Psychology Department, San Francisco State University, 1600 Holloway Avenue, San Francisco, CA, 94132, USA.
Behav Res Methods. 2024 Feb;56(2):908-933. doi: 10.3758/s13428-023-02089-2. Epub 2023 Mar 9.
Self-control and executive functioning are often treated as highly related psychological constructs. However, measures of each rarely correlate with one another. This reflects some combination of true separability between the constructs and measurement differences. Traditionally, executive functioning is objectively measured as performance on computer-controlled tasks in the laboratory, whereas self-control is subjectively measured with self-report scales of predispositions and behaviors in everyday life. Self-report measures tend to better predict outcomes that should be affected by individual differences in control. Our two studies show that the original version of Tangney, Baumeister, and Boone's brief self-control scale (consisting of four positive and nine negative items) strongly correlates with self-esteem, mental health, fluid intelligence, but only weakly with satisfaction with life and happiness. Four variants of the original scale were created by reverse-wording the 13 original items and recombining them to form, for example, versions with all positive or all negative items. As the proportion of items with positive valence increased: (1) the outcomes with strong correlations in the original scale weakened and the weak correlations strengthened and (2) the mean overall scores increased. Both studies replicated a common finding that the original scale yields two factors in an exploratory factor analysis. However, the second factor is generated by method differences, namely, having items with both positive and negative valence. The second factor is induced by the common practice of reverse-coding the items with negative valence and the faulty assumption that Likert scales are equal-interval scales with a neutral-point at midscale.
自我控制和执行功能通常被视为高度相关的心理结构。然而，这两种能力的测量方法很少相互关联。这反映了这两个结构之间存在一定程度的真正可分离性，以及测量方法的差异。传统上，执行功能是通过在实验室中进行计算机控制的任务来客观地衡量，而自我控制则通过日常生活中的自我报告量表来衡量倾向和行为。自我报告量表往往更能预测应该受到个体控制差异影响的结果。我们的两项研究表明，Tangney、Baumeister 和 Boone 的简短自我控制量表（由四个积极项目和九个消极项目组成）与自尊、心理健康、流体智力强烈相关，但与生活满意度和幸福感的相关性较弱。原始量表的四个变体通过将 13 个原始项目倒序，并将它们重新组合形成，例如，所有积极或所有消极项目的版本。随着具有积极效价的项目比例增加：（1）原始量表中具有强相关性的结果减弱，弱相关性增强；（2）平均总分增加。两项研究都复制了一个常见的发现，即原始量表在探索性因素分析中产生两个因素。然而，第二个因素是由方法差异产生的，即具有正负效价的项目。第二个因素是由反向编码具有负效价的项目的常见做法以及假设李克特量表是具有中性点在中值的等距量表而产生的错误假设引起的。
