Development of the Mentoring in Undergraduate Research Survey.

Here we present the development of the Mentoring in Undergraduate Research Survey (MURS) as a measure of a range of mentoring experienced by undergraduate science researchers. We drafted items based on qualitative research and refined the items through cognitive interviews and expert sorting. We used one national dataset to evaluate the internal structure of the measure and a second national dataset to examine how responses on the MURS related to theoretically relevant constructs and student characteristics. Our factor analytic results indicate seven lower order forms of mentoring experiences: abusive supervision, accessibility, technical support, psychosocial support, interpersonal mismatch, sexual harassment, and unfair treatment. These forms of mentoring mapped onto two higher-order factors: supportive and destructive mentoring experiences. Although most undergraduates reported experiencing supportive mentoring, some reported experiencing absence of supportive as well as destructive experiences. Undergraduates who experienced less supportive and more destructive mentoring also experienced lower scientific integration and a dampening of their beliefs about the value of research. The MURS should be useful for investigating the effects of mentoring experienced by undergraduate researchers and for testing interventions aimed at fostering supportive experiences and reducing or preventing destructive experiences and their impacts.

Testing whether the relations between sex and psychopathology are accounted for by structural morphometry in ABCD.

Sex differences in psychopathology are well-established, with females demonstrating higher rates of internalizing (INT) psychopathology and males demonstrating higher rates of externalizing (EXT) psychopathology. Using two waves of data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study (N = 6,778 at each wave), the current study tested whether the relations between sex and psychopathology might be accounted for by structural brain differences. In general, we found robust, relatively consistent relations between sex and structural morphometry across waves. Relatively few morphometric brain variables were significantly related to INT or EXT across waves, however, with very small effect sizes when present. Next, we tested the extent to which each morphometric brain variable could account for the associations of sex with INT and EXT psychopathology. We found a total of 26 brain regions that accounted for significant portions of the associations between sex and psychopathology across both waves (almost all related to EXT), although the effects present were very small. The current evidence suggests that in children aged 9-12, multiple whole-brain and regional brain variables appear to statistically account for small portions of the sex-psychopathology links, especially for externalizing. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Exploring the structure of fearlessness using self-report measures.

OBJECTIVE: The present study examined the hierarchical structure of self-reported fearlessness and compared this structure to external criterion measures. BACKGROUND: Fearlessness is often discussed in relation to clinical and personality research. However, there is a paucity of research focusing on its empirical structure, in particular with self-report measures. METHOD: Using a preregistered analytical approach, we employed Goldberg's 2006 "bass-ackward" factor analysis on self-reported trait fear and fearlessness items to uncover the hierarchical structure of the construct. The final sample consisted of 619 participants and 562 informants. RESULTS: By assessing fit statistics and interpretability of the factors, we found a six-factor model fit the data best. The six-factor solution emerged as comprehensive and included components labeled Assertiveness, Low Anxiety, Sociability, Recklessness, Openness to Action, and Adventurousness. Criterion variables measuring boldness, fear, anxiety, psychopathy, basic personality traits, and impulsivity, were correlated with the factor scores at each factor level of the model. Conclusions The findings from this study elucidate how trait fearlessness unfolds at varying levels and how these factors relate to and diverge from various outcomes.

Undergraduate Lay Theories of Abilities: Mindset, universality, and brilliance beliefs uniquely predict undergraduate educational outcomes.

Students' beliefs about their abilities (called "lay theories") affect their motivations, behaviors, and academic success. Lay theories include beliefs about the potential to improve intelligence (mindset), who (i.e., everyone or only some people) has the potential to be excellent in a field (universality), and whether reaching excellence in a field requires raw intellectual talent (brilliance). Research demonstrates that each of these beliefs influences students' educational experiences and academic outcomes. However, it remains unclear whether they represent distinct latent constructs or are susceptible to the "jangle fallacy" (i.e., different names given to the same underlying construct). We conducted a multiphase, mixed-methods study to 1) evaluate whether mindset, universality, and brilliance beliefs represent conceptually and empirically discriminable concepts, and 2) evaluate whether mindset, universality, and brilliance beliefs contribute unique explanatory value for both psychosocial (e.g., sense of belonging) and academic outcomes (e.g., course grades). To address these questions, we developed and collected validity evidence for a new measure of science and math undergraduates' lay theories, called the Undergraduate Lay Theories of Abilities (ULTrA) survey. Factor analyses suggest that mindset, brilliance, and universality are distinct and empirically discriminable constructs. Structural Equation Models indicate that each lay theory contributes unique predictive value to relevant outcomes.

Is Personality Pathology Ego-Syntonic? Self- and Meta-Perception of Maladaptive Personality Traits.

Research has challenged the assumption that personality pathology is "ego-syntonic" or perceived favorably and consistent with one's self-image. The present study employed a community sample (n = 401) to examine relations between self-rated maladaptive personality and liking of maladaptive traits in self and others as well as meta-perception of personality pathology (i.e., how likable participants believe others find maladaptive traits). In general, individuals with higher self-rated maladaptive traits provided higher ratings of the likability of these traits in themselves and others. However, as hypothesized, comparison of liking ratings for high scorers and the rest of the sample revealed that individuals who score high on most pathological personality traits do not "like" these traits (or rate others as "liking" them) but simply dislike them less. Results support a dimensional view of ego-syntonicity.

Development of a measure of aggressive behavior expectancies in adults: The Aggression Expectancy Questionnaire.

According to sociocognitive theories, aggression is learned and elicited through a series of cognitive processes, such as expectancies, or the various consequences that an individual considers more or less likely following aggressive behavior. The current manuscript describes a measurement development project that ultimately yielded a 16-item measure of positive and negative aggression expectancies suitable for use in adult populations. Across two content generation surveys, two preliminary item refinement studies, and three full studies, we took an iterative approach and administered large item pools to several samples and refined item content through a combination of empirical (i.e., factor loadings, model fit) and conceptual (i.e., content breadth, non-redundancy) considerations. The Aggression Expectancy Questionnaire displays a four-factor structure, as well as evidence of convergent and divergent validity with self-reported aggression and relevant basic (e.g., antagonism, anger) and complex (e.g., psychopathy) personality variables. It is posited that this type of cognitive mechanism may serve as an intermediary link between distal characterological predictors of aggression and its proximal manifestation, which is in line with several prominent theories of personality and may ultimately hold clinical utility by providing a framework for aggression interventions.

Development and Validation of the Negative Symptom Inventory-Psychosis Risk.

BACKGROUND AND HYPOTHESES: Early identification and prevention of psychosis is limited by the availability of tools designed to assess negative symptoms in those at clinical high-risk for psychosis (CHR). To address this critical need, a multi-site study was established to develop and validate a clinical rating scale designed specifically for individuals at CHR: The Negative Symptom Inventory-Psychosis Risk (NSI-PR). STUDY DESIGN: The measure was developed according to guidelines recommended by the NIMH Consensus Conference on Negative Symptoms using a transparent, iterative, and data-driven process. A 16-item version of the NSI-PR was designed to have an overly inclusive set of items and lengthier interview to support the ultimate intention of creating a new briefer measure. Psychometric properties of the 16-item NSI-PR were evaluated in a sample of 218 CHR participants. STUDY RESULTS: Item-level analyses indicated that men had higher scores than women. Reliability analyses supported internal consistency, inter-rater agreement, and temporal stability. Associations with measures of negative symptoms and functioning supported convergent validity. Small correlations with positive, disorganized, and general symptoms supported discriminant validity. Structural analyses indicated a 5-factor structure (anhedonia, avolition, asociality, alogia, and blunted affect). Item response theory identified items for removal and indicated that the anchor range could be reduced. Factor loadings, item-level correlations, item-total correlations, and skew further supported removal of certain items. CONCLUSIONS: These findings support the psychometric properties of the NSI-PR and guided the creation of a new 11-item NSI-PR that will be validated in the next phase of this multi-site scale development project.

Structural brain differences do not mediate the relations between sex and personality or psychopathology.

INTRODUCTION: Males and females tend to exhibit small but reliable differences in personality traits and indices of psychopathology that are relatively stable over time and across cultures. Previous work suggests that sex differences in brain structure account for differences in domains of cognition. METHODS: We used data from the Human Connectome Project (N = 1098) to test whether sex differences in brain morphometry account for observed differences in the personality traits neuroticism and agreeableness, as well as symptoms of internalizing and externalizing psychopathology. We operationalized brain morphometry in three ways: omnibus measures (e.g., total gray matter volume), Glasser regions defined through a multi-modal parcellation approach, and Desikan regions defined by structural features of the brain. RESULTS: Most expected sex differences in personality, psychopathology, and brain morphometry were observed, but the statistical mediation analyses were null: sex differences in brain morphometry did not account for sex differences in personality or psychopathology. CONCLUSIONS: Men and women tend to exhibit meaningful differences in personality and psychopathology, as well as in omnibus morphometry and regional morphometric differences as defined by the Glasser and Desikan atlases, but these morphometric differences appear unrelated to the psychological differences.

An empirically based power primer for laboratory aggression research.

Recent reviews suggest that, like much of the psychological literature, research studies using laboratory aggression paradigms tend to be underpowered to reliably locate commonly observed effect sizes (e.g., r = ~.10-.20, Cohen's d = ~0.20-0.40). In an effort to counter this trend, we provide a "power primer" that laboratory aggression researchers can use as a resource when planning studies using this methodology. Using simulation-based power analyses and effect size estimates derived from recent literature reviews, we provide sample size recommendations based on type of research question (e.g., main effect vs. two-way vs. three-way interactions) and correlations among predictors. Results highlight the large number of participants that must be recruited to reach acceptable (~80%) power, especially for tests of interactions where the recommended sample sizes far exceed those typically employed in this literature. These discrepancies are so substantial that we urge laboratory aggression researchers to consider a moratorium on tests of three-way interactions. Although our results use estimates from the laboratory aggression literature, we believe they are generalizable to other lines of research using behavioral tasks, as well as psychological science more broadly. We close by offering a series of best practice recommendations and reiterating long-standing calls for attention to statistical power as a basic element of study planning.

Searching high and low for meaningful and replicable morphometric correlates of personality.

Recent personality neuroscience research in large samples suggests that personality traits tend to bear null-to-small relations to morphometric (i.e., brain structure) regions of interest (ROIs). In this preregistered, two-part study using Human Connectome Project data (N = 1,105), we address the possibility that these null-to-small relations are due, in part, to the "level" (i.e., hierarchical placement) of personality and/or morphometry examined. We used a Five-Factor Model framework and operationalized personality in terms of meta-traits, domains, facets, and items; we operationalized morphometry in terms of omnibus measures (e.g., total brain volume), and cortical thickness and area in the ROIs of the Desikan and Destrieux atlases. First, we compared the patterns of effect sizes observed between these levels using mixed effects modeling. Second, we used a machine learning framework for estimating out-of-sample predictability. Results highlight that personality-morphometry relations are generally null-to-small no matter how they are operationalized. Relatively, the largest mean effect sizes were observed at the domain level of personality, but the largest individual effect sizes were observed at the facet and item level, particularly for the Ideas facet of Openness and its constituent items. The largest effect sizes observed were at the omnibus level of morphometry, and predictive models containing only omnibus variables were comparably predictive to models including both omnibus variable and ROIs. We conclude by encouraging researchers to search across levels of analysis when investigating relations between personality and morphometry and consider prioritizing omnibus measures, which appear to yield the largest and most consistent effects. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Uncovering the structure of antagonism.

Despite the advances in our understanding of the structure of personality and psychopathology (see Kotov et al., 2017), less attention has been paid to empirically examining their underlying facet structure. To gain a more nuanced understanding of the structure of personality, it is important to identify empirically derived lower order structures of these trait domains; thus, the present study sought to examine the structure of antagonism as represented by items from commonly used measures of pathological personality traits. Participants were recruited from a large, southeastern university (N = 532) and completed 234 antagonism items selected from seven measures of pathological personality traits. Criterion variables measuring interpersonal adjectives, aggression, substance use, depression, and anxiety were also collected. A series of factor analyses were conducted to examine the structure of antagonism at a range of specificities. A seven-factor solution emerged as being both comprehensive and reasonably parsimonious with factors labeled Callousness, Grandiosity, Domineering, Manipulation, Suspiciousness, Aggression, and Risk Taking. The present findings demonstrate how trait Antagonism unfolds at varying levels of specificity as well as how the emergent factors differentially relate to outcomes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Investigating the neural substrates of Antagonistic Externalizing and social-cognitive Theory of Mind: an fMRI examination of functional activity and synchrony.

Recently developed quantitative models of psychopathology (i.e., Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology) identify an Antagonistic Externalizing spectrum that captures the psychological disposition toward criminal and antisocial behavior. The purpose of the present study was to examine relations between Antagonistic psychopathology (and associated Five-Factor model Antagonism/Agreeableness) and neural functioning related to social-cognitive Theory of Mind using a large sample (N = 973) collected as part of the Human Connectome Project (Van Essen et al., 2013a). No meaningful relations between Antagonism/Antagonistic Externalizing and Theory of Mind-related neural activity or synchrony were observed (p < .005). We conclude by outlining methodological considerations (e.g., validity of social cognition task and low test-retest reliability of functional biomarkers) that may account for these null results, and present recommendations for future research.

Examining changes in personality following shamanic ceremonial use of ayahuasca.

The present study examines the association between the ceremonial use of ayahuasca-a decoction combining the Banistereopsis caapi vine and N,N-Dimethyltryptamine-containing plants-and changes in personality traits as conceived by the Five-Factor model (FFM). We also examine the degree to which demographic characteristics, baseline personality, and acute post-ayahuasca experiences affect personality change. Participants recruited from three ayahuasca healing and spiritual centers in South and Central America (N = 256) completed self-report measures of personality at three timepoints (Baseline, Post, 3-month Follow-up). Informant-report measures of the FFM were also obtained (N = 110). Linear mixed models were used to examine changes in personality and the moderation of those changes by covariates. The most pronounced change was a reduction in Neuroticism dzself-reportT1-T2 = - 1.00; dzself-reportT1-T3 = - .85; dzinformant-reportT1-T3 = - .62), reflected in self- and informant-report data. Moderation of personality change by baseline personality, acute experiences, and purgative experiences was also observed.

Fearless Dominance/Boldness Is Not Strongly Related to Externalizing Behaviors: An Item Response-Based Analysis.

There is substantial and ongoing debate regarding the centrality of Fearless Dominance/Boldness (FD/B) to psychopathic personality due, in part, to its generally weak relations with externalizing behaviors. In response to these findings, proponents of FD/B have offered two hypotheses. First, FD/B may have nonlinear associations with externalizing outcomes such that FD/B may lead to resilience at moderate levels, but an overabundance of FD/B will yield maladaptive behavioral outcomes. Second, FD/B may be related to antisocial outcomes when paired with high scores on other psychopathic traits such as self-centered impulsivity, meanness, or disinhibition. The current study tests these two possibilities using two large samples (Study 1: 787 undergraduates; Study 2: 596 Amazon's Mechanical Turk participants). An item response theory scoring approach particularly sensitive to curvilinearity was used to maximize our ability to find a true curvilinear effect, if present. No evidence in favor of the curvilinearity hypothesis was found. Only a single significant interaction predicting substance use was observed between boldness and meanness. These findings contribute to a growing literature raising concerns regarding the relevance of FD/B to psychopathy.

Does it matter where you're helpful? Organizational citizenship behavior from work and home.

Organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) are commonly studied in the organizational and occupational health literature, yet, current OCB measures inherently assume individuals are performing these behaviors while physically at work. However, recent technological advances have afforded employees greater flexibility to engage in work-related behaviors at home, begging the question of whether OCBs are also being performed from home and their distinction from traditional OCBs. We provide evidence that OCBs performed while physically at work (OCB-W; i.e., traditional OCBs) are conceptually and empirically distinct from OCBs performed while physically at home (OCB-H). In Study 1 (N = 292), we examine construct validity evidence for OCB-H with regard to its distinction from OCB-W and its unique nomological network. In Study 2, we further examine the distinction between OCB-H and OCB-W at the between- and within-person level using an experience sampling approach in a sample of 162 workers. Using results from multilevel confirmatory factor analysis, we show that between-person variance in OCB-H is considerably higher than for OCB-W, and that although OCB-H and OCB-W are strongly correlated at the between-person level, they are independent of one another at the within-person level. We also examine these two forms of OCB as parallel mediators of the relation between work engagement and work interfering with family. Results suggest OCB-H and OCB-W are indeed distinct in the strength of their relationships to work engagement and work interfering with family at between- and within-person levels. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

The quandary of covarying: A brief review and empirical examination of covariate use in structural neuroimaging studies on psychological variables.

Although covarying for potential confounds or nuisance variables is common in psychological research, relatively little is known about how the inclusion of covariates may influence the relations between psychological variables and indices of brain structure. In Part 1 of the current study, we conducted a descriptive review of relevant articles from the past two years of NeuroImage in order to identify the most commonly used covariates in work of this nature. Age, sex, and intracranial volume were found to be the most commonly used covariates, although the number of covariates used ranged from 0 to 14, with 37 different covariate sets across the 68 models tested. In Part 2, we used data from the Human Connectome Project to investigate the degree to which the addition of common covariates altered the relations between individual difference variables (i.e., personality traits, psychopathology, cognitive tasks) and regional gray matter volume (GMV), as well as the statistical significance of values associated with these effect sizes. Using traditional and random sampling approaches, our results varied widely, such that some covariate sets influenced the relations between the individual difference variables and GMV very little, while the addition of other covariate sets resulted in a substantially different pattern of results compared to models with no covariates. In sum, these results suggest that the use of covariates should be critically examined and discussed as part of the conversation on replicability in structural neuroimaging. We conclude by recommending that researchers pre-register their analytic strategy and present information on how relations differ based on the inclusion of covariates.

Understanding job satisfaction in the causal attitude network (CAN) model.

Job satisfaction researchers typically assume a tripartite model, suggesting evaluations of the job are explained by latent cognitive and affective factors. However, in the attitudes literature, connectionist theorists view attitudes as emergent structures resulting from the mutually reinforcing causal force of interacting cognitive evaluations. Recently, the causal attitudes network (CAN; Dalege et al., 2016) model was proposed as an integration of both these perspectives with network theory. Here, we describe the CAN model and its implications for understanding job satisfaction. We extend the existing literature by drawing from both attitude and network theory. Using multiple data sets and measures of job satisfaction, we test these ideas empirically. First, drawing on the functional approach to attitudes, we show the instrumental-symbolic distinction in attitude objects is evident in job satisfaction networks. Specifically, networks for more instrumental features (e.g., pay) show stable, high connectivity and form a single cluster, whereas networks regarding symbolic features (e.g., supervisor) increase in connectivity with exposure (i.e., job tenure) and form clusters based on valence and cognitive-affective distinction. We show these distinctions result in "small-world" networks for symbolic features wherein affective reactions are more central than cognitive reactions, consistent with the affective primacy hypothesis. We show the practical advantage of CAN by demonstrating in longitudinal data that items with high centrality are more likely to affect change throughout the attitude network, and that network models are better able to predict future voluntary turnover compared with structural equation models. Implications of this exciting new model for research and practice are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Examining hypothesized interactive and curvilinear relations between psychopathic traits and externalizing problems in an offender sample using item response-based analysis.

Fearless dominance (FD) generally manifests null to small relations with externalizing problems, leading some researchers to propose alternative paths by which FD features may relate to these problems. The current study provides a test of two possibilities, namely that FD (a) interacts statistically with self-centered impulsivity (SCI) such that FD is associated with externalizing problems only at high levels of SCI and (b) demonstrates curvilinear relations with externalizing problems such that FD is more strongly associated with these problems at high levels. We used a large correctional sample and item-response theory-related statistics to precisely estimate individuals' scores at the extremes of each major psychopathic trait. FD was not significantly associated with externalizing problems in interaction with SCI or at higher levels of FD, suggesting that psychopathic traits linked to boldness are not especially relevant to generalized externalizing behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Cortical morphometry of the five-factor model of personality: findings from the Human Connectome Project full sample.

This study is a replication of an existing large study (N = 507) on the surface-based morphometric correlates of five-factor model (FFM) personality traits. The same methods were used as the original study in another large sample drawn from the same population (N = 597) with results then being aggregated from both samples (N = 1104), providing the largest investigation into the neuroanatomical correlates of FFM personality traits to date. Clusters of association between brain morphometry and each FFM trait are reported. For neuroticism, agreeableness, openness and conscientiousness clusters of association were found in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex for at least one morphometric index. Morphometry in various other regions was also associated with each personality trait. While some regions found in the original study were confirmed in the replication and full samples, others were not, highlighting the importance of replicating even high-quality, well-powered studies. Effect sizes were very similar in the replication and whole samples as those found in the original study. As a whole, the current results provide the strongest evidence to date on the neuroanatomical correlates of personality and highlights challenges in using this approach to understanding the neural correlates of personality.