Previous research established that people who are or feel more privileged tend to be less religio... more Previous research established that people who are or feel more privileged tend to be less religiously fundamentalist. However, in the present research we predicted this association to be reversed when political leaders such as governments are promoting and incentivizing (religious) fundamentalism. Using Turkey as an example, we found support for our hypothesis in a Muslim sample (N = 736) representative for age, gender, education-level ethnicities, and urbanity: Individuals, who feel more privileged – i.e., less deprived – were more fundamentalist, even after controlling for a range of other variables that were previously associated with fundamentalism including conspiracy beliefs, personality, and sociodemographic variables. This negative association between deprivation and religious fundamentalism was not mediated by conspiracy beliefs. Interestingly, the associations of the control variables such as authoritarianism and conspiracy beliefs with religious fundamentalism mostly repl...
Facial neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) is the application of an electrical current to... more Facial neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) is the application of an electrical current to the skin to induce muscle contractions and has enormous potential for basic research and clinical intervention in psychology and neuroscience. Because the technique remains largely unknown, and the prospect of receiving electricity to the face can be daunting, willingness to receive facial NMES is likely to be low and gender differences might exist in the amount of concern for the sensation of pain and skin burns. We investigated these questions in 182 healthy participants. The likelihood of taking part (LOTP) in a hypothetical facial NMES study was measured both before and after presenting a detailed vignette about facial NMES including its risks. Results showed that LOTP was generally high and that participants remained more likely to participate than not to, despite a decrease in LOTP after the detailed vignette. LOTP was significantly predicted by participants’ previous knowledge ab...
COVID-19 has likely been the most disruptive event at a global scale the world experienced since ... more COVID-19 has likely been the most disruptive event at a global scale the world experienced since WWII. The software engineering community never experienced such a phenomenon, whereby software engineers were forced to abruptly work from home. Nearly every developer started new working habits and organizational routines, while trying to stay mentally healthy and productive during the lockdowns. We are now starting to realize that some of these new habits and routines may stick with us in the future. Therefore, it is of importance to understand how we have worked from home so far. We investigated whether 15 psychological, social, and situational variables such as quality of social contacts or loneliness predict software engineers' well-being and productivity across a four wave longitudinal study of over 14 months. Additionally, we tested whether there were changes in any of these variables across time. We found that developers' well-being and quality of social contacts improved...
To increase Covid-19 vaccine uptake and protect vulnerable people, many countries have introduced... more To increase Covid-19 vaccine uptake and protect vulnerable people, many countries have introduced a Covid-19 passport, allowing vaccinated individuals to access indoor facilities more freely and travel to foreign countries. However, the passport has unintended consequences in discriminating against those who do not want to get vaccinated for medical, religious, or political reasons or do not have access to vaccines. The present study (N = 678) assessed across the USA, Brazil, the UK, and a group of other countries, the links between political orientation, human values, and moral foundations and attitudes towards the Covid-19 passport and whether people perceive it as a discriminatory measure. Results showed that left-wingers, who are typically more inclined to recognize discrimination, are more in favor of the passport and perceive it to be less discriminatory than right-wingers. This pattern remains consistent even after controlling for human values and moral foundations, which ind...
Self-esteem is defined as sense of self-worth and self-respect, being crucial for understanding p... more Self-esteem is defined as sense of self-worth and self-respect, being crucial for understanding people’s well-being and success. It is one of the most studied constructs in the social sciences, with the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) being the most used measure. Across four studies (N = 1450), we tested the psychometric parameters of an abbreviated version of the RSES. Through Item Response Theory, the five best items were selected to form the unidimensional Brief Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (B-RSES), a reliable and valid measure of self-esteem, which is invariant across age groups and gender. In addition, both RSES and B-RSES correlated very similarly with the Big Five Personality Factors. Also, the B-RSES was strongly correlated with three other short measures of self-esteem, besides being more strongly associated with a range of variables such as conscientiousness and self-competence in comparison to the other three short scales. Together, the B-RSES is especially useful in r...
Background Food allergy (FA) has been shown to have an adverse impact on food allergy quality of ... more Background Food allergy (FA) has been shown to have an adverse impact on food allergy quality of life (FAQL). To more fully understand this impact, correlates and predictors of FAQL must be reliably measured. Coping is one such factor. In the present study (n = 200), we sought to adapt the widely used Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced (COPE) Inventory and its 15 distinct strategies to food allergy, named FA-COPE Inventory. More specifically, we propose a long (60-item) and short (30-item) version of the measure. Methods To examine the robustness of the newly adapted FA-COPE Inventory, we tested whether the 15-factor structure of the adapted version would present good psychometrical properties, using gold standard psychometric techniques. We used Confirmatory Factor Analysis to assess model fit, McDonald's omega, and inter-item correlations to assess reliability, and Pearson's correlation to assess convergent validity with a generic coping measure and satisfaction with FA life. Results Our results showed a good model fit (eg, CFI and TLI ≥ .94) for the 15-factor structure of the measure's long and short version. These factors also presented reliability levels aligned with the coping literature. Finally, the majority of the FA-COPE Inventory factors (eg, acceptance) were significantly associated with the generic coping measure and satisfaction with FA life. Conclusion Both the long and short adapted FA-COPE Inventory showed a good fit to food allergy issues. These measures can help facilitate the identification of the most commonly used strategies to deal with FA. Their use can lead to a more in-depth understanding of the impact of the coping strategies and how they can help improve the quality of life of those impacted by the disease.
Researchers are increasingly noticing the value of multiverse analysis. While such analysis is im... more Researchers are increasingly noticing the value of multiverse analysis. While such analysis is important, they should not neglect the impact of multiverse operationalisations on the outcome – that is, multiple ways of operationalising or measuring constructs such as well-being or religiosity. The “Many Analysts Religion Projects” (2022) found that different operationalisations of well-being impacted its association with religiosity. Here, we expand on this by comparing how 262,143 ways of measuring well-being are associated with religiosity and 511 ways of measuring religiosity are associated with well-being. We found that especially short 1-2 item measures of well-being that aimed to capture it broadly resulted in a spread of associations ranging roughly between r = 0 - .25. This suggests that depending on the operationalisation of well-being, researchers might under- or overestimate the strengths of its association with religiosity. Thus, we recommend that different measures of th...
A longitudinal inverstigation into the impact of value and trait similarity in close romantic rel... more A longitudinal inverstigation into the impact of value and trait similarity in close romantic relationships. Over the course of 8 months, participants will be asked to answer three questionnaires, containing questions about their actual values, values rephrased as traits, their percieved similarity with their partner and the commitment and quality of their relationship. Participants answers will be matched with their partners answers. Replicating an effect of one of our earlier studies, participants will report higher satisfaction in their relationship if they are dissimilar to their partner in terms of their self-transcendence and conservation values, especially when the values are phrased as traits. This effect will be moderated by commitment, such that reporting lower levels of commitment will lead to a stronger effect of dissimilarity. Polynomial regression analyses will be used to investigate this hypotheses. Further, using cross-lagged correlations, we predict that perceived v...
ABSTRACT Der vorliegende Beitrag setzt sich kritisch mit der 'klassischen' und &a... more ABSTRACT Der vorliegende Beitrag setzt sich kritisch mit der 'klassischen' und 'modernen' Tagtraumforschung auseinander und diskutiert die Chancen, die durch eine Klassifikation von unterschiedlichen Formen der Unaufmerksamkeit entstehen. Zunächst werden theoretische Überlegungen zur Bedeutung der Dissoziation dargelegt. Die nicht-pathologische, unter anderem Tagtraum oder Absorption beinhaltende Form der Dissoziation ist ein eindimensionales Konstrukt, wohingegen die pathologische Dissoziationsform – wie von Janet (1889) postuliert – eine dichotome Variable ist. Nach einer Beschreibung der Tagtraumforschung der 1960er und 1970er Jahre sowie der moderneren Forschung hierzu wird das Konstrukt Tagtraum definiert und von verwandten Konstrukten abgegrenzt. Ferner wird die Taxonomie in einem grafischen Entscheidungsbaum dargestellt, mit dessen Hilfe sich scheinbar widersprüchliche Ergebnisse der modernen Tagtraumforschung erklären lassen können. Abschließend wird dafür plädiert, genauer auf die Inhalte und das Zustandekommen von reizunabhängigen Gedanken zu achten, da hierin ein vernachlässigtes Forschungsfeld liegt.
Supporting info item, per2170-sup-0001-SI for Mapping the Structure of Human Values through Conce... more Supporting info item, per2170-sup-0001-SI for Mapping the Structure of Human Values through Conceptual Representations by Coelho Gabriel Lins de Holanda, Hanel Paul H.P., Johansen Mark K., Maio Gregory R. and Back Mitja in European Journal of Personality
In the present research, we investigate whether cultural value orientations (CVOs) and aggregate ... more In the present research, we investigate whether cultural value orientations (CVOs) and aggregate personality traits (Big-5) predict actual levels of alcohol consumption, smoking, and obesity across 50 countries using averages derived from millions of data points. Aggregate traits explained variance above and beyond CVOs in obesity (particularly neuroticism and extraversion), while CVOs explained variance beyond aggregate traits in alcohol consumption (particularly harmony and hierarchy). Smoking was not linked to aggregated traits or CVOs. We conclude that an understanding of the cultural correlates of risky health behaviors may help inform important policies and interventions for meeting international sustainable development goals.
Following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns, software engineers' da... more Following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns, software engineers' daily life was disrupted and they were abruptly forced into working remotely from home. Across one exploratory and one confirmatory study (N = 482), we tested whether a typical working day is different to pre-pandemic times and whether specific tasks are associated with task-specific satisfaction and productivity. To explore the subject domain, we first run a two-wave longitudinal study, where we found that the time software engineers spent doing specific tasks (e.g., coding, bugfixing, helping others) from home was similar to pre-pandemic times. Also, the amount of time developers spent on each task was unrelated to their general well-being, perceived productivity, and other variables such as basic needs. In our confirmatory study, we found that task satisfaction and productivity are predicted by task-specific variables (e.g., how much autonomy software engineers had during coding) but no...
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced governments worldwide to impose movement restrictions on their c... more The COVID-19 pandemic has forced governments worldwide to impose movement restrictions on their citizens. Although critical to reducing the virus' reproduction rate, these restrictions come with far-reaching social and economic consequences. In this paper, we investigate the impact of these restrictions on an individual level among software engineers currently working from home. Although software professionals are accustomed to working with digital tools in their day-to-day work, the abrupt and enforced work-from-home context has resulted in an unprecedented scenario for the software engineering community. In a two-wave longitudinal study (N = 192), we covered over 50 psychological, social, situational, and physiological factors that have previously been associated with well-being or productivity. Examples include anxiety, distractions, psychological and physical needs, office set-up, stress, and work motivation. This design allowed us to identify those variables that explain unique variance in well-being and productivity. Results include (1) the quality of social contacts predicted positively, and stress predicted an individual's well-being negatively when controlling for other variables consistently across both waves; (2) boredom and distractions predicted productivity negatively; (3) productivity was less strongly associated with all predictor variables at time two compared to time one, suggesting that software engineers adapted to the lockdown situation over time; and (4) the longitudinal study did not provide evidence that any predictor variable causal explained variance in well-being and productivity. Our study can assess the effectiveness of current work-from-home and general well-being and productivity support guidelines and provide tailored insights for software professionals.
Abstract Engagement is a multidimensional construct with emotional, cognitive, and behavioral com... more Abstract Engagement is a multidimensional construct with emotional, cognitive, and behavioral components that captures how subjective experiences result from interactions between perceptions, information-processing and ecological influences in a way that activates internal states to maintain behavior. This process underlies the way people relate to different contexts, topics or issues. Engagement is highly responsive to contextual factors and a good predictor of desirable outcomes. Therefore, engagement with sustainable development has strong potential as a locus for intervention and research addressing sustainable development issues. However, research on engagement (and disengagement) with sustainable development is nascent and there is a need to bolster evidence on the psychometric adequacy of its associated measure. In this study, we analyzed data from four independent samples, all of which completed the Engagement/Disengagement with Sustainable Development Inventory (EDiSDI). The study has five major findings: (1) A bifactor model was replicated in multiple samples, thus confirming structural validity. (2) EDiSDI scores correlated with related constructs in a theoretically consistent manner, thus confirming convergent validity. (3) EDiSDI scores predicted variance in pro-sustainability behavior, hence demonstrating predictive validity. (4) The EDiSDI had measurement invariance across age, society, and gender. (5) A general factor reflecting engagement accounted for the majority of variance in items designed to measure various constructs that capture the way humans relate to sustainable development issues. A major contribution of this study is that it supports an integrative framework for conceptualizing two major expressions of how people relate to sustainable development: engagement and disengagement. Future research can use the EDiSDI to build knowledge on how engagement and disengagement can explain sustainable and unsustainable (e.g. negationist) behavioral patterns. This will be important for helping inform policies and practices for promoting sustainable behavioral patterns in citizens of different societies.
Value instantiations—exemplifiers of an abstract or general category—are a new issue in human val... more Value instantiations—exemplifiers of an abstract or general category—are a new issue in human value research. Experiments have recently highlighted the important role of value instantiations in bridging the gap between abstract values and specific actions. In this chapter, we describe the general role of category instantiations in psychology, drawing on relevant literature in cognitive and social psychology. We discuss the relevance of value instantiations to important topics in the study of values, such as (non-)differences in values between nations, and the application of values to behavior. We then discuss instantiations as a mechanism through which values are related to behavior. We demonstrate that instantiations moderate the relationship between values and behavior: If the measured behaviors reflect typical instantiations of a value, the relationship between the two is stronger. Finally, we illustrate the potential roles of value instantiations by describing a method for measuring them and then examining findings relevant to two values: protecting the environment and family security.
Opinion polls regarding policies designed to tackle COVID-19 have shown public support has remain... more Opinion polls regarding policies designed to tackle COVID-19 have shown public support has remained high throughout the first year of the pandemic in most places around the world. However, there is a risk that headline support over-simplifies people's views. We carried out a two-wave survey with six-month interval on a public sample (N= 212) in the UK, examining the factors that underpin lockdown policy support. We find that the majority of people support most public health measures introduced, but that they also see significant side effects of these policies, and that they consider many of these side effects as unacceptable in a cost–benefit analysis. We also find that people judged the threat of COVID-19 via the magnitude of the policy response, and that they do not use their perception of the personal threat to themselves or close others to guide their support for policy. Polling data only offer one simple perspective and do not illustrate the ambivalence many people feel aro...
Previous research established that people who are or feel more privileged tend to be less religio... more Previous research established that people who are or feel more privileged tend to be less religiously fundamentalist. However, in the present research we predicted this association to be reversed when political leaders such as governments are promoting and incentivizing (religious) fundamentalism. Using Turkey as an example, we found support for our hypothesis in a Muslim sample (N = 736) representative for age, gender, education-level ethnicities, and urbanity: Individuals, who feel more privileged – i.e., less deprived – were more fundamentalist, even after controlling for a range of other variables that were previously associated with fundamentalism including conspiracy beliefs, personality, and sociodemographic variables. This negative association between deprivation and religious fundamentalism was not mediated by conspiracy beliefs. Interestingly, the associations of the control variables such as authoritarianism and conspiracy beliefs with religious fundamentalism mostly repl...
Facial neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) is the application of an electrical current to... more Facial neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) is the application of an electrical current to the skin to induce muscle contractions and has enormous potential for basic research and clinical intervention in psychology and neuroscience. Because the technique remains largely unknown, and the prospect of receiving electricity to the face can be daunting, willingness to receive facial NMES is likely to be low and gender differences might exist in the amount of concern for the sensation of pain and skin burns. We investigated these questions in 182 healthy participants. The likelihood of taking part (LOTP) in a hypothetical facial NMES study was measured both before and after presenting a detailed vignette about facial NMES including its risks. Results showed that LOTP was generally high and that participants remained more likely to participate than not to, despite a decrease in LOTP after the detailed vignette. LOTP was significantly predicted by participants’ previous knowledge ab...
COVID-19 has likely been the most disruptive event at a global scale the world experienced since ... more COVID-19 has likely been the most disruptive event at a global scale the world experienced since WWII. The software engineering community never experienced such a phenomenon, whereby software engineers were forced to abruptly work from home. Nearly every developer started new working habits and organizational routines, while trying to stay mentally healthy and productive during the lockdowns. We are now starting to realize that some of these new habits and routines may stick with us in the future. Therefore, it is of importance to understand how we have worked from home so far. We investigated whether 15 psychological, social, and situational variables such as quality of social contacts or loneliness predict software engineers' well-being and productivity across a four wave longitudinal study of over 14 months. Additionally, we tested whether there were changes in any of these variables across time. We found that developers' well-being and quality of social contacts improved...
To increase Covid-19 vaccine uptake and protect vulnerable people, many countries have introduced... more To increase Covid-19 vaccine uptake and protect vulnerable people, many countries have introduced a Covid-19 passport, allowing vaccinated individuals to access indoor facilities more freely and travel to foreign countries. However, the passport has unintended consequences in discriminating against those who do not want to get vaccinated for medical, religious, or political reasons or do not have access to vaccines. The present study (N = 678) assessed across the USA, Brazil, the UK, and a group of other countries, the links between political orientation, human values, and moral foundations and attitudes towards the Covid-19 passport and whether people perceive it as a discriminatory measure. Results showed that left-wingers, who are typically more inclined to recognize discrimination, are more in favor of the passport and perceive it to be less discriminatory than right-wingers. This pattern remains consistent even after controlling for human values and moral foundations, which ind...
Self-esteem is defined as sense of self-worth and self-respect, being crucial for understanding p... more Self-esteem is defined as sense of self-worth and self-respect, being crucial for understanding people’s well-being and success. It is one of the most studied constructs in the social sciences, with the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) being the most used measure. Across four studies (N = 1450), we tested the psychometric parameters of an abbreviated version of the RSES. Through Item Response Theory, the five best items were selected to form the unidimensional Brief Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (B-RSES), a reliable and valid measure of self-esteem, which is invariant across age groups and gender. In addition, both RSES and B-RSES correlated very similarly with the Big Five Personality Factors. Also, the B-RSES was strongly correlated with three other short measures of self-esteem, besides being more strongly associated with a range of variables such as conscientiousness and self-competence in comparison to the other three short scales. Together, the B-RSES is especially useful in r...
Background Food allergy (FA) has been shown to have an adverse impact on food allergy quality of ... more Background Food allergy (FA) has been shown to have an adverse impact on food allergy quality of life (FAQL). To more fully understand this impact, correlates and predictors of FAQL must be reliably measured. Coping is one such factor. In the present study (n = 200), we sought to adapt the widely used Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced (COPE) Inventory and its 15 distinct strategies to food allergy, named FA-COPE Inventory. More specifically, we propose a long (60-item) and short (30-item) version of the measure. Methods To examine the robustness of the newly adapted FA-COPE Inventory, we tested whether the 15-factor structure of the adapted version would present good psychometrical properties, using gold standard psychometric techniques. We used Confirmatory Factor Analysis to assess model fit, McDonald's omega, and inter-item correlations to assess reliability, and Pearson's correlation to assess convergent validity with a generic coping measure and satisfaction with FA life. Results Our results showed a good model fit (eg, CFI and TLI ≥ .94) for the 15-factor structure of the measure's long and short version. These factors also presented reliability levels aligned with the coping literature. Finally, the majority of the FA-COPE Inventory factors (eg, acceptance) were significantly associated with the generic coping measure and satisfaction with FA life. Conclusion Both the long and short adapted FA-COPE Inventory showed a good fit to food allergy issues. These measures can help facilitate the identification of the most commonly used strategies to deal with FA. Their use can lead to a more in-depth understanding of the impact of the coping strategies and how they can help improve the quality of life of those impacted by the disease.
Researchers are increasingly noticing the value of multiverse analysis. While such analysis is im... more Researchers are increasingly noticing the value of multiverse analysis. While such analysis is important, they should not neglect the impact of multiverse operationalisations on the outcome – that is, multiple ways of operationalising or measuring constructs such as well-being or religiosity. The “Many Analysts Religion Projects” (2022) found that different operationalisations of well-being impacted its association with religiosity. Here, we expand on this by comparing how 262,143 ways of measuring well-being are associated with religiosity and 511 ways of measuring religiosity are associated with well-being. We found that especially short 1-2 item measures of well-being that aimed to capture it broadly resulted in a spread of associations ranging roughly between r = 0 - .25. This suggests that depending on the operationalisation of well-being, researchers might under- or overestimate the strengths of its association with religiosity. Thus, we recommend that different measures of th...
A longitudinal inverstigation into the impact of value and trait similarity in close romantic rel... more A longitudinal inverstigation into the impact of value and trait similarity in close romantic relationships. Over the course of 8 months, participants will be asked to answer three questionnaires, containing questions about their actual values, values rephrased as traits, their percieved similarity with their partner and the commitment and quality of their relationship. Participants answers will be matched with their partners answers. Replicating an effect of one of our earlier studies, participants will report higher satisfaction in their relationship if they are dissimilar to their partner in terms of their self-transcendence and conservation values, especially when the values are phrased as traits. This effect will be moderated by commitment, such that reporting lower levels of commitment will lead to a stronger effect of dissimilarity. Polynomial regression analyses will be used to investigate this hypotheses. Further, using cross-lagged correlations, we predict that perceived v...
ABSTRACT Der vorliegende Beitrag setzt sich kritisch mit der 'klassischen' und &a... more ABSTRACT Der vorliegende Beitrag setzt sich kritisch mit der 'klassischen' und 'modernen' Tagtraumforschung auseinander und diskutiert die Chancen, die durch eine Klassifikation von unterschiedlichen Formen der Unaufmerksamkeit entstehen. Zunächst werden theoretische Überlegungen zur Bedeutung der Dissoziation dargelegt. Die nicht-pathologische, unter anderem Tagtraum oder Absorption beinhaltende Form der Dissoziation ist ein eindimensionales Konstrukt, wohingegen die pathologische Dissoziationsform – wie von Janet (1889) postuliert – eine dichotome Variable ist. Nach einer Beschreibung der Tagtraumforschung der 1960er und 1970er Jahre sowie der moderneren Forschung hierzu wird das Konstrukt Tagtraum definiert und von verwandten Konstrukten abgegrenzt. Ferner wird die Taxonomie in einem grafischen Entscheidungsbaum dargestellt, mit dessen Hilfe sich scheinbar widersprüchliche Ergebnisse der modernen Tagtraumforschung erklären lassen können. Abschließend wird dafür plädiert, genauer auf die Inhalte und das Zustandekommen von reizunabhängigen Gedanken zu achten, da hierin ein vernachlässigtes Forschungsfeld liegt.
Supporting info item, per2170-sup-0001-SI for Mapping the Structure of Human Values through Conce... more Supporting info item, per2170-sup-0001-SI for Mapping the Structure of Human Values through Conceptual Representations by Coelho Gabriel Lins de Holanda, Hanel Paul H.P., Johansen Mark K., Maio Gregory R. and Back Mitja in European Journal of Personality
In the present research, we investigate whether cultural value orientations (CVOs) and aggregate ... more In the present research, we investigate whether cultural value orientations (CVOs) and aggregate personality traits (Big-5) predict actual levels of alcohol consumption, smoking, and obesity across 50 countries using averages derived from millions of data points. Aggregate traits explained variance above and beyond CVOs in obesity (particularly neuroticism and extraversion), while CVOs explained variance beyond aggregate traits in alcohol consumption (particularly harmony and hierarchy). Smoking was not linked to aggregated traits or CVOs. We conclude that an understanding of the cultural correlates of risky health behaviors may help inform important policies and interventions for meeting international sustainable development goals.
Following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns, software engineers' da... more Following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns, software engineers' daily life was disrupted and they were abruptly forced into working remotely from home. Across one exploratory and one confirmatory study (N = 482), we tested whether a typical working day is different to pre-pandemic times and whether specific tasks are associated with task-specific satisfaction and productivity. To explore the subject domain, we first run a two-wave longitudinal study, where we found that the time software engineers spent doing specific tasks (e.g., coding, bugfixing, helping others) from home was similar to pre-pandemic times. Also, the amount of time developers spent on each task was unrelated to their general well-being, perceived productivity, and other variables such as basic needs. In our confirmatory study, we found that task satisfaction and productivity are predicted by task-specific variables (e.g., how much autonomy software engineers had during coding) but no...
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced governments worldwide to impose movement restrictions on their c... more The COVID-19 pandemic has forced governments worldwide to impose movement restrictions on their citizens. Although critical to reducing the virus' reproduction rate, these restrictions come with far-reaching social and economic consequences. In this paper, we investigate the impact of these restrictions on an individual level among software engineers currently working from home. Although software professionals are accustomed to working with digital tools in their day-to-day work, the abrupt and enforced work-from-home context has resulted in an unprecedented scenario for the software engineering community. In a two-wave longitudinal study (N = 192), we covered over 50 psychological, social, situational, and physiological factors that have previously been associated with well-being or productivity. Examples include anxiety, distractions, psychological and physical needs, office set-up, stress, and work motivation. This design allowed us to identify those variables that explain unique variance in well-being and productivity. Results include (1) the quality of social contacts predicted positively, and stress predicted an individual's well-being negatively when controlling for other variables consistently across both waves; (2) boredom and distractions predicted productivity negatively; (3) productivity was less strongly associated with all predictor variables at time two compared to time one, suggesting that software engineers adapted to the lockdown situation over time; and (4) the longitudinal study did not provide evidence that any predictor variable causal explained variance in well-being and productivity. Our study can assess the effectiveness of current work-from-home and general well-being and productivity support guidelines and provide tailored insights for software professionals.
Abstract Engagement is a multidimensional construct with emotional, cognitive, and behavioral com... more Abstract Engagement is a multidimensional construct with emotional, cognitive, and behavioral components that captures how subjective experiences result from interactions between perceptions, information-processing and ecological influences in a way that activates internal states to maintain behavior. This process underlies the way people relate to different contexts, topics or issues. Engagement is highly responsive to contextual factors and a good predictor of desirable outcomes. Therefore, engagement with sustainable development has strong potential as a locus for intervention and research addressing sustainable development issues. However, research on engagement (and disengagement) with sustainable development is nascent and there is a need to bolster evidence on the psychometric adequacy of its associated measure. In this study, we analyzed data from four independent samples, all of which completed the Engagement/Disengagement with Sustainable Development Inventory (EDiSDI). The study has five major findings: (1) A bifactor model was replicated in multiple samples, thus confirming structural validity. (2) EDiSDI scores correlated with related constructs in a theoretically consistent manner, thus confirming convergent validity. (3) EDiSDI scores predicted variance in pro-sustainability behavior, hence demonstrating predictive validity. (4) The EDiSDI had measurement invariance across age, society, and gender. (5) A general factor reflecting engagement accounted for the majority of variance in items designed to measure various constructs that capture the way humans relate to sustainable development issues. A major contribution of this study is that it supports an integrative framework for conceptualizing two major expressions of how people relate to sustainable development: engagement and disengagement. Future research can use the EDiSDI to build knowledge on how engagement and disengagement can explain sustainable and unsustainable (e.g. negationist) behavioral patterns. This will be important for helping inform policies and practices for promoting sustainable behavioral patterns in citizens of different societies.
Value instantiations—exemplifiers of an abstract or general category—are a new issue in human val... more Value instantiations—exemplifiers of an abstract or general category—are a new issue in human value research. Experiments have recently highlighted the important role of value instantiations in bridging the gap between abstract values and specific actions. In this chapter, we describe the general role of category instantiations in psychology, drawing on relevant literature in cognitive and social psychology. We discuss the relevance of value instantiations to important topics in the study of values, such as (non-)differences in values between nations, and the application of values to behavior. We then discuss instantiations as a mechanism through which values are related to behavior. We demonstrate that instantiations moderate the relationship between values and behavior: If the measured behaviors reflect typical instantiations of a value, the relationship between the two is stronger. Finally, we illustrate the potential roles of value instantiations by describing a method for measuring them and then examining findings relevant to two values: protecting the environment and family security.
Opinion polls regarding policies designed to tackle COVID-19 have shown public support has remain... more Opinion polls regarding policies designed to tackle COVID-19 have shown public support has remained high throughout the first year of the pandemic in most places around the world. However, there is a risk that headline support over-simplifies people's views. We carried out a two-wave survey with six-month interval on a public sample (N= 212) in the UK, examining the factors that underpin lockdown policy support. We find that the majority of people support most public health measures introduced, but that they also see significant side effects of these policies, and that they consider many of these side effects as unacceptable in a cost–benefit analysis. We also find that people judged the threat of COVID-19 via the magnitude of the policy response, and that they do not use their perception of the personal threat to themselves or close others to guide their support for policy. Polling data only offer one simple perspective and do not illustrate the ambivalence many people feel aro...
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