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.     

Contrasting graded effects of semantic similarity and association across the concreteness spectrum

Evidence from healthy individuals and neuropsychological patients with deep dyslexia or semantic refractory access dysphasia suggests that abstract and concrete concepts have different dependencies upon associative and similarity-based representational frameworks. However, the importance of information about semantic similarity for concepts that lie across the full concreteness spectrum has not been investigated. Here we report the performance of healthy individuals on an odd-one-out task involving semantically related word triplets that showed continuous variation for the key variables of concreteness, similarity strength, and association strength. In addition, data from a stroke aphasic patient tested on a matching-to-sample task based on the same abstract, middle-concreteness, and concrete stimuli are also presented. The effects of similarity and association strength upon performance were both shown to interact significantly with concreteness, but in opposite directions. The effect of semantic similarity increased with concreteness but the effect of association decreased with concreteness. This research provides further evidence for the proposal that abstract and concrete words have different dependencies upon associative and similarity-based information. It also develops the proposal by providing data that are consistent with a graded and not binary or ungraded model of the relationship between concreteness and these two forms of semantic relationship.     

Probing the Brain Substrates of Cognitive Processes Responsible for Context Effects on Recognition Memory

ABSTRACT

Context effects on episodic recognition memory involve separable contributions of target-context binding, additive familiarity, and configural constancy. Here we examine whether these factors reflect contributions of processes attributed to different brain substrates. First, we challenged frontal and medial temporal lobe-based cognitive capacities in healthy young adults, employing divided attention tasks at encoding and retrieval, and extended retrieval delay, respectively. Target-context binding effects were specifically attenuated by delay, but not by divided attention. In a second experiment, older adults were identified by neuropsychological testing as having different levels of frontal and medial temporal lobe-dependent cognitive functions. Consistent with Experiment 1, older adults with low medial temporal lobe function exhibited reduced target-context binding effects, but levels of frontal function did not modulate binding effects. These findings indicate that unlike source memory, context effects on memory are associated with the integrity of medial temporal lobe-based processes but not with the integrity of frontal lobe-based processes. Our findings also emphasize the importance of discriminating between functional subgroups in the attempt to characterize memory processes in older adults.     

MAX EITINGON'S RISE AND DECLINE: THE BERLIN YEARS

Max Eitingon's main achievement was the foundation of the Berlin psychoanalytic Poliklinik that served both as an outpatient center and a training institute. Another area of his responsibility was the Verlag, the International Psychoanalytic Press. By 1926, he occupied several leading positions, including presidency of the International Psychoanalytical Association and editorship of the major psychoanalytic journal of the time. The basis of his power was his personal relationship with Freud, as well as his monetary wealth, which he put into the service of the Freudian cause. By 1932, he had suffered an overall setback, however, with the Berlin Institute losing its best teachers, the Verlag barely escaping bankruptcy, and the journal's editorship returning to Vienna.     

Dennis Engels: A Humanitarian and Ethical Scholar

Dr. Dennis Engels retired in 2011 after a 35‐year career as a counselor educator, during which he contributed over 30 years of service to the Association for Spiritual, Ethical, and Religious Values in Counseling. In this profile article, the author reviews the highlights of Dr. Engels's distinguished career and presents an interview in which Dr. Engels discusses (a) his journey as a counselor educator, (b) ethical standards and credentialing, and (c) the future of counseling.     

依恋表征的意识和无意识性初探

采用关系等级问卷、亲密关系经历问卷和内隐联想测验(IAT)分别作为研究依恋表征的外显和内隐的测量工具,以103名处于恋爱关系中的大学生和研究生为被试,探讨一般依恋表征和特殊依恋表征的意识性与无意识性以及它们的一致性。结果发现:(1)一般依恋表征和特殊依恋表征中,安全型和恐惧型的个体在无意识层面上的反应时表现与外显理论相符,过度投入型的被试意识和无意识的表现不一致;(2)个体在无意识水平上对目标人物积极评价的差异与个体在意识水平上的依恋状况(一般依恋关系和婚恋关系)有关。(3)一般依恋表征中过度投入型和冷漠型被试,内隐联想测验和外显依恋量表结果一致的占33%;特殊依恋表征中过度投入型和冷漠型被试,内隐联想测验和外显依恋量表结果一致的占37%。     

Discrepancies Between Implicit and Explicit Self‐concepts of Intelligence Predict Performance on Tests of Intelligence

Three studies investigated the correspondence between implicit and explicit self‐concepts of intelligence and how that correspondence is related to performance on different intelligence tests. Configurations of these two self‐concepts were found to be consistently related to performance on intelligence tests in all three studies. For individuals who self‐reported high intelligence (high explicit self‐concept), a negative implicit self‐concept (measured with the Implicit Association Test) led to a decrease in performance on intelligence tests. For participants whose self‐report indicated a low self‐concept of intelligence, positive automatic associations between the self and intelligence had a similar effect. In line with a stress hypothesis, the results indicate that any discrepant configuration of self‐concepts will impair performance. Importantly, the prediction of performance on intelligence tests by the self‐concept of intelligence was shown to be independent of self‐esteem (Study 3). Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.