The Impact of Biodata Item Attributes on Validity and Socially Desirable Responding

Mael's taxonomy of biodata item attributes is applied to two biodata instruments in order to investigate the relationship between item attributes and (1) validity and (2) socially desirable responding. The results show a strong relationship between item attributes and validity, with items that are more historical, external, objective, discrete, and verifiable and less job relevant displaying stronger validities. Weaker relationships are observed between the item attributes and socially desirable responding. Implications of these results for building a clearinghouse for documentation of objective biodata items is discussed.     

Proactive personality and the successful job search: a field investigation with college graduates

The current article tests a model of proactive personality and job search success with a sample of 180 graduating college students. Using structural equation modeling, the authors tested a theoretical model that specified the relations among proactive personality, job search self-efficacy, job search behaviors, job search effort, and job search outcomes. Job seekers were surveyed at 2 separate points in time, once 3-4 months prior to graduation and once 2-3 months following graduation. The results suggest that proactive personality (a) significantly influenced the success of college graduates' job search, (b) was partially mediated through job search self-efficacy and job search behavior, and (c) was independent of self-esteem and conscientiousness. The findings are discussed in terms of their general implications for understanding the nature of the process through which distal personality factors, such as proactive personality, affect the nature and success of an individual's job search.     

Cognitive reactivity, dysfunctional attitudes, and depressive relapse and recurrence in cognitive therapy responders

Dysfunctional attitudes can foreshadow depressive relapse/recurrence. Priming mood, through induction paradigms, is hypothesized to activate dysfunctional attitudes. Cognitive reactivity (CR) refers to mood-linked increases in dysfunctional attitudes after priming. Here we explored the extent to which CR as well as residual, unprimed, dysfunctional attitudes predicted depressive relapse/recurrence among depressed patients who responded to acute phase cognitive therapy (CT). Consenting adults, aged 18–70, with recurrent major depressive disorder (n = 523) participated in a two-site randomized controlled trial examining the durability of continuation phase treatments. Patients received 16–20 sessions of CT. Among the 245 incompletely remitted responders, 213 agreed to undergo a mood induction paradigm. After 8 months of continuation phase treatments, participants were followed an additional 24 months. Although the mood induction significantly lowered mood in 80% of responders, the expected CR was not evident. By contrast, higher unprimed dysfunctional attitudes following CT did predict relapse/recurrence over 20 and 32 months post-randomization. The findings of this large longitudinal study of incompletely remitted CT responders challenge the notion that it is necessary to prime mood in order to maximize dysfunctional attitudes’ prediction of relapse and/or recurrence. While findings cannot be generalized beyond CT responders, they emphasize the clinical importance of reducing dysfunctional attitudes in preventing depression.     

The perception of a familiar face is no more than the sum of its parts

Why do faces become easier to recognize with repeated exposure? Previous research has suggested that familiarity may induce a qualitative shift in visual processing from an independent analysis of individual facial features to analysis that includes information about the relationships among features (Farah, Wilson, Drain, & Tanaka Psychological Review, 105, 482–498, 1998; Maurer, Grand, & Mondloch Trends in Cognitive Science, 6, 255–260, 2002). We tested this idea by using a “summation-at-threshold” technique (Gold, Mundy, & Tjan Psychological Science, 23, 427–434, 2012; Nandy & Tjan Journal of Vision, 8, 3.1–20, 2008), in which an observer’s ability to recognize each individual facial feature shown independently is used to predict their ability to recognize all of the features shown in combination. We find that, although people are better overall at recognizing familiar as opposed to unfamiliar faces, their ability to integrate information across features is similar for unfamiliar and highly familiar faces and is well predicted by their ability to recognize each of the facial features shown in isolation. These results are consistent with the idea that familiarity has a quantitative effect on the efficiency with which information is extracted from individual features, rather than a qualitative effect on the process by which features are combined.     

Acute phase cognitive therapy for recurrent major depressive disorder: Who drops out and how much do patient skills influence response?

ObjectiveThe aims were to predict cognitive therapy (CT) noncompletion and to determine, relative to other putative predictors, the extent to which the patient skills in CT for recurrent major depressive disorder predicted response in a large, two-site trial.MethodAmong 523 outpatients aged 18–70, exposed to 12–14 weeks of CT, 21.6% dropped out. Of the 410 completers, 26.1% did not respond. To predict these outcomes, we conducted logistic regression analyses of demographics, pre-treatment illness characteristics and psychosocial measures, and mid-treatment therapeutic alliance.ResultsThe 17-item Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HRSD₁₇) scores at entry predicted dropout and nonresponse. Patients working for pay, of non-Hispanic white race, who were older, or had more education were significantly more likely to complete. Controlling for HRSD₁₇, significant predictors of nonresponse included: lower scores on the Skills of Cognitive Therapy-Observer Version (SoCT-O), not working for pay, history of only two depressive episodes, greater pre-treatment social impairment. Mid-phase symptom reduction was a strong predictor of final outcome.ConclusionsThese prognostic indicators forecast which patients tend to be optimal candidates for standard CT, as well as which patients may benefit from changes in therapy, its focus, or from alternate modalities of treatment. Pending replication, the findings underscore the importance of promoting patients' understanding and use of CT skills, as well as reducing depressive symptoms early. Future research may determine the extent to which these findings generalize to other therapies, providers who vary in competency, and patients with other depressive subtypes or disorders.