Creativity and experience of a creative task: Person and environment effects

We examined the effects of a person factor (general causality orientation) and an environment factor (threat of evaluation) on creativity and personal experience of a creative collage-making task. Ninety college students completed questionnaires and made a collage under conditions of expected evaluation or no-evaluation. Creativity was a function of participants’ characterizations of themselves as artistic, and among men, of the interaction between environment and person factors. Task experience was affected by environment factors and, marginally, by the interaction of environment and person factors, with participants feeling less competent at the task under threat of evaluation, and exerting the greatest effort when they were under evaluation threat and were higher on control orientation. These findings may have implications for future motivation for creative tasks.     

Optimism and resources: Effects on each other and on health over 10 years

Dispositional optimism may be associated with growth of social and status resources by virtue of optimists' greater persistence and better performance. Conversely, resource growth may give people a more positive view of their future and increase optimism. Changes in dispositional optimism and resources over 10 years were examined in former law students (N = 61). More optimistic first-year law students made more money 10 years later, but income did not predict later optimism. More optimistic students did not have larger social networks 10 years later, but increases in social network size predicted increased optimism. These changes predicted mental and physical health. Dispositional optimism was less stable than many personality traits (r = .35), potentially because it is responsive to resource change.     

The inter-relations of mother and father attachment, self-esteem and aggression during late adolescence

This study examined three models depicting the relations between mother and father attachment, self-esteem and aggression. A total of 385 participants (173 males and 212 females), aged from 18 to 20 years, completed self-rating questionnaires covering mother and father attachment, self-esteem and aggression. Results showed that self-esteem had additive and mediation effects on both the father attachment-aggression and mother attachment-aggression relationships, and also moderated the mother attachment-aggression relation. These findings are discussed in terms of different models for the inter-relations of mother and father attachment, self-esteem and aggression in late adolescence.     

Bullying in college by students and teachers

This study explored bullying in college by students and teachers. The reports of a sample of 1,025 undergraduates indicated that 24.7% had seen students bully other students occasionally and 2.8% very frequently, 5% had been bullied by students occasionally and 1.1% very frequently, 12.8% had seen teachers bully students occasionally and 1.9% very frequently, 4.2% had been bullied by teachers occasionally and .5% very frequently, while 3.2% had bullied other students occasionally and 1.9% very frequently. Male students bullied significantly more than females. Student bullying was predicted by having seen other students bully, and by having been bullied by both students and teachers.     

Social anxiety in older adults: phenomenology, prevalence, and measurement

Although phobias represent the most common anxiety disorders among the elderly, little is known about their social nature. The present study provides information about the prevalence, measurement, and phenomenology of social anxiety in older adults (n = 283) and compares results to those of younger adults (n = 318). Analyses revealed that social anxiety is less prevalent in old age than it is within younger cohorts and is associated with different symptomatology. The psychopathological profile of those who reach clinical levels of social anxiety is however similar, irrespective of age. Results regarding the psychometric properties of the SPAI when used for the elderly were promising, but the questionnaire appears to be difficult for some older adults to complete. Results are discussed in terms of explanations for age differences in social anxiety, initial psychometrics of the SPAI in an older adult sample, and suggestions for future research.     

Illusory Control and Motives for Control: The Role of Connection and Intentionality

An experiment was done to examine the control heuristic perspective on illusory control and the effects of motives on control judgments, using a computer task similar to the light onset task used in previous research. Desire for the outcome and reinforcement were manipulated. As predicted from a control heuristic perspective, the effect of level of reinforcement on judgments of personal control was mediated by the measure of perceived connection: the perception of the number of positive confirming cases. Motives increased illusions of control, but only in the high reinforcement condition. A mediational analysis that examined how motives affect control judgments found that when the motive to get the outcomes was high, participants had higher estimates of having acted intentionally and these estimates partially mediated the relationship between the motivation manipulation and judgments of control. It appears that perceptions of connection mediate the relationship between reinforcement and illusory control, while judgments of intentionality partially mediate the effect of motives for control and illusory control.     

The use of person-organization fit in employment decision making: an assessment of its criterion-related validity

Because measures of person-organization (P-O) fit are accountable to the same psychometric and legal standards used for other employment tests when they are used for personnel decision making, the authors assessed the criterion-related validity of P-O fit as a predictor of job performance and turnover. Meta-analyses resulted in estimated true criterion-related validities of .15 (k = 36, N = 5,377) for P-O fit as a predictor of job performance and .24 (k = 8, N = 2,476) as a predictor of turnover, compared with a stronger effect of .31 (k = 109, N = 108,328) for the more commonly studied relation between P-O fit and work attitudes. In contrast to the relations between P-O fit and work attitudes, the lower 95% credibility values for the job performance and turnover relations included zero. In addition, P-O fit's relations with job performance and turnover were partially mediated by work attitudes. Potential concerns pertaining to the use of P-O fit in employment decision making are discussed in light of these results.