Validating a New Measure of Self-Complexity

The construct of self-complexity has been recognized as important for understanding psychological adjustment. However, research in this area has been impeded by measurement problems. In particular, the most commonly used measure, Linville's (1985, 1987) H statistic, cannot assess this construct appropriately. In this article, we present a new measure designed to tap two components of self-complexity separately: the number of self-aspects and the average distinction among them. We conducted a validation study with 131 Chinese college students. The results indicate that (a) this new measure is not confounded with conscious social desirability bias, (b) it has incremental validity beyond existing measures, and (c) the two components as assessed by this new measure are relatively independent and have different psychological functions. We discuss the implications of these findings for future studies of self-complexity and clinical practice.     

Cross-cultural generalizability of the Personality and Role Identity Structural Model (PRISM): Implications for trait and cultural psychology

The cross-cultural generalizability of the Personality and Role Identity Structural Model (PRISM; Wood & Roberts, 2006) was tested in the United States, Mexico, Malaysia, China, and Japan. Participants rated their general and role identities, as defined by the PRISM, using Big Five trait adjectives, then rated their personality states (i.e., role experiences) in various roles in multiple daily interactions for 14 days. Structural predictions based on the PRISM were supported in all five cultures. Cultural differences were limited and did not reflect cultural differences in individualism–collectivism, dialecticism, or cultural tightness. The results supported the cross-cultural generalizability of the PRISM and the merits of contextualized trait measures in the prediction of role experiences. Implications for trait and cultural psychology are discussed.     

Changes in achievement goals and competence perceptions across the college semester

We investigated the relationship between changes in perceptions of competence and changes in achievement goals across a college semester for students enrolled in an introductory psychology course. Two types of competence perceptions were examined: self-efficacy for learning and normative perceived ability. Changes in normative perceived ability were predicted to relate to changes in performance goals, but not mastery goals. Because mastery goals rely on self-referent standards to evaluate ability, we predicted changes in self-efficacy for learning would relate to changes in mastery goals. We also expected changes in self-efficacy for learning to relate to changes in performance goals because learning can lead to the demonstration of superior competence. The predictions were supported for mastery and performance-approach goals, but not for performance-avoidance goals. Very little change in performance-avoidance goals was observed. Scores on the first course exam also predicted change in performance-approach goals, with this effect partially mediated by competence perceptions.     

Movement duration does not affect automatic online control

Pisella et al. (2000) have shown that fast aiming movements are automatically modified on-line in response to a change in target position. Specifically, when a movement is less than 300 ms in duration the reach is completed to a target’s new location even when one never intended to respond to the target jump. In contrast, when movements are slower, the reach is completed according to instructions. At present, it is unclear if it is possible for one’s intentions to guide the initial stages of these slow movements. To determine if the intentional control mechanism can guide the initial stages of a slow aiming movement, participants aimed to targets that could jump at movement onset, with a slow and very slow movement time goal. In particular, participants were to point towards (“pro-point”) or away from (“anti-point”) the target jump, with a movement time goal of 500 or 1200 ms. Results showed that in the anti-point condition, movement trajectories first deviated in the same direction as the target jump, followed by a response in the intended (opposite) direction. This suggests that while movement outcome is controlled by the intentional system, even in these slow aiming movements the automatic system is engaged at movement onset.     

Influence of stimulus–response assignment on the joint-action correspondence effect

Sebanz et al. (Cognition 88:B11–B21, 2003) have shown that spatial correspondence effects are observed even when the two-choice reaction time task is distributed between two people, such that each person is assigned only one of two possible stimulus–response (S–R) pairings. The effect is similar to when one person is assigned and responds to both S–R pairings. These results have been taken to suggest that two people performing a complementary task co-represent each other’s response alternatives. In our experiment, we examined performance when paired participants responded to the same S–R alternative. We reasoned that co-representation would be of little advantage as the task alternatives would be the same for both participants. Correspondence effects were absent when paired participants responded to the same S–R alternative but emerged when they responded to different alternatives.     

Ethical Academic Judgments and Behaviors: Applying a Multidimensional Ethics Scale to Measure the Ethical Academic Behavior of Graduate Students

Using Reidenbach and Robin's Multidimensional Ethics Scale, this study investigated the relationships between background variables and students' ethical evaluations, judgments, and behavioral intentions using 3 scenarios involving dilemmas related to academic dishonesty. The sample included 436 master's students and 142 doctoral students. The study found that the participants used a combination of ethical philosophies to make ethical decisions. The respondents judged improper citations more harshly than acts of inappropriate authorship or the falsification of data. The doctoral students generally considered behaviors related to plagiarism and falsification to be more unethical than the master's students did, though no gender differences were found.     

Estimating Independent Locally Shifted Random Utility Models for Ranking Data

We present a mixed-effects location scale model (MELSM) for examining the daily dynamics of affect in dyads. The MELSM includes person and time-varying variables to predict the location, or individual means, and the scale, or within-person variances. It also incorporates a submodel to account for between-person variances. The dyadic specification can accommodate individual and partner effects in both the location and the scale components, and allows random effects for all location and scale parameters. All covariances among the random effects, within and across the location and the scale are also estimated. These covariances offer new insights into the interplay of individual mean structures, intra-individual variability, and the influence of partner effects on such factors. To illustrate the model, we use data from 274 couples who provided daily ratings on their positive and negative emotions toward their relationship – up to 90 consecutive days. The model is fit using Hamiltonian Monte Carlo methods, and includes subsets of predictors in order to demonstrate the flexibility of this approach. We conclude with a discussion on the usefulness and the limitations of the MELSM for dyadic research.     

Improving insight and non‐insight problem solving with brief interventions

Developing brief training interventions that benefit different forms of problem solving is challenging. In earlier research, Chrysikou (2006) showed that engaging in a task requiring generation of alternative uses of common objects improved subsequent insight problem solving. These benefits were attributed to a form of implicit transfer of processing involving enhanced construction of impromptu, on‐the‐spot or ‘ad hoc’ goal‐directed categorizations of the problem elements. Following this, it is predicted that the alternative uses exercise should benefit abilities that govern goal‐directed behaviour, such as fluid intelligence and executive functions. Similarly, an indirect intervention – self‐affirmation (SA) – that has been shown to enhance cognitive and executive performance after self‐regulation challenge and when under stereotype threat, may also increase adaptive goal‐directed thinking and likewise should bolster problem‐solving performance. In Experiment 1, brief single‐session interventions, involving either alternative uses generation or SA, significantly enhanced both subsequent insight and visual–spatial fluid reasoning problem solving. In Experiment 2, we replicated the finding of benefits of both alternative uses generation and SA on subsequent insight problem‐solving performance, and demonstrated that the underlying mechanism likely involves improved executive functioning. Even brief cognitive– and social–psychological interventions may substantially bolster different types of problem solving and may exert largely similar facilitatory effects on goal‐directed behaviours.     

Measuring patterns of change in personality assessments: an annotated application of latent growth curve modeling

Latent growth curve (LGC) modeling within the framework of structural equation modeling (SEM) is now highly regarded as one of the most powerful and informative approaches to the analysis of longitudinal data (see, e.g., Curran & Hussong, 2003). Whereas LGC modeling enables researchers to test for differences in developmental trajectories across time, conventional repeated measures analyses do not provide this opportunity. Nonetheless, a review of studies reported in most psychology journals reveals scant application of this methodological approach. One possible explanation for this limited use of LGC modeling is a lack of knowledge related to its application. The intent of this article, then, is to address this deficiency by presenting an annotated application of LGC modeling to health psychology data. Based on a sample of 405 Hong Kong Chinese women who recently underwent breast cancer surgery, we walk the readers through SEM modeling procedures that test for differences in both the initial status and rate of change in Psychological Morbidity and Social Adjustment at 1, 4, and 8 months postsurgery. We interpret findings from both a methodological and a substantive perspective.