Institut für Psychologie
Filtern
Dokumenttyp
- Wissenschaftlicher Artikel (5)
- Konferenzveröffentlichung (1)
- Sonstiges (1)
- Preprint (1)
Sprache
- Englisch (8) (entfernen)
Schlagworte
- emic-etic (2)
- Belonging (1)
- Big Five (1)
- Building Performance Evaluation (1)
- CAT (1)
- Connectedness (1)
- Core Self-Evaluations (1)
- Facet Theory (1)
- Five Factor model (1)
- Grayscale (1)
- Problematic smartphone use (1)
- STEM (1)
- Smartphone addiction (1)
- Suffering (1)
- Types of smartphone use (1)
- Ubuntu (1)
- User-Needs Analysis (1)
- competence- and control beliefs (1)
- core self-evaluations (1)
- cross-cultural psychology (1)
- emotional regulation (1)
- environmental control (displays of self, control of stress factors, social control), well-being, work or learning efficiency, social behavior, co mmunication (1)
- gender gap (1)
- gender stereotypes (1)
- nature connectedness (1)
- prosocialness (1)
- self-efficacy (1)
- self-love (1)
- skin conductance (1)
- spatial abilities (1)
- systems to judge the quality of buildings (1)
- well-being (1)
Well-being is essential for all people. Therefore, important factors influencing people’s well-being must be investigated. Well-being is multifaceted and defined as, for example, psychological, emotional, mental, physical, or social well-being. Here, we focus on psychological well-being. The study aimed to analyze different aspects of connectedness as potential predictors of psychological well-being. For this purpose, we conducted a study examining the psychological well-being of 184 participants (130 women, 54 men, age: M = 31.39, SD = 15.24) as well as their connectedness with oneself (self-love), with others (prosocialness), with nature (nature connectedness), and with the transcendent (spirituality). First, significant positive correlations appeared between psychological well-being and self-love, nature connectedness, and spirituality. Furthermore, correlations between the four aspects of connectedness were significant, except for the relationship between self-love and prosocialness. A regression analysis revealed that self-love and nature connectedness positively predicted participants’ psychological well-being, while spirituality and prosocialness did not explain any incremental variance. The strong relationship between self-love and well-being was partly mediated by nature connectedness. Hence, self love, understood as a positive attitude of self-kindness, should be considered in more detail to enhance psychological well-being. Besides this, a more vital connectedness to the surrounding nature could benefit people’s well-being.
Reducing gender bias in STEM is key to generating more equality and contributing to a more balanced workforce in this field. Spatial ability and its components are cognitive processes crucial to success in STEM education and careers. Significant gender differences have consistently been found in mental rotation (MR), the ability to mentally transform two- and three-dimensional objects. The aim of this pilot study is to examine factors in psychological assessment which may contribute to gender differences in MR performance. Moreover, findings will inform the development of the new approaches to assessment using computer adaptive testing (CAT). (1) Background: The study examines the impact of emotional regulation on MR performance in primary school children whose mean age was 9.28 years old. (2) Methods: Skin conductance was measured to assess the impact of emotional reactivity (ER) on performance during an MR task. (3) Results: Patterns of ER influence response time (RT) on specific items in the task. (4) Conclusions: Identifying the effects of emotional arousal and issues of test construction such as stereotyped stimuli and item difficulty in tests of spatial ability warrants ongoing investigation. It is vital to ensure that these factors do not compromise the accurate measurement of performance and inadvertently contribute to the gender gap in STEM.
Examining the role of post-event processing in test anxiety—Pilot testing in three student samples
(2024)
This work investigates the occurrence of post-event processing (PEP) in the context of test anxiety; PEP involves rumination and self-critical thinking following an event and commonly observed in social anxiety. Three short-term longitudinal studies in student samples examined whether PEP occurs after exams and how it is associated with test anxiety. University students (N =35 in Study 1, N =146 in Study 2, and N =37 in Study 3) completed measures of trait and state test anxiety before an actual exam; PEP related to the exam was assessed at various time points afterward. Results revealed that PEP occurred to a meaningful extent after exam situations. Overall, it was positively associated with trait and state test anxiety, although some variations in the relations were found across the three studies. These findings underscore the relevance of PEP in the context of test anxiety, as PEP might contribute to maintaining test anxiety in the long term. Implications for future studies are discussed.
Increasingly, problematic smartphone use behavior (PSU) and excessive consumption are reported. In this study, an experiment was developed to investigate the influence of screen coloration using the grayscale setting on smartphone usage time in repeated measurements. We also investigated how individuals perceived suffering correlates with smartphone usage time and PSU, and whether differences exist by smartphone usage type (social, process, habitual). 240 subjects completed a questionnaire about smartphone usage time, PSU, perceived suffering, and smartphone usage types. Afterward, their smartphones were switched to grayscale setting for at least 24h, and thereafter 92 of these participants completed the second questionnaire. Analyses showed that grayscale setting decreases usage time and that there is a positive correlation between PSU, smartphone usage duration, and perceived suffering. The types of use (process and habitual) influence one’s perceived suffering. Thus, it shows that individuals are aware of their PSU and suffer from it. Using grayscale setting is effective in reducing smartphone use time.
Abstract for the print-book: Walden, R. (2008). Architectural Psychology: School, University Campus, and Office Building of the Future. Lengerich: Pabst Science Publishers (in German). The need for display of self in architecture and for users' self-regulation of stress factors, which demonstrate that users crave individual control of their environment (cf. Flammer, 1990; Burger, 1992) motivated this study to use the concept of environmental control as a central criterion for the evaluation of built environment. It was applied to three case studies: a school, a university campus, and an office building. Advantages and disadvantages of the data- gathering methods of architectural Programming, User-Needs Analysis, and Post-Occupancy Evaluation were analyzed to highlight their significance in terms of Building Performance Evaluation as described by Preiser and Sc hramm (1997, 2005). The “Koblenz Architecture Questionnaire” was used as an instrument for assessing the built environment of the three case studies, and the study reports selected findings from these questionnaires. The investigation seeks to determine the effect of architecture - especially buildings' provisions for user control of environmental conditions - on user performance (cf. BOSTI studies, 1984, 2001) in three innovative buildings: the Waldorf School in Cologne, the new campus for the University in Koblenz, and the Office Tower of the Deutsche Post World Net AG in Bonn. Performance is measured in terms of (1) Lear ning and Work Efficiency, (2) Well-being, (3) Environmental Control, (4) Social Behavior (the latter just for the school project), and by means of 21 and 16 additional psychological criteria for success of the organization in the cases of the university and the office building, respectively. The study aims, among other things, at reassessing the theoretical concept of 'environmental control' and at making recommendations for both improvement of existing buildings and the design of new projects. Two central questions are: In User-Needs Analysis, what is the difference between the assessment of a building for its current use and its estimated performance in future? Do certain architectural features influence user assessments on the given performance criteria? In the studies, three mapping sentences were developed according to the 'facet approach' (Borg, 1996) as well as two systems to judge the quality of school and office buildings. Using these systems, information was obtained in all three studies to construct questionnaires. In the school study, teachers were asked 139 questions, pupils 86 questions. Responses were obtained from 26 teachers and 122 pupils. For the university, 147 students and 28 faculty members responded to 203 questions. For the office building, 56 student-experts were asked 254 questions. Characteristics of the built environment were rated using the following scale: +2 ☺☺ (very good “at present”, and accordingly very important “in the future”) down to –2 // (very bad “at present”, and very unimportant “in the future”). A general finding was a high and significant co rrelation between the responses for the three main performance criteria in all three case studies, especially for the 'importance for the future' aspect. This supports the conclusion that a perception of higher degree of environmental control by users will lead to an increased sense of well-being and consequently, there will also be a higher expectation of improved work or learning efficiency 'in the future'. The three studies further show for example that users in all three environments desire 'retreat opportunities' which may take the form of student offices in schools, niches and small group seating in classrooms, and sheltered seating in outdoor areas and work tables in the cafeteria for the university. For the offices, users wanted more visual privacy (less transparent office partitions in Combi Offices) for less visual control of their activities by supervisors and co-workers. The relationships found by the studies between the responses on the central performance criteria and the spatial characteristics of the three buildings support the contention that focused improvements in the built environment, especially with respect to features that enhance user control of environmental conditions, will influence users’ well-being as well as work performance and work or learning efficiency in a positive way.
The Coronavirus Pandemic has influenced the lives of many people. We analyzed the effects of physical activity and stress on students’ motivation during the Pandemic. Participants were 254 university students who reported their academic motivation, physical activity, general stress, the Coronavirus Pandemic strain, and their Coronavirus stress. Women reported higher levels of Coronavirus stress, general stress, and motivation. The Coronavirus stress was predicted by the strain of the Coronavirus Pandemic but not by physical activity. General stress and gender predicted mastery goals, and performance goals were predicted by general stress. Physical activity was not related to students’ motivation during the Pandemic. Higher levels of general stress were associated with higher academic motivation. Negative emotions like stress could have enhanced students’ motivation during uncertain times of the Pandemic. Moreover, a moderate stress level could be favorable for academic dedication and achievement.
In Western personnel psychology, competence- and control beliefs (CCB) are of widespread use to predict typical work-related outcomes such as well-being, achievement motivation and job performance. The predictive value and comprehension of CCB in East Africa is examined, comparing a Kenyan target with a German source sample (N=143). Responses to personality tests included qualitative interviews on items capturing control orientations (self concept of ability, internality, powerful others, and chance). Linear regression analyses,
explorative factor analyses, and a procrustean target rotation showed comparable, but not fully congruent predictability for the connection of CCB with outcome variables. Factor structures of control responses did not resemble each other sufficiently. Content analyses including scale intercorrelations, quantitative and qualitative item information served for an explanation of this predictability gap, specifying differences between the German and Kenyan samples that are associated with the social-relational domain of personality. Results
fit in the picture depicted by the African Ubuntu philosophy and the South African Personality Inventory project (SAPI), both emphasizing social-relational aspects. In particular, the powerful others control orientation diverges the most between the cultures. Being perceived as a negative and external factor in the German sample with its individualistic culture, powerful others is of mixed emotional quality and just as well internal, when asked for in the Kenyan sample with its Ubuntu-worldview. An uncritical transfer of CCB measures from one culture to another is assumed to be inappropriate. More emic-etic based research is demanded concerning intra- and intercultural variability of CCB to depict a
transcultural applicable model.
Five personality traits commonly known as the “Big Five” have been widely acknowledged as universal. But most available psychological instruments are not necessarily transferable to other cultures. They are referred to as “W.E.I.R.D.” (western, educated, industrial, rich, democratic) and lack the combined emic-etic approach that is necessary for a transcultural perspective. This intercontinental congress brings experts from Kenya and Germany together – thinking out of the box and collecting ideas for a scientific based partnership of East Africa and Europe. Main topics are psychological constructs that prove relevant for Human Resources Management. The Five-Factor Model, core self-evaluations, coping processes and acculturation as well as globalization effects and gender issues are discussed.