Simple questionnaires outperform behavioral tasks to measure socio-emotional skills in students

Challenges and Solutions to the Measurement of Neurocognitive Mechanisms in Developmental Settings

Identifying early neurocognitive mechanisms that confer risk for mental health problems is one important avenue as we seek to develop successful early interventions. Currently, however, we have limited understanding of the neurocognitive mechanisms involved in shaping mental health trajectories from childhood through young adulthood, and this constrains our ability to develop effective clinical interventions. In particular, there is an urgent need to develop more sensitive, reliable, and scalable measures of individual differences for use in developmental settings. In this review, we outline methodological shortcomings that explain why widely used task-based measures of neurocognition currently tell us little about mental health risk. We discuss specific challenges that arise when studying neurocognitive mechanisms in developmental settings, and we share suggestions for overcoming them. We also propose a novel experimental approach-which we refer to as "cognitive microscopy"-that involves adaptive design optimization, temporally sensitive task administration, and multilevel modeling. This approach addresses some of the methodological shortcomings outlined above and provides measures of stability, variability, and developmental change in neurocognitive mechanisms within a multivariate framework.

Self-control and debt decisions relationship: evidence for different credit options

In recent years, households have become increasingly indebted, which constitutes a matter of concern. Based on a sample from the Spanish Survey of Financial Competences, this paper examines the relationship between self-control and consumer borrowing behaviour and, in so doing, it proposes a new multi-item scale of individual’s self-control in financial matters and considers several types of consumer debt, thus overcoming the main gaps identified in previous research. Empirical evidence reveals that, overall, self-control problems lead to more indebtedness. However, comprehensive analyses have demonstrated that the influence of self-control differs across an exhaustive range of credit options. In this regard, the lack of self-control increases the probability of taking out unsecured personal loans, loans from family or friends, and credit card use. Evidence suggests that individuals’ first impulse leads them to ask their social circle for a loan. Overall, individuals might be tempted to get indebted when they cannot make ends meet. However, this first impulse usually faces barriers from the supply perspective, so the evidence suggests that the effect of self-control on borrowing decisions might be shaped not only by the demand side of credit but also by the supply one.

Variability in repeated economic games: comparing trust game decisions to other social trust measures

Economic games are well-established tools that offer a convenient approach to study social behaviour. Although widely used, recent evidence suggests that decisions made in the context of standard economic games are less predictive of real-world behaviour than previously assumed self-reported questionnaires. A possible explanation for this discrepancy is that economic games decisions in the laboratory are more likely to be influenced by the current situation, while questionnaires are specifically designed to measure people's average behaviour across a long period of time. To test this hypothesis, we performed a longitudinal study where 275 respondents played 16 Trust games every two days within a three-week period, and filled out a questionnaire that measures social trust. This study confirmed the instability of our measure of trust behaviour over time and the substantial stability of questionnaire responses. However, we found a significant association between self-reported social trust and participants' average behaviour in the trust game measured across sessions, but also with participants' behaviour measured only in Session 1. Nevertheless, analysis of behavioural changes in the Trust games over time revealed different behavioural profiles, highlighting how economic games and questionnaires can complement each other in the study of social trust.

Longitudinal stability of Social Cognition and Object Relations Scale-Global Rating Method dimensional ratings, score ranges and narrative 'blandness' in a clinical sample

While understanding how internalized representations of others (i.e., object relations) change over the course of treatment is essential for treatment planning and evaluation of progress, few studies have examined the nature of these changes through repeated psychological assessments. In this study, we applied the SCORS-G to Thematic Apperception Test narratives for 61 adult patients with complex psychiatric problems undergoing residential treatment over an 18-month period. Over the course of treatment, patient representations of self and others became more complex, indicating improvements in mentalization. Further, an analysis of default ratings (i.e., an aspect of story 'blandness') suggested that certain shifts in SCORS-G dimensional scores over time were accounted for by greater degree of scorable content across time points, rather than changes specific to the dimensions themselves. Findings from novel exploratory analyses aimed at evaluating the test-retest reliability of both default rating proportion and several emerging alternative scoring approaches (including changes in minimum, maximum and range of scores on individual dimensions) are reported. While the magnitude of change across mean dimensional scores was found to be lower compared to those previously found in outpatient populations, our results suggest that the SCORS-G remains capable of detecting changes in mentalization capacities in individuals contending with longstanding, severe psychiatric impairment and personality-based psychopathology. Implications for treatment, assessment and future research are discussed.