Why are some people respected in the workplace, and others not? Is there something that distinguishes people who are thought of highly from those that are not? What about managers and leaders; are successful respected leaders different from those that are less successful?

The answers to these questions are not so simple. But perhaps they aren't so complex either. And the answers may also extend to regular employees, who gets promoted, and who is seen as an effective employee.  Our work in interpersonal communication has brought us to pay attention to these questions. And we have a tentative hypothesis.  Read more.

A request from school social work researcher, Professor Kerry Vandergrift, came to us.  This represents an opportunity to assist in an area of research that is often overlooked--and in which we are not often included.  If you work with ELL students or have an interest in them, please respond to this survey.  

from Dr. Vandergrift:  

...after decades of focusing on such staples of bad behavior as aggressiveness, selfishness, narcissism and greed, scientists have turned their attention to the subtler and often unsettling theme of spite - the urge to punish, hurt, humiliate or harass another, even when one gains no obvious benefit and may well pay a cost.  Psychologists are exploring spitefulness in its customary role as a negative trait, a lapse that should be embarrassing but is often sublimated as righteousness, as when you take your own sour time pulling out of a parking space because you notice another car is waiting for it and you'll show that vulture who's boss here, even though you're wasting your own time, too. 

 Evolutionary theorists, by contrast, are studying what might be viewed as the brighter side of spite, and the role it may have played in the origin of admirable traits like a cooperative spirit and a sense of fair play.  The new research on spite transcends older notions that we are savage, selfish brutes at heart, as well as more recent suggestions that humans are inherently affiliative creatures yearning to love and connect. Instead, it concludes that vice and virtue, like the two sides of a V, may be inextricably linked.  Full article.

Prospect Of Nonprofits Running Low-Performing St. Louis Public Schools Continues To Draw Criticism 

A proposal to bring in nonprofits to run low-performing St. Louis City schools continued to draw criticism during a public hearing at Central Visual and Performing Arts High School on Saturday.

With comments similar to those made at a forum on Thursday night, members of the elected school board reiterated their opposition to the idea. 

"The recommendation to contract out our schools for years to strangers is a disgrace and an insult to the community without compelling evidence they can do better than we can do," said Bill Haas, an elected school board member.

Currently, the district is being run by the Special Administrative Board, or SAB. The elected school board has no oversight power.  St. Louis Public Schools Superintendent Kelvin Adams introduced the idea during a Special Administrative Board meeting this month as part of the "St. Louis Public School District Transformation Plan."  Read more here.