Habitual Self‐Control: A Brief Measure of Persistent Goal Pursuit

Habitual self‐control is defined as a trait‐like personal resource factor that facilitates the enactment of difficult intentions. A 14‐item Habitual Self‐Control Questionnaire (HSCQ) was developed to assess this trait. Reliability, factorial validity, and criterion validity were assessed in five undergraduate student subsamples with an overall N of 2224. Internal consistency was .81 across the entire sample, and test–retest reliability was .83 over a one‐month interval. The HSCQ showed a theoretically meaningful pattern in terms of convergent and discriminant validity and criterion validity in predicting a variety of health behaviours that relate to self‐control, including exercise, dieting behaviour, binge eating and weight loss success. Further, the HSCQ contributed uniquely to the prediction of health behaviours beyond alternative self‐control scales. In a longitudinal part of the study, the HSCQ added to the prediction of action plan completion and satisfaction beyond motivation and moderated the relationship between motivation and enactment of action plans as theoretically expected. In sum, the results provided strong evidence for the reliability and validity of the HSCQ and highlighted some theoretically meaningful differences to already existing measures of self‐control. Theoretical implications are discussed. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

大学生认知灵活性问卷的修订及初步使用

修订Martin等人编制的认知灵活性问卷并对我国大学生的认知灵活性进行测量。首先对366名大学生预测;然后对300名大学生正式测试;并对240名大学生进行效标效度研究;另外对785名大学生初步使用该问卷。结果表明：（1）中文修订版大学生认知灵活性问卷的项目区分度、Cronbachα系数、重测信度、结构效度和效标效度等心理测量学指标良好,可作为我国大学生认知灵活性的研究工具。（2）有社会实践经验大学生的认知灵活性显著高于无社会实践经验大学生;文科女生的认知灵活性显著高于理科女生。     

Children's appraisal of their relationship with the teacher: Preliminary evidence for construct validity

Teacher–child relationships are increasingly considered as contexts for children's development. While teacher reports are mostly used to study the developmental consequences of the three attachment-based dimensions of closeness, conflict and dependency, children's perceptions are important too. This study evaluated the construct validity of the newly developed Child Appraisal of Relationship with Teacher Scale (CARTS). To this end, data from a special education sample of children with emotional and behavioural disorders (N = 82; M_age = 8.75) and from a general education sample (N = 145; M_age = 8.15) were used. Results supported the reliability and construct validity of the CARTS scales and showed that children's relationship perceptions as assessed with the CARTS were uniquely associated with their feelings about their teacher as measured with the Feelings About School. In addition, child-perceived closeness and conflict converged in expected directions with teacher-perceived closeness and especially conflict in the relationship, as measured with a questionnaire and a diary.     

Dismantling the “age–prospective memory paradox”: The classic laboratory paradigm simulated in a naturalistic setting

Previous research has identified “the age–prospective memory paradox”—that adult ageing results in reliably poorer performance on laboratory-based tasks of prospective memory (PM), but improved performance on such tasks carried out in real-life settings. We hypothesized that even in their everyday environment, older adults might be worse at PM tasks that are triggered during an experimenter-generated ongoing activity. The present study used a task that captured the key features of the classic laboratory paradigm, but which was completed in a setting that met key criteria to be considered naturalistic. In their everyday setting, participants' PM was assessed, with the cue to remember occurring either (a) during their day-to-day activities, or (b) during an experimenter-generated ongoing task. The results confirmed previous naturalistic findings, in showing that older adults (n = 28) exhibited better PM than their younger counterparts (n = 65) when prompted during their everyday activities. However, older adults were also then subsequently less likely to show effective PM during experimenter-generated ongoing activity. Reproducing the paradox within a single dataset, these data indicate that older adults can effectively act on intentions during everyday activities, but have difficulty in prospective remembering during experimenter-generated ongoing tasks.     

Assessing the validity of multinomial models using extraneous variables: An application to prospective memory

The class of multinomial processing tree (MPT) models has been used extensively in cognitive psychology to model latent cognitive processes. Critical for the usefulness of a MPT model is its psychological validity. Generally, the validity of a MPT model is demonstrated by showing that its parameters are selectively and predictably affected by theoretically meaningful experimental manipulations. Another approach is to test the convergent validity of the model parameters and other extraneous measures intended to measure the same cognitive processes. Here, we advance the concept of construct validity (Cronbach & Meehl, 1955 Cronbach, L. J. and Meehl, P. E. 1955. Construct validity in psychological tests. Psychological Bulletin, 52: 281–302. [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) as a criterion for model validity in MPT modelling and show how this approach can be fruitfully utilized using the example of a MPT model of event-based prospective memory. For that purpose, we investigated the convergent validity of the model parameters and established extraneous measures of prospective memory processes over a range of experimental settings, and we found a lack of convergent validity between the two indices. On a conceptual level, these results illustrate the importance of testing convergent validity. Additionally, they have implications for prospective memory research, because they demonstrate that the MPT model of event-based prospective memory is not able to differentiate between different processes contributing to prospective memory performance.     

Ad hoc Reviewers for the Journal of Motor Behavior

The study of sign languages provides a promising vehicle for investigating language production because the movements of the articulators in sign are directly observable. Movement of the hands and arms is an essential element not only in the lexical structure of American Sign Language (ASL), but most strikingly, in the grammatical structure of ASL: It is in patterned changes of the movement of signs that many grammatical attributes are represented. The “phonological? (formational) structure of movement in ASL surely reflects in part constraints on the channel through which it is conveyed. We evaluate the relation between one neuromotor constraint on movement–regulation of final position rather than of movement amplitude–and the phonological structure of movement in ASL. We combine three-dimensional measurements of ASL movements with linguistic analyses of the distinctiveness and predictability of the final position (location) versus the amplitude (length). We show that final position, not movement amplitude, is distinctive in the language and that a phonological rule in ASL predicts variation in movement amplitude–a development which may reflect a neuromuscular constraint on the articulatory mechanism through which the language is conveyed.     

Defensive Reactance of Psychologists to a Metaphysical Foundation for Integrating Different Psychologies

Psychology is fragmented and encumbered by an inordinate influence from the outdated positivistic tradition. Whereas many psychologists obdurately embrace positivism, others react strongly against it, thus producing the polarities of thinking that Kimble (1984) called the two cultures of psychology. Researchers have frequently called for more flexible epistemology, but these have not resulted in the incorporation of modernity into our science, nor have they led to metaphysical integration. This resistance on the part of many psychologists to change is attributed to cognitive defense mechanisms. The defense mechanisms are placed against feelings of inferiority. Low tolerance for ambiguity (Frenkel-Brunswik, 1949) about a subject matter that encompasses unexplainable variance in behaviors is a particular mechanism, in perceived contrast to the physical sciences. Therefore, many psychologists tend to adopt extreme views on such metaphysical issues as free will and determinism, a tendency that results in sharp divisions in the profession.     

Using Generalizability Theory to Disattenuate Correlation Coefficients for Multiple Sources of Measurement Error

Over the years, research in the social sciences has been dominated by reporting of reliability coefficients that fail to account for key sources of measurement error. Use of these coefficients, in turn, to correct for measurement error can hinder scientific progress by misrepresenting true relationships among the underlying constructs being investigated. In the research reported here, we addressed these issues using generalizability theory (G-theory) in both traditional and new ways to account for the three key sources of measurement error (random-response, specific-factor, and transient) that affect scores from objectively scored measures. Results from 20 widely used measures of personality, self-concept, and socially desirable responding showed that conventional indices consistently misrepresented reliability and relationships among psychological constructs by failing to account for key sources of measurement error and correlated transient errors within occasions. The results further revealed that G-theory served as an effective framework for remedying these problems. We discuss possible extensions in future research and provide code from the computer package R in an online supplement to enable readers to apply the procedures we demonstrate to their own research.     

Learning Related and Interpersonal Social Skills Constructs in Two Existing Social Skills Assessments

In the social skills literature it has been identified that both learning related social skills and interpersonal social skills may exist. This study ascertained the views of 16 experts regarding the existence of the two proposed constructs, learning related social skills and interpersonal social skills, within two pre-existing assessments: Preschool and Kindergarten Behavior Scales–2nd edition and Child Behavior Rating Scale. Sixteen experts from Australia (n = 11) and Singapore (n = 5) with pediatric backgrounds in occupational therapy, speech pathology, psychology and early childhood education took part in the study. Experts were asked to sort cards with each of the items from the Child Behavior Rating Scale and Preschool and Kindergarten Behavior Scales–2nd edition (66 items in total) into one of two piles (one for learning related social skills and one for interpersonal social skills) and then answered several open ended questions about the clinical utility of these constructs. Preliminary evidence demonstrated the existence of the learning related social skills and interpersonal social skills constructs within the items of the two assessments (Child Behavior Rating Scale and Preschool and Kindergarten Behavior Scales–2nd edition). The experts' opinion also suggested the potential clinical benefits of assessing both learning related social skills and interpersonal social skills in preschool-age children. The study results and implications for further research and clinical practice are discussed.     

On the validity of implicit association measures of personality traits

Participants (N = 200) completed self-report and implicit association (IAT) measures of Extraversion, Conscientiousness, and Emotional Stability. Peer trait ratings and supervisor ratings of job performance were also collected. Results suggested low convergence between IAT and self-report trait measures. Cognitive ability and self-positive bias both explained significant portions of the method variance expressed by IAT measures. Correlations between IAT trait measures and job performance were statistically non-significant, of similar magnitudes to their self-report counterparts, and of magnitudes consistent with past research on criterion validities of self-report trait measures. The results offer only very limited support for the use of IAT trait measures in applied assessment settings.