Positive Feelings at School: On the Relationships Between Students’ Character Strengths,School-Related Affect,and School Functioning

The present study was designed to examine the relationships between students’ character strengths, school-related affect, positive school functioning (i.e., motivation to learn, interest, and engagement at class), and school achievement following the “engine model of well-being” that is focusing on inputs (e.g., personality traits), processes (e.g., moods, emotions), and outcomes (e.g., engagement, accomplishments) within the context of well-being research. A sample of 196 children completed the Values in Action Inventory of Strengths for Youth, which assesses 24 character strengths, and the PANAS-C that assesses school-related positive and negative affect. Additionally, homeroom teachers rated students’ positive school functioning (i.e., motivation, engagement, and interest at school) and their overall school achievement. The character strengths of zest, love of learning, perseverance, and social intelligence showed the strongest positive correlations with school-related positive affect. Teamwork, hope, self-regulation, and love were substantially negatively correlated with school-related negative affect. Certain character strengths showed positive relationships with positive school functioning and overall school achievement. A path model, testing the “engine model of well-being”, found—additionally to direct effects—indirect relationships between character strengths and positive school functioning (through school-related positive affect), which in turn leads to higher school achievement. The presented findings show character strengths as meaningful resources in the schooling context. Character strengths emerge to be crucial for students to experience school-related positive affect, which in turn supports students’ positive school functioning and their overall school achievement. The results demonstrate the complex interplay between students’ personality traits, affect, school functioning, and achievement at school.     

The Role of Non-Numerical Stimulus Features in Approximate Number System Training in Preschoolers from Low-Income Homes

Recent findings have suggested that adults’ and children’s approximate number system (ANS) acuity may be malleable through training, but research on ANS acuity has largely been conducted with adults and children who are from middle- to high-income homes. We conducted 2 experiments to test the malleability of ANS acuity in preschool-aged children from low-income homes and to test how non-numerical stimulus features affected performance. In Experiment 1, mixed-effects models indicated that children significantly improved their ratio achieved across training. Children’s change in probability of responding correctly across sessions was qualified by an interaction with surface area features of the arrays such that children improved their probability of answering correctly across sessions on trials in which numerosity conflicted with the total surface area of object sets significantly more than on trials in which total surface area positively correlated with numerosity. In Experiment 2, we found that children who completed ANS acuity training performed better on an ANS acuity task compared with children in a control group, but they only did so on ANS acuity trials in which numerosity conflicted with the total surface area of object sets. These findings suggest that training affects ANS acuity in children from low-income homes by fostering an ability to focus on numerosity in the face of conflicting non-numerical stimulus features.     

Transplanting brains?

Brain transplant thought experiments figure prominently in the debate on personal identity. Such hypotheticals are usually taken to provide support for psychological continuity theories. This standard interpretation has recently been challenged by Marya Schechtman. Simon Beck argues that Schechtman's critique rests upon ‘two costly mistakes’—claiming that (1) when evaluating these cases, philosophers mistakenly try to figure out the intuitions that they think people inhabiting such a possible world ought to have, instead of pondering their own intuitions. Beck further asserts that (2) brain transplant thought experiments cannot confirm any given theory of personal identity but rather they can only rule out theories. I argue on grounds of the social ontology of personhood that Beck has things back to front. Since our concept of personhood is shaped and informed by contingent de facto norms and structures of the natural world, and as such is heavily normatively laden, the conceptual genesis of personhood must be taken into account. This calls for constructing thought experiments as realistically as possible in order to trigger reliable intuitions. Furthermore, drawing on recent evidence from cognitive science, an empirically informed look at brain transplant thought experiments considering ‘Embodied Cognition’ reveals that Beck's arguments not only fall short for supporting psychological continuity theories, but also suggests an advantage of Schechtman's ‘Person Life View’.     

Predicting Cognitive and Social Consequences of Emotional Episodes: The Contribution of Emotional Intensity, the Five Factor Model, and Alexithymia

Emotional events are followed by recurrent thoughts (rumination) and talking about the event (social sharing of emotion). Factors that can account for variations in these consequences were examined (emotional intensity, the Five Factor Model, and two factors of alexithymia). In two samples, participants reported the most negative emotional event of recent months and in one sample also reported the most positive one. Results indicated that emotional intensity predicted social sharing and rumination, while neuroticism was positively related to intrusive thoughts about negative events and extraversion to rumination and social sharing about positive events. Difficulty describing feelings was negatively related to social sharing for negative events and reduced fantasy to rumination for positive events.     

From method to critique: a reply to Vonk and van Vliet

Vonk & van Vliet (1998) criticise the methods used in the study by Wagner, Elejabarrieta & Lahnsteiner (1995). They conclude that methodological flaws render some findings of the study invalid. It is shown that those flaws are in fact not present and that the remaining part of the conceptual critique is at least debatable. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Alexithymia and its measurement: confirmatory factor analyses of the 20‐item Toronto Alexithymia Scale and the Bermond–Vorst Alexithymia Questionnaire

Alexithymia refers to the difficulties an individual has in experiencing and expressing feelings. The 20‐item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS‐20) and the Bermond–Vorst Alexithymia Questionnaire (BVAQ) with two parallel versions of 20 items have been constructed to measure it. The present study compared the psychometric properties of these two self‐report questionnaires in English (N=290) and French (N=322) language versions. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to examine the fit between the hypothesized factors and the data. Results revealed a better fit to the data for the second version of the BVAQ (BVAQ‐20B) for both language versions as compared to the TAS‐20, the whole BVAQ, or the first version of the BVAQ (BVAQ‐20A). Additionally, the factor comparison of both language versions indicated that only the factorial structure of the BVAQ‐20B was replicable across languages. Concurrent validity of the questionnaires is discussed. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Against all odds – is a more differentiated view of personality development in emerging adulthood needed? The case of young apprentices

Personality development in emerging adults who do not attend college after high school has been largely overlooked so far. In this study, we investigated personality development in emerging German adults (N_T1 = 1,886, M_ageT1 = 18.01 years, 29% female) undergoing vocational education and training (VET). The trainees were assessed at the start of VET, 1.5 years later, and another 1.5 years after that, just before graduation. Longitudinal latent change score analyses were applied. Bivariate analyses investigated life satisfaction and job strain as social and work‐related aspects that are potentially reciprocally related to personality development. Mean‐level personality changes included increases in neuroticism and decreases in agreeableness and conscientiousness in the first interval. In the second interval, neuroticism decreased and conscientiousness increased. Simultaneously, trainees reported a gradual decrease in extraversion and openness across the 3‐year time span. Personality, especially agreeableness and conscientiousness, emerged as a stronger predictor of changes in job strain and life satisfaction than vice versa. For example, more agreeable and more conscientious trainees subsequently showed increases in life satisfaction. Trainees reporting higher job strain subsequently showed decreases in agreeableness. Trajectories of personality development partly support the maturity principle that has been established in many college student samples.     

Using Dynamic Panel Models to Study Age‐related Differences and Time‐related Changes in Personality

Along with an increasing interest in the plasticity and role of personality across the adult lifespan comes the need for a diverse set of innovative statistical approaches to study it. With this paper, we set out to illustrate some of the possibilities and challenges in modelling age‐related differences and time‐related changes in personality psychology by means of dynamic panel models. To this end, we first distinguish between the study of age‐related differences and time‐related changes and demonstrate how the treatment of age and time as either discrete or continuous variables implies important modelling choices. Second, we present a selection of four example cases that address the topic of age moderation in diverse matters and with different objectives. Based on our cross‐tabulation of age and time as discrete and continuous variables, the first two example cases represent fairly well‐established models (cases A and B), whereas the remaining cases are used to illustrate current developments in the field (cases C and D). We close the paper with some final remarks on current limitation and future research directions. © 2019 European Association of Personality Psychology     

The link between social interactions and trust recovery in customer–business relationships

Trust plays a crucial role in interpersonal relationships, including customer–company relationships, where the customer expects that a company will behave predictably in any particular situation. Companies do not always fulfill customers' expectations and thereby breach the trust relationship. To avoid negative consequences of this trust violation, companies may issue a formal apology as one possible path to regaining customer trust. In the same way, a previous social interaction, which can increase the customer's levels of oxytocin, can help to recover trust after service failures. In this study, three experiments were conducted as follows: the first manipulating a simulated social interaction with images; the second manipulating a physical social interaction, (i.e., a hug); and the third with exogenous oxytocin administration. The results showed that both physical interaction, (i.e., a hug) and simulated social interaction, (i.e., images of people interacting with each other) had a positive effect on customer trust recovery and provided support for oxytocin release as the underlying mechanism in this process. This research contributes to understanding of the link between social interactions and trust by elucidating the effects of both simulated and physical interactions on trust recovery.     

Gender-stereotyped preferences in childhood and early adolescence: A comparison of cross-sectional and longitudinal data

Children are exposed to a gender-specific environment on an everyday basis through media, books, school supplies and especially toys. Children’s movies and television programs were found to portray protagonists’ occupational and private roles in a very traditional, gender-stereotypical way. The present two studies aimed to investigate gender-specific preferences in childhood and early adolescence. Cross-sectional data (study 1) were compared to longitudinal one (study 2) as we specifically aimed to investigate changes in gender preferences over time. A person-oriented approach, namely Configural Frequency Analysis was applied, to categorically analyze the relationship and development of gender-stereotyped preferences throughout childhood and early adolescence. Consistent with former studies, study 1 showed that gender-stereotypical preferences increased by age, for boys to a higher extent than for girls. By the age of twelve, these preferences had decreased supporting the theory of Kohlberg that children’s gender-stereotypic preferences continuously grow until around six years of age to finally lower thereafter. Gender-specific preferences generally became much more flexible over time.