"It doesn't matter if you are in charge of the trees, you always miss the trees for the forest": Power and the illusion of explanatory depth.

Power can increase overconfidence and illusory thinking. We investigated whether power is also related to the illusion of explanatory depth (IOED), people's tendency to think they understand the world in more detail, coherence, and depth than they actually do. Abstract thinking was reported as a reason for the IOED, and according to the social distance theory of power, power increases abstract thinking. We linked these literatures and tested construal style as a mediator. Further, predispositions can moderate effects of power and we considered narcissism as a candidate because narcissism leads to overconfidence and may thus increase the IOED especially in combination with high power. In three preregistered studies (total N = 607), we manipulated power or measured feelings of power. We found evidence for the IOED (regarding explanatory knowledge about devices). Power led to general overconfidence but had only a small impact on the IOED. Power and narcissism had a small interactive effect on the IOED. Meta-analytical techniques suggest that previous findings on the construal-style-IOED link show only weak evidential value. Implications refer to research on management, power, and overconfidence.

The predictive value of self-compassion for psychological adjustment in left ventricular assist device patients: an observational study.

AIMS: Implantation of a left ventricular assist device (LVAD) is an established treatment option for patients with advanced heart failure. However, apart from its challenging medical management, it comes with serious psychological implications. Empirical evidence suggests that self-compassion, a self-regulation strategy for countering negative self-directed emotions, might be a promising approach in facilitating psychological adjustment also in LVAD patients. The aims of the present study were to investigate self-compassion as a protective factor for anxiety and depressive symptoms, to test whether taking a decentred perspective mediates these effects, and to explore whether self-compassion predicts the clinically rated functional health status. METHOD AND RESULTS: A sample of N = 45 patients (36 male) with a mean age of 60.5 years (SD = 10.8) from the outpatient department for terminal heart failure at the University Medical Center in Kiel, Germany, participated in the study. Patients completed self-report measures for psychological adjustment (HADS), self-compassion (SCS), and decentring (EQ). Functional health status was determined by the NYHA classification. The more patients were self-compassionate, the less they reported anxiety (r = -0.28) and depressive symptoms (r = -0.34). Decentring mediated both effects. Moreover, self-compassion predicted the functional health status, even when controlling for anxiety (odds ratio [OR] = 0.09) and depressive symptoms (OR = 0.11). CONCLUSIONS: This study provides the first evidence for a significant interrelation between self-compassion and common adverse psychological conditions in LVAD patients. Longitudinal data and the evaluation of interventions to strengthen self-compassion are needed to further validate the beneficial effects of self-compassion in LVAD patients in the future.

Financial reimbursement - irrelevant for GPs' readiness to implement brief intervention to reduce alcohol consumption? A cross-sectional vignette study.

BACKGROUND: General Practitioners' (GPs) readiness to implement screening and brief intervention (SBI) to treat patients with excessive alcohol consumption is low. Several studies identified crucial barriers such as insufficient financial reimbursement. In contrast to the barriers-account, we assume that low implementation readiness of GPs may be less attributed to external barriers but rather more so to inherent characteristics of SBI. To test our assumption, we conducted a vignette study assessing the GPs' readiness to implement SBI in comparison to a pharmacological intervention also designed for the treatment of excessive drinkers in relation to standard or above-standard financial reimbursement. According to our hypothesis GPs should be less ready to implement SBI regardless of financial reimbursement. METHODS: A convenience sample of GPs was recruited to answer the questionnaire. To assess the GPs' implementation readiness a 4-item 6-point Likert scale was developed and pretested. RESULTS: One hundred forty GPs completed the questionnaire. GPs were more ready to implement the pharmacological intervention than SBI, F(1,132) = 27.58, p > .001 (main effect). We found no effect for financial reimbursement, F(1,132) = 3.60, ns, and no interaction effect, F(1,132) = 2.20, ns. CONCLUSIONS: Further research should investigate more thoroughly the crucial characteristics of SBI to initiate a modification process finally leading to more effective primary care dependency prevention.

Employment discrimination: authority figures' demographic preferences and followers' affective organizational commitment.

The authors used theories of organizational commitment and obedience to authority to explain employment discrimination. In Study 1, employees participated in an experimental simulation of their work. An organizational authority's demographic preferences led to employment discrimination. As expected, affective organizational commitment moderated this effect, such that it was stronger for more committed employees. In Study 2, another sample of employees completed a survey that included an employment discrimination scenario. A model of linkages from affective organizational commitment to submissiveness to organizational authorities to employment discrimination fit the data well, after controlling for prejudicial attitudes and authoritarianism. Submissiveness to organizational authorities mediated the relationship between affective organizational commitment and employment discrimination. The authors discuss the importance of studying employment discrimination as an organizational and not just an intergroup phenomenon.