The Relationship of Trait EI with Personality,IQ and Sex in a UK Sample of Employees

The relationships among trait emotional intelligence (EI), personality, IQ and sex were investigated in a sample of 585 employees (478 males, 107 females). Participants completed the Watson–Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal, the Bar‐On Quotient Inventory (EQ‐i) and the Neuroticism–Extraversion–Openness Personality Inventory Revised. Bivariate correlations revealed significant associations between overall EQ‐i and Neuroticism (negative), Agreeableness, Extraversion, Openness and Conscientiousness (all positive). While there were no significant associations between overall EQ‐i and sex or IQ, significant correlations were observed when EI components were considered. Male participants scored significantly higher on Adaptability and females scored significantly higher on the Interpersonal facet. Moreover, IQ correlated with the Interpersonal composite in the male' sample. Results are discussed in the context of trait EI structure and its implications for interpretation of sex and IQ effects.     

Self- and other-estimates of multiple abilities in Britain and Turkey: a cross-cultural comparison of subjective ratings of intelligence

This study is part of a programmatic research effort into the determinants of self-assessed abilities. It examined cross-cultural differences in beliefs about intelligence and self- and other-estimated intelligence in two countries at extreme ends of the European continent. In all, 172 British and 272 Turkish students completed a three-part questionnaire where they estimated their parents', partners' and own multiple intelligences (Gardner (10) and Sternberg (3)). They also completed a measure of the 'big five' personality scales and rated six questions about intelligence. The British sample had more experience with IQ tests than the Turks. The majority of participants in both groups did not believe in sex differences in intelligence but did think there were race differences. They also believed that intelligence was primarily inherited. Participants rated their social and emotional intelligence highly (around one standard deviation above the norm). Results suggested that there were more cultural than sex differences in all the ratings, with various interactions mainly due to the British sample differentiating more between the sexes than the Turks. Males rated their overall, verbal, logical, spatial, creative and practical intelligence higher than females. Turks rated their musical, body-kinesthetic, interpersonal and intrapersonal intelligence as well as existential, naturalistic, emotional, creative, and practical intelligence higher than the British. There was evidence of participants rating their fathers' intelligence on most factors higher than their mothers'. Factor analysis of the ten Gardner intelligences yield two clear factors: cognitive and social intelligence. The first factor was impacted by sex but not culture; it was the other way round for the second factor. Regressions showed that five factors predicted overall estimates: sex (male), age (older), test experience (has done tests), extraversion (strong) and openness (strong). Results are discussed in terms of the growing literature in the field.     

The Swedish version of the parent-rated Junior Temperament and Character Inventory (J-TCI)

To evaluate the psychometric characteristics of the Swedish version of the Junior Temperament and Character Inventory (J-TCI), it was sent to parents of 9- and 12-yr.-old twins in Sweden. The final number of responders was 196 parents who rated 92 female and 104 male twin pairs. The inventory of one twin, randomly chosen from each pair, was included in the analyses. Reward Dependence, Persistence, and Cooperativeness were scored higher in girls; Novelty Seeking was higher in the 9-yr.-olds and Persistence in the 12-yr.-olds. Pearson's correlations showed that some dimensions were not statistically independent from each other, even if the covariance was moderate. Internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha) was satisfactory for Harm Avoidance, Novelty Seeking, Self-Directedness, and Cooperativeness (.68-.81), while it was lower in those dimensions that had fewer items. The Swedish parent version of the J-TCI shared about the same psychometric characteristics as found in international samples.     

Teaching and teachers' “didaktik”

In this article I outline some principal features of phenomenography as a foundation of research on teachers' teaching competence. This article discusses the relations between autoteaching and teachers' teaching, between teachers' teaching and the notion of phenomenographic conceptions, and between phenomenography and philosophy.The discussion aims toward a preliminary articulation of the concepts of the domain and to outlines of a general theory of educational research on teaching. The focus is primarily on teachers' didaktik (teachers' teaching competence) as a concrete content-related field expressed as qualitative and complex ideas and their meanings.The concepts illustrating the content of teachers' didaktik are treated in eight categories: pedagogic planning, didaktik intentionality, differentiation of methods, stepping out of the natural attitude, didaktik oneness, didaktik themes and didaktik patience, the invisible dimension of didaktik.     

What Leads Entrepreneurial Employees to Want to Quit,or Stay in,Their Job? Exploring Two Conflicting Mechanisms

Past turnover research has posited personality traits as important antecedents to quit intentions. Nevertheless, previous literature has not investigated the relationship between employees’ entrepreneurial tendencies—a constellation of domain specific traits—and turnover. Drawing on dispositional trait theory and attraction-selection-attrition theory, we propose engagement and intentions to start a business as mediators of the relationship between entrepreneurial tendencies and quit intentions. We test our predictions in a sample of full-time employees from the United Kingdom (N = 224). In line with our hypotheses, an inconsistent mediation is found, where both positive and negative links between entrepreneurial tendencies and turnover intentions were mediated by engagement and intentions to start a business respectively. Thus, entrepreneurial employees were more likely to be engaged, but at the same time also more likely to be considering starting their own business, leading to a conflicting relationship to turnover intentions. The current study informs the human resource management literature concerning the motivational mechanisms explaining turnover intentions among entrepreneurial employees. It also provides practical insights with regards to the effective management of this workforce.     

Baselining affects the production of deceptive narratives

Recent research shows that the quality of a baseline (i.e., the analysis of one's behavior in normal conditions) decreases when the second narrative is expected and deceitful. However, a first step would be to investigate whether the writing of a first narrative might influence the second, independently of its expectancy. In this study, we hypothesized that second narratives would be less detailed, especially if these narratives are deceptive. Participants (N = 71) were asked to narrate two consecutive truthful and deceptive narratives. The second narrative was unexpected, and the order of the narratives was counterbalanced. Results suggest a detrimental effect of deceptiveness and order on the frequency of details. Moreover, an interaction was observed, suggesting when narratives are written after a first one, the frequency of details decreases, all the more if they were deceptive. The results of this experiment are discussed from both a theoretical and an applied perspective.     

AIDS-related death: A review of how bereaved gay men are affected

This paper reviews the current literature in relation to how gay men are affected by AIDS related bereavement. It seems that bereavement reactions have changed as the epidemic has progressed. Initially, it seemed that gay men were very badly affected by AIDS related bereavements, especially the experience of multiple bereavements. However, while the experience of such bereavement cna be vary stressful it seems that gay men are less afected in the long term than was previously thought. The paper places this change within a cultural and political context and user this context to consider current bereavement reactions.     

Phenomenology in Lithuania

The article deals with phenomenology in Lithuania. The main thesis of the article is this: phenomenology is a living tradition in need of both development and interpretation. The minor thesis follows from the main one: the Western phenomenological tradition and Lithuanian philosophy interact and develop in tandem with one another. According to the authors, the contact between poetics and philosophy is the dominant form of phenomenology in Lithuania. The phenomenological tradition is treated as creative and living philosophical thought.

More Than Just IQ: School Achievement Is Predicted by Self-Perceived Abilities—But for Genetic Rather Than Environmental Reasons

ABSTRACT— Evidence suggests that children's self-perceptions of their abilities predict their school achievement even after one accounts for their tested cognitive ability (IQ). However, the roles of nature and nurture in the association between school achievement and self-perceived abilities (SPAs), independent of IQ, is unknown. Here we reveal that there are substantial genetic influences on SPAs and that there is genetic covariance between SPAs and achievement independent of IQ. Although it has been assumed that the origins of SPAs are environmental, this first genetic analysis of SPAs yielded a heritability of 51% in a sample of 3,785 pairs of twins, whereas shared environment accounted for only 2% of the variance in SPAs. Moreover, multivariate genetic analyses indicated that SPAs predict school achievement independently of IQ for genetic rather than environmental reasons. It should therefore be possible to identify "SPA genes" that predict school achievement independently of "IQ genes."