Herbert L. Mirels

Judgmental self-doubt: beliefs about one's judgmental prowess

Abstract This article describes the development of the Judgmental Self-Doubt Scale (JSDS), an individual difference measure of generalized mistrust of one’s judgment. Study 1 undertook the construction of the scale and demonstrated its high internal consistency. Studies 2 and 3 showed that greater judgmental self-doubt was associated, in anticipated ways, with a wide variety of personal dispositions. In Study 4, judgmental self-doubt was consistently associated with confidence in specific judgments concerning moral dilemmas, risk assessment, controversial societal issues, and societal parameters. In Study 5, the differential confidence of high and low self-doubters was greater following a task that required a difficult decision than it was following one that required an easy decision. The authors discuss ways in which doubt about one’s judgment, as assessed by the JSDS, is implicated in judgment-related behaviors and, more generally, in personality functioning.

The Protestant ethic and self-characterization

Abstract The present study investigated the relationship between endorsement of the Protestant Ethic and self-characterizations reflected in personality test scores and self-ratings. As anticipated, the stronger the endorsement of Protestant Ethic ideology, the greater the tendency to describe oneself as having dispositions that are highly valued by that ideology. Endorsement was positively related to scores on Jacksons Personality Research Form (PRF) [Personality Research Form Manual (2nd edn), 1974] for Achievement, Endurance, and Order, and negatively related to scores for Impulsivity and Autonomy. Strength of Protestant Ethic endorsement was also positively related to the tendency to rate oneself as high in willpower and self-discipline, and as low in anxiety in comparison with ‘other college students’. A negative correlation between endorsement and scores on the Infrequency scale of the PRF suggests that persons who avow the Protestant Ethic may indeed be predisposed to act in accordance with its prescriptions.

DIMENSIONS OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENT TEACHER CONCERNS

The present study used a factor analytic procedure for identifying basic dimensions of elementary school student teacher concerns. A hierarchical factor analysis was applied to the intercorrelations among 122 situationspecific items rated by students completing their teaching practicum in Columbus, Ohio elementary schools. Results indicated the presence of a major factor, which accounted for over one-quarter of the variance. This factor, termed “Concern with Being an Effective Teacher,” reflects the teacher’s concern with generating a classroom environment conducive to effective learning and social growth. Seven other factors, together accounting for an additional 20 percent of the variance, were also identified and characterized. It is suggested that further studies investigate the utility of employing scores on such factors to identify successful teachers.

Differentiation in personality descriptions of the self and others

Abstract Previous studies of the tendency to describe ones own personality or the personality of another in a differentiated, nuanced way have assessed differentiation in terms of number of ascribed traits. Findings have been inconsistent and conclusions compromised by failure to consider a key component of differentiation—the relationships between attributed characteristics. In the two studies reported in this article, the magnitude of the correlations between personality scale descriptions of a target was taken as an inverse indicator of differentiation. In both Study 1, which employed scales from the Personality Research Form (Jackson, 1974), and Study 2, which employed scales from the NEO PI-R (Costa and McCrae, 1992), participants showed greater differentiation in descriptions of themselves than of others and greater differentiation in descriptions of liked than of disliked persons. Participants also revealed a tendency to describe familiar persons in a less differentiated way than persons whom they knew less well. This pattern of findings is well-accommodated by Berscheid et al.s (1976) ‘outcome dependency’ formulation which proposes that the more vulnerable our welfare to another persons influence, the greater our motivation to construe that persons behavior in dispositional terms.