Empowerment Theory: Clarifying the Nature of Higher-Order Multidimensional Constructs

Development of empowerment theory has focused on defining the construct at different levels of analysis, presenting new frameworks or dimensions, and explaining relationships between empowerment-related processes and outcomes. Less studied, and less conceptually developed, is the nature of empowerment as a higher-order multidimensional construct. One critical issue is whether empowerment is conceptualized as a superordinate construct (i.e., empowerment is manifested by its dimensions), an aggregate construct (i.e., empowerment is formed by its dimensions), or rather as a set of distinct constructs. To date, researchers have presented superordinate models without careful consideration of the relationships between dimensions and the higher-order construct of empowerment. Empirical studies can yield very different results, however, depending on the conceptualization of a construct. This paper represents the first attempt to address this issue systematically in empowerment theory. It is argued that superordinate models of empowerment are misspecified and research that tests alternative models at different levels of analysis is needed to advance theory, research, and practice in this area. Recommendations for future work are discussed.     

The effects of relational structure on analogical learning

Relational structure is important for various cognitive tasks, such as analogical transfer, but its role in learning of new relational concepts is poorly understood. This article reports two experiments testing people’s ability to learn new relational categories as a function of their relational structure. In Experiment 1, each stimulus consisted of 4 objects varying on 2 dimensions. Each category was defined by two binary relations between pairs of objects. The manner in which the relations were linked (i.e., by operating on shared objects) varied between subjects, producing 3 logically different conditions. In Experiment 2, each stimulus consisted of 4 objects varying on 3 dimensions. Categories were defined by three binary relations, leading to six logically different conditions. Various learning models were compared to the behavioral data, based on the theory of schema refinement. The results highlight several shortcomings of schema refinement as a model of relational learning: (1) it can make unreasonable demands on working memory, (2) it does not allow schemas to grow in complexity, and (3) it incorrectly predicts learning is insensitive to relational structure. We propose schema elaboration as an additional mechanism that provides a more complete account, and we relate this mechanism to previous proposals regarding interactions between analogy and representation construction. The current findings may advance understanding of the cognitive mechanisms involved in learning and representing relational concepts.     

Social cognitive models of health and exercise behavior: An introduction and review of conceptual issues

Abstract

This article reviews the major social cognitive models of adherence or compliance in health and exercise behavior and attempts to show that these models are more similar to each other than different from each other. Self-efficacy theory and the theory of reasoned action/planned behavior have guided most of the theory-based research on exercise behavior. Two other models, protection motivation theory and the health belief model, have guided much research on the role of social cognitive factors in other health behaviors. These models are comprised largely of the same basic set of social cognitive variables: self-efficacy expectancy, outcome expectancy, outcome value, and intention. Two other factors, situational cues and habits, although not common to all the models, round out the theoretical picture by explaining how the relationship between the major social cognitive variables and behavior may change with repeated performance of a behavior over time.An integration of these models is offered using the theory of planned behavior as a foundation. It is suggested that research on health and exercise behavior that pits one model against another to determine which one is the better predictor of behavior is likely to be unproductive due to the striking similarities of the models. It is suggested instead that theorists and researchers focus their efforts on integration of the major social cognitive models and on determining the relative predictive utility of the various social cognitive factors with various health behaviors and in various contexts.     

自我不确定感:内涵、结构和理论

自我不确定感是个体在遇到认知、情感以及行为间的不一致或冲突,对重要的心理品质产生困惑和怀疑时体验到的一致性和连续性缺乏的状态。文章对自我不确定感的概念进行了梳理,然后提出了概念构想模型,认为其结构应包含认知、情绪和动机成分,再后则以自我不确定感的管理策略为线索对相关理论和模型进行了初步整合。未来研究需在明确界定自我不确定感的基础上开展跨文化比较,从多角度检验自我不确定感管理策略的效果,深入探讨自我不确定感的发生和作用机制,探索如何变自我不确定感的被动防御为主动预防与管理。     

价值观取向理论结构及实证

尝试用新的视角——取向研究视角,对价值观进行整合研究,建构一种与社会情境结合更紧密、更具概括性的价值观取向理论。价值观取向理论的假设结构模型包括四种价值观取向维度：社会取向,个人取向,积极取向和消极取向。根据理论模型编制价值观取向量表,以974名被试为研究对象,运用探索性因素分析和验证性因素分析方法对该理论模型进行实证研究。结果证明了该理论结构的存在,理论结构中各维度的因素负荷和拟合指数良好,价值观取向量表具有良好的信度和结构效度。     

Happiness Revisited: Ontological Well-Being as a Theory-Based Construct of Subjective Well-Being

The current model of subjective well-being (SWB) has been operationalized as the unity of affective and cognitive dimensions concerning the evaluation of one’s life, called emotional well-being and life satisfaction, respectively. There has been no theoretical framework, however, by which the unity is explained. The present paper offers a new construct of subjective well-being in an attempt to show that the cognitive and affective dimensions of SWB can be unified using the concept of goal. The concept of goal refers to the life as a project when the concern is the evaluation of life as a whole. The evaluation of the whole life, moreover, should take a whole-time perspective into account if it is supposed to be ‘whole’. Ontological well-being (OWB) construct is structured in a theoretical framework by which the cognitive and affective components of the current conceptualization of SWB are reframed and interpreted in a whole time perspective. By taking as base the historical and philosophical resources of the affective and cognitive dimensions of subjective well-being, this new construct defines subjective well-being as one’s evaluation of life in both past and future time perspectives in addition to the present.     

Matters of conscience and conscientiousness: the place of ego development in the Five-factor model

The Five-factor model (FFM; Digman, 1990; Goldberg, 1990) and Loevinger's (1994) theory of ego development are two active research traditions that are often construed as incompatible approaches to the study of personality. For example, each theory proposes a different view of the concept of conscientiousness. Loevinger argued that FFM conscientiousness, which emphasizes attributes such as order, self-discipline, and achievement striving, lacks a moral component and is more similar to the conformist stage in her theory. To investigate these claims, we administered the Revised NEO-Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R; Costa & McCrae, 1992) and the Washington University Sentence Completion Test (WUSCT; Hy & Loevinger, 1996) to 120 university students on 2 separate occasions. Together, the five traits of the FFM significantly predicted item sum scores from the WUSCT (multiple R = .54). Unique linear relationships of Openness to Experience and Agreeableness with ego level demonstrated that the two theories proposed similar constructs. We argue that these two FFM dimensions have conceptual relevance to the cognitive and interpersonal aspects of the ego development construct. We draw further connections between these FFM dimensions, ego development, and human values.     

Representations and Cognitive Explanations: Assessing the Dynamicist's Challenge in Cognitive Science

Advocates of dynamical systems theory (DST) sometimes employ revolutionary rhetoric. In an attempt to clarify how DST models differ from others in cognitive science, I focus on two issues raised by DST: the role for representations in mental models and the conception of explanation invoked. Two features of representations are their role in standing-in for features external to the system and their format. DST advocates sometimes claim to have repudiated the need for stand-ins in DST models, but I argue that they are mistaken. Nonetheless, DST does offer new ideas as to the format of representations employed in cognitive systems. With respect to explanation, I argue that some DST models are better seen as conforming to the covering-law conception of explanation than to the mechanistic conception of explanation implicit in most cognitive science research. But even here, I argue, DST models are a valuable complement to more mechanistic cognitive explanations.     

The Cognative Structure of Role Norms in Taiwan

This study explores the implicit cognitive structure of role norms in Taiwan. Subjects were asked to make direct pair-wise similarity judgments of 28 role relationships in terms of the way the actor role should treat the object role (e.g., father to son vs. son to father). INDSCAL and cluster analyses were used to delineate the implicit cognitive structure underlying the similarity judgments. INDSCAL showed that Taiwanese implicitly use two dimensions, closeness–distance and dominance–submission, to construct role norms. The first dimension showed that the norm for nuclear family relationships is to love and care for each other. The second dimension revealed that the norm for status-differential relationships such as father–son or supervisor–subordinate is to behave in accordance with one's status. Cluster analysis indicated four major clusters of role relationships, of which the hierarchical family cluster was the most prominent. Taiwanese adults and college students have similar cognitive structures and use relational models to construct their system of role norms. These relational models include complementarity, communality sharing, authority ranking, and equality matching. The implications of these findings for Confucian ethics and theories of Chinese social behavior are discussed.     

RACE/A: an architectural account of the interactions between learning, task control, and retrieval dynamics

This article discusses how sequential sampling models can be integrated in a cognitive architecture. The new theory Retrieval by Accumulating Evidence in an Architecture (RACE/A) combines the level of detail typically provided by sequential sampling models with the level of task complexity typically provided by cognitive architectures. We will use RACE/A to model data from two variants of a picture-word interference task in a psychological refractory period design. These models will demonstrate how RACE/A enables interactions between sequential sampling and long-term declarative learning, and between sequential sampling and task control. In a traditional sequential sampling model, the onset of the process within the task is unclear, as is the number of sampling processes. RACE/A provides a theoretical basis for estimating the onset of sequential sampling processes during task execution and allows for easy modeling of multiple sequential sampling processes within a task.     

A New Neurocognitive Model for Assessing Divergent Thinking: Applicability,Evidence of Reliability,and Implications for Educational Theory and Practice

A new model is presented to assess divergent thinking from a neurocognitive perspective. Evidence is presented showing its sensitivity to capture differences in divergent thinking. This observational interview-based study used a two-dimensional matrix (grid) composed of dimensions derived from neuropsychology and cognitive science theory. Each category (grid cell) is related to a particular cognitive operation that putatively is mediated by one or more functional/anatomical brain regions. Using the coding matrix, data were obtained from 30 middle school students through interviews and think-aloud responses to questions. Students were videotaped while viewing rich pictorial material and responses were coded and characterized for divergent production using 10 coefficients: higher category responses, detail, spontaneous generation, perspective switching, category switching per probe, category switches per utterance, different switches, detail per switching ratio, new subjects, higher category responses and reasoning. Reliability was obtained by interobserver concordance and Cohen's kappa coefficients were calculated for the cognitive and brain functional references dimensions (.90 and .91, respectively). Individual differences were expressed as variations in divergent thinking, providing a convenient way of assessing divergent thinking that may be related to creative thinking in education. This model may have heuristic value beyond research on creativity by providing a theoretical framework to guide further research on the cognitive correlates of divergent thinking with brain functional modules by correlating brain imaging data with concurrent interview data gathered by use of the model.     

Cognitive–motivational antecedents of career decision-making processes in Portuguese high school students: A longitudinal study

In this study we propose an integrated framework of the antecedents of identity development and well/ill-being for high school students (N = 462) in the transition to higher education/job market. One study was conducted to investigate the effects of basic psychological need-satisfaction/frustration (as proposed within self-determination theory) and career decision-making self-efficacy (posited by social cognitive career theory) on the identity dimensions and experienced well/ill-being. Three longitudinal nested models were tested: a need-satisfaction/self-efficacy main effects model, an identity main effects model and a reciprocal main-effects model. The reciprocal effects between the variables were favored by the data. Basic need-satisfaction and career decision making self-efficacy positively predicted proactive exploration and commitment-making, while basic need-frustration predicted both diminished well-being and ill-being. Reciprocally, proactive exploration investments positively predicted whereas ruminative exploration negatively predicted, need-satisfaction and career decision-making self-efficacy. Implications for the design of career interventions are discussed and suggestions for future research proposed.     

The Dynamics of Cultural and Technological Evolution: Domination Versus Partnership

There is growing consensus that we need a new paradigm if we are to solve the global problems that are the result of actions and policies stemming from prevailing paradigms or cognitive maps. Theories are cognitive maps. This article summarizes cultural transformation theory, which proposes that to solve our mounting global problems we need a clearer understanding of the self-organizing interaction of two basic movements in cultural evolution. The first consists of technological phase changes, including the most recent shift from industrial to electronic, nuclear, and biochemical technologies. The second consists of shifts in a system's orientation to what, based on three decades of transdisciplinary research, the author identifies as the socio-economic, gender, and cultural configurations characteristic of the dominator and partnership models. The article calls for a reassessment of earlier theories as the basis for effective action to accelerate the shift to a world orienting to the partnership rather than dominator model as a basis for a sustainable, equitable, and peaceful future.     

A cognitive-emotional model of NSSI: using emotion regulation and cognitive processes to explain why people self-injure

Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) is a complex behaviour, routinely engaged for emotion regulatory purposes. As such, a number of theoretical accounts regarding the aetiology and maintenance of NSSI are grounded in models of emotion regulation; the role that cognition plays in the behaviour is less well known. In this paper, we summarise four models of emotion regulation that have repeatedly been related to NSSI and identify the core components across them. We then draw on social cognitive theory to unite models of cognition and models of emotion in developing a new cognitive-emotional model of NSSI. Our model articulates how emotion regulation and cognition can work in concert to govern NSSI, and offers several new research questions that can be addressed within this framework.     

Cognitive Dissonance in Groups

Cognitive dissonance theory, as originally set out by Festinger ( 1957 ), described dissonance as an intraindividual phenomenon in a social context. Much of the research on dissonance has focused on the intraindividual aspect of dissonance. The limited research that has looked at cognitive dissonance in groups has done so from a range of different perspectives. These perspectives seem to result in contradictory predictions about the role of social information on the arousal and reduction of cognitive dissonance, despite generally sharing a model of the social self based on, or consistent with, social identity theory (Tajfel, 1978 ). Thinking about how these group‐based models of cognitive dissonance fit together may better illuminate the nature of dissonance and also suggest productive avenues for research to integrate these various perspectives on dissonance.     

随机截距因子分析模型在控制条目表述效应中的应用

本研究用中文修订版罗森博格自尊量表(RSES-R)考察随机截距因子分析模型在控制条目表述效应时的表现。用RSES-R和过分宣称问卷组成的量表调查621名中学生。结果表明,随机截距模型在建模时,拟合指数良好、因子方差与负荷合理,自尊因子分与RSES-R总分有极高相关,表明该模型能有效分离RSES-R得分的特质与表述效应。分离的表述效应因子分与受测者的自我提升水平具有显著但较弱的相关,表明表述效应与自受测者的社会赞许性有共同的成分。     

The new object‐spatial‐verbal cognitive style model: Theory and measurement

The current study challenges traditional approaches to Visual‐Verbal cognitive style as a unitary bipolar dimension, and instead suggests a new three‐dimensional cognitive style model developed on the basis of modern cognitive science theories that distinguish between object imagery, spatial imagery and verbal dimensions. The results of the confirmatory factor analysis demonstrated that the overall fit to the data of the new three‐dimensional model of cognitive style was significantly better than that of a traditional model. Furthermore, based on the new theoretical model, we designed and validated a new self‐report instrument assessing the individual differences in object imagery, spatial imagery and verbal cognitive styles, the Object‐Spatial Imagery and Verbal Questionnaire (OSIVQ). Across a series of studies, the OSIVQ demonstrated acceptable internal reliability as well as construct, criterion and ecological validity. The current study supports the validity of an object‐spatial‐verbal cognitive style dimension and related measures when developed on the basis of modern cognitive science theories. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Cognitive Tests Used in Selection Can Have Content Validity as Well as Criterion Validity: A broader research review and implications for practice

Many industrial/organizational (I/O) psychologists, both academics and practitioners, believe that the content validity model is not appropriate for cognitive ability measures used in personnel selection. They believe that cognitive tests can have criterion validity and construct validity but not content validity. Based on a review of the broader differential psychology research literature on cognitive skills, aptitudes, and abilities, this article demonstrates that with the proper content validity procedures, cognitive ability measures, including, ultimately, some de facto measures of general cognitive ability, can have content validity in addition to criterion and construct validity. Finally, the article considers, critiques, and refutes the specific arguments contending that content validity is inappropriate for use with cognitive skills and abilities. These research facts have implications for I/O practice, professional standards, and legal defensibility of selection programs.     

Avoidance and depression: the construction of the cognitive-behavioral avoidance scale

Previous research has demonstrated a relationship between avoidance and depression, although the nature of this relationship has been confused by inconsistent definitions of avoidance. Following a review of the construct of avoidance and an examination of past research, a new multidimensional measure of avoidance was developed and validated using an undergraduate student sample (245 females and 146 males). Four reliable factors reflecting combinations of cognitive/behavioral and social/nonsocial dimensions of avoidance were obtained from the factor analysis of the new scale, entitled the "Cognitive-Behavioral Avoidance Scale" (CBAS). The scale showed the predicted relationships with convergent and divergent measures used for construct validation. As predicted, subscales of the CBAS, as well as the overall scale score, were significantly related to the depression and anxiety criterion measures. The findings from this study suggest that avoidance may be an important construct in the psychosocial conceptualization of depression. In addition, this integrated measure of avoidance has potential utility for depression researchers. Suggestions for further scale development and research are provided.