Search

The original 90-item Creative Behavior Inventory (CBI) was a landmark self-report scale in creativity research, and the 28-item brief form developed nearly 20 years ago continues to be a popular measure of everyday creativity. Relatively little is known, however, about the psychometric properties of this widely used scale. In the current research, we conduct a detailed psychometric investigation into the 28-item CBI by applying methods from item response theory using a sample of 2,082 adults. Our investigation revealed several strengths of the current scale: excellent reliability, suitable dimensionality, appropriate item difficulty, and reasonably good item discrimination. Several areas for improvement were highlighted as well: (1) the four-point response scale should have fewer options; (2) a handful of items showed gender-based differential item functioning, indicating some gender bias; and (3) local dependence statistics revealed clusters of items that are redundant and could be trimmed. These analyses support the continued use of the CBI for assessing engagement in everyday creative behaviors but suggest that the CBI could benefit from thoughtful revision.

Given the scope and adverse clinical consequences of child abuse, assessment of salient etiological factors can lend critical insights needed for abuse prevention. Increasingly, dual-processing models have been applied to aggression, which postulate that parallel automatic and conscious processes can evoke aggressive behavior, implicating both affective and cognitive elements in both routes. Using two samples of mothers ( n = 110 and n = 195), the current investigation considered evidence of the reliability and convergent, concurrent, and construct validity of the new Automatic Parent Emotion Analog Response task relevant to parent–child aggression, contrasted with a self-reported conscious processing measure. Findings provide evidence that affective reactions of both anger and worry relate to child abuse risk and inclination to respond aggressively, and demonstrate how mothers’ automatic reactions relate to both perceived child misbehavior and child dangerous behavior. Current results lend psychometric support for automatic processing in parent–child aggression consistent with other dual-processing theories of aggression.

To expand the tools available to arts researchers in psychology, we present the Open Gallery for Arts Research (OGAR), a free, open-source tool for studying visitor behavior within an online gallery environment. OGAR is highly extensible, allowing researchers to modify the environment to test different hypotheses, and it affords assessing a wide range of outcome variables. After describing the tool and its development, we present a proof-of-concept study that evaluates OGAR's usability and performance and illustrates some ways that it can be used to study the psychology of virtual visits. With a sample of 44 adults from an online participant panel who freely explored OGAR, we observed that OGAR had good usability based on high scores on the System Usability Scale and rare instances of self-reported nausea, among other usability markers. Furthermore, using position and viewing data provided by OGAR, we found that participants navigated the gallery and interacted with the artwork in predictable and coherent ways that resembled visitor behavior in real-world art museums. OGAR appears to be a promising tool for researchers and art professionals interested in how people navigate and experience virtual and real art spaces.

Although many people retrospectively report feeling more open-minded after experiencing highly stressful events, relevant longitudinal studies are scarce and have yielded contradictory findings. The present study used a 12-month longitudinal case-control design to test whether growth in openness (assessed every 4 months using multiple methods) occurs following major stressors, and whether changes relate to clinical symptoms of depression and/or posttraumatic stress. To do so, we compared participants (a) with a recent major stressor and with low symptoms ( n = 66), (b) without a recent major stressor and with low symptoms ( n = 76), and (c) with a recent major stressor and with significant symptoms ( n = 76). Overall, growth curve models showed that group membership was not associated with changes in openness over 12 months for most outcomes. Other variables (e.g., education) predicted changes in openness. This study provides robust evidence that openness to experience is mostly stable following major stressors.

BACKGROUND: Expanding on research that has identified nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) as a strong predictor of suicide risk, the present study examined NSSI disorder (NSSID) and borderline personality disorder (BPD) as unique contributors to lifetime suicide attempts. To our knowledge, the present study represents the first exploration of these associations among veterans. METHODS: Participants included 124 male (74%) and female (26%) veterans diagnosed with at least one mental health disorder. Posttraumatic stress disorder (93%) and major depression (86%) were the most common mental health diagnoses. Large proportions of the sample met criteria for NSSID (48%) and BPD (40%). Suicide attempts were reported by 28% of the sample. Chi-square tests determined the bivariate associations among NSSID, BPD, history of suicide attempts, and other variables. Significant diagnostic (i.e., MDD, BPD, and NSSID) and demographic (i.e., age) characteristics were included as covariates in a logistic regression model examining the associations of BPD and NSSID with suicide attempts. RESULTS: BPD, X(2)=11.1, p

Are intelligence and creativity distinct abilities, or do they rely on the same cognitive and neural systems? We sought to quantify the extent to which intelligence and creative cognition overlap in brain and behavior by combining machine learning of fMRI data and latent variable modeling of cognitive ability data in a sample of young adults (N = 186) who completed a battery of intelligence and creative thinking tasks. The study had 3 analytic goals: (a) to assess contributions of specific facets of intelligence (e.g., fluid and crystallized intelligence) and general intelligence to creative ability (i.e., divergent thinking originality), (b) to model whole-brain functional connectivity networks that predict intelligence facets and creative ability, and (c) to quantify the degree to which these predictive networks overlap in the brain. Using structural equation modeling, we found moderate to large correlations between intelligence facets and creative ability, as well as a large correlation between general intelligence and creative ability (r = .63). Using connectome-based predictive modeling, we found that functional brain networks that predict intelligence facets overlap to varying degrees with a network that predicts creative ability, particularly within the prefrontal cortex of the executive control network. Notably, a network that predicted general intelligence shared 46% of its functional connections with a network that predicted creative ability-including connections linking executive control and salience/ventral attention networks-suggesting that intelligence and creative thinking rely on similar neural and cognitive systems. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Sexual minority (e.g., gay, lesbian, bisexual) people are at increased risk for suicidal thoughts and behaviors compared to their heterosexual peers. The interpersonal theory of suicide proposes that perceived burdensomeness and thwarted belongingness are central to the desire to die, and both are associated with suicidal ideation in sexual minority samples. The Interpersonal Needs Questionnaire (INQ) was developed to measure these risk factors and has become the most commonly used measure. However, it is unknown whether the INQ demonstrates similar measurement properties across subgroups of sexual minority people. Therefore, the goal of this study was to examine whether the 15-item version of the INQ exhibited measurement invariance (MI) across sexual orientation (gay/lesbian vs. bi +), gender identity (cisgender men vs. cisgender women vs. transgender/gender diverse individuals), and race/ethnicity (non-Latinx White individuals vs. people of color) in a sample of 792 sexual minority young adults (ages 18-29). A series of multigroup measurement invariance models indicated that the INQ-15 met strict invariance (i.e., equal factor loadings, item intercepts, and residual variances) across all three dimensions of identity. This indicates that it can be used and compared across diverse samples of sexual minority young adults. Results also indicated that perceived burdensomeness was greater for transgender/gender diverse individuals than for cisgender men and women, and that perceived burdensomeness and thwarted belongingness were greater for people of color than for non-Latinx White individuals. In contrast, gay/lesbian and bi + individuals did not differ. Additional research is needed to understand the factors that account for these group differences. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

The human ability for self-consciousness—the capacity to reflect on oneself and to think about one’s thoughts, experiences, and actions—is central to understanding personality and motivation. The present research examined the psychometric properties of the Self-reflection and Insight Scale (SRIS), a prominent self-report scale for measuring individual differences in private self-consciousness. Using tools from Rasch and item response theory models, the SRIS was evaluated using responses from a large sample of young adults (n = 1192). The SRIS had many strengths, including essentially zero gender-based differential item functioning (DIF), but a cluster of poor performing items was identified based on item misfit, high local dependence, and low item difficulty and discrimination. Based on the IRT analyses, a concise 12-item scale, evenly balanced between self-reflection and insight, was crafted. The short SRIS showed strong dimensionality, reliability, item fit, and local independence as well as essentially no gender DIF. Taken together, the many psychometric strengths of the SRIS support its popularity, and the short form will be useful for research and applied contexts where an efficient, concise version is needed.

Increasing research efforts are focused on explaining the cognitive bases of creativity. However, it remains unclear when and how cognitive factors such as intelligence and executive function uniqu...

Objective College students with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are at increased risk for numerous educational and psychosocial difficulties. This study reports findings from a large, multisite randomized controlled trial examining the efficacy of a treatment for this population, known as ACCESS-Accessing Campus Connections and Empowering Student Success. Method ACCESS is a cognitive-behavioral therapy program delivered via group treatment and individual mentoring across two semesters. A total of 250 students (18-30 years of age, 66% female, 6.8% Latino, 66.3% Caucasian) with rigorously defined ADHD and comorbidity status were recruited from two public universities and randomly assigned to receive ACCESS immediately or on a 1-year delayed basis. Treatment response was assessed on three occasions, addressing primary (i.e., ADHD, executive functioning, depression, anxiety) and secondary (i.e., clinical change mechanisms, service utilization) outcomes. Results Latent growth curve modeling (LGCM) revealed significantly greater improvements among immediate ACCESS participants in terms of ADHD symptoms, executive functioning, clinical change mechanisms, and use of disability accommodations, representing medium to large effects (Cohen's d, .39-1.21). Across these same outcomes, clinical significance analyses using reliable change indices (RCI; Jacobson & Truax, 1992) revealed significantly higher percentages of ACCESS participants showing improvement. Although treatment-induced improvements in depression and anxiety were not evident from LGCM, RCI analyses indicated that immediate ACCESS participants were less likely to report a worsening in depression/anxiety symptoms. Conclusions Findings from this RCT provide strong evidence in support of the efficacy and feasibility of ACCESS as a treatment for young adults with ADHD attending college. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Research on effort and motivation commonly assesses how the sympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system affects the cardiovascular system. The cardiac pre-ejection period (PEP), assessed via impedance cardiography, is a common outcome, but assessing PEP requires identifying subtle points on cardiac waveforms. The present research examined the psychometric value of the RZ interval (RZ), which has recently been proposed as an indicator of sympathetic activity, for effort research. Also known as the initial systolic time interval (ISTI), RZ is the time (in ms) between the ECG R peak and the dZ/dt Z peak. Unlike PEP, RZ involves salient waveform points that are easily and reliably identified. Data from two experiments evaluated the suitability of RZ for effort paradigms and compared it to a popular automated PEP method. In Studies 1 (n = 89) and 2 (n = 71), participants completed a standard appetitive task in which each correct response earned a small amount of cash. As expected, incentives significantly affected PEP and RZ in both experiments. PEP and RZ were highly correlated (all rs ≥ 0.89), and RZ consistently yielded a larger effect size than PEP. In Study 3, a quantitative synthesis of the experiments indicated that the effect size of RZ's response to incentives (Hedges's g = 0.432 [0.310, 0.554]) was roughly 15% larger than PEP's effect size (g = 0.376 [0.256, 0.496]). RZ thus appears promising for future research on sympathetic aspects of effort-related cardiac activity.

The study of trait curiosity — individual differences in curious thoughts, feelings, and actions — sorts into two approaches. One looks downward by unpacking and differentiating trait curiosity, with an emphasis on curiosity’s facets, kinds, and parts. Another looks upward by locating trait curiosity within the larger structure of global personality traits. This article reviews research that looks upward by locating curiosity within modern models of Openness to Experience. Our review indicates (1) that most — but not all — models of Openness to Experience explicitly include curiosity-related facets, and (2) that they tend to favor curiosity’s academic and intellectual forms. In accordance with recent network-psychometric analyses, we propose that a broader sense of curiosity — captured by intellectual curiosity, intellectual interests, and variety seeking — emerges from a large pool of Openness to Experience inventories, and that these curiosity facets are central to the global trait. The literature that looks upward at curiosity would benefit from connecting to the diverse and expansive literature that looks downward at it, and network science models offer a fruitful strategy for building a hierarchical model of curiosity across these levels of abstraction.

Deficits in self-regulation and motivation are central to depression. Using motivational intensity theory (Brehm & Self, 1989), the present research examined how depressive anhedonia influences effort during a piece-rate appetitive task. In piece-rate tasks, people can work at their own pace and are rewarded for each correct response, so they can gain rewards more quickly by expending more effort. A sample of community adults (n = 78) was evaluated for depressive anhedonia using a structured clinical interview, yielding depressive anhedonia and control groups. Participants completed a self-paced cognitive task, and each correct response yielded a cash reward (3 cents or 15 cents, manipulated within-person). Using impedance cardiography, effort-related physiological activity was assessed via the cardiac pre-ejection period (PEP). The results indicated lower reward responsiveness in the anhedonia group. Compared to the control group, the depressive anhedonia group showed significantly less baseline-to-task change in PEP, and they performed marginally worse on the task. The experiment supports the predictions made by applying motivational intensity theory to depression and offers a useful paradigm for evaluating anhedonic effects on effort while people are striving for appealing rewards.

We conducted an exploratory study of adult individual differences in the contents of mind-wandering experiences and in the moment-to-moment consistency of that off-task thought content within tasks. This secondary analysis of a published dataset (Kane et al., 2016) examined the content-based thought reports that 472–541 undergraduates made within five probed tasks across three sessions, and tested whether executive-control abilities (working memory capacity, attention-restraint ability), or personality dimensions of schizotypy (positive, disorganized, negative), predicted particular contents of task-unrelated thought (TUT) or the (in)stability of TUT content across successive thought reports. Latent-variable models indicated trait-like consistency in both TUT content and short-term TUT-content stability across tasks and sessions; some subjects mind-wandered about some things more than others, and some subjects were more temporally consistent in their TUT content than were others. Higher executive control was associated with more evaluative thoughts about task performance and fewer thoughts about current physical or emotional states; higher positive and disorganized schizotypy was associated with more fantastical-daydream and worry content. Contrary to expectations, executive ability correlated positively with TUT instability: higher-ability students had more shifting and varied TUT content within a task. Post hoc analysis suggested that better executive control predicted inconsistent TUT content because it also predicted shorter streaks of mind-wandering; tuning back in to task-related thought may decouple trains of off-task thought and afford novel spontaneous or cued thought content. [Data, sample analysis scripts and output, and article preprint are available via the Open Science Framework: https://osf.io/guhw7/].

The 20-item Self-reflection and Insight Scale (SRIS) is a widely used measure of individual differences in self-focused attention and private self-consciousness. In the present research, we examined the validity of a 12-item short form of the SRIS, which was recently developed based on item response theory models. Measures related to mental health and well-being were used as criteria for evaluating the relative effect sizes for the long and short SRIS. In Study 1 (n = 278 adults), the short and long SRIS scores had highly similar correlations with dimensional measures of depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms as well as with neuroticism. In Study 2 (n = 78 adults), participants were classified into major depression and healthy control groups based on structured clinical interviews. The short and long SRIS had similar profiles of differences between the two groups. Taken together, the studies suggest that the short forms effectively recover the effect sizes of the long forms, so the briefer SRIS would be a good option when time and survey space are tight.

Mind-wandering assessment relies heavily on the thought probe technique as a reliable and valid method to assess momentary task-unrelated thought (TUT), but there is little guidance available to help researchers decide how many probes to include within a task. Too few probes may lead to unreliable measurement, but too many probes might artificially disrupt normal thought flow and produce reactive effects. Is there a "Goldilocks zone" for how few thought probes can be used to reliably and validly assess individual differences in mind-wandering propensity? We address this question by reanalyzing two published datasets (Study 1, n = 541; Study 2, ns ≈ 260 per condition) in which thought probes were presented in multiple tasks. Our primary analyses randomly sampled probes in increments of two for each subject in each task. A series of confirmatory factor analyses for each probe "bin" size tested whether the latent correlations between TUT rate and theoretically relevant constructs like working memory capacity, attention-control ability, disorganized schizotypy, and retrospective self-reported mind wandering changed as more probes assessed the TUT rate. TUT rates were remarkably similar across increasing probe-bin sizes and zero-order correlations within and between tasks stabilized at 8-10 probes; moreover, TUT-rate correlations with other latent variables stabilized at about 8 thought probes. Our provisional recommendation (with caveats) is that researchers may use as few as 8 thought probes in prototypical cognitive tasks to gain reliable and valid information about individual differences in TUT rate.

BACKGROUND: The affective states most strongly associated with nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) remain poorly understood, particularly among veterans. The present study used ecological momentary assessment (EMA) to examine relationships between affect ratings and NSSI urges and behaviors among veterans with NSSI Disorder. METHODS: Participants (N = 40) completed EMA entries via mobile phone for 28 days (3,722 total entries). Entries included intensity ratings for 5 basic affective states, as well as NSSI urges and behaviors, during the past 4 hours. RESULTS: Bivariate analyses indicated that each affect variable was significantly associated with both NSSI urges and behaviors. Angry/hostile and sad were most strongly associated with both NSSI urges and behaviors. A multivariate regression revealed that whereas all 5 basic affective states were contemporaneously (within the same period) associated with NSSI urges, angry/hostile, disgusted with self, and happy (inversely related) were contemporaneously associated with NSSI behaviors. In a lagged model, angry/hostile and sad were associated with subsequent NSSI urges, but not behaviors. CONCLUSIONS: Findings highlight the relevance of particular affective states to NSSI, and the potential utility of targeting anger in treatments for NSSI among veterans. There is a need for future EMA research to further investigate temporal relationships between these variables.

Introduction: Research suggests that social disconnection is one pathway that explains why perfectionists have higher negative mental health outcomes. However, thus far research has not examined the role that perfectionists' expectations, about their social world, plays in explaining social disconnection. The current study examined whether negative expectations about future social events and social hopelessness explained the relations between socially prescribed perfectionism (SPP), self-oriented perfectionism (SOP), and social disconnection. Method: The current study used experience sampling methodology (ESM) with 145 participants to test multilevel structural equation models examining whether negative expectations and social hopelessness mediated the relation between SPP (as well as SOP) and loneliness at the following time point. Results: Results indicate that having negative expectations for future social interactions and feeling socially hopeless explains the relation between SPP and loneliness both when loneliness was measured concurrently and loneliness measured later in the day. Having lower levels of social hopelessness explained the relation between SOP and loneliness when loneliness was measured concurrently and later in the day. Discussion: Findings suggest that SPP and SOP are differently associated with cognitions about social interactions and relationships in daily life, which in turn explains variations in loneliness. Results indicate that targeting socially prescribed perfectionists’ negative social cognitions in treatment may be effective for reducing loneliness.

Inner music—hearing music inside your head that isn’t playing in the environment—is a common experience that takes many forms. Research on inner music, however, has primarily emphasized instances of involuntary, aversive musical imagery, such as “earworms.” The present research develops a new conceptual framework, consisting of five fundamental dimensions, that can advance our understanding of inner music. In an experience-sampling study, a sample of musicians and people from the general university community (N = 132) was recruited to examine inner music as it occurs in-the-moment in everyday life. Over the course of a week, participants were contacted throughout the day and asked about their experiences with inner music, with an emphasis on the five dimensions: Affective Valence, Repetitiveness, Vividness, Mental Control, and Length. The results showed that there is variability at both the within-person and between-person levels on each of the proposed dimensions—people have a variety of musical imagery experiences, not just a few different types. Additionally, these dimensions were related to three different individual difference factors: personality, musical expertise, and auditory imagery ability. Openness to experience and extraversion, musical training, and the ability to form vivid auditory images were the primary predictors of the qualities of inner music. Additionally, the present research has implications for how musical imagery is measured—retrospective and in-the-moment reports differed considerably, suggesting people cannot accurately recall their inner music experiences. Overall, the findings show considerable variability in musical imagery and that focusing on specific types of inner music (e.g., earworms) ignores many other experiences. Looking at the qualities of inner music will be fruitful for future work and broaden the scope of research.

Respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) has been examined as a psychophysiological marker of stress vulnerability. Research indicates that low resting RSA is associated with physical and mental health problems, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Some research suggests that people diagnosed with PTSD have lower RSA than people without PTSD, but findings have been mixed and the overall magnitude of this effect is unknown, indicating the need for a comprehensive meta-analysis. This meta-analysis examined the association between PTSD and baseline RSA in 55 studies, including 12 unpublished studies, with a total sample size of 6689. Studies were included if they used a PTSD measure, a baseline measure of RSA, and involved humans. Studies were excluded if they were not available in English, did not present quantitative data, presented duplicate data, were a case series, or did not provide results required for computing an effect size. The meta-analysis indicated there is a small but significant association between PTSD and RSA (g = -0.26; 95% CI = -0.35, -0.16) with moderate heterogeneity. Moderator analyses suggested that effects are larger for adults than for children and for DSM-5 PTSD measures than for non-DSM referenced measures. We found some evidence for publication bias among the meta-analysis findings. Overall, there is a small but reliable association between PTSD and lower resting RSA, providing support for further research examining the complex relationship between parasympathetic activity and PTSD.

OBJECTIVE: Given the costly outcomes associated with the physical abuse and harsh discipline of children, identifying pathways leading parents to engage in parent-child aggression (PCA) are critical to prevention and intervention efforts. One model that attempts to identify the processes involved in increasing parents’ risk is an adaptation of Social Information Processing (SIP) theory. The current study investigated whether elements of SIP theory assessed prenatally can predict later PCA risk in a diverse sample of mothers and fathers. METHOD: This evaluation controlled for parents’ current level of personal vulnerabilities (psychopathology, substance use, domestic violence) or resiliencies (social support, partner satisfaction, coping) to determine the predictive value of the SIP processes in particular. This study used a multimethod approach that included several analog tasks. Dyadic analyses were conducted to contrast 196 mothers and their partners who were enrolled prenatally and then re-assessed when their infants were 6 months old. RESULTS: Findings indicate that poor empathy assessed prenatally was associated with greater overreactivity and more negative attributions regarding children’s behavior which in turn predicted later PCA risk. Moreover, attitudes approving the use of PCA predicted later PCA risk largely due to its connection with negative child attributions, less knowledge of non-physical discipline alternatives, and higher compliance expectations. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that elements of the SIP theory can be identified prenatally to estimate later risk of PCA, with some differences in profiles between mothers and fathers. Future directions for evaluating the SIP model and its implications for prevention and intervention are discussed.

The present study examined the dimensional structure underlying the Multidimensional Schizotypy Scale (MSS) and its brief version (MSS-B). We used Exploratory Graph Analysis (EGA) to evaluate their dimensional structure in two large, independent samples (n = 6265 and n = 1000). We then used Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) to compare the fit of the theoretical dimensions with the EGA dimensions. For the MSS, EGA identified four dimensions: positive schizotypy, two dimensions of negative schizotypy (affective and social anhedonia), and disorganized schizotypy. For the MSS-B, EGA identified three dimensions, which corresponded to the theorized positive, negative, and disorganized dimensions. Based on the MSS's EGA dimensions, we also estimated a four-factor model for the MSS-B. The CFA comparison found that the four-factor model fit significantly better than the theoretical three-factor model for both the MSS and MSS-B, providing support for the theoretical model and offering a more nuanced interpretation of the negative schizotypy factor. In addition, EGA also revealed that the positive and negative schizotypy dimensions of the MSS and MSS-B might be mediated by the disorganized dimension. Our findings offer new implications for future research on the MSS and MSS-B dimensions that may provide differential associations with interview and questionnaire measures.

Although many individuals retrospectively report feeling more open and receptive to new ideas and possibilities after experiencing adverse events, research specifically examining growth on this dimension of character (as opposed to more general psychological growth) remains scarce. To stimulate future theoretical and empirical work in this area, this chapter reviews and discusses existing scientific research pertaining to changes in the personality trait of openness to new experience following adversity. Studies using retrospective self-reports have shown that people judge themselves as more open following highly stressful events. Such research also suggests that changes in openness could even help foster more general psychological growth. It is, however, possible that people involuntarily distort their self-perceptions to cope with difficulties, and several other lines of research have produced contradictory findings. Correlational and experimental evidence has shown that stressful experiences can decrease openness. Most longitudinal studies examining changes in personality over time have found no changes in openness following negative events. To help reconcile previous contradictory findings, the authors propose a methodological agenda including using multiple methods to assess openness, complementing correlational with longitudinal methods to examine changes over time, studying everyday manifestations of openness (including how people deal with everyday stressors), and investigating potential moderators and mediators of growth in this trait. Such research will help increase clarity about the circumstances under which people may (or may not) become more open as a result of adversity.