0000000000315769

AUTHOR

Oliver Wilhelm

0000-0001-7980-1166

Methods matter: Testing competing models for designing short-scale Big-Five assessments

Abstract Many psychological instruments are psychometrically inadequate because derived person-parameters are unfounded and models will be rejected using established psychometric criteria. One strategy towards improving the psychometric properties is to shorten instruments. We present and compare the following procedures for the abbreviation of self-report assessments on the Trait Self-Description Inventory in a sample of 14,347 participants: (a) Maximizing reliability/main loadings, (b) Minimizing modification indices/cross loadings, (c) the PURIFY Algorithm in Tetrad, (d) Ant Colony Optimization, and (e) a genetic algorithm. Ant Colony Optimization was superior to all other methods in imp…

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Psychological models of development of idiopathic environmental intolerances: Evidence from longitudinal population-based data.

Abstract The origin of idiopathic environmental intolerances (IEIs) is an open question. According to the psychological approaches, various top-down factors play a dominant role in the development of IEIs. The general psychopathology model assumes a propensity towards mental ill-health (negative affectivity) increases the probability of developing IEIs. The attribution model emphasizes the importance of mistaken attribution of experienced somatic symptoms; thus, more symptoms should lead to more IEIs. Finally, the nocebo model highlights the role of expectations in the development of IEIs. In this case, worries about the harmful effects of environmental factors are assumed to evoke IEIs. We…

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Self-Reported Cognitive Failures

Investigated measurement models of self-report measures of cognitive failures in 5 studies (total of 3,122 participants aged 14-70). The Cognitive Failure Questionnaire (CFQ) is a well-known and frequently used self-report measure of cognitive lapses and slips (e.g., throwing away the candy bar and keeping the wrapper). Measurement models of individual differences in cognitive failures have failed to produce consistent results so far. Therefore, in the present studies, the CFQ is compared to measures of competing measurement models: a measure of identical measurement intention (Short Inventory of Minor Lapses, SIML), a neuroticism test, a questionnaire on functional and dysfunctional self-c…

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