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The PANAS-X: Manual for the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule
In recent research, two broad, general factors—typically labeled Positive Affect (PA) and Negative Affect (NA)—have emerged reliably as the dominant dimensions of emotional experience. These factors have been identified in both intraand interindividual analyses, and they emerge consistently across diverse descriptor sets, time frames, response formats, languages, and cultures. The PANAS-X: Manual for the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule , is a 60-item, expanded version of the PANAS. In addition to the two original higher order scales, the PANAS-X measures 11 specific affects: Fear,...
Preference for Solitude Scale
Past research suggests that solitude can have either a positive or a negative impact on a person′s well-being. How time away from others affects people may depend on the person′s general preference for solitude. Most research relates wellbeing to the amount of time spent alone, but not about the link between wellbeing an a person's preference for being alone. The Preference for Solitude Scale addresses this.
General Self-Efficacy Scale (GSE)
The construct of Perceived Self-Efficacy reflects an optimistic self-belief (Schwarzer, 1992). This is the belief that one can perform a novel or difficult tasks, or cope with adversity -- in various domains of human functioning. Perceived self-efficacy facilitates goal-setting, effort investment, persistence in face of barriers and recovery from setbacks. It can be regarded as a positive resistance resource factor. Ten items from the General Self-Efficacy Scale (GSE) are designed to tap this construct. Each item refers to successful coping and implies an internal-stable attribution of...
Berlin Social Support Scales (BSSS)
The Berlin Social Support Scales (BSSS, Schwarzer & Schulz, 2000) were developed based on theoretical considerations and reviews of established measurement instruments for social support.
All items were discussed by an expert panel and partly revised after a pilot study with cancer patients. Items of the received/provided support subscales referring to unfavorable support behavior of the partner were omitted from our study after patients expressed rejection of those statements.
The answering format is the same for all subscales: Patients rate their agreement with the...
Fear of Physician (FOP)
Many people are fearful and/or anxious about communicating with their physician. It is believed that this fear/anxiety is in some part a function of the way the physician communicates with the patient. This Fear of Physician (FOP) instrument was developed to measure that feeling. The FOP is an extension of the 5-item state anxiety measure developed by Spielberger (1966).
Richmond Humour Assessment Instrument (RHAI)
The Richmond Humor Assessment Instrument (RHAI) is a 16-item self-report measure that uses a 5-point Likert format. The instrument was developed by Richmond (1999) to measure an individual's predisposition to reenact humour messages during an interaction. Researchers believe that teaching people to be humerous can help with stress and family problems, make them more popular, and they will have improved self-concepts.
Willingness To Communicate (WTC)
The study of various general orientations toward communication has held an important place in communication research for over a half-century. This research has been conducted under a wide variety of conceptualizations. These have included stage fright, speech anxiety, communication apprehension, shyness, reticence, unwillingness to communicate, willingness to communicate, talkativeness, verbal activity, vocal activity, and a number of others. Although these are all related constructs, there are important distinctions among them. One group of constructs relates to anxiety or apprehension...
Tolerance for Disagreement Scale (TFD)
The Tolerance For Disagreement (TFD) Scale is designed to measure the degree to which an individual can tolerate other people disagreeing with what the individual believes to be true. This conceptualization is similar to that of argumentativeness. People with high argumentativeness are likely to be able to deal with more disagreement than those people who are low in argumentativeness. It is believed that conflict in interpersonal communication is in large part (in conjunction with the level of liking between the people) a function of the tolerance of disagreement of the interactants.
Source Credibility Measures
Measurement of source credibility has been a concern of the Communication discipline for over 40 years. The first multidimensional measure appeared in the Communication literature in 1966 (McCroskey, J .C., Scales for the measurement of ethos, Speech Monographs, 33, 65-72) and provided scales measuring competence and trustworthiness. Many other studies were conducted over the next 30 years. This Source Credibility Measure is the most complete measure and includes scales for three dimensions: competence, trustworthiness, and goodwill/caring. These are measures of constructs which are...
Individual Innovativeness (II)
An innovation is an idea, practice, or object that is perceived as new by an individual or other unit of adoption (like an organisation). People and organisations vary a great deal in their "innovativeness." Innovativeness has to do with how early in the process of adoption of new ideas, practices, etc. that the individual or organization is likely to accept a change. The Individual Innovativeness (II) scale was designed to measure individuals' orientations toward change. Research has indicated that this orientation is associated with several communication variables.
