Elze Gooitzen Ufkes

The effect of stereotype content on anger versus contempt in “day-to-day” conflicts

Depending on how involved parties appraise day-to-day conflicts, they either may feel angry or contemptuous toward the other party, which, in turn, may result in stronger confronting or avoiding intentions. In this paper we investigated how the content of stereotypes associated with the group to which an outgroup perpetrator belongs affects appraisals, emotions, and behavior. In two experiments, we demonstrated that stereotyping an outgroup as less warm resulted in increased feelings of anger, and tendencies to react forcefully toward an outgroup party in a conflict. Specifically, this effect of low stereotype warmth was explained by increased appraisals of negative intentions. Stereotyping an outgroup as less competent in the same situation elicited increased feelings of contempt, and tendencies to avoid an outgroup party in a conflict. This effect of stereotype incompetence was due to decreased appraisals of control over the other party.

The Critical Roles of Task Conflict and Job Autonomy in the Relationship Between Proactive Personalities and Innovative Employee Behavior

We examine why and when proactive personality is beneficial for innovative behavior at work. Based on a survey among 166 employees working in 35 departments of a large municipality in the Netherlands we show that an increase in task conflicts explains the positive relation between a proactive personality and innovative employee behavior. This process is moderated by job autonomy in such a way that the relationship between proactive personality and task conflict is particularly strong under low compared with high autonomy. The present research contributes to the discussion on the potential benefits of task conflict for change processes and highlights the importance of examining the interplay between personality and work context for understanding innovation practices.

The effectiveness of a mediation program in symmetrical versus asymmetrical neighbor-to-neighbor conflicts

Purpose – The last decades, neighborhood mediation programs have become an increasingly popular method to deal with conflicts between neighbors. In the current paper the aim is to propose and show that conflict asymmetry, the degree to which parties differ in perceptions of the level of conflict, may be important for the course and outcomes of neighborhood mediation. Design/methodology/approach – Data for testing the hypotheses were based on coding all (261) files of neighbor conflicts reported to a Dutch neighborhood mediation program in the period from 2006 through 2008. Findings – As expected, cases were more often about asymmetrical than symmetrical conflicts. Moreover, compared to symmetrical conflicts, asymmetrical conflicts less often led to a mediation session; the degree of escalation was lower; and, particularly in asymmetrical conflicts, a mere intake session already contributed to positive conflict outcomes. Originality/value – Past research on the effectiveness of mediation programs mainly focused on cases in which a mediation session effectively took place. However, persuading parties to participate in a mediation session forms a major challenge for mediators. In fact, many cases that are signed-up for mediation programs do not result in an actual mediation. The current study examines the entire mediation process – from intake to follow-up

Deceptive Intentions: Can Cues to Deception Be Measured before a Lie Is Even Stated?

Can deceitful intentions be discriminated from truthful ones? Previous work consistently demonstrated that deceiving others is accompanied by nervousness/stress and cognitive load. Both are related to increased sympathetic nervous system (SNS) activity. We hypothesized that SNS activity already rises during intentions to lie and, consequently, cues to deception can be detected before stating an actual lie. In two experiments, controlling for prospective memory, we monitored SNS activity during lying, truth telling, and truth telling with the aim of lying at a later instance. Electrodermal activity (EDA) was used as an indicator of SNS. EDA was highest during lying, and compared to the truth condition, EDA was also raised during the intention to deceive. Moreover, the switch from truth telling toward lying in the intention condition evoked higher EDA than switching toward non-deception related tasks in the lie or truth condition. These results provide first empirical evidence that increased SNS activity related to deception can be monitored before a lie is stated. This implies that cues to deception are already present during the mere intention to lie.

Understanding high-stakes conflicts

In this chapter we argue that an important dimension for understanding how conflict evolves is whether it concerns low- or high-stakes conflicts. As a point of departure, we introduce three recent research projects on high-stakes conflicts, subsequently focusing on: (1) conflicts in close relationships following an expatriation assignment for one of the partners; (2) third-party intervention in neighborhood conflicts by community mediators; and (3) crisis negotiations between the police and hostage takers. Our discussion highlights four key areas of attention: the importance of including notions of conflict asymmetry, incorporating a time horizon, alternative conflict management frameworks, and the connection with technological developments.

Catching a Deceiver in the Act: Processes Underlying Deception in an Interactive Interview Setting

Lying is known to evoke stress and cognitive load. Both form cues to deception and lead to an increase in sympathetic nervous system (SNS) activity. But in reality, deceivers stick to the truth most the time and only lie occasionally. The present study therefore examined in an interactive suspect interview setting, whether deceivers still have clearly diverging cognitive and emotional processes from truth tellers when only having the intention to lie incidentally. We found that deceivers who lied constantly diverge from truth tellers in SNS activity, self-reported cognitive load and stress. Across all interviews, SNS activity correlated stronger with self-reports of cognitive load than stress, which supports the cognitive load approach. Furthermore, deceivers who told the truth and lied on only one crucial question, particularly diverged in self-reported stress from truth-tellers. In terms of SNS activity and self-reported cognitive load, no differences were found. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Crime Seriousness and Participation in Restorative Justice: The Role of Time Elapsed Since the Offense.

Restorative justice policies and programs aimed at facilitating victim–offender mediation (VOM) are part of many criminal justice systems around the world. Given its voluntary nature and potential for positive outcomes, the appropriateness and feasibility of VOM after serious offenses is subject to debate in the literature. In light of this discussion, this study first aimed to unravel the prevalence of serious offenses in cases registered for VOM and examined whether crime seriousness predicts whether mediated contact is reached between victims and offenders. Second, it tested the hypothesis that victims of increasingly serious, harmful crimes are more willing to participate when more time has elapsed since the offense—in contrast to victims of less serious, harmful crimes. We analyzed 199 cases registered for VOM in the Netherlands and coded the perceived wrongfulness, harmfulness, and average duration of incarceration of an offense as 3 distinct indicators of crime seriousness in these cases. The findings revealed that cases registered for VOM (a) are, in terms of the incarceration duration, on average more serious than all offenses in the population, and (b) resulted in mediated contact (or not) independently of the 3 seriousness indicators. In addition, empirical support was found for the hypothesis that victims’ willingness to participate in VOM increased over time after more harmful offenses, whereas it decreased when offenses inflicted less harm. These findings suggest that when VOM programs operate irrespectively of the time elapsed after crime, mediated contact between parties may be as likely after minor and serious offenses.