only one of the three resilience measures. A regression analysis including both affective and cognitive switch costs as predictors of resilience indicated that only affective, but not cognitive switch costs, explained unique variance components. Furthermore, the experimental measures of cognitive stability and dispositional cognitive flexibility did not correlate with resilience scores. These findings suggest that specifically the efficiency of flexibly switching between affective and non-affective information is related to resilience.

Explaining continuous improvement

The final chapter synthesizes the arguments presented over the course of the book by suggesting that skill execution continues to be governed by conscious processes even after performers have attained a high level of expertise. It argues that skill-focused attention is necessary if experts are to eschew proceduralization and react flexibly to ‘crises’ and fine-grained changes in situational demands. In doing so, it discusses the role played by conscious control, reflection, and bodily awareness in maintaining performance proficiency. It suggests that skill maintenance and continuous improvement are underpinned by the use of both automated procedures (acknowledging that these are inherently active and flexible) and metacognitive knowledge. The chapter concludes by briefly considering how skill-focused attention needs to be applied in both training and performance contexts in order to facilitate continuous improvement.

Seasonal variation in reversal learning reveals greater female cognitive flexibility in African striped mice

Cognitive flexibility describes the ability of animals to alter cognitively mediated behaviour in response to changing situational demands, and can vary according to prevailing environemental conditions and individual caracteristics. In the present study, we investigated (1) how learning and reversal learning performance changes between seasons, and (2) how cognitive flexibility is related to sex in a free-living small mammal. We studied 107 African striped mice, Rhabdomys pumilio, in an arid semi-desert, 58 during the hot dry summer with low food availability, and 49 during the cold wet winter with higher food availability. We used an escape box task to test for learning and reversal learning performance. We found that learning and reversal learning efficiency varied seasonally by sex: females tested in summer were faster at solving both learning and reversal tasks than males tested in winter. Performance varied within sex: males tested in winter showed faster learning compared to males tested in summer. During reversal learning, females tested in summer were more efficient and solve the task faster compared to females tested in winter. We suggest that seasonal cognitive performance could be related to sex-specific behavioural characteristics of the species, resulting in adaptation for living in harsh environmental conditions.

Self-Control Dynamics in Daily Life: The Importance of Variability Between Self-Regulatory Strategies and Strategy Differentiation

Research on self-control has increasingly acknowledged the importance of self-regulatory strategies, with strategies in earlier stages of the developing tempting impulse thought to be more effective than strategies in later stages. However, recent research on emotion regulation has moved away from assuming that some strategies are per se and across situations more adaptive than others. Instead, strategy use that is variable to fit situational demands is considered more adaptive. In the present research, we transfer this dynamic process perspective to self-regulatory strategies in the context of persistence conflicts. We investigated eight indicators of strategy use (i.e., strategy intensity, instability, inertia, predictability, differentiation, diversity, and within- and between-strategy variability) in an experience sampling study ( N = 264 participants with 1,923 observations). We found that variability between strategies was significantly associated with self-regulatory success above and beyond mean levels of self-regulatory strategy use. Moreover, the association between trait self-control on one hand and everyday self-regulatory success and affective well-being on the other hand was partially mediated by between-strategy variability. Our results do not only show the benefits of variable strategy use for individual’s self-regulatory success but also the benefits of more strongly connecting the fields of emotion regulation and self-control research.

‘They’re you know, their audience’: How women are (ab)used to cement the heterosexual bonds between men

This paper explores how young people (aged 18–24 years) in Ireland attribute young men's sexual harassment and violence against women both to the situational demands of what we call ‘heteromasculine homosociality’ and young men's negotiation of role taking with women. Interpreting young people's explanations for sexual violence, the paper argues that through different forms of sexual harassment and violence, women are (ab)used to cement the heterosexual bonds between men. The argument is explored by drawing on young people's explanations of three forms of sexual harassment and violence: verbal violence, unwanted sexual touching and assault and image-based sexual abuse. The data comes from 28 interviews with young people as part of a European-funded research study that aims to explore both the discourses that young people use in their understandings of gender and violence against women and how young men may be supported in combatting violence against women. Among other implications, we suggest that as well as deconstructing attitudes towards women, prevention work and interventions with men must also focus on men's beliefs about the normative basis for masculine status and belonging between men.

A large-scale study of stress, emotions, and blood pressure in daily life using a digital platform

Stress is often associated with pathophysiologic responses, like blood pressure (BP) reactivity, which when experienced repeatedly may be one pathway through which stress leads to poor physical health. Previous laboratory and field studies linking stress to physiological measures are limited by small samples, narrow demographics, and artificial stress manipulations, whereas large-scale studies often do not capture measures like BP reactivity in daily life. We examined perceived stress, emotions, heart rate, and BP during daily life using a 3-wk app-based study. We confirmed the validity of a smartphone-based optic sensor to measure BP and then analyzed data from more than 330,000 daily responses from over 20,000 people. Stress was conceptualized as the ratio of situational demands relative to individual resources to cope. We found that greater demands were associated with higher BP reactivity, but critically, the ratio of demands relative to resources improved prediction of BP changes. When demands were higher and resources were lower, there was higher BP reactivity. Additionally, older adults showed greater concordance between self-reported stress and physiologic responses than younger adults. We also observed that physiologic reactivity was associated with current emotional state, and both valence and arousal mattered. For example, BP increased with high-arousal negative emotions (e.g., anger) and decreased with low-arousal positive emotions (e.g., contentment). Taken together, this work underscores the potential for expanding stress science and public health data using handheld phones to reliably and validly measure physiologic responses linked to stress, emotion, and physical health.

Influence of the Fundamental Attribution Error on Perceptions of Blame and Negligence

Automobile accidents are a frequent occurrence in the United States and commonly result in legal ramifications. Through a fundamental attribution error (FAE) framework ( Ross, 1977 ), the current research examined how individuals perceive blame and negligence in these cases. In Study 1 ( N = 360), we manipulated the driver (you vs. stranger) of a hypothetical accident scenario and the situational circumstances surrounding the accident (favorable vs. unfavorable). Supporting the FAE, individuals' situational blame attributions only varied as a function of situational circumstances when they themselves were hypothetically driving. However, neither the driver nor the situation significantly predicted dispositional blame attributions. Yet, Study 1 provided initial support for the importance of an individual's trait tendency to neglect situational constraints when making dispositional blame attributions. In Study 2 ( N = 212), we again manipulated situational circumstances surrounding the hypothetical accident, but within the context of a mock civil trial. Results provided additional support for the importance of this trait tendency and expanded our findings of dispositional blame attributions to perceptions of negligence. Implications include the importance of considering trait individual differences in the likelihood to ignore situational demands when individuals are making legally relevant judgments about automobile accidents.

The Tri-Directional Framework of Parental Personality and Offspring Outcomes: A systematic review and critical synthesis of influencing factors

Parental personality has substantial implications for offspring developmental outcomes via direct and indirect pathways. We propose the Tri-Directional Framework of Parental Personality and Offspring Outcomes, an organizational framework which suggests that parental personality, offspring characteristics, and contextual factors interactively influence offspring outcomes. We apply the framework to a systematic review of literature on the relation between parental personality (e.g., Big Five and Dark Triad) and offspring outcomes (e.g., personality, temperament and behavioral problems) as well as intervening factors (e.g., parenting behaviors, family environment, socioeconomic status). We identified 52 studies that linked parental personality with offspring outcomes and included at least one additional factor. Of these studies, 26 examined the Big Five in relation to offspring outcomes, 20 examined traits beyond the Big Five, and six examined traits across several personality domains. Results indicated that (1) parental personality-offspring associations consistently align with the Tri-Directional Framework of Parental Personality and Offspring Outcomes; (2) parental interpersonal personality domains predict offspring behavior problems over and above the Big Five; and (3) certain personality traits consistently show stronger direct effects on offspring outcomes, whereas others operate indirectly. Overall, this review highlights the need to consider personality traits beyond the Big Five, and the need for a dynamic approach to the study of the parent-offspring relationship that incorporates environmental influences and situational demands upon the personality system.

Evaluating Others If They Stand Up for Their Moral Convictions, and Evaluating Ourselves If We Don't Stand Up

Acting on one’s moral principles is not always easy. Upholding one’s moral beliefs may run counter to one’s social environment or situational demands. It may often cause people to remain silent on their convictions, while at the same time some may show the moral courage to speak out. How do people evaluate those who do stand up, and how does it affect their self-evaluations? In two experimental studies (Ns = 207 and 204), we investigated both types of evaluations. The studies demonstrate that people who failed to uphold their moral beliefs still had positive evaluations of others who showed moral courage. More specifically, pro-gay participants who went along with writing an anti-gay essay denouncing equal rights for sexual minorities had positive evaluations of another person who spoke up and refused this task. The failure to display moral courage had negative consequences for participants’ self-concepts. In Experiment 1, we show that pro-gay participants’ positive self-concepts were lowered after writing an anti-gay essay (vs. a pro-gay essay). In Experiment 2, we reveal that participants' positive self-concepts were lowered only when they were confronted with morally courageous behavior and their own failure to uphold their moral beliefs was visible to the experimenter.