The Multidimensional Existential Meaning Scale: A tripartite approach to measuring meaning in life

To address conceptual difficulties and advance research on meaning in life (MIL), it may be useful to adopt a tripartite view of meaning as consisting of comprehension, purpose, and mattering. This paper discusses the development of the Multidimensional Existential Meaning Scale (MEMS), which explicitly assesses these three subconstructs. Results from three samples of undergraduates showed the MEMS to have favorable psychometric properties (e.g. good factor structure and reliability) and demonstrated that it can effectively differentiate the three subconstructs of meaning. Regression and relative importance analyses showed that each MEMS subscale carried predictive power for relevant variables and other meaning measures. Additionally, the MEMS subscales demonstrated theoretically consistent, differential associations with other variables (e.g. dogmatism, behavioral activation, and spirituality). Overall, results suggest that the MEMS may offer more conceptual precision than existing measures, and it may open new avenues of research and facilitate a more nuanced understanding of MIL.     

Lifetime stress exposure and health: A review of contemporary assessment methods and biological mechanisms

Life stress is a central construct in health research because it is associated with increased risk for a variety of serious mental and physical health problems, including anxiety disorders, depression, cardiovascular disease, autoimmune disorders, Alzheimer's disease, certain cancers, and other diseases of aging. In this review, we examine how lifetime stress exposure contributes to elevated disease risk and explore ongoing measurement and scientific issues related to this topic. To accomplish these goals, we first review existing instruments that have been developed for assessing perceived stress, self‐reported life events, interviewer‐assessed life stressors, and lifetime stress exposure. Next, we describe laboratory‐based tasks that have been used for characterizing individual differences in psychological and biological stress reactivity. These methods have yielded an enormous amount of data showing how life stress influences the activity of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis, hypothalamic–pituitary–gonadal axis, sympathetic–adrenal–medullary axis, and immune system, and how such processes can in turn cause allostatic load and biological embedding of the stress effect at the level of the human brain and genome. At the same time, many critical measurement and scientific issues remain unresolved, and we discuss these topics last while describing some pressing issues and opportunities for future research on stress and health.     

应对的研究设计、测量、类别及未来研究方向

应激和应对是现代心理学研究中最广泛的一个主题, 但是目前此领域的研究存在着停滞不前的情况。应对的研究设计、测量和类别三方面是应对现有研究中具有挑战性的问题, 研究设计方面提倡纵向的动态设计, 注重情境因素的作用; 测量方面提倡加大对应对的生态瞬时评估、叙事方法的研究, 且要注意根据研究内容的需要选择合适的方法; 应对类别方面注重对意义应对的研究。应对领域未来研究方向主要包括面向未来的主动应对、二元模式的应对、应对与积极情绪三个方面。     

离线元认知调节的结构探索与验证

离线元认知调节指脱离具体任务情境后,个体在整体层面对自身活动的规划、管理、归纳反省并重新评价的过程。与在线元认知调节相结合,可以使元认知对行为的调节作用得到更加完整有力地发挥。本研究探索了离线元认知调节的测量学结构,开发出相应的测量工具,并且在职业测评领域通过实践检验。研究一编制离线调节量表,对离线元认知调节结构进行探索,得到全局规划、洞察力和整合概化三个维度;研究二对工具的效度进行实证检验,通过层次Logistic回归分析,发现公司中层领导与普通员工在离线调节水平上存在差异,验证了该工具的实证效度。研究结果证明离线调节量表具有较好的心理测量学品质,可以应用于相关的实践领域。     

心理授权研究进展

二十多年来,心理授权受到研究者的广泛重视。在以往研究中,研究者提出了心理授权的单维结构说、三维结构说、四维结构说和六维结构说,并在此基础上开发了相应的测量工具。在心理授权的影响因素方面,已有研究主要考察了个体变量和组织变量对心理授权的影响;在后果变量方面,主要探讨的是心理授权与工作满意度、组织承诺、职业承诺、绩效、心理健康等方面的关系。针对现有研究中存在的问题,本文在最后提出了未来研究的一些建议。     

职业韧性研究述评

职业韧性是职业开发领域中的一个新概念, 是个体适应变化的职业环境或从职业逆境中回弹的能力。职业韧性的定义可分为结果性、品质性和过程性三种。有影响力的职业韧性模型主要有London模型、Collard模型、Pulley模型、Conner模型。职业韧性的影响因素有人口学变量、个人特征变量和工作环境变量。未来的研究需要关注职业韧性的结构、测量, 注重采用实验或长时研究探索因果关系。     

Developing a Measure of Individual Differences in Organizational Revenge

The purpose of this research was to develop a measurement of the individual differences that contribute to acts of organizational revenge and aggression. This scale was designed to achieve three goals: (a) to minimize demand characteristics so that the scale may be useful for personnel selection, (b) to represent a wide range of possible behavioral reactions to organizational injustice, and (c) to represent a range of trust violations committed by organizations that can lead to revenge. Two studies were conducted to reduce the initial 168 items into a 50-item scale containing two conceptually distinct subscales, a 19-item Constructive subscale and a 31-item Destructive subscale. Study 2 provides evidence for the internal reliability of the overall scale and its subscales and also provides some evidence for the construct validity of the final scale. The utility of this instrument for use in personnel selection and for research on workplace aggression is discussed, along with suggestions for additional efforts to demonstrate the validity of this instrument.     

Theobiology: An Analysis of Spirituality, Cardiovascular Responses, Stress, Mood, and Physical Health

The relationships of spirituality and religion to acute cardiovascular responses, physical symptoms of illness, stress and psychological mood were assessed in a community sample of adults. Nineteen men and 61 women participated in a betrayal interview, while their blood pressure and heart rate were monitored. Religious affiliation, frequency of attendance at worship and religiousness were associated with resting diastolic and mean arterial pressure. Spirituality, especially as assessed by the existential scale of the Spiritual Well-being Scale, was related to symptoms of illness, medication use, stress and negative mood states. Spirituality and involvement in organized religion may represent a means to increase the sense of purpose and meaning in life, which is related to greater resiliency and resistance to stress-related illness.     

A primer on the Dark Triad traits

In this review, we detail three personality traits (i.e., narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism) that have gained popularity in the last decade as the ‘Dark Triad’. These traits are useful to augment research on personality, like the Big Five traits, as they capture individual differences in ‘darker’ aspects of personality more fully. We briefly review the body of work surrounding these traits, how they are measured, how they can be understood through the exploration of their nomological network, and the role each trait plays in various domains like organisational psychology and interpersonal relationships. We then detail how an evolutionary paradigm can provide a novel and powerful way of understanding these traits. Finally, we explore broad-spectrum concerns about the research and thoughts on how one might think about these issues.