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Wesenskern der Verwaltungswissenschaft ist nach wie vor die Frage nach Dysfunktionalitäten bürokratischer Organisationen. Schwerfälligkeit durch überbordende Bürokratie wird in der Forschung hierbei als Red Tape bezeichnet. Aufgrund der relationalen Beschaffenheit ist die Frage weniger, was alles Red Tape ist, sondern vielmehr wie Verwaltungsmitarbeitende mit Red Tape umgehen. Diese Arbeit soll dazu beitragen, Bewältigungsstrategien, auch Coping genannt, bezogen auf Red Tape zu verstehen. Mittels Survey-Experiment wird untersucht, inwieweit die individuelle Bewältigungsstrategie durch die Form (analog/digital), über die Red Tape transportiert wird, und den Ursprung (intern/extern), von dem Red Tape ausgeht, beeinflusst wird. Die Ergebnisse zeigen unter Berücksichtigung des transaktionalen Stressmodells von Lazarus und Folkman, dass Mitarbeitende der Verwaltung insbesondere dann aktive Bewältigungsstrategien auswählen, wenn diese durch externe Quellen hervorgerufen wird und zudem analog vorliegt.
Aim The purpose of this study was to examine physical fitness and psycho-cognitive performance and their associations in young and middle-aged workers with primarily physical versus mental work demands. Subjects and methods Healthy young and middle-aged workers (73 men, age = 33 +/- 7 years; 75 women, age = 35 +/- 9 years) were recruited from German small-to-medium-sized enterprises (< 250 employees) and classified into groups with primarily mental (MD) or physical demands (PD) at work. Participants were tested for cardiorespiratory fitness, trunk flexor/extensor muscular endurance, handgrip strength, balance, leg muscle power, perceived stress, cognitive performance, and work ability. Results Ninety-four workers were allocated to the MD (53% females) and 54 to the PD (46% females) groups. The MD group showed significantly better balance, trunk extensor muscular endurance, and cognitive performance (p < 0.035, 0.35 <= d <= 0.55) and less stress compared with the PD group (p < 0.023, d = 0.38). Group-specific Spearman rank correlation analysis (r(S)) revealed significant small-to-medium-sized correlations between physical fitness and cognitive performance (- 0.205 <= r(S) <= 0.434) in the MD and PD groups. Significant small-to-medium-sized correlations were found for physical fitness and stress/work ability (0.211 <= r(S) <= 0.301) in the MD group only. Further, associations of trunk extensor muscular endurance and work ability were significantly higher in the MD group (r(S) = 0.240) compared with the PD group (r(S) = - 0.141; z = 2.16, p = 0.031). Conclusions MD workers showed better physical fitness measures (balance, trunk extensor muscular endurance) and cognitive performance and lower levels of perceived stress compared with PD workers. Small-to-medium-sized associations between physical fitness and psycho-cognitive performance measures indicate that gains in physical fitness may at least partly contribute to psycho-cognitive performance and/or vice versa, particularly in MD workers.
Between-individual differences in coping with stress encompass neurophysiological, cognitive and behavioural reactions. The coping style model proposes two alternative response patterns to challenges that integrate these types of reactions. The “proactive strategy” combines a general fight-or-flight response and inflexibility in learning with a relatively low HPA (hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal) response. The “reactive strategy” includes risk aversion, flexibility in learning and an enhanced HPA response. Although numerous studies have investigated the possible covariance of cognitive, behavioural and physiological responses, findings are still mixed. In the present study, we tested the predictions of the coping style model in an unselected population of bank voles (Myodes glareolus) (N = 70). We measured the voles’ boldness, activity, speed and flexibility in learning and faecal corticosterone metabolite levels under three conditions (holding in indoor cages, in outdoor enclosures and during open field test). Individuals were moderately consistent in their HPA response across situations. Proactive voles had significantly lower corticosterone levels than reactive conspecifics in indoor and outdoor conditions. However, we could not find any co-variation between cognitive and behavioural traits and corticosterone levels in the open field test. Our results partially support the original coping style model but suggest a more complex relationship between cognitive, behavioural and endocrine responses than was initially proposed.
In the present study, we investigated the beneficial effects of trait self-compassion (SC) on perceived stress, shame, and the use of coping strategies in reaction to a socio-evaluative stressor while controlling for the effects of neuroticism (N) and conscientiousness (C). Participants (N = 105) performed a mental-arithmetic task with immediate in-person feedback. SC predicted less perceived stress and shame immediately after the stressor. Additionally, SC predicted less shame after a short recovery phase. This effect was fully mediated by less use of denial. Furthermore, SC buffered the effect of N on the use of denial, and C on shame after recovery. SC also predicted more use of positive reframing. Thus, SC may make a socio-evaluative stressor less threatening and may thwart a shame-inducing conception of the stressor by promoting clearer processing. Furthermore, SC may be especially beneficial for those vulnerable to dysfunctional coping and negative self-conscious emotions. This study contributes to the understanding of how trait self-compassion beneficially influences the processing of stressful situations.
Selective attention toward emotional cues and emotion recognition of facial expressions are important aspects of social cognition. Stress modulates social cognition through cortisol, which acts on glucocorticoid (GR) and mineralocorticoid receptors (MR) in the brain. We examined the role of MR activation on attentional bias toward emotional cues and on emotion recognition. We included 40 healthy young women and 40 healthy young men (mean age 23.9 +/- 3.3), who either received 0.4 mg of the MR agonist fludrocortisone or placebo. A dot-probe paradigm was used to test for attentional biases toward emotional cues (happy and sad faces). Moreover, we used a facial emotion recognition task to investigate the ability to recognize emotional valence (anger and sadness) from facial expression in four graded categories of emotional intensity (20, 30, 40, and 80 %). In the emotional dot-probe task, we found a main effect of treatment and a treatment x valence interaction. Post hoc analyses revealed an attentional bias away from sad faces after placebo intake and a shift in selective attention toward sad faces compared to placebo. We found no attentional bias toward happy faces after fludrocortisone or placebo intake. In the facial emotion recognition task, there was no main effect of treatment. MR stimulation seems to be important in modulating quick, automatic emotional processing, i.e., a shift in selective attention toward negative emotional cues. Our results confirm and extend previous findings of MR function. However, we did not find an effect of MR stimulation on emotion recognition.
Fluid intelligence (fluid IQ), defined as the capacity for rapid problem solving and behavioral adaptation, is known to be modulated by learning and experience. Both stressful life events (SLES) and neural correlates of learning [specifically, a key mediator of adaptive learning in the brain, namely the ventral striatal representation of prediction errors (PE)] have been shown to be associated with individual differences in fluid IQ. Here, we examine the interaction between adaptive learning signals (using a well-characterized probabilistic reversal learning task in combination with fMRI) and SLES on fluid IQ measures. We find that the correlation between ventral striatal BOLD PE and fluid IQ, which we have previously reported, is quantitatively modulated by the amount of reported SLES. Thus, after experiencing adversity, basic neuronal learning signatures appear to align more closely with a general measure of flexible learning (fluid IQ), a finding complementing studies on the effects of acute stress on learning. The results suggest that an understanding of the neurobiological correlates of trait variables like fluid IQ needs to take socioemotional influences such as chronic stress into account.
The demanding working and training conditions of psychotherapists in training (PiA) are discussed more and more frequently from social and research perspectives. The complementary focus on job and training pressure and its consequences have received little attention so far.
The nationwide survey (N = 464) contains information on essential person-related and training-related risk factors and resources. Moreover, the study provides comparisons concerning different professional categories with high psychological and social demands as well as with the training conditions of psychotherapists in 2009.
The study shows the difficulties and demanding situation of financing the training. The PiAs showed significantly higher stress levels than other groups of persons and comparably low resilience combined with a high working engagement. Only a few PiAs had a healthy behavioral and perceptional work pattern.
The results underline the necessity for an examination of the training and working conditions of PiAs. Accordingly, options for interventions are presented.
Recent research suggests an important role of FKBP5, a glucocorticoid receptor regulating co-chaperone, in the development of stress-related diseases such as depression and anxiety disorders. The present study aimed to replicate and extend previous evidence indicating that FKBP5 polymorphisms moderate hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) function by examining whether FKBP5 rs1360780 genotype and different measures of childhood adversity interact to predict stress-induced cortisol secretion. At age 19 years, 195 young adults (90 males, 105 females) participating in an epidemiological cohort study completed the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) to assess cortisol stress responsiveness and were genotyped for the FKBP5 rs1360780. Childhood adversity was assessed using the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ) and by a standardized parent interview yielding an index of family adversity. A significant interaction between genotype and childhood adversity on cortisol response to stress was demonstrated for exposure to childhood maltreatment as assessed by retrospective self-report (CTQ), but not for prospectively ascertained objective family adversity. Severity of childhood maltreatment was significantly associated with attenuated cortisol levels among carriers of the rs1360780 CC genotype, while no such effect emerged in carriers of the T allele. These findings point towards the functional involvement of FKBP5 in long-term alterations of neuroendocrine stress regulation related to childhood maltreatment, which have been suggested to represent a premorbid risk or resilience factor in the context of stress-related disorders. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. and ECNR This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license.
Transcription factors (TFs) are ubiquitous gene expression regulators and play essential roles in almost all biological processes. This Ph.D. project is primarily focused on the functional characterisation of MYB112 - a member of the R2R3-MYB TF family from the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. This gene was selected due to its increased expression during senescence based on previous qRT-PCR expression profiling experiments of 1880 TFs in Arabidopsis leaves at three developmental stages (15 mm leaf, 30 mm leaf and 20% yellowing leaf). MYB112 promoter GUS fusion lines were generated to further investigate the expression pattern of MYB112. Employing transgenic approaches in combination with metabolomics and transcriptomics we demonstrate that MYB112 exerts a major role in regulation of plant flavonoid metabolism. We report enhanced and impaired anthocyanin accumulation in MYB112 overexpressors and MYB112-deficient mutants, respectively. Expression profiling reveals that MYB112 acts as a positive regulator of the transcription factor PAP1 leading to increased anthocyanin biosynthesis, and as a negative regulator of MYB12 and MYB111, which both control flavonol biosynthesis. We also identify MYB112 early responsive genes using a combination of several approaches. These include gene expression profiling (Affymetrix ATH1 micro-arrays and qRT-PCR) and transactivation assays in leaf mesophyll cell protoplasts. We show that MYB112 binds to an 8-bp DNA fragment containing the core sequence (A/T/G)(A/C)CC(A/T)(A/G/T)(A/C)(T/C). By electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA) and chromatin immunoprecipitation coupled to qPCR (ChIP-qPCR) we demonstrate that MYB112 binds in vitro and in vivo to MYB7 and MYB32 promoters revealing them as direct downstream target genes. MYB TFs were previously reported to play an important role in controlling flavonoid biosynthesis in plants. Many factors acting upstream of the anthocyanin biosynthesis pathway show enhanced expression levels during nitrogen limitation, or elevated sucrose content. In addition to the mentioned conditions, other environmental parameters including salinity or high light stress may trigger anthocyanin accumulation. In contrast to several other MYB TFs affecting anthocyanin biosynthesis pathway genes, MYB112 expression is not controlled by nitrogen limitation, or carbon excess, but rather is stimulated by salinity and high light stress. Thus, MYB112 constitutes a previously uncharacterised regulatory factor that modifies anthocyanin accumulation under conditions of abiotic stress.
Background: The use of psychoactive substances to neuroenhance cognitive performance is prevalent. Neuroenhancement (NE) in everyday life and doping in sport might rest on similar attitudinal representations, and both behaviors can be theoretically modeled by comparable means-to-end relations (substance-performance). A behavioral (not substance-based) definition of NE is proposed, with assumed functionality as its core component. It is empirically tested whether different NE variants (lifestyle drug, prescription drug, and illicit substance) can be regressed to school stressors.
Findings: Participants were 519 students (25.8 +/- 8.4 years old, 73.1% female). Logistic regressions indicate that a modified doping attitude scale can predict all three NE variants. Multiple NE substance abuse was frequent. Overwhelming demands in school were associated with lifestyle and prescription drug NE.
Conclusions: Researchers should be sensitive for probable structural similarities between enhancement in everyday life and sport and systematically explore where findings from one domain can be adapted for the other. Policy makers should be aware that students might misperceive NE as an acceptable means of coping with stress in school, and help to form societal sensitivity for the topic of NE among our younger ones in general.