12th ALPS ADRIA PSYCHOLOGY CONFERENCE

60 Pages·2016·0.62 MB·English

SPECIAL SECTION
12th ALPS ADRIA PSYCHOLOGY CONFERENCE
September 29th - October 1st, 2016
University of Rijeka
Croatia
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ABSTRACTS from the 12th Alps Adria Psychology Conference, Review of Psychology, 2016, Vol. 23, No. 1-2, 53-107
International Journal of Croatian Psychological Association published by Naklada Slap
Preface to the Special Section
Dear Colleagues, The reason for this growing interest is an insight that learn-
this section of the Review of Psychology contains ab- ers are not just passive receivers of information, instead
stracts of presentations from the 12th Alps-Adria Psychol- they actively choose what, when and how to learn. Active
ogy Conference (AAPC16) that will be held in Rijeka from involvement is primarily dependent on the monitoring and
September 29th to October 1st 2016 under the auspices control of the cognitive processes during learning, that is,
of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences and the metacognition. Professor Rakefet Ackerman from the Tech-
University of Rijeka. Alps-Adria Psychology Conference nion-Israel Institute of Technology, and Professor Anastasia
is a biennial event taking place at one of the universities Efklides from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki will
of the Alps-Adria community. The aim of the conference is present the latest theoretical and empirical developments in
to bring together researchers from the region to communi- this field of study.
cate their latest work and to foster international cooperation.
The Conference is particularly devoted to the promotion of
4th Rijeka Days In Experimental Psychology
psychological research among undergraduate and graduate
students who are encouraged to participate and to present Since 2011, Department of Psychology at the Faculty
their best work. of Humanities and Social Sciences in Rijeka in conjunction
The conference will consist of 135 presentations in to- with its Laboratory for Experimental Psychology organizes
tal including 7 plenary talks, one symposium, regular talks, a small conference dedicated to experimental psychology.
and poster presentations. The conference will encompass a The aim of this event is to promote the experimental method
broad range of topics and methodologies from scientific and as an indispensable tool for uncovering the mysteries of the
applied psychology. There will be separate sessions on sen- human (and animal) mind. Also, it encourages cooperation
sation and perception, art and aesthetics, cognitive psychol- with other disciplines such as neuroscience, linguistics, and
ogy, psychometrics, personality and individual differences, computer science. In honour of Professor Branko Sremec,
social psychology, developmental psychology, educational prizes for two best student presentations in experimental
psychology, organizational psychology, political and evolu- psychology will be awarded. As part of this event, Professor
tionary psychology, clinical and applied psychology. Pro- Pavle Valerjev from the University of Zadar will discuss the
fessor Sergio C. Masin from the University of Padova, Pro- latest research in the field of deductive reasoning.
fessor Sara Bigazzi from the University of Pécs, Professor Finally, I would like to thank all plenary speakers and
Katja Corcoran from the University of Graz, and Professor all presenters for their contributions to the strong scientific
Valentin Bucik from the University of Ljubljana will deliver content of the AAPC16. Also, I would like to thank mem-
plenary talks as part of the main program. In honour of Pro- bers of the Program Committee for evaluating all submitted
fessor Gottfried Süssenbacher, a prize for best student pre- abstracts and members of the Organizing Team who put a
sentation in evolutionary psychology will be awarded. lot of effort in making AAPC16 memorable and exciting
In addition to the main program, the AAPC16 will offer event.
two satellite events:
Symposium on Metacognition
Dražen Domijan
Metacognition is recognised as an important component
of successful learning. Recently, it has become the major Chair of the Program Committee
focus of research in cognitive and educational psychology. and Organizing Team of the 12th AAPC
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12thAlps Adria Psychology Conference
September 29th - October 1st, 2016
University of Rijeka
Croatia
ORGANIZING TEAM PROGRAM COMMITTEE
Dražen Domijan, Chair Dražen Domijan, Chair
Igor Bajšanski Petra Anić
Željka Crnarić Igor Bajšanski
Tamara Mohorić Ingrid Brdar
Sanda Pletikosić Jasminka Juretić
Domagoj Švegar Barbara Kalebić Maglica
Vladimir Takšić Igor Kardum
Valnea Žauhar Jasna Hudek-Knežević
Svjetlana Kolić-Vehovec
Nada Krapić
Marko Maliković
Tamara Martinac-Dorčić
SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE Tamara Mohorić
Rosanda Pahljina-Reinić
Rosana Actis Grosso, University of Milan Sanda Pletikosić
Tiziano Agostini, University of Trieste Alessandra Pokrajac-Bulian
Dražen Domijan, University of Rijeka Barbara Rončević Zubković
Alessandra Galmonte, University of Verona Sanja Smojver-Ažić
Dragutin Ivanec, University of Zagreb Zoran Sušanj
Herbert Janig, University of Klagenfurt Domagoj Švegar
András Láng, University of Pécs Vladimir Takšić
Riccardo Luccio, University of Trieste Mladenka Tkalčić
Gerold Mikula, University of Graz Marko Tončić
Bernadette Péley, University of Pécs Nena Vukelić
Zvjezdan Penezić, University of Zadar Valnea Žauhar
Anja Podlesek, University of Ljubljana Ivanka Živčić-Bećirević
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ABSTRACTS FROM THE 12TH ALPS ADRIA PSYCHOLOGY CONFERENCE
September 29 – October 1, 2016
University of Rijeka
Croatia
Note:
The book of abstracts contains published abstracts received from the authors. Possible interventions in the text summaries
represent minor modifications, with the effort not to change the meaning of the text.
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ABSTRACTS from the 12th Alps Adria Psychology Conference, Review of Psychology, 2016, Vol. 23, No. 1-2, 53-107
International Journal of Croatian Psychological Association published by Naklada Slap
INVITED TALKS be learned from the Science study: (a) that the project was
conducted with concern about the health of the discipline,
believing in its promise for accumulating knowledge about
The credibility of psychological science at stake: human behaviour that can advance the quality of the human
Lessons to be learned from low reproducibility of condition; and (b) that many will be tempted to conclude
psychological studies that psychology is a bad apple in the basket. However, this
is not the case: this is a problem shared with natural sci-
Valentin Bucik
ences, medical sciences, and biomedicine, as well as behav-
Department of Psychology, University of Ljubljana, ioural or social sciences, because the replication efforts in
Ljubljana, Slovenia other fields are similarly low.
Many psychology papers fail replication test was one
To understand intergroup relations: The socially
of the most frequent and loudest headlines in scientific and
embedded Self and Other in play
popular press reporting a study entitled Estimating the re-
Sara Bigazzi
producibility of psychological science published in Science
in 2015 by 270 authors - researchers in psychology from dif- Institute of Psychology, University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary
ferent parts of the world. The authors tried to replicate 100
empirical studies, published in three prominent American The aim of science is to understand reality. When we try
psychological journals from 2008. Namely, modern science to understand a social phenomenon we think about causes,
understands scientific findings as reproducible, replicable, effects, and what makes a contribution or not, to a „sup-
and generalizable. The results of the study were sobering posed” progress.We think about how to produce change
and presented a clear challenge to the field, as the reproduc- and with witch derivatives. More than focus on the myth
ibility turned up to be surprisingly low. In general, repro- of generalisation, it’s important to care about predictabil-
ducibility seems undervalued because scientists prioritize ity of phenomena (Tajfel, 1981). Social psychology in this
novelty over replication. Innovation is the engine of discov- way has the responsibility to contribute to the understand-
ery; researchers are usually driven by searching for the bar- ing of negative social phenomena (e.g., intergroup conflicts,
riers of science; when a topic seems covered, they tend to wars, terrorism, Holocaust) and to designate the conditions
rush forward but forget to stop and check the stability of the of what it thinks to be directions of “progress” (e.g., rec-
outcomes. However, reproducibility and cross-validation ognition of diversity in knowledge production, process of
also help to establish a firm nomological network and a high cooperation, community development, inclusiveness). Its
validity of scientific theories. We need to talk about it and main contribution in understanding reality is to highlight
include the topic in the academic curricula for studying psy- the importance of how individuals create and maintain their
chology because science can learn from replication studies, point of view and “knowledge” is strictly related to the so-
critically pointing to important issues in planning and per- cial context in which they live and act according to their
forming research of good quality. It will also help prevent own psychological perspective. To explain these considera-
the manipulations and the poorly supported reproaches of tions different theoretical approaches are taken into account.
psychology. In public debate there are occurrences of mis- The theory of social identity (Tajfel, 1981) will help to un-
use of the Science replicability study such as erroneous derstand the point of view of the individuals; the theory of
and malicious interpretations of the results that more than social representation (Moscovici, 1973, 1981, 1984) frames
two thirds of psychological studies are falsified, faked, or the social creation and negotiation of “knowledge”, thus
fraudulent with clear intention to discredit psychology as a even cultural diversities; and finally the theory of narrative
science and profession by simply stating that it is not trust- social psychology (László, 2001, 2007, 2013) explains the
worthy enough to be taken seriously. As one of the after- psychological organisation of both identity and worldview
effects of the Science study we can expect that journals will and how these constructions and reconstructions can be
most likely publish more replications in the future. They are captured. I will present the results of different research that
already launching new policies that will encourage authors, explores self/other construction as possible causes of inter-
editors, and reviewers to re-examine and recalibrate the ba- group conflicts, such as: how prejudice is related to threat
sic notions about what constitutes a good research. Editorial (refugees, migrants, Gypsies), how majority identification
boards will advance the acceptance culture of the submitted influences the way people think about Minorities (collective
articles such as sharing data, the analysis code, and study victimhood and its dynamic), and how being a member of
materials, disclosing all data exclusions, requiring authors a threatened Minority group delimits an individual’s cogni-
to discuss sample sizes and statistical power, report effect tive alternatives (Bokrétás, Bigazzi & Péley, 2007; Bigazzi
size, etc. There are at least two heartening lessons that can & Csertő, 2016; Bigazzi & Serdült, in press).
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ABSTRACTS from the 12th Alps Adria Psychology Conference, Review of Psychology, 2016, Vol. 23, No. 1-2, 53-107
International Journal of Croatian Psychological Association published by Naklada Slap
Novel contributions of Anderson’s theory of Is metacognition “hot”? The role of affect in
information integration to intuitive physics metacognition and self-regulated learning
Sergio C. Masin Anastasia Efklides
Department of General Psychology, University of Padova, School of Psychology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki,
Padova, Italy Thessaloniki, Greece
The research methodology based on Anderson’s theory The term “hot cognition” has been used in the past to de-
of information integration represents one of the most fruit- note that cognition and affect interact in cognitive process-
ful techniques for investigating mental processes. This ing to support intuition, creative thinking, decision making,
methodology is briefly described with examples of applica- or analytic thinking. I propose that if we look at metacogni-
tion in various fields of psychology. Its power in unraveling tion in the broader context of self-regulated learning (SRL)
hidden information is more specifically demonstrated in the metacognition is also “hot”. Specifically, metacognitive
field of knowledge assessment. A striking example of this is experiences, namely feelings and judgments as one works
the assessment of people’s intuitive knowledge of the laws on a task, are closely connected to positive and negative
of the ordinary physical world, which has led to the unprec- affect as well as emotions. Neuropsychological evidence
edented finding that lay people generally have correct intui- shows that metacognitive experiences and affect share brain
tive knowledge of these laws. mechanisms (i.e., the Anterior Cingulate Cortex). Moreo-
ver, fluency or making progress in cognitive processing
elicits positive affect and metacognitive experiences such as
ease of processing whereas disfluency elicits negative affect
KEYNOTE LECTURES: SYMPOSIUM ON and feeling of difficulty as well as awareness of effort exer-
METACOGNITION tion. Also, cognitive events such as cognitive interruption
increase feeling of difficulty and elicit surprise. Moreover,
there is evidence suggesting that one’s mood state has effects
Meta-reasoning: The challenge of effective reasoning on metacognitive experiences such as feeling of difficulty or
judgment of effort exertion, and metacognitive experiences,
regulation
in their turn, have effects on affect. For example, metacogni-
Rakefet Ackerman
tive experiences have reciprocal relations with self-concept,
Technion—Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel contribute to attributions regarding competence or effort
(that underlie the formation of achievement emotions), and
The metacognitive framework (Nelson & Narens, 1990) feeling of confidence is part of the mechanism that triggers
deals with effort regulation while performing cognitive curiosity. Conceptualizing metacognition as hot can explain
tasks, such as learning. To date, this framework was exam- the complex relations between monitoring and control in
ined empirically mainly by studies involving memorization SRL, and particularly why metacognitive experiences do
tasks. As a result, it is often referred to as Meta-Memory. not often suffice to activate effective metacognitive and cog-
The Meta-Reasoning framework (Ackerman & Thompson, nitive control strategies.
2014) deals with effort regulation while solving reasoning
problems. It suggests that in some respects there are analo- INVITED TALK: 4TH EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY
gies between meta-memory and meta-reasoning, while in
DAYS IN RIJEKA
others, alternative theoretical approaches are needed. For
instance, while isolated words are clearly memorable by
healthy adults, a reasoning problem may be unsolvable
Deductive reasoning: Why people are not always logical
in general or for the particular person (e.g., lack of math
knowledge). Thus, while investing a lot of effort in memori- Pavle Valerjev
zation is likely to be valuable, waste of time is a likely out- Department of Psychology, University of Zadar, Zadar, Croatia
come when one cannot solve a problem. Can people iden-
tify unsolvable problems in the first place? When are they Research on reasoning deals with the processes of de-
willing to give up a problem after engaging in solving it? ductive, inductive and analogical reasoning. Since the theo-
Can they adjust their efforts to work effectively under time retical frame of cognitive psychology considers thinking as
pressure? What are the predictable biases in judgments and a process of mental representation manipulation, the tradi-
effort regulation while solving problems? Theoretical and tional intelligence-test approach is not enough. A psycholog-
practical aspects will be discussed. ical experimental approach is needed to gain insight into the
mental processes of thought. Systematic research on deduc-
tion originated in the 1960’s when the British psychologist
Peter Wason investigated this subject. These experiments
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ABSTRACTS from the 12th Alps Adria Psychology Conference, Review of Psychology, 2016, Vol. 23, No. 1-2, 53-107
International Journal of Croatian Psychological Association published by Naklada Slap
demonstrated that there were significant and systematic unfolds. Social comparison is a very flexible process. The
deviations in human deduction when related to traditional outcome of a comparison process does not only depend on
and formal logic. For example, the paradigm of the Wason the person one compares with, but also on the comparison
selection task reveals the biases in human reasoning such as process itself. Sometimes we assimilate to a standard and at
the confirmation and matching bias, among others. These other times we contrast away. Thus, if people want to profit
biases are connected to specific reasoning heuristics and are from the comparison and use it to feel good or to be mo-
usually the cause of the characteristic fallacies in specific tivated, one has to understand in more detail the complex
reasoning situations. A change in reasoning conditions (e.g., mechanisms of social comparisons.
the use of abstract or concrete content) can change the acti-
vation of the specific bias and drastically change the reason- PSYCHOMETRICS
ing outcome. Therefore, these situations encourage a strong
and confusing impression of people being limitedly logical
On the convergence of ability-based and rating
or even non-logical. However, these observations nicely fit
measures of emotional intelligence
into the modern dual process theory. Dual process theory
explains that there are two types of processes involved in Amela Mujagić1, Vesna Buško2, Ana Babić Čikeš3
thinking: Type 1 which is rapid, automatic and based on
the activation of heuristics and biases, and Type 2 which is 1University of Bihać, Bihać, Bosnia and Herzegovina
slow, demands mental effort and is based on mental skills 2University of Zagreb, Faculty of Humanities and Social
(e.g., mathematical or logical skills). Theories of deductive Sciences, Zagreb, Croatia
reasoning are usually divided into three classes: deduction 3Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, Faculty of
as the process of factual knowledge connecting; deduction Humanities and Social Sciences, Osijek, Croatia
as the syntactic process based on the rules of formal logic;
The paper presents the data on empirical validation of
and deduction as the sematic process based on represen-
the three ability-based measures of emotional intelligence
tations called mental models. The third theory describes
(EI) intended for early adolescents. The data derive from
mental models as crucial representations that are related
the longitudinal study of EI development conducted on the
to systems of long-term and working memory and offers
sample of 517 primary school students aged 10 to 15 years.
explanations of a broad set of phenomena which includes
Performance based EI measures administered in the study
reasoning with syllogisms, conditionals, inductive reason-
included: Perception of affective content in art test (TAES;
ing, and representation of discourse, probabilities and men-
Takšić et al., 2004), adapted version of the Emotional analy-
tal simulations. The information that models include cannot
sis test (TAE; Kulenović, 2003) and Emotion management
only be abstract, but also based on perceptive and motor
test (TUE; Babić & Buško, 2013). Along with the objec-
systems which can be a link that relates reasoning studies
tive measures of EI abilities, peer ratings and teacher rat-
with embodied cognition. Finally, the reasoning constraints
ings of the emotion-related reasoning abilities pertaining
described by mental models theory contribute to the expla-
to the same branches of the Mayer and Salovey’s (1997)
nation of characteristic logical fallacies and reasoners as
model, that is, perception, understanding, and management
limited in logical problem solving.
of emotions, were also collected. The EI data from all three
sources were analysed within the SEM methodology in-
INVITED TALK cluding separate and joint analyses of latent structures of EI
abilities measured by performance-based and other-rating
measures. Confirmatory factor analyses performed under
Social comparisons - How other people influence who the multitrait-multimethod framework did not prove the the-
we are and what we want oretically expected structure of relationships among latent
Katja Corcoran EI measures showing a weak structure of loading param-
eters, which appeared to be largely due to strong method ef-
Department of Psychology, University of Graz, Graz, Austria
fects on observed variability in EI measures. However, joint
analyses of latent EI dimensions based on test- and rating-
People are social beings. We seek affiliations, work in
multiple indicator data produced reasonable and well-fitting
groups, and strive for long lasting personal relationships.
solutions. Results point to low discriminant validity of EI
But other people do not only comfort us, support us and help
other-report measures, which particularly applies to teacher
us, they also influence our own understanding of our self.
ratings. Furthermore, a moderate level of convergence was
Social information based on comparisons between the self
found between latent dimensions of the same EI abilities
and others is a crucial building block of our self-knowledge.
specified by the data from different sources. The findings are
Furthermore, social comparison could make us feel good
interesting as from the measurement and methodological
or bad and might have a motivating function. In this talk,
standpoint so too from the theoretical and interpretational
I will present our understanding of how social comparison
view.
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ABSTRACTS from the 12th Alps Adria Psychology Conference, Review of Psychology, 2016, Vol. 23, No. 1-2, 53-107
International Journal of Croatian Psychological Association published by Naklada Slap
Using item response theory to validate a clinical studies had common methodological problems, for example
instrument: The case of PTSD checklist-5 cross-cultural similarities and differences were often visu-
ally (and not statistically) tested, lack of rationale for se-
Helena Bakić, Mitja Ružojčić, Blaž Rebernjak
lecting countries, no check on quality of translation/adapta-
Department of Psychology, Faculty of Humanities and Social tion, results are often generalized to large populations (e.g.,
Sciences, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia complete populations of countries) although no probability
sampling has been employed to recruit participants, etc.
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder checklist (PCL; Weath-
Application of assessment methods to different languages
ers et al., 1993) is one of the most popular instruments for
and cultural backgrounds, without taking in account these
assessing posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms
problems, can result in questionable cultural comparability.
and for PTSD screening. Recently, a new version of PCL
Since we are not certain of the cross-cultural meaning of
(PCL-5; Weathers et al., 2013) was published, accompany-
constructs, the validity and the interpretation of measures
ing the changes in PTSD symptomatology which occurred
needs to be done with caution. Researchers should pay spe-
in the DSM-5. In this study we wanted to investigate meas-
cific attention to structural equivalence and metric invari-
urement characteristics of the Croatian translation of this
ance of measures. Measurement invariance is related to the
new and improved PCL version using an item response
degree to which items and constructs have an equivalent
theory (IRT) approach. Our first goal was to investigate the
meaning for individuals of different cultural backgrounds.
internal structure of the PCL through confirmatory factor
Analysis of item bias or differential item functioning (DIF)
analysis (CFA). Following that, our second goal was to in-
should be done on the item level. Statistical techniques for
vestigate item characteristics of the PCL with IRT methods
evaluating DIF items allow us to compare any groups de-
in order to find out about suitability and discrimination abil-
fined by the researcher in order to secure that the members
ity of each item of the questionnaire depending on the lev-
of the compared groups have the same probability of an-
els of PTSD. We conducted the analyses on 450 randomly
swering the items correctly if they have the same level of
sampled community members from a municipality struck
latent variable. Emotional Skills and Competence Question-
by flooding in May 2014 and a comparison, non-flooded
naire (ESCQ) has been translated and validated in several
community. Results of the CFA strongly suggested a uni-
languages, and has shown good psychometric properties.
dimensional structure of the questionnaire, with one latent
Results from these studies will be presented with special at-
construct sufficient to explain the covariance among all the
tention given to problems of DIF items and different statisti-
items. In addition, multigroup CFA indicated measurement
cal approaches for their detection. Future development of
invariance between the two samples, thus allowing that IRT
cross-cultural testing should benefit from the increasing use
analysis can be conducted jointly for the whole sample.
of international tests and testing; new psychometric models
IRT analysis was conducted on dichotomized items (where
and new technologies; new item formats and multi-media
1 indicated symptomatic response), and results indicated
functions; and the higher demand for courses and training in
a 2-parameter model as the most appropriate for describ-
the psychometric field.
ing PCL item characteristics, with both discrimination and
location parameters considerably varying among items.
An index for ascertaining consistency
Item-level analyses have shown that the majority of items
to a Likert scale
is most informative among individuals with mid to high
levels of PTSD (θ = 0-2). However, some items, although Giovanni Battista Flebus
generally less informative, performed better at lower and Università Milano-Bicocca, Milano, Italy
higher PTSD levels and should prove more useful for de-
tecting people with subclinical PTSD levels and those with An index to ascertain intraindividual consistency is pro-
more extreme PTSD symptoms. Implications of using IRT posed, based on the features of the optimal scoring meth-
in questionnaire development will be discussed. od to scale a questionnaire. Highly consistent respondents
display higher Cronbach’s alpha and a higher percentage
Emotional Skills and Competence Questionnaire in of variance accounted for by the first eigenvalue extracted
cross-cultural studies from the correlation matrix of items. The proposed index is
illustrated by and compared to, other personality traits (such
Vladimir Takšić1, Tamara Mohorić1,
as conscientiousness and agreaableness), and to response
Bo Molander2, Stefan Holmström2
style (tendency to give extreme responses). The index can
1Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Rijeka, be applied to any questionnaire, and can help in singling out
Rijeka, Croatia inconsistent respondents.
2Umea University, Umea, Sweden
The main goal of cross-cultural studies is comparison
of constructs and scores between various countries. Early
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