Modeling general and specific variance in multifaceted constructs: a comparison of the bifactor model to other approaches

This article recommends an alternative method for testing multifaceted constructs. Researchers often have to choose between two problematic approaches for analyzing multifaceted constructs: the total score approach and the individual score approach. Both approaches can result in conceptual ambiguity. The proposed bifactor model assesses simultaneously the general construct shared by the facets and the specific facets, over and above the general construct. We illustrate the bifactor model by examining the construct of Extraversion as measured by the Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO‐PI‐R; Costa & McCrae, 1992), with two college samples (N = 383 and 378). The analysis reveals that the facets of the NEO‐PI‐R Extraversion correlate with criteria in opposite directions after partialling out the general construct. The direction of gender differences also varies by facets. Bifactor models combine the advantages but avoid the drawbacks of the 2 existing methods and can lead to greater conceptual clarity.     

Mechanisms of motivation–cognition interaction: challenges and opportunities

Recent years have seen a rejuvenation of interest in studies of motivation–cognition interactions arising from many different areas of psychology and neuroscience. The present issue of Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience provides a sampling of some of the latest research from a number of these different areas. In this introductory article, we provide an overview of the current state of the field, in terms of key research developments and candidate neural mechanisms receiving focused investigation as potential sources of motivation–cognition interaction. However, our primary goal is conceptual: to highlight the distinct perspectives taken by different research areas, in terms of how motivation is defined, the relevant dimensions and dissociations that are emphasized, and the theoretical questions being targeted. Together, these distinctions present both challenges and opportunities for efforts aiming toward a more unified and cross-disciplinary approach. We identify a set of pressing research questions calling for this sort of cross-disciplinary approach, with the explicit goal of encouraging integrative and collaborative investigations directed toward them.     

QUAL and the dynamics of evolution

The emergence of the first structures that are capable of “replication” is a mysterious problem of evolution. The majority of the scientists dealing with evolution agree on the point that this is the very property that differenciate animate and inanimate beings. The main purpose of the present paper is to prove that the phenomenon of replication cannot be forced into frames of the Bios, but is an inherent attribute of the material, and the biological replication is a more advanced and perfect manifestation of this attribute.

The cohesion and resistance, in a general sense, is the attribute of any material system, i.e. it is an attribute of coexistence that makes possible its life. This may be the property that was identified as Jacob Böhme's mystic concept “Qual”. The self‐preservation, the cohesion in a general sense is manifested against the different destructive effects by scattering the “attacked” system into successor systems. This process makes possible for the different successive systems to get among other, differing circumstances than they were before the destructive forces began to exercise their impact. These other circumstances however include the possibility of the emergence of other systems of interrelatedness, and the successive system may become different from the parent system. The multiplication and scattering, due to the impact of destruction, at the same time increase the system's surface of interaction, and this leads to an organization of higher level.     

Finding benefit in breast cancer during the year after diagnosis predicts better adjustment 5 to 8 years after diagnosis.

Cancer patients experience positive as well as adverse consequences from diagnosis and treatment. The study reported here examined longer term reverberations of such experiences. A set of benefit-finding items along with measures of well-being were completed by 230 early-stage breast cancer patients in the year postsurgery. Four to 7 years later, 96 of them again completed measures of well-being. Controlling for initial distress and depression, initial benefit finding in this sample predicted lower distress and depression at follow-up.     

Cognitive responses to failure and success relate uniquely to bipolar depression versus mania

This project examined cognitive responses to failure and success and their association with depression and mania within bipolar disorder. Many cognitive variables that are associated with unipolar depression have been found to be involved in bipolar disorder, more specifically bipolar depression. This research was the first to examine tendencies to hold high standards, engage in self-criticism, and generalize from failure to an overall sense of self-worth. In Study 1, undergraduates were screened for risk of mood disorders and completed structured diagnostic interviews. History of bipolar spectrum disorders and history of depression had separate associations with negative generalization. The association of generalization with bipolar spectrum disorders was accounted for by current depressive symptoms. For Study 2, the authors developed a measure of the tendency to engage in positive generalization following success experiences. In a sample of 276 undergraduates, this measure related uniquely to risk for mania. Results of these 2 studies suggest that responses to failure are associated with a history of depression, whereas responses to success are associated with a risk for mania. Implications for future research and clinical work are discussed.     

Two-Mode Models of Self-Regulation as a Tool for Conceptualizing Effects of the Serotonin System in Normal Behavior and Diverse Disorders

ABSTRACT— The serotonin system is a collection of neural pathways whose overall level of functioning (from low to high) relates to diverse kinds of psychological and behavioral variability. Individual differences in serotonergic function are important both in personality and in vulnerability to psychological disorders. These disorders range widely—from impulsive aggression to depression. One way to understand such diverse reflections of differences in serotonergic function is by viewing serotonergic function through the lens of two-mode (or dual-process) models of self-regulation. Such theories posit a lower-order system that responds quickly to associative cues of the moment and a higher-order system that responds reflectively and planfully. Low serotonergic function appears to enhance influence of the lower-order system. This often yields impulsive reactivity. Why, then, does low serotonergic function also relate to depression, which is characterized by lethargy and unresponsiveness? The answer must be that ascendance of the lower system interacts with other factors. One hypothesis is that low serotonergic function plus high sensitivity to incentives yields vulnerability to impulsive approach, whereas low serotonergic function plus low incentive sensitivity yields vulnerability to depression. Conceptualizing serotonergic function this way helps integrate information pertaining to very different disorders into a coherent picture.     

There's more to emotion than meets the eye: A processing bias for neutral content in the domain of emotional prosody

Research on emotion processing in the visual modality suggests a processing advantage for emotionally salient stimuli, even at early sensory stages; however, results concerning the auditory correlates are inconsistent. We present two experiments that employed a gating paradigm to investigate emotional prosody. In Experiment 1, participants heard successively building segments of Jabberwocky "sentences" spoken with happy, angry, or neutral intonation. After each segment, participants indicated the emotion conveyed and rated their confidence in their decision. Participants in Experiment 2 also heard Jabberwocky "sentences" in successive increments, with half discriminating happy from neutral prosody, and half discriminating angry from neutral prosody. Participants in both experiments identified neutral prosody more rapidly and accurately than happy or angry prosody. Confidence ratings were greater for neutral sentences, and error patterns also indicated a bias for recognising neutral prosody. Taken together, results suggest that enhanced processing of emotional content may be constrained by stimulus modality.     

Associations of blood pressure with self-report measures of anger and hostility among black and white men and women

This study examined associations between blood pressure (BP) and dispositional variables pertaining to anger and hostility. Black and White 25- to 44-year old male and female normotensives and unmedicated mild to moderate hypertensives completed four reliable self-report scales--the Cook-Medley Hostility (Ho) Scale, the Trait Anger subscale of the State-Trait Anger Scale (STAS-T), and the Cognitive Anger and Somatic Anger subscales of the Cognitive-Somatic Anger Scale--plus the Framingham Anger Scale and the Harburg Anger Scale. They also engaged in three laboratory tasks--Type A Structured Interview (SI), a video game, and a cold pressor task--that elicit cardiovascular reactivity. Ambulatory BP readings at home and at work were also obtained from most subjects. Blacks had significantly higher Ho and lower STAS-T scores than did Whites. Women reported higher levels of somatic anger than did men. White women showed significant positive correlations between STAS-T and systolic BP (SBP) and diastolic BP (DBP) both at rest in the laboratory and during the SI. Black women revealed significant positive relationships between STAS-T and SBP and DBP at rest in the laboratory and at work as well as with DBP during the cold pressor test. For Black men, cognitive anger and DBP at rest were positively related. In contrast, White men revealed significant negative correlations between Ho scores and SBP at rest and during the video game; these men also showed significant negative relationships between somatic anger and SBP and DBP reactivity during the cold pressor test. Women, but not men, showed significant positive relationships between all four anger measures and ambulatory BP at work. Whereas main effects relating anger and cardiovascular measures were not apparent as a function of race, Blacks demonstrated significantly greater SBP and DBP reactivity than Whites during the cold pressor test, with the converse occurring during the SI. Men demonstrated significantly greater DBP reactivity than women during the video game. The present findings indicate that self-reports on anger/hostility measures and cardiovascular responses to behavioral tasks differ as a function of race but that relationships between anger and BP regulation need to take into account possible race-sex interactions and selection of anger/hostility measures.