Psychological measures as predictors of pilot performance: a meta-analysis

The purposes of this study were to review the validity evidence for psychological measures used in pilot selection and to detect possible moderators for the relationship between predictors and pilot performance. A total of 66 independent samples from 50 studies were located and included in the meta-analysis. The best predictors of pilot performance were previous training experience (.30) and combined indexes, a combination of several cognitive and/or psychomotor tests (.37). The next best predictors were tests measuring cognitive (.24) and psychomotor/information-processing abilities (.24), as well as aviation information (.24) and biographical inventories (.23). The personality, intelligence, and academic tests yielded lowest mean validities (.14, .16, and .15, respectively). The analysis indicated that moderators might be operating for all test categories except academics, and the effect of several moderators were examined.     

Psychological treatment of depression: a review

The available empirical evidence on the efficacy of psychological intervention in depressive disorders is reviewed. No fully adequate study has yet appeared; but there seems sufficient consensus to justify the conclusion that psychological treatment can be effective in alleviating current depressive states and that more complex therapies involving both behavioural and cognitive elements appear the most promising. However, it remains to be seen whether the success of these techniques depends upon the type of depressive disorder manifested; and whether they are applicable across a full range of verbal reasoning ability and socio-economic class.     

Psychological predictors of eco-driving: A longitudinal study

Eco-driving has well-known positive effects on fuel economy and greenhouse-gas emissions. Moreover, eco-driving reduces road-traffic noise, which is a serious threat to the health and well-being of many people. We investigated the psychological predictors of the adoption of eco-driving from the perspective of road-traffic noise abatement. The data came from 890 car drivers who participated in a longitudinal survey over four months. Specifically, we tested the effects of the intention to prevent road-traffic noise, variables derived from the theory of planned behavior (social norm, perceived behavioral control, and attitude), and variables derived from the health action process approach (implementation intention, maintenance self-efficacy, and action control) on the intention to practice eco-driving and on eco-driving behavior. The intention to prevent road-traffic noise was not linked to the intention to practice eco-driving. The strongest predictors of the intention to practice eco-driving were attitude and perceived behavioral control. The strongest predictor of eco-driving behavior was action control. The link between behavioral intention and behavior was weak, indicating that drivers have difficulties putting their intention to practice eco-driving into action. Therefore, intervention efforts should directly address and support the transition from intention to behavior. This could be accomplished by providing reminders, which help to maintain behavioral intention, and by providing behavior feedback, which helps car drivers to monitor their behavior.     

Psychological predictors of geographical relocation: Case study of a plant shutdown

Although there has been considerable research examining how economic and demographic variables predict geographical mobility, there has been little research examining the efficacy of psychological variables. It was hypothesized that personality characteristics, attitudes, and intentions would predict whether or not blue collar workers relocated with their company following a plant shutdown. Discriminant analysis indicated that a number of these variables significantly predicted relocation after controlling for demographic variables. When the analysis compared relocators with non-relocators who were not eligible for a full pension, a smaller and somewhat different cluster of variables significantly predicted relocation. The results are discussed in terms of introducing psychological variables for predicting geographical mobility.This research was supported in part by a research gift from the Western Electric Foundation.The authors would like to thank Susan Dempsey for her assistance in collecting the data, David Lipsky and Jim Dworkin for their comments on an earlier draft of this paper, and George Foyo for helping make the study possible.     

Psychological determinants of sexual arousal: a review

The literature on the psychological determinants of genital and subjective sexual arousal is reviewed. Various psychological mechanisms are identified and in each instance the available empirical evidence is summarized. Areas requiring further research are indicated and suggestions for methodological improvements are presented.     

Psychological perspectives on the development of coronary heart disease

Psychological science has new opportunities to have major input into the understanding of the development of coronary heart disease. This article provides an overview of advances in understanding the etiology of heart disease, recently applied technologies for measuring early stages of heart disease, and an accumulating base of evidence on the psychosocial predictors of clinical and subclinical coronary disease. It suggests that it is now time to develop conceptual models that integrate our understanding of separate psychosocial predictors. It offers and provides preliminary evidence for a model that integrates socioeconomic status, environmental stress, and person-level factors from a life span perspective.     

Causal attributions for heart disease: A systematic review

Abstract

The aims of this systematic literature review are to describe the pattern of attributions made for the causes of heart disease, and to determine how this pattern varies with the method by which attributions are elicited, and the respondent group.

A search yielded 47 papers and reports, containing 54 datasets. Lifestyle factors and chronic stress were the most common causes cited across all datasets. Attributions to stressors and fate or luck were more likely to be reported in studies that used interval rating scales than in studies that used dichotomous ratings. Cardiac patients were more likely to mention stressors and fate or luck as causes of heart disease; non-patients rated being overweight and hypertensive as more important

The differences observed between the responses of patients and non-patients may be due to actor - observer differences, or to a methodological difference: patients are often asked to report their own experiences whereas non-patients are asked about the general case.     

Psychological approaches to panic disorder: a review

Panic disorder has been the subject of considerable research and controversy. Though biological conceptualizations have been predominant, psychological theorists have recently advanced conditioning, personality, and cognitive hypotheses to explain the etiology of panic disorder. The purpose of this article is to provide an empirical and conceptual analysis of these psychological hypotheses. This review covers variants of the "fear-of-fear" construal of panic disorder (i.e., Pavlovian interoceptive conditioning, catastrophic misinterpretation of bodily sensations, anxiety sensitivity), research on predictability (i.e., expectancies) and controllability, and research on information-processing biases believed to underlie the phenomenology of panic. Suggestions for future research are made.     

Effects of situational aggression cues: a quantitative review

Meta-analytic procedures were used to assess the degree to which aggression-related cues present in the environment facilitate aggressive responding among negatively aroused subjects. The first study, which examined the so-called weapons effect, the effect of name-mediated cues, and other cue effects, showed clear evidence that aggression cues augment aggressive responses in negatively aroused subjects. This was true for the overall analysis and for name-mediated cues, but confirmation of the weapons effect was restricted to cases wherein subject sophistication and evaluation apprehension were low. A second study used partial correlation analysis to assess independently the effects of seven potential mediators of aggression cue effects. Of these, target-based facilitation and harm capacity of the aggressive response were found to mediate the magnitude of cue-facilitated aggression. A third study showed that these mediators augmented cue effects among neutral as well as negatively aroused subjects. These outcomes are interpreted as emphasizing the role of cognitive factors in the expression of both impulsive and nonimpulsive aggression.     

Psychological testing with transsexuals: a 30-year review

This paper critically reviews over 30 years of psychological testing of transsexualism, during which time 41 studies have been published. A review of the psychological tests and methodology employed, the search for an adequate control group, and an analysis of the findings are presented. It is argued that we have reached a critical point in transsexual research. Researchers must reconsider the "hit or miss" approach to psychological testing with transsexuals and relate psychological testing to the actual clinical phenomenon of transsexualism; addressing the newer conceptualizations of transsexualism as a variant of borderline pathology.     

Psychological interventions for carers of people with dementia: A systematic review of quantitative and qualitative evidence

Rationale: Carers of people with dementia experience significant levels of stress in their everyday role. The National Dementia Strategy in England identifies the key role that carers play in supporting people with dementia living at home, often to the detriment of their social, emotional and physical health. Aims: To add to the substantive knowledge‐base by combining search criteria used by Pinquart and Sörensen (2006) and Gallagher‐Thompson and Coon (2007) to update the literature on psychological interventions for carers of people with dementia published between 2005 and 2011. Method: Following the study inclusion criteria, comprehensive searches were conducted using the electronic databases Medline, PsycINFO, ERIC, and PubMed. Twenty studies were identified, graded and synthesised into the reported systematic review with both quantitative and qualitative studies included to maximise practice application. Results: Consistent with previous findings, three categories of psychological intervention were identified: (i) psychoeducational‐skill building (n=8); (ii) psychotherapy‐counselling (n=1); (iii) multicomponent (n=6). Our review also identified a fourth intervention category, (iv) technology‐based (n=5). The majority of studies in the updated review examine the constructs of depression, burden, social support and well‐being. The development of focused interventions for carers, whether individually tailored interventions or group interventions around a common issue, was significant for developing practice. Future studies across all categories should continue to embed supervision arrangements within their psychological intervention protocols.     

Psychological predictors of weight regain in obesity

It is a consistent finding that, among obese patients, the weight lost as a result of the most widely available treatments for obesity is almost always regained. This relapse appears to be attributable to the individual's inability to persist with the behavioural strategies needed to maintain the new lower weight. Little research has investigated the psychological mechanisms that might account for this phenomenon. This study aimed to identify psychological factors that predict weight regain. Fifty-four women with obesity who had lost weight by attending community slimming clubs were interviewed immediately after losing 10% of their initial body weight, and then followed-up every 2 months for a period of 1 year by means of telephone interviews. The results identified two prospective predictors of weight regain: one cognitive factor (dichotomous thinking) and one historical variable (maximum lifetime weight). The finding that a specific cognitive style is a significant predictor of relapse has implications for the treatment of obesity.     

Psychological predictors of young adults' drinking behaviors

Path analyses using data from 72 men and 78 women between 22 and 32 years of age compared two models linking personality (conflict resolution styles, intimacy maturity, and occupational identity status) and social roles (family and work status) to young adults' alcohol use. Poor conflict resolution skills and less adult work statuses best accounted for men's excessive drinking, and problems with intimacy best accounted for women's use of alcohol to alleviate emotional distress. In addition, poor conflict resolution skills partly mediated the effects of parent's drinking on son's alcohol consumption. Occupational identity status and intimacy maturity correlated with men's use of drugs rather than men's alcohol use.     

Personality and leadership: a qualitative and quantitative review

This article provides a qualitative review of the trait perspective in leadership research, followed by a meta-analysis. The authors used the five-factor model as an organizing framework and meta-analyzed 222 correlations from 73 samples. Overall, the correlations with leadership were Neuroticism = -.24, Extraversion = .31, Openness to Experience = .24, Agreeableness = .08, and Conscientiousness = .28. Results indicated that the relations of Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness to Experience, and Conscientiousness with leadership generalized in that more than 90% of the individual correlations were greater than 0. Extraversion was the most consistent correlate of leadership across study settings and leadership criteria (leader emergence and leadership effectiveness). Overall, the five-factor model had a multiple correlation of .48 with leadership, indicating strong support for the leader trait perspective when traits are organized according to the five-factor model.     

Personality and sexual risk taking: a quantitative review

Findings from a quantitative review of the empirical research literature on normal personality and sexual risk taking are reported. The review focuses on domains identified in major models of normal personality representing the psychobiological and taxonomic perspectives. Focal sexual risk-taking behaviors were number of partners, unprotected sex, and high-risk sexual encounters (e.g., sex with a stranger). A comprehensive search produced 53 studies relevant to the review. A striking feature of the results is the paucity of research on domains of normal personality and sexual risk taking for all domains other than sensation seeking, which accounted for 64% of the effect sizes. The preponderance of studies (81%) took the psychobiological perspective and were published since 1990 (75%). Among the substantive findings were effects for sensation seeking, impulsivity, and agreeableness on all sexual risk-taking behaviors considered. Additionally, there were effects on specific behaviors for neuroticism and conscientiousness. The implications of these findings for future research on normal personality and sexual risk taking are discussed.     

Psychological and neurological predictors of abusive supervision

Although the negative effects of abusive supervision are well documented, less is known about the individual differences that drive supervisors to be abusive. We use a self‐control perspective to understand the unique roles of both psychological and neurological characteristics of supervisors in the prediction of abusive behavior. Specifically, we find a positive relationship between narcissism and abusive supervision, whereas political skill and intrinsic neurological connectivity in executive control regions of the brain negatively relate to abusive supervision. Our results further show that the relationship between narcissism and abusive supervision diminishes for those who are strong in terms of political skill. In addition, neurological executive control moderates the relationship between political skill and abusive behavior. When connectivity in executive control regions of the brain is lower, political skill becomes a more important factor in reducing the display of abusive behavior. Overall, we demonstrate how combinations of characteristics (both psychological and neurological) can provide a more in‐depth understanding of the emergence of abusive supervision.     

Psychological factors and depressive symptoms in ischemic heart disease.

The aim of this study was to determine whether learned helplessness, cognitive distortions, self-efficacy, and dispositional optimism assessed at Time 1 (T1; questionnaires mailed at 1 month postdischarge) would predict depressive symptoms at Time 2 (T2; questionnaires mailed at 1-year follow-up) in a sample of 86 patients hospitalized with ischemic heart disease. Multiple regression results indicated that optimism and cognitive distortions at T1 were significantly associated with T1 depressive symptoms after controlling for confounding variables. When the T1 psychological factors were analyzed with T2 depressive symptoms, only optimism continued to predict depressive symptoms after controlling for confounds and T1 depressive symptoms. The global expectancies that optimism assessed appeared to be more stable over time than the statelike beliefs of cognitive distortions and may have accounted for why optimism predicted T2 depressive symptoms.     

Factors influencing racial comparisons of self-esteem: a quantitative review

Research on racial comparisons of self-esteem was examined. Early research in this area, exemplified by the doll studies of racial preference, was viewed as demonstrating that Blacks have less self-regard than Whites. However, a meta-analytic synthesis of 261 comparisons, based largely on self-esteem scales and involving more than half a million respondents, revealed higher scores for Black than for White children, adolescents, and young adults. This analysis further revealed that the direction and magnitude of racial differences are influenced by such demographic characteristics as participant age and socioeconomic status, as well as by characteristics of the measuring instruments. Many findings--for example, that the self-esteem advantage for Black respondents increases with age and is related to the sex composition of the sample--underscore the need for long-term longitudinal studies of self-esteem development in male and female members of both racial groups.     

Psychological correlates of early onset of ischemic heart disease in a sample drawn from a Pakistani population

Even in the presence of substantial empirical evidence which proves that psychological risk factors play a significant role in onset of ischemic heart disease (IHD), in Pakistan researchers have not paid much attention to exploring these factors. This research was mainly undertaken to investigate whether psychological factors such as stress, anxiety, depression, anger, and hostility in their intense states are prevalent within the indigenous patients with IHD. It was hypothesized that: High levels of perceived stress will significantly increase risk for IHD versus lower levels of perceived stress; high levels of anxiety will significantly increase the risk for IHD versus lower levels of anxiety; high levels of depression will increase the chances of IHD versus lower levels. Likewise, it was proposed that elevated trait anger will significantly increase risk for IHD versus lower levels of trait anger and that higher levels of hostility significantly increase risk for IHD versus lower levels. A case–control research design was employed to conduct this study. To investigate the association of the abovementioned factors with IHD and to find whether these factors differ between cases and controls, we solicited a sample of 190 patients with confirmed diagnosis of IHD and 380 age‐ and gender‐matched community controls, who were free of IHD, aged 35 to 55 years. Standardized tools to measure psychological factors were translated and semistandardized into the national language and their psychometric properties were predetermined before use in this study. To infer the proposed hypotheses, multivariate binary logistic regression analysis was carried out. Results highlight significant association between stress, depression, anxiety, anger, and IHD. Implications for the implementation of routine screening for psychological factors, particularly stress, depression and anger, are proposed.