Relationships between Personality and Organization Switching: Implications for utility estimates

This study examined individuals' tendencies to migrate from one organization to another (i.e., the propensity to switch employers). Previous researchers have suggested that switching organizations throughout the career span may be partially heritable and therefore related to individual differences in personality traits. If personality traits are indeed related to a tendency to turnover from organizations, this suggests that current procedures for calculating utility may be inaccurate. Using a database of 1081 individuals who have been in the workforce for several years, results indicated that personality traits measured by the Occupational Personality Questionnaire (non‐ipsative; OPQn) were modestly related to organization switching (i.e., repeated moves from organization to organization). We found that higher scores on extraversion, openness to experience, and conscientiousness‐related traits were modestly correlated with more frequent organization switching. However, we demonstrate that these modest relationships can produce large inaccuracies in utility estimates.     

Evidence for disproportionate dual-task costs in older adults for episodic but not semantic memory

Previous research demonstrates that older adults are poor at dual tasking, but there is less agreement on whether their decrement is worse than that predicted from single-task performance. This study investigated whether task domain moderates dual-task costs in old age. In two experiments, young and older adults retrieved either previously learned associates (episodic retrieval) or overlearned category members (semantic retrieval) under single or working-memory load conditions, using cued recall (Experiment 1) and recognition (Experiment 2) procedures. In both experiments the proportional costs of dual tasking were age invariant for semantic retrieval but were particularly marked for episodic retrieval, although the size of the age effect was reduced in recognition compared to cued recall. The data suggest that age effects in dual tasking may be domain specific.     

Links between physical fitness and cardiovascular reactivity and recovery to psychological stressors: A meta-analysis.

A meta-analysis of published studies with adult human participants was conducted to evaluate whether physical fitness attenuates cardiovascular reactivity and improves recovery from acute psychological stressors. Thirty-three studies met selection criteria; 18 were included in recovery analyses. Effect sizes and moderator influences were calculated by using meta-analysis software. A fixed effects model was fit initially; however, between-studies heterogeneity could not be explained even after inclusion of moderators. Therefore, to account for residual heterogeneity, a random effects model was estimated. Under this model, fit individuals showed significantly attenuated heart rate and systolic blood pressure reactivity and a trend toward attenuated diastolic blood pressure reactivity. Fit individuals also showed faster heart rate recovery, but there were no significant differences in systolic blood pressure or diastolic blood pressure recovery. No significant moderators emerged. Results have important implications for elucidating mechanisms underlying effects of fitness on cardiovascular disease and suggest that fitness may be an important confound in studies of stress reactivity.     

A content analysis of the conversational behavior of accepted and rejected children

The present study was designed to assess whether the conversational behavior of children separated into accepted, rejected, and mixed-status dyads differed along the dimensions of listening to, paying attention to, and indicating interest in their dyadic partner. Conversations of 40 third-grade dyads were analyzed as they occurred in a 2- min waiting period and a 4- min conversation period. Seventeen categories of verbal behaviors that indexed these dimensions were used as content codes. Multivariate analyses of variance performed on the observational data yielded significant main effects for status, sex, and experimental condition. Results are interpreted in terms of previous social skills research, and suggestions for future research are offered.     

Humor and the coronary-prone behavior pattern

The belief is widely held that humor is related to recovery from, and perhaps an increased resistance to, coronary and other stress-related diseases. Such generalizations do not typically distinguish between benign and hostile humor. In the present research, the relationship between a measure of proneness to coronary heart disease (CHD) and appreciation of hostile and nonhostile humor is examined. In two studies, one with college students and one with patients suffering from CHD, the relationship between humor preferences and the coronary-prone (Type A) behavior pattern was examined. Each subject was given the Jenkins Activity Survey as a measure of the coronary-prone personality type, and aggressive and nonaggressive jokes to rate for funniness. Hostile humor was preferred to nonhostile humor by all groups, but among those suffering from CHD, those who could be classified as “Type B’s” preferred nonhostile humor. The results indicate that those less prone to CHD appreciate both hostile and nonhostile humor, while Type A’s seem to enjoy hostile humor only.     

Validity and clinical scale comparisons between the MMPI and MMPI-2 with psychiatric inpatients.

This study was designed to investigate the comparability of the original MMPI (1950) and the MMPI-2 (1989) with a psychiatric patient population. 34 male and 3 female patients, shortly after admission to one of two acute psychiatry units, completed the old and revised versions of the MMPI. Paired t tests indicated but scant differences for raw scores, while many more differences were found among T scores for validity, clinical, and supplemental scales. Analyses, however, showed all scales on the two forms to be highly correlated. Analysis of the high-point and two-point codes across the two administrations also showed relative stability, although the proportion of Scales 2 (Depression) and 8 (Schizophrenia) decreased, while those for Scales 6 (Paranoia) and 7 (Psychasthenia) increased markedly in the MMPI-2 protocols. Examination of each version's discriminability among mood- and thought-disordered subsamples suggested that the MMPI provides slightly better delineation between diagnostic classes. Discriminant function analyses showed that there were essentially no differences between the two forms in the accurate classification of clinical and nonclinical groups. The findings reported here provide support for the MMPI-2; despite modification, the newer form retains the advantages of the original MMPI. Differences found here may be unique to psychiatric patients and their patterns of MMPI/MMPI-2 equivalence and may not generalize to other special populations.