Selection Test Anxiety: Investigating applicants' self‐ vs other‐referenced anxiety in a real selection setting

Test anxiety has received limited attention in personnel selection research, although it may impair the test performance of applicants. This paper describes the development and validation of a new two‐dimensional measure of applicants' test anxiety, namely the Self‐ versus Other‐Referenced Anxiety Questionnaire (SOAQ), that embeds worrisome cognitions of anxious applicants in the social evaluative context of ‘self’ (Self‐Referenced Anxiety) and ‘significant others’ (Other‐Referenced Anxiety). An exploratory factor analysis (calibration sample), followed by a confirmatory factor analysis (validation sample) and correlations with several proximal and distal theoretical constructs indicated satisfactory psychometric properties and construct validity for both SOAQ scales. Structural equation modeling further showed a differential impact of Self‐ and Other‐Referenced Anxiety on applicants' test performance within a real personnel selection context. The scientific and practical relevance of these findings are discussed.     

Applicant Selection Expectations: Validating a multidimensional measure in the military

Research has suggested the importance of applicants' expectations of forthcoming selection procedures in predicting how applicants react to selection procedures. Validated measures of selection expectations are still scarce, however. This study reports on the validation of the Applicant Expectation Survey (AES), intended to measure applicants' expectations of forthcoming selection procedures. The AES was validated using three military applicant samples and showed sound psychometric properties (i.e., reliability, measurement invariance, discriminant validity) for a five‐factorial oblique structure consisting of 26 items. The five factors (i.e., Warmth/respect, Chance to demonstrate potential, Difficulty of faking, Unbiased assessment, Feedback) were positively related to several organizational outcome measures and to applicants' perceptions of the selection procedure, providing evidence for the predictive validity of the AES.     

Personality Traits in Clinical Depression and Remitted Depression: An Analysis of Instrumental-Agentic and Expressive-Communal Traits

The present study evaluated levels of instrumental and expressive traits and vulnerability to severe depression. A sample of 44 depressed psychiatric patients (i.e., 22 currently depressed patients and 22 remitted depressed patients) completed the Beck Depression Inventory and the Personal Attributes Questionnaire, a well-known personality measure that assesses masculinity (i.e., instrumentality) and femininity (i.e., expressivity). Analyses revealed that currently depressed patients, relative to the remitted depressed patients, had significantly lower levels of both instrumental and expressive traits. Overall, most currently depressed patients were characterized by unhealthy, undifferentiated sex-role self-concepts (i.e., low levels of masculinity and femininity) while the sex-role self-concepts of remitted depressed patients closely resembled those found in nonclinical populations. The current results qualify recent research on the impact of depression on personality ratings by suggesting that severe depression may contribute by lowering scores on self-report assessments of socially desirable personality traits reflecting agentic, instrumental characteristics, and communal, expressive characteristics.     

Post-training reversible inactivation of the rat's basolateral amygdala interferes with hippocampus-dependent place avoidance memory in a time-dependent manner

In this study, tetrodotoxin (TTX) inactivation was employed to evaluate the involvement of the rat's basolateral amygdala (BLA) in hippocampus-dependent spatial memory using a place avoidance learning task. Rats were trained in single 30 min session to avoid a 60 degrees segment of the stable circular (80-cm diameter) arena, entering which was punished by a mild shock. Bilateral injections of TTX or saline were made either immediately, 1 or 2h after training. Retention was tested 24h later in a 30 min extinction session. Retention was impaired when both BLA inactivated immediately or 1h after training, but not 2h after training. These data indicate that activity in the BLA, at least 60 min after training, is necessary for the post-training processing of a hippocampus-dependent place avoidance memory.     

Interpersonal conflict and meaning making in early adulthood: a self-regulation perspective

The aim of this study was to explore meaning making in response to interpersonal conflict in a group of young adults. A self-regulatory perspective was taken to explore and elaborate on current approaches to meaning making. Participants were 127 young adults aged between 19 and 30. Interactive Qualitative Analysis was applied to first identify significant factors that play a role in interpersonal conflict, and second to develop a conceptual model based on perceived relations between these factors. A model with 11 themes in which 43.6% of the total number of relational pairs explained 71.8% of the variance, was developed. Findings support current approaches to meaning making as a dynamic self-regulated process, while new avenues for exploring meaning making as part of a larger complex system of psychological processes emerged.     

Cell phone usage relational regulation strategies of older South Africans

This study explored older South Africans’ relational regulation strategies in using their cell phones to address their social goals and psychosocial needs. Nineteen older South Africans (17 female; 2 male), aged 60 and older, who had access to a cell phone and represented different socio-economic levels based on the Living Standard Measurement (LSM) scale, participated in the Mmogo-method®, a visual data-collection method. Thematic and visual analysis revealed that the subjective assessment of cell phone users’ competence determined the type of relational regulation strategy they apply. Findings revealed older persons to adopt three relational regulation strategies in their cell phone use: (i) postponement of need satisfaction; (ii) asking directly; or (iii) negotiating for needs satisfaction. The findings might facilitate programmes that promote cell phone use in older persons to address their social needs and promote healthy intergenerational interactions.