Item placement on a personality measure: effects on faking behavior and test measurement properties

Although personality tests are widely used to select applicants for a variety of jobs, there is concern that such measures are fakable. One procedure used to minimize faking has been to disguise the true intent of personality tests by randomizing items such that items measuring similar constructs are dispersed throughout the test. In this study, we examined if item placement does influence the fakability and psychometric properties of a personality measure. Study participants responded to 1 of 2 formats (random vs. grouped items) of a personality test honestly and also under instructions to fake or to behave like an applicant. Results indicate that the grouped item placement format was more fakable for the Neuroticism and Conscientiousness scales. The test with items randomly placed fit the data better within the honest and applicant conditions. These findings demonstrate that the issue of item placement should be seriously considered before administering personality measures because different item presentations may affect the incidence of faking and the psychometric properties of the measure.     

Cognitive theories of early gender development

The contribution of cognitive perspectives (cognitive-developmental theory and gender schema theory) to a contemporary understanding of gender development is evaluated. Recent critiques of cognitive approaches are discussed and empirical evidence is presented to counter these critiques. Because of the centrality of early gender development to the cognitive perspective, the latest research is reviewed on how infants and toddlers discriminate the sexes and learn the attributes correlated with sex. The essence of cognitive approaches--emphasis on motivational consequences of gender concepts; the active, self-initiated view of development; and focus on developmental patterns-is highlighted and contrasted with social-cognitive views. The value of cognitive theories to the field is illustrated, and recommendations are made concerning how to construct comprehensive, integrative perspectives of gender development.     

A study of IQ in Lithuania

Data for the Colored Progressive Matrices were collected for a sample of 259 8- to 12-yr.-old children in Lithuania in 1999. In relation to the British 1979 standardization sample the mean IQ of the Lithuanian children was 92.2. Adjusted for the estimated secular increase of intelligence in Britain, the Lithuanian mean IQ is estimated at 90.     

Interference between verbal concept formation and spatial mental rotation in female subjects

In this study the relation between spatial cognition and verbal intelligence abilities was examined in case of 52 women. Interference between mental rotation performance and verbal intelligence scores was found. Women with good verbal abilities have lower scores in mental rotation tasks than subjects with poorer verbal abilities. This finding is in accordance with some basic models of a dual-coding system. The spatial functions represented in mental rotation interfered with verbal-based concept formation and lexical knowledge in college women.     

Visual field asymmetries and allocation of attention in visual scenes

Single items such as objects, letters or words are often presented in the right or left visual field to examine hemispheric differences in cognitive processing. However, in everyday life, such items appear within a visual context or scene that affects how they are represented and selected for attention. Here we examine processing asymmetries for a visual target within a frame of other elements (scene). We are especially interested in whether the allocation of visual attention affects the asymmetries, and in whether attention-related asymmetries occur in scenes oriented out of alignment with the viewer. In Experiment 1, visual field asymmetries were affected by the validity of a spatial precue in an upright frame. In Experiment 2, the same pattern of asymmetries occurred within frames rotated 90 degrees on the screen. In Experiment 3, additional sources of the spatial asymmetries were explored. We conclude that several left/right processing asymmetries, including some associated with the deployment of spatial attention, can be organized within scenes, in the absence of differential direct access to the two hemispheres.     

Effects of death within 11 years on cognitive performance in old age

Six different cognitive tests and the Heck Depression Inventory (BDI) were given to 3,572 active community residents aged 49 to 93 years. Causes of death were ascertained for 443 who died between 36 and 3,903 days later. Subsequent survival predicted test scores during the 3,903 days and independently during Days 36 to 1,826 and Days 1,827 to 3,903. Scores on the BDI and cumulative verbal learning and vocabulary tests predicted mortality after demographics and performance on other cognitive tests had been considered. Predictors were similar for deaths from heart disease, malignancies, and other causes. A new finding that cognitive tests did not predict survival duration within the sample of deceased explains previous findings of greater terminal decline in performance for young than for elderly adults.     

Proportionality,Terminal Suffering and the Restorative Goals of Medicine

Recent years have witnessed a growing concern that terminally ill patients are needlessly suffering in the dying process. This has led to demands that physicians become more attentive in the assessment of suffering and that they treat their patients as 'whole persons.' For the most part, these demands have not fallen on deaf ears. It is now widely accepted that the relief of suffering is one of the fundamental goals of medicine. Without question this is a positive development. However, while the importance of treating suffering has generally been acknowledged, insufficient attention has been paid to the question of whether different types of terminal suffering require different responses from health care professionals. In this paper we introduce a distinction between two types of suffering likely to be present at the end of life, and we argue that physicians must distinguish between these types if they are to respond appropriately to the suffering of their terminally ill patients. After introducing this distinction and explaining its basis, we further argue that the distinction informs a (novel) principle of proportionality, one that should guide physicians in balancing their competing obligations in responding to terminal suffering. As we explain, this principle is justified by reference to the interests terminally ill patients have in restoration, as well as in the relief of suffering, at the end of life.     

Low Self-Control Versus the Desire-For-Control: An Empirical Test of White-Collar Crime and Conventional Crime

Gottfredson and Hirschi's (1990) general theory of crime has been used to explain a wide variety of criminal and analogous behaviors, yet the few studies that have tested its ability to account for white-collar and corporate offending have yielded mixed results. One response to these mixed findings has been to explore the possibility that unique attributes may predict white-collar and corporate offending. In this vein, limited research examining the relationship between desire-for-control, a similar yet competing construct as low self-control, and corporate crime has revealed desire-for-control to be a stronger predictor of corporate crime than low self-control. The current study expands on existing research by examining the relationship between desire-for-control and low self-control in predicting conventional offending, white-collar or occupational offending, and corporate offending. Results indicate that desire-for-control is a stronger predictor of white-collar and corporate offending than low self-control, but that, as expected, this relationship does not hold true for conventional crime. Theoretical implications and future research directions are also discussed.     

A Field Experiment Demonstrates Near Peer Mentorship as an Effective Support for Student Persistence

The attitudes and behaviors of peers can predict an individual’s own behaviors, particularly during adolescence. However experimental studies have not demonstrated how slightly older near peers can exert a positive influence on important aspects of school motivation that predict student academic achievement over time. We designed and evaluated the effects of a randomized controlled field experiment where 8th-grade participants were randomly assigned to either a mentoring treatment group or a tutoring control group, both led by randomly selected and trained high school students. As predicted, participants in the treatment group increased in their tendency to value and persist through academic difficulty compared to those in the control group, with important potential implications for academic achievement and peer mentoring programs.