Electronic mail,a new written‐language register: A study with French‐speaking adolescents

The aim of this study was to determine the extent to which the linguistic forms used by adolescents in electronic mail (e‐mail) differ from those used in standard written language. The study was conducted in French, a language with a deep orthography that has strict, addressee‐dependent rules for using second person personal pronouns (unfamiliar and familiar forms). Data were collected from 80 adolescents ages 12 to 15 in a natural situation where they had to introduce themselves by e‐mail to two addressees (peer/teacher). Participants were divided into two groups (skilled/unskilled in computer‐mediated communication). Their emails contained a large number of orthographic deviations (the most frequent being neographic forms). Participants skilled in computer‐mediated communication (CMC) deviated more than unskilled ones did. The number of orthographic deviations was not linked to the participants' standard writing ability. The personal‐pronoun data clearly showed that adolescents used the familiar form of ‘you’ (tu) to address the peer and the unfamiliar form (vous) to address the teacher. We conclude that, for adolescents, e‐mail constitutes a distinct written‐language register. Nevertheless, the e‐mail register seems to follow the pragmatic rules of standard spoken and written interaction.     

Measurement Equivalence of Paper-and-Pencil and Internet Organisational Surveys: A Large Scale Examination in 16 Countries

In multinational surveys, mixed‐mode administration modes (e.g. combining Internet and paper‐and‐pencil administration) are increasingly used. To date, no studies have investigated whether measurement equivalence exists between Internet data collection and data collection using the conventional paper‐and‐pencil method in organisational surveys which include a large number of countries. This paper examined the measurement equivalence of a truly global organisational survey across Internet and paper‐and‐pencil survey administrations. Data from an organisational survey in 16 countries (N = 52,461) across the globe were used to assess the measurement equivalence of an organisational climate measure within each country in which the survey was administered. The empirical data provided strong indications which support the measurement equivalence of the multi‐item survey instrument across Internet and paper‐and‐pencil surveys in virtually all countries in which the survey was conducted. These findings suggest that merging data obtained through Internet and paper‐and‐pencil data administration in a particular country is legitimate as no evidence was found for differential effects across both modes of data collection. Dans les enquêtes internationales, les modalités d’administration mixtes, c’est‐à‐dire combinant les solution Internet et papier‐crayon, sont de plus en plus utilisées. Jusqu’à présent, on ignore si le recueil de données par Internet est méthodologiquement équivalent au recueil traditionnel sur papier dans les enquêtes organisationnelles qui couvrent un grand nombre de pays. Dans cet article, on analyse l’analogie des mesures d’une enquête organisationnelle véritablement universelle utilisant à la fois une administration Internet et papier‐crayon. Des données provenant de seize pays (N = 52,461) répartis sur l’ensemble de la planète ont été exploitées pour évaluer l’équivalence méthodologique d’une mesure du climat organisationnel dans chacun de ces pays. Les résultats empiriques sont en faveur de l’équivalence méthodologique de l’ensemble des items pour les recueils Internet et papier‐crayon dans pratiquement tous les pays retenus pour l’enquête. Ces résultats montrent qu’il est légitime de traiter ensemble les données obtenues par Internet et par papier‐crayon dans un même pays puisque rien ne nous permet d’affirmer l’existence d’un effet différentiel dû aux deux modes d’administration.     

Measurement Invariance of the Wong and Law Emotional Intelligence Scale Scores: Does the Measurement Structure Hold across Far Eastern and European Countries?

In recent years, emotional intelligence and emotional intelligence measures have been used in a plethora of countries and cultures. This is also the case for the Wong and Law Emotional Intelligence Scale (WLEIS), highlighting the importance of examining whether the WLEIS is invariant across regions other than the Far Eastern region (China) where it was originally developed. This study investigated the measurement invariance (MI) of the WLEIS scores across two countries, namely Singapore (N= 505) and Belgium (N= 339). Apart from items measuring the factor “use of emotion”, the measurement structure underlying the WLEIS ratings was generally invariant across both countries as there was no departure from MI in terms of factor form and factor loadings. The scalar invariance model (imposing an identical threshold structure) was partially supported. Factor intercorrelations (not involving the factor “use of emotion”) were also identical across countries. These results show promise for the invariance of the WLEIS scores across different countries, yet warn of the non‐invariance of the dimension “use of emotion”. Reducing the motivation‐oriented nature of these items is in order to come to an exact model fit in cross‐cultural comparisons.     

Assessing Private and Public Need for Uniqueness: Validation of French Versions of the Need for Uniqueness (NfU) and Self-Attributed Need for Uniqueness (SANU) Scales

Need for uniqueness represents the need for people to feel different and distinguish themselves from others. Two major scales exist that measure this need: the Need for Uniqueness scale (NfU; Snyder &; Fromkin, 1977 Snyder, C. R., &; Fromkin, H. L. (1977). Abnormality as a positive characteristic: The development and validation of a scale measuring need for uniqueness. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 86, 518–527. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-843X.86.5.518[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) and the Self-Attributed Need for Uniqueness scale (SANU; Lynn &; Harris, 1997b Lynn, M., &; Harris, J. (1997b). Individual differences in the pursuit of self-uniqueness through consumption. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 27, 1861–1883. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1559-1816.1997.tb01629.x[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). We propose here a French version of both scales. Through a dual approach of exploratory and confirmatory factorial analyses, we investigated the scales' structure in student samples from two French-speaking countries (France and Switzerland, N = 1,348) as well as measures of internal and external validity. Both scales presented good psychometric properties in French. Additionally, we investigated differences between the scales, as literature suggests that the NfU relies mostly on public and risky displays of uniqueness, whereas the SANU focuses on private and more socially acceptable means to acquire a feeling of uniqueness. Differences arose in the links with several personality characteristics (emotionality, extraversion, agreeableness, sensation seeking, and self-consciousness), suggesting that the NfU corresponds rather to a need to demonstrate uniqueness through public displays and the SANU to a need to feel unique through more private means. We discuss implications for research and provide advice on choosing by the scale most appropriate to the researcher's aims.     

The reproduction of vertical and oblique orientations in the visual, haptic, and somatovestibular systems

This study investigates whether the vertical orientation may be predominantly used as an amodal reference norm by the visual, haptic, and somato-vestibular perceptual systems to define oblique orientations. We examined this question by asking the same sighted adult subjects to reproduce, in the frontal (roll) plane, the vertical (0°) and six oblique orientations in three tasks involving different perceptual systems. In the visual task, the subjects adjusted a moveable rod so that it reproduced the orientation of a visual rod seen previously in a dark room. In the haptic task, the blindfolded sighted subjects scanned an oriented rod with one hand and reproduced its orientation, with the same hand, on a moveable response rod. In the somato-vestibular task, the blindfolded sighted subjects, sitting in a rotating chair, adjusted this chair in order to reproduce the tested orientation of their own body. The results showed that similar oblique effects (unsigned angular error difference between six oblique orientations and vertical orientation) were observed across the three tasks. However, there were no positive correlations between the visual, haptic,     

The Case of the Vanishing Optimum

It is not only people who may disappear, nor one's keys. It may also be the optimum that one was so certain of being able to grasp and that so suddenly reveals itself to be totally elusive. And the situation then becomes dramatic, as with people, or utterly confused, as with the loss of keys: a familiar element is suddenly missing and one does not know how, nor where, to look for it. However, in contrast with the disappearance of a person that provokes action based on rational behaviour—notification of the police, broadcasting of a notice of search—the disappearance of the optimum begets reactions that are unpredictable, irrational or even ideological. Instead of its absence being accepted and action taken accordingly, its absence is denied. Why does the optimum vanish under certain conditions? And why does one not accept to admit that fact? Those are the two questions that we shall examine. We shall start with the second one, which presents a more straightforward approach to the problem.     

The effects of literacy on the recognition of dichotic words

The hypothesis that awareness of phonemic segments influences the way in which speech is perceived was examined. Illiterate adults, who generally lack awareness of segments, were compared with literates, who are aware of the segmental structure of speech, on the recognition of words presented dichotically. A group of people who learned to read and write but who do it only occasionally was also tested. The results indicated much better performance in literates than in illiterates or semiliterates. In addition, literates made proportionally more single-segment errors, especially those limited to the first consonant, and fewer global errors, i.e. on all the segments of a syllable, than illiterates. On the other hand, phonetic feature blendings were as frequent in illiterates as in literates. It is suggested that awareness of segments allows attention to be focused on the phonemic constituents of speech and thus contributes to better recognition in difficult listening conditions. However, awareness of segments does not influence the preattentive extraction of phonetic information.

The hypothesis that awareness of phonemic segments influences the way in which speech is perceived was examined. Illiterate adults, who generally lack awareness of segments, were compared with literates, who are aware of the segmental structure of speech, on the recognition of words presented dichotically. A group of people who learned to read and write but who do it only occasionally was also tested. The results indicated much better performance in literates than in illiterates or semiliterates. In addition, literates made proportionally more single-segment errors, especially those limited to the first consonant, and fewer global errors, i.e. on all the segments of a syllable, than illiterates. On the other hand, phonetic feature blendings were as frequent in illiterates as in literates. It is suggested that awareness of segments allows attention to be focused on the phonemic constituents of speech and thus contributes to better recognition in difficult listening conditions. However, awareness of segments does not influence the preattentive extraction of phonetic information.