Using hand-collected data on birthplaces of US-born CEOs, we provide robust evidence that CEOs born in frontier counties with a higher level of individualistic culture promote innovation performance

Gao, Lei and Han, Jianlei and Pan, Zheyao and Zhang, Huixuan, Individualistic CEO and Corporate Innovation: Evidence from U.S. Frontier Culture (October 27, 2021). SSRN: http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3950964

Abstract: This paper examines the relation between CEO’s individualistic cultural background and corporate innovation. Using hand-collected data on birthplaces of US-born CEOs, we provide robust evidence that CEOs born in frontier counties with a higher level of individualistic culture promote innovation performance. Firms led by such CEOs increase both quantity and quality of innovation outputs, measured by the number of patents, citation-weighted patents and the market value of patents. Besides innovation performance, we further show that CEO’s individualistic background causes a change in the innovation style, leading the firm to focus more on breakthrough innovation. Our extended analysis suggests that CEOs’ individualistic background promotes corporate innovation through building an innovation-orientated corporate culture and accumulating human capital by increasing the inflow of inventors.

Keywords: Innovation; Culture; Individualism; Frontier History

JEL Classification: G30; O31; O32; M14; N9

Therapists play a crucial role in cocreating new adaptive meanings and expectations that mobilize clients toward an increased sense of agency and mastery; these tasks depend on the persuasive, partially placebo, power of the psychotherapist

Vaz, A., & Sousa, D. (2021). Persuasiveness: An underappreciated characteristic of effective therapists. Psychology of Consciousness: Theory, Research, and Practice, Nov 2021. https://doi.org/10.1037/cns0000309

Abstract: Psychotherapy has been conceptualized as a process of social influence (Frank & Frank, 1991; Wampold, 2018). Therapists play a crucial role in cocreating new adaptive meanings and expectations that mobilize clients toward an increased sense of agency and mastery. We argue that these tasks depend on the persuasive power of the psychotherapist. The goal of this article is to provide a brief overview on the literature and research on therapist’s persuasiveness and theoretical contributions for future directions. We define therapist’s persuasiveness as the major verbal and nonverbal therapist skills that facilitate positive treatment expectations and credibility. Accumulated research on the placebo effect, client’s expectancies, charisma, and therapist’s interpersonal skills gives new empirical depth to the construct of therapeutic persuasiveness. In light of these findings, we discuss implications and provide recommendations for therapist training and future research.

Persuasiveness: An underappreciated characteristic of effective therapists

Children’s intelligence relative to their peers remains associated with social class, but the association may have weakened recently, mainly because the average intelligence in the highest-status classes may have moved closer to the mean

Filial Intelligence and Family Social Class, 1947 to 2012. Lindsay Paterson. Sociological Science October 20, 2021. DOI 10.15195/v8.a16

Abstract: Intelligence, or cognitive ability, is a key variable in reproducing social inequality. On the one hand, it is associated with the social class in which a child grows up. On the other, it is a predictor of educational attainment, labor-market experiences, social mobility, health and well-being, and length of life. Therefore measured intelligence is important to our understanding of how inequality operates and is reproduced. The present analysis uses social surveys of children aged 10 to 11 years in Britain between 1947 and 2012 to assess whether the social-class distribution of intelligence has changed. The main conclusions are that, although children’s intelligence relative to their peers remains associated with social class, the association may have weakened recently, mainly because the average intelligence in the highest-status classes may have moved closer to the mean.

Memories of fiction can be considered similar to other forms of autobiographical remembering thanks to their unique property of being able to be repeatedly reexperienced in their original form

Yang, B. W., Deffler, S. A., & Marsh, E. J. (2021). A comparison of memories of fiction and autobiographical memories. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, Nov 2021. https://doi.org/10.1037/xge0001125

Abstract: People consume, remember, and discuss not only memories of lived experiences, but also events from works of fiction, such as books, movies, and TV shows. We argue that these memories of fiction represent an important category of event memory, best understood within an autobiographical memory framework. How do fictional events yield psychological realities even when they are known to be invented? We explored this question in three studies by comparing the memory content, phenomenological qualities, and functional roles of naturally occurring personal memories to memories of fiction. In Studies 1 and 2, we characterized the subjective experience of memories of fiction by adapting established measures of autobiographical remembering, such as the Autobiographical Memory Questionnaire (Rubin et al., 2003), Centrality of Event Scale (Berntsen & Rubin, 2006), and items from the Thinking About Life Experiences Scale (Bluck et al., 2005; Pillemer et al., 2015). In Study 3, we investigated similarities and differences in personal memories and memories of fiction for events from childhood or the recent past. In doing so, we observed the impact of a unique property of memories of fiction: their ability to be repeatedly reexperienced in their original form. Taken together, we argue that memories of fiction can be considered similar to other forms of autobiographical remembering and describe a theoretical framework for understanding memories of fiction in the context of other event memories. 

Providing slides to students impacts negatively on their academic performance; & adversely impacts on free attendance to class

Impact of the provision of PowerPoint slides on learning. Samuel P. León, Inmaculada García-Martínez. Computers & Education, Volume 173, November 2021, 104283. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2021.104283

Highlights

• First within-subject study design to analyse this topic.

• Providing slides to students impacts negatively on their academic performance.

• The slide availability adversely impacts on the students' free attendance to class.

• Students' academic engagement and study strategies modulated student performance.

• The slides are a supplement created by teachers for teaching.

Abstract: PowerPoint is a basic tool for university teaching. Teachers use it extensively for presenting material. At times, it is used as a guide for organizing lessons, at other times it is used with the intention of summarizing essential curricular content. The way in which PowerPoint is used and the form it takes differs between faculties. The present article aims to evaluate the impact of the provision of slides on student academic performance and attendance (regardless of test scores). For this purpose, a quasi-experimental study was carried out with two intrasubject manipulated learning situations in which copies of slides created by teachers were, or were not, made available to students prior to class sessions. Additionally, student academic engagement and study strategies were assessed using two scales in order to analyse whether these variables modified the relationship between access to slides and academic performance. Outcomes revealed that access to slides developed by teachers had a negative impact on student performance and attendance to classes. Student academic engagement and study strategies were found to modify the relationship between academic performance and access to slides.

Keywords: PowerPointAccess to learningEngagementInstructor-provided slides