Maarten van Zalk

How the Internet Is Changing the Implementation of Traditional Research Methods, People's Daily Lives, and the Way in Which Developmental Scientists Conduct Research

Recent years have seen an impressive increase in web-based research, of which we review and discuss two main types. First, researchers can create online versions of traditional questionnaires. Using the internet in this way usually does not compromise the psychometric properties of such measures, and participants are typically not less representative of the general population than those of traditional studies. Technical guidelines are provided to set up such studies, and thorny issues such as participants’ anonymity are discussed. We will also discuss issues regarding the assessment of minors and the repeated assessment of participants to assess developmental changes via the web. Second, the internet has changed the way people interact with each other. The study of the psychosocial consequences of this development is called cyberpsychology. We review emerging findings from this young discipline, with a focus on developmentally-relevant implications such as the use of the internet by adolescents to disclose personal information.

Positive intelligence illusions: on the relation between intellectual self-enhancement and psychological adjustment

The relation between self-enhancement and psychological adjustment has been debated for over 2 decades. This controversy is partly due to the variety of approaches implicated in the assessment of mainly self-enhancement but also psychological adjustment. We adopted a face-valid approach by statistically removing actual intellectual ability variance from self-rated intellectual ability variance. Study 1 (N = 2,048), a concurrent Internet investigation, provided initial insight into the relation between intellectual self-enhancement and psychological adjustment. Study 2 (N = 238), a longitudinal round-robin investigation, allowed a closer examination of the dynamic processes underlying this relation. Self-enhancement was positively linked to multiple indicators of intrapersonal and interpersonal adjustment, and predicted rank-order increases in adjustment over time. The links between intellectual self-enhancement and intrapersonal adjustment were mediated by self-esteem. Finally, the interpersonal costs and benefits of self-enhancement systematically varied depending on methodology.

Socialization of social anxiety in adolescent crowds.

In this study, we looked at whether social anxiety is socialized, or influenced by peers’ social anxiety, more in some peer crowds than others. Adolescents in crowds with eye-catching appearances such as Goths and Punks (here termed Radical), were compared with three comparison groups. Using data from 796 adolescents (353 girls and 443 boys; Mage = 13.36) at three timepoints, the results show that adolescents affiliating with the Radical crowd tended to select peers from the same crowd group. Being a member of a crowd in itself did not predict socialization of social anxiety, but adolescents in the Radical crowd were more influenced by their peers’ social anxiety than adolescents who did not affiliate with the Radical crowd group. The results suggest that through a bidirectional process, adolescents affiliating with Radical crowds may narrow their peer relationship ties in time, and in turn socialize each other’s social anxiety.

Antecedents and consequences of peer-rated intelligence

The current study investigated the antecedents and consequences of peer–rated intelligence in a longitudinal round robin design, following previously unacquainted members of small student work groups. Results indicated that peer–reputations of intelligence were reliable, stable and weakly correlated with objective intelligence. Bias was shown by correlations with interpersonal liking (decreasing across time) and idiosyncratic rating tendencies (increasing across time). Agreement between self–ratings and peer–reputations increased over time but was not based on increasing accuracy but on reciprocal associations between self–ratings and peer–reputations in the beginning of the acquaintanceship process, and on peer–reputations predicting changes in self–ratings later on. Finally, it was shown that peer–rated intelligence reputations predict academic achievement across two 4–month periods (even when tested intelligence was controlled) and dropout from university after 8 months. Overall, the pattern of results demonstrates the utility of a socioanalytic perspective in analysing personality and social processes. Copyright

Are Actual and Perceived Intellectual Self-enhancers Evaluated Differently by Social Perceivers?

Do actual and perceived self–enhancement entail differing social impressions (i.e. interpersonal evaluations)? Actual self–enhancement represents unduly positive self–views, as gauged by an objective criterion (in this case, IQ scores), whereas perceived self–enhancement involves the extent to which an individual is seen by informants (i.e. peers or observers) as self–enhancing. In an online survey (N = 337), a laboratory experiment (N = 75), and a round–robin study (N = 183), we tested the effects of actual and perceived intellectual self–enhancement on (informant–rated) emotional stability, social attractiveness, and social influence. Actual self–enhancers were rated as emotionally stable, socially attractive, and socially influential. High perceived self–enhancers were judged as socially influential, whereas low–to–moderate perceived self–enhancers were deemed emotionally stable and socially attractive. Privately entertained, illusory positive (even extreme) self–beliefs confer social benefits, whereas being perceived as self–enhancing buys social influence at the cost of being despised. Copyright

Who Benefits From Chatting, and Why? The Roles of Extraversion and Supportiveness in Online Chatting and Emotional Adjustment

The current study aimed to provide more insight into the role of online chatting in young adults’ emotional adjustment. A model was tested that takes into account (a) extraversion of individuals who communicate online, (b) the kind of peers these individuals communicate with online (i.e., online-exclusive peers vs. friends), and (c) the extent to which effects of online chatting on emotional adjustment are mediated by individuals’ ability to provide support to others. Young adults (age M = 18.9) filled out questionnaires about themselves and their fellow students at three measurements with a 4-month interval. Results showed that only for less extraverted individuals, chatting with peers found exclusively online directly predicted higher self-esteem and indirectly predicted less depressive symptoms through increases in supportiveness. Thus, results supported a model of social compensation where effects of online chatting with online-exclusive peers improved young adults’ emotional adjustment.

Influences Between Online-Exclusive, Conjoint and Offline-Exclusive Friendship Networks: The Moderating Role of Shyness

Prior research has indicated that shy adolescents are more motivated to form friendships online than to form friendships offline. Little is known about whether having friendships found exclusively online may impact self–esteem and forming offline friendships for these adolescents. This study therefore aimed to provide insight into the moderating role of shyness in the longitudinal interplay between friendships in online and offline contexts in early adolescence. Adolescents and their friends (193 girls, 196 boys; Mage = 13.29) were followed with three consecutive measurements with intervals of eight months. Results showed that particularly for shy adolescents, having friends exclusively online predicted increases in self–esteem. Self–esteem, in turn, was found to predict forming more friendships found both offline and online and forming more friendships found exclusively offline. Thus, findings supported the social compensation perspective that shy adolescents may benefit from having friends exclusively online, as these friendships may increase self–esteem, thereby facilitating the formation of friendships found partially and completely offline. Copyright

Talent management practice effectiveness: investigating employee perspective

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to enhance the theoretical and empirical understanding of the process through which talent management (TM) practice effectiveness impacts high-potential employees’ commitment to leadership competence development. Design/methodology/approach Structural equation modelling was utilized to analyse survey data representing a sample of 439 high-potential employees from 11 Finnish multinational corporations. Findings First, the authors found that the more high-potential employees perceived TM practices to be effective, the more they were committed towards leadership competence development. Next, the findings revealed that the association between TM practice effectiveness and commitment to leadership competence development operates by means of psychological contract fulfilment. Finally, the authors found that female employees possessed a stronger reaction to the effectiveness of TM practices by demonstrating higher levels of commitment to leadership competence development than male employees. Originality/value This study supports social exchange theory, which postulates that when organizations invest in their employees, the employees are likely to reciprocate these corporate investments in positive ways. The findings indicate that TM practices may help high-potential employees to make sense of their employment relationship and communicate to employees those attitudes and behaviours that organizations value. The authors thus advocate that in order to have the desired effect, such as for instance the increased commitment to leadership competence development, it is crucial for organizations to invest in those TM practices that are perceived as effective by employees.

Understanding Personality Development: An Integrative State Process Model.

While personality is relatively stable over time, it is also subject to change across the entire lifespan. On a macro-analytical level, empirical research has identified patterns of normative and differential development that are affected by biological and environmental factors, specific life events, and social role investments. On a micro-analytical level, however, little is known about the underlying processes driving personality development. We provide an integrative state process model of personality development that incorporates and builds on previous process approaches to personality. It integrates this micro-analytical state perspective into the well-established macro-analytical understanding of personality trait development. Specifically, we distinguish three domains of individual differences in (the level of and contingencies between) state processes: (1) Goals and Strategies, (2) Actions and Experiences, and (3) Evaluations and Reflections. These process domains build a continuous sequence, with each domain guiding state processes in the next. Each process domain itself and their dependencies within the succession may be subject to change, thereby reflecting normative (in the case of shared development in state processes) and/or differential trait development (in the case of unique development in state processes). Well-established effects of environmental and biological structures, social roles, age, and life events on personality trait development can be explained by systematic links of these macro-level determinants to the outlined micro-level state processes. This integrative, process-based approach is thought to provide a conceptual basis for empirical research aiming at a comprehensive and fine-grained process understanding of personality development across the lifespan.

Enhanced Versus Simply Positive: A New Condition-Based Regression Analysis to Disentangle Effects of Self-Enhancement From Effects of Positivity of Self-View

Despite a large body of literature and ongoing refinements of analytical techniques, research on the consequences of self-enhancement (SE) is still vague about how to define SE effects, and empirical results are inconsistent. In this paper, we point out that part of this confusion is due to a lack of conceptual and methodological differentiation between effects of individual differences in how much people enhance themselves (SE) and in how positively they view themselves (positivity of self-view; PSV). We show that methods commonly used to analyze SE effects are biased because they cannot differentiate between the effects of PSV and the effects of SE. We provide a new condition-based regression analysis (CRA) that unequivocally identifies effects of SE by testing intuitive and mathematically derived conditions on the coefficients in a bivariate linear regression. Using data from 3 studies on intellectual SE (total N = 566), we then illustrate that the CRA provides novel results as compared with traditional methods. Results suggest that many previously identified SE effects are in fact effects of PSV alone. The new CRA approach thus provides a clear and unbiased understanding of the consequences of SE. It can be applied to all conceptualizations of SE and, more generally, to every context in which the effects of the discrepancy between 2 variables on a third variable are examined.