Assessing Positive Orientation With the Implicit Association Test

Alessandri

Asian J of Social Psycho

2018

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119

Earlier findings have shown that positive evaluations about oneself, life, and future are related to each other and can be traced to a common latent dimension originally named positive orientation and then positivity. Further findings have led to the development of an eight-item scale that allows a direct measurement of positivity. A review is presented of the major findings that point to positivity as a basic self-evaluative disposition and that attest to its relevant impact across domains of functioning. Finally, possible avenues for promoting positivity and to allow individuals to fully benefit from it are discussed.

Section: Psychometric Properties Of the P Scale Across Languages And mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Psychometric Properties Of the P Scale Across Languages And mentioning

confidence: 99%

Associations of positive orientation with health and psychosocial adaptation: A review of findings and perspectives

Alessandri

Asian J of Social Psycho

2018

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119

“…However, to our knowledge, no study examined whether the subjective importance of goals related to a trait would predict the desire to change that trait. We hypothesized (Hypothesis 2.2) that subjective importance of conscientious goals would predict the desire to increase conscientiousness, above and beyond variance explained by the current personality and by positive orientation, a construct that encompasses life satisfaction, self‐esteem, and optimism (Alessandri, Caprara, & Tisak, 2012; Caprara et al, 2012; Costantini et al, 2016).…”

Section: Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Uncovering the Motivational Core of Traits: The Case of Conscientiousness

2020

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Knowledge of the motivational bases of conscientiousness would be crucial for disentangling competing explanations about the processes underlying this trait. Thereby, building on the results of a previous investigation identifying 21 goal classes connected to conscientiousness, we performed three studies aimed at clarifying the full spectrum of goals and motives underlying this trait. In Study 1 (N = 299), we conceptually replicated the original associations between goal classes and conscientiousness poles, and we identified nine goal classes that individuals ascribe to conscientious profiles more than to other profiles. In Study 2 (N = 329), we examined the associations between the subjective importance of conscientious and unconscientious goal classes and personality traits, as well as the role of goals for the desire to change one's conscientiousness. In Study 3 (N = 432), we developed a 72-item assessment of nine goal classes and explored their connections with the most important facets of conscientiousness, self-control, future orientation, and the consideration of future consequences, using network analysis. We discuss the relevance of our results for research on conscientiousness and its underlying processes.

“…Overall, the P Scale has been found to have robust psychometric properties as indicated by its good reliability coefficients (e.g., Caprara et al, 2012), its measurement invariance across gender and countries (e.g., Caprara et al, 2012; Heikamp et al, 2014), and its expected associations with theoretically relevant constructs such as positive and negative affect, depression, and personality traits (e.g., Caprara et al, 2012; Borsa et al, 2015; Tian et al, 2018). Recent findings also attested to the convergent validity of the P Scale with implicit measures of positivity (using the implicit association test), self-perceived intelligence (Costantini et al, 2019), and dispositional flow (Riva et al, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 85%

The Positivity Scale: Concurrent and Factorial Validity Across Late Childhood and Early Adolescence

et al. 2019

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Despite the well-established protective functions of positivity (i.e., a dispositional self-evaluative tendency to view oneself, life, and future under a positive outlook) from middle adolescence to old age, its reliable assessment and contribution to a proper psychological functioning have received little attention during previous developmental phases. In this article, we aimed to evaluate the psychometric properties and construct validity of the eight-item Positivity Scale (P Scale; Caprara et al., 2012 ) during late childhood and early adolescence in a sample of British students ( N = 742; 48% boys) from both primary (M age = 10.75, SD = 0.52) and secondary schools (M age = 13.38 years, SD = 0.94). First, results from confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) attested to the plausibility of the hypothesized 1-factor structure of the P Scale in a revised CFA model including the correlation between the residuals of two items similar in their wording. Next, we found evidence for strong (scalar) measurement invariance of the P Scale across late childhood and early adolescence as well as for its concurrent validity as indicated by expected relations of positivity to indicators of adjustment (i.e., prosocial behavior) and maladjustment (i.e., externalizing and internalizing problems). Overall, these findings support the concurrent and factorial validity of the P Scale as a short self-report instrument to measure children’s tendency to view their experience from a positive stance. We discuss the implications of our results for improving the wording of the items composing P Scale as well as for understanding the dispositional mechanisms conducive to psychological health and wellbeing across late childhood and early adolescence.