Computer Science Solves Successful Fiction

Ugly Employees Are Targets of Abuse at Work

Posted on 2013/09/302014/01/16 by Jason Hensel

Looks shouldn’t matter, but they do, especially in the workplace. That’s the conclusion two researchers came to in a study about counterproductive work behavior (CWB), defined as “behavior intended to hurt the organization or other members of the organization.” They wanted to know why particular employees are targets of abuse.

“Over the years, much attention has been devoted to understanding CWB and its related concepts,” wrote Brent A. Scott and Timothy A. Judge in “Beauty, Personality, and Affect as Antecedents of Counterproductive Work Behavior Receipt.” “We tested a model that positioned CWB receipt as a function of employees’ personality (neuroticism, agreeableness), their appearance (physical attractiveness) and the negative emotions felt toward those employees by their coworkers.”

Two studies showed that disagreeable and physically unattractive employees received more abuse from their coworkers, coworker negative emotion felt toward employees was associated with CWB receipt, and the relationship between employee agreeableness and CWB receipt was due, in part, to coworker negative emotion, the authors write.

“For managers, knowing who the targets of harmful behaviors such as CWB are likely to be may help them to monitor susceptible employees to prevent them from becoming victims or to provide counseling and social support if prevention attempts fail,” Scott and Judge wrote. “For employees, although it is difficult to alter one’s physical attractiveness and, presumably, one’s level of agreeableness, employees should realize that, whether fair or unfair, appearances and personality matter in the workplace.”

(Image via Flickr: Lin Pernille Kristensen/Creative Commons)

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New Interactive Projector Being Built

Posted on 2013/06/14 by Jason Hensel

Now this looks cool. Carnegie Mellon University researchers recently developed an interactive touch interface. It’s called “World Kit,” and a user can project it on to any flat service. It’s currently bulky, as you’ll see in the video; however, the researchers are working on getting it down to the size of a light bulb.

How would you use something like this in your home or business?

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Facebook Use Can Increase Cognitive Performance

Posted on 2013/03/202013/03/20 by Jason Hensel

Jokes about elderly people using technology are plentiful. Yes, it can be humorous to tease those that have a hard time with technology. But the truth is that there are benefits if the elderly (really, any age) are willing to learn something new. Let’s take Facebook, for instance.

Janelle Wohltmann, a psychology graduate student at the University of Arizona, found that people over the age of 65 who learned to use Facebook saw an increase in cognitive performance and became more connected socially.

Yes, you read that correctly. Being connected socially increases cognitive skills. The kicker is that it doesn’t necessarily have to be a face-to-face connection.

“The idea evolved from two bodies of research,” Wohltmann said. “One, there is evidence to suggest that staying more cognitively engaged – learning new skills, not just becoming a couch potato when you retire but staying active – leads to better cognitive performing. It’s kind of this ‘use it or lose it’ hypothesis.

“There’s also a large body of literature showing that people who are more socially engaged, are less lonely, have more social support and are more socially integrated are also doing better cognitively in older age,” she continued.

More research is needed to determine if Facebook’s social aspect truly contributed to better cognitive performances. Still, Wohltmann feels that the site’s complex interaction is a key component in boosting cognitive behaviors.

“The Facebook interface is actually quite complex,” she said. “The big difference between the online diary and Facebook is that when you create a diary entry, you create the entry, you save it and that’s all you see, versus if you’re on Facebook, several people are posting new things, so new information is constantly getting posted.

“You’re seeing this new information coming in, and you need to focus on the new information and get rid of the old information, or keep it in mind if you want to go back and reference it later, so you have to constantly update what’s there in your attention,” she continued.

This gives hope to anyone that isn’t able to get out and meet people, either by situation or choice. If you can be social online, then you can boost your cognitive abilities. And I’m sure this can expand to include anyone who plays games such as Call of Duty, where you’re playing alongside or against other players.

No, this doesn’t take away from the value of face-to-face interaction and its many benefits, but it does show that our brains can clearly define “social” in more ways than we usually allow in our minds.

(Story materials from the University of Arizona/Alexis Blue. Image via Flickr: Sean Dreilinger/Creative Commons.)

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How an Us-Versus-Them Attitude is Key to Motivation

Posted on 2013/03/182013/03/19 by Jason Hensel

I’m very competitive. Now, I can be a good sport about losing (most of the time), but if I’m told I can’t do something, or that I’m bad at an activity, then I’m dead set to prove the person wrong.

This drive to prove another wrong is something recently studied by researchers at the University of Exeter, Amherst College, and the University of Stirling. In their study, they found that people increase performances after receiving external criticisms in an effort to prove critics wrong.

“Careful management of performance following failure is of key importance in a range of areas such as sport and business,” said lead author Dr. Tim Rees of Sport and Health Sciences at the University of Exeter. “The study shows that simple, low cost, measures that exploit the effects of intergroup dynamics can reverse downward performance spirals by encouraging a ‘them and us’ mentality.”

Study participants threw darts blindfolded and then received feedback from a university researcher or an external researcher. Participants who received feedback from the university researcher acted on what they heard: if it was bad, they threw badly during the next attempt; if it was good, they had better aim. However, feedback from external researchers was a different story. Praise from them did not help, and criticism caused them to want to prove the external researchers wrong.

“Downward performance spirals can be readily observed in every domain of human performance,” said co-author Jessica Salvatore of Amherst College. “Our research shows that the ‘us-versus-them’ mindset isn’t always a destructive force – sometimes it can be the key to re-motivating yourself and turning your performance around.”

“The research not only highlights ways to improve performance but also demonstrates the positive and negative impact that encouragement and criticism from fellow group members can have,” said co-author Pete Coffee from the University of Stirling. “This work points to the need for people like sports coaches and business leaders to think carefully about the way they deliver performance-related feedback.”

Now that you know one of my motivation secrets, please let me know one of yours. How does criticism affect your performance?

(Story materials from the University of Exeter. Image via Flickr: Morgan Rindengan/Creative Commons.)

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