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Now showing items 21-30 of 39
Aufsatz
A note on pigs’ knowledge of hidden objects
(2013-08-12)
Object permanence is the notion that objects continue to exist even when they are out of observer´s sight. This ability is adaptive not only for free ranging animals who have to cope with a dangerous and highly changeable environment, allowing them to be aware of predators sneaking in their proximity or to keep track of conspecifics or food sources, even when out of sight. Farm animals, too, might profit from object permanence as the ability to follow the trajectory of hidden food or objects may lead to a higher ...
Aufsatz
Equivalence of Reading and Listening Comprehension Across Test Media
(2011-09-28)
Whether an ability test delivered on either paper or computer provides the same information is an important question in applied psychometrics. Besides the validity, it is also the fairness of a measure that is at stake if the test medium affects performance. This study provides a comprehensive review of existing equivalence research in the field of reading and listening comprehension in English as a foreign language and specifies factors that are likely to have an impact on equivalence. Taking into account these ...
Aufsatz
Social Loafing in the Refugee Crisis: Information about Existing Initiatives Decreases Willingness to Help
(2017-05-11)
In light of the European refugee situation, we investigate how information about others’ support influences individuals’ willingness to help. When individuals see information about other people supporting refugees, they may either be influenced by a descriptive norm, and act accordingly. Alternatively, they may perceive that others are already doing the job, and thus engage in social loafing. In an experiment (N = 132), we tested these competing predictions. Specifically, participants were exposed to a map of Germany ...
Aufsatz
The Positive Facet of Self-compassion Predicts Self-reported Use of and Attitudes toward Desirable Difficulties in Learning
(2017-08-09)
Previous research found that introducing difficulties and challenges during learning has desirable outcomes. With the present work, we investigated the question how the use of and the attitudes toward such learning strategies (so-called desirable difficulties) are related to self-compassion, a concept that describes the tendency to be understanding and kind to oneself when confronted with negative experiences. Evidence suggests self-compassion to be linked to less fear of failing, and further to higher control beliefs ...
Aufsatz
The Dark Triad and the PID-5 Maladaptive Personality Traits: Accuracy, Confidence and Response Bias in Judgments of Veracity
(2017-09-21)
The Dark Triad traits—narcissism, Machiavellianism and psychopathy—have been found to be associated with intra- or interpersonal deception production frequency. This cross-sectional study (N = 207) investigated if the Dark Triad traits are also associated with deception detection accuracy, as implicated by the recent conception of a deception-general ability. To investigate associations between maladaptive personality space and deception, the PID-5 maladaptive personality traits were included to investigate if besides ...
Aufsatz
Meta-Heuristics in Short Scale Construction: Ant Colony Optimization and Genetic Algorithm
(2016-11-28)
The advent of large-scale assessment, but also the more frequent use of longitudinal and multivariate approaches to measurement in psychological, educational, and sociological research, caused an increased demand for psychometrically sound short scales. Shortening scales economizes on valuable administration time, but might result in inadequate measures because reducing an item set could: a) change the internal structure of the measure, b) result in poorer reliability and measurement precision, c) deliver measures ...
Aufsatz
Cognitive Abilities Explain Wording Effects in the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale
(2017-12-18)
There is consensus that the 10 items of the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) reflect wording effects resulting from positively and negatively keyed items. The present study examined the effects of cognitive abilities on the factor structure of the RSES with a novel, nonparametric latent variable technique called local structural equation models. In a nationally representative German large-scale assessment including 12,437 students competing measurement models for the RSES were compared: a bifactor model with a ...