Determinants of Mental Well-being in Serbia

In this paper we examined the determinants of mental well-being in Serbia. Mental well-being is defined as a state of well-being in which the individual realizes his or her own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community. Although the studies from this field on nationally representative samples from other countries are widely present, they are entirely neglected in Serbia. We used nationally representative Serbian samples from 2011 and 2016 that come from the European Quality of Life Survey. The data indicate that mental well-being declines with age, especially among older woman categories. Second, subjective general health is the most significant determinant of mental well-being. Optimism about own future, feeling tense, and satisfaction with family life come next. We also examined trends of mental well-being in five-years between the two rounds of the survey and found its slight but statistically non-significant decline

Effects of symmetry and familiarity on the attractiveness of human faces (vol 49, pg 301, 2016)

The authors informed us that the original publication contained an error that does not affect any of the findings. Tatjana Mentus and Slobodan Marković failed to include a footnote denoting that the research reported in the publication in question was presented at 38th European Conference on Visual Perception that took place in Liverpool, August 23.-27., 2015. The authors deeply regret this omission. <br><br><font color="red"><b> Link to the corrected article <u><a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.2298/PSI1603301M">10.2298/PSI1603301M</a></b></u

Procena efekata isključivanja varijanse društveno poželjnih odgovora iz skorova testova ličnosti u situacijama instruiranih ispitnika

The aim of this study was to examine the extent to which the socially desirable responding (SDR) distorts results of HEDONICA personality inventory (acronim based on eight dimensions of this inventory: Honesty, Disintegration, Impulsiveness, Openness, Extraversion, Neuroticism, Conscientiousness, and Agreeableness). The inventory HEDONICA was merged with components of the Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding (BIDR) as a control inventory and was administered to a sample of 227 students under two experimental situations/ contexts, operationalized by two instructions: the standard (S) one (such as "be honest") and the "fake good" (FG) one (such as "portray yourself in a most positive way"). Comparing scores in S and FG situations by using MANOVA, a clear distortion on all personality traits in socially desirable directions were evidenced. When, however, the BIDR subscales in the FG situation were entered into MANOVA as covariates, differences between personality scores in S and FG situations were considerably reduced, and became statistically insignificant on five personality dimensions. When the variance of dimensions of the BIDR inventory was removed from the variance of HEDONICA traits in FG situation, the change between intercorrelations of personality dimensions in S and FG situations did not attain statistical significance. This lead to the conclusion that the SDR bias, if even does affect test results (i.e., enhances scores in FG situation), does not affect the scale structure and predictive validity of the examined personality inventory.Cilj ove studije bilo je ispitivanje stepena u kom socijalno poželjno odgovaranje menja rezultate inventara ličnosti HEDONICA (akronim je zasnovan na osam dimenzija ovog inventara: Poštenje, Dezintegracija, Impulsivnost, Otvorenost, Ekstraverzija, Neuroticizam, Savesnost i Saradljivost). Inventar HEDONICA je spojen sa delovima Balansiranog inventara poželjnog odgovaranja (eng. Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responsing, BIDR) koji je korišćen kao kontrolni inventar i zadat je uzorku od 227 studenata u dve eksperimentalne situacije, odnosno konteksta operacionalizovanog kroz dve instrukcije: standardnu (S; od učesnika u istraživanju je traženo da budu iskreni) i situaciju "lažnog dobrog" (eng. fake good, FG) predstavljanja (učesnicima u istraživanju je data instrukcija da se prikažu u najpozitivnijem svetlu). Poređenje skorova dobijenih u S i FG situacijama korišćenjem MANOVA-e pokazalo je jasnu promenu skorova na svim osobinama ličnosti u društveno poželjnom smeru. Međutim, kada su BIDR subskale u FG situaciji dodate u MANOVA-u kao kovarijeteti, razlike između skorova osobina ličnosti u S i FG situacijama su se znatno smanjile, pa čak i postale statistički neznačajne na pet osobina ličnosti. Kada je varijansa dimenzija BIDR inventara iz FG situacije uklonjena iz varijanse HEDONICA crta ličnosti, interkorelacije dimenzija ličnosti u S i FG situacijama nisu se statistički značajno promenile. Ovo vodi ka zaključku da pristrasnost usled socijalno poželjnog odgovaranja, čak i ako utiče na rezultat testa (tj. popravlja skorove u FG situaciji) ne utiče na strukturu skala niti na prediktivnu validnost ispitivanog inventara ličnosti

Effects of symmetry and familiarity on the attractiveness of human faces

The effects of both symmetry (perceptual factor) and familiarity (cognitive factor) on facial attractiveness were investigated. From the photographs of original slightly asymmetric faces, symmetric left-left (LL) and right-right (RR) versions were generated. Familiarity was induced in the learning block using the repetitive presentation of original faces. In the test block participants rated the attractiveness of original, previously seen (familiar) faces, original, not previously seen faces, and both LL and RR versions of all faces. The analysis of variance showed main effects of symmetry. Post hoc tests revealed that asymmetric original faces were rated as more attractive than both LL and RR symmetric versions. Familiarity doesn't have a significant main effect, but the symmetry-familiarity interaction was obtained. Additional post hoc tests indicated that facial attractiveness is positively associated with natural slight asymmetry rather than with perfect symmetry. Also, unfamiliar LL symmetric versions were rated as more attractive than familiar LL versions, whereas familiar RR versions were rated as more attractive than RR unfamiliar faces. These results suggested that symmetry (perceptual factor) and familiarity (cognitive or memorial factor) play differential roles in facial attractiveness, and indicate a relatively stronger effect of the perceptual compared to the cognitive factor

Contemporary approaches to the affective examination of well-being

In this paper, the issues of examining affective well-being in contemporary social research are presented. Affective well-being may be defined as a balance between experienced positive and negative affects. In the first part of the paper, findings on the nature of affects, their mutual association and some cognitive biases related to self assessment of affective experience are presented. Then, the most commonly used measurement methods are chronologically presented and the advantages and disadvantages of each are highlighted. These include measurement instruments containing only one or more items, instruments for measuring the intensity as well as the frequency and the duration of affective experience, instruments based on self-assessments as well as assessments of other people, and subjective as well as some objective measuring instruments. Also, some cases are presented of extensive international researches involving affective well being measurements on nationally representative samples. In the final part, some recommendations for further research as well as concluding considerations are derived.U radu su predstavljena metodološka pitanja u ispitivanju afektivnog blagostanja u savremenim društvenim istraživanjima. Afektivno blagostanje se može odrediti kao balans između doživljenih pozitivnih i negativnih afekata. U prvom delu rada su izneti dosadašnji nalazi o prirodi afekata, njihovoj međusobnoj povezanosti i o pojedinim kognitivnim predrasudama vezanim za samoprocenjivanje doživljavanja afekata. Zatim su hronološki predstavljeni najčešče korišćeni metodi merenja i istaknute prednosti i nedostaci svakog od njih. Tu spadaju merni instrumenti koji sadrže i samo jedan i više ajtema, instrumenti za merenje kako intenziteta, tako i učestalosti i trajanja doživljavanja afekata, instrumenti koji se zasnivaju kako na samoprocenama, tako i na procenama drugih ljudi, i kako subjektivni tako i različiti objektivi merni instrumenti. U radu su predstavljeni i primeri velikih međunarodnih istraživanja koja uključuju ispitivanje afektivnog blagostanja na nacionalno reprezentativnim uzorcima. U završnom delu su iznete neke od preporuka za dalja istraživanja i zaključna razmatranja

Izloženost stresu kao mehanizam uticaja socioekonomskog položaja na kvalitet zdravlja

The subject of this paper is stress exposure as one of the mechanisms through which the socioeconomic status may affect the health. First of all, the nature of the relationship between the socioeconomic status and the health quality, as well as possible mechanisms of relationship between them in general are presented. Then, an overview of the relationship between socioeconomic status and stress exposure is provided, as well as previous research results in this field. Finally, mechanisms by which stress exposure may affect health quality are presented. The largest number of studies indicates a positive correlation between socioeconomic position and health quality and a negative correlation between status and stress exposure, as well as health quality and stress exposure. The results regarding the relationship between socioeconomic status and stress exposure are in this respect the least consistent, mostly due to differences in the conceptualizations and operationalizations, poor representativeness of samples, and other methodological issues, as well as the characteristics of the examined populations themselves. Further, behaviors relevant to health quality, such as diet or physical activity, are to a great extent related to socioeconomic status and stress exposure. Whatever the mechanisms by which the inter- action between these variables is explained may be, the socioeconomic status is probably the key for prevention and overcoming stressful situations, and thus, for health in general.U radu se razmatra izloženost stresu kao jednom od mehanizama putem kojeg socioekonomski položaj može uticati na kvalitet zdravlja. Pre svega, predstavljena je priroda povezanosti između socioekonomskog položaja i kvaliteta zdravlja, kao i mogući mehanizmi njihove povezanosti uopšte. Prema hipotezama diferencijalne izloženosti i diferencijalne ranjivosti, apsolutni socioekonomski položaj najbitnija je determinanta kvaliteta zdravlja. Osim toga, u literaturi je prisutno i stanovište o značaju relativne pozicije unutar društvene hijerarhije kao bitne determinante izloženosti stresu, ali i kvaliteta zdravlja uopšte. U tom smislu, predstavljen je pojam statusne anksioznosti. Zatim, pružen je osvrt na povezanost između socioekonomskog položaja i izloženosti stresu, kao i rezultati dosadašnjih istraživanja u toj oblasti. Konačno, predstavljeni su mehanizmi putem kojih izloženost stresu može uticati na kvalitet zdravlja

Religiosity and Altruistic Orientation in Economically Developed European Societies

In this paper, we examine the relationship between religiosity and altruistic value orientation in economically developed European societies. The data come from the European Social Survey (ESS). Religiosity within ESS is measured by three dimensions – self-evaluation, frequency of attendance of religious services apart from special occasions and frequency of praying apart from at religious services. Altruistic value orientation is measured by rating of personal importance of helping people and caring for others well-being. Using cross-sectional data from the last round of the ESS (from 2016), from thirteen economically developed European countries, we revealed very weak relationship between all three dimensions of religiosity and altruistic orientation. Secondly, using data from all the prior rounds of the ESS, from 2002 to 2016, we also examined trends of both religiosity and altruistic value orientation within the same societies. The results indicate decline of religiosity and rise of altruistic orientation in all of examined countries

The investigation of the manipulation with scores on amoral dimension of the HEDONICA inventory

Faking on Amoral dimension of the HEDONICA personality inventory was incited by the context simulation instructions: fake good (S2), fake bad (S3) and be honest (S1). Simultaneously, under instruction S1, the scores of respondents were measured on the Amoral facets of Self-concept scale (GSC), the Balanced social desirability scale (BIDR) and the cognitive tests of the fluid (IT2, ALF and RM) and the crystallized (AL4, vocabulary and GSN) intelligence, supposed (Morality), or known from the literature, as possible faking determinants. The score differences on Amoral dimension facets were calculated for S2 and for S3 situations using as a baseline the score in S1 situation. The score differences between S3 and S1 situations (abbreviated as FB) were found to be larger than the ones between S2 and S1 situations (abbreviated as FG). This result indicated that a) Amoral is susceptible to faking, and b) in S3, rather than in S2 situation, respondents displayed higher tendency of faking, or in other words, they incline to make worse rather than good presentation of themselves. The Projection facet of Amoral was most sensitive toward faking. These differences are found to be correlated with the Morality dimension of Self- concept scale and the fluid intelligence factor, but not with the dimensions of Social desirability scale in both situation for almost all faking scores on Amoral facets. Only Brutality was not related to the Morality, and Viciousness was not related to the Gf. This indicated that the dimension Morality of the Self-concept scale is far more correlated with the Amoral dimension of the HEDONICA personality scale than with the Social desirability scale