Theoretical and empirical examination of cognitive resource theory.

Two assumptions and seven hypotheses defining F. E. Fiedler and J. E. Garcia's (1987) cognitive resource theory are critiqued and examined with data from 48 four-man groups. Information for leaders and subordinates was available on the dimensions of IQ, directiveness, group atmosphere, rank, and group performance on seven tasks. Results yielded support for Hypothesis 2 of the theory (i.e., leader intelligence was more strongly correlated with group performance for highly directive leaders, relative to nondirective leaders). Problems with the theory associated with (a) the definition of intelligence, (b) the undervalued importance of specific task demands and the combinations of tasks, and (c) the role of stress are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Inaccurate implications of philosophy of science and rational-emotive therapy: A reply to DiGiuseppe": A reply to Wessler.

Disputes points made by R. L. Wessler (see record 1988-30350-001) about the present author's proposal that rational-emotive theory adopted T. S. Kuhn's (1962) construct of paradigms to better understand the nature and origin of irrational beliefs and to guide the disputing process in psychotherapy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Inaccurate implications of philosophy of science and rational-emotive therapy: A reply to DiGiuseppe.

Argues that contrary to R. DiGiuseppe's (see record 1987-22610-001) claims, irrational beliefs are evaluative cognitions with central importance theories of emotion and are the focus of disputing in rational-emotive therapy. The concept of personal paradigm and the potential contributions of cognitive psychology to cognitive psychotherapy are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Learning theory and schizophrenia: A reply to a comment.

In reply to de Mille's (see 34: 4667) criticisms, studies are discussed which support the author's theoretical position. Concession is made that some confusion is possible in the use of "generalization." A clarification is offered. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Associations and organization in cognitive psychology: A reply to Neisser.

Responds to comments by U. Neisser (see record 1984-30595-001) on the present author's (see record 1984-30581-001) study of the long-term retention of school-learned Spanish, in which it was found that Ss retained a portion of the acquired knowledge for long periods. It is suggested that both constructive and simple associative processes are involved in acquisition and retention and that retention is primarily determined by the "state" of the memory trace at the end of training rather than by conditions during the retention interval. (5 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relationship between human resource investments and organizational performance: A firm-level examination of equilibrium theory.

It is commonly believed that human resource investments can yield positive performance-related outcomes for organizations. Utilizing the theory of organizational equilibrium (H. A. Simon, D. W. Smithburg, & V. A. Thompson, 1950; J. G. March & H. A. Simon, 1958), the authors proposed that organizational inducements in the form of competitive pay will lead to 2 firm-level performance outcomes--labor productivity and customer satisfaction--and that financially successful organizations would be more likely to provide these inducements to their employees. To test their hypotheses, the authors gathered employee-survey and objective performance data from a sample of 126 large publicly traded U.S. organizations over a period of 3 years. Results indicated that (a) firm-level financial performance (net income) predicted employees' shared perceptions of competitive pay, (b) shared pay perceptions predicted future labor productivity, and (c) the relationship between shared pay perceptions and customer satisfaction was fully mediated by employee morale. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A resource exchange theory approach to interpersonal interactions: A test of Foa's theory.

Employed U. G. Foa and E. B. Foa's (1974) resource exchange theory to examine the types and patterns of exchanges involved in 57 college students' interpersonal interactions. Two judgment tasks were used to test both the functional and structural aspects of this theory. The dimensions of particularism and concreteness were hypothesized to underlie the 6 resource categories of love, status, information, money, goods, and services. In addition, resources perceived to be in the same category were expected to be exchanged with a higher probability than resources in different categories. Support for both the structural and the functional relations among the resource categories was consistent not with the initial classification of the behaviors used to represent the 6 resource categories but with the meaning associated with the behaviors. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Learning theory and behavior therapy: A reply to Rachman and Eysenck.

The importance of distinguishing between learning theory, the practice of behavior therapy, and the effectiveness of treatment is stressed. Rachman and Eysenck's reply (see 40:5) presents no new evidence to remedy the inadequacies of the learning theory espoused by the behavior-therapy group. The claim that behavior-therapy techniques are "based on" learning theory is countermanded by the prior existence of the techniques as well as by the great dissimilarity between what goes on in behavior therapy and in most learning experiments. Finally, the additional references cited by Rachman and Eysenck are reviewed. They are either not relevant to the issues under discussion or are fully subject to the biases discussed in our original paper. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stimulus variables in the block design task revisited: A reply to Royer.

Responds to the criticism of F. L. Royer (see record 1984-30400-001) by contending that the present authors prefer an interpretation of the Block Design Test in terms of individual difference variables rather than stimulus characteristics. It is suggested that Royer's variables do not have the general application that he claims for them. (10 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Adjustment to threatening events: A theory of cognitive adaptation.

Proposes a theory of cognitive adaptation to threatening events. It is argued that the adjustment process centers around 3 themes: A search for meaning in the experience, an attempt to regain mastery over the event in particular and over life more generally, and an effort to restore self-esteem through self-enhancing evaluations. These themes are discussed with reference to cancer patients' coping efforts. It is maintained that successful adjustment depends, in a large part, on the ability to sustain and modify illusions that buffer not only against present threats but also against possible future setbacks. (84 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Further tests of dual-process theory: A reply to Yonelinas (1999).

In a preceding article (M. Glanzer, K. Kim, A. Hilford, & J. K. Adams; see record 1999-00904-013), the authors reported the results of testing two predictions of dual-process theory concerning the shape of the receiver-operating characteristic (ROC). The theory predicts that item recognition ROCs in standard score form, z-ROCs, will, in general, be concave. It also predicts the degree of concavity that will be present. The two predictions were tested. The theory failed on both. They were tested again in this article: the first prediction with an extended set of data, the second with a new set of predicted concavity measures. The first test found again that contrary to the theory, z-ROCs were not, in general, concave. The second test found again that dual-process theory failed to predict the degree of concavity of specific z-ROCs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The BSRI and gender schema theory: A reply to Spence and Helmreich.

In their comment on gender schema theory, J. T. Spence and R. L. Helmreich (see PA, Vol 66:00000) discuss neither gender schema theory itself nor the data that are presented as evidence for the theory. Contrary to their contention, (a) there is no logical contradiction in using the 2-dimensional Bem Sex-Role Inventory (BSRI) for research on the unidimensional concept of gender-schematic processing because the BSRI is only a tool for identifying sex-typed individuals; and (b) the evidence indicates that the BSRI taps different things for different people. (9 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

In defense of Piaget's theory: A reply to 10 common criticisms.

The developmental theory of Jean Piaget has been criticized on the grounds that it is conceptually limited, empirically false, or philosophically and epistemologically untenable. This study attempts to rebut these criticisms by showing that most of them (a) derive from widespread misinterpretations of the work of Piaget; (b) fail to appreciate the 2 central issues of his thinking—how new forms of thinking emerge during ontogenesis and how they become psychologically necessary; (c) incorrectly assume that many controversies concerning his theory can be settled empirically or methodologically before they are clarified conceptually; (d) ignore various modifications of Piagetian theory, particularly those advanced after 1970; and (e) forget the dialectical, constructivist, and developmental nature of Piaget's unique approach to human development. Although the authors do not claim there is a "true" Piaget to be discovered, or that the problems with his theory vanish when it is better understood, they do claim that important aspects of Piaget's work have not been assimilated by developmental psychologists. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On (very) stubborn refusals to return to introspection: A reply to Rachlin.

Responds to H. A. Rachlin's (1980) comment on an earlier paper by the present author (see record 1979-25036-001) that suggested that knowledge of a person's intentions often considerably enhances one's ability to predict his/her future behavior; this argument was used as a basis for urging psychologists to take introspective reports more seriously. The present author concedes that perhaps Rachlin was right about verbal reports not being the only basis for such predictions and that his difficulty in understanding Rachlin's position might stem from too great a tendency to attribute behavior to cognitive processes. (2 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Ramsay-curve item response theory (RC-IRT) to detect and correct for nonnormal latent variables.

Popular methods for fitting unidimensional item response theory (IRT) models to data assume that the latent variable is normally distributed in the population of respondents, but this can be unreasonable for some variables. Ramsay-curve IRT (RC-IRT) was developed to detect and correct for this nonnormality. The primary aims of this article are to introduce RC-IRT less technically than it has been described elsewhere; to evaluate RC-IRT for ordinal data via simulation, including new approaches for model selection; and to illustrate RC-IRT with empirical examples. The empirical examples demonstrate the utility of RC-IRT for real data, and the simulation study indicates that when the latent distribution is skewed, RC-IRT results can be more accurate than those based on the normal model. Along with a plot of candidate curves, the Hannan-Quinn criterion is recommended for model selection. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Correlation between genetically matched groups versus reliability theory: A reply to Jensen.

Argues that A. Jensen's (see record 1971-09170-001) proposal for interpreting phenotypes as direct proportional measures of phenotype variance attributable to trait heritability would lead to an overestimation of variance attributable to genetic factors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Generation(s) of phonological codes in reading: A reply to Guttentag.

Addresses R. E. Guttentag's (see record 1982-11297-001) 2 questions about the review by L. X. McCusker et al (see record 1981-11846-001) of the phonological recoding literature. Following Guttentag's suggestion, the possibility of phonological mediation without the use of grapheme–phoneme correspondence rules is considered. It is recognized as a logically possible supplement to phonological recoding, but no empirical support was found. Guttentag's discussion of how dependence on phonological recoding might change with increased age and reading skill is also addressed. (12 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Fred A. Replogle (1898–1990): Obituary.

Memorializes Fred A. Replogle (1898–1990), a pioneer of corporate psychology. His contributions to corporate psychology include his stress on the importance of the organization's impact on the work of its people. His positions included supervisor of Chicago regional psychological services. His honors include 2 honorary doctorates and the Distinguished Illinois Psychologist Award. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Has feature integration theory come unglued? A reply to Tsal.

Y. Tsal (see record 1989-31807-001) presented a critical review of feature integration theory (FIT) and of a number of studies that have purported to show a direct relationship between focal attention and the perception of illusory conjunctions. Conceptual difficulties with the theory are highlighted, and Tsal concluded that the reviewed studies have not provided sufficient empirical support. We argue that neither Tsal's conceptual criticism nor his empirical ones are convincing enough to warrant rejection of FIT and that he has not suggested an obvious and unique theoretical alternative that inspires an appropriate empirical test. A problem for FIT that Tsal did not raise is discussed. That is, the visual primitives assumed by the theory are not clearly specified or related to known neurophysiological or psychophysical evidence concerning early vision. Nevertheless, we conclude that FIT remains a viable theoretical framework. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The primacy of primary control is a human universal: A reply to Gould's (1999) critique of the life-span theory of control.

This reply to S. J. Gould's (see record 1999-03499-007) critique of J. Heckhausen and R. Schulz's (see record 1995-24550-001) life-span theory of control addresses four issues: (1) the universal claim that primary control holds functional primacy over secondary control, (2) the status of secondary control as a confederate to primary control, (3) empirical evidence and paradigms for investigating universality and cultural variations, and (4) the capacity of the human control system to manage both gains and losses in control throughout the life span and aging-related decline in particular. Theoretical perspectives and empirical evidence from evolutionary, comparative, developmental, and cultural psychology are presented to support the authors' view that primary control striving holds functional primacy throughout the life span and across cultural and historical settings. Recommendations for empirically investigating the variations in the way primary control striving is expressed in different cultures are outlined. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)