Empirical Studies In Psychology Research Articles

Practical Implications of Sum Scores Being Psychometrics' Greatest Accomplishment.

This paper reflects on some practical implications of the excellent treatment of sum scoring and classical test theory (CTT) by Sijtsma et al. (Psychometrika 89(1):84-117, 2024). I have no major disagreements about the content they present and found it to be an informative clarification of the properties and possible extensions of CTT. In this paper, I focus on whether sum scores-despite their mathematical justification-are positioned to improve psychometric practice in empirical studies in psychology, education, and adjacent areas. First, I summarize recent reviews of psychometric practice in empirical studies, subsequent calls for greater psychometric transparency and validity, and how sum scores may or may not be positioned to adhere to such calls. Second, I consider limitations of sum scores for prediction, especially in the presence of common features like ordinal or Likert response scales, multidimensional constructs, and moderated or heterogeneous associations. Third, I review previous research outlining potential limitations of using sum scores as outcomes in subsequent analyses where rank ordering is not always sufficient to successfully characterize group differences or change over time. Fourth, I cover potential challenges for providing validity evidence for whether sum scores represent a single construct, particularly if one wishes to maintain minimal CTT assumptions. I conclude with thoughts about whether sum scores-even if mathematically justified-are positioned to improve psychometric practice in empirical studies.

Analysis of reading comprehension in underachieving high school students: exploring neuropsychological, metacognitive and motivational factors

Introduction: the ability to comprehend written text is of utmost importance for educational progress in high school, given that most academic content is presented in this format, both in print and digital versions. Recent theoretical approaches and empirical studies in psychology and neuroscience have directed their interest towards explanatory models of reading comprehension that include motivational, neuropsychological and metacognitive elements. Objective: analyze, by means of structural equations, the multivariate effects of motivational, neuropsychological and metacognitive factors on reading comprehension in a group of adolescent high school students with reading difficulties. Methods: a quantitative, observational, cross-sectional study was conducted with a sample of 200 students between 11 and 18 years of age. Measures used: Academic Motivation and Attributional Styles Scale, Metacognitive Awareness of Reading Strategies Inventory, Regression Digit Retention Subtest, d2 Attention Test, and Inferential Reading Comprehension Test. Results: only working memory showed a statistically significant direct effect on reading comprehension. Although academic motivation, selective attention, and metacognition did not have statistically significant effects on reading comprehension, there were statistically significant effects on reading comprehension.Conclusions: although only working memory had an effect on reading comprehension, a circuit in which other motivational, cognitive and metacognitive variables are associated could be revealed

The Democratic Citizen, Political Plasticity and National Development: A Psychological Perspective

The global context in which national development is taking place has changed in important ways, including widening and entrenched inequalities, deglobalisation, weakened democracies, more aggressive dictatorships and the rise of authoritarian strongmen in many countries. Within this changed context, we examine the central role of the democratic citizen and political plasticity in national development. Our arguments are supported by reference to empirical psychological studies, as well as applied challenges in national development. We identify the 10 most important psychological characteristics of the democratic citizen. Achieving these characteristics requires change, which we discuss through the concept of political plasticity, how fast, in what ways, and how much political behaviour can (and cannot) be changed. We point out that in some domains political plasticity is very low and changes extremely slowly. We identify a narrative approach as the best path for nurturing democratic citizens, building on the narrative story-telling tradition that is already indigenous to many non-Western societies. The incorporation of a narrative tradition to strengthen democratic citizenship does not require expensive technology or other material resources.

Mental images and imagination in moral education

ABSTRACT This article argues for a unique role of imagination and mental images in the moral education of students. Imagination is rendered here as a capacity oriented toward realizable and salient goals; mental images are understood as particular future-oriented self-representations (FOSRs) devised by and held in imagination. FOSRs have four moral attributes: they are 1) expressive of us as moral agents, 2) shape our moral identity, 3) serve as moral pointers, and 4) help devise mitigating strategies. FOSRs can be created and utilized in educational settings to further the goals of moral education by i) fostering sensitivity to moral situations among students, ii) motivating learners to act morally, iii) facilitating environments supportive of moral practice and moral habituation, and iv) helping strengthen cross-situational consistency of moral action. The four moral attributes of future-oriented self-representations (FOSRs) (1–4) that are to be engaged in moral education to further its goals (i–iv) are correlated with four elements of moral education, namely: a) moral awareness; b) moral competency; c) moral motivation; and d) moral capacity. To argue for the special role of imagination and mental images in moral education this paper integrates philosophical research and conceptual and empirical studies in psychology and education on the morality of imagination and mental images.

РЕШЕНИЕ ПСИХОЛОГО-ПЕДАГОГИЧЕСКИХ ПРОБЛЕМ ОБУЧАЮЩИХСЯ СРЕДНИХ ПРОФЕССИОНАЛЬНЫХ ОБРАЗОВАТЕЛЬНЫХ УЧРЕЖДЕНИЙ ЧЕРЕЗ КОРРЕКЦИОННО-РАЗВИВАЮЩИЕ ЗАНЯТИЯ

Introduction. The article examines the psychological and pedagogical problems of students in secondary vocational education institutions as well as presents the conditions for their solution. Materials and methods. Methods such as theoretical analysis of literature, analysis of educational documentation, psychodiagnostics were used in the work. The analysis of the results showed that purposeful psychological work helps to increase the level of adaptive abilities of students in secondary vocational education, stabilize their emotional state, reduce anxiety, increase self-esteem, and raise the predominance of internal motivation. The results. The results of an empirical psychological study of students in secondary vocational education are presented. Discussion and conclusion. Due to the modern requirements of the labor market for highly qualified specialists and the problems they have, it is necessary to create certain conditions for their solution as well as use different methods of specialist training.

Value-Orientation Differentiation of Volunteers-Educating of the Internet Encyclopedia “Wikipedia” and the Project “Otvety.” Part 2

Over the past decades, altruistic cyber activities of online education volunteers who share useful knowledge with other Internet users have become widespread in the Internet space. Personal and group features of such prosocial behavior, which is strongly influenced by the realization of values, have not been sufficiently studied by psychological science so far. This study continues the psychological analysis of the value-orientation sphere of online educators, focusing on competent education volunteers who deal with the Internet encyclopedia “Wikipedia” (N = 92) and the question-answer (QA) online project “Otvety” (N = 113). The following tools were used in the work: the revised Portrait Value Questionnaire (PVQ-R2R) by Sh. Schwartz adapted by T.P. Butenko, D.S. Sedova and A.S. Lipatova and the Value Orientations Techniques developed by O.I. Motkov and T.A. Ogneva (version 2). The results of the analysis provide sufficient grounds to characterize the members of both groups as indivi- duals who are productively oriented towards informational and pro-social Internet activities that are not identical in format from the perspective of transfinite altruism, for the implementation of which optimal non-hierarchical-parity conditions have been created in their reference online communities, stimulating liberty in the process of individual self-realization. It is shown that, with a high homogeneity of the value profiles of the Wikipedia authors and QA “Otvety” service experts, the internal value-related self-determination (procedural in nature) has a basal meaning for them, since the external one, set in a heteronomous position, only weakly corresponds to their freedom-seeking way of life. It is concluded that the series of theoretical and empirical psychological studies of the diverse teams of online education volunteers will make it possible, by understanding their personal and group specifics, to lay a solid foundation, which can potentially lead to global unity of people with the prospect of large-scale amplification of knowledge as one of the highest human values.

Modeling and Analysis of Discrete Facial Expressions with Dense Optical Flow-derived Features

Facial expressions (FEs) are one of the most preeminent means of conveying one’s emotions and are pivotal to nonverbal communication. Potential applications in a wide range of areas in computer vision have lent a strong impetus to research in the domain of automatic facial expression recognition. This work discusses the effectiveness of two optical flow-based features for modeling the FEs associated with prototypic emotions based on the pattern of nonrigid deformable motion of facial components occurring during their portrayal. The discernible motion patterns are categorized into distinct discrete classes with the descriptive features indicating the global spatial distribution of deformation derived from the dense optical flow field associated with emotional and neutral face images. Results obtained with evaluation on images and video clips taken from Extended Cohn-Kanade, Japanese Female Facial Expressions, and Dynamic Karolinska Directed Emotional Faces datasets with multi-class support vector machine and [Formula: see text]-nearest neighbor classifiers are competent with the state-of-the-art techniques and concordant with empirical psychological studies in emotion science.

Neural Processing of Facial Attractiveness and Romantic Love: An Overview and Suggestions for Future Empirical Studies.

Romantic love is universally observed in human communities, and the manner in which a person chooses a long-term romantic partner has been a central question in studies on close relationships. Numerous empirical psychological studies have demonstrated that facial attractiveness greatly impacts initial romantic attraction. This close link was further investigated by neuroimaging studies showing that both viewing attractive faces and having romantic thoughts recruit the reward system. However, it remains unclear how our brains integrate perceived facial attractiveness into initial romantic attraction. In addition, it remains unclear how our brains shape a persistent attraction to a particular person through interactions; this persistent attraction is hypothesized to contribute to a long-term relationship. After reviewing related studies, I introduce methodologies that could help address these questions.

Psychological Factors of Youth Emigration Intentions: A Review of International Studies

The psychological factors of the emigration intentions of young people, the growth of which is observed today in various countries of the world, are analysed based on the data of numerous international studies. The scientific significance of this analysis, on the one hand, is due to the lack of Russian psychological works that systematize and popularize the relevant information, on the other hand, it is associated with the need to subsequently correlate the results of international and Russian studies in order to identify common supra-cultural and specific psychological factors that affect the emigration intentions of young people. The psychological driving forces of the emigration intentions of young people considered in international studies are diverse and correspond to different levels of personality activity (individual, interpersonal and macrosocial). They correlate with general groups of factors contributing to emigration. The factors reflecting the emerging opportunities for emigration are related to positive attitudes towards emigration in general, the consideration of emigration as a way to achieve significant goals, a low degree of attachment to the country of origin, dissatisfaction with the existing living conditions, and positive attitudes towards the country where young people intend to move to. The psychological factors associated with the availability of social support include the support they receive from their families as well as relevant interpersonal contacts they have abroad. The group of factors related to personal resources for overcoming emerging obstacles correlates with expressed career aspirations, high motivation for power and achievements, insignificant motivation for affiliation, extraversion, openness to new experience, desire for risk, change and new impressions, openness to the world and cultural differences, readiness to interaction with others, faith in other religions and nationalities, self-efficacy, ability to cope with the ambivalence of emerging emotions and feelings, a high level of education, proficiency in foreign languages, and experience of international mobility. The obtained data can be used to conduct empirical psychological studies on the driving forces of the emigration activity of young people in Russia and other countries.

Conditions of the Central-Limit Theorem Are Rarely Satisfied in Empirical Psychological Studies.

Conditions of the Central-Limit Theorem Are Rarely Satisfied in Empirical Psychological Studies.

Influence Of Optimism Upon The Accumulation Of Stress, Mental State And Perceived Risks For The Future Of Students, In The Conditions Of Covid–19 Pandemic

An empirical psychological study was conducted with students from Nikola Vaptsarov Naval Academy, using both quantitative and qualitative approaches. The aim of the research was to test the role of optimism on the accumulation of stress in the conditions of pandemic of COVID-19, their mental states, experiences in connection with social isolation and perceived risks for the future and career. It has been found that optimism, as a generalized personal expectation, has a strong buffering effect on the impact of accumulated pandemic stress on students’ emotional states. Negative expectations do not have a significant effect on the emotional state. Optimism and negative expectations have no effect on fears for the future and perceived risks for young people as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Obviously, other personal and social factors determine the negative expectations for the acquired competencies during distance learning – online, as well as for more difficult careers and career problems for this reason. More pronounced negative expectations make it more difficult for students to tolerate social isolation, while optimism has no statistically significant impact on social isolation experiences during a pandemic. Students with more optimism perceive their mental state as stable, good, while those with reduced optimism and more pronounced negative expectations as shaky, depressed. The results of the study suggest the need for additional activity of higher education institutions in such conditions to support and advise students.

Governing for Future Generations: How Political Trust Shapes Attitudes Towards Climate and Debt Policies

Policy decisions, and public preferences about them, often entail judgements about costs people should be willing to pay for the benefit of future generations. Economic analyses discount policies’ future benefits based on expectations about increasing standards of living, while empirical studies in psychology have found future-oriented people are more motivated to protect the environment. In this article, using original surveys and survey experiments in four countries—Sweden, Spain, South Korea, and China—we show that support for future-oriented policies also strongly reflects people’s political trust. Focusing on policies for reducing either global warming or public debt, we find political trust operates on attitudes by shaping people’s (a) confidence in policies’ effectiveness and (b) willingness to sacrifice for others. The influence of political trust outweighs that of subjective concern, while discounting has so little impact that people who expect future generations to be richer are more, not less, willing to sacrifice.

ANTHROPOLOGIZATION OF SCIENCE: FROM THE SUBJECT OF COGNITION TO THE RESEARCHER’S PERSONALITY

Purpose. With the consideration of anthropological tendencies in modern science, the purpose of the article is to analyze the problem of the subject of cognition, philosophical-psychological rationale for the need to complement it by the concept of "the researcher’s personality". Theoretical basis. The authors rely on post-non-classical methodological tools and basic principles of complexity theory (autopoiesis, auto-eco-organization, synergy, syzygy, targeted and cyclic determination), as well as theoretical provisions of epistemological constructivism (enactivism), the results of theoretical and empirical psychological studies. In them, authors revealed psychological features of the potential of self-realization of a person prone to innovation and research activities and transfessionalism, including the resources and reserves of the researcher’s personality. Originality. The concept of the subject of (scientific) cognition is expanded by the concept of "researcher’s personality" and derivative concepts that describe the dynamics of self-harmonization of originative co-generative strengths and opportunities of self-realization of an enlightened person, reveal the degree of correlation in the cognition of the subjective and objective dimensions of his life. It is substantiated that further analysis of the problem of anthropologization of science requires appropriate onto-epistemological grounds that reveals the unity of cognition-education-skill as an essential characteristic of the maturity of the researcher’s personality of scientific knowledge. Conclusions. In the context of anthropological shifts in modern science, the philosophical-psychological analysis of the problem of the subject of cognition is actualized. The psychological research proves the advisability of using the "researcher’s personality" concept as a basic one for understanding the formation of an enlightened human-creator, capable of auto-eco-organization, self-transcendence, and syzygy with the Universe at different levels of innovational research activity. The self-realization of the researcher-personality is a way-search for the authenticity of the multiform unity of life, the personal meaning of scientific truth, and the self-harmonization of the originative co-generative co-determinative strengths in the knowledge of an enlightened person. Including the concept of the subject of cognition in the ontology of the unity of difference-multidimensional poly-essential autopoetic integrity, the anthropologization of science is intended to revive the ancient idea in the unity of truth ("ἀλήθεια"), education ("παιδεία") and skill ("τέχνη") of a scientist, defining the ideal of a modern human-transfessional.

Can CEOs’ Facial Attractiveness Influence Philanthropic Behavior? Evidence from India

ABSTRACTThis study extends the extant literature on corporate philanthropy by exploring the indirect effect of physical attractiveness of CEOs on corporate philanthropy under conditional effects of family ownership and control. Recent empirical studies in psychology suggest that egalitarian values are negatively related to physical attractiveness. Based on these findings, we propose that physically attractive CEOs invest less in corporate philanthropic activities than less attractive peers as they have lower egalitarian values. Leveraging upper echelons and stewardship theory, we further consider the moderating impact of family ownership and control on the indirect relationship between the physical attractiveness of a CEO and philanthropy mediated through egalitarianism.

A tutorial on the meta-analytic structural equation modeling of reliability coefficients.

Reporting the reliability of the scores obtained from a scale or test is part of the standard repertoire of empirical studies in psychology. With reliability being a key concept in psychometrics, researchers have become more and more interested in evaluating reliability coefficients across studies and, ultimately, quantify and explain possible between-study variation. This approach-commonly known as "reliability generalization"-can be specified within the framework of meta-analysis. The existing procedures of reliability generalization, however, have several methodological issues: (a) unrealistic and often untested assumptions on the measurement model underlying the reliability coefficients (e.g., essential τ-equivalence for Cronbach's α); (b) the use of univariate approaches to synthesizing reliabilities of total and subscale scores; (c) the lack of comparability across different types of reliability coefficients. However, these issues can be addressed directly through meta-analytic structural equation modeling (MASEM)-a method that combines meta-analysis with structural equation modeling through synthesizing either correlation matrices or model parameters across studies. The primary objective of this article is to present the potential MASEM has for the meta-analysis of reliability coefficients. We review the extant body of literature on the use of reliability generalization, discuss and illustrate two MASEM approaches (i.e., correlation-based and parameter-based MASEM), and propose some practical guidelines. Future directions for utilizing MASEM for reliability generalization are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Vienna Circle's Reception of Nietzsche

Friedrich Nietzsche was among the figures from the history of nineteenth-century philosophy that, perhaps surprisingly, some of the Vienna Circle’s members had presented as one of their predecessors. While, primarily for political reasons, most Anglophone figures in the history of analytic philosophy had taken a dim view of Nietzsche, the Vienna Circle’s leader Moritz Schlick admired and praised Nietzsche, rejecting what he saw as a misinterpretation of Nietzsche as a militarist or proto-fascist. Schlick, Frank, Neurath, and Carnap were in different ways committed to the view that Nietzsche made a significant contribution to the overcoming of metaphysics. Some of these philosophers praised the intimate connection Nietzsche drew between his philosophical outlook and empirical studies in psychology and physiology. In his 1912 lectures on Nietzsche, Schlick maintained that Nietzsche overcame an initial Schopenhauerian metaphysical-artistic phase in his thinking, and subsequently remained a positivist until his last writings. Frank and Neurath made the weaker claim that Nietzsche contributed to the development of a positivistic or scientific conception of the world. Schlick and Frank took a further step in seeing the mature Nietzsche as an Enlightenment thinker.

Attitudes to Death of Middle-Aged in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Psychological aspects of the attitude to death in the conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic are considered. The results of the research characterizing the attitude to death in different countries of the world during coronavirus infection are presented. The results of an empirical psychological study of the Ukrainian medieval group during the "first wave" of COVID-19 are presented. The attitude of people of the studied Ukrainian middle-aged group to the phenomenon of death in the conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic is ambivalent with a predominance of negative character. For middle-aged people, thoughts about death are not the main thing, thoughts about their own death are ambivalent, and the level of stress resistance associated with thoughts about death is average. People are afraid, in particular, not of death itself and the cessation of its existence, but of the difficult and painful process of dying. It was determined that the attitude to death is related to thoughts about their own death in the study group. An optimistic attitude towards death is associated with positive thoughts about one's own death. The problems of faith in life after death, as well as the influence of religiosity on the fear of death are considered. The presence of more positive metaphors about death, belief in life after death, the possibility of reunion with relatives, wisdom and forgiveness have led to significant differences in the results between groups of believers and atheists. The atheists studied, who are frightened by the loss of the physical world in the phenomenon of death, who imagine earthly life as the only one and believe that those who die feel fear and hopelessness before death, more often chose negative metaphors about their own death. Significant differences were identified between thoughts of death in women and men. Women, unlike men, have more pessimistic thoughts about the phenomenon of death. Women more often than men consider that thinking about death is outrageous and indicate that thoughts of death frighten and traumatize them. Thus, in the spring and summer of 2020, no significant impact of COVID-19 on the anxiety of middle-aged Ukrainians about death was identified. The situation of the second wave of coronavirus infection and the expected third (in early 2021) requires further research on the phenomenon of death in this age group.

Factors and models of interpersonal interaction of participants in long-term Ukrainian Antarctic Expeditions

The article presents the methodology, statistical analysis and original results of an empirical psychological study of the significant factors of interpersonal interaction of winterers Ukrainian Antarctic Akademik Vernadsky station. The study covers three areas of interpersonal interaction which are strongly interconnected: professional, daily, and leisure. Winterers performed their professional duties and solved daily and leisure problems inside small groups with isolation from the external world.
 As a result, over four years of observation we have identified the factors and modeled the optimization of interpersonal interaction of peoples in each area. These models can be applied in developing preventive approaches such as psychological training and support the peoples during the log-term expedition. It will allow to optimize the interpersonal interaction of team members in the extreme conditions of Antarctic winter, increase the effectiveness of their professional activities, reduce the influence of extreme factors of environmental and social environment and creating conditions for optimal social adaptation in a small group.

A SURVEY OF PSYCHOLOGICAL TRAITS BEHIND LEARNING TO DESIGN: NOVICES AS DORMANT EXPERT DESIGNERS

With their increasing emphasis on the importance of hands-on practice and gaining experience, the fields of engineering-design research and education appear to be entering a human-focused transition other fields like economics and decision making have emerged from in the recent past. In addition to the original, modernism-rooted desire for a rational science of design modelled on the natural sciences, this delay may be due the inherently strong association of engineering with science – i.e., ‘applied science.’ This research investigated whether there may instead be a science to the human involvement in design, of the human behaviours that often appear in actual engineering design practice. It surveyed published empirical studies in psychology, child development and other social and life sciences – as well as those within design research itself. Of particular interest were the designer behaviours and activities which did not follow the prescriptions of – or were prescribed against by – the traditional, rational-design methods: visualization, single-solution conjecturing, and intuition. Results from this survey showed comprehensively that environmental interactions and authentic design experiences activate latent design abilities and coping mechanisms that may be difficult to obtain otherwise. Without such interaction and the gaining of experience there can be no designing, so essentially design is a wholly human phenomenon. Rather than follow the rational-design method and prescribe against these design-enabling behaviours, then, it appears that a better pedagogical approach is to allow them to develop and mature – and let design novices become the experts they were meant to be.

A SURVEY OF PSYCHOLOGICAL TRAITS BEHIND LEARNING TO DESIGN: NOVICES AS DORMANT EXPERT DESIGNERS

With their increasing emphasis on the importance of hands-on practice and gaining experience, the fields of engineering-design research and education appear to be entering a human-focused transition other fields like economics and decision making have emerged from in the recent past. In addition to the original, modernism-rooted desire for a rational science of design modelled on the natural sciences, this delay may be due the inherently strong association of engineering with science – i.e., ‘applied science.’ This research investigated whether there may instead be a science to the human involvement in design, of the human behaviours that often appear in actual engineering design practice. It surveyed published empirical studies in psychology, child development and other social and life sciences – as well as those within design research itself. Of particular interest were the designer behaviours and activities which did not follow the prescriptions of – or were prescribed against by – the traditional, rational-design methods: visualization, single-solution conjecturing, and intuition. Results from this survey showed comprehensively that environmental interactions and authentic design experiences activate latent design abilities and coping mechanisms that may be difficult to obtain otherwise. Without such interaction and the gaining of experience there can be no designing, so essentially design is a wholly human phenomenon. Rather than follow the rational-design method and prescribe against these design-enabling behaviours, then, it appears that a better pedagogical approach is to allow them to develop and mature – and let design novices become the experts they were meant to be.