Measuring mindfulness—the Freiburg Mindfulness Inventory (FMI)

Mindfulness, a concept originally derived from Buddhist psychology, is essential for some well-known clinical interventions. Therefore an instrument for measuring mindfulness is useful. We report here on two studies constructing and validating the Freiburg Mindfulness Inventory (FMI) including a short form. A preliminary questionnaire was constructed through expert interviews and extensive literature analysis and tested in 115 subjects attending mindfulness meditation retreats. This psychometrically sound 30-item scale with an internal consistency of Cronbach alpha = .93 was able to significantly demonstrate the increase in mindfulness after the retreat and to discriminate between experienced and novice meditators. In a second study we broadened the scope of the concept to 86 subjects without meditation experience, 117 subjects with clinical problems, and 54 participants from retreats. Reducing the scale to a short form with 14 items resulted in a semantically robust and psychometrically stable (alpha = .86) form. Correlation with other relevant constructs (self-awareness, dissociation, global severity index, meditation experience in years) was significant in the medium to low range of correlations and lends construct validity to the scale. Principal Component Analysis suggests one common factor. This short scale is sensitive to change and can be used also with subjects without previous meditation experience.     

学校生活适应量表（LASS大学版）修订报告

对学校生活适应量表高中版（LASS高中版）进行修订,编制学校生活适应量表大学版（LASS大学版）。修订后的问卷经因素分析得出4个因素,分别命名为师生关系适应、集体适应、同学关系适应和学业适应。经过质量分析,修订后的问卷有较好的信度和效度,故学校生活适应量表（LASS大学版）可以作为考察大学生学校生活适应性的测量工具。     

Reaction time indices of automatic imitation measure imitative response tendencies

In his review, Ramsey (2018) argues that it is currently unclear what reaction time indices of automatic imitation measure due to lacking research on their validity and domain-specificity. In our commentary, we argue that this conclusion is based on two misconceptions, namely that automatic imitation was designed as a laboratory measure of motor mimicry and that psychometric approaches to validity can readily be applied to experimental settings. We then show that reaction time indices of automatic imitation measure covert imitative response tendencies. Furthermore, while irrelevant for their validity, we argue that these indices are associated with some, but not necessarily all, types of overt imitation. Finally, we argue that mapping out the brain networks does not suffice to understand the brain processes underlying imitative control.     

Cross‐cultural invariance of NPI‐13: Entitlement as culturally specific,leadership and grandiosity as culturally universal

The current study explores the problem with the lack of measurement invariance for the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI) by addressing two issues: conceptual heterogeneity of narcissism and methodological issues related to the binary character of data. We examine the measurement invariance of the 13‐item version of the NPI in three populations in Japan, Poland and the UK. Analyses revealed that leadership/authority and grandiose exhibitionism dimensions of the NPI were cross‐culturally invariant, while entitlement/exploitativeness was culturally specific. Therefore, we proposed NPI‐9 as indicating scalar invariance, and we examined the pattern of correlations between NPI‐9 and other variables across three countries. The results suggest that NPI‐9 is valid brief scale measuring general levels of narcissism in cross‐cultural studies, while the NPI‐13 remains suitable for research within specific countries.     

The Personal Disturbance Scale (sAD): normative data and latent structure in a large non-clinical sample

The Personal Disturbance Scale [sAD; Bedford & Foulds (1978) Delusions–Symptoms–States Inventory State of Anxiety and Depression. Windsor: NFER-Nelson] is widely used in diverse settings and yet there are unresolved issues concerning its psychometric properties and normative data for the English speaking version are limited. The sAD was administered to a large sample of the general adult population (N=758). Demographic variables (gender, age, years of education and occupational status) had only very modest influences on sAD scores. Tables are presented for conversion of raw scores on the Anxiety, Depression and Total scales to percentiles. The sAD scales possessed adequate convergent and discriminant validity, as demonstrated by their pattern of correlations with two other measures of depression and anxiety (the DASS and the HADS). Ten competing models of the latent structure of the sAD were derived from theoretical and empirical sources. These models were evaluated using confirmatory factor analysis. The best fitting model (CFI=0.96) had a tripartite structure, and consisted of a general factor of psychological distress/negative affectivity (all items loaded on this factor) plus orthogonal specific factors of anxiety and depression. Correlated errors specified according to previous empirical findings were permitted. The theoretical and practical implications of this latent structure are discussed.     

Dutch version of the Pain Vigilance and Awareness Questionnaire: validity and reliability in a pain-free population

The current study examined validity and reliability of the Pain Vigilance and Awareness Questionnaire (PVAQ) in two samples of healthy college students. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis showed that a two-factor model of the PVAQ was most suitable in the present study. The first factor could be referred to as attention to pain whereas the second factor could be specified as attention to changes in pain. With regard to the convergent and divergent validity, the PVAQ was found to correlate highly with related constructs like catastrophising (PCS) and general body vigilance (BVQ). The correlation between PVAQ and pain-related fear (FPQ) was moderate, whereas correlations with unrelated constructs like trait anxiety (STAI-T) and fear of spiders (FSQ) were low. Furthermore, the PVAQ showed good internal consistency and fair test-retest reliability. Altogether, these findings suggest that the PVAQ is a valid and reliable measure of pain vigilance in healthy individuals. The results of this study can be regarded as a starting point for further validation of the PVAQ in clinical pain populations. Implications for future research and treatment interventions are discussed.     

The behavioral validity of dual-task driving performance in fixed and moving base driving simulators

Next generation automotive hardware and user interfaces are increasingly pre-tested in driving simulators. What are the potential limitations of such simulations? We determined the relative and absolute validity of five different driving simulators at the Daimler AG by evaluating five functions of an in-vehicle system based on the guideline of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers (2006). The simulations were compared to on-road driving. We hypothesized that not only simulator characteristics, but also user characteristics, such as simulator sickness, gender, or age, influence behavioral validity. Even though relating simulator characteristics and user characteristics to driving performance across different driving simulators and driving tasks is difficult, our results are surprisingly in line with the current body of research. We demonstrate the usefulness of all simulators on a relative and partially on an absolute level with moving-base simulators being preferable to fixed-base simulators. As hypothesized, we showed that simulator sickness was significantly associated with impaired performance. In the fixed-base simulators, we found a significant interaction between age and gender, which we could not find in moving-base simulators and in the on-road study. Explanations for our findings and practical implications are discussed.     

The moral disengagement in doping scale

Statement of problemThe use of banned substances to enhance performance occurs in sport. Therefore, developing valid and reliable instruments that can predict likelihood to use banned substances is important.MethodWe conducted three studies. In Study 1, football players (N = 506) and athletes from a variety of team sports (N = 398) completed the Moral Disengagement in Doping Scale (MDDS). In Study 2, team sport athletes (N = 232) completed the MDDS and questionnaires measuring moral disengagement in sport, doping attitudes, moral identity, antisocial sport behavior, situational doping temptation, and task and ego goal orientations. A week later, a subsample (n = 102) completed the MDDS and indicated their likelihood to use a banned substance in a hypothetical situation. In Study 3, athletes (N = 201) from a variety of individual sports completed the MDDS and indicated their likelihood to use a banned substance in a hypothetical situation.ResultsThe results of Study 1 showed that a one-factor model fitted the data well, and the scale had measurement invariance across males and females. In Study 2, we provided evidence for convergent, concurrent, discriminant, and predictive validity, as well as test-rest reliability, of the scale. In Study 3, doping moral disengagement was positively related with reported likelihood and temptation to use a banned substance. The scale exhibited very good internal consistency across the three studies.ConclusionsIn conclusion, the MDDS can be used to measure moral disengagement in doping in team and individual sports.     

Measuring personality in one minute or less: A 10-item short version of the Big Five Inventory in English and German

To provide a measure of the Big Five for contexts in which participant time is severely limited, we abbreviated the Big Five Inventory (BFI-44) to a 10-item version, the BFI-10. To permit its use in cross-cultural research, the BFI-10 was developed simultaneously in several samples in both English and German. Results focus on the psychometric characteristics of the 2-item scales on the BFI-10, including their part-whole correlations with the BFI-44 scales, retest reliability, structural validity, convergent validity with the NEO-PI-R and its facets, and external validity using peer ratings. Overall, results indicate that the BFI-10 scales retain significant levels of reliability and validity. Thus, reducing the items of the BFI-44 to less than a fourth yielded effect sizes that were lower than those for the full BFI-44 but still sufficient for research settings with truly limited time constraints.     

Evaluating the reliance on past choices in adaptive learning models

Adaptive learning models are used to predict behavior in repeated choice tasks. Predictions can be based on previous payoffs or previous choices of the player. The current paper proposes a new method for evaluating the degree of reliance on past choices, called equal payoff series extraction (EPSE). Under this method a simulated player has the same exact choices as the player but receives equal constant payoffs from all of the alternatives. Success in predicting the next choice ahead for this simulated player therefore relies strictly on mimicry of previous choices of the actual player. This allows determining the marginal fit of predictions that are not based on the actual task payoffs. To evaluate the reliance on past choices under different models, an experiment was conducted in which 48 participants completed a three-alternative choice task in four task conditions. Two different learning rules were evaluated: an interference rule and a decay rule. The results showed that while the predictions of the decay rule relied more on past choices, only the reliance on past payoffs was associated with improved parameter generality. Moreover, we show that the Equal Payoff Series can be used as a criterion for optimizing parameters resulting in better parameter generalizability.