EXERCISES AND DIMENSIONS ARE THE CURRENCY OF ASSESSMENT CENTERS

A novel assessment center (AC) structure that models broad dimension factors, exercise factors, and a general performance factor is proposed and supported in 4 independent samples of AC ratings. Consistent with prior research, the variance attributable to dimension and exercise factors varied widely across ACs. To investigate the construct validity of these empirically supported components of AC ratings, the nomological network of broad dimensions, exercises, and general performance was examined. Results supported the criterion‐related validity of broad dimensions and exercises as predictors of effectiveness and success criteria as well as the incremental validity of broad dimensions beyond exercises and general performance. Finally, the relationships between individual differences and AC factors supported the construct validity of broad dimension factors and provide initial insight as to the meaning of exercise specific variance and general AC performance.     

Two Concepts or Two Approaches? A Bifactor Analysis of Psychological and Subjective Well-Being

Researchers often debate about whether there is a meaningful differentiation between psychological well-being and subjective well-being. One view argues that psychological and subjective well-being are distinct dimensions, whereas another view proposes that they are different perspectives on the same general construct and thus are more similar than different. The purpose of this investigation was to examine these two competing views by using a statistical approach, the bifactor model, that allows for an examination of the common variance shared by the two types of well-being and the unique variance specific to each. In one college sample and one nationally representative sample, the bifactor model revealed a strong general factor, which captures the common ground shared by the measures of psychological well-being and subjective well-being. The bifactor model also revealed four specific factors of psychological well-being and three specific factors of subjective well-being, after partialling out the general well-being factor. We further examined the relations of the specific factors of psychological and subjective well-being to external measures. The specific factors demonstrated incremental predictive power, independent of the general well-being factor. These results suggest that psychological well-being and subjective well-being are strongly related at the general construct level, but their individual components are distinct once their overlap with the general construct of well-being is partialled out. The findings thus indicate that both perspectives have merit, depending on the level of analysis.     

Do facial first impressions reflect a shared social reality?

Influential facial impression models have repeatedly shown that trustworthiness, youthful–attractiveness, and dominance dimensions subserve a wide variety of first impressions formed from strangers’ faces, suggestive of a shared social reality. However, these models are built from impressions aggregated across observers. Critically, recent work has now shown substantial inter-observer differences in facial impressions, raising the important question of whether these dimensional models based on aggregated group data are meaningful at the individual observer level. We addressed this question with a novel case series approach, using factor analyses of ratings of twelve different traits to build individual models of facial impressions for different observers. Strikingly, three dimensions of trustworthiness, youthful/attractiveness, and competence/dominance appeared across the majority of these individual observer models, demonstrating that the dimensional approach is indeed meaningful at the individual level. Nonetheless, we also found differences in the stability of the competence/dominance dimension across observers. Taken together, results suggest that individual differences in impressions arise in the context of a largely common structure that supports a shared social reality.     

Perceptions of Older Versus Younger Workers in Terms of Big Five Facets,Proactive Personality,Cognitive Ability,and Job Performance

We examined whether older and younger workers are perceived differently in terms of job‐related individual differences and dimensions of job performance. Findings across 2 experimental studies indicated that older workers were perceived more positively in terms of crystallized intelligence and facets of conscientiousness, while younger workers were perceived more positively in terms of fluid intelligence and proactive personality. With regard to work performance, older workers were perceived more positively in terms of organizational citizenship behavior directed toward the organization. Similar perceptions were held by older and younger respondents. Results illustrate that job performance dimensions and work‐related individual differences may provide useful frameworks for understanding stereotypes regarding older and younger workers.     

The facets of anxiety sensitivity represented in the childhood anxiety sensitivity index: confirmatory analyses of factor models from past studies

Results of past factor analytic studies of the Childhood Anxiety Sensitivity Index and Anxiety Sensitivity Index were used to formulate hypotheses about factor models of anxiety sensitivity. Using a nonclinical sample of 767 children and adolescents and confirmatory factor analysis, hypothesized models with 2, 3, and 4 lower order factors (facets) were tested. Goodness-of-fit criteria indicated that a model with 4 facets fits these data well. Support was found for factorial invariance of the 4 facets across age and gender, using nonclinical and clinical samples. Results support a hierarchical factor model in that there was a strong general factor, explaining 71% of the variance. Findings are discussed in the context of anxiety sensitivity theory and research with children and adolescents.     

Contemporary perspectives on the study of psychological climate: A commentary

At the individual level of analysis, we address how work environment perceptions (psychological climate) are conceptualized and measured with respect to three perspectives in the applied psychology literature: (1) social constructionist, (2) general psychological, and (3) multiple stakeholder. Similarities and differences between these perspectives regarding the hypothesized bases of work environment perceptions, factor models for capturing these perceptions, and the generality/specificity of psychological climate factors are discussed. A general framework for conceptualizing and measuring climate perceptions with respect to different referents, organizational levels, industries or sectors, and stakeholder groups is then presented. This framework is posited to include core, generalizable dimensions associated with each relevant stakeholder group. Finally, we recommend methods and discuss future research directions related to the aggregation of individual level climate perceptions to organizational levels.     

RATER SOURCE EFFECTS ARE ALIVE AND WELL AFTER ALL

Recent research has questioned the importance of rater perspective effects on multisource performance ratings (MSPRs). Although making a valuable contribution, we hypothesize that this research has obscured evidence for systematic rater source effects as a result of misspecified models of the structure of multisource performance ratings and inappropriate analytic methods. Accordingly, this study provides a reexamination of the impact of rater source on multisource performance ratings by presenting a set of confirmatory factor analyses of two large samples of multisource performance rating data in which source effects are modeled in the form of second-order factors. Hierarchical confirmatory factor analysis of both samples revealed that the structure of multisource performance ratings can be characterized by general performance, dimensional performance, idiosyncratic rater, and source factors, and that source factors explain (much) more variance in multisource performance ratings whereas general performance explains (much) less variance than was previously believed. These results reinforce the value of collecting performance data from raters occupying different organizational levels and have important implications for research and practice.     

The sensory‐cognition association in adulthood: Different magnitudes for processing speed,inhibition, episodic memory,and false memory?

One hundred and forty-six participants (age range = 20-80) completed a battery of tests designed to measure visual acuity, processing speed, inhibition, episodic memory and false memory. The relations between visual acuity and general cognitive ability, as well as between visual acuity and the indicators of this construct, were evaluated with structural equation modeling. The measurement model confirmed that the indicators of the individual cognitive abilities could be grouped into a general cognitive functioning factor. However, the relation between episodic and false memory was not completely explained by the shared association with this general factor. Furthermore, visual acuity predicted approximately half of the age-related variance in the general cognition factor. Also, the proportion of age-related variance shared with vision was highest in inhibition and lowest in false memory. The results are discussed in the light of common cause accounts of cognitive aging.     

Family members' unique perspectives of the family: examining their scope, size, and relations to individual adjustment

Using the McMaster Family Assessment Device (Epstein, Baldwin, & Bishop, 1983) and incorporating the perspectives of adolescent, mother, and father, this study examined each family member's "unique perspective" or nonshared, idiosyncratic view of the family. We used a modified multitrait-multimethod confirmatory factor analysis that (a) isolated for each family member's 6 reports of family dysfunction the nonshared variance (a combination of variance idiosyncratic to the individual and measurement error) from variance shared by 1 or more family members and (b) extracted common variance across each family member's set of nonshared variances. The sample included 128 families from a U.S. East Coast metropolitan area. Each family member's unique perspective generalized across his or her different reports of family dysfunction and accounted for a sizable proportion of his or her own variance in reports of family dysfunction. In addition, after holding level of dysfunction constant across families and controlling for a family's shared variance (agreement regarding family dysfunction), each family member's unique perspective was associated with his or her own adjustment. Future applications and competing alternatives for what these "unique perspectives" reflect about the family are discussed.     

组织承诺研究的进展与展望

该文采取多测度分析的方法,从理论基础,概念性定义和操作定义,量表的信度、效度和影响变量等方面对组织承诺的已有研究进行回顾和分析。发现现有的组织承诺概念比较冗余,需要进行有效的整合,现有组织承诺量表需要在内容效度、汇聚效度和区分效度等指标上进行深入探索;目前关于组织承诺的研究多从离职/留职意向的角度进行探讨,缺乏从雇佣关系的角度进行的系统研究;需要进行纵向研究以获得组织承诺和其他一些员工态度变量之间的因果关系;后续研究可以从中介变量和调节变量的角度,详细考察组织承诺的不同维度的交互作用。     

The heritability of conscientiousness facets and their relationship to IQ and academic achievement

The heritability of conscientiousness has been one of the least explored of the NEO PI domains. Here we focus on the facet scales of the conscientiousness domain, estimating both their heritability and their correlations with measures of IQ and academic achievement (Queensland Core Skills Test; QCST) in a sample of adolescent twins and their non-twin siblings. Our findings confirmed positive associations between IQ and the facets of Competence and Dutifulness (ranging 0.11–0.27), with academic achievement showing correlations of 0.27 and 0.15 with these same facets and 0.15 with Deliberation. All conscientiousness facets were influenced by genes (broad sense heritabilities ranging 0.18–0.49) and unique environment, but common environment was judged unimportant. A multivariate genetic analysis including Competence, Dutifulness, IQ (verbal, performance) and QCST scores showed that common variance was primarily explained by a general additive genetic factor (loadings ranging 0.15–0.84). Future multivariate genetic analysis which incorporates Openness to Experience dimensions may improve the interpretation of these findings.     

Mapping Mindfulness Facets Onto Dimensions of Anxiety and Depression

Mindfulness has been associated with anxiety and depression, but the ways in which specific facets of mindfulness relate to symptoms of anxiety and depression remains unclear. The purpose of the current study was to investigate associations between specific facets of mindfulness (e.g., observing, describing, nonjudging, acting with awareness, and nonreactivity) and dimensions of anxiety and depression symptoms (e.g., anxious arousal, general distress-anxiety, general distress-depression, and anhedonic depression) while controlling for shared variance among variables. Participants were 187 treatment-seeking adults. Mindfulness was measured using the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire and symptoms of depression and anxiety were measured using the Mood and Anxiety Symptom Questionnaire. Bivariate correlations showed that all facets of mindfulness were significantly related to all dimensions of anxiety and depression, with two exceptions: describing was unrelated to general distress-anxiety, and observing was unrelated to all symptom clusters. Path analysis was used to simultaneously examine associations between mindfulness facets and depression and anxiety symptoms. Significant and marginally significant pathways were retained to construct a more parsimonious model and model fit indices were examined. The parsimonious model indicated that nonreactivity was significantly inversely associated with general distress anxiety symptoms. Describing was significantly inversely associated with anxious arousal, while observing was significantly positively associated with it. Nonjudging and nonreactivity were significantly inversely related to general distress-depression and anhedonic depression symptomatology. Acting with awareness was not significantly associated with any dimensions of anxiety or depression. Findings support associations between specific facets of mindfulness and dimensions of anxiety and depression and highlight the potential utility of targeting these specific aspects of mindfulness in interventions for anxiety and mood disorders.     

Multifaceted Personality Predictors of Workplace Safety Performance: More Than Conscientiousness

This article concerns individual differences in workplace safety behavior. We identify six performance dimensions related to overall safety performance, which in turn, leads to occupational accidents and injuries. We define these dimensions and develop personality-based safety scales to predict them by combining facets of Five-Factor Model scales. Next, we validate these safety scales by aggregating results from independent criterion-related studies and show that a composite safety scale is more predictive of overall safety performance than individual Five-Factor Model scales. Also, results show that safety scales predict accidents and injuries, but this relationship is mediated by safety performance. We consider implications of using individual differences to study links between personality, safety performance, and accidents and injuries in selection, training, and organizational safety culture.     

Using a Few Snapshots to Distinguish Mountains from Waves: Weak Factorial Invariance in the Context of Trait-State Research

In this article, we show that the underlying dimensions obtained when factor analyzing cross-sectional data actually form a mix of within-person state dimensions and between-person trait dimensions. We propose a factor analytical model that distinguishes between four independent sources of variance: common trait, unique trait, common state, and unique state. We show that by testing whether there is weak factorial invariance across the trait and state factor structures, we can tackle the fundamental question first raised by Cattell; that is, are within-person state dimensions qualitatively the same as between-person trait dimensions? Furthermore, we discuss how this model is related to other trait-state factor models, and we illustrate its use with two empirical data sets. We end by discussing the implications for cross-sectional factor analysis and suggest potential future developments.     

Emotion regulation mediates relationships between mindfulness facets and aggression dimensions

Recent years have witnessed an increase of research on socio-affective factors that can explain individual differences in aggressive tendencies across community and offender populations. Specifically, mindfulness and emotion regulation have emerged as important factors, which could also constitute important prevention and treatment targets. Yet, recent studies have advanced the possibility that mindfulness may also have a “dark” side, being associated with increased levels of aggression-related variables, especially when accounting for the variance associated with emotion regulation. The present study sought to elucidate relationships among mindfulness, emotion regulation, and aggression dimensions (i.e., verbal and physical aggression, anger, and hostility) across violent offender (N = 397) and community (N = 324) samples. Results revealed expected associations between both mindfulness and emotion regulation and aggression dimensions, such that greater impairments in mindfulness and emotion regulation were related to increased levels of aggression across samples. Further, analyses of indirect effects revealed that a latent emotion dysregulation factor accounted for (i.e., mediated) relationships between mindfulness facets and aggression dimensions in both samples. Previously reported positive associations between the residual variance in mindfulness scales (i.e., controlling for emotion regulation) and aggression-related variables were not replicated in the current samples. Taken together, findings suggest that mindfulness and emotion regulation have unequivocal relations with lower levels of aggression, and should therefore be considered as relevant targets for prevention and treatment programs aimed at reducing aggressive tendencies.     

Climate perceptions matter: a meta-analytic path analysis relating molar climate,cognitive and affective states,and individual level work outcomes

Although workplace climate has been extensively studied, the research has not led to firm conclusions as to its relationship with individual level work outcomes. The authors used C. Ostroff's (1993) taxonomy to organize dimensions labeled as workplace climate and then used meta-analytic techniques to test a path analytic model. The model posited that climate affects individual level outcomes through its impact on underlying cognitive and affective states. An extensive literature search yielded 51 empirical studies with 70 samples. The results suggest that the 3 higher order facets of climate (affective, cognitive, and instrumental) affected individual level outcomes of job performance, psychological well-being, and withdrawal through their impact on organizational commitment and job satisfaction.     

The Structure and Sources of Right‐wing Authoritarianism and Social Dominance Orientation

Right‐wing authoritarianism (RWA) and social dominance orientation (SDO) are widely used constructs in research on social and political attitudes. This study examined their hierarchical and correlative structure (across sexes, generations and rater perspectives), as well as how genetic and environmental factors may contribute to individual differences in them (using different rater perspectives and nuclear twin family data). We found a substantive common aspect (beyond shared artificial variance arising from socially desirable responding) underlying both RWA and SDO: aggression against subordinate groups. We discussed how this aspect could help to explain the commonly reported correlation between the two concepts in Western countries. Estimates of genetic and environmental components in RWA and SDO based on self‐reports were quite comparable with those based on peer reports. When controlling for error variance and taking assortative mating into account, individual differences in RWA were primarily due to genetic contributions including genotype–environment correlation, whereas variance in SDO was largely attributable to environmental sources shared and not shared by twins. The findings are discussed in terms of the utility of RWA and SDO as basic constructs to describe individual differences in social attitudes and with respect to the different patterns of genetic and environmental influences that underlie them. Copyright © 2016 European Association of Personality Psychology     

Canaries in the coalmine: On the measurement and correlates of organizational threat recognition

This research expands the job performance domain by introducing organizational threat recognition as a meaningful criterion construct. Threat recognition is conceptualized as consisting of two separate aspects of behaviour—detecting and expressing workplace or organizational threats. To assess these dimensions, we developed two, six-item measures and had 244 workers respond to these items and to a series of individual difference measures. Psychometric results, including exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, supported the a priori factor structure of these measures and indicated that these dimensions are distinguishable from each other and from task performance. Furthermore, correlations involving the individual difference variables revealed that several of these variables including positive affectivity, job tenure, and affective commitment were more strongly related to the threat dimensions than to task performance.     

Heritabilities of Common and Measure-Specific Components of the Big Five Personality Factors

Three different measures of the Big Five personality dimensions were developed from the battery of questionnaires used in the National Merit Twin Study: one from trait self-rating scales, one from personality inventory items, and one from an adjective check list. Behavior-genetic models were fit to what the three measures had in common, and to the variance distinctive to each. The results of the model fitting agreed with other recent studies in showing the Big Five dimensions to be substantially and about equally heritable, with little or no contribution of shared family environment. Heritabilities for males and females did not differ significantly. For Agreeableness and Conscientiousness, some effect of shared environment was found for measure-specific variance on the personality inventory, and for Extraversion and Neuroticism, models involving nonadditive genetic variance or twin contrast effects provided slightly better fits.     

Re-examining the Relationship Between Need for Cognition and Creativity: Predicting Creative Problem Solving Across Multiple Domains

Prior studies have demonstrated inconsistent findings with regard to the relationship between need for cognition and creativity. In our study, measurement issues were explored as a potential source of these inconsistencies. Structural equation modeling techniques were used to examine the factor structure underlying the 18-item need for cognition scale in three independent samples drawn from three prior studies. In addition, the relationships between need for cognition and the quality, originality, and elegance of creative problem solutions across multiple domains of performance were analyzed. Across all 3 samples, the bifactor model fit the data better than the 2-factor and 1-factor need for cognition models. After controlling for method-specific variance, the trait factor of the bifactor model showed consistently positive relationships with all 3 facets of creative performance and showed stronger relationships with these facets than the composite score results reported in prior studies. Implications for research and practice are discussed.