A result from a standard linear model course is that the variance of the ordinary least squares (OLS) coefficient of a variable will never decrease when including additional covariates into the regression. The variance inflation factor (VIF) measures the increase of the variance. Another result from a standard linear model or experimental design course is that including additional covariates in a linear model of the outcome on the treatment indicator will never increase the variance (...) of the OLS coefficient of the treatment at least asymptotically. This technique is called the analysis of covariance (ANCOVA), which is often used to improve the efficiency of treatment effect estimation. So we have two paradoxical results: adding covariates never decreases the variance in the first result but never increases the variance in the second result. In fact, these two results are derived under different assumptions. More precisely, the VIF result conditions on the treatment indicators but the ANCOVA result averages over them. Comparing the estimators with and without adjusting for additional covariates in a completely randomized experiment, I show that the former has smaller variance averaging over the treatment indicators, and the latter has smaller variance at the cost of a larger bias conditioning on the treatment indicators. Therefore, there is no real paradox. (shrink)

This study aims to alleviate the current tense employment situation and study the entrepreneurial situation of teachers and students in colleges and universities. Firstly, based on the educational concept of Science Technology Engineering Arts Mathematics, Ideological and Political Education is added to psychological capital to explore the effect of the combination of the two on entrepreneurial performance. An entrepreneurial performance impact model is constructed, and the questionnaire is set. Secondly, the influence of psychological capital combined with IPE on sports morality (...) is explored, and a sports morality questionnaire is designed. Finally, the questionnaire results are analyzed. The results showed that most of the participants in the survey are under the age of 25. The 25- to 29-year-olds are the smallest among those surveyed. The respondents who participated in the survey had the most undergraduate degrees, accounting for 43.4%. The 40 items on entrepreneurial performance this time obey a normal distribution, and the scale has good reliability and validity. The main factor analysis results obtained by principal component analysis include 6 factors. Their total explanatory power exceeds 67%, and the six factors screened out this time are well represented. The model tolerance is between 0.45 and 0.5, and the Variance Inflation Factor value is less than 10. The scale does not suffer from multi-collinearity issues. IPE significantly strengthens the effect of psychological capital on entrepreneurial performance. The influences of various sports on sportsmanship, bravery, self-confidence, and self-transcendence are significantly different, and the P value is less than 0.001. The difference in aggressiveness is less than 0.01, indicating that it is very significant. Different sports have significant differences in the cultivation of sports morality, and the P value is less than 0.05. The differences in self-discipline are also significant, and there are extremely significant differences in compliance with rules, and the P value here is less than 0.001. There are no significant differences in sporting qualities. IPE combined with psychological capital has a significant impact on entrepreneurial performance. These contents provide references for the entrepreneurship education of teachers and students in colleges and universities. The contribution lies in expanding the research on psychological capital in entrepreneurial performance and laying a foundation for the combination of psychological capital and IPE. (shrink)

Woods et al. (2015) claim that secular Simple Reaction Time (SRT) slowing (Woodley et al. 2013), disappears once modern studies are corrected for software and hardware lag, and once Galton’s data are corrected for fastest-response selection. Here, this is challenged with a reanalysis of the secular slowing of SRT in the UK amongst large (N>500), population-representative age-matched (≊18-30 years) studies. Starting with Galton’s sample, this is assigned the simulated value estimated by Dodonova and Dodonov (2013, who like Woods et al. (...) were critical of secular SRT slowing, owing to measurement issues) on the basis that he collected the fastest of three trials (207.5ms). The two sexes in Galton’s study are combined (as in Woods et al.), raising the weighted sample mean to 208.5ms. Next is the Wilkinson and Alison (1989) study, which attempted to replicate Galton’s study one century later, collecting SRTs as part of an exhibit in the London Science Museum. An electronic chronoscope recorded SRTs on magnetic tape, and sampled over eight trials with micro-processor-determined variable foreperiods. The mean SRT value for the 1,189 participants aged between 20 and 29 is 245ms. The presence of long and variable foreperiods necessitates a penalty of 10ms (Dodonova & Dodonov, 2013). Another 10ms should be deducted based on key-pressing time (Dodonova & Dodonov, 2013), reducing the mean to 225ms. The studies of Deary and Der (2005) and Der and Deary (2006) are also included. The first utilized the highly representative Scottish Twenty-07 cohort. Dodonova and Dodonov (2013) identified a 53ms lag stemming from liquid crystal stimulus onset delay. This is subtracted from the weighted average of the two sexes (300.8ms), along with another 10ms for key-pressing time. The resultant mean is 237.8ms.Dodonova and Dodonov (2013) cleaned the male data in the Der and Deary (2006) study, collected from the representative UK Health and Lifestyle Survey, by removing cases for which SRT standard deviations exceeded those for choice RT. This reduced the N from 834 to 661, and also reduced the mean from 300ms to 284ms. The estimate was also penalized for LCD onset delay and key-pressing time, reducing the mean to 221ms. When the SRT value for the female sample is penalized equivalently the resulting value is 239ms. In order to simulate the female N for the purposes of taking a weighted average of both sexes, the actual female N is reduced in proportion to the male N (79.3%=881), yielding a weighted mean of 230.9ms for a combined sample-size of 1,472. Table 1 presents the data used in the analysis.Table 1 SRT means, sample sizes and sampling years for four large, age-matched UK samples[Table 1 here]Consistent with Dodonova and Dodonov (2013), N-weighted regression is employed, as the only data on sample variability is sample size. Figure 1 illustrating the secular trend in UK SRT over 100 years.[Figure 1 here] Figure 1. Secular SRT slowing across four large, representative studies from the UK spanning a century. Bubble-size is proportional to sample size. Combined N=6,622. The secular slowing between UK studies is statistically significant (β=0.97; 95% CI=0.969 to 0.971, N=6,622), at –22.8ms a century. Additional evidence for generational SRT slowing comes from Verhaeghen (2014), who suggested that the ratio of longitudinal to cross-sectional age-related slowing might tentatively infer generational changes in processing speed. Verhaeghen reports ratios for two SRT studies (0.91 and 1.15), implying both secular losses and gains. For the study of Deary and Der (2005), the SRT ratios are “censored because they were excessively large” (p. 256). In this study, the ratio of the cross-sectional slowing trend (taking the weighted average of all paired between-cohort differences rescaled in terms of change per decade for males and females), to the weighted average decadal longitudinal slowing trend for both the males and females is 0.73, for an N of 1,926 (cf. Woodley et al., 2014b, for a detailed reanalysis of this dataset). The weighted average of the three SRT ‘Verhaeghen ratios’ is 0.9 (N=4,078) – tentatively consistent with generational declines (i.e. a ratio of <1). In conclusion Woods et al. (2015) have undoubtedly made an important contribution to the debate concerning the role of software and hardware lag in the inflation of contemporary estimates of SRT, however the evidence for generational SRT slowing remains quite compelling. ReferencesDeary, I.J., & Der, G. (2005). Reaction time, age, and cognitive ability: Longitudinal findings from age 16 to 63 years in representative population samples. Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition, 12, 187–213.Der, G., & Deary, I.J. (2006). Age and sex differences in reaction time in adulthood: Results from the United Kingdom Health Lifestyle Survey. Psychology and Aging, 21, 62–73.Dodonova, Y.A., & Dodonov, Y.S. (2013). Is there any evidence of historical slowing of reaction time? No, unless we compare apples and oranges. Intelligence, 41, 674–687.Galton, F. (1890). Exhibition of instruments (1) for testing the perception of differences of tint, and (2) for determining reaction-time. Journal of the Anthropological Institute, 19, 27–29.Verhaeghen, P. (2014). The elements of cognitive aging: Meta-analyses of age-related differences in processing speed and their consequences. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Wilkinson, R.T., & Allison, S. (1989). Age and simple reaction time: Decade differences for 5,324 subjects. Journal of Gerontology, 44, 29–35.Woodley, M.A., Madison, G., & Charlton, B.G. (2014b). Possible dysgenic trends insimple visual reaction time performance in the Scottish Twenty-07 cohort: Areanalysis of Deary & Der (2005). Mankind Quarterly, 55, 110-124.Woodley, M.A., te Nijenhuis, J., & Murphy, R. (2013). Were the Victorians cleverer than us? The decline in general intelligence estimated from a meta-analysis of the slowing of simple reaction time. Intelligence, 41, 843–850.Woods, D.L., Wyma, J.M., Yund, E.W., Herron, T.J., & Reed, B. (2015). Factors influencing the latency of simple reaction time. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 9:131. (shrink)

BackgroundConcerns about research misbehavior in academic science have sparked interest in the factors that may explain research misbehavior. Often three clusters of factors are distinguished: individual factors, climate factors and publication factors. Our research question was: to what extent can individual, climate and publication factors explain the variance in frequently perceived research misbehaviors?MethodsFrom May 2017 until July 2017, we conducted a survey study among academic researchers in Amsterdam. The survey included three measurement instruments that we previously reported individual results (...) of and here we integrate these findings.ResultsOne thousand two hundred ninety-eight researchers completed the survey. Results showed that individual, climate and publication factors combined explained 34% of variance in perceived frequency of research misbehavior. Individual factors explained 7%, climate factors explained 22% and publication factors 16%.ConclusionsOur results suggest that the perceptions of the research climate play a substantial role in explaining variance in research misbehavior. This suggests that efforts to improve departmental norms might have a salutary effect on behavior. (shrink)

SummaryHuman height is a heritable trait that is known to be influenced by environmental factors and general standard of living. Individual and population stature is correlated with health, education and economic achievement. Strong sexual selection pressures for stature have been observed in multiple diverse populations, however; there is significant global variance in gender equality and prohibitions on female mate selection. This paper explores the contribution of general standard of living and gender inequality to the variance in global female (...) population heights. Female population heights of 96 nations were culled from previously published sources and public access databases. Factor analysis with United Nations international data on education rates, life expectancy, incomes, maternal and childhood mortality rates, ratios of gender participation in education and politics, the Human Development Index and the Gender Inequality Index was run. Results indicate that population heights vary more closely with gender inequality than with population health, income or education. (shrink)

Mindfulness/mindlessness as a new factor influencing false memories: evidence from imagination inflation and modified premature cognitive commitment study Two effects that can influence the creation of false memories were investigated. First, the classic effect of imagination inflation was investigated. Second, the effect of exposure to modified premature cognitive commitment procedure, in which subjects apply bias correction in order to be opposed to suggested information. 24 subjects were asked to perform, imagine or hear simple action statements. Then half (...) of the subjects imagined performing some other actions. One week later half of the subjects were exposed to false information that they have the tendency to underestimate the quantity of many occurrences in everyday life. The surprising finding was that imagination inflation effect had not emerged. Nevertheless, the exposure to information about fictitious deficit led to bias correction and to source monitoring errors in which actions that had not been presented were recollected as having been imagined or heard. (shrink)

The New Keynesian framework has emerged as the workhorse for the analysis of monetary policy and its implications for inflation, economic fluctuations, and welfare. It is the backbone of the new generation of medium-scale models under development at major central banks and international policy institutions, and provides the theoretical underpinnings of the inflation stability-oriented strategies adopted by most central banks throughout the industrialized world. This graduate-level textbook provides an introduction to the New Keynesian framework and its applications to (...) monetary policy. Using a canonical version of the New Keynesian model as a reference framework, Jordi Galí explores issues pertaining to the design of monetary policy, including the determination of the optimal monetary policy and the desirability of simple policy rules. He analyzes several extensions of the baseline model, allowing for cost-push shocks, nominal wage rigidities, and open economy factors. In each case, the implications for monetary policy are addressed, with a special emphasis on the desirability of inflation targeting policies.The most up-to-date and accessible introduction to the New Keynesian framework available Uses a single benchmark model throughout Concise and easy to use Includes exercises An ideal resource for graduate students, researchers, and market analysts. (shrink)

The causal impacts of genes and environment on any one biological trait are inextricably entangled, and consequently it is widely accepted that it makes no sense in singleton cases to privilege either factor for particular credit. On the other hand, at a population level it may well be the case that one of the factors is responsible for more variation than the other. Standard methodological practice in biology uses the statistical technique of analysis of variance to measure this (...) latter kind of causal efficacy. In this paper, I argue that: 1) analysis of variance is in fact badly suited to this role; and. (shrink)

Genetic variation in fitness is the fundamental prerequisite for adaptive evolutionary change. If there is no variation in survival and reproduction or if this variation has no genetic basis, then the composition of a population will not evolve over time. Consequently, the factors influencing genetic variation in fitness have received close attention from evolutionary biologists. One key factor is the mode of reproduction. Indeed, it has long been thought that sex enhances fitness variation and that this explains the ubiquity (...) of sexual reproduction among eukaryotes. Nevertheless, theoretical studies have demonstrated that sex need not always increase genetic variation in fitness. In particular, if fitness interactions among beneficial alleles (epistasis) are positive, sex can reduce genetic variance in fitness. Empirical data have been sorely needed to settle the issue of whether sex does enhance fitness variation. A recent flurry of studies1-4 has demonstrated that sex and recombination do dramatically increase genetic variation in fitness and consequently the rate of adaptive evolution. Interpreted in light of evolutionary theory, these studies rule out positive in these experiments epistasis as a major source of genetic associations. Further studies are needed, however, to tease apart other possible sources. BioEssays 25:533–537, 2003. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (shrink)

Proponents of moral enhancement often link certain traits to virtuous behavior but typically focus on average trait scores, neglecting individual behavioral trait variance. Behavioral trait variance refers to the range of behaviors a person exhibits within a trait, which may partly arise from genetic factors independent of mean scores. Using Martha Nussbaum's capabilities approach and virtue ethics, I argue that increasing behavioral trait variance could promote moral flourishing. For example, a consistently disagreeable teacher might excel in specific (...) contexts, like a philosophy seminar. However, such a teacher will struggle to find Aristotle's moral meaning of friendliness, limiting their virtue across diverse contexts. Since social virtues are context‐dependent, reducing behavioral trait variance through personality enhancement could also hinder an individual's ability to achieve virtues or capabilities. This article investigates behavioral trait variance's moral role within virtue ethics and calls for other moral enhancement theories to address the ethical significance of behavioral trait variance and its potential impact on moral flourishing. (shrink)

Drawing on evolutionary realism as a guiding framework and using relevant theoretical bases at macro-, meso-, and micro- levels, we investigate the relative variance explained by each level on selection and retention of Benefit Corporations. Based on a sample of 5052 observations of certified B-Corps and 1403 observations of decertified B-Corps, relative to the country and industry differences, firm-level differences explain most of the variance in non-economic performance, especially for workers and community impact areas. Industry-level differences explain small (...) differences in customers and environmental performance while country differences do not explain meaningful performance differences. The results also show a similar pattern in relative effects for decertified B-Corps. Our findings point to the value of disaggregating the relative effects of multilevel factors in further understanding drivers of non-economic performance and the decertification of B-Corps. (shrink)

We emphasize the value of the socio-ecological approach in addressing the problem of population variances. The socio-ecological perspective studies how social and natural habitats shape human behaviors, and are in turn shaped by those behaviors. This focus on system-level factors is particularly well-suited to studying the origins of group differences in human behavior.

Currently, there is a growing interest in combining genetic information with physiological data measured by functional neuroimaging to investigate the underpinnings of psychiatric disorders. The first part of this paper describes this trend and provides some reflections on its chances and limitations. In the second part, a thought experiment using a commonsense definition of psychiatric disorders is invoked in order to show how information from this kind of research could be used and potentially abused to invent new mental illnesses. It (...) is then argued why an inference to the best explanation could provide an antidote to such attempts. The conclusion emphasises why normative criteria, such as those used to define disorders, cannot be derived from descriptive empirical results alone. While the etiology of some psychiatric diseases may be purely organic, there are many other cases where the psychiatric symptoms and the associated genotypes and phenotypes have an essentially and irreducibly external meaning that is derived from social and political factors. A limited perspective on the genes and brain of man carries the risk that psychiatry may increasingly treat the effects of other domains, although social and political solutions would be more appropriate. (shrink)

The testosterone–dominance model is noteworthy but should incorporate the ecological factors that often underlie variability in basal testosterone. This is evident in the ethnic testosterone differences discussed in the target article (sect. 8). The significance of acute changes in testosterone levels in response to competition is also poorly understood. Significant metabolic effects have been reported, suggesting that other physiological explanations should be explored, independent of potential behavioral or social factors.

Using Kenny's (1994) Social Relations Model, a block-round robin design provided the first reported evidence for dyadic effects in nonverbal communication. That is, some dyads were systematically more or less accurate than the individual-level skill of perceivers and expressors would predict. This dyadic effect appears to be similar in magnitude to individual differences in emotional perception, a topic garnering extensive research attention over several decades. Results generally replicated for judgements across genders and across two cultural groups. These preliminary findings have (...) implications for research on emotional intelligence and other models of affective skill, raising the possibility that accuracy in nonverbal communication combines individual differences with factors beyond the individual level. (shrink)

Exploratory factor analysis is a statistical method widely used in quantitative psychology for the construction of scales and measurement instruments. It aims to reduce the complexity of a data set and explain the common and unique variance using latent variables. In introductory textbooks, exploratory factor analysis is generally presented in contrast to confirmatory factor analysis as a theory- or a hypothesis-generating process that does not require prior background, theory or hypothesis to be performed. The aim of (...) the present paper is to analyze this claim and clarify in which sense exploratory factor analysis is theory-laden. We provide a careful examination of the concepts it involves and thereby establish a clear limitation of the epistemic scope of exploratory factor analysis. (shrink)

Statistical power is often a concern for clustered randomized control trials (RCTs) due to variance inflation from design effects and the high cost of adding study clusters (such as hospitals, schools, or communities). While covariate pre-specification can improve power for estimating regression-adjusted average treatment effects (ATEs), further precision gains can be achieved through covariate selection once primary outcomes have been collected. This article uses design-based methods underlying clustered RCTs to develop Lasso methods for the post-hoc selection of covariates (...) for ATE estimation that avoids a lack of transparency and model overfitting. Our focus is on two-stage estimators: in the first stage, Lasso estimation is conducted using data on cluster-level averages or sums, and in the second stage, standard ATE estimators are adjusted for covariates using the first-stage Lasso results. We discuss l 1 {l}_{1} consistency of the estimated Lasso coefficients, asymptotic normality of the ATE estimators, and design-based variance estimation. The nonparametric approach applies to continuous, binary, and discrete outcomes. We present simulation results and demonstrate the method using data from a federally funded clustered RCT testing the effects of school-based programs promoting behavioral health. (shrink)

This study focuses on one of the newer forms of software piracy, known as digital piracy, and uses the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) as a framework to attempt to determine factors that influence digital piracy (the illegal copying/downloading of copyrighted software and media files). This study examines factors, which could determine an individual’s intention to pirate digital material (software, media, etc.). Past piracy behavior and moral obligation, in addition to the prevailing theories of behavior (Theory of Planned Behavior), were (...) studied to determine the influence on digital piracy intention. Based on the results of this study, planned behavioral factors in addition to past piracy behavior and moral obligation were found to influence an individual’s intention to pirate digital material. Attitude, past piracy behavior, perceived behavior control, and moral obligation explained 71 percent of the intention to pirate variance. Using these results, a better understanding of why individuals pirate is presented and can be used to help combat digital piracy. (shrink)

Student academic dishonesty is a pervasive problem for universities all over the world. The development of innovative practices and interventions for decreasing dishonest behaviour requires understanding factors influencing academic dishonesty. Previous research showed that personal, environmental, and situational factors affect dishonest behaviour at a university. The set of factors and the strength of their influence can differ across countries. There is a lack of research on factors affecting student dishonesty in Russia. A sample of 15,159 undergraduate students from eight Russian (...) highly selective universities was surveyed to understand what factors influence their decision to engage in dishonest behaviour. Ajzen’s Theory of Planned Behaviour was employed to explain dishonest behaviour among students. The explained variance in the engagement in academic dishonesty equals 48% in the model for the full sample, and reaches 69% in the model for one of the considered institutions. The major findings of this study were: subjective norms appeared to dominate as the strongest predictor of academic dishonesty across the Russian universities; perceived behavioural control, appeared to be positively related to the dishonest behaviour. In the majority of universities, this factor was found to be insignificant. This finding indicates a specific feature of Russian students’ an ethical decision-making process discussed in the last part of the paper. (shrink)

We present a psychometric test of life history theory as applied to human individual differences using MIDUS survey data (Brim et al. 2000). Twenty scales measuring cognitive and behavioral dimensions theoretically related to life history strategy were constructed using items from the MIDUS survey. These scales were used to construct a single common factor, the K-factor, which accounted for 70% of the reliable variance. The scales used included measures of personal, familial, and social function. A second common (...) factor, Covitality, was constructed from scales for physical and mental health. Finally, a single general factor, Personality, was constructed from scales for the “Big Five” factors of personality. The K-factor, covitality factor, and general personality factor correlated significantly with each other, supporting the prediction that high K predicts high somatic effort and also manifests in behavioral display. Thus, a single higher-order common factor, the Super-K factor, was constructed that consisted of the K-factor, covitality factor, and personality factor. (shrink)

Robotic and Autonomous Agricultural Technologies (RAAT) are increasingly available yet may fail to be adopted. This paper focusses specifically on cognitive factors that affect adoption including: inability to generate trust, loss of farming knowledge and reduced social cognition. It is recommended that agriculture develops its own framework for the performance and safety of RAAT drawing on human factors research in aerospace engineering including human inputs (individual variance in knowledge, skills, abilities, preferences, needs and traits), trust, situational awareness and cognitive (...) load. The kinds of cognitive impacts depend on the RAATs level of autonomy, ie whether it has automatic, partial autonomy and autonomous functionality and stage of adoption, ie adoption, initial use or post-adoptive use. The more autonomous a system is, the less a human needs to know to operate it and the less the cognitive load, but it also means farmers have less situational awareness about on farm activities that in turn may affect strategic decision-making about their enterprise. Some cognitive factors may be hidden when RAAT is first adopted but play a greater role during prolonged or intense post-adoptive use. Systems with partial autonomy need intuitive user interfaces, engaging system information, and clear signaling to be trusted with low level tasks; and to compliment and augment high order decision-making on farm. (shrink)

Sociocultural influences on the development of child language skills have been widely studied, but the majority of the research findings were generated in Northern contexts. The current crosslinguistic, multisite study is the first of its kind in South Africa, considering the influence of a range of individual and sociocultural factors on expressive vocabulary size of young children. Caregivers of toddlers aged 16 to 32 months acquiring Afrikaans, isiXhosa, South African English, or Xitsonga as home language completed a family background questionnaire (...) and the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory about their children. Based on a revised version of Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory, information was obtained from the family background questionnaire on individual factors, microsystem-related factors, and exosystem-related factors. All sociocultural and individual factors combined explained 25% of the variance in expressive vocabulary size. Partial correlations between these sociocultural factors and the toddlers’ expressive vocabulary scores on 10 semantic domains yielded important insights into the impact of geographic area on the nature and size of children’s expressive vocabulary. Unlike in previous studies, maternal level of education and SES did not play a significant role in predicting children’s expressive vocabulary scores. These results indicate that there exists an interplay of sociocultural and individual influences on vocabulary development that requires a more complex ecological model of language development to understand the interaction between various sociocultural factors in diverse contexts. (shrink)

Academic dishonesty is a problem that continues to plague universities. Few studies have examined how mind-set and individualism contribute to academic dishonesty. Using structural equation modeling, a model was developed to explain academic dishonesty, which included mind-set, individualistic learning environment, individualism, and motivation to study. A total of 207 university students in Thailand participated. The final model explained 30% of the variance in academic dishonesty. All variables in this study had a negative relationship with academic dishonesty, indicating that improvements (...) in mind-set, learning environment, and motivation could change perceptions of academic dishonesty. (shrink)

Some authors defending the “hereditarian” hypothesis with respect to differences in average IQ scores between populations have argued that the sorts of environmental variation hypothesized by some researchers rejecting the hereditarian position should leave discoverable statistical traces, namely changes in the overall variance of scores or in variance–covariance matrices relating scores to other variables. In this paper, I argue that the claims regarding the discoverability of such statistical signals are broadly mistaken—there is no good reason to suspect that (...) the hypothesized environmental causes would leave detectable traces of the sorts suggested. As there remains no way to gather evidence that would permit the direct refutation of the environmental hypotheses, and no direct evidence for the hereditarian position, it remains the case, I argue, that the hereditarian position is unsupported by current evidence. (shrink)

Academic integrity violations on college campuses continue to be a significant concern that draws public attention. Even though AI has been the subject of numerous studies offering explanations and recommendations, academic dishonesty persists. Consequently, this has rekindled interest in understanding AI behavior and its influencers. This paper focuses on the AI violations of plagiarism and sharing homework for freshman business students, examining the factors that influence a student’s intention to plagiarize or share homework with others. Using a sample of more (...) than 1300 freshman business students over 2 years, we modeled intent to plagiarize and intent to share homework using factors in the Theory of Planned Behavior in addition to past violation behavior and moral obligation. Based on the results of this study, attitude, perceived behavioral control, subjective norm, and in addition past behavior and moral obligation, were found to significantly influence an individual’s intention to violate academic integrity, explaining 33 and 35 % of the variance in intention to commit an AI violation for sharing homework and plagiarism, respectively. These results contribute to a better understanding of individuals’ motivations for plagiarizing and sharing homework, which is a necessary step toward reducing academic integrity violations. (shrink)

Acknowledging separable factors underlying negative symptoms may lead to better understanding and treatment of negative symptoms in individuals with schizophrenia. The current study aimed to test whether the negative symptoms factor (NSF) of the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) would be better represented by expressive and experiential deficit factors, rather than by a single factor model, using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Two hundred and twenty individuals with schizophrenia spectrum disorders completed the PANSS; subsamples additionally completed the (...) Brief Negative Symptom Scale (BNSS) and the Motivation and Pleasure Scale—Self-Report (MAP-SR). CFA results indicated that the two-factor model fit the data better than the one-factor model; however, latent variables were closely correlated. The two-factor model’s fit was significantly improved by accounting for correlated residuals between N2 (emotional withdrawal) and N6 (lack of spontaneity and flow of conversation), and between N4 (passive social withdrawal) and G16 (active social avoidance), possibly reflecting common method variance. The two NSF factors exhibited differential patterns of correlation with subdomains of the BNSS and MAP-SR. These results suggest that the PANSS NSF would be better represented by a two-factor model than by a single-factor one, and support the two-factor model’s adequate criterion-related validity. Common method variance among several items may be a potential source of measurement error under a two-factor model of the PANSS NSF. (shrink)

Background: We previously showed, by means of an online-based survey, that the belief of being infected by coronavirus disease 2019 acted as a nocebo and predicted higher perception of symptoms similar to COVID-19 symptoms. However, there is little known about the psychological mechanisms that give rise to beliefs such as certainty of being infected by COVID-19, and this was investigated in the present study.Objective: Using the same data from the previous online survey with the same research team, we further investigated (...) whether certainty of being infected by COVID-19 is associated with age, sex, health anxiety, and/or personality traits.Methods: Respondents filled out an online survey with 57 questions about symptoms similar to COVID-19, certainty of being infected by COVID-19, anxiety, stress, health anxiety, and personality dimensions.Results: Higher levels of conscientiousness and health anxiety were independently associated with certainty of being infected by COVID-19. The model predicted 29% of the variance in certainty of being infected by COVID-19.Conclusion: Being conscientious and worried about health issues were associated with the belief of being infected by COVID-19. Such finding may have implications for health care personnel who provide COVID-19 testing or consulting services to general population, as individuals high in these traits may over-report COVID-like symptoms. Theoretically, these findings point to psychological factors that may increase nocebo and possibly placebo effects. Clinically, the findings suggest that individuals high in conscientiousness and health anxiety may be more likely to over-report their bodily experiences. (shrink)

Background: Moral distress is a growing problem for healthcare professionals that may lead to dissatisfaction, resignation, or occupational burnout if left unattended, and nurses experience different levels of this phenomenon. Objectives: This study aims to investigate the factor structure of the Persian version of the Moral Distress Scale–Revised in intensive care and general nurses. Research design: This methodological research was conducted with 771 nurses from eight hospitals in the Mazandaran Province of Iran in 2017. Participants completed the Moral Distress (...) Scale–Revised, data collected, and factor structure assessed using the construct, convergent, and divergent validity methods. The reliability of the scale was assessed using internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha, Theta, and McDonald’s omega coefficients) and construct reliability. Ethical considerations: This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences. Findings: The exploratory factor analysis ( N = 380) showed that the Moral Distress Scale–Revised has five factors: lack of professional competence at work, ignoring ethical issues and patient conditions, futile care, carrying out the physician’s orders without question and unsafe care, and providing care under personal and organizational pressures, which explained 56.62% of the overall variance. The confirmatory factor analysis ( N = 391) supported the five-factor solution and the second-order latent factor model. The first-order model did not show a favorable convergent and divergent validity. Ultimately, the Moral Distress Scale–Revised was found to have a favorable internal consistency and construct reliability. Discussion and conclusion: The Moral Distress Scale–Revised was found to be a multidimensional construct. The data obtained confirmed the hypothesis of the factor structure model with a latent second-order variable. Since the convergent and divergent validity of the scale were not confirmed in this study, further assessment is necessary in future studies. (shrink)

ObjectivesThe study aims to investigate the state anxiety of parents of special needs children during the 2019 coronavirus disease epidemic and the influence of parental stress, social support, and other related variables on the anxiety of parents.MethodsBespoke questionnaires of children’s and parent’s mental and behavioral problems during the epidemic were used in the study. We also used the State Anxiety Inventory, the Parenting Stress Index—Short Form-15, the NEO Five-Factor Inventory, and the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support. The data (...) used in the study were pooled from an online survey of parents of special needs children and analyzed by one-way analysis of variance and multiple linear regression.ResultsOverall, 1,451 individuals were included, of which 402 were fathers and 1,049 were mothers. ANOVA results showed that educational background, family monthly income, and type of their child’s disability made parents’ state anxiety significantly different. The results of multiple linear regression showed that during the epidemic, social support negatively predicted parents’ state anxiety, whereas parenting stress and parental mental and behavioral problems positively predicted parents’ state anxiety.ConclusionsDuring the outbreak of COVID-19, parents of special needs children suffered mental and behavioral problems, together with parenting stress and social support, which influenced their state anxiety. These findings can be used to develop relevant psychological interventions to improve the mental health of vulnerable groups during a pandemic like COVID-19. (shrink)

Young academics have been facing a problem of high turnover rate due to missing links between the institutions’ policies and the performance. This study explores the effect of job embeddedness and community embeddedness on creative work performance and intentions to leave of young teaching staff in academic institutions in Pakistan. In this study, 300 qualified young academics from public and private universities were selected as subjects and asked to complete a questionnaire. Data were collected via mail-survey. A variance-based structural (...) equation model is employed to measure the path model. The results show that the fit-dimension of organizational- and community-embeddedness, along with the moderating effect of organization size and the availability of nearby alternative jobs have a significant impact on improving perceived creative performance and reducing staff turnover intentions. This study suggests that organizations should focus on organizational-fit and community-fit constructs in their nurturing strategies to embed young teachers in their academic institutions. This study also suggests that monetary rewards only are relatively ineffective to improve retention. Hence, public and private sector universities should facilitate meaningful contributions from young teachers in creative work and provide opportunities for social interactions and personal development. (shrink)

Based on social contagion theory, this study examines the mediating role of formalization of organizational structure between organizational identification and faculty conformity. It also analyzes the moderating role of conflict management style between organizational identification and faculty conformity, and formalization of organizational structure and faculty conformity in universities in Hunan province, China. Convenience sampling was employed to select the subjects, and 1,024 Chinese faculty members including teaching staff and administrative staff were surveyed online with the questionnaire consist of organizational identification (...) scale, organizational formalization scale, conflict management style scale, and faculty conformity scale. 1,000 valid respondents were collected and SPSS was used to analyze the data through descriptive analysis, analysis of variance, correlation analysis, and hierarchical multiple regression. The results showed that faculty members’ organizational identification had a positive effect on faculty conformity; formalization of organizational structure partially mediated the relationship between organizational identification and faculty conformity; and conflict management style positively moderated the relationship between organizational identification and faculty conformity and between formalization of organizational structure and faculty conformity. University administrators are often the initiators of conformity as they are responsible for formulating internal regulations. Therefore, they must monitor and coordinate workplace conflicts, resolve and guide faculty conformity, promote individual faculty members’ self-improvement, and foster steady organizational development. (shrink)

Recent, well-publicized scandals, involving unethical conduct have rekindled interest in academic misconduct. Prior studies of academic misconduct have focussed exclusively on situational factors (e.g., integrity culture, honor codes), demographic variables or personality constructs. We contend that it is important to also examine how␣these classes of variables interact to influence perceptions of and intentions relating to academic misconduct. In a sample of 217 business students, we examined how integrity culture interacts with Prudence and Adjustment to explain variance in estimated frequency (...) of cheating, suspicions of cheating, considering cheating and reporting cheating. Age, integrity culture, and personality variables were significantly related to different criteria. Overall, personality variables explained the most unique variance in academic misconduct, and Adjustment interacted with integrity culture, such that integrity culture had more influence on intentions to cheat for less well-adjusted individuals. Implications for practice are discussed and future research directions are offered. (shrink)

The objective of the present research was two-fold: to provide a new definition of ethical competence, and to clarify the influence of empathy, personal values, and the five-factor model of personality on ethical competence. The present research provides a comprehensive overview about recent approaches and empirically explores the interconnections of these constructs. 366 German undergraduate students were examined in a cross-sectional study that investigated the relationship of empathy, personal values, and the five-factor model of personality with moral judgment (...) competence and counterproductive work behavior as indicators of moral judgment and behavior. We found self-transcendence values to be related to both, high levels of empathy and ethical competence, in contrast to self-enhancement values. Multiple mediation analysis revealed unique effects of empathy on ethical competence through values as mediators. Affective empathy transmitted its effect on ethical competence through benevolence, conformity, tradition, power, and hedonism. Most importantly, perspective taking lost its predictive power when investigated alongside affective empathy dimensions. These results converge to an important role of affective empathy, in particular empathic concern, with regard to personal values and ethical competence. Furthermore, the five-factor model of personality explained variance in measures of ethical competence. Our research suggests that organizational decision makers should consider the role of empathy, personal values, and the five-factor model in their human resource management in order to select employees with high ethical competence. (shrink)

Building on the modified theory of planned behavior (TPB), this study examined the underlying psychological motives for academic dishonesty in a sample of 250 undergraduates drawn from three selected Malaysian public universities. The results yielded additional supports for usefulness of modified TPB model in predicting academic misconduct. All components of the model exerted statistically significant effects on intention towards academic misconduct, and intention itself exerted a statistically significant impact on academic dishonesty. This suggests that students’ academic misconducts could be addressed (...) effectively if proper attention is given to the underpinning factors. Further, the findings revealed that the hypothesized relationships among variables of the modified model were all statistically significant. The uniqueness of this study lies in the large amount of variance (69 % and 75 %) explained by components of the model (in the prediction of intention and academic dishonesty respectively). These variances have rarely been accounted for in the previous studies. Implications of the findings are discussed and suggestions advanced for future studies. (shrink)

Assessing the association between conceptual constructs are at the heart of quantitative research in educational and psychological research. Researchers apply different methods to the data to obtain results about the correlation between a set of variables. However, the question remains, how accurate are the results of the correlation obtained from these methods? Although various considerations should be taken to ensure accurate results, we focus on the types of analysis researchers apply to the data and discuss three methods most researchers use (...) to obtain results about correlation. Particularly, we show how correlation results in bivariate correlation, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM) differ substantially in size. We observe that methods that assume independence of the items often generate inflated factor correlations whereas methods that relax this assumption present uninflated, thus more accurate correlations. Because factor correlations are inflated in bivariate correlation and CFA, the discriminant validity of the constructs is often unattainable. In these methods, the size of the correlation can be very large and biased. We discuss the reasons for this variation and suggest the type of correlation that researchers should select and report. (shrink)

In the present work we investigated distinct sources of construct-relevant psychometric multidimensionality in two sport-specific measures of coaches’ need-supportive (ISS-C) and controlling interpersonal (CCBS) styles. A recently proposed bifactor exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM) framework was employed to achieve this aim. In Study 1, using a sample of floorball players, the results indicated that the ISS-C can be considered as a unidimensional measure, with one global factor explaining most of the variance in the items. In Study 2, using (...) a sample of male ice hockey players, the results indicated that the items in the CCBS are represented by both a general factor and specific factors, but the subscales differ with regard to the amount of variance in the items accounted for by the general and specific factors. These results add further insight into the psychometric properties of these two measures and the dimensionality of these two constructs. (shrink)

Many psychometricians and behavioral geneticists believe that high heritability of IQ test scores within racial groups coupled with environmental hypotheses failing to account for the differences between the mean scores for groups lends plausibility to explanations of mean differences in terms of genetic factors. I show that heritability estimates and the statistical analysis of variance on which they are based have limited relevance in exposing genetic and environmental factors operating within any single group or population. I begin with agricultural (...) investigations, where replication of genetic types and control over environmental factors are possible, and highlight the difficulties of moving from AOV of observed traits to investigation of measurable genetic factors. The difficulties can only be exacerbated for human data sets, which are equivalent to a crop trial in which each variety is replicated in only one or two of the locations. (shrink)

In the digital age, the global software development sector has been a forerunner in implementing new ways and configurations for remote teamwork using information and communication technologies on a widespread basis. Crises and technological advances have influenced each other to bring about changes in the ways of working. In the 70’s of the last century, in the middle of the so-called oil crisis, the concept of teleworking was defined using remote computer equipment to access office equipment and thus avoid moving (...) around using traditional vehicles. Then from the 90s, with the advent of communications and the widespread use of the Internet, the first virtual work teams were implemented in software development companies that already had some of the important characteristics needed to work in this way, such as, cultural diversity, characterized tasks, geographical distribution of members, communication, interdependence of tasks, leadership, cohesion, empowerment, confidence, virtuality. This manuscript groups the main factors into different models proposed by the literature and also analyzes the results of a study conducted in the midst of the Covid-19 crisis on 317 software development teams that had to work in virtual teams. The results of the quantitative methodology with structural equation modeling based on variance using the partial least squares route method are analyzed. The results of the research focus on some determinants that can directly affect the performance of the virtual team. A first determinant is communication in relation to the tasks. The second is trust in relation to leadership, empowerment and cohesion. The results of virtual teams provide information that can serve as a basis for future research lines for the implementation of virtual work strategies in post-pandemic work. (shrink)

Psychological constructs such as personality dimensions or cognitive traits are typically unobserved and are therefore measured by observing so-called indicators of the latent construct. The Common Factor Model models the relations between the observed indicators and the latent variable. In this article we argue in favor of interpreting the CFM as a causal model rather than merely a statistical model, in which common factors are only descriptions of the indicators. When there is sufficient reason to hypothesize that the underlying (...) causal structure of the data is a common cause structure, a causal interpretation of the CFM has several benefits over a merely statistical interpretation of the model. We argue that a causal interpretation conforms with most research questions in which the goal is to explain the correlations between indicators rather than merely summarizing them; a causal interpretation of the factor model legitimizes the focus on shared, rather than unique variance of the indicators; and a causal interpretation of the factor model legitimizes the assumption of local independence. (shrink)

We examine the role of socio-demographic factors on consumers’ pro-environmental behavior (PEB)–a subset of ethical behavior and analyze its implications in an emerging market, with a sample study from India. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was performed as research method. Results show that males display higher PEB than their female counterparts. Married consumers score more on PEB than single. Mid-age consumers (36–50) also score high on PEB than young and old-age consumers. Furthermore, highly educated consumers are more pro-environmentalist than (...) graduates and post-graduates. The novelty of this study is that centers on the use of demographic variables interactively in order to form microsegments. For instance, married men score more on PEB scale than unmarried men and women and prefer green channels even more (i.e., public transportation). On the contrary, unmarried women display no hesitation in paying more for energy-efficient goods compared to married men and unmarried men. Marketers may aim in setting such PEBs as the moral standards among consumers being an easily identifiable segment as their prime target. (shrink)

This exploratory study of ethical decision making by individuals in organizations found moral intensity, as defined by Jones (1991), to significantly influence ethical decision making intentions of managers. Moral intensity explained 37% and 53% of the variance in ethical decision making in two decision-making scenarios. In part, the results of this research support our theoretical understanding of ethical/unethical decision-making and serve as a foundation for future research.

Film production is the process of creating a film, involving stages such as progress, pre-production, invention, post-production, and sharing. It encompasses planning, scripting, shooting, editing, and finalizing the film for public viewing. The process of imagination drives innovation in scripting, directing, and cinematography, resulting in unique, engaging experiences that captivate audiences with their emotive stories. The principle of this investigation is to assess how psychological factors add to enhancing imagination in film production, focusing on their impact on creative processes and (...) outcomes. A study surveyed 680 students from college film program students to analyze their creative personality and imaginative capabilities using structured questionnaires. Key psychological constructs included Creative Self-Efficacy, Emotional Resilience, Cognitive Flexibility, and Intrinsic Motivation. The study investigated the impact of psychological factors on college cinema students' creative imagination in filmmaking, demonstrating high validity and reliability with Factor Loadings exceeding 0.76, Composite Reliability higher than 0.88, and Average Variance Extracted (AVE) range as of 0.59 to 0.67. Discriminant validity was confirmed as every construct AVE was better than its square correlations by other constructs. Psychological factors significantly influence film production imagination, fostering creative thinking and emotional depth. Understanding and harnessing these factors enhances storytelling, character development, and audience engagement, ultimately enriching the cinematic experience. (shrink)

Background: Undergraduate nursing students have been documented to experience ethical distress during their clinical training and felt poorly supported in discussing the ethical issues they encountered. Research aims: This study was aimed at exploring nursing students’ perceived opportunity to discuss ethical issues that emerged during their clinical learning experience and associated factors. Research design: An Italian national cross-sectional study design was performed in 2015–2016. Participants were invited to answer a questionnaire composed of four sections regarding: (1) socio-demographic data, (2) previous (...) clinical learning experiences, (3) current clinical learning experience quality and outcomes, and (4) the opportunity to discuss ethical issues with nurses in the last clinical learning experience (from 0 – ‘never’ to 3 – ‘very much’). Participants and research context: Participants were 9607 undergraduate nursing students who were attending 95 different three-year Italian baccalaureate nursing programmes, located at 27 universities in 15 Italian regions. Ethical considerations: This study was conducted in accordance with the Human Subject Research Ethics Committee guidelines after the research protocol was approved by an ethics committee. Findings: Overall, 4707 (49%) perceived to have discussed ethical issues ‘much’ or ‘very much’; among the remaining, 3683 (38.3%) and 1217 (12.7%) students reported the perception of having discussed, respectively, ‘enough’ or ‘never’ ethical issues emerged in the clinical practice. At the multivariate logistic regression analysis explaining 38.1% of the overall variance, the factors promoting ethical discussion were mainly set at the clinical learning environment levels (i.e. increased learning opportunities, self-directed learning, safety and nursing care quality, quality of the tutorial strategies, competences learned and supervision by a clinical nurse). In contrast, being male was associated with a perception of less opportunity to discuss ethical issues. Conclusion: Nursing faculties should assess the clinical environment prerequisites of the settings as a context of student experience before deciding on their accreditation. Moreover, the nursing faculty and nurse managers should also enhance competence with regard to discussing ethical issues with students among clinical nurses by identifying factors that hinder this learning opportunity in daily practice. (shrink)

Self-regulation in early childhood is an important predictor of success across a variety of indicators in life, including health, well-being, and earnings. Although conceptually self-regulation has been defined as multifaceted, previous research has not investigated whether there is conceptual and empirical overlap between the factors that comprise self-regulation or if they are distinct. In this study, using a bifactor model, we tested the shared and unique variance among self-regulation constructs and prediction to pre-academic and social-emotional skills. The sample included (...) 932 preschool children, their parents, and their teachers in the United States. Children’s self-regulation was assessed using measures of executive function, behavioral self-regulation, and emotion regulation. The bifactor model demonstrated a common overarching self-regulation factor, as well as distinct executive function and emotion regulation factors. The common overarching self-regulation factor and executive function predicted children’s pre-academic and social-emotional skills. The emotion regulation factor predicted children’s social-emotional skills. Identifying the shared and unique aspects of self-regulation may have important implications for supporting children’s regulatory skills as well as their success in school. (shrink)

Background Intensive Care Unit (ICU) nurses face ethical challenges during decision-making in terms of the sophisticated nature of in-patients. Moral comfort is known as a phenomenon with a positive effect on moral decision-making and moral actions of nurses. Aim This study investigated ICU nurses’ level of moral comfort and factors affecting it. Research Design This study used a cross-sectional descriptive design. Participants and research context A total of 350 ICU nurses were selected with the convenience sampling method. The data collection (...) tool included the Demographic Characteristics Questionnaire and the Moral Comfort Questionnaire. The data were analyzed with SPSS19 using descriptive and inferential statistics. Ethical Considerations Upon the Committee of Ethics in Human Research’s acceptance of the research concept, approvals were secured, and informed written consent was acquired from all participants. They were assured of the information confidentiality of participation. Findings The mean moral comfort score was 112.75 ± 13.18. The mean score of personal factors related to ethics was higher than the external factors pertaining to the environment/organization. The mean scores of “moral comfort in a specific situation” and “moral comfort in general” were 50.52 ± 5.08 and 62.32 ± 9.31, respectively. The mean moral comfort score of nurses was significantly correlated with age, clinical work experience, ICU work experience, marital status, education, and employment status ( p <.05). Regression analysis revealed that ICU work experience as the strongest predictor variable predicted 17.7% of moral comfort variance. Conclusion Although moral comfort score was at a favorable level, ICU nurses did not feel comfortable when making decisions in moral situations, and nursing managers did not support the decisions of nursing staff. Consequently, this issue warrants the attention of nursing managers and policy-makers. They need to enhance the quality of healthcare by offering more support and addressing the variables influencing the moral comfort of nurses. (shrink)

Two popular models of trustworthiness have garnered support over the years. One has postulated three aspects of trustworthiness as state-based antecedents to trust. Another has been interpreted to comprise two aspects of trustworthiness. Empirical data shows support for both models, and debate remains as to the theoretical and practical reasons researchers may adopt one model over the other. The present research aimed to consider this debate by investigating the factor structure of trustworthiness. Taking items from two scales commonly employed (...) to assess trustworthiness, we leveraged structural equation modeling to explore which theoretical model is supported by the data in an organizational trust context. We considered an array of first-order, second-order, and bifactor models. The best-fitting model was a bifactor model comprising one general trustworthiness factor and ability, benevolence, and integrity grouping factors. This model was determined to be essentially unidimensional, though this is qualified by the finding that the grouping variables accounted for significant variance with for several organizational outcome criteria. These results suggest that respondents typically employ a general factor when responding to items assessing trustworthiness, and researchers may be better served treating the construct as unidimensional or engaging in scale parceling of their models to reflect this response tendency more accurately. However, the substantial variance accounted by the grouping variables in hierarchical regression suggest there may be contexts in which it would be acceptable to consider the theoretical factors of ability, benevolence, and integrity independent of general trustworthiness. (shrink)

This study investigated potential risk factors (coping, perfectionism and self-regulation) for substantial injuries in contemporary dance students using a prospective cohort design, as high-quality studies focusing on mental risk factors for dance injuries are lacking. Student characteristics (age, sex, BMI, educational program and history of injury) and psychological constructs (coping, perfectionism and self-regulation) were assessed using the Performing artist and Athlete Health Monitor (PAHM), a web-based system. Substantial injuries were measured with the Oslo Sports Trauma Research Center (OSTRC) Questionnaire on (...) Health Problems and recorded on a monthly basis as part of the PAHM system. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were conducted to test the associations between potential risk factors (i.e. student characteristics and psychological constructs) and substantial injuries. 99 students were included in the analyses. During the academic year 2016-2017, 48 students (48.5%) reported at least one substantial injury. Of all factors included, coping skills (OR: 0.91; 95% CI: 0.84–0.98), age (OR: 0.67; 95% CI: 0.46–0.98) and BMI (OR: 1.38; 95% CI: 1.05–1.80) were identified as significant risk factors in the multivariate analysis. The model explained 24% of the variance in the substantial injury group. Further prospective research into mental risk factors for dance injuries with larger samples sizes is needed to develop preventive strategies. Yet, dance schools could consider including coping skills training as part of injury prevention programs and, perhaps, providing special attention to younger dancers and those with a higher BMI through transitional programs to assist them in managing the stress they experience throughout their (academic) career. (shrink)

Humans have been exploring colors since ancient times, but relatively complete color systems appeared one after another in the twentieth century. Even without language and other information exchanges, colors can still convey information and stimulate emotions. Therefore, color can have both physical and psychological effects on people. In this context, this paper studies the visual representation of painting colors based on psychological factors. The article studies the theory of personality traits and introduces the related content of visual psychology. To explore (...) the relationship between each variable and color psychology and the visual representation of painting colors, a binary logistic regression analysis is performed. The colors in the post-impressionist paintings of Van Gogh and Gauguin is contrasted, and experiments on psychological factors and color research is conducted. The factors that affect the color tone of the picture and the influence of psychological factors on the judgment of color brightness are investigated. Finally, the correlation analysis of personality trait dimension and irrational behavior is carried out. The experimental results of the article show that after the analysis of variance, the significance levels of regression model 1 and model 2 both reach 0.000, and the adjusted R squares are 0.319 and 0.356, respectively. In this study, regression model 2 was selected as the final model. According to Model 2, the standardized regression coefficients of agreeableness and neuroticism are 0.438 and -0.251, respectively, and the significance of the regression coefficients are 0.000 and 0.021, respectively. The research on the visual performance of painting colors based on psychological factors has been well completed. (shrink)

BackgroundHealth care professionals face a number of problems during crises, such as the COVID-19. Studies addressed the prevalence of moral injury among healthcare professionals during the COVID-19 outbreak. Lack of a valid standard of moral injury among health care professionals is one of the factors that has made it difficult to identify and treat this complication. This study aimed to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Moral Injury Symptoms Scale-Health Care Professionals among health care professionals in Iran.MethodsThis study was conducted (...) to evaluate the validity and reliability of the MISS-HP. The sample included 455 healthcare professionals working in four teaching hospitals in Kerman, who were in direct contact with patients. In this study, face validity, content validity, construct validity, and internal reliability of the MISS-HP were evaluated. Demographic information questionnaire, the Moral Injury Symptoms Scale-HealthCare Professionals, General Health Questionnaire, and Impact of Event Scale were administered to study participants.ResultsThe MISS-HP was evaluated using translation-back translation technique. The content validity index of the items and the scale were 0.9 and 0.99, respectively. Exploratory factor analysis showed a three-factor structure in the MISS-HP that explained 57.49% of the variance. Confirmatory factor analysis indices were acceptable. The cut-off point of the questionnaire was 36.5. There was a positive and moderate correlation between the Persian version of MISS-HP, GHQ, and IES-R. The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of the Persian version of MISS-HP was 0.70.ConclusionThis study found that the MISS-HP is a concise, comprehensive, valid and reliable scale for assessing moral injury among health care professionals in clinical or research settings. This scale will be helpful for managers and researchers to identify and plan health policies and improve the psychological state of health care professionals. (shrink)

Background: Moral courage as a part of nurses’ moral competence has gained increasing interest as a means to strengthen nurses acting on their moral decisions and offering alleviation to their moral distress. To measure and assess nurses’ moral courage, the development of culturally and internationally validated instruments is needed. Objective: The objective of this study was to validate the Dutch-language version of the four-component Nurses’ Moral Courage Scale originally developed and validated in Finnish data. Research design: This methodological study used (...) non-experimental, cross-sectional exploratory design. Participants and research context: A total of 559 nurses from two hospitals in Flanders, Belgium, completed the Dutch-language version of the Nurses’ Moral Courage Scale. Ethical considerations: Good scientific inquiry guidelines were followed throughout the study. Permission to translate the Nurses’ Moral Courage Scale was obtained from the copyright holder, and the ethical approval and permissions to conduct the study were obtained from the participating university and hospitals, respectively. Findings: The four-component 21-item, Dutch-language version of the Nurses’ Moral Courage Scale proved to be valid and reliable as the original Finnish Nurses’ Moral Courage Scale. The scale’s internal consistency reliability was high (0.91) corresponding with the original Nurses’ Moral Courage Scale validation study (0.93). The principal component analysis confirmed the four-component structure of the original Nurses’ Moral Courage Scale to be valid also in the Belgian data explaining 58.1% of the variance. Confirmatory factor analysis based on goodness-of-fit indices provided evidence of the scale’s construct validity. The use of a comparable sample of Belgian nurses working in speciality care settings as in the Finnish study supported the stability of the structure. Discussion and conclusion: The Dutch-language version of the Nurses’ Moral Courage Scale is a reliable and valid instrument to measure nurses’ self-assessed moral courage in speciality care nursing environments. Further validation studies in other countries, languages and nurse samples representing different healthcare environments would provide additional evidence of the scale’s validity and initiatives for its further development. (shrink)