Article Reviews
Mayer, J., Wilson, R., and M. Hazlewood. “Personal Intelligence Expressed: A Multiple Case Study of Business Leaders.” Imagination, Cognition and Personality 30(2): 201-224.
Summary
This article acknowledges the wealth of intelligences that can lead to success in many different areas of life, focusing on the ways in which personal intelligence (PI) can influence life expressions. Defined as “the capacity to reason about personality and to use personality and personal information to enhance one’s thoughts, plans and life experience,” PI can increase one’s interest in one’s own personality, and the personalities of others, inspire the creation of theories about how one is similar to and different from others, motivate themselves using the strength of their identity, and to speak from emotion more effectively.
Methodology
The methodology used in this paper is a multiple case study of eight well-known American business leaders, using archival data from their own lives. Because general intelligence has been shown to promote general success in the workplace, and because specific intelligences have been shown to manifest themselves in particular strengths and weaknesses of a leader, it made sense to examine personal intelligence from evidence available in interviews by and biographies of various leaders.
Opinion
This sort of analysis is effective, because it would allow for the characterization of high –PI leaders, with the identification of differences between their style and that of leaders who have low PI. Going through this early element of concept validation should lead to the formulation of some examples of what personal intelligence looks like, at least in the business world. This would allow analysts to translate that look into other areas of life outside the workplace, to create a more robust portrait of PI.
Ethnographic Study
Vieira, Ricardo, and Maura Mendes. “Identity Reconfiguration of Immigrants in Portugal.” Diversity 2: 959-972. doi: 10.3390/d2070959
Summary
The initial paradigm for this paper is the notion that there is no such thing as an immigrant culture, because that term implies the existence of a normative and alternative cultures, rather than just a series of different ways of living, getting along with others, and placing oneself within the cultural intersections that one passes on the social path. This particular study analyzed Brazilian immigrants living in Portugal, beginning with the initial wave that arrived around 1990 and the second wave, that arrived around 2000. The purpose of the paper is to demonstrate how newcomers to a country build their own identity in the gulf between the culture they have left behind and the culture they are joining, as well as to publicize the least exposed element of the immigration process – building a new cultural identity.
Methodology
Using a series of ethno-biographic interviews, this paper will present the fruits of that process, considering the theory of cultural transfusion and noting the different lifestyles among the various cultures. Some choose to reject the culture that they have left behind; others refuse to join the culture which they have entered. Still others, though, build a third possibility by melding all of the social influences together. The methodology involves distilling all of the interviews down to a narrative about the process – similar to Likert-type analysis, but using interviews to glean data, rather than five-point attitudinal scales.
Opinion
This is the appropriate methodology to use for this sort of study. The end result should be a cogent narrative that expresses the plight of the immigrants to Portugal vividly and accurately.
Skeels, M., and Grudin, J. “When Social Networks Cross Boundaries: A Case Study of Workplace Use of Facebook and LinkedIn.” Proceedings of the ACM 2009 International Convention. http://research.microsoft.com/en- us/um/people/jgrudin/publications/newwave/socialnetworking2009.pdf
Summary
One of the undeniable facts cogent to modern technological advances is that social networking usage is increasing at a dramatic rate. The questions of how it is used, its effects on productivity, and how its use and design may evolve over time, are still questions that have not yet been answered. This paper sought to examine behaviors and attitudes within a large organization, using a general survey as well as thirty interviews that were more in-depth. The end result was a collection of extensive uses in work and social settings – uses that show a complicated pattern that can vary depending on the system in question – and the age of the networker. When use goes from one social group to another, as well as the firewall, the patterns can be useful. The hypothesis that organizations would soon start to move into social media rapidly was suggested by the researcher, even though tying contribution to productivity can be problematic.
Methodology
The researchers conducted their study inside the pool of Microsoft employee, inviting a random sample of 1,000 workers (out of the 88,000 employees the company has) to take a survey and offered a chance to win a music player. 430 people agreed to take the survey, which consisted of demographic questions as well as attitudinal questions about social media, followed up by semi-structured interviews with thirty people. Attitudes and use patterns for LinkedIn, SMS usage, and Facebook all emerged from the study, providing considerable insight to the researcher.
Opinion
My only objection to this article is that all of the respondents come from the same company. That would seem to threaten the external validity of the study. Instead, it would seem more appropriate to elicit respondents from a geographical region.
Dos Santos, Monika, Rataemane, Solomon, and Bruce Trathen. “An Approach to Heroin Use Disorder Intervention with the South African Context: A Content Analysis Study.” Substance Abuse Treatment, Prevention and Policy 5(13). http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1747-597X-5-13.pdf
Summary
There has been a recent epidemic of heroin addiction and use in South Africa in recent years. The government has implemented a program of intervention services, and they have produced positive outcomes for addicts, but these programs have failed, overall, at meeting intervention standards that are based on international research.
Methodology
This study consists of ten semi-structured interviews with specialists in the field of heroin use disorder, followed by content analysis of those interviews. The overall findings were that, while intervention in heroin use has been helpful in some ways, it remains a transitional approach with fragmented organization and management. Because there are so many complexities to the various syndromes that can lead to heroin use that have not been addressed by the systems used in South Africa, the country’s programs have a long way to go before they can meet the needs of the country’s addicts. Specifically, there are some comorbidity factors, such as HIV and AIDS, as well as psychiatric illness, that require more thorough and cohesive treatment for the program to move to the next level. The country is still in need of public health care policies that are based in evidence and that are pragmatic, so that the devastating consequences that accompany heroin use can be averted.
Opinion
The paper concludes with some specific policy recommendations that would work well within the South African context, at least from the point of view of the researchers, written on the basis of the interpretation of the interviews. This is helpful, because there are many studies that do not come up with recommendations that follow logically from the findings. That makes this a useful study, in my opinion.
Correlational Study
Gentile, D., Anderson, C., Yukawa, S., Ihori, N., Saleem, M., Ming, L., Shibuya, A., Liau, A., Khoo, A., Bushman, B., Huesmann, L., and A. Sakamoto. “The Effects of Prosocial Video Games on Prosocial Behaviors: International Evidence from Correlational, Longitudinal, and Experimental Studies.” Pers Soc Psychol Bull 35(6): 752-763. doi: 10.1177/0146167209333045.
Summary
This article seeks to track the potential effects of prosocial games, in the wake of the considerable research that has found a relationship between violent video games and behaviors that are aggressive. The theoretical supposition is that games that have game characters helping and supporting one another, in nonviolent ways, should lead to increased prosocial behaviors, both on a short-term and long-term basis. The article reports on three different studies conducted with three different age groups.
Methodology
The correlational study tracks a group of middle school students from Singapore and finds that the ones who happened to play more prosocial games also turned out to have more prosocial behaviors. Each prosocial trait or behavior was regressed onto exposure to prosocial games, after controlling for age, sex, exposure to violent games, and weekly time spent playing video games. However, it is not appropriate to move to a full causal interpretation, because the reverse relationship might be true – those who enjoy playing more prosocial games might well already exhibit the prosocial behaviors, which could motivate them to play those games.
Opinion
The elimination of the controlled factors is helpful, but more research is needed in this area to concretely prove the relationship. The amount of research about violent video games is considerably larger at this point in time, however.
Experimental Analysis
Barr, A., Wallace, C., Ensminger, J., Henrich, J., Barrett, C., Bolyanatz, A., Cardenas, J., Gurven, M., Gwako, E., Lesorogol, C., Marlowe, F., McElreath, R., Tracer, D., and Ziker, J. “Homo Aequalis: A Cross-society Experimental Analysis of Three Bargaining Games.” University of Oxford Department of Economics Discussion Paper Series #422, February 2009. http://www.economics.ox.ac.uk/research/WP/pdf/paper422.pdf
Summary
This paper takes data from three bargaining games (the Third-Party Punishment Game, the Ultimatum Game, and the Dictator Game) played in 15 societies, ranging from African nomads to Eskimos to Amazonian tribes to American undergraduates, with specific focus on the behaviors that take place during those games. The purpose of the paper is to discover whether the difference in behaviors among the various societies is a result of variations in aversion to inequality.
Methodology
Opinion
It appears, based on the most efficient analysis of the results, that this preference is either for or against acts of revenge, based on the data. The signaling of bargaining skill served as a way for the players to boost their own egos while harming their performance in the game. Ultimately, though, the value placed on equality was much higher than the researchers thought. This is not consistent with what I would have guessed before reading this article, but, ultimately, it makes sense.
