‘Grandpa,Do You Like Roller Coasters?’: Identifying Age‐Appropriate Personality Indicators

Personality development research heavily relies on the comparison of scale means across age. This approach implicitly assumes that the scales are strictly measurement invariant across age. We questioned this assumption by examining whether appropriate personality indicators change over the lifespan. Moreover, we identified which types of items (e.g. dispositions, behaviours, and interests) are particularly prone to age effects. We reanalyzed the German Revised NEO Personality Inventory normative sample (N = 11,724) and applied a genetic algorithm to select short scales that yield acceptable model fit and reliability across locally weighted samples ranging from 16 to 66 years of age. We then examined how the item selection changes across age points and item types. Emotion‐type items seemed to be interchangeable and generally applicable to people of all ages. Specific interests, attitudes, and social effect items—most prevalent within the domains of Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Openness—seemed to be more prone to measurement variations over age. A large proportion of items were systematically discarded by the item‐selection procedure, indicating that, independent of age, many items are problematic measures of the underlying traits. The implications for personality assessment and personality development research are discussed. © 2019 European Association of Personality Psychology     

Unintentional Residence and the Right to Vote

Democratic theory offers robust resources in order to defend the claim that noncitizens are, in many cases, entitled to the right to vote in their place of residence, regardless of their citizenship. On this, Avner de Shalit and I are in broad agreement. But the route we take to justify this right rests on substantially different argumentation: whereas I believe that residence is necessary and sufficient to justify the right to vote at the municipal and, more controversially, at the national level, de Shalit believes that noncitizens must also intend to reside in a city over the longer term in order to merit the right to vote on city matters. I will argue that this focus on intention is dangerous for the most vulnerable of city dwellers, who are most in need of the right to vote, even if only at the city level. In particular, I argue that the only way that the right to vote can play its protective role is if it is available to migrants on the basis of residence, regardless of their stated intention.     

Observing Purchase‐Related Parent–Child Communication in Retail Environments: A Developmental and Socialization Perspective

In a quantitative observation study, we unobtrusively examined purchase‐related communication between 0‐ to 12‐year‐old children and their parents (N= 269 dyads) during supermarket and toy store visits. The aims of the study were to determine (a) the development of purchase‐related parent–child communication (i.e., children’s purchase influence attempts, their coercive behavior, parent‐initiated communication) and (b) the relative influence of different socialization variables (e.g., television viewing, family communication patterns) on these communication variables. Our inverted‐U hypothesis for the effect of developmental level on purchase influence attempts received support: Children’s purchase influence attempts increased until early elementary school and started to decline in late elementary school. Our inverted‐U hypothesis for the effect of developmental level on coercive behavior was also supported: Children’s coercive behavior was highest among preschoolers. With increasing age, children were more likely to be involved in the purchase decision‐making process, and parent–child communication more often resulted in a product purchase. Finally, children’s television viewing was the most important (positive) predictor of their purchase influence attempts.