On the predictive validity of indirect attitude measures: Prediction of consumer choice behavior on the basis of affective priming in the picture-picture naming task

Recent studies have revealed that robust and replicable affective priming of naming responses can be obtained when pictures are used as primes and targets. The aim of the present research was to examine the predictive validity of affective priming effects that are obtained with the picture-picture naming task. In two studies that were modeled after [Karpinski, A., & Hilton, J. L. (2001). Attitudes and the Implicit Association Test. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 81, 774-778], we observed that individual difference scores that are obtained with the naming task exhibit good predictive validity. Both practical and theoretical implications of this finding are discussed.     

Modelling inter-individual differences in latent within-person variation: The confirmatory factor level variability model

Psychological theories often produce hypotheses that pertain to individual differences in within-person variability. To empirically test the predictions entailed by such hypotheses with longitudinal data, researchers often use multilevel approaches that allow them to model between-person differences in the mean level of a certain variable and the residual within-person variance. Currently, these approaches can be applied only when the data stem from a single variable. However, it is common practice in psychology to assess not just a single measure but rather several measures of a construct. In this paper we describe a model in which we combine the single-indicator model with confirmatory factor analysis. The new model allows individual differences in latent mean-level factors and latent within-person variability factors to be estimated. Furthermore, we show how the model's parameters can be estimated with a maximum likelihood estimator, and we illustrate the approach using an example that involves intensive longitudinal data.     

Interrelationships between spider fear associations,attentional disengagement and self-reported fear: A preliminary test of a dual-systems model

Recent conceptualisations of anxiety posit that equivocal findings related to the time-course of disengaging from threat-relevant stimuli may be attributable to individual differences in associative and rule-based processing. The current study was designed to test the hypothesis that strength of spider-fear associations would indirectly predict reported spider fear via impaired disengagement. One hundred and thirty-one undergraduate volunteer participants completed the Go/No-go Association Task, a visual search task, and self-report spider fear questionnaires. Stronger spider-fear associations were associated with reduced disengagement accuracy, whereas higher levels of reported spider fear were related to faster engagement with and disengagement from spiders. Bootstrapping multiple mediation analyses demonstrated that stronger-spider fear associations evidenced an indirect relationship with reported spider fear via reduced disengagement accuracy, highlighting the importance of fine-grained analyses of different aspects of cognitive bias. Results are discussed in terms of cognitive models of anxiety.     

The Dynamics of Personality Approach (DPA): 20 Tenets for Uncovering the Causal Mechanisms of Personality

Over the last few decades, most personality psychology research has been focused on assessing personality via scores on a few broad traits and investigating how these scores predict various behaviours and outcomes. This approach does not seek to explain the causal mechanisms underlying human personality and thus falls short of explaining the proximal sources of traits as well as the variation of individuals' behaviour over time and across situations. On the basis of the commonalities shared by influential process-oriented personality theories and models, we describe a general dynamics of personality approach (DPA). The DPA relies heavily on theoretical principles applicable to complex adaptive systems that self-regulate via feedback mechanisms, and it parses the sources of personality in terms of various psychological functions relevant in different phases of self-regulation. Thus, we consider personality to be rooted in individual differences in various cognitive, emotional–motivational, and volitional functions, as well as their causal interactions. In this article, we lay out 20 tenets for the DPA that may serve as a guideline for integrative research in personality science. © 2020 The Authors. European Journal of Personality published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of European Association of Personality Psychology     

Decomposing the within-person and between-person sources of variation in physical activity-cognition associations for low-active older adults

Abstract

Objectives: To examine within-person and between-person sources of variation in the relationship between physical activity and cognition in older adults participating in a walking program. To explore whether demographic, health and fitness variables, and their interactions with activity, are significant predictors of cognition.

Design: Brief longitudinal burst design.

Participants: 118 participants (91 females, mean age?=?72.81?+ 5.24 years).

Main Outcome Measures: Cognition, self-reported moderate-to-vigorous walking and self-reported moderate-to-vigorous physical activity were assessed at baseline and 6, 9, 12 and 16 weeks follow-up. Attendance at weekly walks was also recorded.

Results: Within-persons, changes in physical activity were related to select measures of executive functioning, with increased activity predictive of better cognition (three of four cognitive functions, p<.05). Between-persons, activity was also associated with cognition (two of four cognitive functions, p<.05). Younger age and higher education were related to better cognition. Interactions of demographic, health, and fitness variables with changes in within-person activity were generally non-significant.

Conclusion: The results highlight the importance of distinguishing within- from between-person effects in longitudinal analyses of the association between physical activity and cognition. This stringent within-person test of association underscores the potential value of simple physical activity interventions for improving cognitive function.     

The Role of Time in the Quest for Understanding Psychological Mechanisms

The lead-lag structure of multivariate time-ordered observations and the possibility to disentangle between-person (BP) from within-person (WP) sources of variance are major assets of longitudinal (panel) data. Hence, psychologists are making increasing use of such data, often with the intent to delineate the dynamic properties of psychological mechanisms, understood as a sequence of causal effects that govern psychological functioning. However, even with longitudinal data, psychological mechanisms are not easily identified. In this article, we show how an adequate representation of time may enhance the tenability of causal interpretations in the context of multivariate longitudinal data analysis. We anchor our considerations with an example that illustrates some of the main problems and questions faced by applied researchers and practitioners. We distinguish between static versus dynamic and discrete versus continuous time modeling approaches and discuss their advantages and disadvantages. We place particular emphasis on different ways of addressing BP differences and stress their dual role as potential confounds versus valuable sources of information for improving estimation and aiding causal inference. We conclude by outlining an approach that offers the potential of better integration of information on BP differences and WP changes in the search for causal mechanisms along with a discussion of current problems and limitations.     

Mindfulness and negative affectivity in real time: a within-person process model

ABSTRACT

To extend our understanding of the proximal etiology of personality pathology, this study examined the dynamic, in-the-moment relations between mindfulness and negative affectivity (NA; emotional lability, anxiousness, separation insecurity) as defined by the alternative model for personality disorders. We tested predictions based upon the Monitor and Acceptance Theory that when people monitored their attention judgmentally, their state NA would be higher than usual; by contrast, when they monitored their attention nonjudgmentally, their state NA would be lower than usual. Sixty-five undergraduates participated in an experience sampling study wherein they completed five reports per day for eight days about their states of mindfulness and NA. Multi-level models revealed an interaction wherein participants exhibited more state NA when they monitored their attention judgmentally than when they monitored their attention nonjudgmentally. Analyses of simple slopes revealed that participants exhibited more state NA than usual when they monitored their attention judgmentally. These findings emerged for only one of two attention monitoring processes, however: monitoring relations between thoughts, emotions, and behaviours, but not monitoring sensory stimuli. Analyses including non-reactivity instead of nonjudgment replicated these findings. Implications for theory, research, and treatment are discussed.     

The role of textual semantic constraints in knowledge-based inference generation during reading comprehension: A computational approach

The present research adopted a computational approach to explore the extent to which the semantic content of texts constrains the activation of knowledge-based inferences. Specifically, we examined whether textual semantic constraints (TSC) can explain (1) the activation of predictive inferences, (2) the activation of bridging inferences and (3) the higher prevalence of the activation of bridging inferences compared to predictive inferences. To examine these hypotheses, we computed the strength of semantic associations between texts and probe items as presented to human readers in previous behavioural studies, using the Latent Semantic Analysis (LSA) algorithm. We tested whether stronger semantic associations are observed for inferred items compared to control items. Our results show that in 15 out of 17 planned comparisons, the computed strength of semantic associations successfully simulated the activation of inferences. These findings suggest that TSC play a central role in the activation of knowledge-based inferences.     

Allusive thinking (cognitive looseness) and the propensity to perceive “meaningful” coincidences

This study aimed at evaluating relations between the disposition to make “meaningful” associations between random events and potentially predisposing factors related to a more “loose” cognitive control, that is, loose associative processing (allusive thinking) and poorer inhibition of irrelevant memory content. As the findings of this study suggest, individuals with a higher disposition to perceive coincidences produced a higher rate of unusual associations in the Bridge-the-Associative-Gap test than low scorers, and showed poorer inhibition of no longer relevant memory content in the Recent Probes Task. These relationships were independent from individual differences in paranormal belief. Performance in a random generation task (Mittenecker Pointing Test) yielded no support for an important role of a biased concept of randomness in the perception of coincidences. The findings suggest that common mechanisms may underlie the propensity to perceive meaningful coincidences, cognitive looseness, and positive schizotypy.     

Do features of stimuli influence IAT effects?

The Implicit Association Test (Greenwald, McGhee, & Schwartz, 1998) is a categorization task intended to measure the strength of associations between concepts. The present research investigated the influence of individual stimuli on IAT effects. Exploring implicit attitudes of East and West Germans, we systematically manipulated relatedness of target stimuli to the attribute dimension and, simultaneously, relatedness of attribute stimuli to the target dimension. Two experiments demonstrate the influence of stimulus associations as one source that drives IAT effects. Depending on the strength and the direction of these cross-category associations, the result was either stronger IAT effects or a decline of IAT effects. Implications for theoretical models as well as for the interpretation of IAT effects are discussed.