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When will bystanders of workplace mobbing show antisocial or prosocial behaviour toward the victim? Results of a 2 × 2 vignette study (N = 177) suggest that high perceived responsibility of the victim for the onset of the mobbing evokes anger and consequently antisocial bystander behaviour, whereas low perceived responsibility generates sympathy and consequently prosocial bystander behaviour. The results further indicate that bystanders will show more antisocial behaviour and less prosocial behaviour toward the victim when they anticipate stigma by association. The implications of these results for interventions seeking to influence bystanders' behaviour in the context of workplace mobbing and for further research on this bystander behaviour are discussed. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

We examined victims' perceived responsibility and bystanders' anticipated risk of being victimized themselves when others associate them with the victim (stigma by association, SBA) as possible antecedents of bystanders' helping behaviour towards a victim of workplace mobbing, and explored the effects of gender. Guided by the attribution model of social conduct (Weiner, 2006), a 2 × 2 vignette experiment was conducted. Participants were Dutch regional government employees (N = 161). Path analyses generally supported the hypotheses, but showed different results for women and men. In the strong (Vs. weak) responsibility condition, women reported less sympathy and more anger and men only more anger, which resulted in lower helping intention. Additionally, for men the results showed an unexpected direct positive effect of responsibility on helping intention. Furthermore, in the strong SBA condition, women and men reported more fear and men, unexpectedly, more anger. Consequently, helping intention decreased. The findings on gender are discussed in the context of social role theory, gender and emotion. Our findings suggest that to prevent and tackle mobbing, organizations and professionals should be aware of the attributional and emotional processes and gender differences in bystanders' helping behaviour.

Social absorption (SA) and social individuation (SI) are two dimensions that may help understand and predict the quality of interpersonal experiences and relationships (Ickes, Hutchison, & Mashek, 2004). A Dutch translation of the SA and SI scales was validated with a circumplex of interpersonal adjective scales, vulnerability factors to depression and attachment style dimensions among a sample of 429 Flemish and Dutch Open University students. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed that SA consisted of two subfactors; SI was shortened for reliability reasons. Subsequent correlational analyses revealed that both SA subfactors correlated positively with warm and assertive interpersonal behaviours, secure attachment style and sociotropy. The shortened SI factor correlated positively with cold and aloof interpersonal behaviours, autonomy and fearful and dismissive attachment. A graphical projection of scales in the interpersonal circumplex further informs the reader about behavioural commonalities between all the variables.(Netherlands Journal of Psychology 65, 40-52.)

Two experiments examined the role of threat-related action-state orientation in how observers become psychologically involved with victims of violence. Observing incidents of random, “senseless” violence is uniquely threatening to observers because they violate just world beliefs and appear like they could happen to anyone. Because stronger threat-related state-oriented individuals are less effective in down-regulating such threats to the self, they should perceive stronger self-concerned position identification (i.e., “this could happen to me”) when confronted with random, “senseless” violence. In contrast, no such effects should occur for observers' person identification (i.e., their other-concerned empathy for the victim). The results of two experiments supported these ideas and ruled out potential alternative explanations based on individuals' just world beliefs, need for cognition, and their attribution strategies. We discuss the importance of threat-related self-regulation processes with regard to self- and other-concerned mechanisms through which observers come to care for victims of violence. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Building on just-world theory, the cur-rent study examined variables contributing to the labeling of violent incidents as senseless. In a 2 x 2 (Blame Opportunities x Victim Ethnicity) design, Dutch participants (N = 78) were provided with a written hypothetical situation depicting a violent incident. Consistent with predictions, the violence was evaluated to be less deserved and more senseless (and the desired penalty for the offender was stronger) when participants had no opportunity to blame the victim than when they did have an opportunity to blame the victim. Likewise, an act of violence committed against a victim belonging to an ethnic minority (allochthonous victim) was perceived to be more deserved and less senseless (and the desired penalty for the offender was smaller) than a similar violent act directed against a native (autochthonous) victim. Findings designate that the just-world theory offers a promising approach to investigate factors determining the labeling of violent incidents as senseless by outside, uninvolved observers.

We integrate and extend insights from just world theory (Lerner, 1980), appraisal and attribution theories of emotion (e.g. Scherer, Schorr, & Johnstone, 2001; Weiner, 1995), and the sacred value protection model (Tetlock, Kirstel, Elson, Green, & Lerner, 2000) to explain observers' emotional and behavioural responses to incidents of so-called ‘senseless’ violence. The presence or absence of an opportunity to blame a victim for his or her violent fate resulted in stronger perceptions of ‘senselessness’ of the violence, stronger identification with the victim's suffering (i.e. person identification) and stronger identification with his or her violent fate (i.e. position identification). The presence or absence of an opportunity to blame the victim also influenced observers' feelings of anger and pity, and their willingness to protest and help. Importantly, both types of identification helped explain these emotional and behavioural responses. The results of this experiment suggest dual motivations for how observers come to feel and care for victims of ‘senseless’ violence. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The effects of idea sharing on cognitive processes and performance were assessed in an idea exposure paradigm. Participants generated ideas while being exposed to stimulus ideas that were semantically homogeneous or diverse, and were offered in an organized or a random sequence. As compared to a control condition, participants generated more diverse ideas when exposed to ideas from a wide range of semantic categories, and they generated more ideas per category when exposed to many ideas from only a few categories. The semantic organization of ideas was higher when participants were exposed to ideas that were organized in semantic clusters than when participants were exposed to unorganized ideas. Idea exposure had positive effects in general, because it reduced response latencies for category changes. Implications for information processing in groups are discussed.

This experiment investigated the effect of procedural interdependence on interindividual–intergroup discontinuity (i.e., the tendency within mixed-motive situations for intergroup interactions to be more competitive than interindividual interactions) in Dutch and U.S. college populations. Groups composed of members who were procedurally interdependent, groups composed of members who were procedurally independent, and individuals interacted with a programmed other on three trials of a Prisoner's Dilemma Game. Results across trials indicate that procedurally interdependent group members were more competitive than pooled procedurally independent group members and individuals. The latter two conditions did not differ significantly. No significant effects involving participant nationality were observed. We propose that these findings reconcile diverging perspectives on interindividual–intergroup discontinuity.

Recent violent incidents in The Netherlands caused nationwide debates about their purported senselessness. Building on Lerner's Just World Theory (Lerner, 1980, The Belief in a Just World. A Fundamental Delusion, Plenum Press, New York), the present experiment sought to delineate the circumstances under which violence is perceived as senseless by outside observers. Participants were more likely to perceive an act of violence as senseless and to identify with the victim when there was no opportunity to blame the victim and when the victim was uninvolved with the perpetrator. These findings suggest that acts of violence are perceived as senseless when attributional strategies fail to uphold observers' belief in a just world.

In the Netherlands, two longitudinal fieldstudies (N=202 and N=46) were conducted on the relationship between severity of initiation and group attractiveness. Study 1 represents a severe initiation, Study 2 a more mild one. In these two different field ‘conditions’ we aimed to test the dissonance interpretation of the effects of a severe initiation (Aronson & Mills, 1959) and a positive correlation between severity of treatment of the initiated novices and group attractiveness was expected (hypothesis 1). Further, we expected that feelings of frustration and anger would mediate this relationship (hypothesis 2). On the other hand, our affiliation‐attraction hypothesis either predicted a positive correlation between companionship (Rook, 1987) and group attractiveness, irrespective of severity (hypothesis 3), or that companionship would mediate the severity‐attraction relationship (hypothesis 4). In both studies, LISREL path analyses only supported hypothesis 3. Contrary to hypothesis 1, severity experienced during the early stages of the initiation correlated with feelings of frustration and loneliness (Study 1), or depressive mood (Study 2). These feelings lasted throughout the initiation and lowered the liking for the group. Results are discussed in terms of newcomers’ decisions to leave or to join the group, determined by (i) the exchange and fate control relationship between the leadership and the newcomers; (ii) the severe treatment of newcomers as a selection device and (iii)

Referent Cognitions Theory (RCT) predicts that resentment is highest among persons who combine high referent outcomes (i) with low likelihood of amelioration and (ii) with perceived unfairness of the procedures leading to their actual outcomes. In organizations, resentment can be expressed in decreased commitment and decreased satisfaction with the organization, and with one's work and work situation. Predictions derived from RCT were tested in a field study among employees who, due to the retrenchment strategy adopted by their company, were put into an outplacement and transfer procedure. Results were only partly consistent with RCT predictions. Support for all predictions was found only among employees who successfully went through the transfer program. None of the predictions were supported by the results obtained from employees still in the program. Results suggest some limitations with respect to the validity of RCT.

In dit experimentele onderzoek naar de rol van stigmatisering van depressieve werknemers bij hun arbeidsreintegratie kregen medewerkers (n = 320) uit de gezondheidszorg een vignet voorgelegd, waarbij zij zich moesten voorstellen dat zij zouden gaan samenwerken met een reintegrerende collega. Informatie over de persoonlijke verantwoordelijkheid voor het ontstaan van de klachten (hoog vs. laag), de ernst van de psychische klachten (hoog vs. laag) en de openheid over de klachten (open vs. gesloten) werden gemanipuleerd, ten einde de invloed van deze variabelen na te gaan op de mate van stigmatisering. Vervolgens moesten de deelnemers aan het onderzoek aangeven in hoeverre bepaalde persoonseigenschappen op de reintegrerende collega van toepassing waren en in hoeverre zij bepaalde emoties zouden ervaren als zij weer met hem zouden samenwerken. In de conditie hoge persoonlijke verantwoordelijkheid bleken meer positieve eigenschappen toegeschreven te worden dan in de conditie lage persoonlijke verantwoordelijkheid. Voorts werd gevonden dat er in de conditie hoge ernst meer angst opgeroepen werd en er meer negatieve persoonlijkheidseigenschappen toegeschreven werden dan in de conditie lage ernst. In de open conditie werden meer angst, meer boosheid en meer medelijden opgeroepen bij de werkomgeving dan in de gesloten conditie. Ook werden in de open conditie meer positieve eigenschappen toegeschreven. Theoretische en praktische implicaties van het onderzoek worden besproken.

It has consistently been found that people produce more ideas when working alone as compared to when working in a group. Yet, people generally believe that group brainstorming is more effective than individual brainstorming. Further group members are more satisfied with their performance than individuals, whereas they have generated fewer ideas. We argue that this 'illusion of group productivity' is partly due to a reduction of cognitive failures (instances in which someone is unable to generate ideas) in a group setting. Three studies support that explanation, showing that: (1) group interaction leads to a reduction of experienced failures and that failures mediate the effect of setting on satisfaction; and (2) manipulations that affect failures also affect satisfaction ratings. Implications for group work are discussed. Copyright (c) 2005 John Wiley, & Sons, Ltd.

Lerners rechtvaardige-wereldtheorie (rwt; 1980) veronderstelt dat mensen sterk geneigd zijn hun beeld van een rechtvaardige wereld te beschermen tegen bedreiging, die bijvoorbeeld opgeroepen kan worden wanneer onschuldige slachtoffers getroffen worden door een gewelddadig en willekeurig lot. Door toepassing van cognitieve, attributionele vertekeningen – de geweldslachtoffers hebben gekregen wat ze verdienden (‘deservingness’ of ‘verdiendheid’) – wordt dan op een nogal cynische, defensieve manier getracht het beeld van een rechtvaardige wereld in stand te houden (de rw-beschermingshypothese). De resultaten van studie 1 en 2 tonen aan dat dergelijke beschermingsprocessen een rol vervullen in de benoeming van geweld als zinvol en verdiend. Aanvullende resultaten duiden er verder op dat empathische persoonsidentificatie in gevallen van extreem geweld kan leiden tot een distantiering van het slachtoffer, terwijl dezelfde extreemheid kan leiden tot een sterkere positie-identificatie met het slachtoffer. Kennelijk beseffen de onderzochten dan sterker dat eenzelfde willekeurig lot hen ook had kunnen treffen. Studie 3 toont aan dat een sterkere empathische persoonsidentificatie samenhangt met sterkere rw-overtuigingen, maar alleen onder deelnemers aan ‘stille tochten’ tegen zinloos geweld. Dit soort initiatieven vormen mogelijk een alternatieve manier ter bescherming van een rechtvaardig wereldbeeld.