On the interface of cognition and personality: Beyond the person–situation debate.

Discusses 3 aspects of the interface between cognition and personality. First, recent findings from the study of cognitive social psychology, judgmental heuristics, and person prototypes help to clarify some of the "cognitive economics" that influence how people (including psychologists) categorize each other naturally. It is shown that categorizations of people at different levels of inclusiveness have distinctive advantages and disadvantages and are therefore useful for different purposes. The 2nd topic explored is the development of children's understanding of psychological principles about social behavior generally, and the growth of their knowledge of effective rules for self-regulation in particular. Finally, studies showing surprising realism in depressed people raise questions about the nature and mechanisms of normal affect. These diverse lines of research share and represent a common theme: the increasing integration of cognitive and personological constructs in the study of persons. (69 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Race, social class, religion, and nationality as determinants of social distance.

"In a study of social distance of college students with respect to various social objects, a factorial design with two levels of value of race, social class, religion, and nationality was employed and analyses of variance were computed on social distance scores. For white Ss race and social class were found to be more important determinants of social distance than religion or nationality… . The data are interpreted in terms of a theory of prejudice that employs conformity, cognitive dissonance, and insecurity as its main constructs." (31 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cumulative risk and early cognitive development: A comparison of statistical risk models.

Although it is generally accepted that social risk factors predict delays in early cognitive and language development, there is less agreement about how to represent such associations statistically. Using data collected prospectively on 87 African American children during their first 4 years, this study examined 3 analytic methods for describing a child's level of social risk: (a) individual risk variables, (b) factor scores derived from those risk variables, and (c) a risk index computed by tallying the number of risk conditions present. Comparisons indicated that the individual-risk-variables approach provides better overall prediction of developmental outcomes at a particular age but is less useful in predicting developmental patterns. The risk-factor approach provides good prediction of developmental trajectories when sample sizes are moderate to large. Finally, the risk-index approach is useful for relating social risk to developmental patterns when a large number of risk variables are assessed with a small sample or when other constructs are of primary interest. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Motivation and competence as determinants of young children's reward allocation.

Young children's failure to use the rule of equity in situations involving reward allocation has led researchers to conclude that they lack the requisite level of cognitive sophistication. The present study examined the effects of allocation instructions and self-interest on the use of equity by 126 preschool children. Ss served either as workers on a task with another (fictitious) child or as "supervisors" for 2 other (fictitious) children. They were given allocation instructions in which the social demand for equity was or was not explicitly stated. When Ss were given allocation instructions with no explicit demand, there was no evidence of equity. When the demand for equity was explicit and self-interest was removed by assigning the child the role of supervisor, all Ss used equity in allocating rewards. In view of the demonstrated ability of preschoolers to apply equity, developmental differences in the motivational and social determinants of its use are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of experimental socialization paradigms upon two moral responses to transgression.

In an initial experiment on the antecedents of self-criticism and reparation, 57 5th-grade girls were equally assigned to 2 treatments: High Cognitive Structure High Control and Low Cognitive Structure-Low Control. Each S was repeatedly punished for an aggressive act on 10 training trials. On the test trial, a more destructive act was contrived to elicit internalized moral responses. In a 2nd experiment, using the same techniques but designed to distinguish independent antecedents, 68 5th-grade boys were equally assigned to each of 4 treatments: High Cognitive Structure-High Control, High Cognitive Structure-Low Control, Low Cognitive Structure-High Control, and Low Cognitive Structure-Low Control. Induction of self-criticism was significantly related to E's cognitive structuring during training. Reparative responses were a function of whether S or E controlled punishment. The 2 moral responses were concluded to be the consequences of distinct patterns of social reinforcement and not attributable to a unitary entity such as "conscience" or "superego." (33 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cognitive complexity-simplicity and predictive behavior.

"A theoretical approach which conceives predictive behavior to be a function of one's perceptions of others is presented as a means of unifying certain empirical data ordinarily subsumed under the labels of social perception, empathy, or social sensitivity… . all these forms of behavior rest operationally upon the predictive behavior of the individual… [which] is assumed to be dependent upon the interpersonal discriminations or constructs which the individual invokes in making his predictions." Two major hypotheses are derived: (1) There should be a positive relationship between degree of cognitive complexity and predictive accuracy, and (2) there should be a negative relationship between cognitive complexity and assimilative projection. The hypotheses are tested by having Ss predict the behavior of classmates on a Situations Questionnaire. Both of the hypotheses are supported by the data. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Modeling life-span growth curves of cognition using longitudinal data with multiple samples and changing scales of measurement.

The authors use multiple-sample longitudinal data from different test batteries to examine propositions about changes in constructs over the life span. The data come from 3 classic studies on intellectual abilities in which, in combination, 441 persons were repeatedly measured as many as 16 times over 70 years. They measured cognitive constructs of vocabulary and memory using 8 age-appropriate intelligence test batteries and explore possible linkage of these scales using item response theory (IRT). They simultaneously estimated the parameters of both IRT and latent curve models based on a joint model likelihood approach (i.e., NLMIXED and WINBUGS). They included group differences in the model to examine potential interindividual differences in levels and change. The resulting longitudinal invariant Rasch test analyses lead to a few new methodological suggestions for dealing with repeated constructs based on changing measurements in developmental studies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Social–cognitive alternatives to dissociation theories of hypnotic involuntariness.

Three social–cognitive models are presented as alternatives to dissociation theories of hypnotic involuntariness. In Model I, people are seen as intentionally enacting responses without being aware of the volitional quality of their acts. In Model II, hypnotic behaviors are seen as prepared responses that are triggered directly by suggestion. The first model corresponds to E. R. Hilgard's (1986) neodissociation theory and the second to K. S. Bowers's (1992) theory of dissociated control, but without positing dissociative mechanisms as explanatory constructs. These constructs are replaced by a consideration of the automaticity that is inherent in commonplace intentional behavior and the degree to which subjective experience is affected by beliefs and expectations. Finally, a composite model reconciling the contradictions between the two prior social–cognitive models is presented. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Motion and deformation tracking for short-axis echo-planar myocardial perfusion imaging

Aggression research does not lack data--it lacks a model for integrating data. One of the problems confronting aggression researchers is the extensive body of multidisciplinary data that is difficult to synthesize to generate new directions in research. This paper proposes one solution that starts by asking "what is the minimal number of categories of concepts and measurements which are necessary to describe a person?". The answer is four categories of concepts: biological; cognitive; behavioral; environmental (physical and social). One way of many for integrating these four categories of concepts is a proposed discipline neutral heuristic model that is used herein to compare two different research approaches to the study of impulsive aggression. This comparison identifies clearly the differences in the two approaches with regard to different emphases among the four categories of constructs for each program. Using the model an example of common ground between the two approaches is sought as a basis for extending aggression research. The main conclusion of one of the research programs was that central nervous arousal is related to impulsive aggression. This program demonstrated that phenytoin will reduce impulsive aggressive acts and has an effect on CNS arousal. The other research program on impulsive aggression has been at the forefront in demonstrating the well established inverse relationship between serotonin levels and aggression. The comparison resulted in the suggestion that both serotonin and phenytoin may relate to a common neurochemical substrate which interacts in part to control CNS arousal, especially at the cortical level. The proposed heuristic model made obvious the need to use synthesizing concepts (e.g. information processing or language) which can interrelate multidisciplinary concepts and data from different research programs within the four categories of constructs when comparing interdisciplinary research.     

Role of social desirability in personality testing for personnel selection: The red herring.

Response bias continues to be the most frequently cited criticism of personality testing for personnel selection. The authors meta-analyzed the social desirability literature, examining whether social desirability functions as a predictor for a variety of criteria, as a suppressor, or as a mediator. Social desirability scales were found not to predict school success, task performance, counterproductive behaviors, and job performance. Correlations with the Big Five personality dimensions, cognitive ability, and years of education are presented along with empirical evidence that (a) social desirability is not as pervasive a problem as has been anticipated by industrial-organizational psychologists, (b) social desirability is in fact related to real individual differences in emotional stability and conscientiousness, and (c) social desirability does not function as a predictor, as a practically useful suppressor, or as a mediator variable for the criterion of job performance. Removing the effects of social desirability from the Big Five dimensions of personality leaves the criterion-related validity of personality constructs for predicting job performance intact. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A systemic-wholistic approach to differential aging: Longitudinal findings from the Berlin Aging Study.

Wholistic perspectives on differential change focus on multiple-indicator information at a person level. They supplement the modeling of average trajectories at a variable level. The authors extended cross-sectional work in the Berlin Aging Study (J. Smith & P. B. Baltes, 1997) to 6-year longitudinal cluster analyses (n = 132). At baseline, 3 subgroups were identified with distinct within-person psychological profiles across cognitive, personality, and social integration constructs. Over time, highly similar subgroup profiles were found, and about two thirds of the participants could be classified as remaining in the same subgroups. Baseline subgroups differed in level and slope of change and in 2 outcomes, well-being and mortality. Independent of subgroup membership, subgroup-to-subgroup change was associated with greater decline and predicted poststudy mortality. These findings demonstrate the usefulness of a wholistic approach for long-term prediction of outcomes and within-person systemic variability. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Basic emotions, relations among emotions, and emotion-cognition relations.

From the cognitive theory perspective that emotions are cognition dependent and contain cognitive components, A. Ortony and T. J. Turner (see record 1990-27526-001) questioned the validity of the concept of basic emotions. They argued that the so-called basic emotions were neither psychologically or biologically "primitive" nor "irreducible building blocks" for generating the "great variety of emotional experiences." In the biosocial theory tradition, researchers have identified multiple noncognitive activators of emotion and demonstrated the usefulness of defining the essential components of emotion as phenomena that do not require cognitive mediators or constituents. In this framework, emotions are seen as basic because their biological and social functions are essential in evolution and adaptation. Particular emotions are called basic because they are assumed to have innate neural substrates, innate and universal expressions, and unique feeling–motivational states. The great variety of emotional experiences is explained as a function of emotion–cognition interactions that result in affective–cognitive structures. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The end of the end of ideology.

The "end of ideology" was declared by social scientists in the aftermath of World War II. They argued that (a) ordinary citizens' political attitudes lack the kind of stability, consistency, and constraint that ideology requires; (b) ideological constructs such as liberalism and conservatism lack motivational potency and behavioral significance; (c) there are no major differences in content (or substance) between liberal and conservative points of view; and (d) there are few important differences in psychological processes (or styles) that underlie liberal versus conservative orientations. The end-of-ideologists were so influential that researchers ignored the topic of ideology for many years. However, current political realities, recent data from the American National Election Studies, and results from an emerging psychological paradigm provide strong grounds for returning to the study of ideology. Studies reveal that there are indeed meaningful political and psychological differences that covary with ideological self-placement. Situational variables--including system threat and mortality salience--and dispositional variables--including openness and conscientiousness--affect the degree to which an individual is drawn to liberal versus conservative leaders, parties, and opinions. A psychological analysis is also useful for understanding the political divide between "red states" and "blue states." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Emotional intelligence: Psychometric status and developmental characteristics--Comment on Roberts, Zeidner, and Matthews (2001).

States, in this comment on the article by R. D. Roberts, M. Zeidner and G. Matthews (see record 2001-10055-001) that there is now sufficient work in the literature on emotional intelligence to suggest that this construct or series of constructs deserves serious attention, but several questions remain as to adequate construct validation as well as to the emergence and development of these constructs. There is a need to conduct convergent and divergent validity studies on a midlife sample that is likely to show the optimal level of differentiation of the new constructs. The reference domain of cognitive intelligence should be constructed in a multiple-construct manner, and the validation procedure should use confirmatory factor analysis and P. S. Dwyer's (1937) extension method. Once properly validated, there is a need to study the emergence, age differences, and age changes in the level and structure of emotional intelligence. A paradigm that investigates the invariance of factor structure across age and uses the model of differentiation-dedifferentiation would be useful for this purpose. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An alcohol model of impaired inhibitory control and its treatment in humans.

This study developed a model of impaired inhibitory control in humans to test the efficacy of treatments for this deficit. Male social drinkers (N?=?35) practiced a "go–stop" task that measured response inhibition. They then were assigned to 1 of 5 groups (n?=?7) that performed the task under a different treatment. The model of impaired inhibitory control was provided by administering 0.62 g/kg alcohol to 1 group (A), whose response inhibition was compared with a placebo group (P). The other 3 groups received 0.62 g/kg alcohol plus a treatment designed to ameliorate alcohol impairment of inhibitory control: behavioral reinforcement (B), or 4.4 mg/kg caffeine (C), or a combination of both (B?+?C). Alcohol impaired inhibitory control, and all 3 treatments (B, C, and B?+?C) counteracted the impairment. The findings indicate that alcohol impairment of response inhibition may provide a useful human model to test conditions that may ameliorate or exacerbate deficits in behavioral control induced by drugs or other factors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Acquisition of the algorithms of social life: A domain-based approach.

Reviewed evidence concerned with the acquisition of regulatory mechanisms (algorithms) that selectively and contingently prepare the young for the diverse features of social life. Proposing that the algorithms of social life are acquired as a domain-based process, the author offers distinctions between social domains preparing the individual for proximity-maintenance within a protective relationship (attachment domain), use and recognition of social dominance (hierarchical power domain), identification and maintenance of the lines dividing "us" and "them" (coalitional group domain), negotiation of matched benefits with functional equals (reciprocity domain), and selection and protection of access to sexual partners (mating domain). Flexibility in the implementation of domains occurs at 3 different levels: versatility at a bioecological level, variations in the cognitive representation of individual experience, and cultural and individual variations in the explicit management of social life. Empirical evidence for domain specificity was strongest for the attachment domain; supportive evidence was also found for the distinctiveness of the 4 other domains. Implications are considered at theoretical and applied levels. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Theoretical and methodological issues with testing the SCCT and RIASEC models: Comment on Lent, Sheu, and Brown (2010) and Lubinski (2010).

The current article replies to comments made by Lent, Sheu, and Brown (2010) and Lubinski (2010) regarding the study “Interpreting the Interest–Efficacy Association From a RIASEC Perspective” (Armstrong & Vogel, 2009). The comments made by Lent et al. and Lubinski highlight a number of important theoretical and methodological issues, including the process of defining and differentiating between constructs, the assumptions underlying Holland’s (1959, 1997) RIASEC (Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional types) model and interrelations among constructs specified in social cognitive career theory (SCCT), the importance of incremental validity for evaluating constructs, and methodological considerations when quantifying interest–efficacy correlations and for comparing models using multivariate statistical methods. On the basis of these comments and previous research on the SCCT and Holland models, we highlight the importance of considering multiple theoretical perspectives in vocational research and practice. Alternative structural models are outlined for examining the role of interests, self-efficacy, learning experiences, outcome expectations, personality, and cognitive abilities in the career choice and development process. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Beyond the uniformity myth: A comparison of academically successful and unsuccessful test-anxious college students.

72 college students were administered a battery of tests including the Test Anxiety Scale, Worry-Emotionality Scale, Fear of Negative Evaluation, and Academic Self-Evaluation Questionnaire. Two levels of test anxiety were crossed with 2 levels of academic performance in a factorial design. High-anxious Ss differed from low-anxious Ss on traditional cognitive and somatic indicators of test anxiety, but not on any measure of study or test-taking skills. Ss with high grades, regardless of their anxiety level, scored higher on measures of academic skills than Ss in both "low" performing groups. A measure assessing ability to control negative internal dialog revealed significant differences only between performance groups, implicating cognitive control as a factor influencing academic performance. Expectations that Ss had about the amount of material they needed to know to be prepared for examinations were related to test anxiety, especially among successful but anxious Ss. Implications are noted for designing interventions specifically tailored to the needs of 2 types of test-anxious students: those who perform well in school and those who are less successful. (21 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)