The Brief Aggression Questionnaire: Structure,Validity, Reliability,and Generalizability

In contexts that increasingly demand brief self-report measures (e.g., experience sampling, longitudinal and field studies), researchers seek succinct surveys that maintain reliability and validity. One such measure is the 12-item Brief Aggression Questionnaire (BAQ; Webster et al., 2014), which uses 4 3-item subscales: Physical Aggression, Verbal Aggression, Anger, and Hostility. Although prior work suggests the BAQ's scores are reliable and valid, we addressed some lingering concerns. Across 3 studies (N = 1,279), we found that the BAQ had a 4-factor structure, possessed long-term test–retest reliability across 12 weeks, predicted differences in behavioral aggression over time in a laboratory experiment, generalized to a diverse nonstudent sample, and showed convergent validity with a displaced aggression measure. In addition, the BAQ's 3-item Anger subscale showed convergent validity with a trait anger measure. We discuss the BAQ's potential reliability, validity, limitations, and uses as an efficient measure of aggressive traits.     

Perceived Overqualification: A Multi-Source Investigation of Psychological Predisposition and Contextual Triggers

ABSTRACT. Although employee (subjective) perceived overqualification (POQ) has recently been explored as a meaningful organizational construct, further work is needed to fully understand it. We extend the theoretical psychological underpinnings of employee POQ and examine both its determinants and outcomes based on established and newly proposed theoretical developments. Four-hundred and fifteen employees completed an online questionnaire and 208 of their supervisors completed corresponding surveys about the employees’ withdrawal behaviors and job-related attitudes, in order to explore potential predictors and outcomes of subjectively experienced POQ. Among the predictors, work conditions (uniform requirements and repetitive tasks) were most strongly associated with POQ. In terms of individual differences, narcissism predicted higher POQ while general mental ability only did when holding other variables constant. In addition, among the outcomes, higher POQ was related to lower job satisfaction and organizational commitment, but was not related to withdrawal behaviors such as truancy, absenteeism, and turnover intentions.     

The Measurement of Organizational Citizenship Behavior: Are We Assuming Too Much?

Organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) is assessed by measuring how frequently employees display extra-role and discretionary behaviors. One hundred forty-four managerial employees responded to an OCB scale and indicated the number of behaviors on the scale they believed to be formally evaluated. None of the behaviors were believed to be unevaluated by all employees. Data suggest that a typical OCB scale is not measuring citizenship behaviors for everybody, and that OCB measurement needs refinement. Best prediction of other organizational variables was obtained when both the OCB and an index of "unevaluated" behaviors were used as predictors. Supervisor fairness interacted with OCB when predicting organizational commitment, and this interaction was contingent on the extent OCBs were believed to be unevaluated.     

Is attentional selection to different levels of hierarchical structure based on spatial frequency?

Target identification is faster when the target level (global or local) is the same as that on the previous trial, presumably because attention is directed to the appropriate level. L. C. Robertson (1996) found that eliminating low spatial frequencies by contrast balancing eliminated this level repetition effect and concluded that attentional selection between different levels of structure is based on spatial frequency. In contrast, M. R. Lamb and E. W. Yund (1996a) found no effect of contrast balancing on the level repetition effect and thus concluded that attentional selection is not based on spatial frequency. In this study, the authors identified the procedural difference between the 2 studies responsible for this difference in results and replicated both findings. The data show that spatial frequency is not a necessary basis for attentional selection between global and local forms. Although it remains possible that spatial frequency is the basis of attentional selection under some circumstances, the data supporting this proposition are not yet compelling.     

BRIEF REPORT: LATENCY FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS OF ELOPEMENT

Elopement is a potentially dangerous problem behavior prevalent among individuals with developmental disabilities. However, functional analysis of elopement presents unique challenges including potential confounds because of the need for participant retrieval during functional analysis sessions. In the current study, we implemented a latency functional analysis with an eight‐year‐old child with an intellectual disability, in which the dependent measure was latency to elopement. Following the latency functional analysis, a functional communication intervention was developed and its effectiveness in decreasing elopement was evaluated using an ABAB design. Findings suggest that a functional analysis of latency may be a suitable methodology to identify the operant function of elopement. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.