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The commitment of soldiers to the military is essential because it could lead to increased morale, motivation and retention. Despite the accumulation of knowledge about predictors of organizational commitment (OC), efforts to investigate environmental factors influencing OC are in their infancy. We note that individuals shape their attitudes toward the environment based on information obtained from their surroundings, and we investigate peer effects on OC using data from a natural experiment of randomly-assigned military academy roommates. A total of 400 cadets (Sex ratio: 93.5% male, Age: 21.13 $ \pm $ ± 1.43 years) from 136 living quarters participated in this quantitative study. In both self- and roommate-reports, we found that the average affective commitment (AC), continuance commitment (CC), and normative commitment (NC) of roommates in a living quarter can still predict AC, CC, and NC of the remaining individual in that same living quarter, respectively, even after controlling for the personal predictors of that remaining individual. Additionally, in self-report, we discovered that when there is a high heterogeneity in AC among roommates within a living quarter, the AC of the remaining individual in that living quarter tends to be higher, even after controlling for the personal predictors of that remaining individual. These findings provide initial evidence that attempting to assign soldiers with low OC to the same living quarters as those with high OC may be worthwhile. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although growth writing has been verified to be effective in addressing psychological maladjustment through sequential shifts in emotion-processing strategies, there have been no further findings extending these preliminary observations to applications in the military field. This study aimed to investigate whether growth writing can serve as a novel intervention in enhancing the mental health of cadets. A total of 103 cadets (Sex ratio: 68.9% male, Age: 20.60 $ \pm $ ± 2.16 years) participated in an 8-week writing program and were randomly assigned to either the growth writing group or the unstructured writing group. The growth writing group wrote structured narratives on the themes of exposure, devaluation, and benefit-finding for 30 minutes per week, focusing on the most stressful event in cadet lives. The unstructured writing group freely wrote about their feelings and thoughts regarding the most stressful event in cadet lives for 30 minutes every week. We found that growth writing resulted in greater benefits compared to unstructured writing, as indicated by a more significant reduction in stress, depression, anxiety, and anger, as well as a stronger increase in life satisfaction at the five-week follow-up. Moreover, significant changes were observed in stress, depression, anxiety, anger, and life satisfaction over the three assessment points among cadets in the growth writing group. Overall, the current findings highlight that the growth writing process can serve as a valuable form of self-psychotherapy for cadets who will face challenging battlefields in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research shows that significant well-being disparities emerge between individuals who experience major negative events and those who undergo major positive events. However, such differences may vary among individuals. Drawing from the theory of the need for cognitive closure (NFC), we theorize and test whether NFC, which captures seizing and freezing on salient information to reach a fast conclusion, intensifies the differences in affective well-being between those who experience negative or positive events. Across three studies (total N = 2,399), we provide converging evidence that supports our theoretical claim. We first found that participants with high (vs. low) NFC show a greater affective well-being gap between those who recalled their past negative and positive major events (Study 1). We also discovered consistent patterns when participants were provided with negative or positive major event scenarios (Study 2). Lastly, we further substantiated our findings by utilizing a longitudinal study of the 20th presidential election in South Korea (Study 3). Over a 6-week period, the well-being gaps between the supporters of the election winner and the runner-up were more pronounced among individuals with higher NFC. Overall, our findings have implications for identifying a novel psychological trait that influences the affective well-being gaps following significant events in one's life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the outbreak of COVID‐19, copious studies have explored whether and how COVID‐19 has changed individuals' well‐being. However, research has revealed mixed and inconsistent findings on this topic, with some suggesting that the pandemic hampered well‐being, and others showing non‐significant or even opposite patterns. Yet, little is known about what psychological factors could explain such discrepancies. The present study aims to fill this gap by proposing meaning in life (MIL) as a key moderator of the changes in well‐being following the pandemic. Two studies reported here (total N = 19,828), which took within‐person longitudinal approaches comparing subjective well‐being (SWB; hedonic well‐being) and psychological well‐being (PWB; eudaimonic well‐being) before and during COVID‐19 (Study 1: 2018, 2019 vs. 2020, 2021; Study 2: 2019 vs. 2021), provided empirical evidence supporting our theoretical claims. Specifically, we found significant moderative effects of MIL in both studies, such that individuals who held a higher MIL amidst COVID‐19 experienced an increase in SWB as well as PWB. In stark contrast, the two indicators of well‐being declined over time among those who possessed a lower MIL during the pandemic. Overall, our results suggest that MIL serves as one of the significant moderators of the changes in well‐being following COVID‐19, which may address the previous conflicting findings in this field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the well-established relationship between state anxiety and marksmanship performance, few efforts have examined the individual differences that affect the extent to which individuals experience state anxiety in combat situations. Thus, further studies are needed to increase the probability of mission accomplishment, which could ultimately serve to safely bring soldiers home. The present study examined how death anxiety, a trait-based difference affects state anxiety, which in turn affects shooting performance on a battlefield. In particular, we used a virtual reality simulator to create a realistic engagement setting in which simulated death anxiety is salient. On a sample of 99 active-duty enlisted men in the Republic of Korea Army, we found that death anxiety, and not trait anxiety, increased state anxiety, which in turn decreased marksmanship performance. Overall, the current findings highlight the role of death anxiety in combat situations. The practical implications and avenues for future research are also discussed. Soldiers encounter anxiety in threatening circumstances in which mortality is salient. We examined the role of trait death anxiety in combat situations using a virtual reality simulator. The results indicate that death anxiety increases state anxiety while decreasing marksmanship performance, which has important implications for the military. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Prick of conscience" is a phrase to express feelings of guilt in both English and Korean. Particularly in South Korea, guilt is metaphorically associated with a sense of touch by pricking. Koreans commonly express feelings of guilt by using the metaphor, "It pricks my conscience." Across three studies, we examined whether prick of conscience (i.e., feelings of guilt) is grounded in bodily experiences of physical prick (e.g., a needle prick), using a sample of Koreans. Participants who recalled past unethical acts were less likely to choose a needle prick rather than medication as a treatment for indigestion, whereas those who recalled ethical acts presented no significant difference in their willingness to receive either treatment (Study 1). Participants who decided to lie sensed the finger prick deeper and felt more pain as compared to those in the truth group or the control group (Study 2). Lastly, participants who had the finger prick rendered harsher moral judgments than participants in the control condition (Study 3). In line with an embodied cognition framework, these findings suggest that prick of conscience is not just a linguistic metaphor but can be embodied as physical sensations in forms of pricking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Members of East Asian cultures are more likely to conform in public settings than are members of Western cultures. Little research has examined, however, whether East Asians are more likely to privately accept the views held by others. In two studies we gave European American and Korean participants descriptions of unusual food combinations, information about how much one peer had liked the food combinations, or both kinds of information, and asked them to predict how much they would like the foods. When people knew only how another person felt (without a description of the food combinations), both Koreans and Americans based their predictions on the other person's ratings. When people received descriptions of the foods and the ratings of another person, however, both Koreans and Americans based their predictions more on the descriptions than on how the other person felt. In short, we found no cultural differences in the extent to which people use another person's opinion to inform their own opinions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]