A Computationally More Efficient and More Accurate Stepwise Approach for Correcting for Sampling Error and Measurement Error

Over the last decade or two, multilevel structural equation modeling (ML-SEM) has become a prominent modeling approach in the social sciences because it allows researchers to correct for sampling and measurement errors and thus to estimate the effects of Level 2 (L2) constructs without bias. Because the latent variable modeling software Mplus uses maximum likelihood (ML) by default, many researchers in the social sciences have applied ML to obtain estimates of L2 regression coefficients. However, one drawback of ML is that covariance matrices of the predictor variables at L2 tend to be degenerate, and thus, estimates of L2 regression coefficients tend to be rather inaccurate when sample sizes are small. In this article, I show how an approach for stabilizing covariance matrices at L2 can be used to obtain more accurate estimates of L2 regression coefficients. A simulation study is conducted to compare the proposed approach with ML, and I illustrate its application with an example from organizational research.     

When the half-full glass is appraised as half empty and memorised as completely empty: Mood-congruent true and false recognition in depression is modulated by salience

Since the 1980s a large body of empirical effort has been devoted to mood-congruent memory (MCM) biases in clinical depression. Whereas there is broad, albeit not unequivocal, evidence that depressive patients retain negative-valenced memory items better than neutral material, few studies have investigated false memories in depression. In a pilot study we gathered support for both enhanced true and false memory for emotional material in depression. The present study aimed to extend these preliminary findings. In view of investigations suggesting that arousing and meaningful stimuli have facilitated access to memory, personal salience was considered a moderator for MCM. In the present study 21 depressed and 22 healthy participants were presented six false memory lists dealing with neutral, negative, and positive themes. At recognition, each item had to be appraised for its degree of valence subsequent to an old–new judgement. Pre-categorised and subjective valence did not discriminate groups. However, relative to controls depressed patients showed both more veridical as well as false recognition for items that concurrently elicited higher salience ratings in patients. In contrast, group differences in recognition performance did not significantly affect salience ratings. Results indicate that salience modulates MCM and may account for discrepancies in the literature.     

Examining antecedents and outcomes of part‐time working nurses' motives to search and not to search for a full‐time position

Grounded in self‐determination theory, this study sought to examine the antecedents and outcomes of part‐time working nurses' (n = 404) motives for searching and not searching for full‐time employment. After controlling for various background variables, autonomous motivation and economic motivation to search for a full‐time job related positively to job search intensity, controlled motivation to search related negatively to experienced positive experiences of part‐time work, whereas autonomous motivation not to search related negatively to job search intensity and positively to positive experiences from part‐time work. Finally, experienced managerial autonomy support toward part‐time work and negative feedback from colleagues regarding part‐time work were established as contextual antecedents of part‐time nurses' autonomous and controlled motives to search and not to search.     

Video game experience and its influence on visual attention parameters: An investigation using the framework of the Theory of Visual Attention (TVA)

Experts with video game experience, in contrast to non-experienced persons, are superior in multiple domains of visual attention. However, it is an open question which basic aspects of attention underlie this superiority. We approached this question using the framework of Theory of Visual Attention (TVA) with tools that allowed us to assess various parameters that are related to different visual attention aspects (e.g., perception threshold, processing speed, visual short-term memory storage capacity, top-down control, spatial distribution of attention) and that are measurable on the same experimental basis. In Experiment 1, we found advantages of video game experts in perception threshold and visual processing speed; the latter being restricted to the lower positions of the used computer display. The observed advantages were not significantly moderated by general person-related characteristics such as personality traits, sensation seeking, intelligence, social anxiety, or health status. Experiment 2 tested a potential causal link between the expert advantages and video game practice with an intervention protocol. It found no effects of action video gaming on perception threshold, visual short-term memory storage capacity, iconic memory storage, top-down control, and spatial distribution of attention after 15 days of training. However, observations of a selected improvement of processing speed at the lower positions of the computer screen after video game training and of retest effects are suggestive for limited possibilities to improve basic aspects of visual attention (TVA) with practice.     

Accurate Judgments of Neuroticism at Zero Acquaintance: A Question of Relevance

Prior studies have consistently found a surprising inaccuracy of people's neuroticism judgments at zero acquaintance. Based on the Realistic Accuracy Model (Funder, 1995), we hypothesize that this is due to a lack of relevance of the situation in which targets are typically observed. Fifty participants were videotaped in a highly trait‐relevant (i.e., socially stressful) situation as well as three less relevant situations. An aggregate of self‐reports and informant reports was used as the accuracy criterion. Four independent groups of unacquainted observers judged participants' neuroticism based on these short video sequences. Results showed that neuroticism judgments were significantly more accurate for the most trait‐relevant situation compared with the other three situations. This finding can be explained using lens model analyses: Only in the most relevant situation did neuroticism predict both visual nervousness and vocal nervousness, both of which in turn predicted neuroticism judgments by lay observers. Our findings show that strangers are sensitive to interindividual differences in neuroticism as long as targets are observed in a trait‐relevant situation.     

The eyes grasp,the hands see: Metric category knowledge transfers between vision and touch

Categorization of seen objects is often determined by the shapes of objects. However, shape is not exclusive to the visual modality: The haptic system also is expert at identifying shapes. Hence, an important question for understanding shape processing is whether humans store separate modality-dependent shape representations, or whether information is integrated into one multisensory representation. To answer this question, we created a metric space of computer-generated novel objects varying in shape. These objects were then printed using a 3-D printer, to generate tangible stimuli. In a categorization experiment, participants first explored the objects visually and haptically. We found that both modalities led to highly similar categorization behavior. Next, participants were trained either visually or haptically on shape categories within the metric space. As expected, visual training increased visual performance, and haptic training increased haptic performance. Importantly, however, we found that visual training also improved haptic performance, and vice versa. Two additional experiments showed that the location of the categorical boundary in the metric space also transferred across modalities, as did heightened discriminability of objects adjacent to the boundary. This observed transfer of metric category knowledge across modalities indicates that visual and haptic forms of shape information are integrated into a shared multisensory representation.     

Perfectionism and Life Aspirations in Intrinsically and Extrinsically Religious Individuals

Religiosity is related to positive health and life satisfaction but the pathways through which this occurs have not been clearly delineated. The purpose of this study was to examine potential mediators of the relationships between intrinsic and extrinsic religiosity and negative affect and life satisfaction. Perfectionism and life aspirations are two possible pathways through which religious orientation is related to outcome. It was hypothesized that adaptive perfectionism and intrinsic life aspirations would act as mediators between intrinsic religiosity and negative affect and life satisfaction, and that maladaptive perfectionism and extrinsic life aspirations would act as mediators between the extrinsic religiosity and negative affect and life satisfaction. Two consecutive samples of religious college students (N = 540 and N = 485) completed measures of the Age Universal Religious Orientation Index, the Frost Multi-Dimensional Perfectionism Scale, the Aspiration Index, the Beck Depression Inventory-II, the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, and the Satisfaction with Life Scale. Intrinsic religiosity had a direct negative relationship with negative affect and positive relationship with life satisfaction. Contrary to the hypotheses, intrinsic religiosity had its strongest indirect effect via maladaptive perfectionism such that increased intrinsic religiosity was related to decreased maladaptive perfectionism which in turn lead to better negative affect and life satisfaction. Extrinsic religiosity was related to increased maladaptive perfectionism and thereby indirectly contributed to worse negative affect and life satisfaction. Interestingly, when the effects of maladaptive perfectionism were controlled, the direct effects of extrinsic religiosity were related to reduced negative affect and increased life satisfaction. Overall, the strongest mediator in this study of both intrinsic and extrinsic religiosity was maladaptive perfectionism, with intrinsic religiosity related to decreased maladaptive perfectionism and extrinsic religiosity related to increased maladaptive perfectionism.     

Personality Expression and Impression Formation in Online Social Networks: An Integrative Approach to Understanding the Processes of Accuracy,Impression Management and Meta‐accuracy

In this paper, we investigate personality expression and impression formation processes in online social networks (OSNs). We explore whether, when and why people accurately judge others' personalities (accuracy), successfully manage the impressions that others form of them (impression management) and accurately infer others' impressions of them (meta‐accuracy) at zero acquaintance. On the basis of targets' OSN profiles (N = 103), overall perceiver impressions were collected and compared with targets' self‐view, desired impression and meta‐perception. In addition, independent groups of thin‐slice perceivers based their personality impressions solely on one of four kinds of information within the OSN profiles (profile picture, interests field, group list and notice board), and more than 300 OSN cues (e.g. attractive person and number of friends) were coded. Results showed evidence of accuracy, impression management and meta‐accuracy, but their extent was moderated by the trait (e.g. Big Five and self‐esteem), the kind of information and the interplay of trait and information. Findings could be explained by cue expression and cue utilization processes (lens model analyses). Future prospects for studying personality impressions in online and offline environments are discussed. Copyright © 2013 European Association of Personality Psychology.     

Is Religiousness Associated with Better Lifestyle and Health Among Danes? Findings from SHARE

Journal of Religion and Health - Evidence of a possible association between religion and health in secular societies is sparse. We therefore conducted a nationwide study using data from 1596 Danes...     

$${\in_K}$$: a Non-Fregean Logic of Explicit Knowledge

We present a new logic-based approach to the reasoning about knowledge which is independent of possible worlds semantics. \({\in_K}\) (Epsilon-K) is a non-Fregean logic whose models consist of propositional universes with subsets for true, false and known propositions. Knowledge is, in general, not closed under rules of inference; the only valid epistemic principles are the knowledge axiom K _i φ → φ and some minimal conditions concerning common knowledge in a group. Knowledge is explicit and all forms of the logical omniscience problem are avoided. Various stronger epistemic properties such as positive and/or negative introspection, the K-axiom, closure under logical connectives, etc. can be restored by imposing additional semantic constraints. This yields corresponding sublogics for which we present sound and complete axiomatizations. As a useful tool for general model constructions we study abstract versions of some 3-valued logics in which we interpret truth as knowledge. We establish a connection between \({\in_K}\) and the well-known syntactic approach to explicit knowledge proving a result concerning equi-expressiveness. Furthermore, we discuss some self-referential epistemic statements, such as the knower paradox, as relaxations of variants of the liar paradox and show how these epistemic “paradoxes” can be solved in \({\in_K}\). Every specific \({\in_K}\)-logic is defined as a certain extension of some underlying classical abstract logic.