Attitude to ambiguity as a predictor of analytic thinking
- Authors: Van Zyl, Casper J. J.
- Date: 2021
- Subjects: Thinking disposition , Belief bias , Cognitive Reflection Test
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/475923 , uj:42951 , Citation: Van Zyl, C.J.J., 2021. Attitude to ambiguity as a predictor of analytic thinking. , DOI: 10.1177/0081246320953715
- Description: Abstract: Thinking dispositions are considered important predictors of analytic thinking. While several thinking dispositions have been found to predict responses on a range of analytic thinking tasks, this field is arguably underdeveloped. There are likely many relevant dispositional variables associated with analytic thinking that remains to be explored. This study examines one such dispositional variable, namely, attitude to ambiguity. The disposition is implied in the literature given that internal conflict – likely with associated ambiguity – is typically experienced in cognitive tasks used to study thinking and reasoning. In this article, the association between attitude to ambiguity and analytic thinking is empirically examined using Bayesian methods. A total of 313 adults (mean age=29.31, SD=12.19) completed the Multidimensional Attitude Toward Ambiguity (MAAS) scale, along with the Cognitive Reflection Test and a syllogism-based measure of belief bias. Results found one component of the MAAS scale, Moral Absolutism, to be a robust predictor of scores on both the Cognitive Reflection Test and the measure of belief bias.
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Frequentist and Bayesian inference: a conceptual primer
- Authors: Van Zyl, Casper J. J.
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Frequentist , Bayes , Statistics
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: http://ujcontent.uj.ac.za8080/10210/389956 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/271547 , uj:28883 , Citation: Van Zyl, C.J.J. 2018. Frequentist and Bayesian inference: a conceptual primer. New Ideas in Psychology, 51, 44-49.
- Description: Abstract: In recent years, there has been a crisis of confidence in many empirical fields including psychology, regarding the reproducibility of scientific findings. Among several causes thought to have contributed to this situation, the inferential basis of traditional, or so-called frequentist statistics, is arguably chief among them. Of particular concern is null hypothesis significance testing (NHST), which inadvertently became the de facto basis of scientific inference in the frequentist paradigm. The objective of this paper is to describe some of the most prominent issues plaguing frequentist inference, including NHST. In addition, some Bayesian benefits are introduced to show that it offers solutions to several problems inherent in frequentist statistics. The overall aim is to provide a non-threatening, conceptual overview of these concerns. The hope is that this will facilitate greater awareness and understanding of the need to address these matters in empirical psychology.
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The internal structure of the WRISc
- Authors: Van Zyl, Casper J. J. , De Bruin, Gideon P.
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Integrity test , Construct validity , Psychometric properties
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/271571 , uj:28886 , Citation: Van Zyl, C.J.J. & De Bruin, G.P. 2018. The internal structure of the WRISc.
- Description: Abstract: Personality-based integrity tests are used in selection procedures to reduce the chance of hiring employees who are likely to engage in counterproductive work behaviour. The present study reports the internal psychometric properties of a new personality-based measure developed for this purpose. Data collected from 1353 working adults were used to investigate internal consistency reliability, and to examine construct validity with confirmatory factor analysis and Rasch analysis. Results showed that the reliability estimates for all the scales of the assessment were satisfactory. For the confirmatory factor analysis, inspection of the incremental (CFI and TLI) and absolute (RMSEA) goodness-of fit values found strong support for the construct validity of all the scales. Infit statistics from Rasch analysis provided further support for construct validity, with items from all the scales fitting the Rasch model. Combined the confirmatory and Rasch analysis demonstrated that unidimensional, coherent and meaningful latent constructs are being measured on the WRISc. Overall, results found excellent support for the internal psychometric properties of the instrument in a culturally diverse context.
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Personality as a predictor of risk-taking behaviour
- Authors: Van Zyl, Casper J. J.
- Date: 2014-02-05
- Subjects: Risk-taking (Psychology) , Personality
- Type: Thesis
- Identifier: uj:3652 , http://hdl.handle.net/10210/9037
- Description: M.A. (Psychology) , The present study was conducted to investigate the relationship between personality and risk taking behaviour in the South African context. Personality was measured with the Basic Traits Inventory (BTl), an assessment specifically developed to measure the broad dimensions of the five factor model of personality (John & Srivastava, 1999) in South Africa. The five dimensions on the BTl have the same names as the well-known five factor model, namely: Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness to Experience, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness. The primary objective of this study was to investigate the underlying personality structure across ten different forms of risk-related behaviour. The risk behaviours included smoking, alcohol consumption,.illegal drug use, sexual promiscuity, thrill-seeking activities, gambling, physical violence, romantic infidelity and other behaviours that may have led to a respondent being arrested. Given South Africa's unique population, a further objective ofthis study was to examine the degree to which the results from the study would be in line with those reported in so-called Western, Educated, Industrialised, Rich and Democratic (WEIRD) societies. The sample consisted of 683 respondents, all second-year students from a bilingual (Afrikaans and English) university in Johannesburg. There were 142 men and 538 women in the sample. Three of the respondents' gender was unknown. There were 425 White respondents, 120 Black respondents, 83 Indian respondents, 46 Coloured respondents and nine respondents who did not specify any population group. Respondents' mean age was 20.99 years with a standard deviation of5.10 years. The sample was not representative ofthe South African population, with men being underrepresented and White respondents overrepresented in comparison to other population groups. A multivariate technique, Descriptive Discriminant Analysis, was used to analyse personality differences across groups. The groups were formed based on the frequency with which individuals engaged in the different risk-behaviours. Post-hocanalyses allowed for a close rexamination of group differences. The results revealed that a single, statistically significant discriminant functionemergedfor all ten of the risk variables with the exceptionof one, for whichtwo possible discriminant functions were identified. This showed that different combinations of the five personality factors were, to some extent, able to account for group separation on each of the risk variables. Considering the results as a whole, some interesting findings were revealed: It became evident that no single personality structureexists across the different risk-variables of this study. It was clear that some personality factors were more important, whereas others were less important, depending on the type of risk-behaviour being considered. Despite these seeming differences, important patterns of personality emergedacross the risk-variables. Conscientiousness, and in particular, Extraversion were identified as the most salient predictors of the risk-behaviours in this study, although important contributions were also made by the remaining personality factors: Conscientiousness was further found to be the most important predictor of health-risk behaviours such as smoking, alcohol consumption, and druguse. In general, Opennessto Experience, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism appeared to be more selectively associated with specific risk-behaviours when compared to Extraversion and Conscientiousness. Overall, the findings reported in this study were largely in line with those reported in so called WEIRD countries. The results of this study further supported the generalisability of prior research regarding the relationship between personality and risk-taking. It also demonstrated the utility of the five factor model as a promising predictor of risky behaviour. For future research it is recommended that the facet-scale level of the BTl be used to further investigate the personality-risk relationship.
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