Attempts to predict intelligent behavior: 1. The Categorizing Test

The possibility of predicting future intelligent behavior by means of a test calling for flexible categorizing of a present situation is discussed. The test, called The Categorizing Test, consisting initially of 22 items, was tried out on 94 S s. The results showed high, positive correlations between the items, suggesting that they to a strong degree tap the same cognitive function, which is interpreted as an ability to categorize flexibly. A shorter 10-item version of the test was compared with a test of verbal intelligence and a flexibility test of a traditional kind. On the whole, high, positive correlations were obtained, with the Categorizing Test apparently occupying a central position. These results constitute validating evidence for The Categorizing Test.     

Attempts to predict intelligent behavior: II. A study of problem solving

In Experiment I a group of pupils from a secondary school was given a test of general intelligence, a test of the ability to categorize objects in a flexible way, and five different problem-solving tasks. Subjects who were successful on the problems had higher scores on the intelligence test than the rest. The Categorizing Test was not, however, a good indicator of success. In Experiment II a comparison was made between scores on different parts of the so-called Family Test. With high school pupils and university students as subjects, correlation coefficients in the neighborhood of 0.40 were found between scores when suggesting possible classifications of objects, and scores when choosing a classification to fit different sets of objects. The triangular form of the scatterplots was taken as an indication that an ability to present different interpretations of one's experience is a necessary, but not sufficient condition for success in problem-solving tasks.     

The (b)link between creativity and dopamine: Spontaneous eye blink rates predict and dissociate divergent and convergent thinking

Human creativity has been claimed to rely on the neurotransmitter dopamine, but evidence is still sparse. We studied whether individual performance (N = 117) in divergent thinking (alternative uses task) and convergent thinking (remote association task) can be predicted by the individual spontaneous eye blink rate (EBR), a clinical marker of dopaminergic functioning. EBR predicted flexibility in divergent thinking and convergent thinking, but in different ways. The relationship with flexibility was independent of intelligence and followed an inverted U-shape function with medium EBR being associated with greatest flexibility. Convergent thinking was positively correlated with intelligence but negatively correlated with EBR, suggesting that higher dopamine levels impair convergent thinking. These findings support the claim that creativity and dopamine are related, but they also call for more conceptual differentiation with respect to the processes involved in creative performance.     

Social cues for creativity: The impact of behavioral mimicry on convergent and divergent thinking

We present behavioral mimicry as a social cue for creative thinking. Specifically, we argue that being mimicked by an interaction partner cues convergent thinking by signalling a social opportunity for collaboration, while not being mimicked cues divergent thinking by signalling a social demand for improvisation and innovation. To test this theory, we experimentally manipulated whether individuals were subtly mimicked or not by an experimenter during a 5 min social interaction, and subsequently measured participants’ capacity for convergent thinking (Experiment 1) and divergent thinking (Experiment 2). The results point to the importance of understanding how social relationships influence the creative processes and contributes to the growing understanding of the social function of behavioral mimicry.     

Verbal expression of right cerebrovascular accident patients: convergent and divergent language

This investigation examined the role of the right hemisphere in language expression. Three groups of 12 subjects each--right CVAs, left CVAs, and controls--performed convergent and divergent language tasks of naming, function, and connected speech. For all convergent tasks and for number of words, number of message units, and fluency in divergent connected speech, controls surpassed both brain-damaged groups, who performed similarly. For the other divergent tasks, controls were superior to the brain-damaged groups, but the right CVAs outperformed the left CVAs. In general, verbal expression problems of right-hemisphere-damaged patients were almost as severe as those of left-hemisphere-damaged patients.     

Assessing support networks: Stability and evidence for convergent and divergent validity

Data on important methodological problems in assessing support networks is presented. Stability (over 1 year) and construct validity were examined in two groups of mothers of preschool children. One group of mothers had children with a physical handicap (n = 25); the other group had normally developing children (n = 44). When their children were 4 years of age and again at 5 years of age, mothers' support networks were assessed with the Pattison Psychosocial Kinship Inventory (a semistructured interview) and a log diary. Results indicated considerable stability in mothers' support networks over the 1-year period. In addition, agreement across methods was fairly high despite marked differences in format, providing evidence for the construct of support networks. Further evidence for construct validity was provided by generally low correlations between support network variables and other measures of social ecology. Findings were roughly similar for both groups of mothers indicating general replicability of findings.     

Screening ADHD problems in the sports behavior checklist: factor structure, convergent and divergent validity, and group differences

The Sports Behavior Checklist (SBC) is subjected to a principal components analysis, and subscales are correlated with subscales of the Conners' Revised Parent Form and the Social Skills Rating System. Both of these analyses are conducted to determine the construct validity of the instrument. A subsample of lower socioeconomic status individuals is used to compare ADHD and control group differences on the subscales of the SBC. The authors find that a six-factor solution, as proposed by the original authors, accounted for 71.5% of the variance. As hypothesized, subscales on the SBC are low to moderately related to subscales on the anchor measures. Significant group differences are found on the Aggression, Emotional Reactivity, and Injury subscales. Implications and limitations are discussed.     

The contributions of convergent thinking,divergent thinking,and schizotypy to solving insight and non-insight problems

The ability to generate diverse ideas (divergent thinking) is valuable in solving creative problems (e.g., insight problems); yet, however advantageous, this ability is insufficient to solve the problem alone and requires the ability to logically deduce an assessment of correctness of each solution (convergent thinking). Positive schizotypy may help isolate the aspects of divergent thinking prevalent in insight problem solving. Participants were presented with a measure of schizotypy (Oxford-Liverpool Inventory of Feelings and Experiences), divergent and convergent thinking tasks, insight problems, and non-insight problems. We found no evidence for a relationship between schizotypy and insight problem solving. Relationships between divergent thinking and insight problem solving were also surprisingly weak; however, measures of convergent thinking had a stronger relationship with problem solving. These results suggest that convergent thinking is more important than divergent thinking in problem solving.     

Multivariate relative importance: extending relative weight analysis to multivariate criterion spaces

For years, organizational scholars have sought effective ways to evaluate the importance of predictors included in a regression analysis. Recent techniques, such as general dominance weights and relative weights, have shown great promise for guiding evaluations of predictor importance. Nevertheless, questions remain regarding how one should investigate relative importance in the presence of a multidimensional criterion variable. The purpose of this article is to extend understanding of relative importance statistics to multivariate designs. The authors review the concept of relative importance and discuss a new procedure for calculating estimates of importance in the presence of multiple correlated criteria. Finally, a published correlation matrix is reanalyzed and a Monte Carlo simulation conducted to compare the new procedure with another technique for estimating importance. Unlike canonical solutions, which are often uninterpretable, the proposed multivariate relative weights provide an intuitive index regarding the relationship between predictors and criteria. Implications for organizational researchers are discussed.     

The Relationship Quality Interview: evidence of reliability, convergent and divergent validity, and incremental utility

Relationship satisfaction and adjustment have been the target outcome variables for almost all couple research and therapies. In contrast, far less attention has been paid to the assessment of relationship quality. The present study introduces the Relationship Quality Interview (RQI), a semistructured, behaviorally anchored individual interview. The RQI was designed to provide a more objective assessment of relationship quality as a dynamic, dyadic construct across 5 dimensions: (a) quality of emotional intimacy in the relationship, (b) quality of the couple's sexual relationship, (c) quality of support transactions in the relationship, (d) quality of the couple's ability to share power in the relationship, and (e) quality of conflict/problem-solving interactions in the relationship. Psychometric properties of RQI ratings were examined through scores obtained from self-report questionnaires and behavioral observation data collected cross-sectionally from a sample of 91 dating participants and longitudinally from a sample of 101 married couples. RQI ratings demonstrated strong reliability (internal consistency, interrater agreement, interpartner agreement, and correlations among scales), convergent validity (correlations between RQI scale ratings and questionnaire scores assessing similar domains of relationship quality), and divergent validity (correlations between RQI scale ratings and (a) behavioral observation codes assessing related constructs, (b) global relationship satisfaction scores, and (c) scores on individual difference measures of related constructs). Clinical implications of the RQI for improving couple assessment and interventions are discussed.     

Anxiety responses to a divergent production task among high and low divergent performers

Undergraduate psychology students (4 men, 17 women) completed the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, wrote down as many uses as they could think of for each of a list of 30 items, and completed the anxiety inventory again. Divergent performance was defined as the total number of uses a subject listed. The hypothesis that divergent performance would be correlated with a reduction in state anxiety was confirmed.     

Creative mood swings: divergent and convergent thinking affect mood in opposite ways

Increasing evidence suggests that emotions affect cognitive processes. Recent approaches have also considered the opposite: that cognitive processes might affect people’s mood. Here we show that performing and, to a lesser degree, preparing for a creative thinking task induce systematic mood swings: Divergent thinking led to a more positive mood, whereas convergent thinking had the opposite effect. This pattern suggests that thought processes and mood are systematically related but the type of relationship is process-specific.     

The relative importance of psychological acceptance and emotional intelligence to workplace well-being

Psychological acceptance (acceptance) and emotional intelligence (EI) are two relatively new individual characteristics that are hypothesised to affect well-being and performance at work. This study compares both of them, in terms of their ability to predict various well-being outcomes (i.e. general mental health, physical well-being, and job satisfaction). In making this comparison, the effects of job control are accounted for; this is a work organisation variable that is consistently associated with occupational health and performance. Results from 290 United Kingdom workers showed that EI did not significantly predict any of the well-being outcomes, after accounting for acceptance and job control. Acceptance predicted general mental health and physical well-being but not job satisfaction, and job control was associated with job satisfaction only. Discussion focuses on the theoretical and applied implications of these findings. These include support for the suggestion that not controlling one's thoughts and feelings (as advocated by acceptance) may have greater benefits for mental well-being than attempting consciously to regulate them (as EI suggests).     

Effects of personality and threat of evaluation on divergent and convergent thinking

This study explores the effects of the Big Five personality traits and threat of evaluation on divergent and convergent thinking in a sample of 82 UK students. Results showed that Openness and Extraversion predicted divergent thinking under both threat of evaluation and no evaluation, whilst Neuroticism correlated significantly with divergent thinking (negatively) only under threat of evaluation. However, mediational analysis showed that the effects of Neuroticism on divergent thinking under threat of evaluation were fully accounted for by Extraversion. Thus neurotics’ divergent thinking was significantly more impaired because they were more introverted. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

The relative importance of two different mathematical abilities to mathematical achievement

Background. Two distinct abilities, mathematical reasoning and arithmetic skill, might make separate and specific contributions to mathematical achievement. However, there is little evidence to inform theory and educational practice on this matter. Aims. The aims of this study were (1) to assess whether mathematical reasoning and arithmetic make independent contributions to the longitudinal prediction of mathematical achievement over 5 years and (2) to test the specificity of this prediction. Sample. Data from Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) were available on 2,579 participants for analyses of KS2 achievement and on 1,680 for the analyses of KS3 achievement. Method. Hierarchical regression analyses were used to assess the independence and specificity of the contribution of mathematical reasoning and arithmetic skill to the prediction of achievement in KS2 and KS3 mathematics, science, and English. Age, intelligence, and working memory (WM) were controls in these analyses. Results. Mathematical reasoning and arithmetic did make independent contributions to the prediction of mathematical achievement; mathematical reasoning was by far the stronger predictor of the two. These predictions were specific in so far as these measures were more strongly related to mathematics than to science or English. Intelligence and WM were non‐specific predictors; intelligence contributed more to the prediction of science than of maths, and WM predicted maths and English equally well. Conclusions. There is clear justification for making a distinction between mathematical reasoning and arithmetic skills. The implication is that schools must plan explicitly to improve mathematical reasoning as well as arithmetic skills.     

Validation of the Social Appearance Anxiety Scale: factor, convergent, and divergent validity

The Social Appearance Anxiety Scale (SAAS) was created to assess fear of overall appearance evaluation. Initial psychometric work indicated that the measure had a single-factor structure and exhibited excellent internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and convergent validity. In the current study, the authors further examined the factor, convergent, and divergent validity of the SAAS in two samples of undergraduates. In Study 1 (N = 323), the authors tested the factor structure, convergent, and divergent validity of the SAAS with measures of the Big Five personality traits, negative affect, fear of negative evaluation, and social interaction anxiety. In Study 2 (N = 118), participants completed a body evaluation that included measurements of height, weight, and body fat content. The SAAS exhibited excellent convergent and divergent validity with self-report measures (i.e., self-esteem, trait anxiety, ethnic identity, and sympathy), predicted state anxiety experienced during the body evaluation, and predicted body fat content. In both studies, results confirmed a single-factor structure as the best fit to the data. These results lend additional support for the use of the SAAS as a valid measure of social appearance anxiety.     

Older age, traumatic brain injury, and cognitive slowing: some convergent and divergent findings

Reaction time (RT) meta-analyses of cognitive slowing indicate that all stages of processing slow equivalently and task independently among both older adults (J. Cerella & S. Hale, 1994) and adults who have suffered a traumatic brain injury (TBI; F. R. Ferraro, 1996). However, meta-analyses using both RT and P300 latency have revealed stage-specific and task-dependent changes among older individuals (T. R. Bashore, K. R. Ridderinkhof, & M. W. van der Molen, 1998). Presented in this article are a meta-analysis of the effect of TBI on processing speed, assessed using P300 latency and RT, and a qualitative review of the literature. They suggest that TBI induces differential slowing. Similarities in the effects of older age and TBI on processing speed are discussed and suggestions for future research on TBI-induced cognitive slowing are offered.