The Interactive Effect of Impression Motivation and Cognitive Schema on Self‐Presentation in a Personality Inventory1

Applicants usually try to put their best foot forward during personnel selection. Although past research has revealed meaningful individual differences in applicants' self‐presentation in personality tests (often called “faking”), it only concentrated on main effects and ignored the interaction of interindividual and intraindividual differences. Based on impression management theory, we hypothesized that interindividual differences in applicants' impression motivation interact with intraindividual differences in the perceived relevance of personality facets (applicants' cognitive schema). Results of hierarchical linear modeling analyses showed that both impression motivation and cognitive schema significantly affected self‐presentation. Furthermore, for participants with high levels of impression motivation, cognitive schema showed a stronger impact on self‐presentation than for those with low levels of impression motivation.     

Motivation for Dental Home Care: Testing a Self‐Determination Theory Model1

The present research developed the Self‐Regulation for Dental Home Care Questionnaire (SRDHCQ), based on self‐determination theory (SDT; Deci & Ryan, 2000 ), and used it in an SDT process model of dental health behaviors and self‐rated oral health. In this model, patients' perceptions of autonomy‐supportive (relative to controlling) dental professionals were expected to positively predict patients' psychological needs satisfaction in treatment. Needs satisfaction was expected to be positively related to autonomous motivation for dental home care and perceived dental competence, which were expected to be positively associated with self‐rated oral health and dental health behaviors. Confirmatory factor analysis of the 5‐factor SRDHCQ model fit the data very well, and a structural equation model supported the hypothesized process model.     

The Relationship of Purpose in Life to Coping Strategies and Time Since the Death of a Significant Other

The authors investigated the relationship of experienced purpose in life to strategies used to cope with a loss resulting from death and the amount of time since the loss. Forty undergraduates who had suffered the death of a significant other completed an information sheet, the Purpose in Life Test, and the revised Ways of Coping Checklist. People who experienced low purpose in life reported using more emotion-focused coping strategies than did individuals with high purpose. These results are linked to the literature on emotion-focused coping and depression and are discussed in terms of the assessment and preventive treatment of bereaved clients.     

DEVELOPMENT OF MULTIPLE JOB PERFORMANCE MEASURES IN A REPRESENTATIVE SAMPLE OF JOBS

The goal of criterion development in Project A was to construct multiple measures of the major components of job performance such that the total performance domain for a representative sample of the population of entry-level enlisted positions in the U.S. Army was covered. These measures were to be used as criteria against which to validate both experimental and existing predictors of job performance. The initial model specified that performance is multidimensional within two major categories of dimensions designated as organization-wide and job specific. The development strategy involved describing the total domain of job content via extensive task analyses and critical incident analyses, generating the critical performance dimensions that constitute it, constructing measures for each dimension, and evaluating each measure using expert judgment and field test data. The specific measures developed consisted of rating scales, tests of job knowledge, hands-on job samples, and archival records. The major steps in the job analyses, content sampling, instrument construction, and instrument evaluation are described, and the final array of criterion measures is presented.