In our everyday life, we often need to anticipate the potential occurrence of events and their consequences. In this context, the way we represent contingencies can determine our ability to adapt to the environment. However, it is not clear how agents encode and organize available knowledge about the future to react to possible states of the…

This study investigates variations in how users exert agency and control over their choice patterns within the game-based ITS, iSTART-2, and how these individual differences relate to performance. Seventy-six college students interacted freely with iSTART-2 for approximately 2 hours. The current work captures and classifies variations in students'…

Badge use has rapidly expanded in recent years and has benefited a variety of applications. However, a large portion of the research has applied a binary "useful" or "not useful" approach to badging. Few studies examine the characteristics of the user and the impact of those characteristics on the effectiveness of the badging…

Previous research on sensation seeking (SS) was dominated by a variable-oriented approach indicating that SS level has a linear relation with a host of problem behaviors. Our aim was to provide a person-oriented methodology--a probabilistic clustering--that enables examination of both inter- and intra-individual differences in not only the level,…

It is important to understand causes and consequences of procrastination that appear common among general and academic populations. Procrastination affects people in various domains of life such as academic, professional, social relationships, and finance management. A person with high procrastination may lose his/her work, drop out from school,…

In order to discover the effects of success and failure on subsequent aggressiveness, 26 male and 55 female college students were randomly assigned to success, failure, and neutral conditions. Those in the success condition were led to feel they were superior to other college students on a task, those in the failure condition were led to feel they…

Asked students (n=139) seeking help at university counseling center what types of problems they experienced. Found few differences between help seekers with career concerns and those without career concerns. Compared to non-help-seeking students (n=331), significantly more help seekers with career concerns indicated worrying about emotional…

Reviews empirical research concerning loneliness among college students to sensitize family life specialists to the importance of loneliness within this age group. Presents a profile of the lonely college student from research findings which relate loneliness to personal attributes, interpersonal behaviors, and social network conditions. Discusses…

Previous research has indicated that Type A's have a higher need to control their environments, and respond more reactively to control loss than Type B's. To clarify the role of information processing in the control relinquishment decisions of Type A's and B's, 147 male and female college students took part in a problem solving experiment. Pairs…

Tested predictions derived from Eysenck's theory of personality in two samples by relating extraversion scores to library study locations, frequency of study breaks, and self-report of factors which influence study location. Found predicted main effects for study location with extraverts occupying locations that provided greater external…

College students (N=253) rated the effects they expected from drinking alcohol along various dimensions. Results showed that subjects expected moderate drinking to result in relatively greater stimulation/perceived dominance and pleasurable disinhibition, whereas for heavy drinking they expected a greater degree of behavioral impairment. (Author)

Type A behavior is characterized by impatience, aggressiveness, and ambition. Type B individuals are more relaxed, easy-going, and unhurried. This study examined the effects of behavior pattern (Type A, intermediate, Type B) and experimenter interest (high versus no interest) on the time allocated to an experimental task and task performance.…

Vocational Preference Inventory (VPI) and other instruments administered to 365 students, both undecided and in various interest fields, revealed several differences in cognitive style. No differences regarding cognitive style variations and VPI high-point codes or ease of vocational selection were observed. (Author/CJ)