A closer look at the Test of Personal Intelligence (TOPI)

Personal intelligence involves the capacity to reason about personality and personality-related information. Studying ability-based measures of personal intelligence creates a virtuous cycle of better measurement and better theoretical understanding. In Study 1 (N = 10,318), we conduct an item-level analysis of the Test of Personal Intelligence (TOPI) to explore people\u27s problem-solving abilities in the area. Personal intelligence divided into a Consistency-Congruency factor that concerned understanding traits and their associated behaviors, and a Dynamic-Analytic factor that involved understanding personality processes and goals. The finding cross-validated in Study 2 (N = 8,459). In Study 3 (N = 384), we examined correlates of the two factors. Understanding the abilities involved in personal intelligence may help us to educate people about how to better solve problems about personality

Technical Report for “When People Estimate their Personal Intelligence Who Is Overconfident? Who is Accurate?”

The Technical Supplement includes additional information about the article “Who Believes they are High in Personal Intelligence.” The Supplement is organized such that material follows the organization of the article, with the exception that group-wise analyses—i.e., analyses based on median splits of the archival samples on the Test of Personal Intelligence and Self-Estimated Personal Intelligence, are in their own Appendix owing to the considerable length of that material

A Closer Look at the Test of Personal Intelligence Presentation

Personal intelligence is the capacity to reason about personality and personality-related information. To understand more about the structure of the mental abilities involved in personal intelligence, we fit several factor models to an ability based test of personal intelligence. A two-factor oblique simple structure model fit the data well. The findings inform us about the nature of abilities people use to understand personality in themselves and others

Employees high in personal intelligence differ in workplace perceptions and behavior from their colleagues

Personal intelligence (PI) involves the ability to recognize, reason, and use information about personality to understand oneself and other people. Employees in two studies (Ns = 394, 482) completed the Test of Personal Intelligence (TOPI; e.g., Mayer, Panter, & Caruso, 2017a) and assessments of workplace perception and behavior. Higher PI was associated with higher perceived workplace support and lower counterproductive work behavior. These relationships continued to hold after controlling for other key variables. The results indicate the TOPI, although still in research trials, shows promise as a screening device for selecting employees and targeting individuals for training

When people estimate their personal intelligence who is overconfident? Who is accurate?

Objective We explore accurate self-knowledge versus overconfidence in personal intelligence—a “broad” intelligence about personality. The theory of personal intelligence proposes that people vary in their ability to understand the traits, goals, plans, and actions of themselves and others. We wondered who accurately knew that they were higher in personal intelligence and who did not, and whether individuals with more accurate estimates were distinguishable from others in their psychological characteristics. Method Three archival data sets were identified that included both self-estimates and objective measures of personal intelligence: The measures were the Self-Estimated Personal Intelligence scale (SEPI) and the Test of Personal Intelligence (TOPI). Results People who were over-confident—overestimating their ability-level of personal intelligence—were positive in their outlook and more sociable. People who provided the most accurate self-estimates were higher in verbal and personal intelligences, more open, and more conscientious than others. Conclusions People who were accurate about themselves have not been studied before in this context but may, for example, serve as the monitors and thinkers who help keep themselves and others reasonable and on track

Technical Supplement for the 2021 article “How Do People Think About Understanding Personality—And What Do Such Thoughts Reflect?” by J.D. Mayer, D. R. Caruso, and A.T. Panter in Personality and Individual Differences

This technical supplement provides additional, supplementary information in relation to the article “When people estimate their personal intelligence who is overconfident? Who is accurate”, an article to appear in 2021 in the journal Personality and Individual Differences. The Table of Contents indicates what is included. The Technical Supplement contains a general description of the data sets employed, along with analyses that in some places duplicate those of the article, and in other places go beyond them. Principal Investigator: John D. Mayer, Psychology Department, University of New Hampshire Co-Investigator: David R. Caruso, Office of Dean of Yale College, Yale University Co-Investigator: A. T. Panter, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill Date of data collections: 2012 to 2018 Location of data collections: (a) Chapel Hill, North Carolina, (b) Durham, New Hampshire, and (c) online through Amazon Mechanical Turk No funding source

Estimating HIV Medication Adherence and Persistence: Two Instruments for Clinical and Research Use

Antiretroviral therapy (ART) requires lifelong daily oral therapy. While patient characteristics associated with suboptimal ART adherence and persistence have been described in cohorts of HIV-infected persons, these factors are poor predictors of individual medication taking behaviors. We aimed to create and test instruments for the estimation of future ART adherence and persistence for clinical and research applications. Following formative work, a battery of 148 items broadly related to HIV infection and treatment was developed and administered to 181 HIV-infected patients. ART adherence and persistence were assessed using electronic monitoring for 3 months. Perceived confidence in medication taking and self-reported barriers to adherence were strongest in predicting non-adherence over time. Barriers to adherence (e.g., affordability, scheduling) were the strongest predictors of non-adherence, as well as 3- and 7-day non-persistence. A ten-item battery for prediction of these outcomes (www.med.unc.edu/ncaidstraining/adherence/for-providers) and a 30-item battery reflective of underlying psychological constructs can help identify and study individuals at risk for suboptimal ART adherence and persistence

Trends in the global trade of live CITES-listed raptors: Trade volumes, spatiotemporal dynamics and conservation implications

The global legal wildlife trade is worth US$4–20 billion to the world's economy every year. Raptors frequently enter the wildlife trade for use as display animals, by falconers or hobbyists for sport and recreation. Using data from the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora's (CITES) Trade Database, we examined trends in the global, legal commercial trade of CITES-listed raptors between 1975 and 2020. Overall 272 species were traded, totalling 188,149 traded individuals, which increased over time. Hybrid Falcons (N = 50,366) were most commonly traded, comprising more than a third of the global diurnal CITES-listed raptor trade, followed by Gyrfalcons (Falco rusticolus; N = 30,510), Saker Falcons (F. cherrug; N = 21,679), Peregrine Falcons (F. peregrinus; N = 13,390) and Northern White-faced Owls (Ptilopsis leucotis; N = 6725). More than half of wild-caught diurnal raptors were classified as globally threatened. The United Kingdom was the largest exporter of live raptors and the United Arab Emirates was the largest importer. Countries with higher GDPs (US$) imported more raptors than those with smaller GDPs. Larger-bodied diurnal species were traded more relative to smaller-bodied conspecifics. Following the introduction of the European Union's Wild Bird Trade Ban in 2005, the number of traded wild-caught raptors declined. Despite its limitations, the CITES Trade Database provides an important baseline of the global legal trade of live raptors. However, better understanding of illegal wildlife trade networks and smuggling routes, both on-the-ground and online, are essential for future conservation efforts

Fate of conjugated natural and synthetic steroid estrogens in crude sewage and activated sludge batch studies

This document is the unedited author's version of a Submitted Work that was subsequently accepted for publication in Environmental Science & Technology, copyright © American Chemical Society after peer review. To access the final edited and published work see http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/es801952h.Steroids are excreted from the human body in the conjugated form but are present in sewage influent and effluent as the free steroid, the major source of estrogenic activity observed in water courses. The fate of sulfate and glucuronide conjugated steroid estrogens was investigated in batch studies using activated sludge grown on synthetic sewage in a laboratory-scale Husmann simulation and crude sewage from the field. A clear distinction between the fate of sulfate and glucuronide conjugates was observed in both matrices, with sulfated conjugates proving more recalcitrant and glucuronide deconjugation preferential in crude sewage. For each conjugate, the free steroid was observed in the biotic samples. The degree of free steroid formation was dependent on the conjugate moiety, favoring the glucuronide. Subsequent degradation of the free steroid (and sorption to the activated sludge solid phase) was evaluated. Deconjugation followed the first order reaction rate with rate constants for 17α-ethinylestradiol 3-glucuronide, estriol 16α-glucuronide, and estrone 3-glucuronide determined as 0.32, 0.24, and 0.35 h respectively. The activated sludge solid retention time over the range of 3−9 days had 74 to 94% of sulfate conjugates remaining after 8 h. In contrast, a correlation between increasing temperature and decreasing 17α-ethinylestradiol 3-glucuronide concentrations in the activated sludge observed no conjugate present in the AS following 8 h at 22 °C Based on these batch studies and literature excretion profiles, a hypothesis is presented on which steroids and what form (glucuronide, sulfate, or free) will likely enter the sewage treatment plant.EPSR