1,721,014 research outputs found
How can we help children to learn?
Full text linkThis thesis began with a question: How can we help children to learn? I
examined this question by testing four distinct factors proposed to influence learning:
number awareness, mindset, stereotyping and conscientiousness.
Beginning with the effects of number awareness (Chapter 1), I focused on the
approach of helping young children to understand the symbolic meaning of numbers.
This idea was inspired by the study of Ramani and Siegler (2008) which tested whether
playing a board game (e.g. snakes and ladders) in which their “player” was identified
with a number would improve children’s understanding of numbers and their
numerical performance. I attempted to replicate this study in China but found no effect.
Children who played the number board game did not show significant improvements
in the post-manipulation numerical tests compared to children who played the
coloured board game. I also noticed that children in my study showed a better baseline
performance in counting and identification tests compared to children in the original
study (in the U.S.). Therefore, I concluded that the board game manipulation was not
helpful for raising number awareness among Chinese children. I then searched the
literature for other manipulations that might help children on learning. The most
prominent manipulation was based on mindset theory (Dweck, 2006), which measured
whether children believe their intelligence is malleable or fixed (Chapter 2). Therefore, the second major theme, occupying most of the thesis, consisted of
eight studies on mindset. In this vein, I firstly used both a mindset manipulation and a
self-reported mindset scale to test whether having a growth mindset would improve
children’s cognitive performance after a challenge (Chapter 3). Children were firstly
asked to solve a set of moderate difficulty cognitive problems, and then they were
given a mindset manipulation: the experimenter either praised children for being smart
(fixed mindset manipulation) or for working hard (growth mindset manipulation) on
these problems (Mueller & Dweck, 1998). Following the mindset manipulation, the
children were asked to work on a set of even more difficult problems (failure), and
they were given negative feedback on their performance. This was followed by a final
set of problems with moderate difficulty. I failed to find a consistent association
between the growth mindset manipulation and improvement in children’ postchallenge performance. The only nominally significant effect of growth mindset
manipulation was found in my first study, but disappeared in the other two studies. I
next tested whether children’s own mindsets would be associated with their postfailure performance or school grades. Again, I failed to find a significant association
between children’s own mindsets and their post-failure performance or school grades.
I then tested whether growth mindset would be associated with better grades only
across a challenging transition or growth mindset would be beneficial only for children
who encountered the greatest challenge when entering university (Chapter 4). Similar to my previous studies, I failed to find any significant effect of growth mindset on
grades, either across a challenging transition (from high school to university), in any
subsequent year in university, nor among children who encountered the greatest
challenge when entering university. Finally, I explored whether children obtained their
own mindsets from their parents’ growth mindsets or parents’ failure mindsets
(Chapter 5). I found that children’s own mindsets were significantly associated with
their perceptions of parents’ failure mindsets. However, these perceptions were biased
by their own mind. Therefore, I concluded that mindset theory was not influential in
the learning process, children might obtain their mindsets from their parents’ failure
mindsets, and children’s perceptions of their parents’ failure mindsets were biased. I
also suggested that mindset manipulation has its limitations and suggested that rather
than addressing mindset, addressing attitudes to hard work may be a viable direction.
Next, I conducted a series of five studies to test a recent claim regarding the
early origins of negative gender stereotypes about brilliance (Bian, Leslie, & Cimpian,
2017), that is proposed to reduce girls’ interests in science-related subjects (Chapter
6). Consequently, the negative stereotypes would impair girls’ academic performance
and increase the gender gap in science-related subjects. I tested children’ gender
stereotypes about brilliance, kindness, and dullness, by presenting vignettes of people
who were very high in these characteristics in both China and the U.K. (Chapter 7). I
asked children to identify which person in two male and two female images presented to them was the person described in the vignette. The gender of the person chosen was
used as an indicator of stereotyping. I failed to find the existence of a gender stereotype
that brilliance was a male trait among Chinese children, but did find it among British
children. For niceness, I did find that both Chinese and British children have a gender
stereotype towards women. For dullness, both Chinese and British children hold a
gender stereotype towards men.
The final theme in this thesis was followed by the mindset theme, which
consisted of four studies testing whether conscientiousness (i.e., attitudes towards hard
work) would be associated with children’ grades in both primary school and high
school (Chapter 8). I found that conscientiousness was a significant and consistent
predictor of grades in both primary school and high school. I also tested whether
teachers’ conscientiousness would be associated with children’s grades. However,
children’s perceptions of their teachers’ conscientiousness were not associated with
children’s grades. Thus, I concluded that conscientiousness was a powerful predictor
of grades, but teachers’ conscientiousness might not be.
In the final chapter (Chapter 9) of this thesis, I concluded the main findings in
the thesis, discussed the implications for each theory I explored, and made suggestions
for further studies in the studied areas
Advancing our understanding of major depression and its assessment using experience sampling methodology
Full text linkThe development of the classification systems of psychiatric disorders illustrates a
long-term debate on whether a discrete and categorical or a continuum and
spectral view best describes psychiatric disorders. This is because comorbidity
between mental disorders is common and the symptoms of the same psychiatric
disorders are heterogeneous. These all increase the difficulty to diagnose and to
treat mental disorders. Generally, the diagnostic systems have attempted to
develop diagnostic criteria of psychiatric disorders that resemble a solid medical
model, where each disorder is described by a discrete category of symptoms.
However, these attempts have been plagued by problems. Even though having a
categorical classification system makes diagnoses easier than having nothing to
work from, a categorical classification system cannot explain clinical conditions.
Having alternative classification systems such as one based on dimensions (spectra)
or a mixture of categorical and spectral classification systems may be better than
using either classification system alone. It has been suggested that a mechanistic
property clusters (MPC) would be a suitable alternative (Kendler et al., 2011). The
MPC described psychiatric disorders are caused by multi-level causal loops and
interactions. A similar view of symptoms forming a causal network – the network
theory – has been advocated (Borsboom, 2008, 2017). The network theory
hypothesizes that the present psychiatric symptoms are caused by the same and/or
other psychiatric symptoms occurred earlier.
This PhD project investigated the heterogeneous nature of the symptoms of major
depression (MD) by using their repeated measures in daily-life settings in three
studies. We used on-line questionnaires, mobile questionnaires, and activity sensors.
MD symptoms at the moment were measured using mobile questionnaires and
daily physiological signals were recorded using activity sensors. The on-line
questionnaires were administered before and after the participants completed the
momentary questionnaires. Study 1 measured the momentary MD symptoms using
Android devices, Study 2 was a replicate of Study 1 and iOS devices were employed
in Study 2. Study 3 measured the momentary MD symptoms and activity levels
using Android and iOS devices and activity sensors. Study 3 was a replication of
Studies 1 and 2. The replicability of the results across the three studies was tested.
Meta-analysis was used to see whether there were similar patterns across studies.
In addition to the network theory, discriminant and convergent validity of the
mobile and retrospective MD assessments were tested. The heterogeneity of MD
symptoms was examined in the relationships between momentary MD symptom
ratings and controlling factors (i.e., age, gender, employment status, marital status,
educational level, MD severity, circadian rhythm, personality traits and facets, daily
activity and heart rate variability). The results suggested heterogeneity among MD
symptoms in how they linked to other variables. These findings challenge the
existing clinical practice of using the total sum-score of symptoms in clinical
diagnoses. Marginal support for the network theory was reported. The findings
showed moderate replicability across studies
Economic attitudes and individual difference: replication and extension
Full text linkThe work presented in this dissertation primarily focused on two topics. The first was understanding differences in support for redistribution. In this section, we replicated existing research on the three-player two-situation model, extended this model with more precise measures – for instance of malicious envy – and developed new measures for instance of mutualism. The second main topic was understanding how motivations and cognitive ability influence people's economic attitudes and knowledge.
The thesis is structured as follows. Chapter 1 provides a brief introduction about redistribution and economic ideology which will be discussed in subsequent chapters and argues for the importance of replication existing findings in psychology.
Chapter 2 aims to address whether social orientation and cognitive style reflect the differences in cultural orientation, such as individualism and collectivism. We conducted a study (n = 216) to test the relationships between Sociogram Task (a social orientation measure which assumes that using a relatively large circle to perform self in a diagram would be more individualistic), Triad Task (a cognitive style measure which assumes grouping objects through their category rather than relationship would be more individualistic), and three cultural orientation measures. We found that neither social orientation nor cognitive style was associated with cultural orientations, and social orientation nor cognitive style were not correlated with each other, either. This result showed that Sociogram Task and Triad Task did not reflect the underlying dimension of individualism and collectivism, indicating that social orientation and cognitive style were not linked with cultural orientations. Given that the effects of social orientation and cognitive style failed to replicate, we switched to our main findings in the next part.
In part one of this dissertation (Chapter 3 to Chapter 5), we explored a different direction, focusing on the replication and extension of the three-player two-situation model, which hypothesizes that people’s attitude toward resource allocation (e.g. support for economic redistribution) is driven by three motivations: compassion, envy, and self-interest.
In Chapter 3, we build on the work of the three-player two-situation model, testing whether the attitude toward redistribution is motivated by the three motivations rather than procedural fairness. We successfully replicated this model in three studies (n = 1,011), confirming that support for redistribution is influenced by compassion, envy, and self-interest, and procedural fairness plays no role. Furthermore, we also refined the three-player two-situation model, indicating that the concept of envy referred to malicious envy, which is characterized by hostility and behaviours about decreasing others’ advantage. These results support the role of evolution motivates in explaining contemporary economic redistribution.
In Chapter 4, we aim to answer whether support for redistribution would be shaped by a specific kind of fairness vital in collaboration, the equal-division fairness. In two studies (n = 805), we found that motivation of equal-division played a significant role in support for redistribution. Furthermore, we found that attitude toward redistribution involved a coercive part, which was also associated with equal-division fairness. These results confirmed the role of equal-division motivation, suggesting that the three-player two-situation model includes equal-division fairness and coercive enforcement.
In Chapter 5, we focused on another key concept of the evolution of cooperation, mutualism, trying to answer how it influences support for redistribution and associates with compassion, envy, self-interest, and equal-division fairness. We developed a Mutualism scale based on Baumard, André, and Sperber (2013), which reflects proportional division, proportional punishment, and helping behaviour. In two studies (n = 902), the Mutualism scale showed good fits to the predicted model and satisfactory reliability and validity. Furthermore, we found mutualism was independent of compassion, envy, and self-interest, but associated with equal-division, coercing others to share equally, and negative attitudes toward redistribution. These results extended the three-player two-situation model, confirming the importance of equal-division and mutualism motivations in explaining people’s tendency toward economic redistribution.
In the second part of this dissertation (Chapter 6 and Chapter 7), we turned to concern how cognitive ability influence people's economic attitudes and knowledge.
In Chapter 6, we addressed whether cognitive ability influences economic attitudes. In two studies (n = 1,400) and a longitudinal data set (n = 11,563), we found cognitive ability was positively correlated with how far individuals deviate from prevailing centrist views, that is, the level of economic extremism. These results indicated that the association between cognitive ability and economic attitudes was not a simple linear relationship, highlighting the role of cognitive ability in generating radical attitudes.
Chapter 7 aims to answer whether cognitive ability is related to economic knowledge and whether it will increase financial outcomes. In two studies (n = 1,356), we found that cognitive ability was positively associated with economic knowledge, and greater economic knowledge also positively correlated with financial literacy. In addition, our findings showed that education level and economic training level only had little effect on economic knowledge compared with cognitive ability. These findings fill the gap between cognitive ability and economic knowledge, extending the role of general ability in improving lifetime financial wellbeing.
Finally, Chapter 8 was a summary of the previous chapters’ findings, and suggestions for future research on people's economic attitudes and knowledge, especially the role of individual differences in this research area
Pro-environmental attitudes and behaviours: the role of individual differences
Full text linkThe work within this dissertation primarily focused on what types of people do (not)
care or act pro-environmentally and examined potential mechanisms for promoting pro-environmental attitudes and behaviours. Chapter 1 provided an initial introduction to this
topic and the disciplines of environmental and conservation psychology. It presented the
history of research, the current state of research, and the contribution of individual
differences on understanding pro-environmental attitudes and behaviours.
The first part of this dissertation concerned itself with the measurement of pro-environmental attitudes and behaviours. In Chapter 2, the factor structure of two new pro-environmental attitudes and behaviours measures were assessed, which resulted in two
unidimensional measures. These two measures were found to be associated with an existing
measure of pro-environmental behaviours, demonstrating their predictive and concurrent
validity respectively. In Chapter 3, the test-retest reliability, internal consistency, predictive
validity for pro-environmental behaviours, and concurrent validity of the newly created pro-environmental attitudes measure were assessed. Furthermore, the concurrent validity of the
newly created pro-environmental behaviours measure was further assessed. These new
measures demonstrated acceptable concurrent validity. Furthermore, the new measure of pro-environmental attitudes demonstrated acceptable to good test-retest reliability, internal
consistency, and predictive validity for pro-environmental behaviours on par with existing
measures of pro-environmental attitudes. Lastly, this chapter identified several existing
measures of pro-environmental attitudes that had acceptable to good test-retest reliability,
internal consistency, and predictive validity for pro-environmental behaviours. This formed
the basis of measurement for future chapters.
The second part of this dissertation concerned itself with how personality was
associated with pro-environmental attitudes and behaviours, and how this could be used to
inform effective interventions. In Chapter 4, a meta-analysis was conducted that assessed
how the personality domains of the Big Five and HEXACO were associated with pro-environmental attitudes and behaviours. The meta-analysis of 38 sources, implicated
Openness and Honesty-Humility as the strongest correlates of pro-environmental attitudes
and behaviours. Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and to a lesser extent Extraversion were
also associated with pro-environmental attitudes and behaviours. Neuroticism was not
associated with pro-environmental attitudes and behaviours. Furthermore, the meta-analytic
associations, collectively, provided substantial predictive accuracy for pro-environmental
attitudes and behaviours. Chapter 5 expanded on this and examined how personality at a
facet-level, rather than domain-level, was associated with pro-environmental attitudes and
behaviours. Using two datasets (N = 501 and 287) certain facets were identified as the main
drivers of domain-level associations. Furthermore, these facet-level associations accurately
predicted pro-environmental attitudes and behaviours, on par with domain-level associations.
The third part of this dissertation concerned itself with how political preferences were
associated with pro-environmental attitudes and behaviours, and how this could be used to
inform effective interventions. In Chapter 6, a replication of a study conducted by Schuldt,
Konrath, and Schwarz (2011) was conducted. This replication assessed whether there was an
interaction between question wording and political preferences on pro-environmental beliefs.
In this pre-registered large cross-country study (United States of America, United Kingdom,
and Australia; N = 5,717), it was found that the previously reported interaction between
question wording and political preferences no longer existed. However, it was consistently
found that Conservatives were less likely to believe in climate change/global warming when
compared to Liberals. Chapter 7 expanded on this and examined various operationalisations
of political preferences, the potential confound of personality, and how political preferences
might be associated with a range of pro-environmental attitudes and behaviours. This study
(N = 499) replicated the finding that Conservatives were less likely to believe in climate
change/global warming than Liberals, regardless of how political preferences were
operationalised. The interaction between political preferences and question wording on pro-environmental beliefs occurred when political preferences were operationalised as
continuously measured political orientation, but in the opposite direction to Schuldt and
colleagues (2011). Furthermore, this interaction did not exist when political preferences were
operationalised as party voted for. Personality traits did not confound these effects.
Furthermore, political orientation was associated with pro-environmental attitudes and
behaviours, when controlling for personality traits. The personality domains of Openness,
Conscientiousness, and Agreeableness were associated with pro-environmental attitudes and
behaviours when controlling for political preferences (regardless of operationalisation).
However, political preferences were no longer associated with pro-environmental behaviours,
and Agreeableness was inconsistently associated with these behaviours, when the
demographic variables of age, gender, area, income, and education were also controlled for.
Lastly, in Chapter 8 a summary of the previous chapters’ results and their
contextualisation in the wider literature was presented. Furthermore, the future directions of
research on pro-environmental attitudes and behaviours, and in particular, the role of
individual differences in this research was explored
Comparative lower-order hierarchical personality structure and personality development in nonhuman great apes
Full text linkThe aim of this thesis is to identify the structure of personality below the factor level in chimpanzees, bonobos, orangutans, gorillas in terms of both facets and items and to investigate the development of these lower-order traits over the lifespan in these species. First, we aim to summarise the field of personality development in nonhuman animals at the factor level and exploring potential pathways and mechanisms that can explain how these different personality structures evolved in a wide variety of species. Next, we identify the facet structure of personality traits in four great apes using data-driven analytic methods and compare this structure amongst species. Third, we go beyond facets to the finer hierarchical level of nuances or items and explore how the greater detail available from using these levels of personality improve our understanding of how personality varies with age in the same four species. Finally, we lay out a method for the adaptation of these personality questionnaire instruments to identify personality structure in a new primate family, lemurs. These lower-order structures have great potential to increase understanding of personality in nonhuman animals and this thesis provides a solid foundation for wider adoption of these ideas
Individual differences and their implications in educational and occupational outcomes
No full textThis thesis includes four studies focused on the role of Individual Differences in educational and occupational outcomes. These four studies were aimed to bridge gaps in the academic literature and to devise novel avenues for research.
Chapter 1 introduces the concept and history of Individual Differences research. Chapter 1 also includes a summary of the milestones in Intelligence research history. Chapter 2 includes our first study, where we used two waves from a British longitudinal study to explore the changes in student Self-Competence and Task-Value during the primary to secondary school transition according to student’s verbal abilities. We conceptualized change as Difference Scores and as Residuals but none offered a reliable measure of change. In Chapter 3, we used the same sample to study the degree to which change in grades between ages 7 and 11 mediated the relation between verbal ability and changes in occupational aspirations between ages 11 and 14. However, we did not find evidence supporting the mediating role of grades change.
Chapter 4 summarizes the highlights of personality history and frames our methodological approach to personality measures. In Chapter 5, we used Cohen’s d and Mahalanobis D to study personality differences at facet and domain level between four groups: heterosexual men, heterosexual women, homosexual men, and homosexual women. We found that homosexual participants did not always score as their heterosexual counterparts. Often, personality scores of homosexual participants shifted toward those of their opposite sex -e.g. homosexual men scoring more similar to heterosexual women than heterosexual men. In Chapter 6, we studied to which degree personality sex differences were feeding into the gendered nature of the labor market, this is, men tend to work in jobs related to Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM), while women work in Non-STEM related occupations. We found little evidence supporting this hypothesis. However, there was some evidence suggesting that personality differences between occupational orientations (i.e. Prediger’s dimension of people vs. things) do resemble personality sex differences. Finally, Chapter 7 summarizes the key findings of these studies. Further implications and future research directions are also discussed in this last chapter
Investigating the predictability of life outcomes from nuance-level personality traits
No full textPersonality traits have repeatedly shown associations with a wide range of life outcomes; however, associations tend to be weak and undescriptive. Research has predominantly focused on the use of domains – few, broad, overarching traits. Whilst facets (traits below domains) have shown stronger associations with outcomes or have been able to give more detailed understanding to the relationship between personality and life outcomes, recent research has suggested the use of nuances to further this understanding. An emerging concept within personality psychology, nuances are currently represented by individual items, with early evidence suggesting that they can enhance trait-outcome association understandings.
This thesis aimed to identify the extent to which nuance-driven analyses enhance trait-outcome prediction, and how replicable this is across culturally diverse samples. Furthermore, it investigated educational attainment, and how individuals from differing backgrounds differed in both broad (domain) and specific (nuance) traits. In doing so, it addressed one overarching question – what advantages do nuances bring to the field of personality science? Comprising three studies, data from the Life Outcomes of Personality Project (LOOPR) and the Estonian Biobank (EBB) were used, alongside primary data collected from three culturally diverse samples.
Results indicated that nuances display an enhanced predictive validity in comparison to both facets and domains. Moreover, this finding is replicated across three culturally diverse samples, suggesting a potential universality to these observations. Furthermore, when looking at educational attainment, we found that differences in educational attainment led to minimal differences in personality traits at both the domain and nuance levels. However, educational attainment was better predicted through nuances than domains, again highlighting the utility of them.
Overall, this thesis presents evidence for the utility of nuances. It highlights the enhanced predictive validity of them and demonstrates how we can better understand trait-outcome associations too. Whilst it does not argue for the abolition or discontinuation of domains, it presents nuances as a valid, and useful, level of the personality hierarchy when investigating trait-outcome associations
What items assess: evidence, applications, and implications of narrow personality traits
No full textWhile personality research has traditionally focused on assessing a few broad traits
(e.g., the Big Five or HEXACO domains) and their constituent facets, mounting
evidence suggests the trait hierarchy extends to a still lower level: personality nuances.
These narrow traits, measured by one or a few items, capture more unique information
about individual differences than broad trait measures. Initial evidence of personality
nuances includes single items demonstrating validity criteria such as stability over
many years, inter-rater agreement, heritability, and unique etiological underpinnings,
as well as substantial retest reliability over short periods of time. However, the
systematic study of personality items remains a relatively nascent area of study.
This dissertation thus sought to examine items’ properties across a variety of topics,
including: replicating and extending extant findings of items’ validity and reliability,
investigating different techniques to maximize the amount of unique information
detected by items, and exploring the theoretical implications of items indexing very
narrow traits. Ultimately, these studies resulted in the development of a novel,
comprehensive, and non-redundant item pool that has now been administered in
numerous countries and languages using large multi-source samples. This body of
work offers a substantial contribution to our understanding of personality traits, with a
focus on maximizing efficiency and effectiveness of assessment
Measurement of antagonistic personality traits and their applications
Full text linkIn the field of personality research, the study of antagonistic traits – now often referred to as "dark" traits – has consistently been a focal point. Concurrently, the field has encountered persistent methodological challenges in researching these traits. These challenges include construct validity issues, overlapping definitions, and a reliance on predominantly self-report data to capture behaviours deviating from social norms. This thesis aims to evaluate the reliability and validity of existing Dark Triad measurements, to investigate overlapping concerns between Machiavellianism and psychopathy, and to develop a new measurement. Items for the new scale were selected based on definitions from subject matter experts, with an emphasis on ensuring that laypeople could clearly understand what each item assesses. The development process prioritizes retest reliability, self-other agreement, and factor specificity. Subsequently, the scale was utilized to predict benign and malicious envy and income, and explored its variations with demographic variables such as age, sex, and education. This body of work offers a comprehensive investigation into antagonistic traits, underscored by the highlighted necessity for multi-rater data in their measurement
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