Guilt, Shame and Academic Misconduct.

Moral and self-conscious emotions like guilt and shame can function as internal negative experiences that punish or deter bad behaviour. Individual differences exist in people's tendency to experience guilt and shame. Being disposed to experience guilt and/or shame may predict students' expectations of their emotional reactions to engaging in immoral behaviour in the form of academic misconduct, and thus dissuade students from intending to engage in this behaviour. In this study, students' (n = 459) guilt and shame proneness, their expectations of feeling guilt and shame if they engaged in academic misconduct, and their intentions to engage in academic misconduct were measured. Three of the four facets of the guilt and shame proneness scale [GASP: Guilt-Negative-Behavior-Evaluation (NBE), Guilt-Repair, Shame-Negative-Self-Evaluation (NSE)] had significant negative correlations with academic misconduct intentions, and these relationships were mediated by anticipating shame and guilt related to engaging in academic misconduct. These results suggest that for some students expecting to experience negative moral emotions when engaging in academic misconduct may protect them from breaching ethical assessment rules.

Can anxiety and race interact to influence face-recognition accuracy? A systematic literature review.

Wrongful convictions continue to occur through eyewitness misidentification. Recognising what factors, or interaction between factors, affect face-recognition is therefore imperative. Extensive research indicates that face-recognition accuracy is impacted by anxiety and by race. Limited research, however, has examined how these factors interact to potentially exacerbate face-recognition deficits. Brigham (2008) suggests that anxiety exacerbates other-race face-recognition deficits. Conversely, Attentional Control Theory predicts that anxiety exacerbates deficits for all faces. This systematic review examined existing studies investigating the possible interaction between anxiety and face-race to compare these theories. Recent studies included in this review found that both anxiety and race influence face-recognition accuracy but found no interaction. Potential moderators existing in reviewed studies, however, might have influenced their results. Separately, in some studies reviewed, anxiety induced during retrieval impacted recognition, contrasting with the conclusions of previous reviews. Recommendations for future research are given to address moderators potentially impacting results observed previously.

Dimensionality and Measurement Invariance of the State-Trait Inventory for Cognitive and Somatic Anxiety (STICSA) and Validity Comparison With Measures of Negative Emotionality.

This study explored the factor structure of the State-Trait Inventory for Cognitive and Somatic Anxiety (STICSA) and measurement invariance between genders. We also measured concurrent and divergent validity of the STICSA as compared to the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI). A sample of 1064 (N Females = 855) participants completed questionnaires, including measures of anxiety, depression, stress, positive and negative affect. Confirmatory factor analyses supported the original factor structure of the STICSA, which was invariant between genders. Overall, the STICSA had superior concurrent and divergent validity as compared to the STAI. The somatic subscales were also significantly less correlated with depression, and positive and negative affect. Further, the somatic, as compared to cognitive anxiety STICSA subscales were less correlated with depression. This suggests that the STICSA, especially the somatic anxiety subscales, might hold the key to distinguishing between different types of anxiety, as well as between anxiety and depression.

Are Individual Differences in Information-Processing Styles Related to Transformational Leadership? A Test of the Cognitive Experiential Leadership Model.

The recently proposed Cognitive Experiential Leadership Model (CELM) states that leaders' preference for rational thinking and behavioral coping will be related to their level of transformational leadership. The CELM was based on research that principally used cross-sectional self-report methods. Study 1 compared both self-ratings and follower-ratings of leadership styles with leaders' self-rated thinking styles in 160 leader-follower dyads. Study 2 compared both self-ratings and coworker-ratings of leadership styles with leaders' self-rated thinking styles for 74 leaders rated by 607 coworkers. In both Studies, leaders' rational thinking, imaginative thinking, and behavioral coping correlated positively with their self-rated transformational leadership. However, only behavioral coping, but not rational thinking, was correlated with follower-rated (FR) transformational leadership in Study 1, and thinking styles were unrelated to other-rated transformational leadership in Study 2. These results partly support and partly challenge the CELM. Practically, this study suggests that leadership may be improved by leaders developing their capacity for behavioral coping.

Exploring the relationship between auditory hallucinations, trauma and dissociation.

BACKGROUND: It is clinically imperative to better understand the relationship between trauma, auditory hallucinations and dissociation. The personal narrative of trauma has enormous significance for each individual and is also important for the clinician, who must use this information to decide on a diagnosis and treatment approach. AIMS: To better understand whether dissociation contributes in a significant way to hallucinations in individuals with and without trauma histories. METHOD: Three groups of participants with auditory hallucinations were recruited, with diagnoses of: schizophrenia (without trauma) (n = 18), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD, n = 27) and comorbid schizophrenia and PTSD (SCZ+PTSD), n = 26). Clinician-administered measures included the PTSD Symptoms Scale Interview (PSSI-5), the Clinician-Administered Dissociative States Scale (CADSS) and the Psychotic Symptom Rating Scales (PSYRATS). RESULTS: Dissociative symptoms were significantly higher in participants with trauma histories (PTSD and SCZ+PTSD groups) and significantly correlated with hallucinations in trauma-exposed participants, but not in participants with schizophrenia (without trauma history). Hallucination severity was correlated with the CADSS amnesia subscale score, but depersonalisation and derealisation were not. CONCLUSIONS: Dissociation may be a mechanism in trauma-exposed individuals who hear voices, but it does not explain all hallucinatory experiences. The SCZ+PTSD group were in an intermediary position between schizophrenia and PTSD on dissociative and hallucination measures. The PTSD and SCZ+PTSD groups experienced dissociative phenomena much more frequently than the schizophrenia group, with a significant trend towards the amnesia subtype of dissociation.

Why Students Do Not Engage in Contract Cheating.

Contract cheating refers to students paying a third party to complete university assessments for them. Although opportunities for commercial contract cheating are widely available in the form of essay mills, only about 3% of students engage in this behaviour. This study examined the reasons why most students do not engage in contract cheating. Students (n = 1204) completed a survey on why they do not engage in contract cheating as well as measures of several individual differences, including self-control, grit and the Dark Triad traits. Morality and motivation for learning received the greatest endorsement for why students do not engage in contract cheating. Controlling for gender, individual differences predicted students' reasons for not contract cheating. This study supports the use of criminological theories relating to rational choice, self-control and opportunity to explain why students do not engage in contract cheating. Practically, this study may inform academic policies and assessment design that may reduce contract cheating.

Validation of the Measurement of Need Frustration.

Until recently, need frustration was considered to be the absence of need satisfaction, rather than a separate dimension. Whilst the absence of need satisfaction can hamper growth, experiencing need frustration can lead to malfunctioning and subsequent psychopathology. Therefore, examining these constructs separately is vital, as they produce different outcomes, with the consequences of need frustration potentially more severe. This study sought to examine predictors of need frustration using undergraduate students and individuals from the wider community (N = 510, females N = 404, M age = 24.15). Participants completed the new need satisfaction frustration scale and measures of anxiety, stress, depression, and negative and positive affect. Support for the position that need frustration is separate to Need Satisfaction and is related to psychological health problems (i.e., ill-being) was found. However, autonomy frustration was not found to be a significant predictor of ill-being. Extending previous research, this study found relationships of stress and somatic anxiety with need frustration. Further, a relationship between need frustration with anxiety and depression occurred, when these symptom dimensions were examined separately, through distinct questionnaires. Support for the construct of need frustration highlights the necessity of examining need frustration in addition to need satisfaction within future studies. Interventions specific to reducing need frustration, specifically competence and relatedness frustration within both the educational and workplace setting are outlined.

Cross-Situational Self-Consistency in Nine Cultures: The Importance of Separating Influences of Social Norms and Distinctive Dispositions.

We assessed self-consistency (expressing similar traits in different situations) by having undergraduates in the United States ( n = 230), Australia ( n = 220), Canada ( n = 240), Ecuador ( n = 101), Mexico ( n = 209), Venezuela ( n = 209), Japan ( n = 178), Malaysia ( n = 254), and the Philippines ( n = 241) report the traits they expressed in four different social situations. Self-consistency was positively associated with age, well-being, living in Latin America, and not living in Japan; however, each of these variables showed a unique pattern of associations with various psychologically distinct sources of raw self-consistency, including cross-situationally consistent social norms and injunctions. For example, low consistency between injunctive norms and trait expressions fully explained the low self-consistency in Japan. In accord with trait theory, after removing normative and injunctive sources of consistency, there remained robust distinctive noninjunctive self-consistency (reflecting individuating personality dispositions) in every country, including Japan. The results highlight how clarifying the determinants and implications of self-consistency requires differentiating its distinctive, injunctive, and noninjunctive components.

Where pseudo-hallucinations meet dissociation: a cluster analysis.

OBJECTIVES: The possible link between cognitive areas of perception and integration of consciousness was examined using assessments of hallucinations and derealisation/depersonalization. METHODS: Sixty-five subjects in three main diagnostic groups - posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), borderline personality disorder (BPD) and schizophrenia - identified by their treating psychiatrist as hearing voices were surveyed regarding characteristics of hallucinations, derealisation/depersonalization, delusions and childhood/adult trauma. RESULTS: A cluster analysis produced two clusters predominantly determined by variables of hallucinations measures, childhood sexual abuse and derealisation/depersonalization scores. CONCLUSIONS: History of childhood trauma and variability in derealisation/depersonalization scores were better predictors of external, negative, uncontrollable voices than diagnosis of BPD or PTSD. The potential links between dissociative states and pseudo-hallucinations are discussed.

Culture, cross-role consistency, and adjustment: testing trait and cultural psychology perspectives.

Trait and cultural psychology perspectives on cross-role consistency and its relation to adjustment were examined in 2 individualistic cultures, the United States (N=231) and Australia (N=195), and 4 collectivistic cultures, Mexico (N=199), the Philippines (N=195), Malaysia (N=217), and Japan (N=180). Cross-role consistency in trait ratings was evident in all cultures, supporting trait perspectives. Cultural comparisons of mean consistency provided support for cultural psychology perspectives as applied to East Asian cultures (i.e., Japan) but not collectivistic cultures more generally. Some but not all of the hypothesized predictors of consistency were supported across cultures. Cross-role consistency predicted aspects of adjustment in all cultures, but prediction was most reliable in the U.S. sample and weakest in the Japanese sample. Alternative constructs proposed by cultural psychologists--personality coherence, social appraisal, and relationship harmony--predicted adjustment in all cultures but were not, as hypothesized, better predictors of adjustment in collectivistic cultures than in individualistic cultures.

Culture, Method, and the Content of Self-Concepts: Testing Trait, Individual-Self-Primacy, and Cultural Psychology Perspectives.

Three theoretical perspectives on cultural universals and differences in the content of self-concepts were tested in individualistic (United States, n = 178; Australia, n = 112) and collectivistic (Mexico, n = 157; Philippines, n = 138) cultures, using three methods of self-concept assessment. Support was found for both trait perspectives and the individual-self-primacy hypothesis. In contrast, support for cultural psychology hypotheses was limited because traits and other personal attributes were not more salient, or social attributes less salient, in individualistic cultures than collectivistic cultures. The salience of some aspects of self-concept depended on the method of assessment, calling into question conclusions based on monomethod studies.

The effect of anxiety on impression formation: affect-congruent or stereotypic biases?

Two classes of theories propose that anxious individuals will form either more affect-congruent or more stereotypic impressions of others. These theories' predictions are not mutually exclusive. Eighty-one participants were examined to determine if either class of theories was more descriptive of the effect of anxiety on impression formation or whether a theory combining elements of both was more appropriate. Anxious participants read behavioural descriptions about an Australian Aboriginal target that were stereotypic, non-stereotypic, threatening, and non-threatening, and rated the target on traits that corresponded to the behavioural descriptions. Anxious participants formed impressions that were more affect-congruent, but not more stereotypic, than those formed by control participants. This result was replicated in a field study with 61 participants who were waiting to see a dentist. Future studies should examine the cognitive mechanisms that influence and underlie anxious affect-congruent impression formation.