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In course of the further establishment of the Five-Factor Model as the predominant model for describing personality there is an increasing demand for assessing the Big Five dimensions of personality in contexts outside the core field of psychology. As in such contexts assessment time is severely limited, established Big Five instruments are generally too lengthy. Especially for such contexts we developed the ultra-short BFI-10 assessing the five dimensions with a total of ten items, respectively an average duration of approximately one minute. The present study validated the BFI-10 based on a large and population representative sample. Results indicate sufficient psychometric properties for the BFI-10 scales and items. In addition, the findings corroborate the construct and criterion validity of the instrument., methods, data, analyses, Vol 7, No 2 (2013)

General self-efficacy expectations refer to appraisals of one’s own competencies to plan and execute actions in a successful way in order to achieve desired goals. Self-efficacy expectations have an impact on numerous aspects of day-to-day activities. Empirical studies show that they are linked to a number of key social scientific variables in the field of work, health, and social relations. This fact makes self-efficacy expectations particularly interesting for interdisciplinary survey research because they may explain variance in outcome variables. However, a short scale for assessing general self-efficacy expectations which is compatible for social surveys is still missing. In the scope of three empirical studies we developed and validated the “General Self-Efficacy Short Scale” (in German: ASKU) which contains only three items. The results indicate that despite of its brevity the ASKU measures the construct in a reliable and valid way. Furthermore, the findings suggest that the short scale show measurement invariance with respect to different assessment modes. As expected, the scale exhibits expected relations to sociodemographic variables as well as social scientific content variables., methods, data, analyses, Vol 7, No 2 (2013)

Psychological constructs become more and more important in social surveys. Scales assessing these constructs are usually developed with the focus on an individual diagnosis. Therefore, they are in most cases much too lengthy to be assessed in surveys. For such settings extremely short measures validated for the total population are needed. In the present special issue the development and psychometric properties of six short scales are presented assessing constructs like personality, physical attractiveness and intelligence. All of the instruments presented can be used by the scientific community free of charge., methods, data, analyses, Vol 7, No 2 (2013)

Physical attractiveness is an important factor of social interaction and cognition, such as in mate choice or in the impressions people form of themselves and of others. In the context of social and health sciences, physical attractiveness has also been shown to complement the prediction of various target variables. Among other relationships, physical attractiveness is associated with criteria of professional success, various health variables and overall life satisfaction. However, the measurement of physical attractiveness via absolute ratings has several shortcomings. For example, attractiveness judgments are influenced by characteristics of the rater. As pointed out in literature, especially the interaction between age and gender of rater and target person has a significant impact on rating scores. The aim of this study was to construct a scale for the economical, reliable and valid assessment of physical attractiveness, controlling for methodological problems reported in prior research. To achieve this, the Attractiveness Rating 1 (AR1) employs a relative measurement approach. The AR1 was constructed and validated using four diverse samples. The presented results suggest that the AR1 adequately measures physical attractiveness., methods, data, analyses, Vol 7, No 2 (2013)

People differ systematically in how easily they perceive injustice and in how strongly they respond to it. The construct of justice sensitivity mirrors these stable personality differences. Empirical studies have demonstrated that justice sensitivity is correlated with variables from the field of work, health, politics, and social relations. Schmitt, Baumert, Gollwitzer, and Maes (2010) developed a first instrument measuring the four facets of justice sensitivity. Based on this instrument, Baumert, Beierlein, Schmitt, Kemper, Kovaleva, Liebig, and Rammstedt (in press) constructed four short scales with two items each which are particularly suitablefor survey research. In the present paper, we explain how the short scales were constructed. Empirical results on the validity of the scales will be reported on the basis of a quota sample and a population representative sample. The findings corroborate the satisfactory reliability and validity of the short scales. The factorial structure was appropriately replicated by the short scales. Furthermore, the short scales showed the theoretically expected relations to criterion variables such as effort-reward-imbalance, mental health, political efficacy, and delinquency., methods, data, analyses, Vol 7, No 2 (2013)

Crystallized intelligence (gc) is a well-established cognitive ability factor that has been conceptualized as reflecting influences of learning, education, and acculturation. In this article, we describe the development of a short knowledge scale for the measurement of gc in five minutes administration time using declarative knowledge items from the sciences, the humanities, and civics. Based on a large item pool we compiled a 32-item knowledge test that was subsequently presented to a nationally representative sample of 1,134 German adults. In the next step, this data were used to derive a short 12-item knowledge scale. A unidimensional measurement model had satisfactory model fit and showed high reliability of the latent factor. There were no substantial floor or ceiling effects in the adult German population. Similar to the full scale, the short scale correlated highly positively with education (ISCED-97) and socio-economic status (ISEI) and was meaningfully related to self-reported knowledge and the Big Five personality traits. Therefore, the short knowledge scale allows for an efficient and valid measurement of crystallized intelligence in survey research., methods, data, analyses, Vol 7, No 2 (2013)

"In aktuellen Intelligenzstrukturmodellen gehört kristalline Intelligenz (gc) zu den am besten etablierten Fähigkeitsfaktoren. Dabei spiegelt gc die Einflüsse von Lernen und Akkulturation wider und umfasst somit alles Wissen, das Menschen im Laufe ihres Lebens erwerben und zum Problemlösen einsetzen. In diesem Beitrag beschreiben wir die Entwicklung einer Kurzskala zur Messung kristalliner Intelligenz mit fünfminütiger Bearbeitungszeit, die auf deklarativen Wissensfragen aus den Natur-, Geistes- und Sozialwissenschaften beruht. Aus einem umfangreichen Itempool wurde ein 32 Fragen umfassender Wissenstest zusammengestellt und einer bundesweit repräsentativen Stichprobe von 1.134 Erwachsenen vorgelegt. Anhand psychometrischer Kennwerte und der Beziehungen zu Kovariaten erfolgte eine Auswahl von 12 Items für die Kurzskala. Ein eindimensionales Messmodell für diese Itemauswahl wies eine gute Passung und eine hohe Reliabilität des latenten Faktors auf. In der Zielpopulation der erwachsenen deutschen Bevölkerung wurden keine substanziellen Boden- oder Deckeneffekte beobachtet. Übereinstimmend mit der Langversion zeigten sich für die Kurzskala hohe Beziehungen zum Bildungsabschluss (ISCED-97) und sozioökonomischen Status (ISEI) sowie erwartungskonforme Korrelationen mit selbstberichtetem Wissen und den fünf Hauptdimensionen der Persönlichkeit (Big Five). Die Kurzskala ermöglicht folglich eine effiziente, reliable und valide Erfassung kristalliner Intelligenz im Rahmen der Umfrageforschung." (Autorenreferat) "Crystallized intelligence (gc) is a well-established cognitive ability factor that has been conceptualized as reflecting influences of learning, education, and acculturation. In this article, we describe the development of a short knowledge scale for the meas¬urement of gc in five minutes administration time using declarative knowledge items from the sciences, the humanities, and civics. Based on a large item pool we compiled a 32-item knowledge test that was subsequently presented to a nationally representative sample of 1,134 German adults. In the next step, this data were used to derive a short 12-item knowledge scale. A unidimensional measurement model had satisfactory model fit and showed high reliability of the latent factor. There were no substantial floor or ceiling effects in the adult German population. Similar to the full scale, the short scale correlated highly positively with education (ISCED-97) and socio-economic status (ISEI) and was meaningfully related to self-reported knowledge and the Big Five personality traits. Therefore, the short knowledge scale allows for an efficient and valid measurement of crystallized intelligence in survey research." (author's abstract)

"Menschen unterscheiden sich systematisch darin, wie leicht sie Ungerechtigkeit wahrnehmen und wie stark sie darauf reagieren. Das Konstrukt der Ungerechtigkeitssensibilität spiegelt diese stabilen Persönlichkeitsunterschiede wider. Empirische Studien zeigen, dass die Ungerechtigkeitssensibilität mit Variablen aus den Bereichen Arbeit, Gesundheit, Politik und soziale Beziehungen korreliert ist. Schmitt, Baumert, Gollwitzer und Maes (2010) legten ein erstes Messinstrument zur Erfassung der vier Facetten der Ungerechtigkeitssensibilität vor. Darauf aufbauend entwickelten Baumert, Beierlein, Schmitt, Kemper, Kovaleva, Liebig und Rammstedt (in Druck) vier für die Surveyforschung geeignete Kurzskalen mit je zwei Items. In dem vorliegenden Artikel wird der Konstruktionsprozess der Kurzskalen dargestellt. Validierungsergebnisse werden auf der Basis empirischer Daten aus einer quoten- und einer bevölkerungsrepräsentativen Stichprobe berichtet. Die Ergebnisse belegen die zufriedenstellende Reliabilität und Validität der Kurzskalen. Die Kurzskalen konnten die faktorielle Struktur der Ungerechtigkeitssensibilität angemessen replizieren. Überdies weisen die Kurzskalen die theoretisch erwarteten Beziehungen zu Kriteriumsvariablen auf (z.B. Effort-Reward-Imbalance, psychische Gesundheit, Political Efficacy, Delinquenz)." (Autorenreferat) "People differ systematically in how easily they perceive injustice and in how strongly they respond to it. The construct of justice sensitivity mirrors these stable personality differences. Empirical studies have demonstrated that justice sensitivity is correlated with variables from the field of work, health, politics, and social relations. Schmitt, Baumert, Gollwitzer, and Maes (2010) developed a first instrument measuring the four facets of justice sensitivity. Based on this instrument, Baumert, Beierlein, Schmitt, Kemper, Kovaleva, Liebig, and Rammstedt (in press) constructed four short scales with two items each which are particularly suitable for survey research. In the present paper, we explain how the short scales were constructed. Empirical results on the validity of the scales will be reported on the basis of a quota sample and a population representative sample. The findings corroborate the satisfactory reliability and validity of the short scales. The factorial structure was appropriately replicated by the short scales. Furthermore, the short scales showed the theoretically expected relations to criterion variables such as effort-reward-imbalance, mental health, political efficacy, and delinquency." (author's abstract)

"Physische Attraktivität ist ein wichtiger Faktor sozialer Interaktion und Kognition, z.B. bei der Partnerwahl oder dem Eindruck, den sich Menschen von sich selbst und von anderen bilden. Auch im Rahmen von Umfragen könnte die physische Attraktivität sozial- und gesundheitswissenschaftliche Erklärungsmodelle sinnvoll ergänzen. So finden sich unter anderem Zusammenhänge mit Kriterien des Berufserfolgs, diversen Gesundheitsvariablen und der allgemeinen Lebenszufriedenheit. Die Messung physischer Attraktivität mittels absoluten Einschätzungen hat sich jedoch als problematisch erwiesen. Attraktivitätsurteile können z.B. von Charakteristika der Beurteiler beeinflusst werden. Vor allem die Interaktion zwischen Alter und Geschlecht von Beurteiler und Zielperson wird in der Literatur als Einflussfaktor berichtet. Ziel der vorliegenden Studie war daher die Konstruktion einer Skala zur ökonomischen, reliablen und validen Messung von physischer Attraktivität, die den in der Literatur berichteten Problemen Rechnung trägt. Um dies zu erreichen wird im Attraktivitätsrating 1 (AR1) ein relatives Messkonzept eingesetzt. Das AR1 wurde anhand von vier alters-, geschlechts- und bildungsheterogenen Stichproben konstruiert und validiert. Die berichteten Ergebnisse sprechen dafür, dass das AR1 das Merkmal physische Attraktivität adäquat abbildet." (Autorenreferat) "Physical attractiveness is an important factor of social interaction and cognition, such as in mate choice or in the impressions people form of themselves and of others. In the context of social and health sciences, physical attractiveness has also been shown to complement the prediction of various target variables. Among other relationships, physical attractiveness is associated with criteria of professional success, various health variables and overall life satisfaction. However, the measurement of physical attractiveness via absolute ratings has several shortcomings. For example, attractiveness judgments are influenced by characteristics of the rater. As pointed out in literature, especially the interaction between age and gender of rater and target person has a significant impact on rating scores. The aim of this study was to construct a scale for the economical, reliable and valid assessment of physical attractiveness, controlling for methodological problems reported in prior research. To achieve this, the Attractiveness Rating 1 (AR1) employs a relative measurement approach. The AR1 was constructed and validated using four diverse samples. The presented results suggest that the AR1 adequately measures physical attractiveness." (author's abstract)