Cognition of Being in the Peak Experiences

Two samples, one gifted, the other “normal,” of 30 children each (11 to 13 years of age) were matched on age, sex, race, and father's occupation. A parent of each child completed the Children's Behavioral Classification Project instrument, and a profile of 30 scaled scores was obtained for each protocol. A discriminant analysis on the basis of the profiles classified 50 of the 60 Ss correctly into their respective sample category, either gifted or normal. Though the results of a multivariate analysis of variance showed no significant differences between the groups when the 30 profile factors were viewed as a whole, univariate analyses on the separate factors yielded significant group differences on several related factors. These were interpreted with caution. Additional factors displayed significant sex differences and one demonstrated a group-by-sex interaction effect.

Coefficients of pattern similarity (the r_p ) were computed among all pairs of the 60 Ss. An unweighted average linkage cluster analysis grouped 34 of the 60 Ss into six clusters which accounted for 26 of 30 possible gifted children.

After an item analysis was performed on the original data, a 42 item subscale of the CBCP questionnaire was constructed which correctly classified 31 of 40 individuals in a cross-validation sample.     

The Relation of Distressful Childhood Experiences and Empathy in College Undergraduates

We assessed the relation between the empathic responsiveness of young adults and the relative frequency and intensity of distressful events they experienced as children. Undergraduate subjects (N = 111; 56 men and 55 women) were led to believe that they were participating in two separate studies. In the first study, students completed the Distress Experiences in Childhood questionnaire, a filler task, and a slightly abbreviated version of the Mehrabian and Epstein (1972) empathy measure. In the second study, students watched an emotion-laden videotape of a patient (actually an actress) in a therapy session and subsequently completed an emotional-response questionnaire adapted from Batson, O'Quin, Fultz, Vanderplas, and Isen (1983). Students who rated their distressful childhood experiences as highly distressing scored higher on both measures of empathy than did students who rated their experiences as relatively less distressing. In contrast, the number of distressful childhood experiences reported was generally unrelated to empathy scores.     

Children's Responses to Entry Failure: Attention Deployment Patterns and Self-Regulation Skills

In this study the authors investigated associations among children's observed responses to failure in an analogue entry situation, their attention deployment patterns, and skills and processes associated with self-regulation. Participants were 54 kindergarten and first-grade students who were either aggressive-rejected or low aggressive-popular based on peer nominations. Inhibitory control predicted the tendency to respond to entry failure by stopping and watching the group's activity. Baseline vagal tone and other-directed attention predicted children's tendency to change entry strategies after failure. Parent-rated attention skills moderated the relation between children's attention deployment patterns during the entry task and their responses to entry failure. Children who engaged in more other-directed attention were less likely to turn to solitary play after entry failure but only if they had high or moderate levels of attentional control. Other-directed attention was related to repeating previous entry bids without modification after entry failure but only when children had high levels of attention problems.     

Target Meaning-Making of Workplace Incivility Based on Perceived Personality Similarity with Perpetrators

Abstract

Target meaning-making of incivility (i.e., the ways targets assess uncivil events) has received attention as an important mediating mechanism in explaining the varied outcomes of incivility. The present study draws on person-environment (PE) fit theory, as well as the similarity-attraction paradigm and repulsion hypothesis, to uncover how perceived personality (dis)similarity affects both cognitive (i.e., attribution, negative appraisal) and emotional reactions (i.e., hostility) to incivility. Specifically, we examine whether incongruence between target personality and perceived perpetrator personality worsens target meaning-making (vice versa for personality congruence). Study 1 (N?=?479 employees) addressed (dis)similarity in agreeableness, while Study 2 (N?=?296 working adults) addressed (dis)similarity in neuroticism. Based on polynomial regressions with response surface modeling, the results generally supported the hypotheses. Along the line of dissimilarity, targets often assessed (i.e., attributed intent to, appraised, reacted emotionally to) uncivil events more negatively when they perceived personality dissimilarity with perpetrators. However, similarity in personality did not always have the opposite effect by buffering against negative assessments; meaning-making was worse when both parties scored high on neuroticism. Implications for workplace incivility and PE fit literatures are discussed, along with practical implications that highlight information elaboration and perspective taking.     

How Students Learn to Moderate Group Work: The Role of Enjoyment and Boredom

Fostering oral communication competences constitutes a primary goal of higher education. However, research on the acquisition process is sparse, especially when the role of learning-related emotions is considered. Based on control-value theory, this study therefore investigated the interplay between learning-related boredom and enjoyment and the build-up of moderation competence throughout an university course to foster oral competences. A longitudinal quasi-experimental study with two teaching conditions was conducted. About 160 students were assigned either to a control group (CG: autonomy supportive teaching enriched with basic levels of competence support and relatedness support) or an experimental group (EG: autonomy supportive teaching enriched with high levels of competence support and relatedness support). Perceived moderation competence and emotions were assessed three times (T) by self-report: after completion of the course introduction (T1), half way (T2), and at the end of the course (T3). The students’ behavioral performance during a practical moderation exam was graded at T3. Path analyses revealed differential effects of enjoyment and boredom on students’ perceived moderation competence and their grades over time: an activating, learning-enhancing effect of enjoyment on moderation competence was demonstrated, especially if teachers supported students’ experience of autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Boredom, in contrast, had a detrimental effect on the behavioral performance in the practical moderation exam.     

Adolescents' Reactions to the Evacuation of the Sinai Settlements: A Longitudinal Study

This study investigated psychological reactions of adolescents to a severe stress situation—the evacuation of the Sinai settlements. The research focused on emotional reactions of anxiety and anger to this stress situation. Two central problems were investigated: (a) The intensity of the emotional responses of anxiety and anger of the adolescents to the stress situation, before and after the evacuation, and (b) the impact of three intervening variables on these emotional reactions—cognitive perception of the political situation, family functioning, and personality characteristics. Data for this study were collected in a regional high school in Israel from 418 pupils in 9th through 12th grades. Seventy-eight of the pupils lived in the Yamit area. Measurements were obtained at three points in time: 6 weeks and 1 week before the evacuation and 2 months after it. The results supported the predicted trend that adolescents in the Yamit group before the evacuation would score higher on state anxiety and state anger than would those in the comparison group. Two months after the evacuation there was a significant drop in those scores. The trait measures remained stable in both groups and no significant differences were found between the two groups on these scores. Concerning the impact of the three intervening variables on the intensity of the state emotional responses, the results did not support any of the hypotheses.     

Formative Versus Reflective Measurement: An Illustration Using Work–Family Balance

The aim of this article is to propose the formative measurement approach that can be used in various constructs of applied psychology. To illustrate this approach, the authors will (a) discuss the distinction between commonly used principal-factor (reflective) measures in comparison to the composite (formative) latent variable model, which is often applied in other disciplines such as marketing or engineering, and (b) point out the advantages and limitations of formative specifications using the example of the work–family balance (WFB) construct. Data collected from 2 large cross-sectional field studies confirm the reliability and validity of formative WFB measures as well as its predictive value regarding criteria of WFB (i.e., job satisfaction, family satisfaction, and life satisfaction). Last, the specific informational value of each formative indicator will be demonstrated and discussed in terms of practical implications for the assessment in different psychological fields.     

Gender Differences in Problem Solving: Expectancy and Problem Context

In this study, we investigated gender differences in problem solving as a function of problem context and expectations for success. Subjects were 90 women and 56 men from introductory psychology classes who were administered a set of mathematical problems varying in gender context under male-expectancy, female-expectancy, and neutral-expectancy conditions. No significant gender differences or interaction of gender with problem context were found. However, significant effects of problem context and expectancy were found. Both male and female subjects made higher scores on female-context problems and lower scores in the female-expectancy condition. When mathematics aptitude was used as a covariate, an interaction of gender with expectancy was found. Men in the female-expectancy condition made significantly lower scores than either men or women in the male-expectancy condition.     

Psychological Distress in a Sample of Teachers

This article describes a cross-sectional study of the links between job-related stressors and depressive and psychophysiologic symptoms and morale in 67 New York City teachers. The teachers' mean score on the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D; M = 13.03) was higher than might be expected from average community residents. The teachers also tended to express dissatisfaction with their jobs. The CES-D and the Psychophysiologic Symptom Scale were correlated as highly as their reliabilities would permit, a finding consistent with the view that the CES-D and the Psycho physiologic Symptom Scale measure the same construct, nonspecific psychological distress. The correlational findings suggest that distress is distinct from job-related morale, which was indexed by measures of motivation to continue teaching and job satisfaction. The results of regression analyses, which controlled for sociodemographic factors, indicated that the level of job strain (frequency of ongoing stressors) is more closely related to psychological distress and low morale than episodic stressors, including crimes in which the teacher was victim. The regression analyses also indicated that colleague support was related to lower symptom levels and higher morale.     

A Method for the Study of Personality Reactions in Preschool age Children by Means of Analysis of their Play

This investigation studied variability in visual thresholds for six subjects for 50 consecutive days. The results show the following:

1. Session-to-session variability agrees closely with the variability estimates made by Hecht and Zegers.

2. No periodic or cyclic trends appeared for the group or for any individual subject.

3. For all six subjects for the first 15 days of testing, a learning phenomenon was observed for the mean and standard-deviation data. There was a slow rise over the last 10 days of testing for the mean, but not for the standard-deviation data. (A discussion of the possible causes of the rise of the mean over the last 10 days suggested the influence of extraneous factors, such as boredom and fatigue.)

4. No effect of the menstrual cycle upon the threshold values was found.

4. No effect of the menstrual cycle upon the threshold values was found.