Why Do People Seek Information? The Role of Personality Traits and Situation Perception

The opportunity to learn new knowledge is ever present. How do people decide if information has sufficient value to counteract the cost of obtaining it? We proposed a conceptual model of information seeking that emphasizes how personality traits and perceptions of situations may influence motivations to seek information to explore (related to trait curiosity and openness/intellect, and situations evoking more positive emotions and opportunities for intellectual engagement) or feel safe (related to trait uncertainty intolerance and neuroticism, and situations that evoke more negative emotions). Across two studies (N = 436; N = 316), information seeking was assessed with two widely-used paradigms (advance knowledge of a reward outcome and answers to trivia questions), as well as two variations of the trivia paradigm in Study 1. In all contexts, the available information was non-instrumental, having no practical utility within the context of the task. Consistent with our proposed exploration pathway, curiosity and openness/intellect predicted the choice to seek information for trivia and related stimuli, but not reward-outcome stimuli, and trivia stimuli were generally rated as more intellectually engaging, more positive, and less negative than reward-outcome stimuli. However, evidence for the safety pathway was only partially in line with predictions, with uncertainty intolerance predicting reward-outcome information seeking in Study 2 only. We consider possible modifications to our initial model and implications for information-seeking research. These studies provide a proof of concept that people display both trait- and context-dependent preferences for non-instrumental information, both of which are commonly overlooked in studies of information seeking.

Myths of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy: Development and Testing of a Questionnaire for Standardized Assessment

<b><i>Background:</i></b> Myths in the sense of scientifically untenable statements are widespread in the field of clinical psychology and psychotherapy and can have considerable consequences (e.g., stigmatization, ineffective/potentially harmful treatments). In German-speaking countries, myths have so far been little investigated, and there is no validated questionnaire specifically for the assessment of myths in clinical psychology/psychotherapy. The aim of the study was to develop a questionnaire on myths in clinical psychology/psychotherapy (FMKPP) and to conduct a first psychometric test on two samples (general population, students). In addition, correlations with personality traits, absorption, and intolerance of uncertainty were examined. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> In a sample of the German general population (<i>n</i>= 286) as well as in college students (<i>n</i>= 368), the factor structure and item characteristics were examined, and correlations with dispositional characteristics were calculated. <b><i>Results:</i></b> The FMKPP consists of three factors: “myths about the effectiveness of psychotherapy,” “myths about mental disorders/processes in psychotherapy,” and “myths concerning the functioning of memory.” Reliabilities (McDonald’s ω) were between 0.50 and 0.75. As expected, the FMKPP showed significant positive correlations with absorption and uncertainty intolerance. <b><i>Conclusion:</i></b> The reliability and validity of individual items should be investigated in future studies. The association with intolerance of uncertainty could indicate a function of myths in terms of increasing safety and predictability.

The Roles of Spiritual Well-being and Tolerance of Uncertainty in Prediction of Happiness in Elderly

Antecedentes: De acuerdo con las conceptualizaciones del bienestar espiritual, la intolerancia a la ambigüedad y la felicidad, este estudio se propuso investigar las influencias del bienestar espiritual y la tolerancia a la incertidumbre sobre la felicidad con respecto a los roles moderadores del sexo en los ancianos. Método: Participaron 120 ancianos de la ciudad de Shiraz, provincia de Fars, Irán. Para la recopilación de datos se utilizaron un cuestionario demográfico, el Inventario de Bienestar Espiritual (SWBI), la Escala II de Tolerancia a la Ambigüedad de Tipos de Estímulos Múltiples (MSTAT-II) y el Cuestionario de Felicidad de Oxford (OHI). Resultados: Los resultados mostraron que la espiritualidad, el bienestar y la intolerancia a la incertidumbre explican el 60% de la variación de la felicidad en los ancianos. Pero los resultados rechazaron el papel del sexo en la predicción de la felicidad en el presente estudio. Conclusión: Este estudio demuestra los roles predictivos del bienestar espiritual y la tolerancia a la ambigüedad sobre la felicidad en el campo de la gerontología. Background: According to spirituality well-being, ambiguity intolerance, and happiness conceptualizations, this study was purposed to investigate the influences of spiritual well-being and uncertainty tolerance on happiness with regards to the moderating roles of sex in the elderly. Method: Participants included 120 elders from Shiraz City, Fars province, Iran. A demographic questionnaire, the Spiritual Well-Being Inventory (SWBI), the Multiple Stimulus Types Ambiguity Tolerance Scale-II (MSTAT–II), and the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire (OHI) were used for data collection. Results: Findings showed that spirituality well-being and uncertainty intolerance explain 60% of happiness variation in the elderly. But results rejected the role of sex on the prediction of happiness in the present study. Conclusion: This study demonstrates the predictive roles of spiritual well-being and ambiguity tolerance on happiness in the field of gerontology.

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PSYCHOLOGICAL FEATURES OF PERSONALITY AND DECISION-MAKING STYLE IN PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITY

Third year student, D. I. Fedorenko D. I. Relationship between psychological features of personality and decision-making style in professional activity / Kyiv National Economic University named after Vadym Hetman, Ukraine Kyiv. The article reveals the content of the concept and theoretical approaches to the selection of decision-making styles in professional activities. The psychological features of the personality that determine the choice of a certain style of decision making are considered. The results of an empirical study of the relationship between psychological characteristics of personality and decision-making style in professional activities are highlighted.Key words: decision-making style, psychological features of personality, locus-control, internality, externality, tolerance to uncertainty, intolerance to uncertainty, vigilance, avoidance, hypervigilance, procrastination.

Testing the Information–Seeking Theory of Openness/Intellect

Why are open people open? A recent theory suggests that openness/intellect reflects sensitivity to the reward value of information, but so far, this has undergone few direct tests. To assess preferences for information, we constructed a novel task, adapted from information–seeking paradigms within decision science, in which participants could choose to see information related to a guessing game they had just completed. Across two studies (one exploratory, n = 151; one confirmatory, n = 301), openness/intellect did not predict information seeking. Our results thus do not support a straightforward version of the theory, whereby open individuals display a general–purpose sensitivity to any sort of new information. However, trait curiosity (arguably a facet of openness/intellect) predicted information seeking in both studies, and uncertainty intolerance (inversely related to openness/intellect) predicted information seeking in Study 2. Thus, it is possible that the domain–level null association masks two divergent information–seeking pathways: one approach motivated (curiosity) and one avoidance motivated (uncertainty intolerance). It remains to be seen whether these conflicting motivations can be isolated and if doing so reveals any association between information–seeking and the broader openness/intellect domain. © 2020 European Association of Personality Psychology

Testing the Information-Seeking Theory of Openness/Intellect

Why are open people open? A recent theory suggests that openness/intellect reflects sensitivity to the reward value of information, but so far this has undergone few direct tests. To assess preferences for information, we constructed a novel task, adapted from information-seeking paradigms within decision science, in which participants could choose to see information related to a guessing game they had just completed. Across two studies (one exploratory, n = 151; one confirmatory, n = 301), openness/intellect did not predict information-seeking. Our results thus do not support a straightforward version of the theory, whereby open individuals display a general-purpose sensitivity to any sort of new information. However, trait curiosity (arguably a facet of openness/intellect) predicted information-seeking in both studies, and uncertainty intolerance (inversely related to openness/intellect) predicted information-seeking in Study 2. Thus, it is possible that the domain-level null association masks two divergent information-seeking pathways, one approach-motivated (curiosity), and one avoidance-motivated (uncertainty intolerance). It remains to be seen whether these conflicting motivations can be isolated, and if doing so reveals any association between information-seeking and the broader openness/intellect domain.