Attitude strength as a novel predictor of willful ignorance
Abstract
Willful ignorance is a pervasive phenomenon with significant consequences for decision-making, belief maintenance, and social polarization. While past research has identified various motivational and contextual factors underlying this behavior, less attention has been paid to attitude characteristics that shape the likelihood of engaging in willful ignorance. Addressing this gap, this paper introduces attitude strength as a critical and heretofore unexplored psychological factor that should affect when and why individuals engage in willful ignorance. We argue that strong attitudes, such as those held with certainty, are highly accessible, or are perceived as morally relevant, are particularly likely to elicit willful ignorance. Drawing on cognitive dissonance theory and motivated reasoning, we synthesize findings across domains, from political partisanship to responses to misinformation and AI-mediated communication.
Learning to listen: Downstream effects of listening training on employees' relatedness, burnout, and turnover intentions
Guy Itzchakov, Netta Weinstein, Arik Cheshin
Listening
The present work focuses on listening training as an example of a relational human resource practice that can improve human resource outcomes: Relatedness to colleagues, burnout, and turnover intentions. In two quasi-field experiments, employees were assigned to either a group listening training or a control condition. Both immediately after training and 3 weeks later, receiving listening training was shown to be linked to higher feelings of relatedness with colleagues, lower burnout, and lower turnover intentions. These findings suggest that listening training can be harnessed as a powerful human resource management tool to cultivate stronger relationships at work. The implications of Relational Coordination Theory, High-Quality Connections Theory, and Self-Determination Theory are discussed.
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Executive function deficits mediate the relationship between employees’ ADHD and job burnout
Yaara Turjeman-Levi, Guy Itzchakov and Batya Engel-Yeger
Organizational Behavior and Social Psychology
Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) often face significant
deficits in executive function and adverse work-related outcomes. This study aimed to explore the
role of executive function deficits in job burnout of employees with ADHD. We hypothesized that
employees with ADHD, relative to employees without ADHD, will experience higher levels of job
burnout and deficits in executive function. We also hypothesized that the ADHD-job burnout
relationship would be mediated through executive function deficits, specifically by selfmanagement to time and self-organization/problem-solving. A field study with 171 employees
provided support for the research hypotheses and mediation model in which the employees’
ADHD-job burnout relationship was mediated through executive function deficits. Additional
mediation analyses indicated that the specific executive function of self-management to time and
self-organization/problem-solving mediated the effect of ADHD on job burnout and its facets.
Specifically, for physical fatigue, the mediation was realized through self-management to time,
and for emotional exhaustion and cognitive weariness, the mediation was significant through selforganization/problem-solving. The present findings shed light on the relevance of referring ADHD
among employees, their vulnerability to job burnout, and the role of executive function deficits in
job burnout of employees with ADHD.
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