On days when employees reflected on their best possible leader self, they engaged in more helping and visioning via positive affect

Reflecting on one's best possible self as a leader: Implications for professional employees at work. Remy E. Jennings  Klodiana Lanaj  Joel Koopman  Gerry McNamara. Personnel Psychology, March 12 2021. https://doi.org/10.1111/peps.12447

Abstract: Most professional employees aspire to leadership, and this suggests that a best possible leader self—a personalized representation of who an employee aspires to be at their best as a leader in the future—is likely a relevant and motivating self‐representation for employees at work. Integrating theory on best possible selves with control theory, we suggest that activating a best possible leader self can have beneficial effects for the way that any employee feels and behaves at work. Specifically, we propose that employees who reflect on their best possible leader self will enact more leader‐congruent behaviors and subsequently perceive themselves as more leaderlike due to the positive affect generated by such reflection. We found support for our theoretical expectations in an experimental experience sampling study that included both current and aspiring leaders. On days when employees reflected on their best possible leader self, they engaged in more helping and visioning via positive affect. Furthermore, employees perceived themselves as more leaderlike after performing these leader‐congruent behaviors, as captured by higher enacted leader identity and clout. We discuss theoretical and practical implications for research on leadership.

Desire for power mediates associations between narcissism and mate retention behaviors; the present studies provide additional support for the importance of distinguishing between different aspects of narcissism

Desire for power mediates associations between narcissism and mate retention behaviors. Virgil Zeigler‐Hill  David Andrews  Karla Borgerding. Personal Relationships, May 4 2021. https://doi.org/10.1111/pere.12380

Broader Impact Statement: The present studies examined the associations that narcissistic personality features had with mate retention behaviors. The results of the present studies provide additional support for the importance of distinguishing between different aspects of narcissism. Distinguishing between these aspects of narcissism allowed for a more complete and nuanced understanding of the connections that narcissistic personality features had with mate retention behaviors through the desire for power.

Abstract: The present research examined whether the associations that narcissistic personality features had with mate retention behaviors were mediated by the desire to have more power in the relationship. Across three studies (N = 497), narcissistic personality features had divergent associations with mate retention behaviors such that the assertive/extraverted and vulnerable/neurotic aspects of narcissism often had positive associations with benefit‐provisioning behaviors, whereas the antagonistic/disagreeable aspect of narcissism had positive associations with cost‐inflicting behaviors that were mediated by the desire for power. Similar patterns emerged for those involved in heterosexual or LGBTQ relationships. Discussion focuses on the implications of these results for the role that the desire for power plays in the connections between narcissistic personality features and mate retention behaviors.

High‐Status people are more individualistic and analytic‐thinking in the west and wheat‐farming areas, but not rice‐farming areas

High‐Status people are more individualistic and analytic‐thinking in the west and wheat‐farming areas, but not rice‐farming areas. Haotian Zhang  Thomas Talhelm  Qian Yang  Chao S. Hu. European Journal of Social Psychology, May 11 2021. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.2778

Abstract: Previous studies have found that high‐status people are more individualistic and think more analytically than people of lower social status. We find new evidence that this is not always the case. We tested a large sample (N = 1,418) of people across China on analytic thought and the friend‐stranger distinction. In China's more individualistic wheat‐farming regions, social status patterns replicated findings from the West: high‐status people thought more analytically and drew smaller distinctions between friends and strangers. But in more interdependent rice‐farming regions, high‐status people thought more holistically and drew a larger distinction between friends and strangers. This suggests that culture shapes social status differences in thought style and individualism. The data also showed that STEM majors thought more analytically than non‐STEM majors. STEM differences in thought style were larger among older students, which is consistent with the idea that STEM training encourages analytic thinking over time.

Body-wide unique photoreceptor cells that allows head-removed flatworms to move like intact animals reveals the mechanistic framework underpinning one of the most sensitive eye–brain-independent responses known

Discovery of a body-wide photosensory array that matures in an adult-like animal and mediates eye–brain-independent movement and arousal. Nishan Shettigar, Anirudh Chakravarthy, Suchitta Umashankar, Vairavan Lakshmanan, Dasaradhi Palakodeti, and Akash Gulyani. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, May 18, 2021 118 (20) e2021426118; https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2021426118

Popular version: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01192-8

Significance: This study highlights the breathtaking sophistication of form and function possible with eye-independent light-sensory systems. We have discovered a body-wide sensory organization of unique photoreceptor cells that allows even head-removed flatworms to move like intact animals, revealing the mechanistic framework underpinning one of the most sensitive eye–brain-independent photoresponses known. Distinct from the ocular system, the body-wide sensory array matures in adult-like animals, can trigger arousal of intact animals from a “resting-state” and employs “noncanonical” opsins. Our discovery of a body-wide network of photoreceptor cells triggering coordinated movement is intriguing and conceptualizes how “dispersed”-sensory nodes may network to control outputs typically through a centralized brain. Our work illustrates how eye-independent systems can deeply influence animal physiology and behavior.

Abstract: The ability to respond to light has profoundly shaped life. Animals with eyes overwhelmingly rely on their visual circuits for mediating light-induced coordinated movements. Building on previously reported behaviors, we report the discovery of an organized, eye-independent (extraocular), body-wide photosensory framework that allows even a head-removed animal to move like an intact animal. Despite possessing sensitive cerebral eyes and a centralized brain that controls most behaviors, head-removed planarians show acute, coordinated ultraviolet-A (UV-A) aversive phototaxis. We find this eye–brain-independent phototaxis is mediated by two noncanonical rhabdomeric opsins, the first known function for this newly classified opsin-clade. We uncover a unique array of dual-opsin–expressing photoreceptor cells that line the periphery of animal body, are proximal to a body-wide nerve net, and mediate UV-A phototaxis by engaging multiple modes of locomotion. Unlike embryonically developing cerebral eyes that are functional when animals hatch, the body-wide photosensory array matures postembryonically in “adult-like animals.” Notably, apart from head-removed phototaxis, the body-wide, extraocular sensory organization also impacts physiology of intact animals. Low-dose UV-A, but not visible light (ocular-stimulus), is able to arouse intact worms that have naturally cycled to an inactive/rest-like state. This wavelength selective, low-light arousal of resting animals is noncanonical-opsin dependent but eye independent. Our discovery of an autonomous, multifunctional, late-maturing, organized body-wide photosensory system establishes a paradigm in sensory biology and evolution of light sensing.

Keywords: planariansextraocular photoreceptionUV-Aopsinslight-sensing

Many initiatives have been put in place to reduce the effect of gender differences in negotiation; the strongest evidence on effectiveness in narrowing gender disparities is found for policies that increase transparency

Gender Differences in Negotiation and Policy for Improvement. Maria Recalde & Lise Vesterlund. NBER Working Paper 28183, December 2020. DOI 10.3386/w28183

Abstract: Men more than women succeed when negotiating over labor-market outcomes, and gender differences in negotiation likely contribute to the gender wage gap and to horizontal and vertical segregation in the labor market. We review the evidence on the many initiatives that have been put in place to reduce the effect of gender differences in negotiation. Categorizing these as either ‘fix-the-women’ or ‘fix-the-institutions’ initiatives we find serious challenges to the former. Women do not appear to be broken and encouraging them to negotiate more and differently often backfires. The evidence suggests that ‘fix-the-institution’ initiatives are more effective in reducing gender differences in outcomes. Concerns of adverse effects of banning negotiations or salary history requests have not materialized, and preliminary evidence points to reductions in the gender differences in negotiation outcomes. The strongest evidence on effectiveness in narrowing gender disparities is found for policies that increase transparency. Numerous studies find that gender differences in negotiation diminish when it is clear what to expect from the negotiation and suggest that initiatives which improve transparency are likely to help equalize opportunities at the bargaining table.