A Review of the Cross-Cultural Equivalence of Frequently used Personality Inventories

Personality inventories are frequently used for career guidance. Some should theoretically depend on cultural context, while others are supposed to be universal. The cross-cultural equivalence is only partial for culture-dependent models, as the locus of control. Concerning models that are supposed to be universal like the one proposed by Cattell or the Five-Factor Model, a partial and a full structural equivalence are, respectively observed. The extent of the scalar equivalence is difficult to assess indicating that more studies should be conducted to understand how culture affects processes underlying the evaluation of personality.

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Résumé. Un examen de l’équivalence transculturelle de plusieurs inventaires de personnalité fréquemment utilisés Les inventaires de personnalité sont fréquemment employés en orientation professionnelle. Certains devraient théoriquement dépendre du contexte culturel, alors que d’autres sont censés être universels. Pour les modèles qui dépendent de la culture, comme le lieu de contrôle, l’équivalence transculturelle est seulement partielle. Pour ce qui concerne les modèles qui sont censés être universels, comme celui proposé par Cattell ou comme le Modèle à Cinq Facteurs, on observe une équivalence structurale respectivement partielle et totale. Il est difficile d’évaluer l’ampleur de l’équivalence des échelles, ce qui montre que davantage d’études devraient être entreprises pour comprendre comment la culture affecte les processus sous-tendant l’évaluation de la personnalité.Zusammenfassung. Eine Betrachtung der interkulturellen Entsprechungen einiger häufig verwendeter Pesönlichkeits-Inventarien Persönlichkeits-Inventarien werden in er Berufsberatung häufig verwendet. Einige sollten theoretisch von kulturellen Kontexten abhängig sein, während andere als universell betrachtet werden. Die interkulturelle Vergleichbarkeit für kulturabhängige Modelle, wie etwa der Kontrollüberzeugung, besteht nur teilweise. Im Hinblick auf Modelle, die universell sein sollen wie das von Cattell vorgeschlagene Modell oder das Fünf-Faktoren-Modell, können sowohl partielle als auch vollstrukturelle Entsprechungen vorgefunden werden. Das Ausmaß er graduellen Entsprechungen ist kaum zu bewerten, was darauf hinweist, dass weitere Untersuchungen zu der Frage durchgeführt werden sollten in welcher Weise die Kultur diejenigen Prozesse beeinflusst, die der Beurteilung der Persönlichkeit zu Grunde liegen.Resumen. Revisión de la equivalencia cross-cultural de diversos inventarios de personalidad frecuentemente utilizados Los inventarios de personalidad suelen usarse con frecuencia en la orientación para la carrera. Algunos deberían depender teóricamente del contexto cultural, mientras que otros se supone que son universales. La equivalencia cross-cultural sólo es parcial en los modelos dependientes de la cultura, como el locus of control. Respecto a los modelos supuestamente universales como el propuesto por Cattell, o el Modelo de Cinco Factores, se observa una equivalencia parcial y una equivalencia total estructural respectivamente. El grado de la equivalencia escalar es difícil de medir, lo que indica que deberían realizarse más estudios de este tipo para entender cómo la cultura afecta a los procesos subyacentes en la evaluación de la personalidad.

     

Changes in the perception of action possibilities while climbing to fatigue on a climbing wall

In two experiments we examined changes in the perception of action possibilities as a function of exertion. In Experiment 1, participants repeatedly climbed on a climbing wall in a series of trials that progressively increased in number to 10 trials, resulting in increased exertion. Before and during climbing, the participants judged their maximum reaching height and perceived exertion. On a separate day, participants climbed another 10 trials while performing actual maximum reaches. Higher perceived exertion was associated with decreases in perceived maximum reach while the actual reaches did not decrease. However, the perceptual changes occurred early during task execution when the participants were not yet fatigued. When exertion set in, neither perceived nor actual maximum reaching appeared to be affected. In Experiment 2, we included exhaustion trials. The findings replicated the early changes in perception observed in Experiment 1, which may be explained by hands-on experience with the task. Furthermore, while climbing to exhaustion, perceptual judgements largely changed in keeping with changes in the actual maximum reach. Thus, there appeared to be a functional relationship between participants' actual action capabilities, rather than their state of physical fatigue per se, and perceived action possibilities.     

Are frequent users of social network sites good information evaluators? An investigation of adolescents’ sourcing abilities (¿Son los usuarios frecuentes de las redes sociales evaluadores competentes? Un estudio de las habilidades de los adolescentes para identificar,evaluar y hacer uso de las fuentes)

ABSTRACT

This study investigates the relationship between teenagers’ use of social networking sites (SNS) and their sourcing abilities. Sourcing is defined as students’ ability (1) to discriminate reliable and unreliable links based on source characteristics, (2) to value source criteria as means to select information resources and (3) to select reliable texts based on source characteristics. One hundred and forty-six students (M age = 14.7 years old) completed three sourcing tasks, a questionnaire on SNS use, as well as language and memory skills tests. We found that SNS frequency of use negatively predicted both participants’ ability to select the most reliable source among two conflicting sources on the same topic and their ability to cite source features when justifying their choice. SNS frequency of use was unrelated to students’ assessment of source criteria, but vocabulary level was positively related to performance in this task. We discuss various explanations for the observed relationship between teenagers’ SNS communication and their critical appraisal of information sources, and we propose avenues for instructional interventions aimed at fostering information skills.     

Predicting the Q of junior researchers using data from the first years of publication

A researcher's Q denotes their ability in scientific research as a real number. Due to their short presence in the academic environment, junior researchers have unstable Q values. This article aims to present a model that uses data from junior researchers’ first years of publication to predict their stable Q values. We tested the deep model and the linear regression model and compared their accuracies. We have obtained reliable results showing that the predicted values estimated with both models are better than the estimated Q values computed with the Q model itself when using only data from the first five years of publication. Lastly, we note that both approaches are robust approaches to deal with the inflation of citation bias.     

Does a resistance exercise session with continuous or intermittent blood flow restriction promote muscle damage and increase oxidative stress?

The aim of this study was to compare the effect of low-load resistance exercise (LLRE) with continuous and intermittent blood flow restriction (BFR) on the creatine kinase (CK), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), protein carbonyl (PC), thiobarbituric acid-reactive substance (TBARS) and uric acid (UA) levels in military men. The study included 10 recreationally trained men aged 19 ± 0.82 years who underwent the following experimental protocols in random order on separate days (72–96 h): 4 LLRE sessions at a 20% 1RM (one-repetition maximum [1RM]) with continuous BFR (LLRE + CBFR); 4 LLRE sessions at 20% 1RM with intermittent BFR (LLRE + IBFR) and 4 high-intensity resistance exercise (HIRE) sessions at 80% 1RM. The CK and LDH (markers of muscle damage) levels were measured before exercise (BE), 24 h post-exercise and 48 h post-exercise, and the PC, TBARS and UA (markers of oxidative stress) levels were measured BE and immediately after each exercise session. There was a significant increase in CK in the HIRE 24 post-exercise samples compared with the LLRE + CBFR and LLRE + IBFR (P = 0.035, P = 0.036, respectively), as well as between HIRE 48 post-exercise and LLRE + CBFR (P = 0.049). Additionally, there was a significant increase in CK in the LLRE + CBFR samples BE and immediately after each exercise (Δ = 21.9%) and in the HIRE samples BE and immediately after each exercise, BE and 24 post-exercise, and BE and 48 post-exercise (Δ values of 35%, 177.6%, and 177.6%, respectively). However, there were no significant changes in LDH, PC, TBARS, and UA between the protocols (P > 0.05). Therefore, a physical exercise session with continuous or intermittent BFR did not promote muscle damage; moreover, neither protocol seemed to affect the oxidative stress markers.