Europe’s Journal of Psychology (PsychOpen)
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Defining Quality of Life: A Wild-Goose Chase?
No full textIn the last decades there has been a growing interest towards the concept of “Quality of Life” (QoL), not only in the bio-medical field, but also in other areas, such as sociology, psychology, economics, philosophy, architecture, journalism, politics, environment, sports, recreation, advertisements. Nevertheless QoL does turn out to be an ambiguous and elusive concept – a precise, clear and shared definition appears to be a long way off. In this article an analysis of how QoL is interpreted and defined in various scientific articles published in the last two decades, is offered. In addition, an illustration of how widespread the use of this concept is in different fields of knowledge, the difficulties in reaching a shared understanding of QoL, the problems involved in stating clearly the construct, and a presentation of some of its conceptualizations, are provided. The importance of subjectivity in the definition of what QoL is, emerges as a key aspect. This personal and subjective dimension could be the starting point for a more thorough and holistic understanding of this concept, in which standardized sets of valid, reliable and evidence-based measures of, e.g., psychological and spiritual dimensions, are encompassed in the person’s quality of life evaluation
Linking University Students’ Willingness to Learn to Their Recollections of Motivation at Secondary School
No full textThis study investigated the role of recollected school-based motivation on university students’ willingness to use new learning opportunities. Following Eccles’ expectancy-value theory, willingness to learn was conceptualized as task value, which has been found to predict task choice in previous empirical studies. Based on three motivational theories, we suggest two broad motivational dimensions for an economic description of motivational orientations, inward and outward, that should differentially predict the formation of task value. German university students (N = 1580) were asked about their task value for receiving their instructions in English as a foreign language at university and, retrospectively, their motivation in English language class at secondary school. Principal components analysis and confirmatory factor analyses of motivational variables yielded a two-factor solution supporting the differentiation between inward and outward motivational orientation. Inward motivational orientation at school was positively linked to students’ task value in adulthood, even if the individual’s self-concept of ability was controlled. The effects of outward motivation were rather small and tended to be counterproductive. Our findings suggest a complex interplay between past and present motivation and self-concept of ability underlying one’s willingness to learn and to participate in education
On the Freedom of Speech and Expression: Interview with Noam Chomsky
No full textNo abstract available
RETRACTED: Special Edition of EJOP (February 2013) on Quality of Life in Social Science and Clinical Medicine: An Introduction
No full textRETRACTION NOTICE This article has been retracted due to violating Good Publication Practice and not complying to EJOPS's/PsychOpen's Ethical Guidelines on plagiarism and redundant or concurrent Publication. No abstract available
Are Differences Between Men and Women in Rotated Pattern Recognition Due to the Use of Different Cognitive Strategies?
No full textA recursive hypothesis suggests that gender differences in spatial abilities, including mental rotation tasks, are the result of differences in the strategies that men and women use to process information. To address this issue, we systematically explored men and women’s performance for rotated patterns by assessing recognition, confidence rating and response time, thought to be fundamental to spatial processing, with classical methods, and with signal detection theory (SDT) parameters (d-prime and c-bias). Among our findings, we highlight d-prime as the most robust parameter to assess gender differences and predict group membership. Furthermore, we conclude that better performance by men is due to their strategy of transforming a mental rotation task into a simpler task comparing the alignment of test stimuli to the surrounding experimental environment
Coefficient Alpha: Interpret With Caution
No full textHeavy reliance on Cronbach’s alpha has been standard practice in many validation studies. However, there seem to be two misconceptions about the interpretation of alpha. First, alpha is mistakenly considered as an indication of unidimensionality and second, that the higher the value of alpha the better. The aim of this study is to clarify these misconceptions with the use of real data from the educational setting. Results showed that high alpha values can be obtained in multidimensional scales or tests given a sufficient number of items. Therefore, alpha cannot be an indication of unidimensionality. At the same time, after a certain point, higher values of alpha do not necessarily mean higher reliability and better quality scales or tests. In fact very high values of alpha could be an indication of lengthy scales, parallel items or a narrow coverage of the construct under consideration. Researchers are advised to apply caution when reporting alpha
RETRACTED: Quality of Life: Definition and Measurement
No full textRETRACTION NOTICE This article has been retracted due to violating Good Publication Practice and not complying to EJOPS's/PsychOpen's Ethical Guidelines on plagiarism and redundant or concurrent Publication.
Quality of life (QoL) can be defined in many ways, making its measurement and incorporation into scientific study difficult. This is a theoretical paper regarding the definition and measuring of quality of life. The search strategy included a combination of key words 'quality of life', 'definition of QoL' as well as 'measuring QoL' in titles using Medline and Google Scholar databases. Quality of life is a complex, multifaceted construct that requires multiple approaches from different theoretical angles. Scientists from the various disciplines of social science are encouraged to exploit the strengths of other’s contributions in a collaborative effort. A thorough understanding of subjective well-being requires knowledge of how objective conditions influence people’s evaluations of their lives. Similarly, a complete understanding of objective indicators and how to select them requires that we understand people’s values, and have knowledge about how objective indicators influence people’s experience of well-being