A waste of science? The case for depositing undergraduate psychology dissertation research in institutional repositories

The following paper makes the case for a recommended practice of depositing undergraduate student dissertations into Higher Education Institute (HEI) institutional research repositories. In discussing this, the reasons for doing so, and a comprehensive discussion of the benefits and challenges (motivationally, logistically and ethically) for the Discipline, Students and Supervisors are highlighted, along with ways in which the challenges may be addressed. Guidelines to simplify, and therefore encourage, greater rates of submission of undergraduate dissertation research into institutional research repositories are noted, along with the potential consequences for the Research Excellence Framework and Teaching Excellence Framework exercises. It is the author’s hope that this paper will stimulate further discussion of this idea, including bringing to light considerations not addressed here

Within-Person Variation in Personality and Psychological Well-Being

Personality is one of the most broad and complex areas in psychology. This has led to many researchers attempting to reduce this complexity by focusing solely on how habitual personality differs between each individual (inter-individual differences). This is important to study, but it has been focused on so heavily that research into how each individual personality varies within the person (intra-individual differences) has been neglected in comparison. Recent research has started to examine intra-individual variation in personality more thoroughly. One research aim of this programme was to establish the nature of several different types of within person variability including inter-item variation (variation within the test responses for a personality trait), and cross-contextual variation in personality (variation according to context), to see whether these types of variability are associated with psychological outcomes. Three research questions were examined to this end: 1) What is the extent of meaningful variability in personality trait test responding? 2) What are the predictors of intra-individual variability in personality? 3) What is the relative importance of the person and situational factors in personality variability? The first question was developed to try and determine whether the individual can display meaningful inter-item variation in ratings of specific behaviours within personality trait measures. Trait questionnaires are usually only analysed at the between subject level, and within subject variation in inter-item ratings have not been extensively examined in relation to meaningful psychological outcomes. The second and third questions were developed to look into the nature of cross-contextual personality, and establish whether within person personality differences are influenced more strongly by the person or situation. The studies conducted towards answering these questions demonstrated a person-based capacity to display intra-individual variability. A second aim of the research programme was to see whether the capacity to display these types of variability can be utilised in behaviour change. The fourth research question was developed to try and understand how a person can display intra-individual variability, yet still be resistant to changing negative habits: 4) How do the different aspects in personality variability help explain why some people are resistant to change, especially with regard to behaviours that are bad for them? This question was answered by theoretically discussing the findings from the three previous studies which proposed that positive or problematic behaviour could be interpreted with a simple path to understand the process of behavioural action: The individual receives feedback from a behaviour response which either validates or invalidates their action in the situation context (does or does not receive a desired outcome). Reinforcement of the behaviour happens if it is validated by positive feedback. Alternately reconstruction of the situation happens if the behaviour is invalidated. This allows for two types of intra-individual variability. One is flexibility in behaviour responses to different situations under the individual’s control. The other is change according to the situation, where the behaviour is invalidated and an alternative is attempted. A problematic behaviour may have benefit in stopping something invalidating, but if repeated it may become a habit needed for psychological functioning. As part of the second research aim a behaviour change strategy was developed and piloted to try and bring the individual closer to their construct of the ideal self. Instructions were provided for the individual to experiment with that differed from their disposition. The programmes had varied degrees of success depending on the participant. The implications for personality research and behaviour change are discussed

Variation in personality states as predicted by interpersonal context

Accepted for publication in a forthcoming issue of Journal of Individual Differences. © 2018 Hogrefe Publishing. All rights reserved.Diary studies of personality have shown that personality is variable, and can help the person deal appropriately with the different interpersonal demands they encounter. This study aims to demonstrate how interpersonal context predicts personality states. Thirty-six participants (9 male, 27 female, M age = 24.72, SD = 7.11) kept an online diary for one month. The diary recorded measurements of HEXACO personality states, momentary interpersonal factors including current interpersonal role (with friend, family member, partner, as employee/student, alone), and social goal orientation (socializing with others, avoidance of others, asserting yourself, personal/work achievement), and dispositional anxiety and depression. Individuals' personality states were found to vary considerably across measurements in a normal distribution. Multilevel modelling analyses showed that interpersonal factors did predict within subject personality variation. Social goal orientations had a greater relative impact than interpersonal roles. Depression had a significant effect on between subject variance in state emotionality. These findings highlight the importance of interpersonal context in predicting stable personality variation.Peer reviewe

Believe it or not:Exploring the relationship between dogmatism and openness within non-religious samples

Personality and dogmatic thinking within religious individuals have been examined by previous research, but neglected for non-religious individuals. In this experiment, we distinguish between two types of non-religious groups; those who ascribe themselves to an identity (atheists) and those who do not (no beliefs in particular). A total of 103 non-religious individuals (36% atheists and 64% with no particular beliefs) completed an online questionnaire measuring dogmatism and openness traits, with an additional Christian group (n = 91) serving as a control. After confirming a relationship between identity salience and dogmatism, and validating a measure of dogmatism (DOG) in both non-religious groups, we note key personality differences between the two. Those with no beliefs in particular demonstrated a traditional negative correlation between openness and dogmatism (along with Christians) while these variables correlated positively for atheists (in particular, on ‘unconventionality’). This study is the first to establish differences between the relationship of dogmatism and openness within non-religious populations and explain these differences through group identity. Thus, identity strength and group belief systems are suggested to be key contributors to observed group differences between non-religious individualsPeer reviewe

Which way to well-being: “More of the same” or “trying something novel”? The association of comfortable and experimental behavior styles to well-being

In this paper we describe the development of a measurement of tendency towards displaying a comfortable behavior style, and/or an experimental behavior style across two studies. A comfortable behavioral style involves sticking to habits and routines, while an experimental behavior style involves being inclined to try out new ideas, actions or experiences. Study 1 involved developing the items, and determining the factor structure of the items using a student sample (N = 189, 85 male and 104 female, aged between 18 and 51). An exploratory factor analysis yielded the expected two factor structure, reflecting factors for a comfortable behavior style, and an experimental behavior style. Study 2 went on to further validate the measures via a second exploratory factor analysis, and establish the relationship of these measures to a variety of well-being outcomes using a sample collected via Amazon's Mechanical Turk (N = 302, 159 male and 138 female, aged between 18 and 68). The two factor structure was confirmed, and these measures were found to be related to outcomes including satisfaction with life, positive and negative affect, self-concept clarity, and sensation seeking. The potential applications for these measures are discussed

‘You just wear a mask’: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis study to explore the impacts of bereavement by suicide among peer support group members.

Suicide is widely acknowledged as a pervasive global public health issue. Support for those bereaved by suicide (postvention) is a neglected area of research. Suicide loss survivors (SLS) struggle with guilt, stigma, and a drive to comprehend. This study aimed to assess the ramifications of bereavement by suicide within a cohort of peer-support group members. Data were collected using in-depth face-to-face and online semi-structured interviews. Audio-recordings of the interviews were transcribed and analysed via Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Eight people, recruited from a UK Peer Support Group, participated. Five Group Experiential Themes emerged: decohesion of life; ‘You just wear a mask’; perpetual psychological conflicts; persistent underlying frustration with ‘the system’; the beacon of peer support. Findings provide insights into the mindset of a cross-section of those bereaved by suicide and the all-encompassing, pervasive, life-shattering consequences of becoming a SLS. These include the duality of their inner torment and public persona, perpetual possession of conflicting thoughts and perspectives, and alienation. A unique level of comprehension as to the power of peer-support groups is also outlined. Implications for practice include the signposting of postvention services requiring enhancement and the vital role played by peer-support groups in assisting those impacted

Development and validation of the male rape myth acceptance scale (MRMAS)

Despite growing recognition of male-on-male rape and its related myths, research in this area has been held back by the lack of a reliable and comprehensive measure or scale. The present work utilises a large and diverse participant sample over two studies (Study 1 N = 510, Study 2 N = 527) to validate a new Male Rape Myth Acceptance Scale (MRMAS), measuring myths falling under six principle themes: masculinity, sexuality, pleasure, perpetrators, context, and effect. Analysis suggested a two-factor scale, with ‘Blame’ and ‘Minimisation/Exoneration’ sub-scales. Both the overall scale and sub-scales demonstrate excellent reliability and construct validity, and are thus proposed as tools to enable the proliferation of future research on male rape myth acceptance, both in general and specialist populations, in an attempt to improve the experiences of male rape victims

Brief report - using supplied personality trait constructs in studying abstract and interpersonal self roles

This study aims to demonstrate whether a selection of supplied personality constructs based on Lee and Ashton’s (2004) HEXACO model can be used to effectively understand a range of self roles, with a comparison of how more specific interpersonal roles (me with friends, me with family, me when studying) differ in their relationship to exploration and well-being outcomes when compared to more abstract self roles (me generally, me as I would like to be). A sample of 41 participants were recruited via opportunity sampling of undergraduate students at the University of West London (UWL) during 2018. 35 participants were female, with 6 being male, mean age of the sample was 24.17. Variables measured include the interpersonal self role ratings for the supplied personality constructs, comfortable and experimental behaviour styles, curiosity/exploration and measures of well-being including satisfaction with life, positive affect, and negative affect. The findings supported distinct interpersonal roles being present based on supplied construct data (in support of Churchyard et al., 2013), but with overlap between some self roles where consistency in trait behaviour is generally tied into better psychological functioning. In terms of considering patterns unique to concrete interpersonal selves and more abstract selves, whilst many correlations patterns with behaviour style and wellbeing measures were similar between the me generally and more specific interpersonal roles, the specific interpersonal self roles could then be used to pick out which aspects of the self were contributing to these relationships. For example, Me generally (Openness to Experience) was negatively correlated with Negative affect, but the main concrete interpersonal role that correlated negatively was Me when studying specifically

Construction by interpersonal context and relationship to psychological outcomes

The repertory grid was used to elicit personal constructs with 10 elements, including three interpersonal self roles, in 33 participants (age M = 20.79, SD = 2.70). Each participant also rated a selection of supplied personality trait constructs and completed several psychological outcome measures. The distance between the self roles was associated with higher levels of anxiety for both personal and the supplied trait constructs, and was also related to greater cognitive complexity for personal constructs. The lack of statistical association between anxiety and cognitive complexity, however, suggested the distance relationships to each outcome are due to some other factor. Based on previous research findings, the overall pattern of results suggests that the grid distances between each interpersonal self is a due to the individual's behavioral flexibility or situational changeability. The findings demonstrate the importance of distinguishing between personal and supplied trait constructsPeer reviewe

Priorities for tuberculosis research: a systematic review

Reliable and relevant research can help to improve tuberculosis control worldwide. In recent years, various organisations have assessed research needs and proposed priorities for tuberculosis. We summarise existing priority statements and assess the rigour of the methods used to generate them. We found 33 documents that specifically outline priorities in tuberculosis research. The top priority areas were drug development (28 articles), diagnosis and diagnostic tests (27), epidemiology (20), health services research (16), basic research (13), and vaccine development and use (13). The most focused questions were on the treatment and prevention of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis in people co-infected with HIV. Methods used to identify these priorities were varied. Improvements can be made to ensure the process is more rigorous and transparent, and to use existing research or systematic reviews more often. WHO, Stop TB Partnership, and other organisations could adopt an incremental process of priority development, building on the existing knowledge base