Compilation and Validation of Two Short Forms to Measure HEXACO Dimensions in Elementary School Children.

Personality trait measures for children are rarely based on the HEXACO Model of Personality, although research using this framework could provide important insights into the structure and development of children's personalities. There is no HEXACO measure for elementary school children to date, and existing measures for older children seem inappropriate for this age group (e.g., due to some item content). We thus compiled two HEXACO-based short forms for measuring personality in elementary school children (8-10 years old) via parent reports. We applied a meta-heuristic item sampling algorithm (Ant Colony Optimization) in a training sample with 1,641 parent reports of 122 administered items. We selected a 54-Item Short Form comprising a latent facet structure and an 18-Item Ultra-Short Form comprising a correlated factors model for all six HEXACO dimensions but no facet structure. Both short forms showed good model fit in a holdout sample (n = 411) and sufficiently high re-test correlations after six months. Convergent and divergent validities for maximal performance measures and socio-emotional constructs (also measured six months after the initial personality assessment) were largely in line with theoretical assumptions. Overall, our study provides support for construct, re-test, and (predictive) criterion validity for the selected short forms.

"Show Me What You Got": The Nomological Network of the Ability to Pose Facial Emotion Expressions.

Just as receptive emotional abilities, productive emotional abilities are essential for social communication. Although individual differences in receptive emotional abilities, such as perceiving and recognizing emotions, are well-investigated, individual differences in productive emotional abilities, such as the ability to express emotions in the face, are largely neglected. Consequently, little is known about how emotion expression abilities fit in a nomological network of related abilities and typical behavior. We developed a multitask battery for measuring the ability to pose emotional expressions scored with facial expression recognition software. With three multivariate studies (n1 = 237; n2 = 141; n3 = 123), we test competing measurement models of emotion posing and relate this construct with other socio-emotional traits and cognitive abilities. We replicate the measurement model that includes a general factor of emotion posing, a nested task-specific factor, and emotion-specific factors. The emotion-posing ability factor is moderately to strongly related to receptive socio-emotional abilities, weakly related to general cognitive abilities, and weakly related to extraversion. This is strong evidence that emotion posing is a cognitive interpersonal ability. This new understanding of abilities in emotion communication opens a gateway for studying individual differences in social interaction.

Driving factors of individual differences in broad retrieval ability: Gr is more than the sum of its parts.

Broad retrieval ability (Gr) posits an essential factor of human cognitive abilities. Previous literature indicates Gr is best modeled as a higher-order factor model with lower-level factors such as ideational fluency (IF), word fluency (WF), expressional fluency (EF), or figural fluency (FF). However, the dimensionality of Gr is not well studied. Furthermore, it remains unclear whether specific retrieval affordances such as differing retrieval time periods (e.g., short vs. long) can be psychometrically separated from more general retrieval affordances. Such a distinction would imply differential associations between specific retrieval, general retrieval, and other cognitive abilities, which, in turn, depict a vital part of explanatory models of individual differences in Gr. To test these assumptions, we conducted a multivariate study (N = 331) and evaluated competing latent variable measurement models for a variety of Gr tests. We then regressed the best measurement model onto working memory capacity, secondary memory, mental speed, and crystallized intelligence in order to evaluate the distinctiveness of Gr. Our results suggest that no specific retrieval affordances with regard to time periods can be distinguished. A higher-order model, with a second-order Gr factor above three first-order factors (IF, WF, EF, and FF) fitted the data best, extending previous literature by increasing construct coverage through the implementation of FF. All covariates show incremental predictive validity, beyond their communality. Summarizing, our results endorse a perspective on Gr as a strong and discriminant factor of cognitive abilities that is not affected by time constraints, and show that Gr is more than a linear combination of its parts. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Ant colony optimization for parallel test assembly.

Ant colony optimization (ACO) algorithms have previously been used to compile single short scales of psychological constructs. In the present article, we showcase the versatility of the ACO to construct multiple parallel short scales that adhere to several competing and interacting criteria simultaneously. Based on an initial pool of 120 knowledge items, we assembled three 12-item tests that (a) adequately cover the construct at the domain level, (b) follow a unidimensional measurement model, (c) allow reliable and (d) precise measurement of factual knowledge, and (e) are gender-fair. Moreover, we aligned the test characteristic and test information functions of the three tests to establish the equivalence of the tests. We cross-validated the assembled short scales and investigated their association with the full scale and covariates that were not included in the optimization procedure. Finally, we discuss potential extensions to metaheuristic test assembly and the equivalence of parallel knowledge tests in general.

Public events knowledge in an age-heterogeneous sample: Reminiscence bump or bummer?

The reminiscence bump describes an increased recollection of autobiographic experiences made in adolescence and early adulthood. It is unclear if this phenomenon can also be found in declarative knowledge of past public events. To answer this question, we assessed public events knowledge (PEK) about the past 6 decades with a 120-item knowledge test across six domains in a sample of 1,012 Germans that were sampled uniformly across the ages of 30-80 years. General and domain-specific PEK scores were analyzed as a function of age-at-event. Scores were lower for public events preceding participants' birth and stayed stable from the age-at-event of 5-10 years onward. There was no significant peak in PEK in adolescence or early adulthood, arguing against an extension of the reminiscence effect to factual knowledge. We examined associations between PEK and relevant variables such as crystallized intelligence (Gc), news consumption, and openness to experience with structural equation models. Strong associations between PEK and Gc were established, whereas the associations of PEK with news consumption and openness were mainly driven by their link to declarative knowledge. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Emotional intelligence and emotion information processing: Proof of concept of a test measuring accuracy in discriminating emotions.

Emotion information processing (EIP) has been recently introduced as a new component of emotional intelligence. We present a task aiming at measuring a type of emotion information processing related to fine-grained discrimination of emotional expressions. We modified an existing task presenting morphed faces created from a blend of two prototypical emotional expressions. Participants' (N = 154) ability-EI, in particular emotion recognition, understanding and management, as well as intelligence were evaluated. Results show that all facets of EI independently predicted accuracy in the discrimination task and that emotion recognition was the strongest predictor. When controlling for emotion recognition level, we found that emotion understanding still predicted accuracy for less difficult stimuli. Results support the idea that individuals high in EI have higher emotion processing skills at the emotion perception stage of information processing and suggest that the task employed in the current study might measure more spontaneous processing of emotional expressions. Implications regarding the use of the current task as a new measure of the EIP component are discussed.

Resting-state brain signal complexity discriminates young healthy APOE e4 carriers from non-e4 carriers.

It is well established that the e4 allele of the APOE gene is associated with impaired brain functionality and cognitive decline in humans at elder age. However, it is controversial whether and how the APOE e4 allele is associated with superior brain function among young healthy individuals, thus indicates a case of antagonistic pleiotropy of APOE e4 allele. Signal complexity is a critical aspect of brain activity that has been associated with brain function. In this study, the multiscale entropy (MSE) of resting-state EEG signals among a sample of young healthy adults (N = 260) as an indicator of brain signal complexity was investigated. It was of interest whether MSE differs across APOE genotype groups while age and education level were controlled for and whether the APOE genotype effect on MSE interacts with MSE time scale, as well as EEG recording condition. Results of linear mixed models indicate overall larger MSE in APOE e4 carriers. This genotype-dependent difference is larger at high as compared with low time scales. The interaction effect between APOE genotype and recording condition indicates increased between-state MSE change in young healthy APOE e4 carriers as compared with non-carriers. Because higher complexity is commonly taken to be associated with better cognitive functioning, the present results complement previous findings and therefore point to a pleiotropic spectrum of the APOE gene polymorphism.

The Nomological Net of Knowledge, Self-Reported Knowledge, and Overclaiming in Children.

Research on self-reported knowledge and overclaiming in children is sparse. With the current study, we aim to close this gap by developing an overclaiming questionnaire measuring self-reported knowledge and overclaiming that is tailored to children. Moreover, we examine the nomological net of self-reported knowledge and overclaiming in childhood discussing three perspectives: Overclaiming as (a) a result of deliberate self-enhancement tendencies, (b) a proxy for declarative knowledge, and (c) an indicator of creative engagement. We juxtaposed overclaiming, as indicated by claiming familiarity with non-existent terms, and self-reported knowledge with fluid and crystallized intelligence, creativity, and personality traits in a sample of 897 children attending third grade. The results of several latent variable analyses were similar to findings known from adult samples: We found no strong evidence for any of the competing perspectives on overclaiming. Just like in adults, individual differences in self-reported knowledge were strongly inflated by overclaiming, and only weakly related to declarative knowledge.

The Road to Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions: How Common Practices in Scale Construction Hurt Validity.

Sound scale construction is pivotal to the measurement of psychological constructs. Common item sampling procedures emphasize aspects of reliability to the disadvantage of aspects of validity, which are less tangible. We use a health knowledge test as an example to demonstrate how item sampling strategies that focus on either factor saturation or construct coverage influence scale composition and demonstrate how to find a trade-off between these two opposing needs. More specifically, we compile three 75-item health knowledge scales using Ant Colony Optimization, a metaheuristic algorithm that is inspired by the foraging behavior of ants, to optimize factor saturation, construct coverage, or a compromise of both. We demonstrate that our approach is well suited to balance out construct coverage and factor saturation when constructing a health knowledge test. Finally, we discuss conceptual problems with the modeling of declarative knowledge and provide recommendations for the assessment of health knowledge.

Is Flexibility More than Fluency and Originality?

Flexibility (i.e., the number of categorically different ideas), fluency (i.e., the answer quantity), and originality (i.e., the quality of ideas) are essential aspects of the ability to think divergently. Theoretically, fluency and ideational flexibility tasks are akin to one another. However, flexibility was also considered to be uniquely related to working memory capacity due to the task requirements involved in generating diverse answers (e.g., self-monitoring, suppression, and category generation). Given that the role of working memory is strengthened in flexibility tasks relative to fluency and originality tasks, flexibility should be more strongly related with working memory. Additionally, mental speed should show a similar pattern of results because mental speed has been previously related to task complexity. Based on a sample of N = 409 adults (Mage = 24.01 years), we found in latent variable models that fluency/originality strongly predicts flexibility and accounts for 61% of its variance. Creative flexibility was unrelated to working memory and mental speed after controlling for fluency/originality. Additionally, the residual of a latent flexibility factor was unrelated to self-reported creative activities. We concluded that flexibility, as measured here, can be deemed primarily a method factor that did not show value over and above fluency/originality as assessed in traditional fluency and originality tasks. We discussed perspectives for disentangling trait and method variance in flexibility tasks.

Stop Worrying about Multiple-Choice: Fact Knowledge Does Not Change with Response Format.

Declarative fact knowledge is a key component of crystallized intelligence. It is typically measured with multiple-choice (MC) items. Other response formats, such as open-ended formats are less frequently used, although these formats might be superior for measuring crystallized intelligence. Whereas MC formats presumably only require recognizing the correct response to a question, open-ended formats supposedly require cognitive processes such as searching for, retrieving, and actively deciding on a response from long-term memory. If the methods of inquiry alter the cognitive processes involved, mean-changes between methods for assessing declarative knowledge should come along with changes in the covariance structure. We tested these assumptions in two online studies administering declarative knowledge items in different response formats (MC, open-ended, and open-ended with cues). Item difficulty clearly increases in the open-ended methods although effects in logistic regression models vary slightly across items. Importantly, latent variable analyses suggest that the method of inquiry does not affect what is measured with different response formats. These findings clearly endorse the position that crystallized intelligence does not change as a function of the response format.

What counts when heartbeats are counted.

Schandry's mental heartbeat tracking task is a widely used measure of interoception, assessing heartbeat perception. We classify the factors that contribute to performance on the task as (i) trait-like characteristics, (ii) expectation-related factors, and (iii) factors showing participants' task set. We recommend conducting further research to better understand what exactly the task measures.

Measuring parents' readiness to vaccinate themselves and their children against COVID-19.

To reach high vaccination rates against COVID-19, children and adolescents should be also vaccinated. To improve childhood vaccination rates and vaccination readiness, parents need to be addressed since they decide about the vaccination of their children. We adapted the 7C of vaccination readiness scale to measure parents' readiness to vaccinate their children and evaluated the scale in a long and a short version in two studies. The study was first evaluated with a sample of N = 244 parents from the German COVID-19 Snapshot Monitoring (COSMO) and validated with N = 464 parents from the Danish COSMO. The childhood 7C scale showed acceptable to good psychometric properties in both samples and explained more than 80% of the variance in vaccination intentions. Additionally, differences in parents' readiness to vaccinate their children against COVID-19 were strongly determined by their readiness to vaccinate themselves, explaining 64% of the variance. Vaccination readiness and intentions for children changed as a function of the children's age explaining 93% of differences between parents in their vaccination intentions for their children. Finally, we found differences in correlations of components with self- versus childhood vaccination, as well as between the children's age groups in the prediction of vaccination intentions. Thus, parents need to be targeted in specifically tailored ways, based on the age of their child, to reach high vaccination rates in children. The scale is publicly available in several languages (www.vaccination-readiness.com).

Training working memory for two years-No evidence of transfer to intelligence.

Working memory (WM) training has been proposed as a promising intervention to enhance cognitive abilities, but convincing evidence for transfer to untrained abilities is lacking. Prevalent limitations of WM training studies include the narrow assessment of both WM and cognitive abilities, the analysis of manifest variables subject to measurement error, and training dosages too low to likely cause changes in the cognitive system. To address these limitations, we conducted a 2-year longitudinal study to investigate the effects of working memory training on latent factors of working memory capacity, fluid intelligence and crystallized intelligence. One hundred twelve students initially attending 9th grade practiced a heterogenous set of validated WM tasks on a biweekly basis. A control group of 113 students initially attending 9th grade participated in the pretest and posttest. Broad and prototypical measures of fluid and crystallized intelligence served as measures of nearer and farer transfer. We found substantial and reliable training effects on the practiced WM tasks, as well as on a latent WM factor constituted by them. However, no transfer of training effects to fluid or crystallized intelligence were observed. These results add to the literature questioning the utility and validity of WM training as means of improving cognitive abilities. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Psychological models of development of idiopathic environmental intolerances: Evidence from longitudinal population-based data.

The origin of idiopathic environmental intolerances (IEIs) is an open question. According to the psychological approaches, various top-down factors play a dominant role in the development of IEIs. The general psychopathology model assumes a propensity towards mental ill-health (negative affectivity) increases the probability of developing IEIs. The attribution model emphasizes the importance of mistaken attribution of experienced somatic symptoms; thus, more symptoms should lead to more IEIs. Finally, the nocebo model highlights the role of expectations in the development of IEIs. In this case, worries about the harmful effects of environmental factors are assumed to evoke IEIs. We estimated cross-lagged panel models with latent variables based on longitudinal data obtained at two time points (six years apart) from a large near-representative community sample to test the hypothesized associations. Indicators of chemical intolerance, electromagnetic hypersensitivity, and sound sensitivity fit well under a common latent factor of IEIs. This factor, in turn, showed considerable temporal stability. However, whereas a positive association was found between IEIs and increased somatic symptoms and modern health worries six years later, the changes therein could not be predicted as hypothesized by the three psychological models. We discuss the implications of these results, as well as methodological aspects in the measurement and prediction of change in IEIs.

Sty in the Mind's Eye: A Meta-Analytic Investigation of the Nomological Network and Internal Consistency of the "Reading the Mind in the Eyes" Test.

The Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET) is the most popular adult measure of individual differences in theory of mind. We present a meta-analytic investigation of the test's psychometric properties (k = 119 effect sizes, 61 studies, ntotal = 8,611 persons). Using random effects models, we found the internal consistency of the test was acceptable (α = .73). However, the RMET was more strongly related with emotion perception (r = .33, ρ = .48) relative to alternative theory of mind measures (r = .29, ρ = .39), and weakly to moderately related with vocabulary (r = .25, ρ = .32), cognitive empathy (r = .14, ρ = .20), and affective empathy (r = .13, ρ = .19). Overall, we conclude that the RMET operates rather as emotion perception measure than as theory of mind measure, challenging the interpretation of RMET results.

Structural invariance of declarative knowledge across the adult lifespan.

The differentiation-dedifferentiation hypothesis of general cognitive ability has been widely studied, but comparable research on crystallized intelligence is scarce. To close this gap, we conducted an empirical test of the age differentiation hypothesis of declarative knowledge as proposed in Cattell's investment theory, which predicts that knowledge differentiates into diverse forms after compulsory education ends. Thereto, a cross-sectional sample of 1,629 participants aged 18-70 years (M = 45.3) completed a comprehensive knowledge test comprising 120 broadly sampled questions from 12 knowledge domains, as well as a measure of openness/intellect. To investigate age-related differences in the level and structure of knowledge, we performed invariance tests in local structural equation models. The results did not provide any evidence for age-related differentiation of declarative knowledge but indicated age-related differences in the mean structure. Higher levels in openness/intellect were associated with higher levels in knowledge but not with more differentiated structure of knowledge. Contrary to predictions of the investment theory, our results suggest that declarative knowledge is age invariant across major parts of the adult lifespan. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Psychopathy checklist: Screening version: A bifactor structure for forensic and community samples.

We evaluated competing measurement models for the Psychopathy Checklist: Screening Version (PCL:SV), one of the most widely used assessment instruments of psychopathy, which applies to clinical, forensic, and community samples. With four all-male community and forensic samples collected in Germany and the United States (nTotal = 853), we evaluated several measurement models of the PCL:SV, including correlated factor models, higher-order models, and bifactor models, on numerous psychometric criteria including model fit, factor saturation, and predictive utility. Across the samples, we found that a bifactor model had better fit to the data and explained comparable or more variance in measures of fluid intelligence, crystallized intelligence, and characteristics of antisocial personality disorder relative to the four correlated factors model. The best bifactor structure model differed between forensic and community samples. With both populations, in addition to a g factor which loaded on all items, a nested factor representing the lifestyle and antisocial facets was also modeled. With the forensic sample, an additional orthogonal nested factor representing the interpersonal facet was needed. We conclude that there is strong communality across the 12 PCL:SV items, which is best captured by a bifactor structure. However, the specific nesting structure differs due to whether or not the sample includes a forensic or community population. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Associations of the MAOA uVNTR genotype and 5-HTTLPR/rs25531 haplotype with psychopathic traits.

Previous studies have linked polymorphisms of the monoamine oxidase A (MAOA uVNTR) and serotonin transporter gene (5-HTTLPR) to individual differences in the expression of psychopathic traits, but findings remain inconsistent. One possible reason is that these studies have treated psychopathy as a unitary construct when there is accumulating evidence that there are variants or subtypes. We used a variable-centered and a person-centered approach by (a) examining putative genetic correlates of psychopathy across individuals and (b) comparing the frequencies of the MAOA uVNTR genotype and 5-HTTLPR/rs25531 haplotype between empirically derived subtypes of psychopathy, respectively. Notably, we included the often neglected rs25531 polymorphism, which is closely connected to the 5-HTTLPR. Based on data from male offenders and community volunteers, structural equation modeling indicated that the 5-HTTLPR/rs25531 haplotype was specifically associated with interpersonal deficits beyond the overarching psychopathy construct. Latent profile analysis revealed four clusters that were labeled non-psychopaths, sociopaths, callous-conning, and psychopaths. The low-activity variant of the 5-HTTLPR/rs25531 haplotype was significantly more frequent in the callous-conning compared to the non-psychopathic subtype. There were no effects for the MAOA uVNTR. The results illustrate that psychopathy should not be treated as a unitary construct but that there are variants with specific profiles of psychopathic traits, and that the 5-HTTLPR/rs25531 haplotype plays a role in the manifestation of interpersonal deficits from a variable-centered as well as from a person-centered view.

Structural differences in life satisfaction in a U.S. adult sample across age.

OBJECTIVE: Many studies investigating age-related mean differences in life satisfaction disregard potential differences in the structure of the life satisfaction construct. Because developmental tasks at different life stages vary and thus the salience of specific life domains (e.g., health, finances, relationships, etc.) might differ, life satisfaction might differ between age groups in its underlying structure and meaning. METHOD: To address this issue, we investigated the covariance structure of life satisfaction as measured by the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) and the domains of health satisfaction and financial satisfaction with local structural equation modeling. We analyzed data from 8341 U.S. citizens between the ages of 30 and 97 who participated in the Panel Study of Income Dynamics. Furthermore, we explored the association of respondents' health and financial status with life satisfaction. RESULTS: Both the SWLS and domain items were found to be invariant across age. The health and financial status accounted for small proportions of variance in overall life satisfaction and the respective domain satisfactions significantly at all ages. CONCLUSION: The current analysis indicates that across the adult age range, general life satisfaction is qualitatively the same, and health and financial satisfaction are equally integrated into overall life satisfaction.