Are we assessing guilt correctly? An investigation of the psychometric properties of a prominent guilt measure

The construct of trait guilt has played an important role in psychological theory across many fields of psychology (e.g., as a diagnostic criterion in clinical psychology, as an individual difference in personality psychology, and as a motivational antecedent or emotional moderator in social and organizational psychology); however, the measurement of guilt has received comparatively limited attention in the literature. Specifically, existing measures have limited factor analytic support, limited evidence of convergent validity among the measures, and although the theoretical distinction between guilt and shame is well established, there is limited empirical support for the discriminant validity of these constructs as they are currently measured. The current study investigates the psychometric properties of the most commonly used measure of guilt, the Test of Self-Conscious Affect-3 (TOSCA-3; in: Tangney, The Test of Self Conscious Affect-3. George Mason University, Fairfax, 2000), in order to (a) examine the factor structure of the measure, (b) estimate the convergent validity of the measure with other guilt assessment instruments, and (c) examine the discriminant validity of guilt and shame. Results involving a sample of 1760 participants provide support for a multitrait-multimethod model and the discriminant validity of guilt and shame. However, limited evidence of convergent validity between the TOSCA-3 and the Revised Mosher Guilt Inventory (φ?=?.21) and the Trauma-Related Guilt Inventory (φ?=?.10) suggested the TOSCA-3 is not assessing guilt in the same manner as more contextualized measures of guilt, highlighting the importance of measurement choice for guilt researchers. Implications for the measurement of trait guilt are discussed.

     

Cognitive Ability and Personality Predictors of Training Program Skill Acquisition and Job Performance

Two important issues in the training process concern (1) the relative impact of cognitive ability and personality traits on the ability to acquire skills, and (2) whether training skill acquisition predicts subsequent job performance. We used a sample of 9,793 trainees to address these questions and were able to compare those who succeeded on the job with those who did not succeed on the job. We found that some personality factors positively correlate with skill acquisition and that skill acquisition can predict the level of subsequent job performance.     

Social learning influences on menstrual symptoms and illness behavior

The contribution of learning to the adult experience of illness was investigated by asking 351 nursing students how their mothers reacted to menstrual symptoms and cold symptoms during their adolescence and how their mothers behaved when they themselves had menstrual symptoms. Mothers of respondents were independently asked the same questions. Nursing students who had been encouraged to adopt a sick role for menses or whose mothers modeled menstrual distress reported significantly more menstrual symptoms, clinic visits, and disability days for these symptoms as adults. Similarly, those encouraged to adopt a sick role for colds or who lived with a chronically ill person reported more clinic visits and disability days for nongynecological symptoms. Specific types of symptom reports and health care appeared to be learned: Encouragement and modeling of the menstrual sick role were more highly correlated with symptom reports, clinic visits, and absenteeism for menstrual than for nongynecological symptoms, and encouragement of the cold sick role was more highly correlated with nongynecological than with menstrual clinic visits and absenteeism.     

A service-delivery paradigm for personality assessment

This paper describes a human science approach to the delivery of the feedback component of assessment services. The feedback process is now central to a collaborative assessment that is integrated with intervention. Research has suggested that subject, situational, and assessor variables are relevant for feedback, but such research has been unsystematic. A service-delivery paradigm for feedback of assessment findings is described that includes four levels of increasing client participation: information, emotional contingencies, transfer of power, and functioning of an assessment system. Communication of assessment findings has been incomplete historically because motivation for feedback, resource accessibility for feedback utilization, and criteria for adequate feedback have been considered as unrelated ingredients. The components of Antonovsky's Sense of Coherence construct--meaningfulness, manageability and comprehensibility--provide one conceptualization for interaction of these ingredients. It is now feasible to do systematic research on assessment that includes feedback of assessment findings and the service-delivery process.     

The false consensus effect: A meta-analysis of 115 hypothesis tests

False consensus refers to an egocentric bias that occurs when people estimate consensus for their own behaviors. Specifically, the false consensus hypothesis holds that people who engage in a given behavior will estimate that behavior to be more common than it is estimated to be by people who engage in alternative behaviors. A meta-analysis was conducted upon 115 tests of this hypothesis. The combined effects of the tests of the false consensus hypothesis were highly statistically significant and of moderate magnitude. Further, the 115 tests of false consensus appear to be relatively heterogeneous in terms of significance levels and effect sizes. Correlational analyses and focused comparisons indicate that the false consensus effect does not appear to be influenced by the generality of the reference population, nor by the difference between alternative choices in actual consensus. However, the significance and magnitude of the false consensus effect was significantly predicted by the number of behavioral choices/estimates subjects had to make, and the sequence of measurement of choices and estimates. These patterns of results are interpreted as being inconsistent with the self-presentational, motivational explanation for the false consensus effect.     

Megatrends in personality assessment: toward a human science professional psychology

Societal megatrends have assessment counterparts--superempiricism, biopsychosocial perspective, person-centering, population-specificity, self-assessment--which are used to examine the contemporary status of professional psychology. A human science approach to research, training, and practice can exemplify a profession that acknowledges these megatrends. The nurture of competent professional psychologists requires a reinvestment in Boulder Model ideology, a human science that is shared with consumers on the basis of values which communicate caring and understanding.     

The etiology of children's stereotypes about sex differences in emotionality

Contemporary preschool-aged children have pronounced sex-role stereotypes about emotionality. They feel that anger is a male characteristic, while fear, sadness, and happiness are female characteristics. Four studies investigated several possible sources of these stereotypes, including parental stereotypes, parental reinforcement practices, television programming, and actual sex-differences in emotionality. The results suggest that each of these sources may potentially contribute to children's stereotypes about emotionality.