Discriminant validity assessment has become a generally accepted prerequisite for analyzing relationships between latent variables. For variance-based structural equation modeling, such as partial least squares, the Fornell-Larcker criterion and the examination of cross-loadings are the dominant approaches for evaluating discriminant validity. By means of a simulation study, we show that these approaches do not reliably detect the lack of discriminant validity in common research situations. We therefore propose an alternative approach, based on the multitrait-multimethod matrix, to assess discriminant validity: the heterotrait-monotrait ratio of correlations. We demonstrate its superior performance by means of a Monte Carlo simulation study, in which we compare the new approach to the Fornell-Larcker criterion and the assessment of (partial) cross-loadings. Finally, we provide guidelines on how to handle discriminant validity issues in variance-based structural equation modeling.

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A new criterion for assessing discriminant validity in variance-based structural equation modeling

Amazon's Mechanical Turk (MTurk) is a relatively new website that contains the major elements required to conduct research: an integrated participant compensation system; a large participant pool; and a streamlined process of study design, participant recruitment, and data collection. In this article, we describe and evaluate the potential contributions of MTurk to psychology and other social sciences. Findings indicate that (a) MTurk participants are slightly more demographically diverse than are standard Internet samples and are significantly more diverse than typical American college samples; (b) participation is affected by compensation rate and task length, but participants can still be recruited rapidly and inexpensively; (c) realistic compensation rates do not affect data quality; and (d) the data obtained are at least as reliable as those obtained via traditional methods. Overall, MTurk can be used to obtain high-quality data inexpensively and rapidly.

http://www.gruberpeplab.com/teaching/psych231_fall2013/documents/231_Buhrmester2011.pdf

Amazon's Mechanical Turk A New Source of Inexpensive, Yet High-Quality, Data?

Five studies tested two general hypotheses: Individuals differ in their use of emotion regulation strategies such as reappraisal and suppression, and these individual differences have implications for affect, well-being, and social relationships. Study 1 presents new measures of the habitual use of reappraisal and suppression. Study 2 examines convergent and discriminant validity. Study 3 shows that reappraisers experience and express greater positive emotion and lesser negative emotion, whereas suppressors experience and express lesser positive emotion, yet experience greater negative emotion. Study 4 indicates that using reappraisal is associated with better interpersonal functioning, whereas using suppression is associated with worse interpersonal functioning. Study 5 shows that using reappraisal is related positively to well-being, whereas using suppression is related negatively.

Individual differences in two emotion regulation processes: implications for affect, relationships, and well-being.

This study investigated the relation of the “Big Five” personality dimensions (Extraversion, Emotional Stability, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Openness to Experience) to three job performance criteria (job proficiency, training proficiency, and personnel data) for five occupational groups (professionals, police, managers, sales, and skilled/semi-skilled). Results indicated that one dimension of personality, Conscientiousness, showed consistent relations with all job performance criteria for all occupational groups. For the remaining personality dimensions, the estimated true score correlations varied by occupational group and criterion type. Extraversion was a valid predictor for two occupations involving social interaction, managers and sales (across criterion types). Also, both Openness to Experience and Extraversion were valid predictors of the training proficiency criterion (across occupations). Other personality dimensions were also found to be valid predictors for some occupations and some criterion types, but the magnitude of the estimated true score correlations was small (ρ < .10). Overall, the results illustrate the benefits of using the 5-factor model of personality to accumulate and communicate empirical findings. The findings have numerous implications for research and practice in personnel psychology, especially in the subfields of personnel selection, training and development, and performance appraisal.

The big five personality dimensions and job performance: a meta-analysis

2 Taxonomy is always a contentious issue because the world does not come to us in neat little packages (S. Personality has been conceptualized from a variety of theoretical perspectives, and at various levels of Each of these levels has made unique contributions to our understanding of individual differences in behavior and experience. However, the number of personality traits, and scales designed to measure them, escalated without an end in sight (Goldberg, 1971). Researchers, as well as practitioners in the field of personality assessment, were faced with a bewildering array of personality scales from which to choose, with little guidance and no overall rationale at hand. What made matters worse was that scales with the same name often measure concepts that are not the same, and scales with different names often measure concepts that are quite similar. Although diversity and scientific pluralism are useful, the systematic accumulation of findings and the communication among researchers became difficult amidst the Babel of concepts and scales. Many personality researchers had hoped that they might devise the structure that would transform the Babel into a community speaking a common language. However, such an integration was not to be achieved by any one researcher or by any one theoretical perspective. As Allport once put it, " each assessor has his own pet units and uses a pet battery of diagnostic devices " (1958, p. 258). What personality psychology needed was a descriptive model, or taxonomy, of its subject matter. One of the central goals of scientific taxonomies is the definition of overarching domains within which large numbers of specific instances can be understood in a simplified way. Thus, in personality psychology, a taxonomy would permit researchers to study specified domains of personality characteristics, rather than examining separately the thousands of particular attributes that make human beings individual and unique. Moreover, a generally accepted taxonomy would greatly facilitate the accumulation and communication of empirical findings by offering a standard vocabulary, or nomenclature. After decades of research, the field is approaching consensus on a general taxonomy of personality traits, the " Big Five " personality dimensions. These dimensions do not represent a particular theoretical perspective but were derived from analyses of the natural-language terms people use to describe themselves 3 and others. Rather than replacing all previous systems, the Big Five taxonomy serves an integrative function because it can represent the various and diverse systems of personality …

The Big Five Trait taxonomy: History, measurement, and theoretical perspectives.

Many studies acknowledge the importance of social–emotional skills1 (SEMS) to function in contemporary society. Understanding these skills and how these develop presents several conceptual and methodological challenges, with emerging consensus on what kind of skills should be fostered in education. Less work, however, has considered SEMS specifically for teachers, despite the fact that they are presumed to be the primary agents to affect SEMS of students. The current article examines different conceptualizations of teacher SEMS and provides a first attempt at defining and structuring this broad conceptual space. We further propose a conceptual teacher SEMS framework that may serve as a basis of an empirical one to guide future educational research and policy-making.

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Social–emotional skills of teachers: Mapping the content space and defining taxonomy requirements

Academic self perceptions in a national Danish sample: Predictive power and development from grade 4 to 9

OBJECTIVE
Emerging research challenges the one-factor model of the future time perspective (FTP) scale by demonstrating two- and three-factor models of the FTP scale.


METHOD
Three samples (i.e., Switzerland and the United States; N = 2022) explored the factor structure, age pattern differences, tested the link between FTP factors, psychological well-being, and life satisfaction, as well as age as a moderator.


RESULTS
We distinguished FTP into opportunities, extension, and constraint factors that corroborated previous research. We did not find a replicable curvilinear age pattern difference on any of the FTP factors. The association between extension and life satisfaction was stronger among younger than older adults. Alternatively, the association between constraint and life satisfaction was stronger among younger than older adults in Samples A and C, and the pattern was reversed in Sample B. Lastly, the association between constraint and environmental mastery was stronger among older adults than younger adults in Sample B and the pattern was reversed in Sample C.


CONCLUSION
This variation in the perception of the future is different for people at different periods in life and has an important consequence for living life well, especially a focus on extension and lack of constraint.

Future time perspective: Factor structure, age pattern, and implications for psychological well-being and life satisfaction.

The aim of this study was to realize a French adaptation of the Big Five Inventory-2 (BFI-2), and to further examine the BFI-2’s convergent and discriminant validity via a comparison with the NEO-PI-3 and with the syndromes assessed by the Symptom Checklist (SCL-90-R). Bifactor Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling almost fully supported the BFI-2’s factor structure and measurement model with five major factors, 15 facets, and an acquiescence method factor. All the scales measuring the major factors showed excellent reliability and almost all the scales measuring facets showed acceptable to excellent reliability and satisfactory metric and scalar invariance across gender. The BFI-2 domains and facets were found to be strongly correlated with the scales of the NEO-PI-3 measuring similar constructs. The BFI-2 Negative Emotionality domain and its facets were positively related to most of the SCL-90-R scales, and Extraversion and its facets related negatively with Interpersonal Sensitivity and Depression. In conclusion, data from the French adaptation confirmed the relevance of the BFI-2 hierarchical factor structure, as well as its scales’ reliability and convergent and discriminant validity, which supports and extends the body of knowledge from the original American BFI-2 and its Danish, Dutch, German, Russian, and Slovakian adaptations. 

Oliver P. John

Papers

Social–emotional skills of teachers: Mapping the content space and defining taxonomy requirements

Academic self perceptions in a national Danish sample: Predictive power and development from grade 4 to 9

Future time perspective: Factor structure, age pattern, and implications for psychological well-being and life satisfaction.

Factor structure, psychometric properties, and validity of the Big Five Inventory-2 facets: evidence from the French adaptation (BFI-2-Fr)