Ammerman, R. T., Lynch, K. G., Donovan, J. E., Martin, C. S., & Maisto, S. A. (2001). Constructive thinking in adolescents with substance use disorders. Psychology Of Addictive Behaviors, 15(2), 89-96. doi:10.1037/0893-164X.15.2.89
(II, III, IV, V) This study examined the concurrent validity of the Constructive Thinking Inventory, a measure of experiential coping in 551 adolescents with and without Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. The participants were aged 14-18 years. The CTI was correlated with depression, anxiety, and conduct issues. Constructive thinking is a phrase coined by Epstein and Meier (1989) to describe automatic thoughts that originate from the experiential level. Patterns of constructive thinking are believed to emerge during early childhood and be reasonably stable across time. Previous studies have found that individual with poor constructive thinking abilities were more physiologically reactive to stressors administered in a laboratory setting. Deficiency in constructive thinking is associated with unhappiness, anxiety and depression, and work problems. The Constructive Thinking inventory was developed on the basis of college student populations. The CTI is said to be minimally associated with IQ and academic achievement which reflects the nonintellective quality of constructive thinking. The CTI has exhibited sufficient psychometric properties in several populations. The tests contains 16 items that are designed to identify biased or inattentive response patters. Examination of these scales did not reveal any participants who had systematic responses in a careless or desirable manner. Their findings also confirmed that constructive thinking is not strongly associated with intellectual capacity. To examine the internal consistency reliability of the CTI the authors calculated Cronbach’s alpha reliabilit8ies for each of the six primary scales and the Global scale. Results indicated that the scales acceptable levels of internal consistency. The Global, Emotional Coping, Behavioral Coping, Personal Superstitious Thinking and Categorical Thinking scales showed the highest degree of association. However, Esoteric Thinking and Naïve Optimism scales were only moderately correlated with the other. Emotional Coping and Behavioral Coping scales were the most highly correlated with the Global Scale. The high correlation between these scales caused the authors to omit the Global Scale from the following analyses. Examining the relationship between constructive thinking and psychosocial maladjustment provides information about the concurrent validity of the CTI. The six CTI scales were correlated with measures of internalizing behavior problems, externalizing behavior problems, and emotional regulation. The results showed that there were moderate to high correlations among Emotional Coping, Behavioral Coping, Constructive Thinking, and Superstitious Thinking and psychopathy. The results from this study have several implications for clinical practice. The CTI was originally designed for research rather than clinical use. The CTI is the only existing measure specifically designed to measure this level of experiential coping which is thought to be important to the treatment of psychiatric disorders therefore it may be a useful supplement to a more standardized assessment.
Epstein, S., & Mayer, J. (1999). Constructive thinking: The key to emotional intelligence. Contemporary Psychology, 44(6), 467.
Spirrison, C. L., Gordy, C. C., & Henley, T. B. (1996). After-class versus in-class data collection: Validity issues. The Journal of Psychology, 130(6), 635-644. Retrieved from https://ez.salem.edu/login?url=https://search.proquest.com/docview/213817581?accountid=13657
(II, III, VI) The participants in this study were 566 college students from introductory psychology courses who completed the Constructive Thinking Inventory. The CTI was administered as the primary dependent measure. The CTI also contains a Validity Scale. The CTI is designed as an assessment of dimensions of habitual and automatic thought processes. Each of the 108 items on the CTI have five possible alternatives. Data for the study was collected under two conditions, after-class and in class. The results of the chi-square analysis showed that there were no significant differences between after-class and in class volunteers with respect to sex of the student. The CTI Validity Scales classified the profiles as valid or invalid. After-class volunteers had less invalid profiles than in class volunteers. There were a variety of differences between after-class and in-class profiles specifically on the Validity Scale. The purpose of the study was to compare two samples of volunteers recruited from the same population by different methods. The CTI profile validity results show that in-class male and female volunteers produced more invalid profiles than the after-class volunteers.
Epstein, S., PhD. (n.d.). Constructive Thinking Inventory™. Retrieved from https://www.parinc.com/Products/Pkey/63
(I, II, IV) This website contains general information about the test. The name of the test is the Constructive Thinking Inventory™ (CTI) and the author is Seymour Epstein, PhD. The purpose of the test is to assess thinking patterns and beliefs that underlie emotional intelligence, coping ability, and well-being. The test was created in 1989 and published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. The CTI is theoretically motivated by Epstein’s Cognitive-Experiential Self-Theory. The theory states that people have two fundamental adaptive systems: an experiential system that learns from lived experience, and a rational system that uses conscious reasoning. The CTI measures the effectiveness of the experiential system and can be used to obtain information about beliefs and ways of thinking. The information can be used in psychotherapy, counseling, and it has been widely used in centers for drug abuse as a treatment. The CTI can also be used for selecting students for college admission and selecting personnel. The test kit costs $215 and contains the CTI Scoring Program, 25-Use Counter Serial Number, Professional Manual, and 25 test booklets. In order to purchase the CTI, you must have a degree from an accredited 4-year college or university in psychology, counseling, speech-language pathology, or a closely related field. In addition, you must either complete coursework or obtain a license from an agency. The age range of examinees is 18 to 80 years. The CTI consists of 108 items in a self-report inventory and it takes 15-30 minutes to complete. Each item is rated on a 5-point rating scale. The normative sample data is from 908 United States census adults. The scales provide information at three levels of generality. The first level uses the Global Constructive Thinking Scale which consists of items from other scales and is the most general score. The second level has six main scales: Emotional Coping, Behavioral Coping, Personal Superstitious Thinking, Categorical Thinking, Esoteric Thinking, and Naive Optimism. The third level consists of subscales of the main scales that identify the specific ways of thinking. The test also includes Validity and Defensiveness scales.
G., G., & W. (2005). Constructive thinking inventory: Evidence of validity among Iranian managers. Psychological Reports, 96(1), 115-21.
(III, IV) The purpose of this study was to discover if the CTI subscales Emotional Coping, Behavioral Coping, and Global Constructive Thinking correlate positively with the Big Five Factors. The authors found robust positive correlations among the three CTI subscales. Overall, the CTI proved to be a valid personality measure with incremental validity. The authors suggest that the CTI can be useful in selection, training, and development of Iranian managers.
Hoyer, J., Averbeck, M., Heidenreich, T., Stangier, U., Pöhlmann, K., & Rössler, G. (1998). The Constructive Thinking Inventory: Factorial structure in healthy individuals and patients with chronic skin diseases. European Journal Of Psychological Assessment, 14(3), 226-233. doi:10.1027/1015-5759.14.3.226
(III,IV,V) Constructive thinking according to Epstein is a broad generalized coping variable that enables people to cope with their experiences with minimal stress. It is also seen by Epstein as an important psychological predictor for success. There has been much support for construct and discriminant validity of the global scale and some of the subscales of the CTI but there is a lack of research regarding the factorial structure of the CTI. The research in this study was primarily aimed at the question of whether the main scales of the CTI would reach satisfactory replicability and scale independence in German samples. The findings support the validity of the underlying concepts of the CTI. In the sample, internal consistency was found to be high with the exception of the Categorical Thinking and Naïve Optimism Scales. The Personal Superstitious Thinking scale had a sufficient internal consistency, there was a highly negative intercorrelation with the Emotional Coping scale which places its discriminant validity in doubt. Naïve Optimism and Categorical thinking were the only two styles of constructive thinking that show no interrelation with the other scales or one another. The authors concluded that Categorical Thinking, Naïve Optimism, and Esoteric thinking and their role in well-being, stress, health and coping have not been studied sufficiently.
Santos-Ruiz, A., Fernandez-Serrano, M. J., Robles-Ortega, H., Perez-Garcia, M., Navarrete-Navarrete, N., & Peralta-Ramirez, M. I. (2012). Can Constructive Thinking Predict Decision Making?. Journal Of Behavioral Decision Making, 25(5), 469-475. doi:10.1002/bdm.747
(II, III) This study analyzes the relationship between constructive thinking and the decision-making process. Their hypothesis was that people with poor constructive thinking abilities should make efficient decisions in their daily lives, and vice versa. The purpose of the study was to examine the potential relationship between constructive thinking skills and executive function using neuropsychological and experimental instruments. An experienced neuropsychologist administered the tests. The study uses the six factor scales of the Constructive Thinking Inventory. Global Constructive Thinking is a bipolar scale that measures a general tendency to think in constructive or destructive ways. Emotional Coping is a bipolar scale that measures the tendency to cope with stressful situations. Behavioral Coping is a bipolar scale measures the tendency to think in terms that facilitate effective action. Categorical Thinking is a scale that indicates dichotomous thought that categorizes, simplifies and show prejudice. Personal Superstitious Thinking measures the extent to which people cling on to their superstitions to shield themselves from threats. This is related to pessimism. Esoteric Thinking indicated the degree to which people believe in phenomena such as strange and magical creatures. Naïve Optimism measures the degree to which a person is optimistic. This instrument is highly reliable following test-retest and two-half reliability measures. The scores on the Constructive Thinking Inventory were used to attempt to predict executive function scores. According to the results of the study, some of the Constructive Thinking subscales were able to predict executive function variables. The results showed that Emotional Coping subscale was able to predict high performance on the RSAT. A high Emotional Coping score represented better decision making. The Categorical Thinking scale predicted mistakes on the R-SAT. The results also showed a significant relationship between the Esoteric Thinking Scale and the scores on the Trail Making Test. High scores on the Esoteric Thinking scale were associated with low performance in a timed task related to visual and motor control. This result is similar to a study by Musch and Ehrenberg who found that low cognitive ability correlated with belief in the paranormal. The data also shows a positive relationship between Emotional Coping and R-SAT performance. This suggests that people with high levels of Emotional Coping might have a harder time dealing with stressful conditions. Finally, errors on the R-SAT are found to be related to high levels of Categorical Thinking.
Scheuer, E., & Epstein, S. (1997). Constructive thinking, reactions to a laboratory stressor, and symptoms in everyday life. Anxiety, Stress & Coping, 10(3), 269-303. doi:10.1080/10615809708249305
(IV, V) This study was conducted to compare groups of good and poor constructive thinkers measured by the Constructive Thinking inventory. The results showed that participants with poor constructive thinking scores reported more negative cognitions and more negative affect. These results add to the body of evidence attesting a relationship between constructive thinking and well-being. The authors revealed some limitations to the study such as a larger percentage of women in the sample of college aged students. It would be in their interest to determine the generality of the findings across different stressors and populations.
Spirrison, C. L., & Gordy, C. C. (1994). Nonintellective intelligence and personality: Variance shared by the Constructive Thinking Inventory and the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. Journal Of Personality Assessment, 62(2), 352-363. doi:10.1207/s15327752jpa6202_15
(I, II, V) This study compared the Constructive Thinking Inventory to the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. The authors were particularly interested in the extent to which the CTI scales of everyday styles of thinking would predict the personality trait scores of the MBTI. The MBTI and the CTI were designed to assess different constructs and correlation coefficients computed between each of the test scores were not statistically significance. Of the six domain scales of the CTI, all except for the Personal Superstitious Thinking domain exhibited significant relationships with at least one MBTI index. The two measurements share significant amounts of variance. In general, the CTI was able to predict MBTI scores although gender mediated several of its effects.