Europe’s Journal of Psychology (PsychOpen)
Not a member yet
930 research outputs found
Sort by
The Thorn in the Dyad: A Vision on Parent-Child Relationship in Autism Spectrum Disorder
No full textParents and children form a family: their characteristics balance personal and family well-being with healthy levels of stress. Research on parents of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) demonstrated that higher levels of parental stress are associated with communication impairment, a core symptom of ASD. The aim of this article is to discuss the connection between non-verbal communication impairment and parental psychological distress, in families with children with ASD. The interaction between atypical communication and distress of parents likely determines a cascade effect on the parent-child dyad; in fact, it decreases the quality and frequency of interactions, preventing the establishment of a healthy parent-child relationship and leading to a series of collateral problems. To this perspective, guiding the parents to reframe their children’s atypical communicative behaviour can relieve parental stress and re-program the interactional routine. This observation stresses the importance of interventions centred on the dyad, especially during early development and soon after the diagnosis, when the communicative impairment may be extremely severe
The Impact of Personality in the Selection of Teacher Students: Is There More to it Than the Big Five?
No full textThe bandwidth-fidelity dilemma is a controversially discussed problem in personality measurement. In this study, we contrasted the utility of broad versus narrow personality traits in an admission exam for teacher students. We compared the Big Five and narrow personality constructs (social-communicative behavior, achievement behavior, health and recreation behavior), which were part of an assessment battery for teacher student selection (N = 1120), regarding overlap and predictive validity. As criterion variables, academic satisfaction (N = 184) and GPA (N = 680) were assessed later. Reasonableness of including both questionnaires in one assessment may be questioned in terms of overlap of the personality inventories. Results show that health and recreation behavior cannot be covered by the Big Five in a selection procedure. Empirically, both broad and narrow traits show predictive validity for academic success and satisfaction
Perceptions of Close Relationship Through the Machiavellians´ Dark Glasses: Negativity, Distrust, Self-Protection Against Risk and Dissatisfaction
No full textIt is commonly known from the literature that Machiavellian individuals have negative attitudes towards people and in general towards the world´s affairs. They are distrustful of the intentions of others, and they get cautiously involved into interpersonal interactions and take risks only if that may not have any severe negative consequence. It is also a fact that there are few ventures in life that potentially involve as much insecurity and personal vulnerability as the establishment and maintenance of close relationships. In our study, we were seeking the answer to the question: do people with high levels of Machiavellianism show a generally negative, distrustful and cautious attitude in their intimate relationships, as well? What effect their pessimistic approaches have on the other consequences of the relationship (satisfaction, commitment, investment, quality of alternatives)? This question was investigated on a dyadic sample of heterosexual couples (N = 101 pairs) with Actor-Partner Interdependence Model (APIM). The results of the correlations and actor effects show that men with high levels of Machiavellianism perceive in a negative way not just people in general, but their romantic partners and relationships as well and they experience an increased level of distrust, risk, and dissatisfaction into their close relationships. Women with high levels of Machiavellianism are less negativistic and feel less discontent towards their intimate partner and relationship, but even they are unable to put their distrust and precaution aside. The results of partner effects have revealed that women's Machiavellianism undermines men's trust, while men's Machiavellianism has the effect of minimizing women's investment into their relationship
Investigating the Effects of Cultural-Mindset Priming on Evaluation of Job Performance Behaviors
No full textRecent reviews of performance evaluation process and practices indicate that there is substantial variability in the structure and formalization of performance evaluations in organizations across cultures and call for further exploration of the role of cultural variables on the performance evaluation process. In the current study, we use self-construal priming procedures to evaluate the effects of cultural mindset on the performance evaluation process. Specifically, the effects of independent (individualistic) and interdependent (collectivistic) mindset priming on relative importance given to performance behaviors when making judgments of overall job performance was investigated. Participants first completed either independent (n = 87) or interdependent (n = 87) priming tasks by circling either I/me/my or we/us/our in a paragraph of text. Following this, they completed a managerial role-play exercise in which they read employee performance vignettes (manipulated on task, citizenship and counterproductive performance behaviors) and rated the overall performance of each employee. Rater policies were captured using regression analyses and relative weights placed on each performance behavior were computed. Results suggest that when making judgments of overall performance, as compared to raters primed with interdependence, raters primed with independence placed less weight on citizenship behaviors and higher weights on counterproductive performance behaviors. No significant differences were observed in the weights placed on task performance behaviors. Study limitations and implications for research are discussed
Mood Self-Assessment in Children From the Age of 7
No full textThe evaluation of emotions is one of the main challenges facing theorists and applied psychology researchers. In children, in order to focus on subjective feelings, psychologists mainly use non-verbal scales that measure both the intensity and valence of the emotions felt. The use of these scales poses a main research questions: What is the children’s knowledge of the emotion presented? In order to properly assess the emotional state of a child, it is first necessary to measure the child’s understanding of the major characteristics of emotion. Secondly, it is important to assess the child’s ability to designate the primary emotion associated with a particular situation, and assess how these emotional situations alters their own assessment of their emotional state. This research aims to know if children from the age of seven to eleven can be emotionally induced and if this induction varies in the lifespan
Aging Anxieties and Disturbed Eating in Female Students: It’s not all About Aging Appearance Concern
No full textFear and anxiety about aging have increased amongst female university students and these personal aging concerns are associated with disturbed eating, also prevalent in this group. Evidence suggests concern about aging appearance could account for the link between aging anxiety and problem eating in young women due to their belief in the thin – youth ideal. However, whether appearance concern is the strongest aging anxiety predictor of global and specific disturbed eating behaviors is unclear. The study examines this in a sample of female students at a Midlands university in the United Kingdom (N = 200, 18 – 39 years) who completed the Anxiety about Aging Scale and the Eating Disorders Inventory-3. The findings show general and a model of four aging anxieties predicted significantly greater global disturbed eating with medium and large effects sizes respectively. However, greater anxiety about the psychological challenges and interpersonal losses associated with aging best predicted global and specific disturbed eating behaviors and aging appearance concern was a weaker predictor. Implications for interventions targeting female students eating behavior are considered
To Seek or Not to Seek Advice: Talking About Romantic Issues During Emerging Adulthood
No full textThe aim of the study was to explore whether and how emerging adults talk about their romantic relationships with their close others, especially their parents and friends, also considering gender differences. Data were collected via eight single-sex focus groups conducted with 50 Italian emerging adults (aged 18–25), and were analyzed using thematic analysis. Two main themes emerged. The first was labeled “to seek advice”, which was divided into three subthemes: “I look for different points of view,” “I treasure other people’s words,” and “I listen and then do it my own way.” The second theme was “to not seek advice,” which was divided into two subthemes: “I do not need comparison” and “I need to choose on my own.” The findings revealed that close friends, more than parents, are important interlocutors for discussions on romantic relationships, and few gender differences were found. Furthermore, we can speculate that emerging adults’ reasons for seeking advice or not could relate to their autonomy and relatedness needs
Therapists’ Experiences in Their Work With Sex Offenders and People With Pedophilia: A Literature Review
No full textThis article presents a review of the literature that pertains to the experiences of therapists who work directly with child sex offenders and/or people with pedophilia. We draw together results from studies that attempted to identify how therapists experience such work and how they were personally impacted by it. Usually, such studies are embedded within one of the following theoretical frameworks: Secondary traumatic stress, compassion fatigue, vicarious traumatization and burnout. Most literature on the topic has therefore sought to determine to what extent and why, work-related stress responses may occur among these therapists. The aim of this paper is therefore to provide insight into this, arguably, important line of research, while evaluating the current knowledge as well as providing recommendations for future research efforts
The Flow Engine Framework: A Cognitive Model of Optimal Human Experience
No full textFlow is a well-known concept in the fields of positive and applied psychology. Examination of a large body of flow literature suggests there is a need for a conceptual model rooted in a cognitive approach to explain how this psychological phenomenon works. In this paper, we propose the Flow Engine Framework, a theoretical model explaining dynamic interactions between rearranged flow components and fundamental cognitive processes. Using an IPO framework (Inputs – Processes – Outputs) including a feedback process, we organize flow characteristics into three logically related categories: inputs (requirements for flow), mediating and moderating cognitive processes (attentional and motivational mechanisms) and outputs (subjective and objective outcomes), describing the process of the flow. Comparing flow with an engine, inputs are depicted as flow-fuel, core processes cylinder strokes and outputs as power created to provide motion
The Illusion of Knowing in Metacognitive Monitoring: Effects of the Type of Information and of Personal, Cognitive, Metacognitive, and Individual Psychological Characteristics
No full textThe aim of the paper is to analyse the illusion of knowing in metacognitive monitoring of the learning activity of university students (n = 262). The analysis focuses on the effects of the different types of information proposed and of personal, cognitive, metacognitive, and individual psychological characteristics of the participants. The research has shown that the illusion of knowing can occur in all types of metacognitive judgments, but is more evident in prospective judgments and depends on the type of information, its length and style, task type, etc. There are empirically established correlations between the selected personal, cognitive, and metacognitive characteristics. Gender and age differences in the manifestation of the illusion of knowing are not observed, although it is found that women tend towards overconfidence. The results also showed that the illusion of knowing is more typical for younger students, especially for those with lower levels of academic achievements