Broadening the concept of temperament: From disposition to hypothetical construct

This article discusses the personological vs. relational approach to temperament. The first approach, which views temperament as a relatively permanent and cross-situationally consistent disposition, is dominant. The present article presents arguments in favour of broadening the concept of temperament. This newly broadened concept will also include relatively stable determinants of behaviour dynamics specific to certain classes of situations. Moreover, temperament is defined as an element of the system of stimulation regulation. Temperament is viewed as a hypothetical construct. The surplus meaning characteristic of such hypothetical constructs is associated in this case with optimum stimulation as a regulatory standard, and with properties of the system of stimulation regulation. It is also connected with the open question of the degree of differentiation of temperament dimensions.     

Conditioned suppression of behavior maintained by intracranial stimulation as a function of stimulation intensity.

Conditioned suppression was demonstrated in two experiments with rats lever pressing on a fixed-ration 1 schedule for lateral hypothalamic intracranaial stimulation (ICS)'n Experiment I, conditioned suppression of responding for low-intensity ICS was obtained with a moderate intensity of foot shock, In Experiment II, low and high intensities of ICS were alternated within the same session and the same animal The suppression that was exhibited with low intensity ICS was minimal or absent with high-intensity stimulation, despite the pairing of foot shock with each warning stimulus. Conditioned suppression was a function of ICS intensity, and was independent of response rates. The inverse relationship between ICS intensity and degree os suppression is consistent with a motivational analysis of conditioned suppression. Previous reports of resistance to suppression of behaviors maintained by ICS may now be attributed to the use of high-intensity stimulation.     

Inspiration as a psychological construct

Inspiration has received little theoretical or empirical attention within psychology. Inspiration is conceptualized herein as a general construct characterized by evocation, motivation, and transcendence. In Studies 1a and 1b, a trait measure of inspiration was developed and was found to have strong psychometric properties. Studies 2a-2c documented a nomological network consistent with the present conceptualization. Study 3 related inspiration to the holding of U.S. patents. Study 4 linked trait inspiration to daily experiences of inspiration, extended the nomological network to the state level, documented antecedents and consequences, and established incremental validity. This research provides a foundation for further study of inspiration, both as a general construct and in specific content domains (e.g., religion, creativity, interpersonal relations).     

Examining a multidimensional model of student motivation and engagement using a construct validation approach

Background. This study seeks to examine a multidimensional model of student motivation and engagement using within‐ and between‐network construct validation approaches. Aims. The study tests the first‐ and higher‐order factor structure of the motivation and engagement wheel and its corresponding measurement tool, the Motivation and Engagement Scale – High School (MES‐HS; formerly the Student Motivation and Engagement Scale). Sample. The study draws upon data from 12,237 high school students from 38 Australian high schools. Methods. The hypothesized 11‐factor first‐order structure and the four‐factor higher‐order structure, their relationship with a set of between‐network measures (class participation, enjoyment of school, educational aspirations), factor invariance across gender and year‐level, and the effects of age and gender are examined using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling. Results. In terms of within‐network validity, (1) the data confirm that the 11‐factor and higher‐order factor models of motivation and engagement are good fitting and (2) multigroup tests showed invariance across gender and year levels. In terms of between‐network validity, (3) correlations with enjoyment of school, class participation and educational aspirations are in the hypothesized directions, and (4) girls reflect a more adaptive pattern of motivation and engagement, and year‐level findings broadly confirm hypotheses that middle high school students seem to reflect a less adaptive pattern of motivation and engagement. Conclusion. The first‐ and higher‐order structures hold direct implications for educational practice and directions for future motivation and engagement research.     

Colon cancer information as a source of exercise motivation for relatives of patients with colon cancer

Using a Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) framework, this study examined whether factual colon cancer information is a meaningful source of exercise motivation for relatives of patients with colon cancer. One hundred sixty-six inactive relatives were randomly assigned to one of two treatment conditions: PMT group (intervention); and non-PMT group (attention control). At baseline (T1) participants completed demographic information, a questionnaire designed to assess their beliefs toward exercise and colon cancer as well as their exercise intentions. At T2 (one week following T1) participants watched one of two DVD videos that were created for the study. The intervention DVD contained exercise and colon cancer information that was yoked within the four major components of PMT: perceived vulnerability (PV); perceived severity (PS); response efficacy (RE); and self-efficacy (SE), while the attention control DVD contained general diet and cancer information. Immediately following watching the DVD, participants completed the same measures as in T1. Participants assigned to the PMT intervention group showed significant improvement in PV, RE, SE and exercise intentions, whereas participants assigned to the attention control group showed significant improvement only in RE. RE, SE, and PS made significant and unique contributions to prediction of exercise intention. Overall, the results of the present study demonstrate that a single exposure media intervention grounded in a PMT framework can change individuals' exercise and colon cancer beliefs, as well as change their exercise intentions. Implications of these findings and direction for future research are discussed.     

Social competence as a developmental construct

The concept of social competence presents problems for conceptualization and assessment. At times researchers have tried to circumvent these problems by defining competence in terms of specific capacities or skills, with the consequence that the integrative potential of the concept is lost. On the other hand, more molar definitions (e.g., “effectiveness”), while being true to the integrative nature of the construct, provide little guidance for assessment. In this paper a developmental perspective on competence is presented which is congruent with a molar definition of competence while still guiding assessment efforts. In addition to this developmental viewpoint, certain practical guidelines are presented for assessment of competence across ages. These include the use of broadband assessments, which are tied to real-life adaptational problems, call for the coordination of affect, cognition, and behavior, and tax the integrative capacities of the child. Initial validation of the developmental competence construct and this approach to assessment is presented.     

Understanding inference as a source of knowledge: children's ability to evaluate the certainty of deduction, perception, and guessing

Three experiments investigated children's understanding of inference as a source of knowledge. Children observed a puppet make a statement about the color of one of two hidden toys after the puppet (a) looked directly at the toy (looking), (b) looked at the other toy (inference), or (c) looked at neither toy (guessing). Most 4-, 5-, and 6-year-olds did not rate the puppet as being more certain of the toy's color after the puppet looked directly at it or inferred its color than they did after the puppet guessed its color. Most 8 and 9-year-olds distinguished inference and looking from guessing. The tendency to explain the puppet's knowledge by referring to inference increased with age. Children who referred to inference in their explanations were more likely to judge deductive inference as more certain than guessing.     

Neural synchronization as a hypothetical explanation of the psychoanalytic unconscious

Cognitive scientists have tried to explain the neural mechanisms of unconscious mental states such as coma, epileptic seizures, and anesthesia-induced unconsciousness. However these types of unconscious states are different from the psychoanalytic unconscious. In this review, we aim to present our hypothesis about the neural correlates underlying psychoanalytic unconscious. To fulfill this aim, we firstly review the previous explanations about the neural correlates of conscious and unconscious mental states, such as brain oscillations, synchronicity of neural networks, and cognitive binding. By doing so, we hope to lay a neuroscientific ground for our hypothesis about neural correlates of psychoanalytic unconscious; parallel but unsynchronized neural networks between different layers of consciousness and unconsciousness. Next, we propose a neuroscientific mechanism about how the repressed mental events reach the conscious awareness; the lock of neural synchronization between two mental layers of conscious and unconscious. At the last section, we will discuss the data about schizophrenia as a clinical example of our proposed hypothesis.     

Causal uncertainty as a chronically accessible construct

Causal uncertainty refers to feelings that one may not understand the causes of events. A number of studies have shown that causal uncertainty has significant effects on people's processing of information and on important life outcomes. Weary and Edwards have postulated that causal uncertainty is, in part, a cognitive construct that can vary in its accessibility. This assumption has allowed for a variety of predictions to be made about the causes and consequences of causal uncertainty. However, this accessibility assumption has never been directly tested. To do this, in Study 1 an emotional Stroop procedure was used. Higher causal uncertainty was associated with longer latencies to name the color in which causal uncertainty‐related words were written compared to uncertainty‐irrelevant words. In Study 2, both manipulated and chronic causal uncertainty led to faster times to respond to causal uncertainty‐related stimuli in an attitude accessibility task. Both studies are consistent with the theoretically predicted chronic accessibility of causal uncertainty beliefs. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A method for increasing the reinforcement magnitude of intracranial stimulation

Schedules of intermittent brain-stimulation reinforcement have been shown to maintain performances when a reinforcement is defined as several response-produced, brief trains of stimulation. The present experiments show that the number of response-produced trains permitted per reinforcement is a variable analogous to amount or magnitude of reinforcement in the conventional food-reinforcement experiment. Systematic effects were obtained when that variable was manipulated within a multiple schedule and also on variable-interval schedules programmed concurrently.     

Public service motivation as a predictor of attraction to the public sector

According to public service motivation theory, individuals with a strong public service orientation are attracted to government jobs. This proposition was investigated in three studies by measuring public sector motivation at a pre-entry level as an individual difference variable affecting perceptions of fit and organizational attraction. Results were consistent with a positive relationship between public sector motivation and attraction to both public sector and non-profit organizations. Despite substantial overlap between the constructs of public sector motivation and agreeableness, the present research indicated that public sector motivation has utility in predicting employment interests beyond the general personality factor of agreeableness.