PsyDir http://www.psydir.com Psychology & Psychotherapy Resources Wed, 17 Mar 2010 20:12:07 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en psychology? http://www.psydir.com/psychqa/psychology-4 Happiness as Stable Extraversion: Internal Consistency Reliability and Construct Validity of the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire Among Undergraduate Students
Abstract  
The Oxford Happiness Questionnaire (OHQ) was developed by Hills and Argyle (2002) to provide a more accessible equivalent measure of the Oxford Happiness Inventory (OHI). The aim of the present study was to examine the internal consistency reliability, and construct validity of this new instrument alongside the Eysenckian dimensional model of personality. The Oxford Happiness Questionnaire was completed by a sample of 131 undergraduate students together with the abbreviated form of the Revised Eysenck Personality Questionnaire. The data demonstrated good internal consistency reliability (alpha = .92) and good construct validity in terms of positive association with extraversion (r = .38 p < .001) and negative association with neuroticism (r = −.57 p < .001). The kind of happiness measured by the OHQ is clearly associated with stable extraversion.

  • Content Type Journal Article
  • DOI 10.1007/s12144-010-9076-8
  • Authors
    • Mandy Robbins, University of Warwick Coventry England UK
    • Leslie J. Francis, University of Warwick Coventry England UK
    • Bethan Edwards, Bangor University Bangor Wales UK
]]> http://www.psydir.com/journals/happiness-as-stable-extraversion-internal-consistency-reliability-and-construct-validity-of-the-oxford-happiness-questionnaire-among-undergraduate-students An Application of Affective Events Theory to Workplace Bullying Within the framework of Affective Events Theory (AET), this study examines emotional experiences as a potential mediator between exposure to bullying and job satisfaction and intention to leave, respectively. We also investigate to what extent trait anxiety and trait anger moderate the relationships between these variables. The results show that the relationships between bullying and both job satisfaction and intentions to leave are partly mediated by the targets’ emotional experiences. Trait anxiety moderates the relationship between exposure to bullying and the targets’ negative emotions. Trait anxiety and trait anger did not moderate the relationship between bullying and the outcomes. The results support the validity of AET, while simultaneously indicating exposure to bullying as a strong stressor in its own right.

  • Content Type Journal Article
  • Category Original Articles and Reviews
  • DOI 10.1027/1016-9040/a000026
  • Authors
    • Lars Glasø, University of Bergen, Norway
    • Tina Løkke Vie, University of Bergen, Norway
    • Gry Rotnes Holmdal, University of Bergen, Norway
    • Ståle Einarsen, University of Bergen, Norway
]]> http://www.psydir.com/journals/an-application-of-affective-events-theory-to-workplace-bullying Construct-Driven Development of a Video-Based Situational Judgment Test for Integrity In a field study conducted in a multi-ethnic selection setting at the Dutch police, we examined the construct validity of a video-based situational judgment test (SJT) aimed to measure the construct of integrity. Integrity is of central importance to productive work performance of police officers. We used a sample of police applicants, which consisted of a Dutch ethnic majority group and an ethnic minority group. The ethnic minority applicants came from one of the four largest ethnic minority groups in The Netherlands, namely groups with a Dutch Antillean, a Moroccan, a Surinamese, or a Turkish background. A critical issue is the often-found construct-heterogeneity of SJTs. However, we found that a construct-driven approach may be fruitful in the development of SJTs aiming to measure one single construct. Confirming our expectations, we found support for the construct validity of the SJT intended to measure the construct of integrity. These results held across ethnic majority and ethnic minority applicants. Therefore, the SJT is a promising test for personnel selection in a multi-ethnic setting.

  • Content Type Journal Article
  • Category Original Articles and Reviews
  • DOI 10.1027/1016-9040/a000027
  • Authors
    • Lonneke A. L. de Meijer, Erasmus University, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
    • Marise Ph. Born, Erasmus University, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
    • Jaap van Zielst, Police Academy of The Netherlands, Apeldoorn, The Netherlands
    • Henk T. van der Molen, Erasmus University, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
]]> http://www.psydir.com/journals/construct-driven-development-of-a-video-based-situational-judgment-test-for-integrity Psychology in Outerspace Previous work has shown that is important to consider the disjunction between paranormal and nonparanormal beliefs about extraterrestrial life. The current study examined the association between both such beliefs and individual difference and demographic variables. A total of 555 British participants completed the Extraterrestrial Beliefs Scale, as well as measures of their Big Five personality scores, social conformity, sensation seeking, and demographics. Results showed no sex differences in ratings of paranormal and nonparanormal extraterrestrial beliefs, but participants rated nonparanormal beliefs more positively than paranormal beliefs. Results of structural equation modeling showed that individual difference factors (specifically, Openness, Conscientiousness, and social conformity) explained 21% of the variance in extraterrestrial beliefs, whereas demographic factors (specifically, education level, political orientation, and religiosity) explained 16% of the variance. Limitations and directions for future work are considered.

  • Content Type Journal Article
  • Category Original Articles and Reviews
  • DOI 10.1027/1016-9040/a000023
  • Authors
    • Viren Swami, Department of Psychology, University of Westminster, London, UK
    • Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic, Department of Psychology, Goldsmiths, University of London, UK
    • Manal Shafi, Department of Psychology, University of Westminster, London, UK
]]> http://www.psydir.com/journals/psychology-in-outerspace Narcissism and Perceived Inequity in Attractiveness in Romantic Relationships In three studies of romantic relationships (N = 253, N = 81, and N = 98) the hypothesis was tested that high narcissists, relative to low narcissists, distort the assessment of equity in attractiveness. Narcissism was measured by the Narcissistic Personality Inventory. In Study 1 the hypothesis was confirmed. In Study 2 it was shown that although narcissism correlated significantly with self-esteem, it was the unique variance in narcissism which predicted the tendency to feel underbenefited in respect to attractiveness. Finally in Study 3, dyadic data were analyzed on the basis of the Actor-Partner Interdependence Model. The data of 49 couples who lived together were included. The dyadic analysis indicated that actor narcissism exerted the expected influence on perceived inequity in attractiveness, whereas partner narcissism explained no additional variance. High narcissists felt more underbenefited than low narcissists. The analysis of dyadic data in Study 3 indicates that the link between narcissism and equity in attractiveness turns out to be an intrapersonal phenomenon because only actor narcissism, not partner narcissism, is significantly correlated with perceived inequity. In addition, partial intraclass correlations revealed that if one partner tended to feel underbenefited, the other partner tended to feel overbenefited. The results are explained on the basis of the agentic model of narcissism. All three studies consistently revealed a gender effect indicating that women felt more underbenefited than men in terms of attractiveness.

  • Content Type Journal Article
  • Category Original Articles and Reviews
  • DOI 10.1027/1016-9040/a000025
  • Authors
    • Elke Rohmann, Ruhr-University, Bochum, Germany
    • Hans-Werner Bierhoff, Ruhr-University, Bochum, Germany
    • Martina Schmohr, Ruhr-University, Bochum, Germany
]]> http://www.psydir.com/journals/narcissism-and-perceived-inequity-in-attractiveness-in-romantic-relationships When 2 is Better Than 1 + 1 Little is known about older spousal dyads’ collaborative problem solving. Although typically collaborating dyads perform worse than nominal dyads in other dyadic cognition tasks, we assumed that older couples might profit from collaboration in a highly demanding problem-solving task requiring the sequential and complementary use of spatial memory and reasoning abilities. In this paper, we examine whether older couples profit from the dyadic situation on a computer-based problem-solving task that can most likely be optimally solved when dyads manage to distribute responsibilities between the spatial memory demands and the reasoning demands of the task. In 50 married couples consisting of N = 100 older individuals (M = 67.3 years, SD = 4.9), we tested the hypothesis that compared to their own individual performance, compared to repeated individual performance of a control group (N = 41, M = 66.0 years, SD = 3.8), and compared to nominal pairs (same 100 participants as in the experimental group), older couples would show the best performance on the task. The comparison of individual versus dyadic problem-solving performance demonstrates that dyads consisting of old spouses outperform old individuals as well as nominal pairs on the problem-solving task. Our results suggest that older familiar dyads are expert collaborators whose collaborative expertise might be able to overcome individual deficits in problem-solving skills through dyadic cognition.

  • Content Type Journal Article
  • Category Original Articles and Reviews
  • DOI 10.1027/1016-9040/a000024
  • Authors
    • Melanie Peter-Wight, Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, Switzerland
    • Mike Martin, Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, Switzerland
]]> http://www.psydir.com/journals/when-2-is-better-than-1-1 Adjustment of Couples Following Childbirth This study focuses on the changes in perception of dyadic adjustment following childbirth and on the role of attachment (as a risk or protection factor) in the way partners adjust to this stressful event. Four attachment configurations were analyzed which emerged from the concordance or discordance between the “generalized” and the “specific” states of mind in the individual, and a longitudinal and cross-sectional study on N = 206 participants (104 “new-parents” and 102 “nonparents by choice”) was then implemented. These results showed that individuals who became parents had lower dyadic adjustment levels than nonparents (Lrtest = 395.03; p < .001). This decline in values seemed to be more pronounced for the “affectional expression” subscale (b = −3.69) and suggests that in our sample the expression of love toward a partner might be particularly subject to stress due to the arrival of a child. Considering the role played in the attachment configuration of each individual, a significant effect upon InsecureGEN/InsecureSPEC individuals was found (p = .015). This then would seem to indicate that these individuals might be more vulnerable to perceiving worse adjustment levels during the transition to first-time parenthood.

  • Content Type Journal Article
  • Category Original Articles and Reviews
  • DOI 10.1027/1016-9040/a000022
  • Authors
    • Patrizia Velotti, Department of Dynamical and Clinical Psychology, University of Rome “La Sapienza,” Italy
    • Rosetta Castellano, Department of Dynamical and Clinical Psychology, University of Rome “La Sapienza,” Italy
    • Giulio Cesare Zavattini, Department of Dynamical and Clinical Psychology, University of Rome “La Sapienza,” Italy
]]> http://www.psydir.com/journals/adjustment-of-couples-following-childbirth Prediction and Explanation of Young Offenders’ Intentions to Re-offend From Behavioral, Normative, and Control Beliefs A detailed assessment of the constructs postulated by the Theory of Planned Behavior is offered as a comprehensive framework for understanding young offenders’ behavioral intentions to re-offend in the future. The paper reports the assessed salient behavioral, normative, and control beliefs with respect to future offending behavior. From the largest institution for young offenders in Scotland 152 male inmates were randomly selected and filled in a questionnaire which measured direct and belief-based attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and intentions to re-offend in the future. Intentions to re-offend in the future by young offenders were predicted by control beliefs about certain internal and external impediments that the young offenders believed they had to overcome and behavioral beliefs, underlining attitudes toward future offending.

  • Content Type Journal Article
  • Category Original Articles and Reviews
  • DOI 10.1027/1016-9040/a000021
  • Authors
    • Stavros P. Kiriakidis, Department of Social and Educational Policy, University of Macedonia, Thessaloniki, Greece
]]> http://www.psydir.com/journals/prediction-and-explanation-of-young-offenders%e2%80%99-intentions-to-re-offend-from-behavioral-normative-and-control-beliefs The Strategic Expression of Personal Belief in a Just World Previous research has shown that both the personal and the general belief in a just world (BJW) are judgment norms. This finding raises the possibility of a strategic component in the expression of the BJW. In the two studies reported in this article we investigated this possibility, specifically that the expression of BJW could be used to distinguish oneself from others and to convey specific images. In Study 1, we asked participants to fill in the personal and the general BJW scales on their behalf and according to the way they thought that their classmates would. The results showed that personal BJW was used as a device to distinguish the self from others. In Study 2 we asked the participants to fill in both BJW scales either according to their opinion or in order to convey a specific image: being likable, competent, successful, or pitiful. The results showed that personal BJW scores in the control condition and in all positive image conditions were higher than those in the “pitiful image” condition. In the case of general BJW the same pattern only showed up when scores of personal BJW were not controlled for.

  • Content Type Journal Article
  • Category Original Articles and Reviews
  • DOI 10.1027/1016-9040/a000020
  • Authors
    • Hélder Alves, Centro de Investigação e Intervenção Social, Lisbon, Portugal
    • Isabel Correia, Centro de Investigação e Intervenção Social, Lisbon, Portugal
]]> http://www.psydir.com/journals/the-strategic-expression-of-personal-belief-in-a-just-world