Goran Knezevic

The role of individual differences in the accuracy of confidence judgments.

Abstract Generally, self-assessment of accuracy in the cognitive domain produces overconfidence, whereas self-assessment of visual perceptual judgments results in under-confidence. Despite contrary empirical evidence, in models attempting to explain those phenomena, individual differences have often been disregarded. The authors report on 2 studies in which that shortcoming was addressed. In Experiment 1, participants (N = 520) completed a large number of cognitive-ability tests. Results indicated that individual differences provide a meaningful source of overconfidence and that a metacognitive trait might mediate that effect. In further analysis, there was only a relatively small correlation between test accuracy and confidence bias. In Experiment 2 (N = 107 participants), both perceptual and cognitive ability tests were included, along with measures of personality. Results again indicated the presence of a confidence factor that transcended the nature of the testing vehicle. Furthermore, a small relationship was found between that factor and some self-reported personality measures. Thus, personality traits and cognitive ability appeared to play only a small role in determining the accuracy of self-assessment. Collectively, the present results suggest that there are multiple causes of miscalibration, which current models of over- and underconfidence fail to encompass.

Perceptions of Aging across 26 Cultures and their Culture-Level Associates

College students (N=3,435) in 26 cultures reported their perceptions of age-related changes in physical, cognitive, and socioemotional areas of functioning and rated societal views of aging within their culture. There was widespread cross-cultural consensus regarding the expected direction of aging trajectories with (a) perceived declines in societal views of aging, physical attractiveness, the ability to perform everyday tasks, and new learning; (b) perceived increases in wisdom, knowledge, and received respect; and (c) perceived stability in family authority and life satisfaction. Cross-cultural variations in aging perceptions were associated with culture-level indicators of population aging, education levels, values, and national character stereotypes. These associations were stronger for societal views on aging and perceptions of socioemotional changes than for perceptions of physical and cognitive changes. A consideration of culture-level variables also suggested that previously reported differences in aging perceptions between Asian and Western countries may be related to differences in population structure.

Militant extremist mind-set: Proviolence, Vile World, and Divine Power

In the present article, the authors report on the development of a scale for the measurement of the militant extremist mind-set. A previous pilot study identified 56 statements selected from writings of various terrorist groups as well as from psychological, historical, and political texts on terrorism. These statements, together with measures of personality, social attitudes, values, and social cynicism, were administered to participants from 9 countries (N = 2,424). A series of exploratory factor analyses of 56 statements produced 3 factors: Proviolence, Vile World, and Divine Power. Correlations of these factors with external variables indicate that Divine Power is a traditional religiosity scale, whereas Proviolence and Vile World scales cannot be accounted for by the existing psychological constructs. The distribution of scores on the Proviolence scale is skewed, indicating that the majority of participants disapprove of this attitude. The authors also present means for the countries included in the analysis. Participants from Malaysia endorse Vile World and Divine Power statements stronger than participants from other countries. The 3 Asian countries (China, Korea, and Malaysia) endorse Proviolence more strongly than countries from other parts of the world.

Do personality traits predict post-traumatic stress ?: a prospective study in civilians experiencing air attacks

BACKGROUND Previous studies have suggested an association between personality traits and post-traumatic stress. These studies either focused exclusively on military veterans or assessed personality traits after the traumatic event. This study investigates to what extent personality traits as assessed before the traumatic experience predict post-traumatic stress in civilians experiencing air attacks at the end of the exposure to stressful events and 1 year later. METHOD The revised version of the NEO Personality Inventory was administered to 70 students in Belgrade, Yugoslavia. In 1999, 1 or 2 years after the assessment, all students were exposed to air attacks for 11 weeks. At the end of the attacks and 1 year later post-traumatic stress was measured on the Impact of Event Scale. RESULTS Pre-trauma personality predicted 13% of the variance of intrusion scores 1 year after the attacks. There was no significant correlation between personality traits and subsequent avoidance scores at any point of time. CONCLUSIONS Personality traits that are assessed before a traumatic event can, to a limited extent, predict intrusive symptoms in a non-clinical sample of civilians. Pre-trauma assessments of personality might be less strongly associated with post-traumatic stress than personality traits obtained after the traumatic event.

Treatment Outcomes and Costs at Specialized Centers for the Treatment of PTSD After the War in Former Yugoslavia

OBJECTIVE Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a frequent consequence of war experience, and specialized centers have been established in some war-affected areas to provide treatment. This study assessed treatment costs and outcomes in such centers in former Yugoslavia. METHODS An observational study was conducted in four specialized treatment centers (in Serbia, Croatia, and Bosnia-Herzegovina). A total of 526 consecutive adult patients with war-related PTSD were assessed at the beginning of treatment, and 463 met inclusion criteria, including a diagnosis of PTSD on the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale for DSM-IV (CAPS). For most patients seven years had elapsed between the traumatic experience and treatment at the specialized center. Service costs were also assessed. Outcomes measured at one year were the presence of a PTSD diagnosis and severity of symptoms as indicated by the CAPS score and subjective quality of life as measured by the Manchester Short Assessment of Quality of Life. RESULTS At 12 months 380 (82%) patients were followed up, and 325 (86%) met criteria for PTSD. Symptoms and quality of life showed overall small but statistically significant improvements. Treatment costs for patients with and without PTSD at 12 months did not significantly differ (euro 307 and euro 284, respectively). CONCLUSIONS The recovery rate among patients treated in specialized centers for war-related PTSD several years after the war was poor (14%), and symptom improvements were small. The recovery rate was not linked to service costs. Improving recovery rates might require different treatment methods or different service models.

Amoral social attitudes and value systems among Serbs and Australians

Recently, goal orientation, a mental framework for understanding how individuals approach learning and achievement situadons, has emerged as an important predictor of performance. This study addressed the effects of domain-specific avoid and prove orientations on performance from the betweenand within-person levels of analysis. One hundred and three participants performed thirty trials of an airtraffic control task. Domain-specific avoid and prove orientations were measured before each trial to assess the effects of changes in goal orientadon on changes in performance (i.e. within-person relationships). Average levels of avoid and prove orientations were calculated to assess the effect of goal orientation on overall performance (i.e. between-person relationships). Findings from the between-person level of analysis revealed that high prove-orientated individuals performed better than low proveorientated individuals. Results also revealed that average goal orientation levels moderated the withinperson relationships. The effect of changes in avoid orientation on changes in performance was stronger for low versus high avoid-oriented individuals while the effect of changes in prove orientadon on changes in performances was stronger for low versus highprove oriented individuals. Implications of these findings are considered.

Coping strategies in civilians during air attacks

Abstract.Background: Coping strategies may influence the psychological outcome after a stressful event, both as coping at the time of the event and as strategies of dealing with its consequences after the event. The aim of the study was to investigate coping strategies used by civilians during the air attacks in Yugoslavia in 1999, and their association with the level of exposure, gender and psychological symptoms 1 year later. Method: The sample is a non-selective group of 139 medical students from the University of Belgrade, Yugoslavia. Open questions and content analysis were used to assess coping strategies. Symptoms of intrusion and avoidance were assessed, as well as general psychological symptoms. Results: Content analysis of answers to open questions revealed nine categories of coping strategies (sport and walks, leisure activities, talking and gathering, humor, avoidance, philosophical approach, getting information, work, and substance abuse). A cluster analysis identified three groups of students with different styles of coping. Students that used dominantly ‘talking and gathering’ had the highest, and the ones that mostly used ‘leisure activities’ the lowest scores on intrusion. There were significant gender differences in how coping strategies were associated with intrusive symptoms. Conclusion: The type of coping strategies used during the air attacks may contribute to the level of intrusive symptoms 1 year after the event. Different coping strategies might be effective in men and women to reduce intrusive symptoms. Longitudinal and prospective studies are needed to draw definite conclusions on causal relationships between coping strategies and levels of posttraumatic stress.

Contemporary militant extremism: A linguistic approach to scale development.

In this article, the authors describe procedures used in the development of a new scale of militant extremist mindset. A 2-step approach consisted of (a) linguistic analysis of the texts produced by known terrorist organizations and selection of statements from these texts that reflect the mindset of those belonging to these organizations and (b) analyses of the structural properties of the scales based on 132 selected statements. Factor analysis of militant extremist statements with participants (N = 452) from Australia, Serbia, and the United States produced 3 dimensions: (a) justification and advocacy of violence (War factor), (b) violence in the name of God (God factor), and (c) blaming Western nations for the problems in the world today (West factor). We also report the distributions of scores for the 3 subscales, mean differences among the 3 national samples, and correlations with a measure of dogmatism (M. Rokeach, 1956).

Is there a biological difference between trauma-related depression and PTSD? DST says ‘NO’

The use of the low-dose dexamethasone suppression test (DST) as a potentially discriminative marker between post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression is still under discussion. In order to compare the influence of these psychopathologies on the DST results, we examined suppression in war-traumatized subjects with one or both of these disorders, as well as in healthy controls. Based on our previous findings, we hypothesized that subjects with any disorder would exhibit higher dexamethasone suppression than healthy controls due to traumatic experiences. This study was a part of a broader project in which simultaneous psychological and biological investigations were carried out in hospital conditions on 399 male participants: 57 with PTSD, 28 with depression, 76 with PTSD+depression, and 238 healthy controls. Cortisol was measured in blood samples taken at 0900 h before and after administering 0.5mg of dexamethasone (at 2300 h). Group means ± standard deviation of cortisol suppression were: 79.4±18.5 in the PTSD group, 80.8±11.6 in the depression group, 77.5±24.6 in the group with PTSD+depression, and 66.8±34.6 in healthy controls. The first three groups suppressed significantly more than the fourth. When the number of traumas was introduced as a covariate, the differences disappeared. The hypothesis was confirmed: in respect to DST, the examined trauma-related psychopathologies showed the same pattern: hypersuppression, due to multiple traumatic experiences.

Sadism, the Intuitive System, and Antisocial Punishment in the Public Goods Game:

In public goods situations, a specific destructive behavior emerges when individuals face the possibility of punishing others: antisocial punishment, that is, costly punishing cooperative individuals. So far, little is known about the (intuitive or reflective) processes underlying antisocial punishment. Building on the Social Heuristics Hypothesis and arguing that antisocial punishment reflects the basic characteristics of sadism, namely, aggressive behavior to dominate and to harm other individuals it is assumed that everyday sadists intuitively engage in antisocial punishment. Two studies document that activating (Study 1) and inhibiting (Study 2) the intuitive system when a punishment option can be realized in one-shot iterated public goods games increased (Study 1) and reduced (Study 2) antisocial punishment, in particular among individuals who reported a proneness to sadism. In sum, the present research suggests that sadistic tendencies executed intuitively play a crucial role regarding antisocial punishment in public goods situations.