Anja Strobel

A need for cognition scale for children and adolescents: Structural analysis and measurement invariance

Need for Cognition (NFC) signifies “the tendency for an individual to engage in and enjoy thinking” (Cacioppo & Petty, 1982, p. 116). Up to now, no scale of sufficient psychometric quality existed to assess NFC in children. Using data from three independent, diverse cross-sectional samples from Germany, Luxembourg, and Finland, we examined the psychometric properties of a new NFC scale intended to fill in this gap. In all samples, across grade levels ranging from 1 to 9, confirmatory factor analysis confirmed the hypothesized nested factor structure based on Mussel’s (2013) Intellect model, with one general factor Think influencing all items and two specific factors Seek and Conquer each influencing a subset of items. At least partial scalar measurement invariance with regard to grade level and sex could be demonstrated. The scale exhibited good psychometric properties and showed convergent and discriminant validity with an established NFC scale and other noncognitive traits such as academic self-concept and interests. It incrementally predicted mostly statistically significant but relatively small portions of academic achievement variance over and above academic self-concept and interest. Implications for research on the development of NFC and its role as an investment trait in intellectual development are discussed.

The role of gratitude and moral elevation in moral identity development

Experiencing the moral emotions of gratitude and moral elevation are responses to witnessing virtuous deeds of others. Both emotions have been found to share similar features and behavioral consequences, including the stimulation of personal development. The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions indicates that gratitude and elevation prompt the long-term development of lasting resources. Moral identity has been found to be a personal resource in the moral domain since it is associated with higher levels of moral functioning. Therefore, using a two-wave cross-lagged panel design, the current study investigated the causal role of trait gratitude and trait elevation as antecedents of short-term moral identity development. At two points of time (time interval 17 months), a heterogeneous sample of n = 129 adults with a broad range of age completed measures of trait gratitude, trait moral elevation (engagement with moral beauty), and moral identity (internalization and symbolization of the Aquino–Reed framework). In line with our hypotheses, trait moral elevation predicted increases in moral identity internalization. In contrast to our hypotheses, the development of trait gratitude was predicted by moral identity internalization, and not the other way around. Exploratory analyses showed that no cross-lagged effects could be found for the symbolization dimension. In addition, a multi-group analysis explored which of the cross-lagged effects could be generalized across age groups. The results are discussed in the context of the moral emotion research.

Cognitive Investments in Academic Success: The Role of Need for Cognition at University

Previous research has shown that Need for Cognition (NFC), the individual tendency to engage in and enjoy cognitive endeavors, contributes to academic performance. Most studies on NFC and related constructs have thereby focused on grades to capture tertiary academic success. This study aimed at a more comprehensive approach on NFCs meaning to success in university. We examined not only performance but also rather affective indicators of success. The current sample consisted of 396 students of different subjects with a mean age of 24 years (139 male). All participants took part in an online survey that assessed NFC together with school performance and further personality variables via self-report. Success in university was comprehensively operationalized including performance, satisfaction with ones studies, and thoughts about quitting/changing ones major as indicators. The value of NFC in predicting tertiary academic success was examined with correlation analyses and path analysis. NFC significantly correlated with all success variables with the highest correlation for study satisfaction. Path analysis confirmed the importance of NFC for study satisfaction showing that NFC had a significant direct effect on study satisfaction and via this variable also a significant indirect effect on termination thoughts. This study clearly indicates that NFC broadly contributes to the mastery of academic requirements and that it is worthwhile to intensify research on NFC in the context of tertiary education.

Eignungsinterviews/direkte mündliche Befragungen

Das dritte Kapitel ist dem Eignungsinterview sowie dem Gesprach mit Dritten, z.B. Referenzgeber/-innen, gewidmet. Wir erlautern, wie solche Gesprache systematisch und strukturiert vorbereitet, durchgefuhrt und ausgewertet werden mussen, um Fairness zu gewahrleisten und moglichst zuverlassige und gultige Eignungsaussagen abzuleiten. Dabei gehen wir sowohl auf konkrete Techniken, wie die Verwendung gunstiger Frageformen (z.B. biografiebezogene und/oder situative Fragen) und die Nutzung von Interviewleitfaden sowie Protokollbogen, als auch auf die regelgeleitete Auswertung der Interviews ein. Zudem thematisieren wir mogliche Verzerrungen in mundlichen Befragungen (z.B. durch Selbstdarstellung). Informationen zu grundlegenden rechtlichen Rahmenbedingungen schliesen das Kapitel ab, wobei wir insbesondere auf die Zulassigkeit und Unzulassigkeit von Interviewfragen eingehen und erlautern, welche Rechtsfolgen unzulassige Fragen nach sich ziehen.

Predicting Everyday Life Behavior by Direct and Indirect Measures of Need for Cognition

Need for Cognition (NFC) as the intrinsic motivation to engage in and enjoy effortful cognitive endeavors has been a useful predictor of dispositional differences in information processing and task performance in experimental settings. In order to explore the role of NFC in everyday life behavior and to further validate the NFC-IAT, we examined the effects of directly and indirectly assessed NFC on self-reported behavior in a broad variety of situations in daily life where the engagement and joy of thinking could play a role. Accordingly, 95 participants were interviewed with a structured interview about everyday life situations, and direct and indirect measures of NFC were obtained. Both, directly and indirectly assessed NFC independently predicted NFC-related behavior, indicating that the combination of both measures results in a more comprehensive prediction of self-reported behavior. Our results show that NFC can be a helpful predictor of behavior not only concerning academic performance or in experimental paradigms, but also in everyday life.

Diagnostik und Förderung ethischer Kompetenz in Organisationen

In diesem Beitrag soll das Merkmal der ethischen Kompetenz aus personaldiagnostischer Perspektive eingefuhrt werden. Ethische Kompetenz wird dabei als Oberbegriff fur eine ganze Reihe von Prozessen und Merkmalen verwendet, die moralisches Entscheiden und Handeln umfassen. Es werden zunachst relevante moralpsychologische Grundlagen erlautert und einschlagige Modelle moralischen Entscheidens und Handelns skizziert. Anschliesend werden Moglichkeiten der Diagnostik ethischer Kompetenz aufgezeigt sowie praktische Implikationen zur Forderung ethischer Kompetenz abgeleitet. In diesem Teil werden die moralischen Kapazitaten der Empathie, Ungerechtigkeitssensibilitat, moralischen Achtsamkeit und die Kapazitat, positive moralische Emotionen zu empfinden, in den Mittelpunkt der Diskussion geruckt. Der Beitrag schliest mit Handlungsempfehlungen fur die Organisationsentwicklung, mit deren Hilfe eine organisationsseitige Forderung ethischer Kompetenz ermoglicht werden kann.

Interviewverfahren und biografischer Fragebogen

Im vorliegenden Kapitel stellen wir Interviewverfahren und biografische Fragebogen als zwei valide Instrumente der beruflichen Eignungsdiagnostik vor. Zu Einstellungsinterviews werden Informationen uber deren Verbreitung, Akzeptanz und Gute dargestellt. Ferner werden wesentliche Aspekte herausgearbeitet, die die Qualitat von Einstellungsinterviews sichern konnen, die Rolle des Interviewers naher beleuchtet und strukturierte Interviewformen vorgestellt, um damit Empfehlungen zur Planung, Durchfuhrung und Auswertung der Personalauswahlgesprache abzuleiten. Zu biografischen Fragebogen wird herausgearbeitet, dass diese geeignete Pradiktoren fur eine Vielzahl unterschiedlicher Kriterien beruflicher Leistung darstellen und einen inkrementellen Erklarungsbeitrag uber andere eignungsdiagnostische Mase hinaus liefern. Es wird gezeigt, dass diese wissenschaftlichen Erkenntnisse jedoch nicht mit den Wahrnehmungen in der Anwendungspraxis ubereinstimmen, in der biografische Fragebogen vergleichsweise selten eingesetzt und sowohl von Anwendern als auch Bewerbern weniger gut akzeptiert werden.

Corrigendum: Cognitive Investments in Academic Success: The Role of Need for Cognition at University

[This corrects the article on p. 790 in vol. 8, PMID: 28559876.].