Identification,Reflection, And Correlation: Problems In The Bases Of Repertory Grid Measures

Repertory grids, deriving from George Kelly's personal construct theory, have been used to provide measures of a number of personality and cognitive variables. Several of these grid measures, such as the identification index, some measures of cognitive complexity, and other indices extracted from factor analyses of grids, are based on correlations between the columns (elements) of the grid data matrix. These measures are problematic and unstable because the intercolumn correlations depend on the direction of scoring across each of the matrix rows (constructs). This direction is not guided by explicit or theoretically justified rules and appears to be arbitrary and inconsistent between researchers. Also, correlation is a poor measure of element similarity, the basis of the identification measure. The importance of the valuating aspect of construing may provide a basis for the standardization of scoring. And scoring from the valued pole of a construct may help bring stability and meaning to the correlation-based measures.     

Qualitative Grids,the Relationality Corollary and the Levels of Interpersonal Construing

Qualitative grids are powerful tools for mapping interpersonal construing and provide a new method of interviewing, research and intervention into social situations. This article introduces some of their forms after discussing the theoretical framework from which they are derived. Although they are based within personal and relational construct psychology, they can be used within any theoretical approach interested in the study of and intervention in human relationships. Kelly's sociality corollary is a deeply heuristic formulation that presages many similar concepts in contemporary use, such as theory of mind and mentalization. But the corollary is open to critique and further elaboration. As originally stated, it is restricted to the construing of one other person or position in a relationship. This enables us to elaborate the relationality corollary that includes a person's construing of relationships and interactions with two or more others, giving us a deeper understanding of group situations. This involves developing a conception of different levels of interpersonal construing. These can be nicely captured using qualitative grids, and an understanding of this helps the interviewer in designing the grid form suitable for the task in hand.     

APPROACHING ACCOUNTABILITY IN PSYCHOTHERAPY

Abstract

Comprehensive construing refers to a process whereby events that have previously been construed in a variety of ways come to be subsumed within a superordinate construct. Occurring within a broadened perceptual field and incorporating existing specialized knowledge, comprehensive constructs may lead to an integrated understanding within a higher-order revised framework. Parallel processes can be seen in scientific discovery from the standpoint of Polanyi's conception of “personal knowledge,” in cognitive stage transitions outlined by Pioget's genetic epistemology, in Buckminster Fuller's “comprehensivism,” and in comprehensive approaches to education and science.     

Personal Construction of Family Relationships: The Relation of Commonality and Sociality to Family Satisfaction for Parents and Adolescents

This study tested the hypothesis that family members showing greater commonality (similarity) and sociality (predictive accuracy) in their construing of family relationships would display greater satisfaction with those relationships than would individuals in families whose relational construing was more discrepant and unpredictable. Forty-seven family triads participated in the study, including a mother, father, and adolescent from each family. Measures of commonality and sociality in the construction of family relationships derived from a family relationships grid were compared to measures of family structure, including the Family Cohesion and Adaptability Evaluation Scale (FACES-II) (Olson, Portner, & Bell, 1982) and the Parent-Adolescent Communication Scale (PACS) (Barnes & Olson, 1982). The findings suggest that members' perceptions of the family as emotionally close, flexible, and communicative may not represent independent aspects of the family structure, at least within the present nonclinical sample. Comparison of the family relationship grids with the FACES-H and PACS demonstrated that commonality and sociality among family members was highly related to mothers' and adolescents' family satisfaction, but was much less predictive of that of the father.     

Distraction,counterarguing and the internalization of attitude change

The hypothesis that distraction during a persuasive communication enhances the resulting attitude change by disrupting counterarguing was critically examined. Although previous research using Brock's postcommunication counterarguing index has shown that distraction inhibits counterarguing, the relationship was re-evaluated in the present experiments with a more direct measure of counterarguing. In these experiments, the direct measure of counterarguing was shown to increase with distraction, contradicting hypotheses that attribute the distraction effect to counterarguing disruption. Furthermore, with a wide range of distraction, Brock's measure was nonmonotonically related to distraction. Since observed attitude change is also predicted to be nonmonotonically related to distraction, Brock's index was interpreted us a correlate rather than a mediator of measured attitude change. The results suggested that distraction actually inhibits the internalization of the message and that the apparently enhancing effects of distraction are a result of the demand characteristics and/or evaluation apprehension created by the experimental task of paying attention to both a message and a distractor. The implications of the results for the theoretical role of counterarguing in mediating the internalization of persuasive communications were discussed.     

Personal Constructs of Students with Eating Disorders: Implications for Counselling

Members of two self-help groupsfor university andpolytechnic students with eating disorders were asked to generale personal constructs. The analysis of the subsequent grids showed that the students were concerned with similar emotional issues. Il also produceda significant difference between ratings of'self and 'ideal self, butfailed to produce evidence of' tight' construing. Discussion ofthe grids made a positive contribution to the self-help process.     

Seeing oneself in one’s choices: Construal level and self-pertinence of electoral and consumer decisions

Building on previous research examining the implications for self-regulation and decision making of construing action at varying levels of abstraction, the authors proposed that construing action in terms of its abstract purposes facilitates orienting one’s decisions toward the standards, characteristics, and goals that define one’s desired self-concept. Consistent with this proposal, desiring for oneself a political candidate’s personal qualities predicted evaluating favorably (in Study 1) and voting for (in Study 2) that candidate to a greater extent among participants focused on the distal future (and presumably construing action at a relatively high-level of abstraction) than the proximal future (and presumably construing action at a relatively low-level of abstraction). Moreover, individuals chronically construing action in high-level terms responded more favorably to advertisements appealing to their desired self-concept (in Study 3) than to product quality. These findings’ implications for decision making are discussed.     

Relating action to abstract goals increases physical activity reported a week later

ObjectiveThe primary aim of the present study was to investigate whether construing action abstractly versus concretely increases physical activity over a one-week period.Design and methodAn experimental study was conducted in which participants were asked to commit to engaging in physical activity at least four times in the coming week. After making this commitment, participants were assigned randomly to think about the concrete procedures or the abstract purpose of their actions. Additionally, in an attempt to induce differences in level of goal conflict, participants were assigned randomly to receive a reminder of a different or consistent goal. The main outcome variable of interest was the number of minutes spent on physical activity over the following 7-day period.ResultsConsistent with the hypothesis, participants in the abstract condition reported engaging in significantly more minutes of physical activity than did those in the concrete condition. Level of goal conflict did not significantly impact physical activity. The effect of abstract versus concrete thinking on physical activity also was related to the processing of negative affect.ConclusionBy providing evidence that construing action abstractly impacts physical activity, the present investigation makes an important addition to research aiming to identify effective means of increasing physical activity.     

How Lending Officers Construe Assessments of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise Loan Applications: A Repertory Grid Study

Repertory grid technique and principal component analysis were used to map and analyze how 75 lending officers (LOs) viewed their assessments of small and medium-sized enterprises’ loan applications in one bank and region. A standard set of elements and constructs, derived during pre- and pilot studies, was used. Analysis of individual grids demonstrated that the principal components indicated the existence of similarities in LOs’ construing at an aggregated level. Analysis of the mean grid of all respondents indicated that the LOs were encouraged by the bank's lending strategy and supporting system(s) to perform “procedural lending” with a focus on hard and future-oriented information. At the same time, the LOs deemphasized relationship lending, in particular, personal relationships.     

Children as psychologists: The later correlates of individual differences in understanding of emotions and other minds

Abstract

The sequelae of individual differences in children's understanding of emotions and of other minds were investigated in a longitudinal study of 46 children. At 40 months, differences in the children's understanding of emotions were not significantly related to their ability to explain behaviour in terms of beliefs within a false belief paradigm. Follow-up in kindergarten showed that early emotion understanding was related to children's positive perception of their peer experiences, to their understanding of mixed emotions, and their moral sensibility as kindergarteners. Early understanding of other minds was, in contrast, related to negative initial perceptions of school, and sensitivity to teacher criticism. These differences in sequelae highlight the importance of differentiating the emotional and cognitive components of social understanding in framing developmental questions.     

Rasch calibration of a unidimensional perfectionism inventory for sport

ObjectiveThe purposes of this study were to generate and calibrate a unidimensional sports perfectionism scale for competitive athletes using the Rasch model, and validate the scale through the convergent and known-difference validity approach.MethodThe instrument, called the Sport Perfectionism Scale (SPS), was administered to 323 undergraduate students at a university in the southeastern U.S., ranging in age from 17 to 44 yrs, who previously competed on their high school team or currently compete at the intercollegiate level.ResultsUsing the Rasch model, the level of item difficulty (i.e., most and least difficult) and the athlete's level (i.e., intensity) of perfectionism were estimated. Model-data fit was determined by Infit and Outfit statistics (≥0.5 and ≤1.5). With the exception of one item, the model fits the data well. Rasch analysis supported the measure of perfectionism in sport as a unidimensional construct. Data from the SPS were positively related with those from Stoeber, Otto, Pescheck, Becker, and Stoll's ([2007]. Perfectionism and competitive anxiety in athletes: differentiating striving for perfection and negative reactions to imperfection. Personality and Individual Differences, 42, 959–969.) Perfectionism During Competitions measure (r = 0.63), and there was a significant difference in athlete's perfectionism between levels of competition, F (3, 314) = 5.21, p = 0.002, partial eta-squared, 0.05. This result supports convergent and known-difference evidence of validity for the SPS.ConclusionsThese results lend credence to using the Rasch model as a unique approach to validate evidence of perfectionism as a unidimensional construct in competitive sport.     

Personality Correlates of Anorexic Symptomatology in Female Undergraduates

In this study, the authors examined personality correlates (obsessiveness, dependency, self-directed hostility, and assertiveness) of anorexic symptomatology in female undergraduates. Regression analyses demonstrated that only obsessiveness and emotional reliance on another person (a measure of dependency) were related to anorexic symptoms, accounting for 19% of the variance. These findings are discussed in relation to S. Orbach's (1985, 1986) and other researchers' concept of the anorexic personality. Implications for therapeutic interventions and directions for future research are provided.     

Positive-negative asymmetry and bipolar contrast

Abstract

Repertory grids in which personal acquaintances were evaluated on the basis of bipolar constructs (e.g., generous-stingy) were completed by 58 undergraduates. A “person format”, with all constructs applied to each acquaintance in turn, was assigned randomly to 29 students; a “construct format”, in which these acquaintances were evaluated successively on only 1 construct at a time, was assigned to the other 29. The relative frequency of positive evaluations in the construct format grids (0.62) was consistent with the golden section hypothesis, whereas that in the person format grids (0.66) was significantly higher. Theoretical implications of these findings were discussed in terms of H. Frank's (1964) theoretical definition of strikingness and V. A. Lefebvre's (1990) computational model of reflexion.     

Sample size and bentler and Bonett's nonnormed fit index

Bentler and Bonett's nonnormed fit index is a widely used measure of goodness of fit for the analysis of covariance structures. This note shows that contrary to what has been claimed the nonnormed fit index is dependent on sample size. Specifically for a constant value of a fitting function, the nonnormed index is inversely related to sample size. A simple alternative fit measure is proposed that removes this dependency. In addition, it is shown that this new measure as well as the old nonnormed fit index can be applied to any fitting function that measures the deviation of the observed covariance matrix from the covariance matrix implied by the parameter estimates for a model.     

Letters of Galileo's Daughter: A Historical Application of the Golden Section Hypothesis

The golden section has been shown to be a robust feature of the connotative structure of repertory grids. This article extends the research with repertory grids by providing an analysis of the connotative structure of a historical collection of 124 letters written to Galileo by his eldest daughter, Suor Maria Celeste. I found that the mean level of positive connotation in the letters is quite close to the golden section. This result suggests that the golden section is an underlying connotative feature of the letters Maria Celeste wrote to Galileo, and it provides further support for the golden section hypothesis that the construing person strikes a balance between negative and positive experiences in which negative experiences are focal relative to a background of positive experiences.     

The Assessment of State and Trait Anxiety with the Rorschach Test

The literature on the assessment of anxiety with the Rorschach Test was reviewed in terms of Spielberger's conception of anxiety as a relatively stable personality disposition (A-Trait), and as a transitory emotional state (A-State). On the basis of the research evidence, it was concluded that: (1) Shading variables are the best Rorschach measures of A-State; (2) Movement appears to be the most promising Rorschach variable for measuring A-Trait; (3) Longer reaction times and a reduction in the total number of responses seem to reflect defensive reactions of caution and guardedness that accompany high levels of A-State; (4) Elizur's RCT anxiety scale appears to be more closely related to A-Trait than A-State, but may be a confounded measure of both.     

Principal Component Analysis of the College Date Rape Attitude Survey (CDRAS)

ABSTRACT

The College Date Rape Attitude Survey (CDRAS), a measure intended to assess attitudes related to risk for committing rape in adolescents and young adults, was examined to determine the principal component structure of rape-related attitudes in data collected on an undergraduate college sample. Results provide evidence that responses to the instrument are reliable with regard to internal consistency, and that the CDRAS measures four rape-related attitudes: Entitlement, Blame Shifting, Traditional Roles, and Overwhelming Sexual Arousal. The CDRAS could be used to elicit information about student's attitudes, which could then be used to develop, implement, and evaluate an intervention specific to the needs of that population.     

Development and validation of the coach's task presentation scale: A quantitative self-report instrument

ObjectiveA major concern for coaches is the transmission of effective information in the moments before sport practice, when they communicate to players what they are supposed to do and how (Rink, 1994). The present study's main objective was to cover a gap in the sport psychology measurement field and to develop and validate a quantitative self-report instrument to measure the effectiveness of coaches' task presentation for athletes. The resulting instrument was the Escala de Presentación de las Tareas por Parte del Entrenador (EPTE) [Coach's Task Presentation Scale].DesignThe two studies developed to validate the EPTE used a cross-sectional research design.MethodParticipants in Study 1 included 830 college athletes aged between 18 and 27, who completed the EPTE. Participants in Study 2 included 677 college athletes aged between 17 and 29, who completed the EPTE and other questionnaires measuring coach's interpersonal style (autonomy support and controlling style) and basic psychological needs satisfaction/thwarting. Study 1 comprised translation, item formulation and examination of the reliability and factorial structure of the EPTE. Study 2 provided evidence of factorial validity and evidence of validity based on relationships with other variables in the context of the Self Determination Theory (Deci & Ryan, 2000).ResultsThe results of reliability analysis and the different sources of validity provided, demonstrated the instrument's adequacy in terms of psychometric properties.ConclusionsThe EPTE is a valid, reliable scale that can be used to measure the effectiveness of task presentation by coaches, according to the perception of athletes.     

Self-Characterization and Attachment Style: A Creative Method of Investigating Children's Construing

This study had the aims of evaluating the self-characterization technique as a research instrument with school-age children and investigating whether and how representations of self and others vary as a function of age, gender, and attachment style. Self-characterizations completed by 103 Italian children, 47 boys and 56 girls, aged between 7 and 11 years, were analyzed using an ad hoc coding grid. The Separation Anxiety Test was administered to evaluate children's attachment style. Age predicted the process of construing as well as specific content features of the texts, such as level of abstraction and the type of construct used. In addition, gender was related to the construing process and the expression of emotion, whereas attachment style was associated mainly with stability of self-image and representation of relationships, and in consequence, the emotional aspects of identity.