Individual construct accessibility and subjective impressions and recall.

In the 1st session of each of 2 studies, 48 undergraduates' accessible traits were elicited by asking them to list the characteristics of different people, with accessibility defined as frequency of output (Study 1) or primacy of output (Study 2). In the 2nd session, held 1 or 2 wks later, Ss read an essay describing the behaviors of a target person. The essay contained both accessible and inaccessible trait-related information for each S, with different traits being accessible or inaccessible for different Ss. Both studies found that Ss deleted significantly more inaccessible than accessible trait-related information in their impressions and reproductions of the target information. This effect on impressions and reproductions was evident 2 wks after exposure to the target information. Implications of this approach for personality differences, interpersonal conflict and attraction, similarity of self and other judgments, and therapeutic intervention are discussed. (55 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attachment working models and cognitive openness in close relationships: A test of chronic and temporary accessibility effects.

In 3 studies the authors explored the impact of chronic and temporary accessibility of attachment working models on cognitive openness in the realm of close relationships. In Study 1, participants rated their attachment style and perceptions of their romantic partner. In Study 2, they recalled a relationship defined by a particular attachment orientation and rated perceptions of the targeted partner. Study 3 was similar to Study 1, but secure attachment was primed for half of the participants. In all the studies, cognitive openness was assessed by changes in the perception of the partner after being exposed to information that disconfirmed expectations. Secure attachment was related to higher cognitive openness and better recall of expectation-incongruent information, mainly when this information was positively valued. The discussion emphasizes the implications of the chronic and contextual aspects of attachment working models for information processing. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The construct validity of egocentrism.

Briefly explains construct validation and applies it to egocentrism. Conceptual and operational referents of this construct are organized into 3 categories: visual/spatial egocentrism (what does the other see), affective egocentrism (what does the other feel), and cognitive/communicative egocentrism (what is the other thinking). Several kinds of reliability information are reported, and construct validity is evaluated primarily by examination of the relationships among measures of egocentrism within and between categories. Although interrater reliability and interrater agreement were found to be uniformly high for all egocentrism measures examined in a review, and the measurement reliability was usually adequate, a few tasks were not internally consistent. Overall, the construct validity of egocentrism was not supported, since most task intercorrelations were low and often nonsignificant. An alternative interpretation of the data based on cognitive constructs and task- and response-specific variables is proposed. (2? p ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On the nature of identity fusion: Insights into the construct and a new measure.

Previous research has documented the consequences of feeling fused with a group; here we examine the nature of identity fusion. Specifically, we sought to determine what fusion is and the mediating mechanisms that lead fused individuals to make extraordinary sacrifices for their group. Guided by the assumption that fusion emphasizes the extent to which people develop relational ties to the group, we developed a measure designed to capture feelings of connectedness and reciprocal strength with the group. In 10 studies, the newly developed scale displayed predicted relationships with related measures, including an earlier (pictorial) measure of fusion and a measure of group identification. Also as expected, fusion scores were independent of several measures of personality and identity. Moreover, the scale predicted endorsement of extreme progroup behaviors with greater fidelity than did an earlier pictorial measure of identity fusion, which was, in turn, superior to a measure of group identification. Earlier evidence that the personal and social selves of fused persons are functionally equivalent was replicated, and it was shown that feelings of agency and invulnerability mediated the effects of fusion on extreme behavior. Finally, Spanish- and English-language versions of the verbal fusion scale showed similar factor structure as well as evidence of convergent, discriminant, and predictive validity in samples of Spaniards and Americans, as well as immigrants from 22 different countries. This work advances a new perspective on the interplay between social and personal identity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

The construct validity of social desirability.

Replies to A. L. Edwards (see record 1990-13700-001) and J. A. Walsh (see record 1990-13747-001) about R. Hogan and R. A. Nicholson's (see record 1989-00097-001) article on construct validity and social desirability (SD) in personality measurement. Nicholson and Hogan argue that SD does not contaminate self-reports of personality and that there is no lack of differential validity among instruments for SD to explain. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The construct of courage: Categorization and measurement.

The original courage scale developed by Woodard (2004) measured courage as the product of the willingness to take action and the fear experienced while taking the action. Recent findings suggest that fear may not be a necessary part of courageous action. Items from the original courage scale were reanalyzed using only the "willingness to act" scores. A four-factor structure--work/employment, patriotic/religion-based belief system, specific social-moral, and independent courage or family based--was found. This factor solution was replicated in a slightly revised version of the scale administered to a new participant sample. Interpretation of these factors suggested that courage may be classified by more complex, context-based situations. A revised version of the scale, the Woodard Pury Courage Scale-23, is included for further research and investigation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Work for home, school, or labor force: The nature and sources of changes in understanding.

This review integrates and extends research on the nature and sources of changing perceptions of work in childhood and adolescence by (a) treating those perceptions as a form of social cognition, (b) considering 3 work settings (home, school, and paid work) and 3 aspects of understanding (of categories, procedures, and interconnections among forms of work), and (c) dealing with several correlates: age, gender, cohort, and social position. The review specifies changes and presents a general picture of change and variation based on the accessibility of information, the individual's ability to deal with that information, and the individual's interest. This picture, it is proposed, is extendable to changing perceptions of work at later ages and to content areas other than work. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The nature of love.

Compared 3 alternative structural models of the nature of love, assessed the validity of each of these models for a variety of close relationships, and predicted success of close relationships on the basis of instruments used to assess love and other personal characteristics. The present study investigated whether love is better characterized as C. Spearman's (1927) unifactorial entity that is unitary and nondecomposable into underlying constituents; (2) G. H. Thomson's (1939) entity comprising a large number of affective, cognitive, and motivational bonds that, in the experience of love, are jointly sampled; or (3) L. L. Thurstone's (1938) entity comprising a small number of correlated primary factors of roughly equal importance and salience in the experience of love. 35 male and 50 female 18–70 yr olds completed psychometric instruments measuring their demographic backgrounds, personality characteristics, love history, and feelings of love in close relationships with mothers, fathers, siblings, same-sex best friends, and spouses or lovers. Factor analysis of the love scales suggested that love is best characterized in terms of the Thomsonian "bonds" model and that the structure of love is quite similar across the various close relationships in which one engages. It is concluded that success of close relationships can be predicted from a set of measures that includes a love scale and measures of personal attributes. (52 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The nature of love.

Infant monkeys were reared with the aid of a laboratory constructed mother-substitute. "We produced a perfectly proportioned streamlined body stripped of unnecessary bulges and appendices. Redundancy in the surrogate mother's system was avoided by reducing the number of breasts from two to one and placing this unibreast in an upper-thoracic, sagittal position, thus maximizing the natural and known perceptual-motor capabilities of the infant operator. The surrogate was made from a block of wood, covered with sponge rubber, and sheathed in tan cotton terry cloth. A light bulb behind her radiated heat. The result was a mother, soft, warm, and tender, a mother with infinite patience, a mother available twenty-four hours a day, a mother that never scolded her infant and never struck or bit her baby in anger." The data obtained "make it obvious that contact comfort is a variable of overwhelming importance in the development of affectional responses, whereas lactation is a variable of negligible importance." It is suggested that the primary function of nursing "is that of insuring frequent and intimate body contact of infant with mother." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The construct validity of depressive personality disorder.

This study examined the construct validity of depressive personality disorder (DPD; American Psychiatric Association, 1994). Adult Psychiatric outpatients (N=900) underwent comprehensive Axis I and II evaluations and provided data on 4,768 of their 1st-degree relatives. Despite modest overlap, DPD was not redundant with any Axis I or II disorder. Participants with DPD exhibited more Axis I and Axis II comorbidity, and greater psychosocial dysfunction, than participants without DPD. Relatives of participants with DPD had higher rates of mood disorders, alcohol abuse, and antisocial personality. Results are consistent with findings of several other similar investigations. The authors argue that DPD is a valid construct and should be conceptualized as a personality disorder as opposed to a mood disorder. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The nature of work experience.

Reviews the literature on work experience and its effects on job performance. The research concerns mainly 3 areas: productivity, leadership effectiveness, and cooperative education. In general, the literature supports the notion that work experience enhances subsequent job performance but provides little information on why experience has an effect. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The nature of mental abilities.

Presents a theory that organizes mental abilities into four levels—composite tasks, subtasks, information-processing components, and information-processing metacomponents. Composite tasks can be decomposed into subtasks, and subtasks into components. Metacomponents control the use of components in composite tasks and subtasks. The article describes each of these levels of mental abilities, poses the fundamental theoretical questions relevant at each level, and proposes answers to these questions. The role of factors in the theory is described and is shown to be quite different from the role of factors in traditional theories of mental abilities. Full understanding of mental abilities requires understanding of all four levels. (46 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The nature of religious controls.

"Religion is certainly one of our most important institutions for influencing human behavior. Since religions, of one form or other, occur so regularly in almost all known human societies, one may examine the proposition that religion performs an important biologic function for the group, which creates survival value for the religion." 5 devices "by means of which behavior can be influenced: imitation, communication of affect, intervention in the pursuit of instinctual gratification, obedience, and disarming by vulnerability" are discussed with reference to organized religion. A sixth mechanism, "controlled regression," is "encouraged by religion to facilitate the regulation of behavior." On the assumption "that we are able to learn and to use effective technics of behavior regulation, are we sure that we can use them more wisely than religion has?" (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Behavioral development and construct validity: The principle of aggregation.

Hypothesized that many null findings in behavioral development (presumed to be unrelated because of repeated failures to obtain substantial correlations) have often been due to failures to aggregate. The principle of aggregation states that the sum of a set of multiple measurements is a more stable and representative estimator than any single measurement. This greater representation occurs because there is inevitably some error associated with measurement. By combining numerous exemplars, such errors of measurement are averaged out, leaving a clearer view of underlying relationships. The usefulness of this principle is illustrated in 12 major areas of developmental research in which the issue of negligible correlations figures prominently: (a) the validity of judges' ratings, (b) the cross-situational consistency of moral character and personality, (c) the longitudinal stability of personality, (d) the coherence of stages of cognitive development, (e) metacognition, (f) the attitude–behavior relationship, (g) the personality–behavior relationship, (h) the role-taking/altruism relationship, (i) the moral-judgment/altruism relationship, (j) the legitimacy of the construct of attachment, (k) the existence of sex differences, and (l) the assessment of emotionality in animals. (109 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The nature and nurture of creative talent.

"Creativity… is a process extended in time and characterized by originality, adaptiveness, and realization." Except for mathematicians "where there is a low positive correlation between intelligence and the level of creativeness, we have found within our creative samples essentially zero relationship between the two variables." A research study of the characteristics and background of creative architects is extensively discussed. Implications of the nature of creative talent for the nurturing of it in school and college through the processes of education are considered. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

It's the nature of the work: Examining behavior-based sources of work-family conflict across occupations.

The consequences of work-family conflict for both individuals and organizations have been well documented, and the various sources of such conflict have received substantial attention. However, the vast majority of extant research has focused on only time- and strain-based sources, largely neglecting behavior-based sources. Integrating two nationally representative databases, the authors examine 3 behavior-based antecedents of work-family conflict linked specifically to occupational work role requirements (interdependence, responsibility for others, and interpersonal conflict). Results from multilevel analysis indicate that significant variance in work-family conflict is attributable to the occupation in which someone works. Interdependence and responsibility for others predict work-family conflict, even after controlling for several time- and strain-based sources. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Use and maintenance of strategies: The influence of accessibility to knowledge.

Conducted 2 experiments in which the interaction between strategy use and accessibility to relevant knowledge was investigated. Ss were asked to memorize a list of categorizable words, and use of a categorization strategy was assessed. Typicality of the category exemplars was varied in a between-Ss fashion to manipulate accessibility to relevant knowledge and the S's experience with the strategy. Ss were then given a 2nd list of categorizable words to memorize, and the use of a categorization strategy was again assessed. In Exp 2, attributional data regarding strategy use were also collected. Results from the 2 experiments show that variations in accessibility to knowledge have a significant effect on strategy use on the 1st memorization trial. Experiencing highly typical items on the 1st list was found to be associated with continued use of the strategy on the 2nd list (i.e., ease of use on the 1st trial affected maintenance of the strategy). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)