Subjective well-being and national satisfaction: findings from a worldwide survey

We examined the relationship between satisfaction with one's country (national satisfaction) and subjective well-being utilizing data from a representative worldwide poll. National satisfaction was a strong positive predictor of individual-level life satisfaction, and this relationship was moderated by household income, household conveniences, residential mobility, country gross domestic product per capita, and region (Western vs. non-Western country). When individuals are impoverished or more bound to their culture and surroundings, national satisfaction more strongly predicts life satisfaction. In contrast, reverse trends were found in analyses predicting life satisfaction from satisfaction in other domains (health, standard of living, and job). These patterns suggest that people are more likely to use proximate factors to judge life satisfaction where conditions are salutary, or individualism is salient, but are more likely to use perceived societal success to judge life satisfaction where life conditions are difficult, or collectivism predominates. Our findings invite new research directions and can inform quality-of-life therapies.     

Investigating Retesting Effects in a Personnel Selection Context

Repeat applicants to a fire‐fighter position undertook the same cognitive ability and situational judgment tests on multiple occasions and the resultant practice effects were investigated. Practice effects of approximately two fifths of a standard deviation were observed between Times 1 and 2 on timed tests of Abstract Reasoning and Mechanical Comprehension. Smaller practice effects were observed, however, on a timed test of numerical comprehension ability and the untimed Teamwork Knowledge Skills and Abilities situational judgment test. For all four tests, the additional practice effect observed at Time 3 were smaller and nonsignificant; a result supplemented by latent growth curve analyses.     

Just how controversial is evidential holism?

This paper is an examination of evidential holism, a prominent position in epistemology and the philosophy of science which claims that experiments only ever confirm or refute entire theories. The position is historically associated with W.V. Quine, and it is at once both popular and notorious, as well as being largely under-described. But even though there’s no univocal statement of what holism is or what it does, philosophers have nevertheless made substantial assumptions about its content and its truth. Moreover they have drawn controversial and important conclusions from these assumptions. In this paper I distinguish three types of evidential holism and argue that the most oft-cited and controversial thesis is entirely unmotivated. The other two theses are much overlooked, but are well-motivated and free from controversial implications.     

Teacher qualifications, classroom practices, family characteristics, and preschool experience: Complex effects on first graders' vocabulary and early reading outcomes

Using an ecological model, this study explored the effects of distal and proximal sources of influence on students' learning. We first examined three markers of teacher qualification — elementary education credential, years of education, and years of experience — on observed classroom practices across three dimensions — warmth/responsivity, control/discipline, and time spent on academic activities — as they related to children's vocabulary and early reading skills. We then examined the impact of this core system embedded in a larger system that included children's vocabulary and word recognition skills prior to school entry, their home and preschool learning environments, and family SES. Results, using structural equation modeling, revealed that students whose teachers were more warm and responsive and who spent more time in academic activities demonstrated stronger vocabulary and decoding skills at the end of first grade. Teachers with more years of education interacted with students more responsively but, surprisingly, their students had weaker early reading skills. Overall, students' language and letter-word recognition scores when they were 54 months of age, their home learning environment and family SES accounted for most of the variability in vocabulary and early reading scores at the end of first grade. Implications of the multiple and concurrent sources of influence on students' language and literacy development are discussed.     

Intraindividual Variability of Neuromotor Function Predicts Falls Risk in Older Adults and those with Type 2 Diabetes

This study was designed to examine the effect of increasing age and type 2 diabetes on the average responses and inter- and intraindividual variability of falls risk, reaction time, strength, and walking speed for healthy older adults and older persons with type 2 diabetes (T2DM). Seventy-five older individuals (controls) and 75 persons with T2DM aged between 50 and 79 years participated in the study. Assessments of falls risk, reaction time (RT), knee extension strength, and walking speed were conducted. The results revealed that advancing age for both control and T2DM groups was reflected by a progressive increase in falls risk, decreased leg strength and a decline (i.e., slowing) of reactions and gait speed. Conversely, the level of intraindividual variability for the RT, strength and gait measures increased with increasing age for both groups, with T2DM persons tending to be more variable compared to the healthy controls of similar age. In contrast to the intraindividual changes, measures of interindividual variability revealed few differences between the healthy elderly and T2DM individuals. Taken together, the findings support the proposition that intraindividual variability of neuromotor measures may be useful as a biomarker for the early detection of decline in physiological function due to age or disease.     

A Taxonomy of Equity Factors

A perplexing problem with Adams' (1963 ) equity theory has been the difficulty associated with operationalizing requisite components, perceived employee inputs, and outcomes. This study, involving 352 respondents, produced empirically derived, two-dimensional taxonomies of inputs and outcomes, laying the foundation for identification of key variables. Specifically, the study summarizes a typology of 9 distinct employee inputs perceived as controllable by individuals, including effort, education, attendance, and cooperativeness. Conversely, the study summarizes a typology of 14 distinct outcomes along a continuum of 4 dimensions, including personalized vs. generalized and economic vs. noneconomic characteristics. These typologies and incumbent regression analysis provide insight into the complexities associated with inputs and outcomes in the context of equity theory.     

Does self-consciousness increase or decrease priming effects? It depends

Self-consciousness has been shown to both increase and decrease the magnitude of prime-to-behavior effects. In this paper, we decouple the facets of self-consciousness into internal state awareness and self-reflectiveness and show that self-consciousness can be associated with multiple influences on automatic behavior. Specifically, we conducted an experiment demonstrating that increased internal state awareness decreased the magnitude of the prime-to-behavior effect, whereas increased self-reflectiveness amplified the effect. These effects operated independently of self-monitoring and suggest a multiple process approach to understanding prime-to-behavior effects.     

Gender differences in the variability of lower extremity kinematics during treadmill locomotion

The authors examined whether there were gender differences in the variability of basic gait parameters (stride length, stride time) and 3-dimensional (3D) rotations of the hip, knee, and ankle joints during treadmill locomotion of 18 men and 15 women at 4 different gait speeds (walking at 5 km/hr, running at 8, 10, and 12 km/hr). The authors used 2-way analyses of variance to assess the data. No gender differences in the mean values or variability of basic gait parameters were detected. However, the women exhibited lower variability than did the men for 6 individual joint rotations: (a) transverse plane rotations of the ankle joint at 8, 10, and 12 km/hr, (b) transverse plane rotations of the hip and knee joints at 12 km/hr, and (c) sagittal plane rotations of the ankle joint at 12 km/hr. When collapsed across all 3D lower extremity rotations, the data showed that the women had lower variability than did the men at 12 km/hr. Reduced variability may result in more localized mechanical stress on anatomical structures and could therefore be a risk factor for injury in women at high gait speeds. The results also suggested that gender differences in variability may not be consistent across different levels of the motor system.