RJAP

Abstract: A false memory appears when a person recalls memories of events that did not actually happen to him or her. The present study focused on situational and personal determinants of spontaneous false memories. Specifically, we aimed to investigate the role of emotional valence of an event, as well as the individual differences in mental imagery in evocation false memory. Three videos in which related details were not shown but were presented during a recognition task were used to induce spontaneous false memories. The three videos are different in terms of valence, reflecting positive, negative and neutral events. A scale for measuring mental imagery was also used. A sample of 132 participants completed the study. The results showed that the positive event lead to a higher level of false memory than the negative event. Moreover, the participants differ in their susceptibility to false memories based on the level of imagery, but the interaction between the emotional valence of the event and mental imagery is not significant. The results are discussed from the perspective of their legal and clinical implications.

Keywords: false memory, true memory, emotional valence, imagery.

Address of correspondence: cornelia.mairean@psih.uaic.ro

Abstract: Given that waste generation is an economic and environmental problem for nations and governments, it is necessary that we advance our knowledge on the etiology of waste prevention behaviours. This study aimed to investigate about the relationships between the locus of control, hardiness, emotional intelligence, and waste prevention behaviours. Four hundred and forty participants (226 females and 214 males) from Universiti Putra Malaysia completed a survey questionnaire. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) estimated that individuals who were high in emotional intelligence and hardiness showed better waste prevention behaviours as well as those individuals with internal locus of control. Also, the results showed that older students tend to have better waste prevention behaviours. These findings reinforce the importance of personality traits and emotional intelligence in waste prevention behaviours.

Keywords: Locus of control, Hardiness, Emotional intelligence, Waste prevention behaviours

Address of correspondence: abdollahi.abbas58@gmail.com

Abstract: The Romanian version of the COPE Questionnaire (the version with 60 items and 15 coping strategies) elaborated by Carver, Scheier, Weintraub (1989), was culturally adapted on a convenience sample of 1009 adults by Craşovan and Sava (2013) from general population (non-clinical sample). This study aims to identify gender differences in the usage of coping mechanisms, using a heterogeneous (N = 770) sample composed of different age groups with different social and educational backgrounds. The results show that a number of four coping mechanisms out of the 15 operationalized by COPE are more specific to women, respectively mental disengagement, focus on and venting of emotions, religious coping and use of emotional social support, while only one coping mechanism was identified as more specific to men, namely substance use.

Keywords: coping mechanisms, general population, adjustment, gender differences, COPE.

Address of correspondence: dan_crasovan@yahoo.com

Abstract: One of the most robust findings in work psychology is the role that conscientiousness plays in performance; more recently, research indicates that conscientious employees are also the most engaged in their work. The present study examines whether the organization has any role in this relation, and if it is possible for individuals who are low in conscientiousness to also feel high levels of engagement. One hundred forty-one full-time Romanian workers and their peers, representing a variety of industries, were surveyed, revealing that features of the organization can actually attenuate the relation between conscientiousness and engagement. Specifically, when employees perceive that the organization is relatively formalized (i.e., where following rules is important), and in organizations where there is a perception that effort is rewarded, conscientiousness is not as strongly associated with engagement. These organizational features represent situational strength, and when situations are strong, scripts and rules tend to predict behavior, rather than personality. As such, it may be possible for low-conscientiousness individuals to actually become more engaged through organizational change. For those who are low in conscientiousness, for example, a formal work environment likely provides structure and decreases ambiguity, which aids in lower conscientious employees becoming more engaged. Similarly, when it is perceived that the organization rewards effort, those who are low in conscientiousness receive this reinforcement, and likely benefit the most, as their levels of engagement tend to approach those who are higher in conscientiousness.

Keywords: personality, person-situation interaction, situational strength, work engagement.

Address of correspondence: MilamA@UHCL.edu

Abstract: Developing a character assessment scale is the more distal goal of the author. In this paper I aim to present a sequence of this psychometric process, namely exploring the factorial structure of a character assessment scale. In order to achieve this aim, we first explored the psychological factors relevant for a moral character. We also explored the moral standards that are valued in the main life contexts of an individual: family, workplace, close relationships and public context. These theoretical endeavors were important for the item writing process, as they provided the content of the scale. Furthermore, the item development phase was empirically supported through some piloting studies, which highlighted the direction of the scale to assess instances of moral character failure, generically recognized as proofs of a bad character. The present paper focuses on the results obtained after performing an exploratory factor analysis on a sample of 300 participants. The results suggest that the 21-item scale best fits a four-factor structures that cumulatively explain 42.45% of the variance. The factors are: evilness, ill-tempered behavior, dishonesty, upstartness. The scale reveals the moral profile of an individual in all four life contexts.

Keywords: character, morality, moral character, assessment scale.

Address of correspondence: daniela.ionescu27@yahoo.com

Abstract: In this article we perform an in depth analysis of the national psychological/personality profile of Romanians. Following recent developments in the field (see Rentfrow et al., 2013; 2015), we study the regional national psychological/personality profile of Romanians, based on the Big Five model (i.e., NEO PI/R). Using a representative sample (N1 = 1000), we performed a cluster analysis and identified two bipolar personality profiles in the population: cluster 1, called “Factor X-”, characterized by high neuroticism and low levels of extraversion, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness, and cluster 2, called “Factor X+”, characterized by the opposite configuration in personality traits, low neuroticism and high levels of extraversion, openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness. The same two cluster pattern/solution emerged in other samples (N = 2200), with other Big Five-based instruments, and by using various methods of data (e.g., direct vs. reversed item score, controlling for item desirability) and cluster (i.e., with and without “running means”) analyses. These two profiles are quite evenly distributed in the overall population, but also across all geographical regions. Moreover, comparing the distribution of the five personality traits, we found just few small differences between the eight geographical divisions that we used for our analysis. These results suggest that the regional national psychological/personality profile of Romania is quite homogenous. Directions for harnessing the potential of both personality profiles are presented to the reader. Other implications based on the bipolar and fractal structure of the personality profile are discussed from an interdisciplinary perspective.

Keywords: national psychological/personality profile, regional analyses, cluster analysis, Romania.

Address of correspondence: danieldavid@psychology.ro

Abstract: One of the most influential constructs in recent social psychology is regulatory focus. However, the Romanian literature on this subject is sparse. After back-translating the Regulatory Focus Questionnaire (RFQ), we explored its factor structure and construct validity in two different studies. In Study 1, 401 students completed the RFQ and the BIS/BAS scales. After excluding one item due to its small loadings on both factors, the exploratory factor analysis and also the confirmatory factor analysis showed that a two-factor structure had the best fit. Results also showed that promotion focus and prevention focus were associated with BAS and BIS in the expected direction. In Study 2, using 198 students, besides the Romanian form of the RFQ we also used the two scales from IPIP 50 for extraversion and emotional stability, and PANAS. We replicated through confirmatory factor analysis the two-factor solution and also found that the instrument has acceptable temporal stability. We also discovered that the relationships between the promotion and the prevention scales with all the other four variables were as reported in other previous studies. The Regulatory Focus Questionnaire – Romanian form holds adequate psychometric properties and certainly can be used in future research, especially on student samples.

Keywords: RFQ, chronic regulatory focus, promotion focus, prevention focus

Address of correspondence: andreirusul@gmail.com

Abstract: Despite the significant contributions made by previous unemployment studies, we aim to further unravel the complex reality of being unemployed. To do so, we introduce Photovoice to grasp the experience of unemployment and its coping strategies from the perspective of the unemployed. We used a phenomenological approach to analyze the photographical data from this Photovoice project. Participants mainly conveyed financial problems associated with unemployment. In terms of coping strategies, participants mainly relied on emotion-focused strategies in which they combined personal and social resources to offset the negative effects of unemployment. Our findings supported and expounded the latent deprivation and agency restriction theory used in unemployment research.

Keywords: unemployment, experience of unemployment, coping, Photovoice.

Address of correspondence: yannick.griep@vub.ac.be

Abstract: Diversity can be seen everywhere, as either a readily observable trait of people, such as gender and ethnicity, or as a hidden set of abilities, such work skills and personality traits. Organizations consider that work-teams with a diverse composition outperform homogeneous work-teams. Although this is often the case, there can be specific types of diversity composition that are detrimental for organizational outcomes. Usually this occurs in situations where members of a team align on more than one diversity attribute, thus creating a diversity faultline. As of yet, however, the literature is lacking a systematic overview as to whether diversity faultlines are always associated with poor organizational outcomes. To address this issue we conducted a literature review in which we sought to unravel the different underlying structures of diversity faultlines and their association with organizational outcomes. We distinguished between affective outcomes and productive outcomes. The findings indicate that faultlines can be categorized as based on social category aspects, information/ decision-making aspects, or a combination of the two attributes. Furthermore, the results suggest that there is no straightforward relationship between the various faultlines and outcomes. We argue that this is potentially due to the fact that these studies have not addressed the normative fit of faultlines. Our review also hints at the necessity of researchers to reach a consensus on how to operationalize some diversity traits.

Keywords: diversity faultlines, normative fit, affective and productive outcomes.

Address of correspondence: stanciu@bigsss-bremen.de