Personality,confirmation bias,and forensic interviewing performance

Confirmation bias is a universal characteristic of human cognition, with consequences for information processing and reasoning in everyday situations as well as in professional work such as forensic interviewing. Cognitive measures such as general intelligence are also related to personality traits, but there is a lack of research on personality and confirmation bias specifically. This study focuses, firstly, on the relationship between Big Five personality traits and confirmation bias as measured by the Wason selection task, and secondly, how these dispositions are related to observed performance in real forensic interviews of child victims. In a sample of police interviewers, Openness (i.e., the facets Ideas and Fantasy) and Neuroticism (i.e., the facets Anxiety and Vulnerability) were independently associated with confirmation bias (N = 72). Scores on the selection task, the Openness facet values, and the Extraversion facets Assertiveness and Activity were consistently related to interview performance (N = 46). Implications of these findings are discussed for the empirical and conceptual relations of cognitive ability to personality and for the selection and training of police interviewers and their professional development.     

To Challenge the Morning Lark and the Night Owl: Using Smartphone Sensing Data to Investigate Day–Night Behaviour Patterns

For decades, day–night patterns in behaviour have been investigated by asking people about their sleep–wake timing, their diurnal activity patterns, and their sleep duration. We demonstrate that the increasing digitalization of lifestyle offers new possibilities for research to investigate day–night patterns and related traits with the help of behavioural data. Using smartphone sensing, we collected in vivo data from 597 participants across several weeks and extracted behavioural day–night pattern indicators. Using this data, we explored three popular research topics. First, we focused on individual differences in day–night patterns by investigating whether ‘morning larks’ and ‘night owls’ manifest in smartphone-sensed behavioural indicators. Second, we examined whether personality traits are related to day–night patterns. Finally, exploring social jetlag, we investigated whether traits and work weekly day–night behaviours influence day–night patterns on weekends. Our findings highlight that behavioural data play an essential role in understanding daily routines and their relations to personality traits. We discuss how psychological research can integrate new behavioural approaches to study personality.     

“自爱”指标与维度的初探——《四库全书》中“自爱”的心理学研究

从《四库全书》中检索到1700部涉及“自爱”的古籍,形成包含2370条句段的语料库并逐条进行内容分析。结果发现,自爱包含自我珍重、自我接纳与自我约束三个主要指标以及个我自爱、小我自爱与大我自爱三个主要维度。未来研究将依据我国社会文化和历史的脉络,结合新时代人们对自爱的理解,编制相应的测量工具,从而为健全人格养成服务。     

变量间的网络分析模型及其应用

变量间的网络分析模型近年来被广泛应用于心理学研究。不同于将潜变量作为观测变量的共同先导因素的潜变量模型, 网络分析模型将观测变量作为初级指标, 采用图论的方法建立观测变量之间的关系网络, 其中变量为网络的节点, 而变量间的关系是节点之间的连线。因此网络分析可以突显观测变量之间的联系以及观测变量相互影响而形成的系统。通过变量网络中基于各个节点特征的指标(如中心性)以及基于整体结构特征的指标(如小世界性), 网络分析为研究各种心理现象提供了新的可视化的描述方式和理解视角。近10年来, 网络分析的方法已在人格心理学、社会心理学和临床心理学等领域得到一定的应用。未来研究应继续发展和完善网络分析模型的理论和方法, 使之运用到更多的数据类型和更广的研究领域中。     

No evidence for overgeneral memories in borderline personality disorder

The hypothesis that borderline personality disorder (BPD) is related to overgeneral memories was tested in a mixed sample of 39 patients. A memory test with emotional cue words and the instruction to produce specific autobiographical memories was used. Specificity was judged by an independent rater. Regression analyses indicated that age and major depressive disorder were related to the production of less specific memories, whereas educational level and presence of personality disorder were positivily related to number of specific memories. Borderline personality disorder, anxiety disorders and childhood traumas were not related to number of specific memories.     

Sculpting the Body Beautiful: Attachment Style,Neuroticism, and Use of Cosmetic Surgeries

Use of cosmetic surgeries has increased steadily over the last decade, and continues to rise in young and old alike. The purpose of present research was to investigate the relationship of personality to use of cosmetic procedures of various kinds. It was expected that adult attachment style, in particular attachment anxiety, would be positively related to use of cosmetic procedures. Attachment anxiety involves excessive approval seeking and concern over achieving and maintaining the love of significant others (such as romantic relationship partners). Such concerns could, in turn, lead to use of a variety of strategies for maintaining positive regard, including cosmetic surgeries to enhance physical appearance. Results supported this hypothesis, particularly among women. Neuroticism was also related to some procedures, though the relationships were generally weaker than those for attachment anxiety, and largely disappeared in regression analyses that controlled for the separate influence of the two variables.     

Sustained efficacy of dialectical behaviour therapy for borderline personality disorder

Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) is considered one of the most promising treatments for borderline personality disorder (BPD). Recently, we reported significantly positive effects of 12 months DBT on parasuicidal behaviour and impulsivity in a mixed group of female BPD patients with and without substance abuse. Fifty-eight women with BPD were randomly assigned to either 52 weeks of DBT or treatment as usual (TAU). Follow-up assessment took place at 78 weeks, i.e., 6 months after discontinuation of DBT. Participants were clinical referrals from addiction treatment and psychiatric services. Outcome measures included parasuicidal behaviour, impulsivity and substance abuse. Six months after treatment discontinuation, the benefits of DBT over TAU in terms of lower levels of parasuicidal and impulsive behaviours, and in alcohol use, sustained. No differences between the treatment conditions were found for drug abuse. In conclusion, DBT seems to have a sustained effect on some of the core symptoms of BPD and on alcohol problems in a mixed population of female borderline patients with and without substance abuse problems.     

The Impact of Personality and Religion on Attitudes toward Alcohol among 16–18 Year Olds in Northern Ireland

Background: Previous research demonstrates a negative relationship between attitude toward alcohol and religiosity. However, what is less apparent is if this relationship may, at least in part, be a function of individual differences in personality, as previous research has demonstrated a relationship between certain measures of personality and both attitude toward alcohol and attitude toward religiosity. The aim of the present study was to explore the impact of personality and the relative efficacy of different markers of religiosity in predicting attitude toward alcohol among a sample of 16–18 year olds in Northern Ireland. Method: The Francis Scale of Attitude toward Alcohol (Francis, 1992c. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 31, 45–50) was administered alongside the Abbreviated Revised Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (Francis, Brown, & Philipchalk, 1992. Personality and Individual Differences, 13(4), 443–449), the Francis Scale of Attitude toward Christianity (Francis & Stubbs, 1987. Personality and Individual Differences, 8, 741–743) and measures of frequency of personal prayer and church attendance among a sample of 243 16- to 18-year-old sixth-form students in Northern Ireland. Results and conclusion: The data demonstrate that a more prohibitive attitude toward alcohol was correlated with lower psychoticism scores (tendermindedness) and a more positive attitude toward Christianity. Multiple-regression analyses confirm the importance of attitude toward religion in predicting individual differences in attitude toward alcohol.     

Adolescent Psychopathy and the Big Five: Results from Two Samples

The present study examines the relation between psychopathy and the Big Five dimensions of personality in two samples of adolescents. Specifically, the study tests the hypothesis that the aspect of psychopathy representing selfishness, callousness, and interpersonal manipulation (Factor 1) is most strongly associated with low Agreeableness, whereas the aspect of psychopathy representing impulsivity, instability, and social deviance (Factor 2) is associated with low Agreeableness, low Conscientiousness, and high Neuroticism. Data from 13- and 16-year-old boys and their mothers from two samples of the Pittsburgh Youth Study are used to test these hypotheses. Results were consistent across age and rating source in supporting the initial hypotheses, providing support for the construct of juvenile psychopathy and the interpretation of psychopathy as a constellation of traits drawn from a general model of personality functioning.