Therapeutic Encouragement as Conceptualized by South Korean Youth Counselors

This study explored counselors’ conceptualization and use of encouragement as a therapeutic tool. Responses to two questions from 100 South Korean youth counselors were analyzed using consensual qualitative research–modified. As a result, six categories emerged under each domain. Implications for counseling and future studies are discussed. Este estudio exploró la conceptualización y el uso del apoyo como herramienta terapéutica por parte los consejeros. Usando el método modificado de investigación cualitativa consensual, se analizaron las respuestas proporcionadas a dos preguntas por 100 consejeros surcoreanos que trabajan con jóvenes. Como resultado, surgieron seis categorías bajo cada dominio. Se discuten las implicaciones para la consejería e investigaciones futuras.     

To be at the tail of the lions or the head of the foxes?

Agents seeking an opportunity for profit often have to compete with others who pursue the same opportunity. When having to choose between a number of opportunities differing in their value and if individuals differ in their chances of outperforming others, the choice can be cognitively and emotionally demanding. We explore choice between opportunities using stylized Lions–Foxes games. In such a game, each of three players, with different odds of beating others, has to choose one of two contests that offer different rewards. After game theoretically analyzing the games, which we have experimentally employed, we report four experiments that vary in choice elicitation (repeated play or strategy method), in players' matching (random strangers or partners) and in rewards. Regarding contest choices, we found the choice of the higher value (and seemingly more prestigious) contest to be positively related to winning odds, contrary to what four out of the five (mixed, partially mixed, or pure) equilibria predict. Participants started out rather optimistic, with a large majority choosing the higher value option, but with experience, they approached the only viable of two pure strategy equilibria. Still, mixing continued via reacting to past play and outcome, apparently balancing dissatisfaction from choosing either contest.     

Risk-taking increases under boredom

We examined if boredom is associated with risk-taking. Although this association has frequently been postulated, it has rarely been tested, and the evidence has thus far been rather indirect and speculative. We conducted three studies to test this association more systematically. In Study 1, people high in boredom proneness reported greater risk-taking across financial, ethical, recreational, and health or safety domains. In Study 2, over a series of risky decisions, risk-taking increased in tandem with state boredom. Consistently, in Study 3, people who felt more bored were more likely to choose risky gambles. Furthermore, while dispositional self-control predicted lower risk-taking, state boredom nullified this association, suggesting that elevated risk-taking might be attributed the erosion of self-control under boredom. Our findings establish via direct empirical tests that boredom is associated with making riskier decisions.     

A Psychometric Network Perspective on the Validity and Validation of Personality Trait Questionnaires

This article reviews the causal implications of latent variable and psychometric network models for the validation of personality trait questionnaires. These models imply different data generating mechanisms that have important consequences for the validity and validation of questionnaires. From this review, we formalize a framework for assessing the evidence for the validity of questionnaires from the psychometric network perspective. We focus specifically on the structural phase of validation, where items are assessed for redundancy, dimensionality, and internal structure. In this discussion, we underline the importance of identifying unique personality components (i.e. an item or set of items that share a unique common cause) and representing the breadth of each trait's domain in personality networks. After, we argue that psychometric network models have measures that are statistically equivalent to factor models but we suggest that their substantive interpretations differ. Finally, we provide a novel measure of structural consistency, which provides complementary information to internal consistency measures. We close with future directions for how external validation can be executed using psychometric network models. © 2020 European Association of Personality Psychology     

Assessing Personality States: What to Consider when Constructing Personality State Measures

Repeated assessments of personality states in daily diary or experience sampling studies have become a more and more common tool in the psychologist's toolbox. However, and contrary to the widely available literature on personality traits, no best practices for the development of personality state measures exist, and personality state measures have been developed in many different ways. To address this, we first define what a personality state is and discuss important components. On the basis of this, we define what a personality state measure is and suggest a general guideline for the development of such measures. Following the ABC of test construction can then guide the strategy for obtaining validity and reliability evidence: (A) What is the construct being measured? (B) What is the intended purpose of the measure? And (C) What is the targeted population of persons and situations? We then conclude with an example by developing an initial item pool for the assessment of conscientiousness personality states. © 2020 The Authors. European Journal of Personality published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of European Association of Personality Psychology     

Understanding Personality through Patterns of Daily Socializing: Applying Recurrence Quantification Analysis to Naturalistically Observed Intensive Longitudinal Social Interaction Data

Ambulatory assessment methods provide a rich approach for studying daily behaviour. Too often, however, these data are analysed in terms of averages, neglecting patterning of this behaviour over time. This paper describes recurrence quantification analysis (RQA), a non-linear time series technique for analysing dynamic systems, as a method for analysing patterns of categorical, intensive longitudinal ambulatory assessment data. We apply RQA to objectively assessed social behaviour (e.g. talking to another person) coded from the Electronically Activated Recorder. Conceptual interpretations of RQA parameters, and an analysis of Electronically Activated Recorder data in adults going through a marital separation, are provided. Using machine learning techniques to avoid model overfitting, we find that adding RQA parameters to models that include just average amount of time spent talking (a static measure) improves prediction of four Big Five personality traits: extraversion, neuroticism, conscientiousness, and openness. Our strongest results suggest that a combination of average amount of time spent talking and four RQA parameters yield an R² = .09 for neuroticism. Neuroticism is shown to be associated with shorter periods of extended conversation (periods of at least 12 minutes), demonstrating the utility of RQA to identify new relationships between personality and patterns of daily behaviour. Materials: https://osf.io/5nkr9/ . © 2020 European Association of Personality Psychology     

Daily Responsiveness,Expectations, and Self-disclosure: How the Average Levels and Within-person Variability of Three Relationship Components Mediate Personality–Relationship Transactions in Romantic Couples

The associations between couple members' personality and their relationship satisfaction can be conceptualized as reciprocal transactions. To better understand these transactions, we focused on both partners' interpersonal vulnerabilities (i.e. neuroticism, low self-esteem, and insecure attachment); daily emotional, cognitive, and behavioural relationship components (i.e. perceived responsiveness, positive expectations, and self-disclosure); and relationship satisfaction. Specifically, we examined whether the average levels and within-person variability of the relationship components mediated the transactions between interpersonal vulnerabilities and relationship satisfaction. Data came from 689 female–male couples aged 18 to 81 years who participated in three measurement occasions across 12 months, including a 14-day diary phase. We used mediated dyadic bivariate latent change score models to test the level–change and change–change transactions and mediations. The findings partly supported our hypotheses: Couple members with interpersonal vulnerabilities had lower average levels (but not higher within-person variability) of the relationship components, and less satisfied couple members had lower average levels and higher within-person variability of these components. The lower average levels but not the variability mediated between a lower level of relationship satisfaction and an increase in avoidant attachment. No other mediations were observed. We discuss the importance of studying daily relationship components for better understanding reciprocal transactions in couples. © 2020 European Association of Personality Psychology     

Maternal perinatal representations and their associations with mother–infant interaction and attachment: A longitudinal comparison of Portuguese and Brazilian dyads

Prior research in Western countries (mostly the US, Canada and northern Europe) indicates that mothers' representations are associated with mother–infant interaction quality and their child's attachment security later in the first year. Fewer studies, however, have evaluated whether these associations hold for mother–infant dyads in other countries, such as Brazil and Portugal. Although these countries share a similar language and culture, they differ on societal dimensions that may affect parenting attitudes and mother–infant relationships, such as economic stress, social organisation, social policy, and the availability of services for young families. In this longitudinal study, we followed two independent samples of Brazilian and Portuguese mother–infant dyads from the perinatal period to 12 months post-partum. We assessed mothers' perinatal representations using semi-structured interviews in the first 48 hours after the infant's birth, and evaluated the associations of these representations with mother interaction quality at 9 months and infant attachment at 12 months. Results were similar in each country, corroborating prior research in single Western countries: Mothers with more positive perinatal representations were more sensitive to their infants during free play at 9 months and were more likely to have infants classified as securely attached at 12 months.     

All You Need Is Love: The Importance of Partner and Family Relations to Highly Creative Individuals’ Well-Being and Success

The aim of the article was to investigate how the family life of highly creative individuals—mainly marriages or romantic relationships—is related to their sense of success and well-being. Previous studies have led to conflicting conclusions. The predominant finding has been that marriage and family constitute an obstacle to creative potential development. Other studies have demonstrated that, regardless of gender, creators lead satisfying family lives, which contributes to their well-being. The study presented in this paper is based on the grounded theory methodology and triangulates two sources: interviews with prominent creators from the USA conducted years ago (Csikszentmihalyi, 1996, N = 91) and interviews with recognized contemporary Polish artists and scientists (N = 34). Based on interactions between the interviewees’ perception of themselves as creators and their perception of gender and family roles, the authors identify and discuss five types of relationship between creators’ family life and work. They also discuss the factors that hinder or facilitate creators’ satisfactory functioning in both areas in each of the five types of relationship.     

Increasing item engagement and decreasing automatically reinforced problem behavior within a modified competing stimulus assessment

A competing stimulus assessment (CSA) is commonly used to identify leisure items for use in treatments designed to decrease automatically reinforced problem behavior. However, this type of assessment may not yield useful information if participants do not readily engage with leisure items. The purpose of this study was to evaluate a modified CSA that included additional treatment components (i.e., prompting, prompting plus differential reinforcement of alternative behavior). The modified CSA identified the treatment components and leisure items that were most effective for increasing leisure-item engagement and decreasing problem behavior for each participant. Modified CSA outcomes maintained during an extended treatment analysis in a natural setting and when intervention components were faded.