Correction to: Exploring Latent Profiles of Psychopathology in a Sample of Lonely People Seeking Treatment

Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment -     

Item-focussed Trees for the Identification of Items in Differential Item Functioning

A novel method for the identification of differential item functioning (DIF) by means of recursive partitioning techniques is proposed. We assume an extension of the Rasch model that allows for DIF being induced by an arbitrary number of covariates for each item. Recursive partitioning on the item level results in one tree for each item and leads to simultaneous selection of items and variables that induce DIF. For each item, it is possible to detect groups of subjects with different item difficulties, defined by combinations of characteristics that are not pre-specified. The way a DIF item is determined by covariates is visualized in a small tree and therefore easily accessible. An algorithm is proposed that is based on permutation tests. Various simulation studies, including the comparison with traditional approaches to identify items with DIF, show the applicability and the competitive performance of the method. Two applications illustrate the usefulness and the advantages of the new method.     

Happiness in Durkheim's Sociological Policy of Morals

Emile Durkheim's (1858–1917) concept of society has its most succinct expression in the call to view social facts, and especially moral norms, as things, as natural facts. A moral-political purpose is to prevent anomy. Anomy spreads when people view moral norms as contingent. It contains the seed of social anarchy and the source of unhappiness because it exposes humans to the chaos and the insatiability of their individual desires. The article places Durkheim's thinking within its social historical contexts.     

Self-initiated mentoring and career success: A predictive field study

There is a growing recognition of the proactive role of individuals in the world of work. Therefore, the roles of self-initiated mentoring and networking behaviors at the work place were investigated in a longitudinal study over two years with 121 early career employees in administrative and managerial jobs. As expected, after controlling for age, gender, and general intelligence, self-initiated mentoring predicted mentoring received, income, and hierarchical position. The relationship between self-initiated mentoring and career ascendancy was not meditated by mentoring received but by networking behaviors at the work place. The receipt of mentoring can be a part of the early career success yet it is not its critical mediator. Implications and limitations are discussed.     

心理治疗效果评定量表(简式)在中、德应用的心理测量学研究(英文)

419名中国和德国被试参加了本研究,并回答了若干简式心理健康量表。所选的这套量表能对心理治疗不同阶段的效果(Howard’s阶段模型:重新认识期-转变期-康复期)进行测查。本研究目的在于考察这些简式量表能否用于认知-行为治疗跨文化培训项目中的质量管理。结果显示,这些量表在中德两种文化背景下都有很高的信度和效度(聚合效度和敏感性)。尽管项目间的高相关似乎提示心理健康模型只有一个维度,但探索性因素和理论分析则更支持心理健康是一个分为8个亚维度的模型,其中每个亚维度或者与基础情绪、或者与社会性情感相连关联。本文最后就研究结果及其对心理治疗质量控制的意义进行了详细讨论。     

The empowering potential of intergroup leadership: How intergroup leadership predicts psychological empowerment through intergroup relational identification and resources

As work increasingly transcends organizational boundaries, employee psychological empowerment benefits from resources provided by others outside of the employee's own team, department, or organization. These intergroup collaborations, however, may be inhibited by social identity and social categorization processes, so that the empowerment potential of these relations remains largely untapped. In this study (N = 213), we demonstrate that intergroup leadership is linked to employee psychological empowerment via intergroup relational identification and access to resources. In this way, this study demonstrates the empowering potential of intergroup leadership and intergroup relational identification for employees who collaborate across group barriers. We finish this paper by discussing the main implications for both empowerment and intergroup leadership theory, suggesting fruitful avenues for future research and highlighting the practical value for those who are motivated to increase psychological empowerment among boundary-spanning employees.     

Cut-free common knowledge

Starting off from the infinitary system for common knowledge over multi-modal epistemic logic presented in [L. Alberucci, G. Jäger, About cut elimination for logics of common knowledge, Annals of Pure and Applied Logic 133 (2005) 73–99], we apply the finite model property to “finitize” this deductive system. The result is a cut-free, sound and complete sequent calculus for common knowledge.     

Zur Ontogenese aggressiven Verhaltens

The present article reviews current etiological approaches to the origin of violence. In a wide range of empirical research ample results have been found on the causes of violence in many different disciplines like social sciences, psychology, psychotherapy, and neurobiology/neurophysiology. However, an integrative view is still missing. Current knowledge suggests a complex interaction of genetic, physiological, developmental psychological, personality-related, familial and social factors in shaping an individuals’ disposition to engage in physical violence. Accordingly, interventions for reducing violence have to be multidimensional in nature.