心理健康素质测评系统·中国成年人坚韧人格量表的编制

本研究的目的是结合中国社会文化特点,编制适合中国成年人使用的坚韧人格量表。通过开放式问卷调查、专家访谈及参考国外同类问卷等方式编写条目,分别以大学生和普通人群为被试,通过三次施测获得数据,经项目筛选和修改,最终确定坚韧人格量表包含4个维度,共27个项目。对正式量表的心理测量学考察表明,坚韧人格量表具有较高的内部一致性信度和重测信度,量表的模型拟合度较好,具有较高的结构效度、内容效度、会聚效度和校标效度。结论,坚韧人格量表具备较好的心理测量学特征,可以作为中国成年人人格坚韧性的测量工具。     

The impact of wording effect on reliability and validity of the Core Self-Evaluation Scale (CSES): A bi-factor perspective

“Wording effect” refers to the systematic method variance caused by positive and negative item wordings on a self-report measure. Using the Core Self-Evaluation Scale (CSES) as an example, this study modeled the wording effect, and examined the impact of such wording effect on the reliability and validity of CSES. Five competing models were compared, and the findings suggested that the bi-factor model with a negative group factor best represented the CSES structure. The impact of wording effect on the reliability and validity of CSES was investigated, and the results showed that such impact existed and was non-negligible. Failure to model the wording effect would lead to biased estimates of the reliability and criterion-related validity of CSES. Limitations of the study are discussed, and considerations for future research directions are suggested.     

The inter-item standard deviation (ISD): An index that discriminates between conscientious and random responders

Although random responding is prevalent and increases Type II errors, most psychologists avoid trying to identify it because the means to do so are extremely limited. We propose the inter-item standard deviation (ISD), a statistical index of response variance, is suited for this task. We hypothesized that random responders produce large ISDs because they respond to items all over a measure’s response range, whereas conscientious responders produce small ISDs because they respond to items more consistently. We administered a questionnaire containing the NEO-FFI-3 and an embedded validity scale to 134 university students. Another 134 responders were created using a random number generator. For all 268 responders, the ISD was calculated for each of the NEO-FFI-3′s five subscales and an aggregated ISD was calculated by averaging the five ISD indexes. Results showed that (1) random responders produce significantly larger ISDs than conscientious responders, (2) the ISDs were strongly correlated with the embedded validity scale and with one another, and (3) the ISDs correctly identified responders with greater than 80% classification accuracy. The mean ISD yielded greater than 95% classification accuracy. This study shows that responders can be identified by quantifying inter-item response variance.     

Investigation of fine motor performance in children younger than 36-month-old using PDMS-2 and Bayley-III

ABSTRACT

The aim of the study was to investigate the concurrent validity of fine motor (FM) development scores between the Peabody Developmental Motor Scales, Second Edition (PDMS-2), and Bayley Scale of Infant and Toddler Development, Third Edition (Bayley-III). Both tests were administered to 223 children aged 13–36 months with suspected developmental delays from a medical centre. Concurrent validity and agreement of FM delay were assessed. The Bayley-III FM scale scores (FMSS) and motor composite quotients were moderately correlated with PDMS-2 FM quotients. The agreement of FM delay between the two instruments was excellent (Kappa coefficient value = .80) in children aged 13–18 months and good in children aged 19–36 months. When using PDMS-2 as the reference standard, Bayley-III (FMSS < 7) identified fewer children aged 19–24 months as delayed but more in children aged 25–36 months as delayed. When adjusting the cut-off point of Bayley-III FMSS to 8 for children aged 19–24 months and to 6 for children aged 25–36 months, the agreement improved between these two instruments. FM delays might be underestimated solely using Bayley-III in children aged 19–24 months. Additional tests, such as PDMS-2 should be considered to avoid delays in accessing early intervention services.     

Reliability and validity of machine vision for the assessment of facial expressions

Automated assessment of facial expressions with machine vision software opens up new opportunities for the assessment of facial expression in a shrewd and economic way in psychological and applied research. We investigated the assessment quality of one machine vision algorithm (FACET) in a study using standardized databases of dynamic facial expressions in different conditions (angle, distance, lighting and resolution). We found high reliability in terms of ratings concordance across conditions for facial expressions (intraclass correlation, ICC = 0.96) and action units (ICC = 0.78). Signal detection analyses showed good classification for both facial expressions (area under the curve, AUC > 0.99) and action unit scores (AUC = 0.91). In a second study, we investigated the convergent validity of machine vision assessment and electromyography (EMG) with regard to reaction times measured during the production of smiles (action unit 12) and frowns (action unit 4). To this end, we simultaneously measured EMG and expression classification with machine vision software in a response priming task with validly and invalidly primed responses. Both, EMG and machine vision data revealed similar performance costs in reaction times of inhibiting the falsely prepared expression and reprogramming the correct one. These results support machine vision as a suitable tool for assessing experimental effects in facial reaction times.     

Time course of attentional bias to emotional scenes in anxiety: Gaze direction and duration

Pictures of emotionally neutral, positive, and negative (threat‐ or harm‐related) scenes were presented for 3 seconds, paired with nonemotional control pictures. The eye fixations of high and low trait anxiety participants were monitored. Intensity of stimulus emotionality was varied, with two levels of perceptual salience for each picture (colour vs. greyscale). Regardless of perceptual salience, high anxiety was associated with preferential attention: (a) towards all types of emotional stimuli in initial orienting, as revealed by a higher probability of first fixation on the emotional picture than on the neutral picture of a pair; (b) towards positive and harm stimuli in a subsequent stage of early engagement, as shown by longer viewing times during the first 500 ms following onset of the pictures; and with (c) attention away from (i.e., avoidance) harm stimuli in a later phase, as indicated by shorter viewing times and lower frequency of fixation during the last 1000 ms of picture exposure. This suggests that the nature of the attentional bias varies as a function of the time course in the processing of emotional pictures.     

Personality and value correlates of careless and erratic questionnaire responses

This study examined the individual difference correlates of the validity scale from the Hogan Personality Inventory (HPI) which measures the extent to which a respondent has reported in a careless, erratic or random way. The aim was to determine the typical response profile of a careless and erratic respondent. Over 10,000 adults completed three measures: one of normal “bright-side” personality (HPI), one of “dark-side” personality (Hogan Development Survey, HDS) and one of motivation (Motives, Values, Preferences Inventory, MVPI). Scores on these measures were related to the validity scale scores using correlations and regressions. Bright and dark side measures were more strongly and logically related to validity scores than motives and values. Implications and limitations are discussed.     

Infant behaviors and maternal parenting practices: Short-term reliability assessments

Consistency in the order of individuals in a group across short periods of time—reliability—is both important developmentally and meaningful psychologically. For example, documenting the reliabilities of infant behaviors and maternal parenting practices elucidates the nature and structure of early development. In this prospective short-term longitudinal study (Ns = 51 5-month infants and their mothers), we examined reliabilities of individual variation in multiple infant behaviors (physical development, social interaction, exploration, nondistress vocalization, and distress communication) and maternal parenting practices (nurturing, encouragement of motor growth, social exchange, didactic interaction, provision of the material environment, and speech to infant). Medium to large effect size reliabilities characterize infant behaviors and maternal parenting practices, but both betray substantial amounts of unshared variance. Established reliability is essential to the application of these measures in infancy studies, it is central to replication, and it is a limiting factor in predictive validity.     

Verbal and practical intelligence in general anxiety,obsessive compulsive and major depression disorders

IntroductionPrevious researches have shown that anxiety symptoms are negatively associated with measures of intelligence. However, recent findings indicate possible positive relationships between Generalized Anxiety Disorders (GAD) and intelligence. Also, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is associated with a moderate degree of underperformance on cognitive tests, including deficient processing. There are inconsistent results to present the relationship between Major Depression Disorder (MDD) and IQ. The present study has three main aims. The first aim of this study is to investigate the difference between IQ in individuals with GAD, OCD and major depressive disorder, and normal group. The second purpose is to perform a comparative study between the GAD, OCD and MDD groups on verbal and non-verbal intelligence. The third aim of this study is to examine the relationships between GAD, OCD and MDD as well as their underlying cognitive processes, including worry, rumination, and post-event processing, with verbal and non-verbal intelligence.ObjectiveThe present study is performed on four groups of participants including those with GAD, OCD, MDD and Healthy Volunteer (HV) group consisting of individuals without psychiatric disorders.MethodThe number of 50 healthy volunteers as the control group, 45 patients with GAD, 20 patients with OCD and 25 patients with MDD (n = 140) were selected as the case-referent groups. The present study was a cross-sectional type and the research was performed based on the causal-comparative method. Verbal and non-verbal intelligence was measured with the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-3rd edition (WAIS-III). Rumination and post-event processing were measured by PSWQ, RRS-BR, and PEPQ, respectively.ResultsThe results indicate that Verbal Intelligence and Verbal Comprehension Index in GAD patients have significant differences in comparison to the OCD, MDD and control groups. While, the value of the Working Memory Index (WMI) in the normal group is higher than the value of the same index in the GAD, OCD and MDD groups. Also, the values of the Processing Speed Index (PSI) in normal and GAD groups are higher than the OCD and MDD groups. The worry, rumination, and post-event processing in patients with GAD are positively correlated with general and verbal intelligence. But, verbal and non-verbal intelligence had a negative correlation with worry, rumination and post-event processing in healthy volunteers.ConclusionInvestigation of the possible connections between intelligence and the cognitive processes underlying emotional disorders can provide therapeutic strategies for smart individuals who are at risk for GAD.