Individual Difference Measures Research Articles

The Categorization Heuristic

The Categorization Heuristic

Individual Differences in Implicit Bias Can Be Measured Reliably by Administering the Same Implicit Association Test Multiple Times.

The use of the Implicit Association Test (IAT) as a measure of individual differences is stymied by insufficient test-retest reliability for assessing trait-level constructs. We assess the degree to which the IAT measures individual differences and test a method to improve its validity as a "trait" measure: aggregating across IATs. Across three studies, participants (total n = 960) completed multiple IATs in the same session or across multiple sessions. Using latent-variable models, we found that half of the variance in IAT scores reflects individual differences. Aggregating across multiple IATs approximately doubled the variance explained with explicit measures compared with a single IAT D-score. These findings show that IAT scores contain considerable noise and that a single IAT is inadequate to estimate trait bias. However, aggregation across multiple administrations can correct this and better estimate individual differences in implicit attitudes.

Whether implicit attitudes exist is one question, and whether we can measure individual differences effectively is another.

Questions about measurement of individual differences in implicit attitudes, which have been the focus so far in this exchange, should be distinguished from more general questions about whether implicit attitudes exist and operate in our minds. Theorists frequently move too quickly from pessimistic results regarding the first set of questions to pessimistic conclusions about the second. That is, they take evidence that indirect measures such as the implicit association test (IAT) disappoint as individual difference measures and use it to (mistakenly) suggest that people do not in fact have implicit attitudes directed at stigmatized groups. In this commentary, I dissect this mistake in detail, drawing key lessons from a parallel debate that has unfolded in cognitive science about “conflict tasks” such as the Stroop task. I argue that the evidence overall supports a nuanced conclusion: Indirect measures such as the IAT measure individual differences in implicit attitudes poorly, but they—via distinct lines of evidence—still support the view that implicit attitudes exist.This article is categorized under:Psychology > Theory and Methods

Connecting Attitude Position and Function: The Role of Self-Esteem.

Attitude position and function often are discussed as though they are distinct aspects of attitudes, but scholars have become increasingly interested in how they may interface. We extend existing work showing that people view their positive attitudes as more self-defining than their negative attitudes (i.e., the positivity effect). All datasets support that the positivity effect emerged most strongly among high self-esteem individuals and was attenuated, eliminated, or even reversed among low self-esteem individuals. Furthermore, Study 4 uses a broad array of individual difference measures to triangulate that the higher self-enhancement motivation associated with high self-esteem, rather than merely the positive self-worth of high self-esteem people, is responsible for moderating the positivity effect. In sum, the present work establishes boundary conditions for an important phenomenon in the attitudes literature, develops understanding of the far-ranging implications of trait self-esteem, and illuminates the psychological motivations that connect attitude position and function.

Evaluating individual differences in rewarded Stroop performance: reliability and associations with self-report measures.

In three separate experiments, we examined the reliability of and relationships between self-report measures and behavioral response time measures of reward sensitivity. Using a rewarded-Stroop task we showed that reward-associated, but task-irrelevant, information interfered with task performance (MIRA) in all three experiments, but individual differences in MIRA were unreliable both within-session and over a period of approximately 4weeks, providing clear evidence that it is not a good individual differences measure. In contrast, when the task-relevant information was rewarded, individual differences in performance benefits were remarkably reliable, even when examining performance one year later, and with a different version of a rewarded Stroop task. Despite the high reliability of the behavioral measure of reward responsiveness, behavioral reward responsiveness was not associated with self-reported reward responsiveness scores using validated questionnaires but was associated with greater self-reported self-control. Results are discussed in terms of what is actually being measured in the rewarded Stroop task.

Average fixation duration in infancy: Stability and predictive utility.

The current study examined the stability, consistency, and predictive utility of average fixation durations in infancy. In Study 1, infants' (N=80) average fixation duration when viewing social stimuli was found to show strong relative stability from 3.5 to 9months of age. In Study 2, strong within-infant consistency was found in 3.5-month-old infants' (N=73) average fixation durations to social and nonsocial stimuli. In Study 3, 3.5- to 9-month-old infants' (N=89) average fixation duration was found to systematically vary with parent-reported symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) at 4-6years of age. These results suggest that average fixation duration serves as a stable and systematic measure of individual differences in cognitive development beginning early in life.

On the Need to Improve the Way Individual Differences in Cognitive Function Are Measured With Reaction Time Tasks

The measurement of individual differences in specific cognitive functions has been an important area of study for decades. Often the goal of such studies is to determine whether there are cognitive deficits or enhancements associated with, for example, a specific population, psychological disorder, health status, or age group. The inherent difficulty, however, is that most cognitive functions are not directly observable, so researchers rely on indirect measures to infer an individual’s functioning. One of the most common approaches is to use a task that is designed to tap into a specific function and to use behavioral measures, such as reaction times (RTs), to assess performance on that task. Although this approach is widespread, it unfortunately is subject to a problem of reverse inference: Differences in a given cognitive function can be manifest as differences in RTs, but that does not guarantee that differences in RTs imply differences in that cognitive function. We illustrate this inference problem with data from a study on aging and lexical processing, highlighting how RTs can lead to erroneous conclusions about processing. Then we discuss how employing choice-RT models to analyze data can improve inference and highlight practical approaches to improving the models and incorporating them into one’s analysis pipeline.

A measure of individual differences in readers' approaches to text and its relation to reading experience and reading comprehension.

Readers have different motivations and approaches to text that covers a range of topics and difficulty levels. We introduce the concept of readers' approaches to text to establish a link between motivational and cognitive aspects of reading comprehension. Study 1 describes the development of a self-report measure of readers' approaches to text with a community sample. An exploratory factor analysis revealed that The Readers' Approaches to Text Questionnaire (TReAT-Q) had four subscales: (1) intrinsic goals, (2) extrinsic goals and strategies, (3) effort at understanding, and (4) avoidance of text difficulty. Aside from avoidance of text difficulty, these factors predicted adults' reading experience above and beyond the related, but more general, measure of need for cognition. A confirmatory factor analysis on TReAT-Q in Study 2 revealed that all subscales except effort at understanding contributed to a readers' approaches to text latent construct for college students. A subsequent structural equation model (SEM) evaluating a cognitive model of reading comprehension showed that college students' TReAT-Q scores predicted reading comprehension through an indirect pathway, mediated by reading experience and vocabulary knowledge. Readers who enjoy reading and deploy reading strategies to meet a desired level of understanding tend to have more reading experiences. The SEM also demonstrated the mediating role of vocabulary knowledge in text comprehension by linking reading experience and reading comprehension. Extending beyond measures of motivation, TReAT-Q incorporates the positive and negative approaches readers have to texts, which is fundamental for assessing what readers gain from their reading experiences that assists reading comprehension.

Consumers' love for technological gadgets is linked to personal growth

Loving technological gadgets could be considered an expression of material values, and thereby a behavior that is associated with reduced well-being. In two studies (N = 926, American and Canadian adults), we investigate whether gadget loving is associated with indicators of well-being that, to date, have gone undocumented by research. Results from a pilot study show that although people, overall, perceive technological gadgets to be materialistic purchases (compared to all tested product categories) and consumers of these products to be materialistic people (particularly when gadgets are purchased for novelty vs. utility), individual differences in gadget loving are most associated with learning motives rather than motives associated with materialism (e.g., status signaling). Results from the main study (a cross-sectional survey wherein participants completed individual difference measures of gadget loving, orientation-to-happiness, competence, and personal growth) indicate that (1) gadget loving interacts with an orientation-to-engagement (but not pleasure) to relate to greater personal growth, and (2) this interaction is explained by increases in competence. These results contravene the assumption that gadget loving is solely a manifestation of materialism.

Trust in the Danger Zone: Individual Differences in Confidence in Robot Threat Assessments.

Effective human–robot teaming (HRT) increasingly requires humans to work with intelligent, autonomous machines. However, novel features of intelligent autonomous systems such as social agency and incomprehensibility may influence the human’s trust in the machine. The human operator’s mental model for machine functioning is critical for trust. People may consider an intelligent machine partner as either an advanced tool or as a human-like teammate. This article reports a study that explored the role of individual differences in the mental model in a simulated environment. Multiple dispositional factors that may influence the dominant mental model were assessed. These included the Robot Threat Assessment (RoTA), which measures the person’s propensity to apply tool and teammate models in security contexts. Participants (N = 118) were paired with an intelligent robot tasked with making threat assessments in an urban setting. A transparency manipulation was used to influence the dominant mental model. For half of the participants, threat assessment was described as physics-based (e.g., weapons sensed by sensors); the remainder received transparency information that described psychological cues (e.g., facial expression). We expected that the physics-based transparency messages would guide the participant toward treating the robot as an advanced machine (advanced tool mental model activation), while psychological messaging would encourage perceptions of the robot as acting like a human partner (teammate mental model). We also manipulated situational danger cues present in the simulated environment. Participants rated their trust in the robot’s decision as well as threat and anxiety, for each of 24 urban scenes. They also completed the RoTA and additional individual-difference measures. Findings showed that trust assessments reflected the degree of congruence between the robot’s decision and situational danger cues, consistent with participants acting as Bayesian decision makers. Several scales, including the RoTA, were more predictive of trust when the robot was making psychology-based decisions, implying that trust reflected individual differences in the mental model of the robot as a teammate. These findings suggest scope for designing training that uncovers and mitigates the individual’s biases toward intelligent machines.

Disgust sensitivity relates to attitudes toward gay men and lesbian women across 31 nations

Previous work has reported a relation between pathogen-avoidance motivations and prejudice toward various social groups, including gay men and lesbian women. It is currently unknown whether this association is present across cultures, or specific to North America. Analyses of survey data from adult heterosexuals ( N = 11,200) from 31 countries showed a small relation between pathogen disgust sensitivity (an individual-difference measure of pathogen-avoidance motivations) and measures of antigay attitudes. Analyses also showed that pathogen disgust sensitivity relates not only to antipathy toward gay men and lesbians, but also to negativity toward other groups, in particular those associated with violations of traditional sexual norms (e.g., prostitutes). These results suggest that the association between pathogen-avoidance motivations and antigay attitudes is relatively stable across cultures and is a manifestation of a more general relation between pathogen-avoidance motivations and prejudice towards groups associated with sexual norm violations.

Exploring the Relationships Among Experiences in Nature, Wellbeing, and Stewardship During the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic brought sudden and dramatic changes to our daily lives. From shifting to remote work, to following shelter-in-place orders, to increased concerns about the health and wellbeing of one's self and family, individuals were required to make changes to their daily habits and to find new methods of coping with stress and maintaining wellbeing. In the present study, we surveyed participants in the United States (N= 192) with open-ended questions and individual difference measures to capture how changes to daily life due to the COVID-19 pandemic affected individuals' engagement with the outdoors. Specifically, using descriptive and inferential statistics, we (1) describe how people experienced the outdoors during the beginning stages of the COVID-19 pandemic; (2) evaluate how individuals' experiences outdoors relate to individual differences; and (3) report whether environmental experiences and COVID-19 concern relate to whether individuals chose to donate their participation payment to The Trust for Public Land, to the Center for Disease Control's COVID-19 fund, or to keep the payment for themselves in the form of a gift card. This work enhances our understanding of how the pandemic affected the relationship between people and the outdoors and contributes to knowledge about how nature can be used to help individuals and communities during times of crisis.

Motivation to Engage in Aging Research: Are There Typologies and Predictors?

Study recruitment and retention of older adults in research studies is a major challenge. Enhancing understanding of individual differences in motivations to participate, and predictors of motivators, can serve the dual aims of facilitating the recruitment and retention of older adults, benefiting study validity, economy, and power. Older adults (N = 472) past and potential participants were surveyed about motivations to participate in research, demographic, and individual difference measures (e.g., health status, cognitive difficulties). Latent class and clustering analyses explored motivation typologies, followed by regression models predicting individual motivators and typologies. Older adults endorsed a diversity of research motivations, some of which could be predicted by individual difference measures (e.g., older participants were more motivated by the desire to learn new technology, participants without a college education were more motivated by financial compensation, and participants with greater self-reported cognitive problems were more likely to participate to gain cognitive benefit). Clustering analysis revealed 4 motivation typologies: brain health advocates, research helpers, fun seekers, and multiple motivation enthusiasts. Cognitive difficulties, age, employment status, and previous participation predicted membership in these categories. Results provide an understanding of different participant motivations beyond differences between younger and older adults and begin to identify different classes of older adults motivated to participate in research studies. Results can provide guidance for targeted recruitment and retention strategies based on individual differences in stated or predicted motivations.

Examining the Role of Body Image Instability in Young Adult Women: Conceptualization, Development, and Psychometric Evaluation of the Vacillating Body Image Scale (VBIS)

The current study conceptualized body image instability as a maladaptive tendency to vacillate between different self-perceptions of one’s overall body image and developed a corresponding measure to assess body image instability. Results from a series of studies of young adult women demonstrated the validity, reliability, and utility of the Vacillating Body Image Scale (VBIS) as a meaningful measure of body image instability. In Study 1, we found that body image instability, as assessed by the VBIS, represents a unidimensional and reliable construct. In Study 2, we found evidence for both the convergent and discriminant validity of the VBIS in relation to other individual differences measures (i.e., self-concept schema, broad personality factors). In Study 3, the concurrent criterion validity of the VBIS was supported for young adult women in relation to a range of adjustment measures. Finally, in Study 4, we found consistent evidence for the incremental validity of the VBIS in predicting subsequent variations in eating disturbances, even after controlling for global self-esteem and self-concept instability. Overall, our findings offer promising support for our contention that body image instability, as measured by the VBIS, represents an important construct for understanding eating-related disturbances and other health outcomes in young adult women.

EEG variability: Task-driven or subject-driven signal of interest?

Neurons in the brain are seldom perfectly quiet. They continually receive input and generate output, resulting in highly variable patterns of ongoing activity. Yet the functional significance of this variability is not well understood. If brain signal variability is functionally relevant and serves as an important indicator of cognitive function, then it should be highly sensitive to the precise manner in which a cognitive system is engaged and/or relate strongly to differences in behavioral performance. To test this, we examined EEG activity in younger adults as they performed a cognitive skill learning task and during rest. Several measures of EEG variability and signal strength were calculated in overlapping time windows that spanned the trial interval. We performed a systematic examination of the factors that most strongly influenced the variability and strength of EEG activity. First, we examined the relative sensitivity of each measure to across-subject variation (within blocks) and across-block variation (within subjects). We found that the across-subject variation in EEG variability and signal strength was much stronger than the across-block variation. Second, we examined the sensitivity of each measure to different sources of across-block variation during skill acquisition. We found that key task-driven changes in EEG activity were best reflected in changes in the strength, rather than the variability, of EEG activity. Lastly, we examined across-subject variation in each measure and its relationship with behavior. We found that individual differences in response time measures were best reflected in individual differences in the variability, rather than the strength, of EEG activity. Importantly, we found that individual differences in EEG variability related strongly to stable indicators of subject identity rather than dynamic indicators of subject performance. We therefore suggest that EEG variability may provide a more sensitive subject-driven measure of individual differences than task-driven signal of interest.

Registered report: Moderators of the relationship between implicit and explicit measures of evaluation and identification

Researchers and theorists have explained variations in the relationship between implicit and explicit measures of social cognition by citing differences in measurement and cognitive processing. The present research explored how features of measured attributes and individual differences affect the relationship between implicit and explicit measures using existing data (Hussey, Hughes, & Nosek, 2018). In the original study, participants completed measures of explicit evaluation or identification (i.e., difference scores between self-report items) and implicit evaluation or identification (i.e., the Implicit Association Test; Greenwald, McGhee, & Schwartz, 1998) for one of 95 target pairs. First, we attempted to conceptually replicate Nosek's (2005) findings that self-presentation, distinctiveness, elaboration/importance, and complementarity moderated the relationship between implicit and explicit evaluations across individuals irrespective of attribute targets. These attribute features each moderated the relationship between implicit and explicit evaluations and accounted for unique variation in implicit-explicit relations. Second, we tested whether these features affected the relationship between implicit and explicit identifications. We found moderating effects of distinctiveness and complementarity but not of the other attribute features, likely due to their operationalization. Finally, we examined whether theoretically relevant individual difference measures moderated the relationship between implicit and explicit evaluations or identifications. Across almost all analyses, these measures (i.e., socially desirable responding, self-monitoring, need for cognition, personal need for structure, and need for cognitive closure) did not moderate implicit-explicit relations. Taken together, our results suggest that relationships between implicit and explicit measures reflect individual experiences with attribute targets rather than the cultural context, targets, or individuals themselves.

Measuring the transformative utopian impulse for planetary health in the age of the Anthropocene: a multi-study scale development and validation

Transformative utopian impulse for planetary health is people's propensity to have thoughts and engage in actions of which the purpose is to transform the current society into a better one in the future by addressing existing global issues. We aimed to develop a well-validated scale that can measure the transformative utopian impulse for planetary health and uncover its role in societal transformation. We developed a scale to measure the transformative utopian impulse for planetary health across 11 studies with 6248 participants from the USA (from the MTurk database) and the UK (from the Prolifico.co database). Participants were eligible take part in the studies if they completed the consent form. Participants who did not pass the seriousness check or did not accurately answer all instructed response items were excluded from statistical analyses. We used exploratory factor analyses (EFA) and confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) to determine the factor structure of the Transformative Utopian Impulse for Planetary Health Scale (TUIPHS). Then we analysed the TUIPHS' nomological network (ie, the relationships between TUIPHS and various constructs ranging from personality traits and values to economic, social, and political attitudes and beliefs). We then examined the scale's incremental predictive validity by testing whether it predicts various attitudes and behaviours relevant to social change beyond scales that measure competing constructs (this part of the study is registered at OSF Registries [https://osf.io/ztj2f]). Finally, we examined the TUIPHS' longitudinal predictive validity by probing whether it predicts people's future support for social change. Data were collected between Oct 8, 2018, and July 6, 2020. We established that TUIPHS has a four-factor structure and can also be scored as a single general factor, indicating that it captures an overarching theoretical construct (ie, the transformative utopian impulse for planetary health). We then showed that the scale is related to various specific individual difference measures that capture diverse aspects of people's propensity to actively engage in thoughts and actions oriented toward the betterment of society. Moreover, TUIPHS predicted, above and beyond 20 competing scales highly correlated (r ≥0·50) with it, a series of 19 self-reported behavioural and attitudinal constructs pertaining to social change. Finally, participants' past TUIPHS scores predicted their support, a few months later, for social movements that aim to build a more just and resilient society than in the current day. This research lays the groundwork for future theoretical and empirical research into the psychological and behavioural processes attached to the transformative utopian impulse for planetary health as a source of transformative social change toward a better way of being and living. The London School of Economics and Political Science.

On the basis of source: Impacts of individual differences on multiple-document integrated reading and writing tasks

Few studies have explored how general skills in both reading and writing influence performance on integrated, source-based writing. The goal of the present study was to consider the relative contributions of reading and writing ability on multiple-document integrative reading and writing tasks. Students in the U.S. (n = 94) completed two tasks in which they read text sets about a socioscientific issue, generated constructed responses while reading, and then composed integrated essays. They also completed individual difference measures (general knowledge, reading skill, reading strategy use) and wrote independent essays to assess their writing ability. Mixed effect models revealed that general knowledge and reading skills contributed to integrated essay performance, but that once general writing ability was entered into the model, it became the strongest predictor of integrated writing scores. These results suggest the need for deeper consideration of the role of writing skills in integrated reading and writing tasks.

Alcohol demand as a predictor of drinking behavior in the natural environment.

Alcohol demand, a measure of alcohol's reinforcing value, is associated with greater alcohol consumption and alcohol-related problems. Although alcohol demand has primarily been evaluated as a 'trait-like', individual difference measure, recent evidence indicates that demand exhibits meaningful short-term fluctuations. We aimed to determine whether moment-to-moment fluctuations in alcohol demand in individuals' natural drinking environments predicted drinking occurrence, drinking continuation, and drinking quantity. Observational study. Individuals' natural drinking environments in Columbia, Missouri, USA. Eighty-nine young adults (56% female; mean age = 24.8) participated from November 2018 to October 2020. Participants reported 14.5 drinking days [standard deviation (SD = 8.1)] and 4.1 drinks per occasion (SD = 2.5) during ecological momentary assessment (EMA). Participants completed the alcohol purchase task at baseline. Following this, participants reported on their alcohol demand (breakpoint, Omax , intensity) and drinking behavior during EMA at daily, timed prompts from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. They provided breathalyzer samples using a BACtrack Mobile® Pro. Models tested concurrent and prospective (lagged) associations between alcohol demand and drinking occurrence and drinking continuation after drinking initiation. Additional models tested concurrent associations between demand and breath alcohol concentrations (BrACs). Higher alcohol demand was associated with higher odds of drinking and continued drinking for all demand indices at the momentary [odds ratio (OR) = 1.27-1.56, ps ≤ 0.03] and day-level (OR = 2.14-3.39, ps < 0.001). Additionally, lagged demand predicted higher odds of drinking occurrence and continuation at the following prompt (OR = 1.32-1.53, ps ≤ 0.004). Higher alcohol demand was associated with higher BrACs at the momentary (bs = 0.0011-0.0026, ps ≤ 0.03) and day-level (bs = 0.0053-0.0062, ps < 0.001). At the person-level, findings varied depending on the demand measure. Alcohol demand appears to be associated with both when and how much individuals drink in their natural drinking environments. Elevations in alcohol demand appear to be associated with increased likelihood of drinking and continuing to drink, and greater total alcohol consumption, both within and across drinking days.

The The Relationship Between School Heads’ Transformational and Structural Leadership Styles Towards Teachers’ Teaching Motivation

Abstract: Leadership is crucial in an organisation’s long-term viability and incredibly motivating teachers. Theoretical and conceptual searches for leadership styles that work in any situation, such as teachers’ teaching motivation and with any set of followers, have never been more abundant in the field of leadership research. However, some findings reported that there had been some uncertainty about the relationship of leadership styles towards teacher teaching motivation in some schools. Hence, this study is designed to get the response of primary school teachers in Sabah on the school heads’ transformational and structural leadership styles, the level of teachers’ teaching motivation, and the relationship between the school heads’ transformational and structural leadership styles towards teachers’ teaching motivation. This study is a descriptive quantitative study conducted through a survey using a questionnaire from the instruments of L. Bolman Personnel correspondents for structural leadership style, MLQ (Multi-Factor Leadership Questionnaire) for transformational leadership style, and A Questionnaire Measure of Individual Differences in Achieving Tendency (QMAT) for teaching motivation. The study involved 350 respondents from primary schools in Sabah. The analysis of the findings uses frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, and Pearson correlation analysis with determination = 0.05. The results showed that teachers’ response in primary school in Sabah to the leadership style of the school heads is at a satisfactory level. The study also found a significant relationship between the school heads’ leadership styles towards teachers’ teaching motivation. This study supports the findings of other studies, whereby the headmaster leadership styles influence teachers’ level of teaching motivation in schools.&#x0D; &#x0D; Keywords: Transformational leadership styles, structural leadership styles, teachers’ motivation