Simple solutions to a complex problem: A response to Rodman, Pratto, and Nelson (1988).

Rodman, Pratto, & Nelson (1988) take issue with the classification of youngsters who are unsupervised after school, but not in their own home, as "latchkey" or "self-care" children in studies that examine the effects of after-school care experiences on children's behavior and development. They also take issue with including young adolescents, 14-15 years, in such studies. On the basis of these concerns, they dismiss as spurious and misleading findings from a previous study (Steinberg, 1986), which suggested that latchkey youngsters who spend after-school hours away from home may be at greater risk for misbehavior than latchkey youngsters who are in their own homes. They then propose that researchers use the term self-care to refer only to elementary-school youngsters who are home alone (or with a younger sibling) after school. Arguments against these proposals are offered. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Testing response generation rules: A reply to Miller, Schachtman, and Matzel (1988).

In a series of autoshaping studies, Robbins (1988) demonstrated that performance after random presentations of a conditioned stimulus and unconditioned stimulus is not altered by later changes in the value of the training context. These results appear inconsistent with predictions made by the comparator hypothesis of conditioned performance advanced by Miller and Schachtman (1985a). Miller, Schachtman, and Matzel (1988) argue, however, that Robbins's procedures did not provide an appropriate test of the comparator model. They further claim that abundant evidence currently exists to support other predictions of the comparator hypothesis. I argue here that my procedures were particularly well suited to testing unique predictions of the model. Moreover, my results add to body of literature which suggests that the generality of the comparator mechanism as a determinant of performance may be severely limited. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Students' evaluations of teaching effectiveness and implicit theories: A critique of Cadwell and Jenkins (1985).

Cadwell and Jenkins (1985) briefly reviewed Marsh's research on students' evaluations of teaching effectiveness and found his factor analytic results "particularly impressive" (p. 383). However, they posited that the robustness of the factor structure was due to semantic similarities in his items and summarized results that they claimed to support this plausible contention. What Cadwell and Jenkins actually found was that most of the systematic variation in responses to each rating item was associated with differences in the experimentally manipulated teaching behaviors designed to parallel that item, a finding that supports the construct validity of the responses. Nevertheless, the methodological problems and conceptual ambiguities in their study dictate that interpretations should be made cautiously, and preclude any justifiable conclusions about the effect of semantic similarities. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A cross-cultural comparison about what? A critique of Nisan's (1987) study of morality and convention.

This critique of Nisan's (1987) study of morality and convention addresses methodological considerations for cross-cultural research on children's moral and conventional concepts. Three methodological structures for research on children's conceptual differentiations of societal and moral issues are outlined. One is the use of moral and conventional issues familiar to children. A second is that questions regarding rules or authority should be couched in relevant concrete contexts. The third is that there should be ways of testing the limits of perceived appropriateness of a rule or of the jurisdiction of authorities. The Nisan study was found to be deficient in its application of all three criteria. Other limitations of the Nisan study are also addressed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Additivity, subadditivity, and the use of visual information: A reply to Massaro (1988).

Previously we (N. Bruno and J. E. Cutting [see PA, Vol 75:28455]) explored the perception of spatial relations among objects laid out in a computer-generated environment. In his commentary on our article, D. W. Massaro (see record 1989-14292-001) raised several issues. The most important is from his reanalysis, which indicated that—because of a subadditive trend in the results—additive and multiplicative strategies fit our data in Experiment 1 about equally well. In reply, we performed a different analysis. Results corroborate subadditivity—and hence multiplicative information combination—in Experiment 1 but provide no evidence for it in Experiments 2 and 3. On the whole, then, the results still support additivity more strongly than any other combination rule and thus support our notion of minimodularity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Validity generalization: Rejoinder to Schmidt, Hunter, and Raju (1988).

A rejoinder to the Schmidt, Hunter, and Raju (1988) critique of James, Demaree, and Mulaik (1986) is presented. It is proposed that the recommendations offered by James et al (1986) remain intact. These recommendations were that greater attention be given to alternative explanations of the results of validity generalization (VG) analyses, that use of the 75% rule be discontinued, and that VG analyses be predicated on Fisher z coefficients. In addition, the implication of low statistical power for interpreting results of a VG analysis is considered and the potential need for new mathematical models for VG is reviewed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Affordances, codes, and decision processes: A response to Michaels (1993).

In her commentary on R. W. Proctor et al (see record 1993-20228-001), C. F. Michaels (see record 1994-08287-001) claimed to have demonstrated a destination compatibility effect that cannot be attributed to relative direction coding. She also argued that the concept of "affordance" compatibility is needed to supplement the concept of "coding" compatibility to explain differences in the ease with which people can respond to compatible assignments for different stimulus and response sets. Neither of these assertions is supported by existing evidence. The destination compatibility effect, as well as most other stimulus–response compatibility phenomena, can be attributed to decision processes that operate on stimulus and response codes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

In defense of the flashbulb-memory hypothesis: A comment on McCloskey, Wible, and Cohen (1988).

Memory for the events surrounding the discovery of unexpected, shocking news (flashbulb memories) was the topic of an article by McCloskey, Wible, and Cohen (1988). They examined a strong and a weak construal of a flashbulb hypothesis and found both versions inadequate. We argue that McCloskey et al. (a) proposed an unrealistic "strong" theory, (b) failed to consider subjects' emotional reaction, (c) inappropriately used individual cases of inaccuracy, (d) made inadequate between-experiments comparisons, and (e) failed to note important differences between flashbulb memories and other memories. We conclude that discarding the possibility of a special flashbulb mechanism is premature. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A critique of Heckhausen and Schulz's (1995) life-span theory of control from a cross-cultural perspective.

J. Heckhausen and R. Schulz (see record 1995-24550-001) proposed a life-span theory of control that applies the concepts of primary and secondary control. Although their approach is useful in focusing attention on control across the life span in Western contexts, it breaks down when seen from various Asian and other cultural perspectives. In much of Asia, secondary control takes on primacy and results in some control perspectives and manifestations different from those conceptualized by J. Heckhausen and R. Schulz. An examination of control in both Asia and the West indicates that there is need to reconceptualize the lifespan theory of control so that primary and secondary control are more accurately described, each type of control is treated as heterogeneous, and the perceived primacy of one or the other type of control is viewed as a matter of motivational or cultural focus. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Similar findings, different interpretations: A response to the commentary by Bootsma et al. (2010).

In this paper, we respond to the commentary by R J. Bootsma, L. Fernandez, A. H. P. Morice, and G. Montagne (2010) concerning our original study on the role of vision during the execution of fast interceptive actions (A. J. van Soest, L. J. R. Casius, W. de Kok, M. Krijger, M. Meeder, and P. J. Beek, 2010), that was inspired by the seminal study of R. J. Bootsma and P. C. W. van Wieringen (1990). Most importantly, we reiterate that the control strategy used in the simulation study (preprogrammed muscle stimulation, triggered at an appropriate time) was adopted on the sole ground that it was the simplest control strategy that allowed us to investigate the role of the visco-elastic properties of muscles. Regarding the visuomotor delay of our participants, we note that the assumption that the visuomotor delay can be reliably identified as the time from the occurrence of a minimum in the coefficient of variation of the relative rate of dilation to the instant of ball contact, is not generally accepted; lacking firm data on the visuomotor delay of our participants, any arguments on the relation between movement time and visuomotor delay are not well grounded. All in all, we believe that our original study added several new–but by no means final–insights to the understanding of the control of fast interceptive actions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Career-intervention outcome: A replication and extension of Oliver and Spokane (1988).

Studies published between 1983 and 1995 that examined the effectiveness of career interventions were subjected to a meta-analytic review to replicate L. W. Oliver and A. R. Spokane's (see record 1989-06873-001) study. Using a sophisticated coding system and extensive data analyses, this study examined 268 treatment-control contrasts from 47 studies that involved 4,660 participants. The average overall effect sizes were smaller but similar to those found previously. Individual career counseling was found to be the most effective and efficient treatment, whereas computer interventions were the most cost-effective. The results of this study do not support the previous finding that treatment intensity predicted effect-size magnitude. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Presidential greatness and personality: A response to McCann (1992).

S. J. McCann (see record 1992-18414-001) offered a new set of equations that predict presidential greatness. He explicitly argued that his new equations contradict the attributional model put forward by D. K. Simonton (1986, 1987). However, several conceptual and statistical problems may undermine the force of his argument. These include (1) a selection procedure that exploits arbitrary fluctuations in samples and ratings, (2) the choice not to reopen the search for situational predictors, (3) an excessive reliance on an inferior measure of presidential greatness, (4) the use of statistical procedures that may distort the true effect sizes, and (5) the decision to ignore the larger body of research supporting Simonton's equations and their theoretical interpretation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The intelligence of the moral intuitions: A comment on Haidt (2001).

The social intuitionist model (J. Haidt, see record 2001-18918-008) posits that fast and automatic intuitions are the prim source of moral judgments. Conscious deliberations play little causal role; they are used mostly to construct post hoc justifications for judgments that have already occurred. In this article, the authors present evidence that fast and automatic moral intuitions are actually shaped and informed by prior reasoning. More generally, there is considerable evidence from outside the laboratory that people actively engage in reasoning when faced with real-world moral dilemmas. Together, these facts limit the strong claims of the social intuitionist model concerning the irrelevance of conscious deliberation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Parallel ideas about stereopsis and binocular rivalry: A reply to Blake and O'Shea (1988).

Blake and O'Shea (1988) raised three major objections to a parallel theory of the structure of binocular vision (Wolfe, 1986a). In this response, each of their objections will be addressed. A series of experiments are proposed that clarify points of dispute. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Season of birth and schizophrenia: A response to the Lewis and Griffin critique.

A number of studies have suggested that schizophrenics are particularly likely to have been born in the winter months. M. S. Lewis and T. A. Griffin (1981) have argued that this "seasonality" effect may be an artifact resulting from (a) the use of inappropriate expected values in calculating chi-squares; (b) the age–incidence effect—the tendency of risk to increase with time in disorders whose incidence increases with age; and (c) the age–prevalence effect—the fact that people born early in a reporting period have been at risk for any disease longer than those born later in that period. The birth months of 3,556 schizophrenics at a Minnesota VA hospital were studied before and after instituting corrections in expected values for year-to-year across-month variations in birthrates and for the age-prevalence bias toward the January–March seasonality effect. Data on a subset of patients in whom the age–incidence effect should be minimal were reanalyzed. Even after these corrections, results support the contention that the winter birthrate for schizophrenics is excessive, at least in severe climates. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Indeterminacy of heritability of thought disorder: Reply to Matthysse and Holzman (1988).

The points raised by Matthysse and Holzman (1988) center around two major issues: (a) how to measure thought disorder and (b) how to think about its relation to schizophrenia and the etiology of that disorder. Some of the limitations that Matthysse and Holzman (1988) note appear to be based on misunderstandings of our (Berenbaum, Oltmanns, & Gottesman, 1985) methods, particularly what we were measuring and why we were measuring it. We, too, were surprised to find no evidence that these fundamental aspects of formal thought disorder are heritable. We do not know whether other anomalies of verbal communication are heritable. The issue must be resolved through further empirical investigation. Finally, some aspects of the model proposed by Matthysse and Holzman are open to serious question. The assumption that there is no relation between severity of illness and the underlying liability that precipitated the illness is most likely incorrect. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)