Self-control mediates the link between perfectionism and stress

The relationship between perfectionism and stress is well-established. Recent research has focused on identifying the mediators of this link. Starting from a multidimensional perspective on perfectionism, we investigated the role of self-control and found it to be a mediator between perfectionism and stress in a sample of university freshmen. Further, perfectionistic concerns (i.e., discrepancy; Slaney et al. 2001) were positively correlated with stress, whereas perfectionistic strivings (i.e., high standards; Slaney et al. 2001) were negatively correlated with stress. Practical implications regarding overcoming maladaptive perfectionism are discussed.     

The careless or the conscientious : Who profits most from goal progress?

Although research indicates that making progress on personal work goals predicts positive job attitudes, little is known about the role of conscientiousness in moderating this relationship. Congruence theories suggest that job attitudes will be more dependent on goal progress when employees are high in conscientiousness, whereas compensation theories suggest the opposite. We test these competing hypotheses in a three-wave, 4-month longitudinal panel study of 121 trainee teachers, who are at their early stages of career development. Conscientiousness moderated the relationships between progress on personal work goals and job attitudes according to the compensatory pattern, such that employees displayed stronger increases in job satisfaction and affective organizational commitment in response to goal progress when they were low rather than high in conscientiousness. Our results help to resolve conflicting findings about the relationship between goal progress and job attitudes and adjudicate competing hypotheses about the role of conscientiousness in moderating this relationship.     

Graduate Student Selection: Graduate record examination,socioeconomic status,and undergraduate grade point average as predictors of study success in a western European University

Graduate students' mobility has increased within Europe. Yet, empirical evidence on the validity of standardized admission tests in Europe is still scarce. The aim of the present study was therefore to investigate the incremental validity of the GRE® revised general test above undergraduate grade point average (U‐GPA) by focusing on a multinational sample of master students (N = 282) enrolled at a Dutch university. Results indicated that the Analytical Writing part of the GRE predicts graduate grade point average above and beyond U‐GPA. Furthermore, the results suggest that the relationship is independent of students' socioeconomic status as indexed by parental education. Implications for graduate student selection in a European context are discussed.     

Adult age differences in interference from a prospective-memory task: a diffusion model analysis

People often slow down their ongoing activities when they must remember an intended action, known as the cost or interference effect of prospective memory (PM). Only a few studies have examined adult age differences in PM interference, and the specific reasons underlying such differences are not well understood. The authors used a model-based approach to reveal processes underlying PM interference and age differences in these processes. Older and younger adults first performed a block of an ongoing lexical decision task alone. An embedded event-based PM task was added in a second block. Simultaneously accounting for the changes in response time distributions and error rates induced by the PM task, Ratcliff’s (Psychological Review 85:59–108, 1978) diffusion model was used to decompose the nonlinear combination of speed and accuracy into psychologically meaningful components. Remembering an intention not only reduced processing efficiency in both age groups, but also prolonged peripheral nondecision times and induced response cautiousness. Overall, the findings suggest that there are multiple, but qualitatively similar factors underlying PM task interference in both age groups.     

Theory of mind and wisdom: The development of different forms of perspective-taking in late adulthood

How does perspective-taking develop over the lifespan? This question has been investigated in two separate research traditions, dealing with theory of mind (ToM) and wisdom, respectively. Operating in almost complete isolation from each other, and using rather different conceptual approaches, these two traditions have produced seemingly contradictory results: While perspective-taking has been consistently found to decline in old age in ToM research, studies on wisdom have mostly found that perspective-taking remains constant or sometimes even increases in later adulthood. This study sought to integrate these two lines of research and clarify the seemingly contradictory patterns of findings by systematically testing for both forms of perspective-taking and their potential cognitive foundations. The results revealed (1) the dissociation in developmental patterns between ToM perspective-taking (declining with age) and wisdom-related perspective-taking (no decline with age) also held – documented here for the first time – in one and the same sample of younger versus older adults; (2) this dissociation was of limited generality: It did not (or only partly) hold once the material of the two types of tasks was more closely matched; and (3) the divergent developmental patterns of ToM perspective-taking versus wisdom-related perspective-taking could be accounted for to some degree by the fact that only TOM perspective-taking was related to developmental changes in fluid intelligence.     

Employability and Job Search after Compulsory Reemployment Courses: The Role of Choice,Usefulness, and Motivation

Compulsory reemployment courses aim to increase unemployed people's chances of reemployment by enhancing their employability and job search activities. However, the course outcomes vary greatly. This study examined the conditions and mechanisms that influence the outcomes of reemployment courses. In a two‐wave study of 643 participants, we assessed participants’ course experience (perceived choice and perceived usefulness), motivation for finding reemployment (internalisation), and employability and job search before and after the course. The results confirmed that a more internalised motivation was positively related to most course outcomes. Unexpectedly, perceived choice was unrelated to internalised motivation and course outcomes. Instead, high perceived choice was beneficial for motivation and some course outcomes only when the participants perceived the course to be useful for finding reemployment but was detrimental when they perceived the course to be useless. Perceived usefulness was also directly and positively related to the participants’ internalised motivation, which was in turn positively associated with most employability dimensions and job search activities after the course. Our results imply that the compulsory nature of reemployment courses may not be detrimental to people's motivation and course outcomes as long as they perceive the course to be useful for finding reemployment.     

Cognitive confidence in obsessive-compulsive disorder: distrusting perception, attention and memory

Previous studies have established that obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is characterised by significant levels of distrust in memory (e.g. for actions). Ironically, this lowered confidence is at least in part due to repeated checking, which is assumed to lower perceptual processing and thereby reduces vividness and detail of the recollections. In a previous study, Hermans, D., Martens, K., De Cort, K., Pieters, G., and Eelen, P. [(2003). Reality monitoring and metacognitive beliefs related to cognitive confidence in OCD. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 41, 383-401] observed that OCD is not only characterised by reduced confidence in memory, but also by a similar distrust in attention (Hermans et al., 2003). The present study aimed at replicating and extending this finding. It was observed (a) that patients suffering from OCD showed less confidence in attention and memory than a clinical and a nonclinical control group; (b) that confidence in attention was uniquely related to checking behaviour, and (c) that repeated checking caused increased levels of distrust in attention. In addition, it was observed that cognitive distrust while performing OCD-related actions not only extends to attention, but also to perception. It is argued that research on metacognition in OCD should move beyond the study of memory.     

Self-regulatory strategy and executive control: implementation intentions modulate task switching and Simon task performance

Two tasks where failures of cognitive control are especially prevalent are task-switching and spatial Simon task paradigms. Both tasks require considerable strategic control for the participant to avoid the costs associated with switching tasks (task-switching paradigm) and to minimize the influence of spatial location (Simon task). In the current study, we assessed whether the use of a self-regulatory strategy known as "implementation intentions" would have any beneficial effects on performance in each of these task domains. Forming an implementation intention (i.e., an if-then plan) is a self-regulatory strategy in which a mental link is created between a pre-specified future cue and a desired goal-directed response, resulting in facilitated goal attainment (Gollwitzer in European Review of Social Psychology, 4, 141-185, 1993, American Psychologist, 54, 493-503, 1999). In Experiment 1, forming implementation intentions in the context of a task-switching paradigm led to a reduction in switch costs. In Experiment 2, forming implementation intentions reduced the effects of spatial location in a Simon task for the stimulus specified in the implementation intention. Results supported the prediction that the need for high levels of cognitive control can be alleviated to some degree by making if-then plans that specify how one responds to that critical stimuli.     

Structural brain abnormalities in psychopaths-a review

The biological basis of psychopathy has not yet been fully elucidated. Few studies deal with structural neuroimaging in psychopaths. The aim of this article is to review these studies in order to contribute to our understanding of the biological basis of psychopathy. Data in the literature report a reduction in prefrontal gray matter volume, gray matter loss in the right superior temporal gyrus, amygdala volume loss, a decrease in posterior hippocampal volume, an exaggerated structural hippocampal asymmetry, and an increase in callosal white matter volume in psychopathic individuals. These findings suggest that psychopathy is associated with brain abnormalities in a prefrontal-temporo-limbic circuit-i.e. regions that are involved, among others, in emotional and learning processes. Additionally, data indicate that psychopathic individuals cannot be seen as a homogeneous group. The associations between structural changes and psychopathic characteristics do not enable causal conclusions to be drawn, but point rather to the important role of biological brain abnormalities in psychopathy. To gain a comprehensive understanding of this, psychopathy must be viewed as a multifactorial process involving neurobiological, genetic, epidemiological and sociobiographical factors.