Refine
Year of publication
Document Type
- Article (15)
- Part of Periodical (6)
- Working Paper (2)
- Doctoral Thesis (1)
Has Fulltext
- yes (24) (remove)
Is part of the Bibliography
- no (24) (remove)
Keywords
- identification (24) (remove)
Institute
Social identification has been shown to be a protective resource for mental health. In this study, the relationships between social identification and emotional, as well as cognitive symptoms of test anxiety are investigated. Participants were university students diagnosed with test anxiety (N = 108). They completed questionnaires regarding a range of psychopathologic stress symptoms, and their social identification with fellow students and with their study program. Results reveal negative relations between social identification and almost all investigated emotional and cognitive symptoms of test anxiety. Based on this study, interventions could be developed that strengthen the social identity of university students.
The South American genera of the Cimbicidae are reviewed. Five genera and nine species are recognized. Redescriptions of all genera and an identification key to all species are provided. All species are illustrated, including both sexes and aberrant specimens when relevant. The South American Cimbicidae are grouped in the subfamily Pachylostictinae, but there is substantial morphological divergence at the genus level. This and the isolated geographic and phylogenetic position relative to the other subfamilies of Cimbicidae indicates that the Pachylostictinae have evolved in isolation for a substantial amount of time. Host plant records are known for only one species, Pseudopachylosticta subflavata, which is mainly found in the Chacoan subregion. The distribution of the remaining species falls almost exclusively within the range of the Parana subregion forest provinces, a biome that has been much reduced by human activity in the past half millennium. It is likely that these rarely collected wasps are threatened by habitat degradation.
The monotypic ant genus Igaponera gen. nov. is proposed to include its type species I. curiosa (Mackay & Mackay, 2010). Igaponera gen. nov. is described and phylogenetically compared with other ponerine genera based on external morphology. The type species is known from a single gyne originally described in the genus Pachycondyla Smith, 1858. Igaponera curiosa is easily diagnosed by: costate sculpture on head, mesosoma, and petiole; short, robust, triangular mandibles with blunt apex; relatively large eyes set at mid-length on sides of head; lack of stridulitrum; and presence of distinct but relatively small arolia. Putative apomorphies of the new genus are: cuticular flange concealing metapleural gland opening; vertically standing hypostomal tooth with recessed base; stout mandibular shape with blunt apex; absence of stout spine-like setae on meso- and metatibial apices. Our phylogenetic results based on morphology suggest that Neoponera Emery, 1901 and Pachycondyla are the closest lineages to Igaponera, which shows intermediate characteristics as compared to those genera. The genus is apparently arboreal, known only from a seasonally flooded Igapó forest near Manaus, Brazil. Despite the collection site being frequented by researchers, no other specimens of this genus have been collected in over 40 years prior to this study.
Descriptions of the following 23 species of Macrotomoderus Pic, 1901 new to science, from continental China, are provided as an addition to the recently published review of the genus from China and Taiwan (Telnov 2018): M. angelinii, M. belousovi, M. bicrispus, M. boops, M. bordonii, M. dali, M. daxiangling, M. femoridens, M. hajeki, M. hartmanni, M. hengduan, M. imitator, M. kabaki, M. korolevi, M. lapidarius, M. muli, M. palaung, M. similis, M. tenuis, M. transitans, M. truncatulus, M. usitatus, and M. wudu spp. nov. Additional records are provided for some poorly known species. The identification key to the species of Macrotomoderus from China, the Japanese Archipelago, and Taiwan is herewith significantly supplemented and updated. Biogeographical peculiarities and altitudinal gradient of Macrotomoderus distribution in continental China are briefly discussed.
Dragonflies were collected at ten localities in five counties (sous-préfectures) in southern Bénin and are presently identified. A total of 73 species were found, including 45 new records for the country. The list of the odonates of Bénin currently comprises 86 species although more than 100 can probably be expected.
The construct diversity describes the collective amount of differences among members within a social unit. The present dissertation is based on the assumption that, through engagement with diversity, people acquire an understanding of what role diversity plays in the societies, organizations, work groups, or other social units they are part of. This understanding of the role diversity plays in a given social unit provides a vantage point from which people will engage with diversity in the future. These vantage points from which people engage with diversity are the general subject matter of the present dissertation. Two main research questions are addressed in this regard: First, whether the role diversity is given in a particular context does have effects on groups and the individual members therein. Second, if such effects exist, it seeks to explore the processes and mechanisms they are based on. Both questions are addressed from different perspectives in the three main chapters of this dissertation. Chapter 5 contains two meta-analyses on the effects of diversity beliefs and diversity climates. Diversity beliefs are individual attitudes that describe the degree to which diversity is ascribed an instrumental value for achieving beneficial outcomes or avoiding detrimental ones. Diversity climates depict such a value of diversity on the group-level. Building on the social identity approach, I explain how diversity beliefs and climates can obviate diversity’s detrimental effects and foster beneficial ones. As both diversity beliefs and climates can cause such effects, they are considered together in the main analyses in the chapter. In the first part of the chapter, a meta-analysis on these moderator effects of diversity beliefs/climates is presented (k = 23). The majority of studies that addressed such effects reported significant results. The patterns of these results showed that, in general, diversity will be more positively related to beneficial outcomes the more it is valued. However, the analysis also revealed that there are at least two types of patterns of this moderation. So far, it cannot be explained which pattern will occur under what circumstances. In the second part of the chapter, a meta-analysis on the main effects of diversity beliefs/climates on beneficial outcomes is presented (k = 71). These effects did not receive much attention in the primary studies. Based on the social identity approach and the fact that diversity is a ubiquitous feature of modern organizations, I argue that they are important nonetheless. The meta-analysis revealed a significant positive main effect of diversity beliefs on beneficial outcomes (r = .25; p < .0001). However, the effect sizes varied considerably across studies. Both moderator and main effects were found across a broad array of outcomes, study designs, levels of analysis, and operationalizations of the constructs involved. They were found irrespective of whether diversity beliefs or diversity climates were considered. The heterogeneity of results in the meta-analyses suggests that there is still much to be learned about when differences in vantage points from which people engage with diversity will have an effect and about the processes that underlie these effects. Chapter 6 is, therefore, predominantly concerned with these underlying processes. Most of the previous research has treated pro-diversity beliefs and pro-similarity beliefs as opposite poles of one underlying continuum. There is, however, evidence that people can hold both types of beliefs simultaneously. Therefore, I propose that both diversity in certain aspects and similarity in other aspects can simultaneously constitute valid and valued parts of an organization’s identity, and that, hence, identifying with the organization can create two forms of solidarity among the employees: organic solidarity – based on meaningfully and synergistically interrelated differences, and mechanic solidarity – based on the common ground that all employees share. Furthermore, I propose that both forms of solidarity can coexist and that both are positively related to the quality of collaboration within the organization. Thus, organizational identification is proposed to influence quality of collaboration indirectly through both organic and mechanic solidarity. These propositions were tested with regard to the collaboration of different teams within two organizations: a German university (Study 1, N = 699) and a Taiwanese hospital (Study 2, N = 591). The results from both studies confirm the predictions. However, the relative importance of each form of solidarity varied across study contexts and across different facets of the quality of collaboration. Chapter 7 also builds on the findings from the meta-analyses and is again predominantly focussed on the processes underlying the effects of diversity beliefs and diversity climates, yet from a different angle. Previously, diversity beliefs and climates have often been discussed with regard to their potential to influence whether diversity will lead to more and deeper elaboration of information within the group. In chapter 7 a theoretical model is developed that complements these cognitive processes by addressing the emotional side of diverse groups. Central to the model is the assumption that group diversity can stimulate group members to engage with each other emotionally, resulting in higher levels of state affective empathy: an emotional state which arises from the comprehension and apprehension of fellow group members’ emotional state. State affective empathy, in turn, is known to lead to a variety of beneficial team processes that can ultimately enhance individual and group-level performance. Thus, the central proposition of the model is that the relationship between diversity and performance is mediated through state affective empathy. The other propositions in the model specify moderators that determine when diversity will indeed have this empathy-stimulating effect. Diversity beliefs and climates are considered second-order moderators that shape the relationship between diversity and empathy through their influence on the first-order moderators. In general, it is proposed that diversity is related to empathy more positively if it is valued by the group or its members. In summary, the results from the meta-analyses in chapter 5, the results from the field studies in chapter 6, and the theoretical arguments presented in chapter 7 can be interpreted such that differences in vantage points from which people engage with diversity can indeed affect groups and their members. Therefore, the first research question of the present dissertation can be answered affirmatively from three different perspectives. However, it also became clear that there is still much uncertainty about the mechanisms underlying these effects. In line with the second research question of the present dissertation, these mechanisms were examined more closely in chapter 6 and 7. The field studies in chapter 6 highlighted the role of identification as the driving force behind the effects of different vantage points on diversity. Furthermore, they also corroborate the proposition that valuing diversity and valuing similarity can be co-occurring phenomena that both influence the collaboration within the group positively. The theoretical model presented in chapter 7 opens up a new emotional way in which diversity beliefs and climates can influence whether diversity will lead to better or worse performance. In sum, therefore, also with regard to the second research question of the present dissertation, progress has been made.
In September 2005, one male specimen of the wolf spider genus Alopecosa was discovered and photographed in heathland near Haltern, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was identified as A. barbipes (Sundevall, 1833), as it showed the species- and sex-specific tibial hair-brush absent in the sibling species A. accentuata. Three years later, two other specimens of A. barbipes were collected in the same area. These findings indicate that the species is more widespread than originally thought. Some details concerning the distribution of A. accentuata and A. barbipes and the problem of synonymy are discussed.