Europe’s Journal of Psychology (PsychOpen)
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Manufacture and Validation of New Negative Priming Measurement for Studying Individual Differences in Working Memory
No full textThe Negative Priming task is widely used to investigate attention inhibition observed in some variations of a selective attention task. This study was designed to measure the reliability of a negative priming effect as a prerequisite for conducting this research. The sample included 100 university students whose ages ranged between 18 to 36 years. They completed two tasks: an identification task and a localization with episodic retrieval tasks. Subjects were asked to perform a simple mental operation on each stimulus, and to use the end product of this operation when deciding on a response. The subjects' task was to respond YES to a fixed set of three target items (e.g., numbers 2, 5, and 7) in two interval trials. To achieve the factor structure model validity, the data method and varimax rotation was applied. Results showed high correlation between variables and also six factors as the clusters were considered: 1) Target identification accuracy; 2) Location error; 3) Two seconds right error; 4) Three seconds right error; 5) Three seconds left error and 6) Two seconds left error. The reliability of the components were acceptable
Cross-Sequential Results on Creativity Development in Childhood Within two Different School Systems: Divergent Performances in Luxembourg Versus German Kindergarten and Elementary School Students
No full textThe aim of the study is conducting methodologically sound, cross-sequential analyses of the creativity development of children attending different school systems. Culture-free tests of creativity (ideational fluency and flexibility) and intelligence were administered in 5 cohorts (two kindergarten and first three elementary school years), which were retested in three consecutive years. Samples include 244 Luxembourg and 312 German children enrolled in educational systems with obligatory kindergarten and 6-year comprehensive elementary school versus optional kindergarten, 4-year comprehensive elementary school and educational placement thereafter. Results demonstrate (1) linear increases in intelligence, (2) declines of divergent performances after school enrollment in both samples, (3) increases in divergent performances up to the 5th elementary school year in Luxembourg and up to the 3rd elementary school year in Germany (i.e., the next to last school year before educational placement) followed by a second creativity slump. Cross-sequential results confirm discontinuities in the development of divergent productions in childhood
The Psychology of Eyewitness Identification: Essays in Cognitive Psychology
No full text‘The Psychology of Eyewitness Identification’ discusses in detail research and issues relating to eyewitness identification, accuracy and reliability. Also included is a discussion of how research has impacted on practical aspects of life for example with social practice, police practice and legal practice. It is not only a book on the theory behind the topic but also an insight into practical aspects of theory – the best of both worlds
Direct and Indirect Effects of IQ, Parental Help, Effort, and Mathematics Self-Concept on Mathematics Achievement
No full textThis study examined the structural relationships among cognitive constructs (intelligence and achievement) and affective constructs (perceived parental help, effort and self-concept). It was proposed that the relationships are not invariant across gender. The sample consisted of 219 boys and 133 girls from elementary and preparatory public schools in Al Ain in the United Arab Emirates. Intelligence (IQ) was measured by the Test of Non-verbal Intelligence (TONI) and parental help was measured by 4-Likert-type items. Effort was measured by 4-Likert-type items. Self-concept (SC) was measured by 8-Likert-type items taken from the SDQ I (Abu-Hilal, 2000). Mathematic Achievement was the scores of students in mathematics from school records. The structural model assumed that IQ would have an effect on parental help, effort, SC and achievement. Parental help would have an effect on effort, SC and achievement. Also, effort would have an effect on SC and achievement. Finally, SC would have an effect on achievement. The structural model was tested for invariance across gender. The measurement model proved to be invariant across gender and so was the structural model. The non-constrained model indicated that the structural relationships among the variables do vary according to gender. For example, boys benefited from parental help by exerting more effort while girls did not. Boys with high IQ exerted more effort than boys with low IQ; but girls with high IQ exerted the same amount of effort as girls with low IQ. The model explained 45% and 39% of the variance in math scores for boys and girls, respectively
How Personality Traits Predict Design-Driven Consumer Choices
No full textTo further understand why a consumer’s choices are influenced by the aesthetic value of products (Hollins & Pugh, 1990; Bloch, 1995; Schmitt & Simonson, 1997), individual differences in design-driven consumer choices must be investigated. Previous empirical work suggests that the extent to which one pays attention and is responsive to the aesthetic value of products (Bloch, Brunel, & Arnold, 2003) and Openness to experience (Sharpe & Ramanaiah, 1999) are both linked with materialism. This study aims to provide new elements to understand why consumers choose and value well-designed products, using the framework of the Big Five model of personality (John & Srivastava, 1999; McCrae & Costa, 1999), focusing more particularly on Openness to experience. 158 adult participants completed the Centrality of Visual Product Aesthetics questionnaire (CVPA; Bloch, Brunel, & Arnold, 2003), along with the Big Five Inventory (BFI; John, 1990; John & Srivastava, 1999). As hypothesized, personality significantly predicted the individuals’ tendency to prefer products with a superior design. More specifically, every subscale of the CVPA was significantly negatively correlated with Openness to experience. Implications, limitations and potential uses of these results in marketing are discussed
1st International Krakow Conference in Cognitive Science
No full text1st International Krakow Conference in Cognitive Science27-29 September, 2012 Kraków, Polan
The Impact of Mathematics Anxiety on Primary School Children’s Working Memory
No full textWhile there is little doubt that there is a connection between mathematics anxiety and poor mathematical performance, the direction and nature of this connection is less clear. Some researchers (e.g. Ma and Xu, 2004) have contended that poor mathematical performance directly causes mathematics anxiety. Others see a more complex relationship in which mathematics anxiety may, in part at least, cause poor mathematical performance. One possible explanation for the latter view is that mathematics anxiety leads directly to a disruption of cognitive processes such as working memory, which leads directly to poorer mathematical performance (Hopko, Ashcraft, Gute, Ruggiero & Lewis, 1998). The working memory component most consistently associated with mathematics anxiety is the central executive (Ashcraft & Kreuse, 2007), although there is evidence (Miller & Bichsel, 2004) that visual-spatial working memory is impaired by mathematics anxiety. This study sought to explore the suggestion (Ashcraft & Kirk, 2001) that the mere presence of digits might trigger an anxious reaction among children reporting high levels of mathematics anxiety, leading to a decrement in working memory performance. Children of 9 and 10 years of age reported levels of mathematics anxiety and undertook two working memory tasks, one measuring central executive functioning and the other measuring visual-spatial working memory. Each working memory task was completed twice, once using letters as the to-be-remembered stimuli and again using digits. The differences in performance between the two versions of the tasks were compared with the reported levels of mathematics anxiety. The findings suggest that the presence of digits as the stimuli caused a decrement in working memory performance commensurate with the reported levels of mathematical anxiety
Attachment Style and Rejection Sensitivity: The Mediating Effect of Self-Esteem and Worry Among Iranian College Students
No full textThe present study evaluated the relations between anxious attachment styles and rejection sensitivity, and the potential mediating role of self-esteem and worry. A sample of 125 Iranian college students completed surveys assessing rejection sensitivity, attachment style, worry and self-esteem. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) analyses were conducted. Results show that there is a significant positive relationship between anxious attachment styles and rejection sensitivity. The study suggests that a higher score in anxious attachment styles is associated with a higher level of worry and lower level of self-esteem and it is also associated with higher level of rejection sensitivity. Furthermore, there is a positive significant relationship between worry and rejection sensitivity and there is a negative significant relationship between self-esteem and rejection sensitivity. Results indicate that self-esteem and worry mediate the relationship between anxious attachment styles and rejection sensitivity
Humor and Resiliency: Towards a Process Model of Coping and Growth
No full textThis article considers how humor may fit within a resiliency perspective. Following a brief overview of resiliency approaches, including selected work on positive psychology, several lines of research that provide initial support for resiliency effects of humor on stress and trauma are highlighted. This work ranges from anecdotal case report descriptions of facilitative humor use in extremely traumatic situations (e.g., paramedics), to more rigorous studies examining moderator and cognitive appraisal effects of humor on psychological well-being. Although these initial findings are quite promising, it is noted that some resiliency-based approaches to humor are limited by a sole focus on humor as a positive attribute. As such, a humor styles model, which acknowledges both the adaptive and maladaptive aspects of humor, is used to describe broader avenues of research within a resiliency perspective. This process orientation to humor use also highlights the importance of both negative and positive emotion regulation in modulating coping and growth. This model is then used to comment on limitations and potential extensions of current resiliency perspectives on humor, including programs and exercises that attempt to train humor use in a facilitative manner
Effect of perceived inequality and perceived job insecurity on fraudulent intent of bank employees in Nigeria
No full textThis paper examines the effect of perceived inequality and perceived job insecurity on fraudulent intent of bank employees in Nigeria. A total of 170 participants were used for the study. They were selected from five branches of commercial banks in Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti state, Nigeria. Perceived inequality was measured using the perceived inequality in work scale (Corey and Keyes, 1998), while perceived job insecurity was measured using the job insecurity scale (Ashford et al., 1980). Fraudulent intent was measured using a self developed scale. Results reveal that perceived inequality and perceived job insecurity have a significant effect on employee fraudulent intent