International Society for the Study of Individual Differences

Program 2009

Program 2009

1  Sunday 10-12: Paper Session 1: Behavioral Genetics

1.1  Gene-Environment Interaction in General Cognitive Ability (g) ? is Socioeconomic Status a Moderator?

M. Spengler, F.M. Spinath, J. Gottschling, Department of Psychology, Saarland University, Germany  
The interplay of genetic and environmental influences on interindividual differences in general cognitive ability (g) is complex and yet not fully understood. Especially in young children, environmental factors like socioeconomic status (SES) appear to play an important role in moderating genetic and environmental variance in intelligence. The present study is part of the ongoing twin study CoSMoS (Cognitive Ability, Self-Reported Motivation, and School Achievement; Spinath & Wolf, 2006), which includes data from 399 pairs of twins (138 monozygotic, 261 dizygotic). We conducted analysis of gene-environment (GxE) interaction using a continuous moderator variable (Purcell, 2002). Our findings indicate that SES modifies the genetic and environmental etiology of general cognitive ability in young children (aged 8 to 11 years). Results and implications for future research are discussed, especially in the context of other GxE studies on intelligence.

1.2  Sources of Variance in Personality Faces: A Twin Study of Self-Peer (DIS-) Agreement

Christian Kandler (Department of Psychology, Bielefeld University, Germany), Rainer Riemann, Frank M. Spinath  
We analyzed the etiology of common and specific variance in personality facets based on the five-factor model of personality using both self- and mean peer reports on NEO-PI-R facets. The data of 433 identical, 263 fraternal and 223 unmatched twins were analyzed using a hierarchical multiple-rater twin model to disentangle genetic and environmental domain-level trait, facet-specific trait, method and random error variance. Model-fit analyses suggested that about 63% of valid domain-level variance was due to genetic influence and 37% to specific environmental influence. Method effects on self-reports showed substantial genetic influence across all domains whereas method effects on mean peer reports did not. Genetic effects accounted for 64% of facet-specific trait variance. The results support the hypothesis that after correcting for method effects and measurement error the hierarchical structure of NEO-PI-R dimensions primarily reflects a genetic architecture.

1.3  Causes of Stability of Motivation from Early to Middle Childhood: A Longitudinal Genetic Analysis

J. Gottschling (Department of Psychology, Saarland University, Germany), F.M. Spinath, M. Spengler, B. Spinath  
Although behavioral genetic studies have repeatedly shown the important role of genetics for individual differences in motivational variables (e.g., Spinath et al., 2008), there is only limited knowledge about the relative importance of genetic and environmental effects on the stability and change of these variables for children between 8 to 11 years. As part of the ongoing twin study CoSMoS (Cognitive Ability, Self-Reported Motivation, and School Achievement; Spinath & Wolf, 2006), we investigated how the influence of genetic and environmental factors on different motivational variables (e.g., self-perceived ability, intrinsic values, fear of failure, hope for success) changed over a period of three years. Data from 399 pairs of twins (138 monozygotic, 261 dizygotic) was collected at the first measurement occasion in 2005. The second assessment is currently underway and will be completed in early 2009. Results of longitudinal genetic analyses will be presented and implications for future research will be discussed.

1.4  Predicting School Success: The role of Working Memory Capacity, Motivation and Environmental Factors

H. Weber, F.M. Spinath, J. Kray , Department of Psychology, Saarland University, Saarbruecken, Germany  
The main goal of the presented study is to determine the relative contribution of cognitive and non-cognitive variables (e.g., motivation, parenting and involvement) to the development of school success. Whereas the importance of general intelligence regarding school success is well understood, less is known about the role of Working Memory Capacity as a major cognitive predictor in the school context. Family and other environmental influences provide the setting in which achievement behavior develops and is carried out. Between family differences regarding parental support and involvement on the one hand as well as cultural influences (e.g., norms and values) can contribute beyond cognitive factors to individual differences in school success. The simultaneous assessment of Working Memory Capacity and non-cognitive variables in one study is a new approach aimed at identifying factors which influence school success in young children.
Our sample will contain 300 German primary school children aged between 9 and 10 years. The assessment of Working Memory Capacity will take place in the classroom. All non-cognitive variables will be measured via questionnaires answered by children and parents at home.
At ISSID 2009, we plan to report first results from this interdisciplinary study which is conducted in cooperation with the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Beijing, China).

1.5  Patterns and Sources of Adult Personality Development: Growth Curve Analyses in a Longitudinal Twin Study

Wiebke Bleidorn (Bielefeld University, Germany), Christian Kandler, Rainer Riemann, Alois Angleitner, Frank M. Spinath  
The present study examines the patterns and sources of 10-year stability and change of personality assessed by the five domains and 30 facets of the Revised NEO Personality Inventory. Phenotypic and biometric analyses were performed on data from 126 identical and 61 fraternal twins from the Bielefeld Longitudinal Study of Adult Twins (BiLSAT). Consistent with previous research, latent growth curve analyses revealed significant mean-level changes in domains and facets suggesting maturation of personality. There were also substantial individual differences in the growth trajectories of both domain and facet scales. Biometric extensions of growth curve models showed that 10-year stability and change in personality were influenced by both genetic as well as environmental factors. Regarding etiology of change, our analyses uncovered a more complex picture as findings suggest noticeable differences between traits with respect to the magnitude of genetic and environmental effects.

1.6  Assortative Mating for Social Attitudes

Rainer Riemann (University of Bielefeld, Germany)  
Previous research has shown substantial assortative mating for social attitudes. In our study the genetic and environmental basis of assortative mating for social attitudes is examined in a sample of 226 monozygotic and 168 twin pairs diagnosed as dizygotic. In addition to twins' reports on social attitudes, measures of Right Wing Authoritarianism, Social Dominance Orientation, and Conservatism were collected from the twins' partners and parents. An analysis of genetic and environmental correlations (based on a Cholesky decomposition) of data from twins and their partners informs about the genetic and environmental basis of mate selection and shows a very strong genetic effect on the correlation between the twins' partners. An extended twin family analysis (based on data from twins, twin parents, and twin partners) allows examining the sources of assortative mating. The discussion of results focuses on the comparison of the two analytic strategies.

2  Sunday: 14:30 - 16:30 Paper Session 2: Intelligence over the life span

2.1  Openness to New Experiences, Memory and Everyday Functioning in the Elderly

T. Nettelbeck (School of Psychology, University of Adelaide, Australia), T. Gregory, C. Wilson  
Anecdotal evidence suggests that elderly people who are more open to new experiences or willing to try new things may age more successfully. This study administered the NEO-Openness scale (as a measure of openness to new experience), the Wechsler Memory Scale - III (WMS-III) and the Everyday Problems Test (EPS) to a sample of 74 elderly adults aged 75 to 90 years. Results confirmed that higher Openness was associated with better performance on the EPS (r = .24, p < .05), and several indices of memory from the WMS-III, namely visual immediate memory (r = .27, p < .05), auditory immediate memory (r = .25, p < .05) and general delayed memory (r =.25, p < .05). Controlling for age reduced these correlations only marginally but controlling for differences in Raven's scores, measured five years previously, reduced correlations to non-significant levels. This suggests that the positive benefits of openness to new experiences reflect differences in reasoning abilities five years previously.

2.2  Relationships between Age, Processing Speed, Working Memory, Inhibition and Fluid Intelligence in Older Adults

V. Danthiir (CSIRO Human Nutrition, Australia), N. Burns, T. Nettelbeck, C. Wilson, G. Wittert  
Processing speed, working memory, and inhibition have all been postulated as mediating age-related differences in higher-order cognitive abilities such as reasoning. Given overlap between these cognitive constructs, it is unclear to what extent each construct is independently related to age-related differences in higher-order cognitive abilities. Furthermore, empirical evidence supports a multifactorial structure of processing speed but multiple speed factors have not generally been considered when assessing relationships between age-related slowing of processing speed and higher-order abilities. This cross-sectional study investigates these issues by examining together all constructs in an elderly sample. 391 (46.3% male) community-dwelling adults, aged 65-90 years (M = 73.1, SD = 5.5), with a mean of 12.9 years of education (SD = 3.8) completed a large battery of tasks. Structural equation modeling was conducted to examine relationships between fluid intelligence, processing speed, working memory, inhibition and age and various models are discussed. General processing speed was found not only to mediate the relationship between age and fluid intelligence indirectly through working memory, but also directly, in this study.

2.3  Age, Self-Estimates of Memory and Memory for Words, Faces, and Names

A. Hildebrandt (Department of Education, Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany), O. Wilhelm, K. Tauber, W. Sommer  
Subjective complaints about cognitive performance and their correspondence with actual performance decrements are rarely investigated. Subjective complaints about age decrements in memory for faces and names are pronounced and are reported at a rather young age. Self-estimates of ability and corresponding abilities are not strongly related. This is also valid for self-estimates of memory performance and memory performance. In an age heterogeneous sample (N=448, 18-88 years) self-estimates for face, name and word memory were collected. Participants subsequently worked on a battery of tasks including corresponding performance measures. Using multiple-group CFA for three age groups strong invariant measurement models for both, self-estimates and memory performance were established, respectively. Therefore the total sample was analyzed with respect to correlations between self-estimates and performance. Self-estimates for face memory and for word memory were correlated with corresponding performance measures (.30-.32 respectively). The correlation within the name domain failed to reach significance. Additional results with respect to potentially moderating or mediating self-reports and abilities will be reported. Harmful "not seeking memory training when objectively indicated" and protective "forgetting that you forget" consequences of the low relations between self-estimates and abilities will be discussed.

2.4  IQ in Childhood and Atherosclerosis in Middle-age: 40 year Follow-up of the Newcastle Thousand Families Cohort Study

Beverly A. Roberts (Centre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology, Department of Psychology, University of Edinburgh, UK), G. David Batty, Ian J. Deary, Louise Parker, Nigel Unwin, Mark S. Pearce  
Objective: Higher childhood intelligence is associated with lower risk of developing coronary heart disease (CHD) in later life. We examined the association between childhood intelligence and intima-media thickness (IMT), a marker of atherosclerosis, to investigate gender differentials in this association and its potential mechanisms. Methods: Data were taken from members of the Newcastle Thousand Families Study, a prospective cohort study of all 1142 births in the city of Newcastle in May and June 1947, who took an IQ test at 11 years and participated in a medical examination and lifestyle assessment at age 50 years. Results: Individuals with higher childhood IQ had lower levels of intima-media thickness (IMT) in middle-age. For every standard deviation increase in childhood IQ, IMT decreased by 9.35mm (95% CI=-17.98, -0.73) in men and by 9.83mm (95% CI=-19.29, -0.39) in women. Adjustment for a range of covariates increased the effect in women (?=-12.25, 95% CI=-21.12, -0.39) and slightly attenuated the effect in men (?=-7.84, 95% CI=-17.58, 1.90). Conclusions: Higher childhood IQ was associated with lower levels of intima-media thickness in adult men and women.

2.5  Consequences of Grade Retention for Later Life: A Forty-Year Longitudinal Study

Daniela S. Schalke (Research Unit for Educational Measurement and Applied Cognitive Science, University of Luxembourg), Martin Brunner, Romain Martin  
Grade retention of students in school is a controversial issue. Retaining a student is a pedagogical measure that is supposed to improve both the student's academic achievements and social and emotional adjustment. Most empirical studies, however, did not find positive effects on academic achievements and showed even negative effects on the social and emotional adjustment of retained students. Although some studies report long-term effects of retention until the end of students' school careers, little is known about the long-term consequences of grade retention for later life. The present longitudinal study examines the effects of retention on key life out-comes over a 40 year time-span. Data were obtained from a representative sample of over 600 persons who participated in two waves of data collection when they aged 12 years and 52 years, respectively. We investigated the long term effects of grade retention on highest level of education completed, socio-economic status as well as general and specific cognitive abilities. Meaningful relations were found between retention and the life outcome variables even when cognitive abilities and academic achievement at the age of 12 were controlled for. Implications for educational practice as well as socio-cognitive development are discussed.

2.6  Inter- and Intraindividual Variability in Cognitive Abilities and Student Achievement

Gizem Hueluer (Institute for Educational Progress, Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany), O. Wilhelm  
Research on cognitive abilities is usually restricted to the analysis of interindividual differences in a variety of cognitive tasks. The relation between traditional cognitive abilities and student achievement is a critical and sensible topic in educational research. Questions regarding this relation are usually addressed from an interindividual differences perspective. In this study we are concentrating on change in working memory capacity (WMC) and student achievement in 9th graders over the course of two years. The sample consists of 196 9th graders attending different secondary school types. The students participate every 14 days in a 2 h testing session and complete 44 measurement points per participant. In each testing session participants complete two blocks of automatically generated parallel tests of three working memory tasks (N-back, Alpha-span, Memory updating), student achievement tests in German (Mother tongue for most participants) and Mathematics. Additionally participants complete a variety of questionnaires on school-related behavior and achievement related personality traits. We will report preliminary results from the first year focusing on the structure of individual differences at baseline, the growth and change patterns of WMC and student achievement and whether there are causal effects of WMC or self report constructs on student achievement.

3  Sunday: 16:30-17:30 Paper Session 3: New approaches to intelligence

3.1  Viewing Comprehension: A New Ability or a Composite of Existing Constructs?

U. Schroeders (Institute for Educational Progress, Humboldt-University Berlin, Germany), O. Wilhelm, N. Bucholtz  
The ability to derive valid conclusions and to comprehend complex material is essential for reasoning and knowledge acquisition. Comprehension tests are unnecessarily restricted to texts, sometimes enriched with graphs, tables or figures. We created comprehension tests based on educational video materials. Short video sequences were followed by a number of comprehension questions. Research questions were whether or not viewing comprehension a) works fine psychometrically, b) is perfectly related with reading comprehension, and c) can be regarded as a linear function of established constructs. In study 1, 216 students worked on natural sciences viewing and reading comprehension tests and completed sciences knowledge tests and three fluid intelligence measures. Performance in both comprehension tasks is essentially perfectly correlated. Comprehension ability in a science context is a linear function of decontextualized reasoning and domain specific knowledge. In study 2, 442 participants completed reading, listening, and viewing comprehension tasks for English as a foreign language. The results show high correlations among the latent factors. Relations with fluid and crystallized intelligence are high but far from perfect. We conclude that viewing comprehension tests work fine as a new method in the assessment of domain specific comprehension.

3.2  Openness, Fluid, and Crystallized Intelligence: A Different Model

M. Ziegler, Psychology Institute, Humboldt Universität Berlin, Germany M. Heene, Psychology Institute, Ludwig-Maximilians Universität MŸnchen, Germany W. Schneider, Psychology Institute, University Würzburg, Germany J. Asendorpf, Psychology Institute, Humboldt Universität Berlin, Germany M. Bühner, Psychology Institute, Ludwig-Maximilians Universität MŸnchen, Germany
Openness to experience is often regarded as a moderator, influencing the relationship between fluid and crystallized intelligence. Two studies were conducted here to test a different model in which fluid intelligence acts as a mediator between openness and crystallized intelligence. It is argued that Openness only leads to greater accumulated knowledge if people employ reasoning when encountering new information. In study 1 data from the LOGIC study were used. In this longitudinal study N=239 children were assessed at the age of 4, 10, and 12. Results show that openness at the age of 4 predicts knowledge at the age of 12. This relationship is fully accounted for by fluid intelligence. In a second study, openness and fluid intelligence were assessed on a facet level in a sample of N=180 students. Results showed that (a) openness as measured by the facets fantasy, ideas, actions, and values predicts verbal knowledge and (b) that this relationship is fully mediated by verbal reasoning. The present findings support the above stated idea that fluid intelligence acts as a mediator between openness and crystallized intelligence and are discussed in the light of existing theorie.

3.3  Switching between Three Tasks: Relationships with Personality, Intelligence, Anxiety, and Level of Arousal

Edward Necka (Institute of Psychology, Jagiellonian University, Krak—w, Poland), Joanna Rusinska, Maciej Taraday  
Task switching requires efficient cognitive control; hence, it is costly in terms of response latency and probability of error. Usually the performance characteristics are poorer in the switch condition compared to the repetition condition. In our presentation, we will focus on relationships between magnitude of switch costs and a few dimensions of individual differences. As to general intelligence, the literature is not conclusive concerning the question whether highly intelligent people pay lesser switching costs. They should since intelligence seems to be rooted in efficient cognitive control; however, there are mixed results concerning this issue. As to personality, anxiety, and arousal, the literature does not say almost anything concerning relationships between these dimensions and magnitude of switch costs, although there are theoretical reasons to expect some links out there. Results of two studies will be presented (N=70 and N=90). The methods are: Ravens's matrices, EPQ-R, STAI, and our own scale of arousal. Switch costs are assessed with a computerized task allowing study of how people manage to perform three tasks in an unpredictable manner.

3.4  Are Auditorily Intelligent People also Socially Intelligent?

K. Seidel (Department of Aviation and Space Psychology, German Aerospace Center, Germany), H.-M. Süß, S. Weis  
Auditory/musical giftedness has often been associated with social abilities. Against the background of assumed links between auditory ability and social functioning, it is surprising that no psychometric research has related social intelligence to auditory intelligence. Emotions research studies dealing with social/emotional cues in the voice are exceptions. This paper investigates the relationship between auditory and social intelligence by focusing on their common parts, the social/emotional auditory abilities. The sample involved 175 participants aged between 23 and 40 years who worked on a revised and complemented form of the Stankov and Horn (1980) auditory intelligence tasks. Social intelligence was assessed by the performance-based Magdeburg Test of Social Intelligence (Süß, Seidel, & Weis, 2008) which measures social understanding, memory, and perception applying textual, audio, photographic, and video-based stimuli. Additionally, subjects completed a musical experience questionnaire. The findings show that auditory speech tasks are more highly correlated with social intelligence than auditory nonverbal tasks. The correlation was particularly strong between social memory and auditory speech tasks. Musical experience was not consistently correlated with social intelligence. Conclusively, people who are good at perceiving, memorizing and reasoning with regard to speech dealing with non-social topics score significantly higher than average on aspects of social intelligence.

4  Sunday 16:30 - 17:30: Paper Session 4: Affective Processes

4.1  Automatic Processing of Verbal and Nonverbal Emotional Stimuli in Alexithymia

B. Szymura, K. Czernecka, D. Asanowicz, M. Wierzcho Institute of Psychology, Jagiellonian University, Poland  
According to some theories, emotional information or emotional experience can be represented on different levels and in different codes. Visual code is considered fundamental, inborn and simplest while verbal code is acquired and developed with time, allowing more subtle and sophisticated representations to be built. A number of studies were aimed at examining possible differences in processing of visual and verbal emotional information by alexithymics (i.e. individuals having difficulties with emotional processing). It was suggested that the deficit is general as it exhibits itself while processing emotional stimuli in both visual (e.g. facial expressions) and verbal code (e.g. language tags). We carried out a similar comparison, but involving fast, involuntary and automatic responses to such stimulation. We used carefully preselected material (emotional words, pictures of emotional expressions) in a number of widely used procedures (e.g. dot-probe task) to assess automatic processing of theirs by alexithymic individuals. The pattern of results was expected to be different from the one observed in previous experiments involving controlled processing; although verbal stimuli may still cause difficulties, processing of non-verbal information should remain intact, being the most basic and primarily automatized. The data are currently being analyzed.

4.2  The Emotional Stroop Interference in Alexithymic Individuals

D. Asanowicz (Institute of Psychology, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland), K. Czernecka, B. Szymura, M. Wierzcho  
Many studies confirm that high levels of trait alexithymia result in an impairment of emotional information processing. Nevertheless, few were focused on early stages of cognitive processing that occur largely involuntarily and outside the awareness. Such data is in demand, as it is possible that alexithymic deficit does not manifest itself when emotional stimuli are automatically processed and is in fact limited to conscious level only. The emotional Stroop test was acknowledged to be a useful tool in such investigations yet the results obtained so far with its use are inconclusive, mostly due to methodological constraints. We attempted to clarify the matter, trying to overcome some of the limitations of preceding studies. In order to minimize the influence of confounding factors, the classic version of the task and pretested stimuli were used and the participants were drawn from a highly alexithymic non-clinical population (soldiers). It was expected that interference effect will be influenced by the level of alexithymia, but the question whether the effect will be stronger (sensitization towards emotional stimuli) or weaker (indifference to emotional stimuli) for such individuals compared to non-alexithymics remained open as both possibilities are partially supported by previous findings. The data are currently being analyzed.

4.3  Why Gamblers Always Win: An Examination of the Link between Impulsive Personality and Gambling Behaviour

P.J. O'Connor (School of Arts and Sciences, University of Notre Dame, Australia), C.J. Jackson  
Research tends to indicate that trait Impulsivity and Problem Gambling are related; however, the nature of this relationship remains unclear. In this study, a moderated-mediated model of personality precursors to problem gambling was tested. Specifically, it was suggested that Impulsivity indirectly predicts gambling via the socio-cognitive dimension of Cooperativeness (an indicator of social competence), but also interacts with this variable to directly predict gambling behaviour. Participants were 260 adults who claimed to gamble at least occasionally. In accordance with the hypothesis, results indicated a significant indirect effect between Impulsivity and Gambling, and also indicated that this effect was stronger at high levels of Impulsivity (conditional indirect effect). Results are discussed in terms of development of problem gambling, and suggestions are offered regarding the treatment and prevention of problem gambling.

5  Sunday 16:30 - 17:30: Paper Session 5: Interpersonal Processes

5.1  Neuroticism and Extraversion Moderate Effects of Marital Status on Life Satisfaction

Peter Borkenau (Department of Psychology, Martin-Luther University, Halle, Germany), Marko Paelecke  
Testing reinforcement sensitivity theory, we studied whether extraversion and neuroticism moderated effects of marital status on life satisfaction, using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel, a household survey started in 1984 and involving more than 10,000 persons living in Germany. Each year participants indicated their marital status and life satisfaction. Moreover, measures of the Big Five were administered once in 2005. This allowed studying main effects of personality and marital status on life satisfaction, as well as personality-related differences in effects of marital status on life satisfaction. Out of 21,100 participants: (a) 2,067 entered the studied unmarried, married during the study, and remained married; (b) 1,462 were divorced during the study and did not remarry; and (c) 718 entered the study married, were widowed, and did not remarry. Persons scoring high on neuroticism and introverts were less happy than emotionally stable persons and extraverts. More interestingly, hierarchical linear modeling showed that these differences grew stronger following changes in marital status, to the effect that divorce and death of spouse had persistent negative effects on the life satisfaction of emotionally unstable but not of stable persons. Low Neuroticism operated as a buffer from negative effects of adverse life events on life satisfaction.

5.2  Why Are Narcissists So Charming at First Sight? Decoding the Narcissism-Popularity Link at Zero Acquaintance

Mitja D. Back (Department of Psychology, University of Leipzig, Germany), Stefan C. Schmukle, Boris Egloff  
Based on a realistic behavioral approach, we show that narcissists are popular at zero acquaintance and explain why this is the case. In Study 1, a group of psychology freshmen (/N/ = 73) judged each other based on brief self-introductions using a large round-robin design (2,628 dyads). Three main findings were revealed: First, narcissism leads to popularity at first sight. Second, the aspects of narcissism that are most maladaptive in the long-run (exploitativeness/entitlement) proved to be most attractive at zero acquaintance. Third, an examination of observable verbal and nonverbal behaviors as well as aspects of physical appearance provided an explanation for why narcissists are more popular at first sight. Results were confirmed using judgments of uninvolved perceivers under three different conditions for which the amount of available information was varied systematically: (a) full information (video and sound, Study 2, /N /= 95), (b) nonverbal information only (video only, Study 3, /N /= 68), or (c) physical information only (still photograph of clothing, Study 4, /N /= 45). These findings have important implications for understanding the inter- and intrapersonal dynamics of narcissism.

5.3  Trait Empathy and Altruistic Behavior: The Moderating Effects of Behavioral Cost and Choice

Eamonn Ferguson (School of Psychology, University of Nottingham, UK)  
Individual differences in empathy have long been considered within psychological theory as a key determinant of altruistic behavior. However, other theories in psychology (e.g., negative state relief model)- as well as economics and biology-state that empathy is not important, instead emphasizing egoistic motivations. For human altruism both cost to the individual and the choice to act are key features. To reconcile the two positions on empathy (required or not-required for altruism) a theoretical model is advanced whereby empathic traits are hypothesized, in a choice phase, to orient attention towards helping. Subsequently empathy is envisaged to predict low cost helping and egoistic traits to predict high cost helping. Davis' multidimensional index of trait empathy was completed across 3 experiments (Ns = 200, 200, 60) manipulating cost to the individual, choice and altruistic versus egoistic orientation and assessing behavioral choice and responses to experimental lotteries. The consistent pattern of results indicated that cognitive empathy oriented people towards helping. Affective empathy and hedonism were shown to predict low cost helping, with high cost helping predicted by the egoistic motivation of benevolence (benefits both recipient and donor). Implications for theoretical models of altruism and role of individual difference within those models are discussed.

5.4  Mechanisms of the National Character Stereotype: How People in Six Neighboring Countries of Russia Describe Themselves and the Typical Russian

Anu Realo (University of Tartu and The Estonian Center of Behavioral and Health Sciences, Estonia), Jüri Allik, Jan-Erik Lönnqvist, Markku Verkasalo, Anna Kwiatkowska, Liisi Kššts, Maie KŸtt, Rasa Barkauskiene, Alfredas Laurinavicius, Konstantin Karpinski, Alexandr Kolyshko, Sandra Sebre, Viesturs Renge  
Altogether, 1,448 individuals from six neighboring countries of Russia in the Baltic Sea region (Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Belarus) described a "typical" member of their own nation and a "typical" Russian, as well as rated their own personality "I am É"), using the same set of 30 National Character Survey (NCS) items. Results suggest that national character stereotypes are indeed widely shared and temporally stable, but are, nevertheless, unsystematically related to assessed personality traits. Agreement between national auto-stereotypes and assessed personality traits was either positive (Belarus), strongly negative (Lithuania and Poland), or completely absent (Estonia, Finland, and Latvia). Although members of the six nations studied had a relatively similar view of the Russian national character, this view was only moderately related with the Russian auto-stereotype. National character stereotypes about one's own nation appear to be formed in contrast to a dominant neighboring nation or to people's self-rated personality traits: the typical ingroup or outgroup member is portrayed in less socially desirable terms than people's ratings of their own personality.

6  Monday 10-12: Paper Session 6 : Experimental measures of cognitive processes

6.1  Individual Differences in Cognitive Control: The Role of Psychoticism and Working Memory in Set-Shifting

A. J. Cooper (Department of Psychology, Goldsmiths, University of London, UK), L. D. Smillie, I. J. Tharp, E. Pelling  
Set-shifting refers to a process of cognitive control which is shown through flexible behavioural adaptation to changes in task parameters or demands, such as the switching of an explicit rule (extra-dimensional rule shifting) or the reversal of a reinforcement contingency (reversal-learning). Set-shifting deficits are widely documented in specific neuropsychological disorders, but seldom investigated in relation to normally-occurring individual differences. In a sample of healthy adults (N = 78, 28 % male), we showed that Working Memory and trait Psychoticism have independent involvement in extra-dimensional rule shifting as measured using an analogue of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test. Only Psychoticism, however, was involved in reversal-learning, as assessed using a recent modification of the Iowa Gambling Task. Individual differences in extra-dimensional rule shifting were explained in terms of rule abstraction speed, while individual differences in reversal-learning were explained in terms of response perseveration. These results clarify component processes in different forms of set-shifting, and highlight the role of individual differences, especially personality, in cognitive control.

6.2  Mental Rotation of 2- and 3-Dimensional Objects: Sex Differences, Effects of Training and Changes in Cortical Activity

Aljoscha C. Neubauer (University of Graz, Austria), Andreas Fink  
The well-documented sex difference in mental rotation favouring males has been shown to emerge only for 2-dimensional presentations of 3-dimensional objects, but not with actual 3-dimensional objects or with augmented reality presentations of three-dimensional objects. Training studies using computer games like Tetris or Blockout have demonstrated training effects on mental rotation performance. Here we wanted to study the combined effect of a two-week mental rotation training (including a variety of rotation tasks from psychometric intelligence tests as well as Tetris) on 2-dimensional vs. 3-dimensional versions of a classic Shepard-Metzler task (presented in a pretest-training-posttest design) and their accompanying cortical activation patterns assessed via EEG. For reasons of comparison two additional tasks drawing on aspects of math competence (charts, subtractions) were presented during pretest and posttest. A preliminary analysis of the behavioral results in the currently tested sample of 55 adolescents (around 15 years of age) reveals clear training effects on both 2- and 3-dimensional mental rotation performance (as operationalized by speed and accuracy). Training effects were also observed for the subtraction but not for the chart task. Training effects appear to be weakly moderated by participants' sex, particularly during 2-dimensional mental rotation.

6.3  Strategy Shifts as Indicator for Intelligence: An Eye-Movement analysis for Analogical Reasoning

Gudrun Wesiak & Wolfgang Krenn Department of Psychology, University of Graz, Austria  
This study investigates the effects of item difficulty and individual solution strategies on analogical reasoning performance. Twenty-eight university students processed 24 geometric matrices (with eight answer alternatives each) while their eye-movements were recorded. Item difficulty was varied systematically by combining the three problem components difficulty (low/high), number (2/3/4), and ambiguity (low/high) of rules. The analysis of fixation frequencies and scan paths showed an effect of the item components as well as differences between low and high scoring participants (split at the test score Median). Especially for difficult item components, high scoring participants displayed a stronger increase of (a) the fixation frequency per item, (b) the proportion of fixations on the nine matrix cells (as compared to the answer alternatives), (c) alternation latency (time to the first fixation on the alternatives), and (d) the proportion of systematic scan-paths (number of fixations falling in predefined solution patterns). In other words, they seem to adapt their solution behaviour to item difficulty, whereas low scoring participants show significantly smaller changes in their behaviour. The results suggest that the successful solution of analogical reasoning tasks is not only due to inter-individual differences in strategy, but also to intra-individual strategy shifts.

6.4  Can Auditory Tests Measure General Speediness?

Ian T. Zajac, Nicholas R. Burns, Vanessa Danthiir and Ted Nettelbeck School of Psychology, University of Adelaide, Australia
Very little research has explored whether broad cognitive abilities persist when tests are presented via modalities other than visual; such as auditory. The abilities referred to are those identified in current taxonomies of human intelligence such as Gf-Gc theory and the issue is of principal interest because the extent to which these abilities reflect general cognitive processes is not entirely evident. This research explored whether the broad ability General Speediness (Gs) could be measured using auditory tests. To achieve this, a series of auditory Gs tests were developed so as to be analogous to existing visual measures; such as Symbol Digit and Number Comparisons.
Undergraduate university students (N=180) completed a battery of tests including the new auditory tests, a series of Reaction Time tasks (visual and auditory), and existing visual Gs marker tests. Exploratory factor analysis showed that the auditory and visual RT tasks loaded on a single RT factor, which correlated moderately with a factor defined by the new auditory and existing visual Gs tasks. These results provide preliminary evidence that Gs can be measured auditorily, and suggest that other second stratum abilities might also be measurable with specially designed auditory tests.

6.5  Mental Ability and ERP Components: P300 and Mismatch Negativity for Frequency and Duration Discrimination

Stefan J. Troche, Institute for Psychology, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland Michael E. Houlihan, Department of Psychology, St. Thomas University, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada Robert M. Stelmack, School of Psychology, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Thomas H. Rammsayer, Institute for Psychology, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland  
Previous research reported an association between mental ability (MA) and temporal information processing on the behavioral level of information processing. To the best of our knowledge, on the level of event-related potentials (ERPs), the relation of MA to temporal information processing has not been investigated up to now. Therefore, the present study compared the relations of MA to ERPs derived from a frequency and a duration oddball task in 61 female and 12 male participants (mean age ± SD: 19.6 ± 4.2 years). P300 and mismatch negativity (MMN) were analyzed to obtain information about speed of information processing (P300 and MMN latencies) as well as duration and frequency discrimination abilities (MMN amplitudes). Frequency and duration P300 latencies explained large variance of MA commonly but also independently of each other. Duration and frequency MMN amplitudes predicted the quality of the behavioral discrimination process and MA. The outcome of the present study emphasizes the crucial role of both mental speed and discrimination ability for the understanding of human intelligence. Furthermore, our results encourage ERP research to investigate more dimensions of information processing since both temporal and frequency ERP measures contributed to the explanation of MA.

6.6  The Efficiency of Attentional Networks in Bilingual Individuals: Evidence from the Lateralized Attention Network Test

Anna Marzecov‡ (Jagiellonian University, Institute of Psychology, Kraków, Poland), Dariusz Asanowicz  
Bilingual individuals, in comparison with monolinguals, exhibit a more effective mechanism of language control due to the need of continual differentiating and switching between two languages. A study examined how the consecutive use of this particular control mechanism enhances a general functioning of Attentional Networks. A purely non-verbal task - the lateralized version of Attention Network Test (ANT) was used in order to measure an efficiency of Executive, Orienting and Alerting networks in each cerebral hemisphere separately. The aim of an experiment was: 1) to replicate the study of Costa et al. (2008), which revealed more efficient conflict resolution and reduced switching cost between the different types of trials in bilinguals in comparison with monolinguals; 2) to examine whether this control benefit is generalized to other mechanisms of cognitive control by analyzing the cost component of orienting; 3) to investigate the impact of training on magnitude of conflict cost in between groups by using a longer and more difficult task than one previously used; 4) to explore a potentially occurring alerting effect. In addition, the study attempted to cast a light on a controversial topic of hemispheric asymmetries in bilinguals by indicating laterality patterns of non-verbal cognitive functions.

7  Monday 12:00 - 13:00 Paper Session 7: Interrelationships of cognitive and affective processes (4)

7.1  A Meta-Analysis of the Relationship of Personality and Academic Performance: Complex, Dynamic and a Lot More than g

Arthur Poropat (Department of Management, Griffith University, Australia)  
This report is a description of a meta-analysis of personality-academic performance relationships, based on the Five-Factor Model (FFM), with cumulative sample sizes ranging to over 70,000. The FFM dimension of Conscientiousness had the strongest correlation with academic performance, but correlations with other FFM dimensions were also found. Controlling for intelligence had little effect on these correlations and when fairly compared with intelligence, the FFM dimension of Conscientiousness had similar validity as a predictor of academic performance. This is despite the fact that the FFM was developed as a summary of personality, while most intelligence measures were developed on the basis of academic performance or in order to predict it. Previous authors proposed that the interaction between motivational aspects of personality and changing academic performance demands would moderate relationships between personality and academic performance, so the moderating effects of academic level (primary, secondary and tertiary) and age were examined. Both had significant moderating effects on correlations with each of the FFM dimensions, and some interactions between these moderators were found. It was concluded that the relationship of personality with academic performance is important, but it is also complex and dynamic, precluding simple extrapolation of results from one age group to another.

7.2  Individual Differences in Confidence Judgments, their Determinates and their Role in Academic Outcomes of Primary School Children

Sabina Kleitman (School of Psychology, The University of Sydney, Australia), Tanya Moscrop  
Prior research into the area of metacognition has demonstrated robust individual differences in confidence ratings that adults assign to their answers during test-taking the Self-confidence factor. No studies, however, have demonstrated evidence of this construct among children and its role in school outcomes. There is also scarce evidence regarding the determinants of confidence levels. The current study investigates the existence of the Self-confidence factor in children aged 9-12 years (N=183) across a variety of cognitive tests. Students' intelligence was also assessed and their school grades were collected. Finally, the students indicated the quality of their relationship with parents. A series of Confirmatory Factor Analyses were conducted to examine individual differences in confidence ratings. Then, a theory-driven path model was examined. The results were three-fold: 1) the robust Self-confidence factor did emerge in children; 2) higher levels of Self-confidence predicted greater grades, irrespective of studentsâ intelligence, age and gender; 3) certain family dynamics predicted the levels of Self-confidence. Thus, the results support the existence of the stable individual differences in Self-confidence construct as early as in primary school and demonstrate the importance of this construct for academic outcomes. Implications for confidence levels and family dynamics that foster metacognitive development are discussed.

7.3  Personality, Vocational Interests, Cognitive Abilities and Values: Relationships and Potential Personality Complexes

Annamaria R. Quaresima (School of Psychology, The University of Adelaide, Australia), Aspasia Sarris  
Despite previous research reporting significant relationships between personality factors, vocational interests, cognitive abilities and values, few studies have examined more than two of these variables in combination, and, to date, no study has examined all four of these variables in combination. Further, in terms of personality, facet level relationships among these variables have not been fully explored. This study examined the relationship between personality at the facet level, vocational interests, cognitive abilities and values using a sample of 100 undergraduate students that completed the NEO-PI-R, the Self Directed Search, the Kit of Factor Referenced Cognitive Tests, and the Schwartz Values Survey. The results revealed low to moderate significant correlations between all of the variables, including a moderate negative relationship between the personality facet of Openness to Ideas and the value of Tradition, and a moderate positive relationship between the Extraversion facet of Assertiveness and the Enterprising vocational interest. Results suggest that personality, vocational interests, cognitive abilities and values are related yet distinct constructs. The implications of this research are that latent personality complexes may exist and may explain these relationships.

7.4  Individual differences in face cognition

Wilhelm, O. 1, Hildebrandt, A. 1, Sommer, W. 2, & Herzmann, Grit2 1 Department of Education, Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany; 2Department of Psychology, Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany  
Abstract: Face perception and face cognition are important social abilities. Functional and neuroanatomical models suggest multiple abilities of face cognition that are distinct from established ability constructs. In a series of studies we developed and refined a test battery for face cognition and established measurement and structural models. In study 1 (N=151 young adults) a measurement model with latent factors for face perception, face memory, and facial speed was established. In study 2 (N=209 young adults) this model was replicated with a slightly modified task battery. Additionally, we found that face cognition factors could be regressed only partly onto established ability factors. In study 3 (N=448, 18-88 age range) a further revised battery of face cognition tasks was used to test the age invariance of the factors. Strong factorial invariance of the measurement model across the age groups was supported. Multi group models, age-weighted measurement models and latent interaction models show that primarily factor means change with age. The relative independence of established abilities was replicated. Taken together the results provide strong support for the ideas that there are several face cognition factors, that these factors are distinct from established abilities, and that these factors show strong age decrements in means.

8  Monday 12:00 - 13:00 Paper Session 8: Motivation and Career Choice

8.1  Individual Differences in Approach and Avoidance Motivation Underling Degree Choice among the Students of British Universities

Anya Skatova (School of Psychology, University of Nottingham, UK), David Clarke, Eamonn Ferguson  
Economic experiments in choice behavior (e.g., public goods games) have identified behaviorally consistent individual differences in motivation (altruistic versus selfish free-ride behaviors). However, it is unclear if the same consistent motivation orientations are observed when considering real life choices where selfish and altruistic motives may compete. Further, to start to have a better understanding of these motivations we need to know how they are related to established approach and avoidance individual differences such as BIS/BAS (Gray & McNaughton, 2000). The current study set out to examine these issues.
Differences in participants' career and degree choices were examined in 989 undergraduates, to see if the same altruistic or selfish motives guide people's behavior when they are making broader life chooses. Exploratory factor analysis revealed distinct factors relating to helping others; intrinsic interest; career success; and free-riding. Moreover, the results demonstrate significant correlations between these motivations and BIS/BAS orientations. For example a free-riding orientation was negatively associated with BIS (-.142) and positively with BAS drive (.147). The results are discussed with respect to how traits identified behaviorally in economics are related to established individual differences in approach-avoidance and how understanding of choice behavior can be advanced through the consideration of individual differences.

8.2  Assessing achievement motivation by situational judgment items

Nicolas, Sander (Applied Psychological Research and Development, Federal Employment Agency, Nürnberg, Germany)  
A central duty of the Psychological Service of the German Federal Employment Agency is to assess occupational aptitude in unemployed clients. Besides the examination of individual cognitive abilities, the adequate assessment of auxiliary non-cognitive traits is indispensable. This paper addresses the construction of an item pool comprising 40 items which aim to assess individual achievement motivation by situational judgments. Critical aspects of the construction process will be highlighted. This entails dealing with the trade-off of construct fidelity vs. ecological representativeness of the single situations. Further, fakeability of non-cognitive measures was taken into account by (a) focussing on individual biographic episodes, (b) enriching the items with an elaboration demand, and (c) providing an open answer format where the assessor judges the client's reactions. Finally, issues of mapping the responses onto Likert-type scales are dealt with by providing item-specific and general rating instructions. As a result, an item format will be presented not only consisting of situational descriptions but also of diagnostic aids for the assessor (e.g., BARS, targeted customers, item constraints). Preliminary data of an ongoing nationwide pilot study will allow evaluations of psychometric properties.

8.3  The Investigation of Spillover between Work and Private Life Referring to Personality and Coping

C. Reichl (Department of Psychology, Saarland University, Germany), C., H. Wolf, F.M. Spinath  
Research on the interface between work and private life is increasing (Eby et al., 2005). However, little is known about interindividual differences in the process of handling multiple role demands. Focusing on physicians (n = 280) working in German hospitals, the present study investigates the influence of personality (five-factor-model) and coping (Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations; Endler & Parker, 1990) on the experience of positive and negative spillover between work and private life as well as on the longitudinal relationship between spillover and burnout/work engagement. Data were assessed at two points in time with a 1-year time interval. The main goals of the study are twofold: First, to provide evidence for a reciprocal relationship between spillover and burnout/work engagement. Second, to explain individual differences concerning the experience and reactivity to spillover in a model that includes personality and coping simultaneously. We report results of cross-lagged structural equation models assessing moderation effects of personality and coping. Results will be discussed with regard to implications for work-life-balance research as well as for practical issues.

8.4  Are There Individual Differences in the Quality of Assessing the Job Relevance of Big5-Personality Constructs?

Panja Andreßen (German Aerospace Center (DLR), Hamburg, Germany), Stefan Höft, Peter M. Muck   Different meta-analyses have shown the general relevance of personality aspects for job performance, but the importance of specific personality aspects seems to vary between different jobs. Job analysis techniques working with subject matter experts are common approaches to derive job-specific profiles. Two combined studies investigate experts' and laypersons' individual differences in assessing desirable personality profiles in the field of aviation personnel selection. The five-factor-model of personality is used to assess a personality profile of an `ideal pilot', measured by two different instruments: the NEO-PI-R, a non-transparent instrument, and the TIPI, a transparent questionnaire. In the first study, consensus of seven job specialists (training pilots) and six psychological experts (aviation psychologists) was analyzed and compared with equivalent laypersons' ratings (N=34 trainee pilot applicants). In a second study, the similarity of applicants' self-reported personality profiles (N=294) with the derived ideal profile was investigated as a predictor for application success. First results show support for the supposed interlinks between the ability to adequately assess personality profiles, the transparency of the measurement, and job performance.

9  Monday 12:00 - 13:00 Paper Session 9: Genetic mechanisms

9.1  The 5-HT1A C(-1019)G Polymorphism, Personality and Electrodermal Reactivity in a Reward and Punishment Paradigm

A. Schmitz (Department of Psychology, University of Giessen, Germany), P. Kirsch, M. Reuter, R. Osinsky, N. Alexander, E. Kozyra, J. Hennig  
During the last years serotonergic polymorphisms were repeatedly associated with anxiety-related personality traits, vulnerability for depression and reactivity of neuronal pathways relevant for emotional processing. In this line, we examined the relationship between the 5-HT1A C(-1019)G polymorphism, personality measures of negative emotionality and reaction times in a punishment and reward paradigm as well as electrodermal activity, as a marker of physiological reactivity, in 123 healthy subjects. Participants with the GG genotype, which is related to increased expression of 5-HT1A autoreceptors, exhibit slower reaction times when they were able to win money (reward condition). Additionally, these subjects show a greater difference between reaction times in the reward condition compared to the punishment condition. Regarding electrodermal reactivity, the same participants show higher amplitudes in all experimental conditions. Furthermore, the mentioned reaction time pattern was related to higher scores in personality traits related to negative emotionality. These findings indicate that the 5-HT1A polymorphism is related to processing of punishment and reward cues as well as to an attenuated electrodermal reactivity.

9.2  Genetic and Cognitive Factors in the Prospective Prediction of Anxiety and Dysphoria

R. Osinsky (Department of Psychology, Justus-Liebig-University, Giessen, Germany), A. Losch, N. Alexander, A. Schmitz, J. Hennig, C. MacLeod  
Although previous research has repeatedly demonstrated the influence of genetic and cognitive variables on negative emotionality, only little is known about potential interrelations between these two classes of vulnerability-factors. By use of a prospective design, we measured the course of anxiety (STAI-T) and dysphoria (BDI) across the first college-semester in 120 undergraduate students. Moreover, we assessed a common variation in the serotonin transporter gene (5-HTTLPR) and the attentional processing of negative information at semester-week one. Changes in anxiety during the semester were predicted by the attentional bias for negative information at week one but not by the 5-HTTLPR. However, we detected a substantial interaction of the cognitive and genetic factors for changes in dysphoria. In detail, the predictive capacity of the attentional bias score was moderated by the 5-HTTLPR genotype: only in homozygous carriers of the 5-HTTLPR short allele we observed a positive correlation between week-one attentional bias and dysphoria-changes later on. This modulatory interaction indicates that neuronal substrates of selective attention for emotional material are influenced by 5-HTTLPR genotype.

9.3  Associations between the 5-HTTLPR and the Dimension of Constraint Differ between Males and Females

J. Hennig (Department of Psychology, University of Giessen, Germany), A. Schmitz, N. Alexander, Y. Kuepper, E. Kozyra, R. Osinsky  
In the personality model of Depue the dimension "constraint" as measured by the MPQ was postulated to be mainly mediated by the serotonin neurotransmitter system. In fact several lines of evidence suggest that this dimension is affect-neutral and modulates positive as well as negative emotionality related to other systems (e.g. dopamine, norepinephrine). Moreover, recent studies demonstrated that activation or depletion of serotonergic activity (e.g. by challenge or depletion tests) lead to different effects in males and females. We therefore investigated in a sample of 250 males and females whether a) the dimension of constraint relates to the well-known polymorphism of the gene coding the serotonin transporter (5-HTTLPR) and b) whether possible associations differ between males and females. Our results demonstrate that women exhibit higher levels in constraint as compared to men. Whereas a main effect for 5-HTTLPR was not significant, an interaction with gender could be observed with men having lower and women having higher scale values when carrying the S-allele. Results will be discussed with respect to sex-dimorphic associations between serotonin and behavior.

9.4  The Role of the 5-HTTLPR in Attentional Processing of Emotional Stimuli

E. Kozyra (Department of Psychology, Justus-Liebig-University of Giessen, Germany), R. Osinsky, N. Alexander, A. Schmitz, Y. Kuepper, J. Hennig  
Findings of recent behavioral and neurophysiologic studies indicated an association between a common serotonergic polymorphism (5-HTTLPR) and selective attentional processing of emotional stimuli. In this context short(s)-allele carriers exhibit a hypersensitivity of neuronal emotional circuits and appear to allocate more cognitive resources to affective information. In our study 64 subjects (40 females and 24 males) participated in an emotional stroop task with a subliminal and a supraliminal condition. Subjects were genotyped for the 5-HTTLPR and assigned to two groups: carriers of the short allelic variant (ss & sl) versus homozygous long allele carriers (ll). In contrast to previous findings s-allele carriers displayed behavioral indices of reduced attentional processing of emotionally valent material. Results are discussed with respect to the association between the 5-HTTLPR and negative emotionality.

10  Tuesday 16:30-17:30 Paper Session 10 Methods

10.1  Interrater Reliability: Measuring Agreement, and Nothing Else

Paul Barrett (Hogan Assessment Systems Inc, Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA), Bob Hogan, Joyce Hogan  
Conventionally, interrater reliability of ratings or scores is computed using a nonparametric estimate of agreement, a relevant intraclass model, or a Pearson correlation. For the case of multiple groups of raters, the rwg coefficient and its variants have been suggested. Within the latent variable domain, the use of Rasch Facet models for estimating reliability is recommended. But, what if we just treat ratings as simple numbers assigned by raters on some form of meaningful scale. All we want to do is estimate how similar ratings are to one another. This is not a matter of reliability at all, but simple discrepancy/similarity assessment. Using a dataset of over 800 raters, divided into two groups, peers and supervisors, each of whom provided ratings on two individuals, interrater reliability was computed using several conventional models. In contrast, two new coefficients utilizing simple absolute discrepancy and a computationally intensive procedure were computed. Results indicated that the conventional coefficients seriously underestimated actual rating agreement. The reasons for this are obvious, once you look at the raw data. The implications are significant for those meta-analyses which use a reliability coefficient of  0.5 for ratings. The figure from this study indicates it is nearer to 0.75.

10.2  Applicant Faking and the Prediction of Counterproductive Work Behavior

R.L. Griffith (College of Psychology and Liberal Arts, Florida Institute of Technology, USA), M.H. Peterson, J.A. Isaacson, P.M. Mangos  
Concern over applicant faking has spurred considerable research; however, the use of within-subjects designs with real job applicants has been relatively scarce. The current study utilized a within-subjects design and data from a sample of 206 job applicants. We collected scores on a measure of conscientiousness at the application stage, and then later during a non-motivated research setting. We then compared estimates of faking via within-subjects score change to one traditional measurement of faking: a social desirability scale. Additionally, we examined both the impact of faking on the relationship between conscientiousness and counterproductive work behaviors, as well as the direct linkage between faking and counterproductive work behaviors. Using the faking identification methodology of Griffith, Chmielowski, and Yoshita (2007), we determined that 24% of the sample faked the conscientiousness assessment. Our results also suggested that social desirability scales are poor indicators of applicant faking, identifying only 19% of fakers correctly and exhibiting high false positive and false negative rates. In addition, bivariate correlation and polynomial regression results indicated that applicant faking is both directly related to counterproductive work behaviors (r = .23 p < .001) and has a negative impact on the criterion-related validity of conscientiousness as a predictor of these behaviors.

10.3  Are the Big Five Only Valid for Persons with Higher Educations?

Beatrice Rammstedt (Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences - GESIS, Mannheim, Germany), Lewis R. Goldberg, Ingwer Borg  
Previous research findings suggest that the Big Five factor structure may not be measurement equivalent at all educational levels. The present study examines the factor structure of the Big Five for two large samples (N = 2,567 and N = 3,421, respectively) of the German adult population, both of whicht are representative of all educational levels. Results reveal that for the total population the Big Five factor structure does not replicate. Split by educational levels, the Big Five clearly emerge only in those subsamples with a general university entrance qualification or an university degree, and thus at those educational levels at which personality researchers recruit most of their subjects. However, in the less well- educated subsamples, large individual differences in acquiescent responding were found. This acquiescence variability had a pronounced effect on the psychometric characteristics and thus on the factor structure. When the data are standard-scored separately for each participant, these differences disappear. Results are discussed against the background of possible reasons and potential implications for this measurement inequivalence.

10.4  Thinking about Myself Changes the Way I Report My Personality, Reporting My Personality Changes the Way I Think about Myself

Avner Caspi (Department of Psychology and Education, Open University of Israel), Sonia Roccas  
During selection processes, candidates are often asked to describe themselves both with structured questionnaires and with open ended self description. In this study we tested the hypothesis that the order in which candidates respond to the two types of assessments may have important consequences for responses because the structured personality questionnaires raise the saliency of all traits, even those a person may feel are undesirable. To test this hypothesis 100 participants completed the Mini-markers measure (Saucier's, 1994) of the Big five personality traits before or after writing open ended self descriptions. Participants who wrote open ended self descriptions first scored significantly higher in Conscientiousness and Agreeableness than participants who completed the structured personality questionnaires first. No effect was found for other traits. The order of the self description and the structured questionnaire also affected beliefs regarding the positivity of the impression they created: participants who completed the open ended self descriptions before the structured questionnaires believed, more than participants who first filled out the structured questionnaires, that others who read their self descriptions would have positive impressions about them. These results point to the malleability of the self-concept and the importance of taking into account the order of assessment procedures in an applied setting.

11  Tuesday 16:30 - 17:30 Paper Session 11: Affective Processes

11.1  Personality Correlates of Moral Judgment

V.S. Athota (University of New South Wales & The University of Notre Dame, Australia), C. Jackson, P. O'Connor  
The present study is concerned with the role of Big-Five personality factors in the ethical-decision making process. This paper utilized a cross-sectional study to examine the relationship between Big-Five personality factors, moral reasoning, and moral judgment. The sample consisted of 131 University students who completed a battery of psychological tests, which included the Machiavellian IV test (MACH IV), the International Personality Item Pool (IPIP) and the Moral Judgment Test (MJT). Correlation analysis revealed that there was a significant relationship between Big-Five personality factors extraversion, agreeableness, neuroticism and moral reasoning subscales tactics, views and morality. There was also a clear correlation between moral judgment and Big-Five personality factor agreeableness. These results have important implications such as individuals high in extraversion and neuroticism can reason well morally and yet not necessarily make moral judgments. Furthermore, people who score high on Big-Five personality factor agreeableness can reason well morally and make moral judgments. The implication is that Big Five Personality factor agreeableness is vital for effective ethical-decision making process.

11.2  Examining the Mediators between Personality Traits and Health: Trait Emotional Intelligence and Work Locus of Control

S. J. Johnson (Manchester Business School, University of Manchester, UK), M. Batey, L. Holdsworth  
Research has started to examine mediators between personality traits and health (Greven, Chamorro-Premuzic, Arteche & Furnham, 2008). The current research aims to investigate the roles of Trait Emotional Intelligence (Trait EI) and Work Locus of Control (WLC) as mediators of the paths between the Big Five personality traits and General Health in a sample of 328 university students (160 male). Structural equation modelling and mediation analyses, demonstrated as hypothesised, that Trait EI and WLC mediated the paths between personality and health. Direct effects on health were observed for Trait EI, WLC, Emotional Stability and to a lesser extent Openness to Experience. The study provides further evidence for the role of mediating variables in the path between personality traits and health.

11.3  Individual Differences in Affective Experience are Related to Personality States and Perceptions of Situations

Joshua Wilt, Katharine Funkhouser, William Revelle Psychology Department, Northwestern University, USA  
Most theories of affect predict that affects of opposite valence are either negatively correlated (de-synchronous) or independent (asynchronous). An early investigation of individual differences in within-person correlations between positive and negative affect revealed that some individuals were characterized by de-synchrony and others asynchrony; however a third group experienced positive correlations between positive affect and negative affect, termed affective synchrony (Rafaeli, Rogers, & Revelle, 2007). This study aimed to further explore individual differences in momentary affective experience. Participants were 42 college-aged individuals (36 women). We introduced a new method for studying the within-subject structure of affect: cell phone text-messaging. Prior techniques making use of paper-and-pencil daily diaries or personal digital assistants are both cumbersome and expensive. Participants responded six times per day for two weeks to a list of items measuring concurrent affect, personality states, and appraisals of situations. Individuals with more positive within-person correlations between state extraversion and state neuroticism had more positive relationships between positive affect and negative affect. Individuals who tended to perceive threatening situations as challenges exhibited greater positive relationships between energetic arousal and tense arousal. These findings suggest that individual differences in routine behavior (personality states) and reflective cognitions (perceptions of situations) influence momentary affective experience.

12  Tuesday 16:30 - 17:30 Paper Session 12 Biological Processes

12.1  Motor and Cognitive Impulsivity as Related to Desire for Eating and Serotonergic Responsivity

P. Netter (Department of Psychology, University of Giessen, Germany), T. Birkenbach-Holdschuh, C. Toll  
Impulsivity is composed of different subtypes as represented in Barratt«s Impulsivity Scale BIS 11. Motor and Cognitive Impulsivity have been shown to differ in aggression and patterns of transmitter responsivity . Since impulsivity is also related to bulimia characterised by deficiency of serotonin, the questions were raised: 1).Are impulsivity subtypes also different in desire for food craving in the normal range? 2) Are these relationships related to differences in serotonergic responses? Method: Serotonergic (5-HT) responsivity was measured by plasma cortisol responses to a challenge with citalopram in comparison to placebo in 36 males divided into high and low Motor and Cognitive Impulsives according to the BIS 11 and deprived from eating for 4 1/2 hours . Their hunger and desire for sweets was assessed by questionnaires. Results obtained by analyses of variance revealed the following: 1.High Motor Impulsives exhibited a higher desire for sweet food than high Cognitive Impulsives, confirming results obtained for bulimics. 2. High Motor Impulsives with high cortisol responses to 5-HT stimulation developed more hunger and desire for sweet food than low responders, possibly due to their upregulation of 5-HT receptors which suggests 5-HT deficiency to be the causal link between Motor Impulsivity and carbohydrate craving.

12.2  Interindividual Differences in Aggression - on the Role of Adult and Embryonic Testosterone Levels

Y. Kuepper (Dept. of Psychology, University of Giessen, Germany), N. Alexander, A. Schmitz, R. Osinsky, E. Kozyra, J. Hennig  
Testosterone (T) has frequently been implicated in the regulation of aggression. Concerning the association between T-Level and human aggression results are inconclusive. Beyond its effects in the adult organism, T affects the development of the nervous system. The 2D:4D ratio, a marker of embryonic testosterone, was shown to be associated with aggression. However, neither adult nor embryonic T-Levels alone are able to comprehensively explain variance in human aggression. Together these results indicate that the combined effects of adult and embryonic T might explain variance in human aggression more satisfactorily. We tested this assumption in 48 healthy men. Actual testosterone levels, the 2D:4D, experimental and psychometric measures of aggression were assessed. Results revealed main effects of 2D:4D on measures of experimental aggression (p < .05) as well as interaction effects (p < .05). Low levels of embryonic T in combination with high levels of adult T were associated with substantially reduced aggression. Our results further support the importance of testosterone in the regulation of human aggression and confirm our initial hypothesis. They, however, also indicate the need to identify other factors influencing human aggression, which might further modulate the combined effects of adult and embryonic T-Level, to fully explain individual differences.

12.3  Distinguishing between Trait Fear and Anxiety: Right Frontal Activity and Fear Extinction

M.J. McHugh (School of Psychology, Griffith University, Australia), P. Davis, D. Shum  
In 2000, Gray's Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory was revised to account for an observed behavioural, pharmacological and neurological distinction between fear and anxiety. Behaviourally, fear mediates avoidance of threat where as anxiety mediates approach to threat. The current study draws on the approach-withdrawal model of frontal brain asymmetry, which aligns right frontal activity with withdrawal/avoidance motivation (fear), to test Gray's distinction between fear and anxiety at a human trait level. Eighty 17-35 year-old females completed a differential aversive conditioning task whilst electroencephalography was recorded. Different coloured lamps functioned as the CS+ and CS- and an aversive sound as the UCS. Based on an exploratory factor analysis (N=154), self-report measures loading on a trait fear or anxiety factor were formed into composite fear and anxiety scores. As expected, right frontal activity to the CS+ was associated with fear, but not anxiety scores. Right frontal activity to the CS- and higher fear scores were both associated with slower extinction learning. In contrast, anxiety scores predicted faster extinction learning. Findings demonstrate a distinction between trait fear and anxiety at both a neurophysiological and behavioural level and thus provide support for the application of Gray's theory to human models of anxiety and fear.

12.4  Individual differences in cognitive control during attentional and rule-based set-shifting

Ian J. Tharp* Alan D. Pickering Luke D. Smillie Andrew J. Cooper Department of Psychology Goldsmiths, University of London, London, UK  
Recently, Smillie et al. (in press) explored the role of personality and working memory in cognitive control during set-shifting. In an analogue of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, EPQ-Psychoticism and working memory were uniquely associated with poorer and superior extra-dimensional rule-shifting respectively. We extend this work using an attentional set-shifting task based on work by Dreisbach, Goschke, Müller & colleagues. Greater cognitive flexibility should decrease (reaction-time) switch costs in a perseveration condition (wherein participants must respond to a novel colour and ignore the previously relevant colour), yet elevate switch costs in a learned irrelevance condition (respond to the previously irrelevant colour and ignore novel colour). Healthy student participants, from Goldsmiths, University of London, performed both the attentional set-shifting and extra-dimensional rule-shifting tasks. Flexibility on the attentional set-shifting task may be mediated by dopamine and a measure of spontaneous eyeblink rate was taken as an index of dopamine functioning. Furthermore, other measures of putatively dopaminergic personality traits (e.g., Extraversion, Schizotypy) were included in addition to Psychoticism and working memory. This study compares various forms of cognitive control and their relation to key individual differences. Early results suggest that the manifestation of flexibility in cognitive control may be dependent upon specific task demands.

13  Wednesday 10:00 - 12:00 Paper Session 13: Brain Imaging

13.1  Neuro-Intelligence, Neuro-Personality and Neuro-Metrics: Can Brain Imaging Replace Psychometrics?

Richard J. Haier (University of California, USA)  
Twenty years have passed since the first neuro-imaging studies of intelligence and personality. After a slow start, researchers from around the world are now using a variety of brain imaging techniques to investigate the neural basis of individual differences. Recent papers, reviewed in this presentation, illustrate progress made in identifying key brain areas underlying g and other intelligence and personality factors. Samples are becoming large enough to address individual differences. They include children, adults, and seniors, as well as separate analyses for males and females. Imaging includes structural assessments and functional determinations during cognitive tests of memory and processing speed. Here we argue that a simple idea permeates most neuro-imaging findings so far: not all brains work the same way. While hardly a surprising concept in the field of individual differences, the empirical delineation of the details is now possible. One possible consequence may be the replacement of psychometrics by neuro-imaging. As individual difference research engages 21st century neuroscience, new hypotheses and new controversies are inevitable. This is a wonderful time to work in this field.

13.2  A Latent Variable Approach to the Parieto-Frontal Integration Theory (P-FIT) of Intelligence

Roberto Colom (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain), Richard J. Haier, Rex E. Jung, Kevin Head, Juan Álvarez-Linera, M» Ángeles Quiroga, Pei Chun Shih  
Jung and Haier (2007) have proposed the parieto-frontal integration theory (P-FIT) of intelligence after the consideration of 37 published neuroimaging studies. Colom et al. (in press) have reported a VBM analysis showing findings largely consistent with the P-FIT model. However, confirmatory approaches are required. Here we use a latent variable approach determining gray matter (GM) values by creating a 5mm diameter sphere using coordinates for each cluster of voxels correlating with general intelligence (g) as shown in Colom et al.'s report. The average GM value of the voxels within each sphere correcting for brain size is computed. Twenty clusters defined regions of interest (ROIs) selected for CFA analyses, according to the processing stages considered by the P-FIT model. These ROIs are comprised in stage 1 (temporo-occipital Brodmann areas, BAs), stage 2 (parietal BAs) and stage 3 (frontal BAs). Further, twenty random ROIs are also selected for comparative purposes. Results show that the theoretical model fits better than the alternative random model. Therefore, P-FIT can be seen as a reasonable approximation to the biological basis of g.

13.3  Positive Association between Cognitive Ability and Cortical Thickness in a Representative US Sample of Healthy 6 to 18 year-olds

S. Karama (McConnell Brain Imaging Centre, Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Canada), Y. Ad-Dab'bagh, R.J. Haier, I.J. Deary, O.C. Lyttelton, C. Lepage, A. Evans  
Neuroimaging studies, using various modalities, have evidenced a link between the general intelligence factor (g) and regional brain function and structure in several multimodal association areas. While in the last few years, developments in computational neuroanatomy have made possible the in vivo quantification of cortical thickness, the relationship between cortical thickness and psychometric intelligence has been little studied. Recently, cortical thickness estimations have been improved by the use of an iterative hemisphere-specific template registration algorithm which provides a better between-subject alignment of brain surfaces. Using this improvement, we aimed to further characterize brain regions where cortical thickness was associated with cognitive ability differences and to test the hypothesis that these regions are mostly located in multimodal association areas. We report associations between a general cognitive ability factor (as an estimate of g) derived from the four subtests of the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence and cortical thickness adjusted for age, gender, and scanner in a large sample of healthy children and adolescents (ages 6-18, n=216) representative of the US population. Significant positive associations were evidenced between the cognitive ability factor and cortical thickness in most multimodal association areas. Results are consistent with a distributed model of intelligence.

13.4  The Utility of Neuroticism and Hemispheric Brain Preference in Predicting Performance on a Social Conflict Task

Elliroma Gardiner (The School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, Australia), Chris Jackson, Natalie Loxton  
The current study examines the effects of neuroticism and lateral preference on response Disinhibition. Disinhibition is a passive avoidant deficit behaviour at least partly associated with habitual attentiveness to approach response sets in the presence of neuroticism. Therefore, since approach behaviours are associated with the left hemisphere it is suggested that the lateral preference of an individual will influence how they respond to conflict (Jackson, In Press). Specifically, it is hypothesized that lateral preference will moderate the influence of neuroticism on disinhibition. Participants (N = 122) completed questionnaire measures of personality and lateral preference. Disinhibition was measured using a computerized social conflict resolution task. Disinhibition was calculated in terms of reaction time in resolving Approach-Approach, Approach-Avoidance, Avoidance-Avoidance conflict vignettes that describe everyday situations. A condition of no-conflict was also included as a base-line measure. Results supported the hypothesis. A significant neuroticism x lateral preference interaction was found for Approach-Approach and Avoid-Avoid conflicts but not for Approach-Avoid vignettes. Furthermore, as expected, no significant interaction was found for the no-conflict condition. Combined, these results suggest that lateral preference does act as a moderator of the neuroticism-disinhibition relationship.

13.5  Cortical Thickness Correlates of Intelligence, Creativity, and Personality in a Large Unified Cohort

Rex E. Jung (Mind Research Network and Department of Neurosurgery, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, USA), Judith Segall, H. Jeremy Bockholt, Ranee A. Flores, Shirley M. Smith, Robert Chavez, Richard J. Haier  
Understanding the biological underpinnings of intelligence, creativity, and personality have long been the goal of luminaries of individual difference research including Eysenck, Guilford, and Jensen. Modern neuroimaging techniques provide the necessary tools designed to shed light upon the biological substrates of these complex behavioral constructs. Specifically, structural magnetic resonance imaging (sMRI) provides detailed information regarding the thickness of the cortical mantle within which the neuronal bodies and dendritic arbor give rise to thought. Sixty-five healthy subjects between the ages of 18 and 39 were administered measures of intelligence, creativity, and personality. All subjects underwent sMRI at 1.5 Tesla. FreeSurfer was used to obtain cortical thickness measures, which were then regressed against behavioral measures, controlling for age and gender. Results support a parieto-frontal network of cortical regions underlying intelligence as reported previously (Jung & Haier, 2007), a fronto-temporal network underlying creativity, and several overlapping brain regions underlying personality constructs of Neuroticism, Extroversion, and Openness to Experience. These results provide biological evidence localizing individual differences in behavior to discrete brain networks in a large, young, healthy cohort.

14  Wednesday 13:30 - 16:00 Session 14: Affective Processes

14.1  Predicting Happiness in the German Speaking Countries: The Role of Strengths of Character and Personality

Willibald Ruch (Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, Switzerland)  
Strengths of character are considered to be the inner determinant of the good life. Indeed, character strengths as assessed by the Values in Action Inventory of Strengths (VIA-IS; Peterson, & Seligman, 2004) were reliably associated with satisfaction with life (Park, Peterson, & Seligman, 2005). The present paper examines whether the 24 strengths have incremental validity compared to personality traits known to be associated with happiness (i.e., N, E, A, and C). A sample of German speaking adults (N = 4140) filled in the German adaptation of the VIA-IS, a well-validated adjectival measure of the five factor-model (BARS179; Ostendorf, 1994) and the Diener et al. (1985) satisfaction with life scale. A hierarchical regression analysis showed that age, gender and the FFM predicted happiness already very well (R = .60), but the inclusion of character strengths yielded a highly significant increment (r square change = .112), with the strengths of zest, love, gratitude, and hope being especially predictive. Conversely, the FFM proved incremental validity (r square change .058) to character strengths. It is concluded that character and personality traits strongly overlap in their prediction of satisfaction with life but also add unique sources of variance.

14.2  Target and Subject Gender Effects in Performance Tasks of Social Understanding

S. Weis, Center of Methods, University Koblenz-Landau, Germany K. Seidel, Department of Aviation and Space Psychology, German Aerospace Center, Germany H.-M. SŸ§, Department of Methods, Psychodiagnostic and Evaluation Research, University of Magdeburg, Germany  
Theory and data frequently suggested subject gender effects in tasks of social abilities in favor of women. Reporting about these effects, the gender of the target (i.e., the person whose mental states have to be judged) was often neglected or not possible to investigate due to task characteristics. In the Magdeburg Test of Social Intelligence (MTSI; S٤, Seidel, & Weis, 2008), social understanding is operationalized as the ability to judge the mental states of eight target persons relying on realistic multimedia-based stimuli. The targets represent four male and four female persons heterogeneous in age and profession. The present paper investigates the effects of target and subject gender on the performance in the tasks of social understanding based on two samples of more than 300 subjects altogether. Subjects were balanced in gender and age. Results show a significant main effect of the target gender showing male targets to be easier to judge by both male and female subjects. No significant main effect of subject gender occurred. The findings suggest that it is necessary to control for the target gender when social understanding abilities are assessed.

14.3  Individual Differences in the Sequential Regulation of Affective Priming Effects

Marko Paelecke (Department of Psychology, Martin-Luther University,Halle, Germany), Peter Borkenau  
Human information processing is influenced by the affective quality of pleasant and unpleasant stimuli, and persons probably differ in their regulation of the induced emotions. We tested how persons differ in the immediate regulation of short-term affective states induced by sequentially presented, emotionally valent stimuli, and how such differences are related to personality traits. In a sequential priming paradigm, 116 participants were instructed to categorize as fast as possible (while remaining accurate) the valence of positive or negative words that were presented in a randomized order. Within this paradigm, priming effects occur if negative or positive stimuli in the previous trial reduce reaction times for negative or positive stimuli in the subsequent trial, respectively. Whereas overall classification speed was uncorrelated with personality measures, priming for negative words was reduced among participants scoring low on measures of neuroticism and negative affect. This may point to automatic processes of emotion regulation, to the effect that emotional stability is associated with less influence of unpleasant information on subsequent information processing.

15  Wednesday 14:30-16:00: Paper Session 15 Emotional Intelligence

15.1  An Examination of the Relationship between Birth Order, the Five Factor Model, and Trait Emotional Intelligence

Emily Cole (Department of Clinical, Educational & Health Psychology, University College London, UK)  
This study examined the relationship between birth order, the Five Factor Model (FFM) and trait emotional intelligence (trait EI). While there has been a considerable amount of research into the relationship between birth order and the personality traits including the FFM, this was the first to incorporate trait EI. Data were collected via a web-based questionnaire completed by 303 (76 males, 227 females) adults. The self-report questionnaires included International Item Pool, the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire- Short Form, and a set of questions relating to birth order. The main hypothesis suggested a relationship exists between birth order and the six personality traits. More specifically that later-borns will tend to have higher trait EI scores than first borns or only children. This study also hypothesized that the relationships between birth order and the FFM would follow Frank Sulloways's (1996) model. Results found there is no significant difference in trait EI scores between the different birth order groups. However, this study found evidence against Sulloway's claims, specifically in the Openness facet; a significant difference was found in scores between the trait Openness and oldest born children. This study exemplifies the conflicting evidence in the examination of birth order and personality traits.

15.2  How are Social, Emotional and Academic Intelligence Related?

H.M. Süß(Department of Psychology, Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg, Germany), Karthaus, J., Nštzold, J., & Strien, J.  
Although research on social Intelligence (SI) has a long tradition, SI as a cognitive ability construct has not yet been firmly established. Due to problems in distinguishing SI from academic Intelligence, particularly from verbal intelligence, and only low convergent validity between former SI-tests, the construct was put into question. We assume conceptual and methodological shortcomings, e.g. low internal consistencies and method-related biases, as reasons for the inconsistent validity results. This paper postulates a facetted model of SI with social understanding, social memory and social perception as cognitive facets. In an ongoing study with about 180 subjects SI was measured by the newly revised Magdeburg Test of Social Intelligence (MTSI-2), a multimedia based performance test of SI. This test is based on realistic stimulus-material using verbal (written and spoken language) and non-verbal (picture- and videos) item formats. In addition, academic intelligence was measured by the Berlin Intelligence Structure Test (BIS-Test; Jäger, Süß, & Beauducel, 1997), and emotional intelligence by the MSCEIT (Mayer, Salovey, Caruso, 1997). Based on SEM analyses we like (a) to demonstrate, replicating earlier results of our research group, that social intelligence can be separated from academic intelligence, and (b) to investigate the overlap of social and emotional intelligence.

15.3  Emotional Intelligence: The Relevance of Emotional Management Deficits to Deviant Behaviour at School

H. Harald Freudenthaler (Department of Psychology, University of Graz, Austria), Aljoscha C. Neubauer  
This paper encompasses two studies referring to the validity and utility of an adolescent version of Freudenthaler and Neubauer's (2005, 2007) "Typical-Performance (TP) Emotional Management Ability (EMA) Test," purporting to assess the adequacy of individuals' emotion-related behaviours more directly than knowledge-related maximum performance (MP) tests. Study I examined the effects of instruction (TP vs. MP) on eighth graders' EMA scores, using a within-subjects design (n = 125). In addition, the relations of TP-EMA and MP-EMA to sex, intelligence, personality, well-being and deviant behaviour at school (e.g., bullying, truancy, disturbing behaviour in class) were tested. Overall, the observed instruction effects accord well with those obtained for adults in our previous studies. Adolescents displayed substantially higher scores in the MP-condition, with girls outperforming boys in both instruction conditions. While MP-EMA scores were associated with intelligence, TP-EMA scores were correlated with personality and displayed incremental validity in predicting deviant behaviour at school beyond sex, intelligence and personality. Using a more representative sample of 1.353 eighth graders, study II corroborated the usefulness of TP-EMA by replicating and extending the findings of study I. In sum, behaviour-related TP-measures appear to be better predictors of relevant EI outcomes than knowledge-related MP-measures.

15.4  Trait Social Intelligence: Continuing the Incorporation of Faux Intelligences into Mainstream Personality Hierarchies

K.V. Petrides (University College London, UK)  
Trait emotional intelligence (trait EI or trait emotional self-efficacy) theory can be extended to accommodate faux intelligences other than emotional intelligence (e.g., social, intrapersonal, and interpersonal). In this paper, we review the principles of the theory and briefly present significant highlights from the latest research in the domains of behavioral genetics and medical psychology. The bulk of the paper focuses on the new operationalization of trait social intelligence (trait SI or trait social self-efficacy), defined as a constellation of social-related self-perceptions at the lower levels of personality hierarchies. We cover such issues as the construct's sampling domain, its relationships with the Big Five and correlational as well as experimental data from several recently conducted studies. We also present data on the Trait Social Intelligence Questionnaire (TSIQue), including its internal consistency, factor structure and short form.

15.5  Emotional Intelligence and Stress in Canadian and Scottish Undergraduate Students

Elizabeth J. Austin (University of Edinburgh, UK), Donald H. Saklofske, Sarah M. Wills  
Emotional intelligence (EI) has been found to be associated with adaptive coping (Saklofske, Austin, Galloway, & Davidson, 2007) and should be protective in dealing with stressors. The associations of personality, emotional intelligence and coping style with perceived stress were studied in samples of Canadian and Scottish students (N = 472, 215). Stress was assessed early in the term and again immediately prior to examinations. The pattern of correlations amongst the measured variables was as expected (e.g. perceived stress was negatively and significantly correlated with Extraversion and task-focussed coping, and positively correlated with Neuroticism, total EI score, and emotion-focussed coping). As found in previous work there were associations between EI and coping style (e.g. total EI score was positively correlated with task-focussed coping and negatively correlated with emotion-focussed coping). A joint factor analysis of the EI and coping scales produced several higher-order factors. Structural equation modelling was used to examine the potential mediating role of these factors in the personality-stress relationship.

15.6  The Psychometric Properties of the Revised Magdeburg Test of Social Intelligence (MTSI-2)

C. Karthaus (Department of Psychology, Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg, Germany), J. Nštzold, J. Strien, H.-M. SŸ§  
The present study investigates the psychometric properties of the newly revised second version of the Magdeburg Test of Social Intelligence (MTSI; S٤, Seidel, & Weis, 2008). The MTSI is a performance-based test representing a facetted model of social intelligence (SI) distinguishing between social understanding, social memory, and social perception as cognitive facets of the SI model. The test is relying on realistic multimedia stimuli with verbal, auditory, picture- and video-based stimulus material. In an ongoing study, a heterogeneous sample of 180 subjects between 18 and 49 years of age is working on the MTSI-2. We anticipate an improvement of the psychometric properties compared to the first test version. Results are expected to show that the revised MTSI is a reliable and structurally valid operationalization of the assumed SI model. Results will be presented at the conference.

16  Wednesday 14:30- 16:00 Paper Session 16: Affective Processes

16.1  Mood as Information: The Regulatory Role of Personality

Magdalena Marszal-Wisniewska (Warsaw School of Social Sciences and Humanities, Institute of Psychology of Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland)  
According to the mood-as-input model, the influence of mood on one's evaluations, motivations, and behaviors depends not so much on the moods themselves as on the interaction between mood and situational conditions (the context-dependent effect of mood). The presented study (N = 128) was meant to confirm the context-dependent effect of mood and to answer the question Ïs this effect a general phenomenon or an inter-individual diverse (i.e. depending on stable personality traits)?" The measurement of individual properties (temperamental and volitional) was attached to experimental procedure. The results showed that the motivational implications of people's moods are mutable (e.g. positive moods tell us to continue activity when they reflect our level of enjoyment but tell us to stop when they reflect our level of goal attainment). Moreover, the influence of moods on the course of activity depends not only on the context of task, but also on personality. Temperamental and volitional traits weaken or reinforce the effect of the informative nature of a mood. The effect is strengthened by the intrasubjective coherence of temperamental and volitional traits and weakened by intrasubjective incoherence. The results are interpreted in the context of person-environment fit theory and transactional model of temperament.

16.2  Emotional Promiscuity and its Consequences for Intelligence, Relationships, and Infidelity

Daniel N. Jones (Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, Canada), Delroy L. Paulhus  
Emotional promiscuity has been shown to be conceptually and empirically distinct from sexual promiscuity (Jones & Paulhus, 2008). Individuals high in emotional promiscuity fall in love quickly, easily, and more often than others. One could argue that those who rush into relationships and frequently believe they are in love may be less intelligent than those who treat relationships in a practical fashion. Approximately 474 students took timed intelligence tests online and responded to questionnaires assessing emotional promiscuity, sexual promiscuity, and romanticism. Results indicate that emotionally promiscuous and romantic individuals had lower scores of intelligence overall. Findings suggest that emotional promiscuity and romanticism may require the ability to view things in a less practical fashion. Implications exist for how individual differences in intelligence may affect relationship behavior in relation to emotional promiscuity and romanticism.

16.3  Individual Differences in Statistics Anxiety

Donncha Hanna(School of Psychology, Queens University Belfast, UK)  
Statistics anxiety, prevalent in university students, has been shown to influence academic performance and postulated to affect retention rates. This paper reports the findings of three studies. The first study aimed to examine the structure of the Statistics Anxiety Rating Scale (STARS). Responses from 650 undergraduate psychology students throughout the UK were collected through an on-line study. It was concluded that the original six factor model was the best explanation of the data. In the second study the statistics anxiety scores of 497 Psychology, Pharmacy, Economics and Actuarial studies university students from one university were measured using the multi-dimensional STARS. Psychology students and second year had the most negative attitudes and highest anxieties. The aim of the final study was to investigate the relationship between individual differences in levels of statistics anxiety among UK-based psychology undergraduates. The sample consisted of 710 UK-based students representing 31 different universities. Male students, mature students, those with greater mathematical competence and those with prior knowledge of the statistics component of the psychology pathway reported more positive attitudes and lower anxieties. Tutors, especially within psychology, must carefully consider their methods of statistics teaching and assessing to reduce anxiety.

16.4  Cognition and Change: The Role of Self-Unity, Complexity and Need for Structure in Coping and Identity Negotiation

Magdalena Cholakova (University Bocconi, Italy), Martin Fellenz  
The individual-level factors facilitating a person's ability to engage and cope with change events has been a relatively underexplored area. In order to address this issue, the present work has investigated the impact of certain cognitive-structural properties of people's self-domains on their ability to cope with change (Judge et al., 1998), and their different coping strategies (Folkman & Lazarus, 1980). Change was defined as a major negative event that undergraduates experienced within a student organization/society in which they were active members. Using hierarchical regression (sample size 95), the study showed that after considering individuals' identity networks, and controlling for their group memberships, self-concept clarity (Campbell et al., 1996) significantly predicted undergraduates' ability to cope with change. Furthermore, greater self-concept clarity predicted lower self-controlling coping responses and greater problem-solving, whereas greater personal need for structure predicted greater self-control. Using a trait sorting task, the average positivity of people's sorts and their self-compartmentalization were also computed; however, these factors did not predict better coping. Average positivity of people's sorts and self-concept clarity significantly predicted lower burnout. These findings are based on initial work investigating the hypothesized relationships, and further analyses will also incorporate the role of self-complexity in coping and identity negotiation.

16.5  Mental Toughness of Youth in Relation to Age, Sex and Ecological Niche

Beata Krzywosz-Rynkiewicz (Faculty of Social Science, University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, Poland), Anna M. Zalewska  
Mental Toughness (MT) is humans' ability to deal with challenges, pressure and difficulties. It determines reactions to stress and enables us to achieve best results. MT consists of 4 key-factors: Challenge, Commitment, Control and Confidence. There has been no systematic research on developmental aspects of MT so far. The aim of this study is to examine whether MT and its factors depend on age, sex and ecological niche. 319 students (134 boys) aged 11-14-17 from two niches (city and town) were investigated with Questionnaire MTQ48. Results of 3-factor ANOVA showed a tendency that MT increased with age (it was higher at age of 17 than 11). Age and interaction between age and niche affected Challenge and Confidence. In large cities 11-year old children were less open to challenges and less confident than students at age of 14 or 17; they also were lower in Confidence than 11-year olds in small towns. 14-year old students in small towns were lower in Challenge and Confidence than students at this age from large cities and lower in Confidence than 17-year olds from small towns. Data tempt to conclude that large cities hinder MT of 11-year old children, but small towns hinder it of 14-year old adolescents.


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On 26 Apr 2009, 16:10.