The relationship between personality and affect over the lifespan

This study compared the trait and emotion perspectives of personality development by examining relationships between extraversion, neuroticism, positive and negative affect across the lifespan. A total of 533 volunteers: 228 children and early adolescents (8 to 15 years), 163 late adolescents and young adults (16 to 29 years) and 142 adults (30 to 68 years) completed Eysenck's Personality Questionnaire (EPQ) and the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS). Extraversion correlated significantly with positive affect and neuroticism with negative affect in each age group. As predicted by the emotion perspective, correlations were significantly stronger for adults than children and early adolescents. In addition, extraversion-positive affect and neuroticism-negative affect factors explained less variance for children and early adolescents compared to those of adults.     

Exploring links between polychronicity and well-being from the perspective of person–job fit: Does it matter if you prefer to do only one thing at a time?

This research examined polychronicity, which refers to an individual’s preference for working on many things simultaneously as opposed to one at a time. It was hypothesized that supplies–values fit on this temporal variable is related to well-being. Specifically, it was predicted that deficient and excess polychronicity supplies are associated with poorer well-being, and that well-being is uniformly high along the continuum of polychronicity fit. It was also hypothesized that fit effects are stronger for individuals who place high importance on how their time is allocated than for individuals who place low importance on that dimension. Participants in Study 1, a laboratory experiment, were students (N = 266); participants in Study 2, conducted in a field setting, were employees of Canadian organizations (N = 746). No fit effects were observed in Study 1. Consistent with the hypotheses, however, fit on the dimension of polychronicity was related to job satisfaction, self-efficacy, and psychological strain in Study 2. The role of value importance as a moderator of the relation between supplies–values fit and well-being was not supported.     

Stereotypes and beliefs about different ethnic groups in Spain. A study with Spanish and Latin American children living in Madrid

96 Spanish and Latin American children from 3 grades in Madrid reported their knowledge of positive and negative stereotypes regarding Spaniards, Gypsies, Latin American and Chinese people. Their personal beliefs about these four ethnic groups were also assessed. Stereotypes about Spaniards were perceived as overwhelmingly positive and least negatively while stereotypes about Gypsies were rarely positive and often negative. Spanish children attributed more positive and fewer negative stereotypes to Chinese immigrants than Latin American children did. Older children reported more positive stereotypes about Gypsies than younger children and older Spanish children reported fewer positive stereotypes for their own group than their younger counterparts. Older children's personal beliefs about Gypsies were less consistent with negative stereotypes than younger children's. Older children also showed greater discrepancy of their personal beliefs with positive stereotypes of Spaniards than younger children did. Findings are discussed within the context of socio-cognitive approaches.     

Cross-sectional and prospective associations between cognitive appraisals and posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms following stroke

This study examined cross-sectional and prospective associations between cognitive appraisals and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms following stroke. While in hospital, stroke patients (n=81) completed questionnaires assessing cognitive appraisals (i.e., negative cognitions about the self, negative cognitions about the world, and self-blame) and PTSD symptoms. PTSD symptoms were assessed again 3 months later when all patients had been discharged from hospital (n=70). Significant correlations were found between the time 1 measures of negative cognitions about the self and the world, but not self-blame, and the severity of PTSD symptoms measured at time 1 and at time 2. Regression analyses revealed that cognitive appraisals explained a significant amount of variance in the severity of PTSD symptoms at time 1, with negative cognitions about the self-emerging as a significant predictor. In contrast, time 1 cognitive appraisals were unable to explain additional variance in time 2 PTSD severity over and above that explained by time 1 PTSD severity. The findings therefore provide only weak support for Ehlers and Clark's cognitive model of PTSD.     

Personality and the four faces of positive affect: A multitrait-multimethod analysis using self- and peer-report

The present study investigates the relationship between personality and positive affects (contentment, love, interest, and joy). Using multitrait-multimethod analysis and structural equation modeling procedures with self- and peer-report, the authors demonstrated the importance of differentiating between the positive affects. A multidimensional model fitted better than a general-factor model. Concerning the personality–affect relationship, the strongest relations were found between extraversion and both joy and love, agreeableness and love, openness to experiences and interest, and neuroticism and contentment. Thus, results suggest that it is insufficient to concentrate solely on extraversion when investigating the personality–positive affect relationship.     

Brief approaches to assessing task absorption and enhanced subjective experience: Examining ‘short’ and ‘core’ flow in diverse performance domains

The overarching aim of the present study is to expand current approaches to assessing task absorption and subjective experience by assessing two brief measures of flow: (1) ‘short’ flow, reflecting an aggregate or global measure drawn from the ‘long’ multi-item multi-factor flow instrument and (2) ‘core’ flow reflecting the phenomenology of the subjective flow experience itself. We propose that short and core flow have complementary but non-overlapping merits, purposes, and applications. Study 1 examines ‘short’ flow in work (N = 637), sport (N = 239), and music (N = 224). Study 2 examines ‘core’ flow in general school (N = 2,229), extracurricular activity (N = 2,229), mathematics (N = 378), and sport (N = 220) contexts. With few exceptions, both flow measures demonstrated: (a) acceptable model fit, reliability, and distributions, (b) associations with motivation in hypothesized ways, and (c) invariance in factor loadings across diverse samples. Where common data are available, both short and core flow are positively correlated, but with approximately half the variance unexplained they are clearly not the same construct, and so we offer guidance regarding which measure/s to use under particular circumstances. We conclude that the brief flow measures are appropriate for research examining task absorption, subjective experience, and cognate constructs such as motivation.

Procedural justice effects on self-esteem under certainty versus uncertainty emotions

Building upon the idea that procedural justice effects are more pronounced when uncertainty is high, we proposed that recall of an uncertainty-eliciting emotion (fear) will render people more responsive to variations in procedural justice than will recall of a certainty-eliciting emotion (disgust). Results from Study 1, (n = 79 undergraduate students) confirmed that a fair procedure (voice condition) enhanced self-esteem relative to an unfair procedure (no voice condition) to a greater extent when people recalled fear than when they recalled disgust. Results from Study 2 (n = 147 undergraduate students) also showed that a fair, relative to an unfair, procedure enhanced self-esteem more strongly when recalling the emotion of fear rather than disgust, but only when these emotions were recalled from a self-immersed than a self-distanced perspective. These findings confirm that discrete emotions that orient people to interpret situations in uncertain versus certain ways are important antecedents of procedural justice effects.     

Comparing Individual Behavior Plans from Schools With and Without Schoolwide Positive Behavior Support: A Preliminary Study

School-wide positive behavior support (SWPBS) has been proposed as a proactive and preventive method to reduce problematic behavior in schools. Under this approach, educators and administrators seek to create a school environment that fosters prosocial behavior and attempts to systematically deter problem behaviors before they happen. To date, the relationship between SWPBS and individualized positive behavior support (PBS) plans has not been examined. Specifically, it is unclear whether an atmosphere of SWPBS facilitates the functional behavioral assessment process and the design of PBS plans for students exhibiting severe behavior problems. The purpose of the present study was to investigate whether behavior support plans created in schools employing SWPBS systems were more technically adequate than support plans created in schools utilizing traditional approaches to behavior problems. Results indicated that support plans created at schools with SWPBS systems were more technically adequate than support plans produced at non-SWPBS schools as measured by the Behavior Support Plan-Quality Evaluation (BSP-QE). However, support plans from schools with SWPBS systems were still considered underdeveloped. Limitations and future research are discussed.     

教师课堂教学中的自我表露对学生评价的影响

采用2×3的被试间设计研究课堂教学中教师的自我表露对学生评价的影响.被试分别以视频(录音)形式观看(收听)无表露、表露个人成长经历、表露工作的讲座片断,并对讲座中教师进行评价.结果表明:(1)表露个人经历在视频组和录音组都表现出评价上的优势.(2)热情——冷淡维度,表露工作情况视频比录音评价更高;稳重-轻浮维度,无表露情况视频比录音评价更高.(3)录音组中,高年级对表露和无表露组的评价差距与低年级无显著差异.     

Measuring happiness: The higher order factor structure of subjective and psychological well-being measures

The nature and structure of well-being is a topic that has garnered increasing interest with the emergence of positive psychology. Limited research to date suggests two separate but related factors of subjective well-being and psychological well-being. Subjective well-being comprises an affective component of the balance between positive and negative affect, together with a cognitive component of judgments about one’s life satisfaction. Psychological well-being is conceptualised as having six components, including positive relations with others, autonomy, environmental mastery, self-acceptance, purpose in life and personal growth. In the current study, we used exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis to examine the higher order factor structure of subjective and psychological well-being in a series of large UK samples. Analyses showed that subjective well-being and psychological well-being loaded separately onto two independent but related factors, consistent with previous research. Further, we demonstrated that these loadings did not vary according to gender, age or ethnicity, providing further support for the robustness of this higher order factor structure. The discussion locates these findings in context and explores future research directions on the associations between subjective and psychological well-being over time.