Premorbid personality indicators of schizophrenia-related psychosis in a hypothetically psychosis-prone college sample

Bolinskey, P. K. & Gottesman, I. I. (2010). Premorbid personality indicators of schizophrenia-related psychosis in a hypothetically psychosis-prone college sample. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 51, 68–74.
Research into psychosis proneness has established the Chapman Psychosis Proneness Scales (CPPS), certain personality disorders, certain response patterns on the MMPI-2, and social withdrawal as being valid indicators of liability. The current study extends our understanding of premorbid indicators of schizophrenia-related psychosis (SRP) by examining whether individuals identified as hypothetically psychosis prone (HPP) by virtue of their CPPS scores also show differences on other premorbid indicators of SRP. Results indicate that HPP individuals evidence more deviancy in the schizophrenic direction. By providing additional construct validity for the CPPS and other endophenotypic indicators of premorbid processes, strategies for understanding the development of SRP are enhanced.     

PREDICTING JOB PERFORMANCE OF YOUTH TRAINEES UNDER A JOB TRAINING PARTNERSHIP ACT PROGRAM (JTPA): CRITERION VALIDATION OF A BEHAVIOR-BASED MEASURE OF WORK MATURITY

Current concepts of the construct of work maturity have focused on a cognitive developmental perspective. This study demonstrates the criterion-related validity of a behavior-based measure of work maturity. The work-maturity levels of 142 youth enrollees in a job training program sponsored by the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) were measured using a locally relevant, behavior-based instrument. Through factor and linear regression analyses, the construct of work maturity was defined and related to later job performance. Two work-maturity factors (Time Consciousness and Sociability) were found to predict a weighted composite criterion composed of ten job performance dimensions. In addition, the ability of individual dimensions to predict job performance was also examined. Future studies of work maturity that combine cognitive and behavioral measures are suggested.     

Effects of Community Service on Adolescent Personality Development

Community service programs have been implemented to promote positive personality development in adolescents. Theoretical and anecdotal evidence suggests that such programs are important in instilling values and nurturing development of positive personality and behavioral characteristics. The study sought to determine the effects of participation in community service activities on the personality development of high school students. We used quantitative and qualitative analyses to evaluate the research question. Quantitative analyses yielded limited evidence of positive change, but qualitative analyses indicated that community service produced strong positive effects for participants. Implications of these findings are discussed.     

A PROPOSED METHODOLOGY FOR DETERMINING SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES AMONG JOBS1

The determination of job similarities and differences is important for several reasons. First, to satisfy legal requirements concerning validity generalizations and second, to justify in some circumstances, collapsing across jobs for validational purposes. The proposed Analysis of Variance procedure allows researchers to test for significant differences among jobs. Moreover, the procedure permits the calculation of variance estimates to estimate the relative degree of similarities and differences among jobs. An example is presented.     

CORRELATES OF PSYCHOLOGICAL INFLUENCE: AN ILLUSTRATION OF THE PSYCHOLOGICAL CLIMATE APPROACH TO WORK ENVIRONMENT PERCEPTIONS

Correlates of subordinates' perceptions of their psychological influence on supervisors' decisions were examined for 126 subordinates in high technology jobs and 205 subordinates in low technology, production line jobs. Based on the psychological climate perspective of work environment perceptions, it was predicted that perceptions of psychological influence would be related significantly to (a) situational attributes, including supervisor behaviors, (b) individual characteristics, and (c) person by situation interactions. Results supported these assumptions and suggested that a cognitive information processing model assists in explaining environmental perceptions.     

MODESTY BIAS IN SELF-RATINGS OF PERFORMANCE: A TEST OF THE CULTURAL RELATIVITY HYPOTHESIS

Although self-ratings of performance are usually higher than ratings obtained from supervisors, Farh, Dobbins, and Cheng (1991) found that Taiwanese workers exhibited modesty bias (i.e., self-ratings that were lower than supervisory ratings). They explained their findings in terms of broad cultural differences between Taiwanese and Western workers. To test this cultural relativity hypothesis, we replicated their study using data from several organizations in mainland China. As is typically found in Western research, Chinese workers showed leniency in self-ratings (i.e., self-ratings that were higher than supervisor or peer ratings), which suggests that broad cultural factors do not explain the modesty bias reported by Farh et al.     

Effects of Academic Achievement and Gender on Academic and Social Self-Concept: A Replication Study

Female and male eighth-grade students representing very high, moderately high, and average levels of achievement were compared on measures of academic and social self-concept. Most of the differences were in academic self-concept, which was positively related to level of academic achievement. There also was an interaction of gender and academic achievement on academic self-concept. Average achieving girls had lower academic self-concept scores than all other groups of students. In addition, boys scored higher than girls on measures of academic self-concept and job competence. There were no significant differences on any of the social self-concept measures. The counseling implications of these findings for gifted students and girls of average achievement are discussed.     

Justification and the Social Nature of Knowledge

In this paper I shall closely examine some of Gilbert Harman's cases that purport to show that one can have a justified true belief that does not constitute knowledge because of the social environment. I shall provide an account of these cases that helps us not only understand why the people in these situations lack knowledge, but also why philosophers have a difficult time evaluating these cases. More specifically, I shall argue that in these cases we should conclude that the cognizers lack justification. I shall also show how this account sheds some light on certain aspects of the internal-ism/externalism debate.