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Spatial visualization—the ability to mentally imagine and manipulate objects—has frequently been measured using the Paper Folding Test (PFT). In this task, participants view diagrams of a paper being folded and a hole being punched. They then identify the resulting punch pattern. Although task instructions promote mentally unfolding the paper, the extent to which people follow this spatial visualization strategy is unknown. The present work assesses hypothesized PFT solution strategies and their relation to problem attributes. Accuracy was impacted by the interaction between fold types, linear mixed models revealed greater use of simple heuristics compared to the suggested unfolding. Furthermore, most participants used a single strategy but simple heuristics were more often used than unfolding. Given this, we recommend redesigning the PFT to utilize the prevalence of strategy use to assess individual differences. • Spatial visualization is often measured using the Paper Folding test. • Because participants are assumed to imagine unfolding the paper, as instructed. • We examined four possible strategies and their interaction with problem attributes. • Participants used simple heuristics and fold types predicted performance. • The Paper Folding test should be redesigned to assess strategy use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The attribution of status carries significant social and reproductive advantages as it reflects individual qualities. However, the traits conveyed and those perceived do not always align with reality. It is crucial to understand how the status associated with different professions can influence the perception of traits, as it assists in decision-making during social interactions. This study aimed to investigate whether the status derived from university education influences the assessment of social status, mate value and personality traits among Brazilians. A quasi-experimental design with nonrandom assignment was used, employing online questionnaires administered through Google Forms. A total of 252 participants, both male and female, over 18 years of age, and residing in Brazil, took part in the study. These participants evaluated the social status, mate value, and personality traits of stimulus subjects with high and low-status university education. The results revealed that stimulus subjects with high-status university education were regarded as possessing higher status in society and scored higher on Dark Triad traits. In contrast, stimulus subjects with low-status university education were perceived as having greater agreeableness, emotional stability, and openness to experiences. In conclusion, university education signals social and personality traits, serving as a parameter to shape social perceptions. • Subjects with high-status backgrounds are rated higher on Dark Triad traits. • Low status indicates greater agreeableness, emotional stability, and openness. • University education serve as an indicator of social and personality traits. • University education affects the perception of the individuals in social hierarchy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This study was designed to check for the equivalence of the ZKPQ-50-CC (Spanish and French versions) through Internet on-line (OL) and paper and pencil (PP) answer format. Differences in means and deviations were significant in some scales, but effect sizes are minimal except for Sociability in the Spanish sample. Alpha reliabilities are also very similar in both versions with no significant differences between formats. A robust factorial structure was found for the two formats and the average congruency coefficients were 0.98. The goodness-of-fit indexes obtained by confirmatory factorial analysis are very similar to those obtained in the ZKPQ-50-CC validation study and they do not differ between the two formats. The multi-group analysis confirms the equivalence among the OL–PP formats in both countries. These results in general support the validity and reliability of the Internet as a method in investigations using the ZKPQ-50-CC. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

We analysed the relationships between paper and pencil speed of processing measures, inspection time and intelligence using confirmatory factor analysis in a sample of 200 secondary school students. Our results show a clear relationship between paper and pencil tests and crystallised intelligence. The relationships between inspection time and intelligence, however are less clear: inspection time is at least related to fluid intelligence and a perceptual speed factor. Paper and pencil measures were also strongly related to scholastic achievement. This is consistent with their high loading in crystallised intelligence. Paper and pencil measures could therefore be used to predict scholastic achievement. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This study compared the performance of students lacking belief in their self-regulatory capability to complete a course-related, item-writing, extra-credit task (self-doubters) to those possessing self-confidence (self-believers), or in-between (self-unsure), in competitive and individualistic goal situations. In the competitive situation, only a fixed percentage of students could receive grade bonuses, while any student who exceeded preset criteria could in the individualistic one. One hundred and twenty-six students were classified by tertiles as self-doubters, self-believers, and self-unsure based on self-confidence ratings for writing test questions on assigned chapters. Self-believers earned significantly more extra-credit points than self-doubters overall. A significant interaction reflected self-doubters doing considerably worse and the self-unsure doing better in the competitive situation than the individualistic one, while self-believers performed equally in either situation. Self-doubters appeared more productive in the situation where preset evaluation criteria assured a payoff for effort expended. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Emotional intelligence (EI) involves recognizing, regulating, and understanding emotions in oneself and others, enabling effective relationship management. Emotional Intelligence acts as a differentiator in both personal and professional lives. Nevertheless, many people lack the ability of conveying and interpreting human emotions efficiently due to which they fall short in their social and professional lives. However, this can be improved if people know their Emotional Quotient (EQ) score and work towards improving it by implementing certain skills. Although traditional methods for measuring EQ exist, majority of them are manual and are built on self-efficacy based questionnaire which are often susceptible to faking. In order to overcome these lacuna, this paper proposes a digital approach that can be used for an automatic evaluation of EQ of a person via audio visual signal input. The paper devises four major factors self-awareness, self-regulation, self-motivation and social relationships with their weightages that can be utilised for automatic evaluation through the use of technology. The paper also proposes quantifiable parameters for measuring these factors. The proposed criteria were developed with the emergence of deep learning and its applicability in assessing a person's EQ in mind. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Delayed rewards are commonly perceived as less valuable than immediate rewards, a phenomenon called either delay discounting or temporal discounting. Individuals with a marked preferences for smaller immediate rewards are frequently considered to be displaying behavioral impulsivity. Delay functions are typically determined by administrating a choice task where participants are required to make a series of choices between hypothetical immediate monetary rewards and larger amounts that could be obtained after a specific delay. The primary problem with this task is that, in spite of the popular use of discounting tasks, only a small number of published studies have specifically examined reliability, and none of them have examined validity. The purpose of this study was to determine the reliability and validity of an easily administered paper–pencil temporal discounting task modeled loosely on the hypothetical money choice task. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emotional intelligence (EI) has been a subject of academic investigation for thirty years. There has been much debate on how to measure these forms of EI and the reliability of their assessment, but the actual context in which emotional intelligence is developed and used has interestingly received scarce interest. More specifically, a critical gap exists in considering the rise and impact of digital interactions on emotional intelligence. Indeed, with the rise of social media and the increase in digital interactions, emotions are inextricably related to our behavior online. It is thus fundamental to adapt the assessment of EI in digital contexts. This paper aims to address this gap by suggesting assessment methods that account for the specificities of the interactions in the digital world. We start by acknowledging the variety of digital interactions and provide a categorization of them using the theories of media richness and media synchronicity. We then illustrate the potential for renewed assessments in self reports and performance tests at different levels, from item contextualization to digital assessment of EI. By integrating the digital dimension in emotional intelligence assessment, this paper aims to bring a novel perspective on measuring EI in digital interactions. • EI assessment should consider the digital context and its variety. • Several methods are suggested to account for the digital context. • Methods such as item contextualization, integration of digital cues, and digital assessment are presented. • Illustrations of potential renewed assessments are provided. • Challenges of EI assessment in a digital context are pointed out. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Internet-based questionnaires (e-questionnaires) have become widely used in psychopathology research, but there is currently little evidence on their reliability as compared with pen-and-paper equivalents. Data from separate samples of young adults completing e-questionnaires on hallucination-proneness (N =751) and persecutory ideation (N =183) were compared with data from pen-and-paper versions of the same questionnaires completed by a third, unrelated sample (N =188). There was no effect of modality of presentation on mean scores on these questionnaires. Multi-group confirmatory factor analysis indicated mode invariance of factor structure for the persecutory ideation questionnaire. Internal reliability of both questionnaire formats was satisfactory. We conclude that the administration of traditional measures of psychopathology via e-questionnaire is a reliable method of data collection. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

It has been established across several contexts that political attitudes are informed by heritable factors. However, it remains unclear how much of the stability we observe in political attitudes can be ascribed to environmental factors and how much of the stability is due to genetics. In this paper we show, using a unique three-wave panel dataset of twins (N = 2471) spanning ten years, that both environmental and genetic influences are important in explaining the stability of social and economic ideology. However, we find that changes in ideology over time are explained by environmental factors for both social and economic ideology. For social ideology, only the shared environment is important in explaining changes over time. For economic ideology, both shared and unique environmental factors influence changes over time. Our results suggest that stability and change in political attitudes is a complex phenomenon that is best understood when examining heritable as well as social factors. • Environmental and genetic factors explain the stability of ideology. • Only environmental influences explain changes over time for ideology. • For social ideology, only the shared environment explains changes over time. • For economic ideology, the shared and unique environment explain changes over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alexithymia is widely seen as a risk factor for psychopathology, and is thus of high clinical interest. However, there is ongoing debate about the definition of alexithymia, much of which focuses on its externally oriented thinking (EOT) facet. Cognitive behavioral conceptualizations (i.e., the attention-appraisal model) define EOT in a manner specific to emotion processing, as difficulties focusing attention on emotions. Psychoanalytic conceptualizations define EOT more broadly, including difficulties attending to emotions, but also a tendency towards utilitarian thinking focused on the concrete details of the external world, which is closely linked with a reduced capacity for daydreaming. In this paper, across two studies (N s = 508; 595), we examine the clinical relevance of both EOT conceptualizations via the strength of their associations with a range of clinical symptoms: depression, anxiety, stress, somatic symptoms, alcohol use problems, post-traumatic stress disorder, eating disorder symptoms, dissociation, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Cognitive behavioral EOT was operationalised using the Perth Alexithymia Questionnaire and psychoanalytic EOT with the Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20. Across both studies, the cognitive behavioral conceptualization consistently demonstrated stronger relationships with clinical symptoms and explained more variance in regression models. Overall, our findings support the cognitive behavioral conceptualization of EOT, which shows higher clinical relevance. • There is ongoing debate about the definition of alexithymia. • Cognitive behavioral and psychoanalytic models differ in their formulations of EOT. • We compare the clinical relevance of cognitive behavioral and psychoanalytic EOT. • Cognitive behavioral EOT had stronger relationships with clinical symptoms. • The cognitive behavioral definition has superior clinical relevance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current theoretical paper uses an evolutionary psychological perspective to provide criterion validity suggestions for assessing emotional intelligence (EI). We primarily suggest that valid measures of EI should be positively correlated with measures of cooperative behavior and reproductive success. That said, we make the distinction between reproductive success and mating success, establishing indices of the latter as proxies to measure the former in a post-contraceptive society. We also make the distinction between content of EI and outcomes of EI: In our view, cooperative behavior, such as altruism, as well as mating success and mating intelligence should be viewed as outcomes and not facets of EI, evolutionarily and psychometrically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although deception is used by many high-risk occupations, including military leaders, lawyers and politicians, there are currently no selection tests to determine which people have superior lie production abilities for these roles. The lack of selection tests is particularly crucial in the high-risk covert roles of undercover operations and human source management within policing. This paper uses the PRISMA systematic review technique to summarise and synthesis the extant literature examining deception theories and lie production. This paper also examines the relationship between lie production and Emotional Intelligence, and the personality traits of the Dark Triad and the HEXACO, to elucidate the characteristics of good liars. The scant research published within this field has been conducted with a variety of experimental designs and dependent variables. Generally, results indicate that the traits, skills and abilities behind sender demeanour, such as believability and honesty, may be fundamental to lie production ability. These characteristics could be considered in selection testing for to identify people with the ability to deceive effectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A key aspect of attachment functioning is the secure base , which empowers people to explore their environments, though some individuals do this more effectively than others. While most researchers have focused on adult attachment dynamics in terms of stress and threat (safe haven), we argue that concerted attention should also focus on relational processes in times of optimal functioning. In this paper, we introduce a new theoretical concept: secure base sexual exploration (or sexploration). We define this as the degree to which individuals are able to effectively explore multifaceted dimensions of sexuality (e.g., behaviors, identity) as a function of secure attachment dynamics. Put another way, we posit that interpersonal attachment security, which is a function of individual and dyadic factors, may meaningfully predict the degree to which individuals are comfortable with sexual exploration. In the first section of our paper, we outline core tenets of attachment theory, followed by an explanation of the secure base construct. We then explain how the secure base construct can be useful in conceptualizing individual differences in sexploration, followed by domain-specific sexual outcomes (e.g., behavior, identity) that may stem from sexploration. Embedded in this discussion is a new approach for researchers to examine these links. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research into a paradigm of human personality first requires the taxonomic delineation of normal and abnormal personality trait constructs, dynamic (motivation) traits, and transitory (emotional/mood) states. The Cattellian Psychometric Model is such an empirically-derived taxonomy of factor-analytically elucidated psychological constructs. Following Kline's suggestion that Cattell's model comprising 92 primary factors needed simplification, the present paper reports on a series of programmatic factor-analytic studies reducing the model down to just 30 separate factors, enabling construction of a whole suite of modern neo-Cattellian instruments. The present paper provides the point of departure for advancing measurement and research based on a more parsimonious Neo-Cattellian Psychometric Model. Construction of modern objective (T-data) personality test measures would greatly help to minimise the subjectivity of the current plethora of introspective, item-transparent self-report questionnaires and/or rating scales. Cattell's approach (including both his elaborate VIDAS systems model as well as his modulation theory and state-liability trait theory) continues to offer a general framework for understanding many controversies still faced today in relation to specific themes and problems in personality psychology. Major Outcomes of this Research Program: • 68% reduction of 16PF primary factors down to 5 broad second-stratum factors with significantly greater simple structure than for FFM measures. • 50% reduction of 12 CAQ abnormal personality trait dimensions down to six broad psychopathology factors. • 65% reduction of 20 (U and I) MAT factors down to seven broad dynamic trait factors. • 67% reduction of 12 (8SQ/POMS/DES-IV) primary mood-state factors down to just four broad state factors. • 68% reduction of 92 CPM primary factors (ability, personality, motivation, and mood-state) down to just 30 broad factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The present paper hypothesizes how research in personality psychology will change with the recent emergence of the Internet of Things (IoT). In a society, where humankind is digitally interconnected and all machines in one's own household or at work are linked to the Internet, manifold data from human-machine-interaction can be used to predict psychological traits and states. • In the present theoretical paper, we first explain why it is (still) important to study personality and we also give a short (historical) overview on different theoretical and methodological approaches to study personality. Second, this work will focus on a recent addition to the toolbox of a personality psychologist, namely digital phenotyping via methods from Psychoinformatics , which falls into the realm of the aforementioned IoT. Aside from an introduction into these new concepts, we discuss strengths and limitations of this new data layer of interest for personality psychologists. • Finally, it is argued that in these modern times personality psychology research is conducted in many scattered scientific areas with researchers sometimes unaware of each other. Therefore, tremendous collaborative efforts need to be invested in order to reunify the psychological/neuroscientific oriented personality science to ultimately understand why we are the creatures we are. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Statistics anxiety, which is widespread among students taking courses related to statistics or research methods, refers to a specific field of academic anxiety. This paper provides a systematic overview of the definition of statistics anxiety, followed by a comparison with mathematics anxiety. We then present an in-depth discussion of the antecedents of statistics anxiety (situational, dispositional, and cognitive). Given recent findings on statistics anxiety, its cognitive antecedents deserve particular attention among relevant studies. Future studies would need to include other aspects, such as longitudinal design, improvement of measuring tools, and underlying mechanisms. This paper may help future researchers investigate efficient ways of lowering students' statistics anxiety. Graphical abstract Unlabelled Image Highlights • Divided the antecedents of statistical anxiety into three new dimensions • Retain the situational and dispositional factors • Dispositional factors were classified as three new subcategories. • Cognitive antecedents of statistical anxiety deserve particular attention. • Cognitive factors are underlying causes of statistical anxiety, e.g. attention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Aims Various behavioral impulsivity measures have been developed, yet there has been no recent synthesis and evaluation of available tools. Key to consider is the context for assessment, and whether they can be delivered outside of the laboratory. The aim of this review was to identify and appraise behavioral impulsivity measures, with a secondary objective of identifying measures suitable for real-world delivery (independent of researcher administration). Methods PsycINFO, Embase, Medline and PsycTESTS databases were searched for articles published from 1997 using a behavioral impulsivity measure suitable for adults (PROSPERO: CRD42017057784). Measures assessing response disinhibition, impulsive response initiation, and/or impulsive decision-making were identified, delivery method assessed, and searches undertaken for psychometric properties of tasks. Results Twenty four behavioral impulsivity measures were identified; evidence of adequate reliability and validity was reported for only eight measures. Only six measures did not require computer facilities. Two measures were suitable for pen-and-paper delivery, the Monetary Choice Questionnaire and Probabilistic Discounting Task, both of which index impulsive decision-making. Conclusions Further validation of impulsivity measures is necessary to assist researchers in choosing an appropriate measure for their research setting. Development of behavioral impulsivity measures which can be delivered outside of the laboratory context is a key priority. Highlights • The review identified and appraised twenty four behavioral impulsivity measures. • Only eight measures had evidence of adequate validity and test-retest reliability. • A majority of measures were designed and optimized for use in laboratory settings. • Two pen-and-paper measures were identified as suitable for use in field research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]