Core Self‐Evaluations in Germany: Validation of a German Measure and its Relationships with Career Success

The present study reports the results of a validation of a German version of the Core Self‐Evaluations Scale (CSES) and its relationships with career success. Data were collected in three occupational samples to address various aspects of validation. Our results confirm the proposed one‐factor structure of the scale as well as convergent, discriminant, criterion, and predictive validity. Furthermore, the German CSES shows incremental validity over the individual core traits (neuroticism, self‐esteem, self‐efficacy, and locus of control), the Big Five, and positive and negative affect. Thus, the German version of the Core Self‐Evaluations Scale is a reliable, valid, and economic measure for both research and practical applications. Furthermore, hypothesised relationships of core self‐evaluations with objective as well as subjective career success were confirmed. Possible explanations of these relationships are discussed. On présente dans cet article une étude de validation d'une version allemande de la Core Self‐Evaluation Scale (CSES) avec son rapport au succès professionnel. Les données ont été recueillies auprès d'échantillons relevant de trois métiers pour couvrir plusieurs aspects de la validation. Nos résultats confirment la structure unifactorielle attendue ainsi que les validités convergente, discriminante, prédictive et critérielle. En outre, la CSES allemande présente une validité incrémentielle pour le Big Five, les émotions positives et négatives et les traits centraux individuels (névrotisme, estime de soi, auto‐efficience et locus of control). La version allemande de la CSES est par conséquent un outil fidèle, valide et économique aussi bien pour la recherche que pour les applications pratiques. Sans compter qu'ont été confirmées les relations supposées des auto‐évaluations centrales avec le succès professionnel, qu'il soit objectif ou subjectif. On analyse les raisons possibles de ces relations.     

Kant's subjective deduction: A reappraisal

In the A‐preface of the Critique of Pure Reason, Kant kindly warns his readers to pay special attention to the chapter on the “Deduction of the Pure Concepts of the Understanding.” Looking to mitigate the reader's effort, Kant goes on to explain the chapter's methodology, suggesting that the inquiry will have “two sides.” One side deals with the “objective validity” of the pure categories of the understanding; he calls this the “objective deduction.” The other deals with the powers of cognition on which the understanding rests; he calls this the “subjective deduction.” Having gone to such great lengths to outline his method ahead of time, it comes as no small surprise that the actual chapter offers no clear indication of where the two deductions are located. In this essay, I attempt to solve this puzzle. On the way, I engage with both traditional and recent interpretations of the subjective deduction, arguing that they fail—in one way or another—to satisfy the criteria that Kant develops in the preface.     

Natural disaster induced cognitive disruption: impacts on action slips

Previous research has indicated an increase in stress levels and cognitive intrusions after natural disasters. These previous studies have not, however, assessed the impact disaster induced cognitive disruption has on human performance. In the present report, we investigated the impact of the 7.1 magnitude 2010 Christchurch, New Zealand earthquake on self-reported earthquake-induced cognitive disruption and its relationship to performance on the Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART). Participants who self-reported greater cognitive disruption induced by the earthquake also had higher levels of errors of commission during SART (r = .80, p < .001). This was even the case when controlling for earthquake-induced anxiety, depression, participant sex, and self-reported sleep amount. Post-disaster assessments need to include the impact of the events directly on cognitive self-regulation and conscious thoughts, in addition to more clinical constructs, such as anxiety and depression.     

The multinomial model of prospective memory: validity of ongoing-task parameters

The objective of this research was to provide additional experimental validation of the multinomial processing tree (MPT) model of event-based prospective memory (Smith & Bayen, 2004). In particular, the parameters that measure trial-type detection in the ongoing task were examined. In three experiments with different response instructions, event-based prospective memory tasks were embedded in ongoing color-matching tasks. The results support the validity of the MPT model, that is, manipulations of ongoing-task difficulty affected the ongoing-task parameters of the MPT model, while leaving the estimates for the prospective and the retrospective components of prospective memory unaffected.     

Commentary on the Special Issue: Religion in the Psychology of Personality

The author comments on the special issue on religion in the psychology of personality. She focuses her discussion on the following topics: the historical tripartite theory of cognition-affection-conation; ways that family psychology and theories of language clarify the "problem" of adherence to "false realities"; the multidimensionality of personality and religion and their cultural embeddedness as illuminated in clinical assessment by way of contextual family theory (Boszormenyi-Nagy & Krasner, 1986) and the Kantor and Lehr (1975) systems theory; the role of the investigator's personality in theory and research about personality and religion; the one-sided emphasis on the empirical tradition in the psychology of religion; and the omission of the personalist tradition.     

Positive affectivity and lifestyle in adulthood: do you do what you feel?

There is much evidence for the adaptive value of positive affect. Empirical work examining different facets of positive affect and their consequences for psychological adaptation remains sparse, however. This study (young, middle-aged, and older adults; N = 293) investigated the links between two dimensions of positive affect (positive involvement and pleasant affect) and two lifestyles (hedonic and growth related), each indicated by general value orientations, self-reported everyday activities, and activity aspirations. Structural equation models showed that pleasant affect and positive involvement constitute distinct dimensions evincing different age trends and relating differentially to hedonic and growth-related lifestyles. Specifically, pleasant affect, but not positive involvement, was related to a hedonic lifestyle, whereas positive involvement, and not pleasant affect, was associated with a growth-related lifestyle. These findings underline the importance of considering two dimensions of positive affect--pleasant feelings and positive involvement--separately when studying the link between affect and lifestyle.     

Prospective memory in young and older adults: The effects of ongoing-task load

ABSTRACT

Prospective memory involves remembering to perform intended actions in the future. Previous work with the multinomial model of event-based prospective memory indicated that adult age-related differences in prospective-memory performance were due to the prospective (not the retrospective) component of the task (Smith & Bayen, 2006 Smith, R. E. and Bayen, U. J. 2006. The source of age differences in event-based prospective memory: A multinomial modeling approach. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 32: 623–635. [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar], Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 32, 623). However, ongoing-task performance was also lower in older adults in that study. In the current study with young and older adults, the difficulty of the ongoing task was manipulated by varying the number of colors per trial to create easier and harder versions of the ongoing task for each age group. The easier version included 2 colors per trial for older adults and 4 colors for young adults. The harder version included 4 colors for older adults and 6 colors for young adults. By adjusting the ongoing-task difficulty, older adults were able to perform the ongoing task as well or better than the young adults. Analyses with the multinomial model revealed that making the ongoing task easier for older adults (or more difficult for young adults) did not eliminate age-related differences in prospective-memory performance and the underlying prospective component.     

Age differences in three facets of empathy: performance-based evidence

This study investigated age differences in cognitive and affective facets of empathy: the ability to perceive another's emotions accurately, the capacity to share another's emotions, and the ability to behaviorally express sympathy in an empathic episode. Participants, 80 younger (M(age) = 32 years) and 73 older (M(age) = 59 years) adults, viewed eight film clips, each portraying a younger or an older adult thinking-aloud about an emotionally engaging topic that was relevant to either younger adults or older adults. In comparison to their younger counterparts, older adults generally reported and expressed greater sympathy while observing the target persons; and they were better able to share the emotions of the target persons who talked about a topic that was relevant to older adults. Age-related deficits in the cognitive ability to accurately perceive another's emotions were only evident when the target person talked about a topic of little relevance to older adults. In sum, the present performance-based evidence speaks for multidirectional age differences in empathy.     

Age differences in emotional reactions: arousal and age-relevance count

Recent findings suggest positivity effects in older adults' attention and memory, but few studies have examined such effects on the level of emotional reactivity. In this study, 52 young and 52 older adults rated 172 pictures of the International Affective Picture System, differing in arousal and age-relevance, in terms of valence and discrete emotions. Age differences in the ratio of pleasantness reactions to pleasant pictures vs. unpleasantness reactions to unpleasant pictures as well as age differences in absolute levels of unpleasantness and pleasantness reactions suggest that positivity effects in older adults' subjective emotional reactions are reduced under high arousal. There is also evidence that positivity effects may be restricted to stimuli with low relevance in old age.