Jens F Beckmann

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• Dipl.-Psych., Dr. rer. nat. habil.
• Professor (Full) at Durham University

On the basis of a ‘problem solving as an educational outcome’ point of view, we analyse the contribution of math and science competence to analytical problem-solving competence and link the acquisition of problem solving competence to the coherence between math and science education. We propose the concept of math-science coherence and explore whet...

In this article, I reflect on potential reasons for the seemingly persistent impression that dynamic testing has not delivered on its promise. Potential reasons are embedded in a paradox. On the one hand, validity-related expectations toward dynamic tests seem too broad. This includes fuzziness in defining the diagnostic target constructs, simplist...

Previous research has found that embedding a problem into a familiar context does not necessarily confer an advantage over a novel context in the acquisition of new knowledge about a complex, dynamic system. In fact, it has been shown that a semantically familiar context can be detrimental to knowledge acquisition. This has been described as the “s...

The aim of this study was to further shed light on the relationship between neuroticism and performance by taking into account the situation-specific experience of neuroticism when undertaking cognitive tasks. A total of 121 high-performing professionals completed a state measure of neuroticism before solving a complex cognitive task. Indicators of...

With increasing research interest in extrinsic interpersonal emotion regulation, this article aims to address the critical need for a unified language framework to strengthen and support these research efforts. Despite increasing interest and research in this area, the lack of consistent terminology poses significant challenges to conceptual clarit...

A successful adjustment to dynamic changes in one’s environment requires contingent adaptive behaviour. Such behaviour is underpinned by cognitive flexibility, which conceptually is part of fluid intelligence. We argue, however, that conventional approaches to measuring fluid intelligence are insufficient in capturing cognitive flexibility. We addr...

With increasing research interest in extrinsic interpersonal emotion regulation, this paper aims to address the critical need for a unified language framework to strengthen and support these research efforts. Despite increasing interest and research in this area, the lack of consistent terminology poses significant challenges for conceptual clarity...

This paper provides an example for how online technology can be utilised to increase efficiency and validity of assessment procedures beyond simple computerization of testing. We report the first steps of the development of an online assessment procedure for the measurement of language learning aptitude that is based on the concept of dynamic testi...

The position of complex problem solving (CPS) abilities in the nomological net of cognitive abilities is yet to be fully understood. During CPS, problem solvers have to interact with the task in a way in which learning ability might be beneficial for successful task completion. By investigating the relationship between learning ability and CPS, whi...

Compared to traditional classroom learning, success in online learning tends to depend more on the learner's skill to self-regulate. Self-regulation is a complex meta-cognitive skill set that can be acquired. This study explores the effectiveness of a virtual learning assistant in terms of (a) developmental, (b) general compensatory, and (c) differ...

The attractiveness of online games, social media, and mobile apps is frequently considered a challenge for online learners. Procrastinatory behaviour is often associated with a relative lack of self-regulatory skills that would otherwise help learners to resist distractions and to progress in learning. This paper reports a pilot study, conducted wi...

Despite substantial evidence for the link between an individual’s intelligence and successful life outcomes, questions about what defines intelligence have remained the focus of heated dispute. The most common approach to understanding intelligence has been to investigate what performance on tests of intellect is and is not associated with. This ps...

Researchers rely on psychometric principles when trying to gain understanding of unobservable psychological phenomena disconfounded from the methods used. Psychometric models provide us with tools to support this endeavour, but they are agnostic to the meaning researchers intend to attribute to the data. We define method effects as resulting from a...

The study aimed to investigate the status of within-person state variability in neuroticism and conscientiousness as individual differences constructs by exploring their (a) temporal stability, (b) cross-context consistency, (c) empirical links to selected antecedents, and (d) empirical links to longer-term trait variability. Employing a sample of...

Chinese students are frequently seen as passive learners because of their apparent reluctance to speak, particularly in English classrooms. However, this impression seems to reflect a stereotype which is likely to confound willingness to communicate (WTC) and communication behaviour. In this article we argue for more attention to be paid to individ...

Although developmental science has always been evolving, these times of fast-paced and profound social and scientific changes easily lead to disori- enting fragmentation rather than coherent scien- tific advances. What directions should developmen- tal science pursue to meaningfully address real- world problems that impact human development through...

Historically, understanding intelligence has been a decidedly be- tween-subjects endeavour. Yet, knowing what intelligence is correlated with tell us little about its basis. In this talk we reflect on insights gained by within-subject experimental manipulations designed to investigate a process-oriented approach to human intellect. Study 1 (N=142 s...

We test an integrative conceptualisation of personality, i.e. a per- spective that acknowledges both stable inter-individual differences and dynamic intra-individual variability. The focus is on intra-individual variability in personality at work, and how it relates to job perfor- mance. 288 professionals completed contextualised adjective-based as...

In this paper, we report an investigation of the possible influence on teachers' essentialist thinking and efficacy beliefs of category labels used to describe children's educational difficulties. A 2x2x2 counterbalanced design was employed in which primary school teachers in Finland and the UK were exposed to vignettes that portrayed a child exhib...

In this paper, I share some reflections on a set of questions posed by the editors of Journal for Dynamic Decision Making in relation to research in complex problem solving (CPS). These questions, especially in their combination, suggest problems in CPS research with regard to identity , direction, and purpose. I focus on three issues. The first is...

Willingness to communicate (WTC) used to be studied as a relatively stable, trait-like predisposition; however, recently attention has shifted to the more dynamic, state-like components of WTC. This research investigates variability and stability in state WTC, particularly focusing on within-person variability, which may lead to stable between-pers...

This study focuses on intra-individual variability in personality at work, and how it relates to job performance. 288 professionals completed contextualised adjective-based personality assessments in work and non-work contexts, and a non-contextualised personality measure. Ratings of their personality were also obtained from colleagues, family memb...

There exists a large body of research that has studied cognitive flexibility as an executive function assessed through shifting and set-switching tasks. This approach has been criticized as overly narrow and reductionist, thereby undermining the relevance of cognitive flexibility beyond tightly controlled cognitive tasks. In light of such limitatio...

The historical perspective of intelligence is a decidedly between-subjects affair. This is reflected in the dominance of factor analysis as both a psychometric tool for validation and as the cornerstone of the theoretical conceptualisation of intelligence as a hierarchically structured human attribute (Thurston 1938, Horn and Cattell 1966, Carroll...

Conscientiousness and neuroticism were studied as situation contingencies in a sample of 124 managers. Experience sampling measures of situational characteristics, state conscientiousness and state neuroticism were collected before, during and after the performance of a range of tasks completed in an executive training program of five 3-day session...

Online learning and massive open online courses are widely used in engineering and technology education. Engineering next-generation learning requires overcoming the potential constraints of online learning environments which necessitate higher levels of self-regulation than traditional classroom settings. This particular requirement demands that l...

There appears to be something of an intellectual and philosophical gulf between education researchers who seek insights from statistical analyses of complex data-sets such as those provided by the OECD (PISA), and others who seek to develop rich, contextualised socio-historical understandings that can shed light upon why particular classroom practi...

In this article, I comment on the prospect of integrating an intersectionality perspective into the developmental sciences. I do this by sharing impressions, insights and questions that have emerged whilst attempting to look at and to look through an intersectionality lens. My comments focus on three main topics. First, I speculate what forms such...

The burgeoning increase in the importance given to non-cognitive factors in complex decisions making, has led to calls to question intelligence as the primary explanatory model of success. Features of a business microworld simulation were experimentally manipulated to investigate the incremental value of 20 cognitive and non-cognitive predictors of...

Willingness to communicate (WTC) used to be seen as a stable, trait-like communicative tendency; however, in the field of second language acquisition (SLA), attention has recently shifted to its more dynamic, state-like components. This article systematically reviews the literature on the situational antecedents that might contribute to variation i...

This paper updates a review of dynamic assessment in education by the first author, published in this journal in 2003. It notes that the original review failed to examine the important conceptual distinction between dynamic testing (DT) and dynamic assessment (DA). While both approaches seek to link assessment and intervention, the former is of par...

In this paper we argue that a synthesis of findings across the various sub-areas of research in complex problem solving and consequently progress in theory building is hampered by an insufficient differentiation of complexity and difficulty. In the proposed framework of person, task, and situation (PTS), complexity is conceptualized as a quality th...

In this paper we discuss how the lack of a common framework in Complex Problem Solving (CPS) creates a major hindrance to a productive integration of findings and insights gained in its 40+-year history of research. We propose a framework that anchors complexity within the tri-dimensional variable space of Person, Task and Situation. Complexity is...

The Raven's Progressive Matrices (RPM) test entails a 40-min contextualized interaction with a set of progressively difficult cognitive activities. Item-to-item experiences accumulate to total scores determined by, and reflective of, cognitive abilities. The current research is interested in what happens during those 40 min. Personality (Openness,...

Many situations require people to acquire knowledge about, and learn how to control, complex dynamic systems of inter-connected variables. Numerous studies have found that most problem solvers are unable to acquire complete knowledge of the underlying structure of a system through an unguided exploration of the system variables; additional instruct...

A Bayesian technique with analyses of within-person processes at the level of the individual is presented. The approach is used to examine whether the patterns of within-person responses on a 12-trial simulation task are consistent with the predictions of ITA theory (Dweck, 1999). ITA theory states that the performance of an individual with an enti...

Judging creativity accurately is difficult. Individuals who are involved in product creation tend to overestimate the creativity of their work; individuals not involved lack understanding of the creative process that led to the product under scrutiny. We studied creativity judgements in a tripartite person–task–situation framework. Under high, medi...

Whilst micro-worlds or simulations have increasingly been used in higher education settings, students do not always benefit as expected from these learning opportunities. By using an experimental-control group design we tested the effectiveness of structuring the task environment so as to encourage learners to approach simulations more systematical...

In this article, I reflect on how ways of reporting research as well as reviewing and commenting on submitted manuscripts could take new directions to promote progress in the discipline of developmental science. I argue for (a) attitudinal openness toward migratory impulses in relation to Stokes's quadrant model of science, (b) the relinquishment o...

Highlights ► Findings from early learning cannot readily be extrapolated to adult learning. ► Specifics of adult learning are on three dimensions: learner, content, and context. ► They interactively contribute to differences between adult and early learning. ► Implications for research and practice are exemplified.

The current study investigates a conceptualization of flexible expertise as it relates to adult learning within the context of management and leadership training. Three research domains and their relation to metacognitive outcomes are integrated: 1) individual differences in abilities, personality, and mindsets, 2) deliberate practice and routine e...

Research over the last 10 years on Latin square tasks (LST) suggests a significant potential for their use in assessing fluid cognition. In the current work, we outline the LST and the more complex Greco-Latin square task (GLST). The objectives were (1) to validate the appropriateness of LST as measures of fluid cognition in business managers and (...

Research on cognitive load theory (CLT) has not yet provided facet-specific measures of cognitive load. The lack of valid methods to measure intrinsic, extraneous and germane cognitive load makes it difficult to empirically test theoretical explanations of effects caused by manipulations of instructional designs. This situation also imposes challen...

This study investigates the relationships between structural knowledge, control performance and fluid intelligence in a complex problem solving (CPS) task. 75 participants received either complete, partial or no information regarding the underlying structure of a complex problem solving task, and controlled the task to reach specific goals. Control...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to consider how simulations are increasingly used in training programs for the development of skills such as leadership. However, the requirements of leadership development go beyond the development of task specific procedural knowledge or expertise that simulations have typically been used to develop. Leaders...

This study takes an individual differences' perspective on performance feedback effects in psychometric testing. A total of 105 students in a mainstream secondary school in North East England undertook a cognitive ability test on two occasions. In one condition, students received item-specific accuracy feedback while in the other (standard conditio...

Dynamic assessment, as an alternative approach to assessing intellectual capacities, focuses on examinees’ ability to benefit from learning opportunities provided within the assessment process. The level of appreciation of the potential advantages of this assessment concept is not mirrored by the extent of its utilisation in practice. One reason fo...

In an experimental study, a set of 12 number series problems with open-answer format had to be solved by a sample of 120 eighth and ninth graders randomly assigned to one of two test conditions (standard condition: no feedback; feedback condition: correct/incorrect item-by-item feedback). Task-related self-confidence and worry was measured before a...

As time goes by: In Search of the Meaning of Response Latencies in Performance Tests This issue presents a rather loose collection of papers all dealing more or less with psychological meaning of latencies in untimed performance tests. In this respect, the contributions represent a rekindled interest in latencies attributed to different reasons a...

Oh, there's just one more thing … Jens F. Beckmann Of course, the preceding papers do not represent a complete picture of the current state of research about the meaning of latencies in untimed power tests. So, the purpose of this issue was not only to inform the interested reader about the current level of insight, it was also an invitation to...

Physiological approaches to human psychometric intelligence have shown a higher neural efficiency (i.e. less cortical activation) during cognitive performance in brighter subjects. The main aim of this study was to explore the relationship between intelligence and cortical activation patterns in the framework of the learning test concept. In 27 par...

For the assessment of intelligence, “Dynamic Testing” (DT) is progressively discussed in the international literature as an alternative to the so-called status test. “Learning tests”, for which the systematic integration of feedback and prompts are typical characteristics, are the best known variant of DT. These procedures are expected to bring abo...

Handwriting analysis suffers from a rather limited acceptance amongst psychometric oriented psychodiagnosticians. Methodological problems of validity studies so far imply that no decision is possible about the validity of judgements based on handwriting analysis. Five graphologists gave judgements about social and cognitive inhibitedness, achieveme...

Leipzig, Universität, Habilitation, 2000.

We analysed response latencies in untimed intelligence tests. Previous findings suggest that latencies for incorrect answers tend to be longer than latencies for correct responses. We tested the universality as well as the generality of this so-called Incorrect > Correct Phenomenon in a sample of N = 169 8 graders who completed three different reas...

Zusammenfassung: Gepruft wird die Angemessenheit des Gultigkeitsanspruchs von Lerntests, die intellektuelle Leistungsfahigkeit unter dem Aspekt des Veranderungspotenzials zu messen. Dies erfolgt zum einen durch einen Vergleich mit «konkurrierenden» Diagnostikansatzen (traditionelle Statusdiagnostik, Diagnostik bereichsspezifischen Vorwissens) und z...

This study investigates whether learning tests are able to assess the change potential of intellectual ability better than traditional intelligence approaches. The learning test approach is compared to competing diagnostic approaches (traditional status diagnostics, diagnostics of domain-specific prior-knowledge). Further, it is shown that learning...

The aim of this-study was to examine the ability of the computerized Adaptive Figure Series Learning Test (ADAFI) to differentiate among old subjects at risk for dementia and old healthy controls. Several studies on the subject of measuring the intellectual potential (cognitive plasticity) of old subjects have shown the usefulness of the fluid inte...

Item response times in computerized untimed intelligence tests are investigated. Recent findings show that incorrect answers require more time than correct answers. In the present study the "false > correct-phenomenon" was investigated with regard to its generality and its universality. For this purpose 169 participants (mean age 14;6 years) were g...

A study is reported in which 1435 pupils of grade levels 5-9 performed so-called adaptive computer-assisted intelligence learning tests using multiple choice and free responses. Item response times were analyzed. Contrary to evidence in the literature, it was found that wrong responses did not generally take more time than correct responses. During...

On the international scale, the dynamic testing approach is being discussed as an alternative or complement to the conventional static intelligence test. Many theoreticians and practitioners approve of the fundamental aims of dynamic testing. On the other hand, however, there is restrained (Snow, 1990) or even harsh criticism that bears chiefly on...