Social reputation and social behavior: A further validation of the Peer Nomination Inventory.

2 studies were done on the congruence of reputation and overt behavior. Ss were 255 5th- and 6th-grade boys. The Peer Nomination Inventory (Wiggins & Winder, 1961) was used to assess the reputation of each boy for Aggression, Dependency, Withdrawal, Depression, and Likeability. Ss were assigned to high-,medium-, and low-aggression reputation groups, and to analogous dependency reputation groups. Then, Ss were observed, respectively, in a Situational Test of Aggression and a Situational Test of Dependency. Findings support the conclusion that reputation is predictive of overt interpersonal behavior. A tentative conclusion is that overt dependency and overt aggression are less closely related than are those aspects of reputation. More specifically, the results are a partial validation of the Aggression and Dependency scales of the Peer Nomination Inventory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interpersonal affect and conformity behavior in schizophrenics.

A group of 28 schizophrenics Ss was equated with a group of 28 normal Ss on the factors of age and education. Each S was then tested as to the number of affectual relationships he produced on 4 Thematic Apperception Test cards. A measure of his conformity to social influence was obtained by a measure of his behavior in a group situation in which he was asked to compare the length of lines in an optical illusion study. An analysis of the data by means of multiple X2 design showed a significant interaction among all 3 factors: mental health, conformity, and affect. The factors of mental health and conformity interacted to a greater extent than did any other 2 factors taken together. Conformity and affect were more closely related to the factor of mental health than they were to each other. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Some effects of feedback from the experimenter on conformity behavior.

The first experiment dealt with the importance of continuous feedback from the experimenter as a factor in conformity behavior as contrasted with discontinued feedback. Discontinued feedback was shown to be less effective but only when the feedback reinforced independence. The second experiment tested the generality of the previous finding that feedback in line with consensus has little or no effect whereas feedback in favor of objective reality drastically reduces the level of conformity behavior. It was found that reinforcement of conformity had a strong effect and that the effect of reinforcing independence was still significant but reduced. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Consumption behavior and the aspiration for conformity and consistency.

The (socio-)psychological concepts of individual aspiration for conformity and consistency are integrated into the rational choice framework. By using this integrative approach, it is shown that, after a shock, the aspiration for conformity results in a steady state that deviates from the homo oeconomicus's behavior toward the consumption of the peer group, whereas the aspiration for consistency leads to the result that the steady-state consumption is not reached at once. With the combination of these effects, a new consumption path is derived. After a shock, the individual consumption converges step by step to the new steady-state consumption. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Construction and validation of a Thurstone scale of liberalism—conservatism.

A 23-item scale of liberalism—conservatism was constructed by the Thurstone method of equal-appearing intervals and found to correlate highly (point-biserial r = .64) with a naturalistic behavioral criterion consisting of self-selected, actively campaigning political groups (Young Democrats and Young Republicans). The scale yielded an internal-consistency coefficient of .79, indicating substantial common variance among items, and a coefficient of reproducibility of .87, indicating quasiscalability. A considerably greater proportion of non-perfect scale types, as evidenced by a significantly greater number of errors of reproducibility (p     

A comment on the recent study of the Mechanical Comprehension Test (CC) by R. L. Decker.

Reference is made to a 1959 article (see 33: 6982) which is "lacking in accuracy to such an extent that some comments on it appear to be in order." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Retranslation of expectations: An approach to the construction of unambiguous anchors for rating scales.

A procedure was tested for the construction of evaluative rating scales anchored by examples of expected behavior. Expectations, based on having observed similar behavior, were used to permit rating in a variety of situations without sacrifice of specificity. Examples, submitted by head nurses as illustrations of nurses' behavior related to a given dimension were retained only if reallocated to that dimension by other head nurses, and then scaled as to desirability. Agreement for a number of examples was high, and scale reliabilities ranged above .97. Similar content validity should be obtained in other rating situations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cross validation of an IBM proof machine test battery.

In validating predictors of performance in bank clerical work, 53 proof machine operators, on whom predictors were tried, were followed up. Performance on a work sample was related to tests given concurrently. In the follow-up study, actual production items per hour were determined. The predictors of the first study were essentially accurate. "A multiple test battery with the requirement that two of the three tests be passed at the group median or better had a very good selective efficiency against both criteria and is recommended to increase production by almost 13%." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of information source status and dogmatism upon conformity behavior.

This study explored the relationship between degree of authoritarianism, as measured by Rokeach's (1960) Dogmatism Scale, and susceptibility to influence by individuals of high and low social status. College Ss were placed in the autokinetic problem (see 10: 1332); a confederate of E, introduced as either a research scientist or a high school senior, gave his responses to the situation prior to S. The confederate's judgments were contrived so as to disagree with S's. Ss high in authoritarianism tended to agree with (conform to) the responses of the "scientist"; Ss low in authoritarianism, with the "high school student." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The development and validation of a test of creativity in engineering.

"Two forms of a 20-item test of creativity were developed through analyses of item response data of 345 engineering students at Purdue University. Three scores were developed for the test: Fluency score, Flexibility score, and Originality score. Investigations of the validity, reliability, interscorer agreement, relationships with other tests, and 'face validity' of the Creativity scores were made with 64 product development engineers and process engineers in a large automobile accessories manufacturing company." Significant validity was found (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Some effects of combining psychological tests on clinical inferences.

The study was designed to determine whether the reliability and validity of interpretations based on 3 frequently used psychological tests—Rorschach, TAT, MMPI—increased as a function of number of tests employed. 30 clinical psychologists completed personality questionnaires describing 5 Ss on the basis of identifying data alone, each test individually, pairs of tests, and all 3 combined. Reliability and validity did not increase as a function of number of tests, nor were there any differences between tests or pairs of tests. The validity scores for test data ranged from 66% to 73%, with a Mean of 68%. The reliability scores ranged from 56% to 72%, with a Mean of 64%. (18 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Similes Preference Inventory: Development of a structured measure of the tendency toward variety.

The aim was to develop a structured measure of the active, interoceptive form of tendency toward variety that would be more reliable and simpler than novelty of productions, which is the thematic apperception measure currently in use. A highly reliable set of 54 items was devised and called the Similes Preference Inventory (SPI). Each of the items presented the beginning of a common simile, with 5 alternative endings, 1 of which was to be endorsed on the basis of preference. The 5 endings differed in degree of novelty. As expected, the relationship between SPI and novelty of productions is substantial, and both measures show very similar patterns of external correlates. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Deaf Identity Development Scale: A revision and validation.

The Deaf Identity Development Scale (DIDS; N. S. Glickman, 1993) was revised on the basis of recommendations by N. S. Glickman and was validated on a sample of 323 hearing-impaired participants residing in the southwestern part of the United States. The DIDS is an instrument designed to measure 4 deaf identity constructs: hearing, marginal, immersion, and bicultural. The findings were tested according to the deaf identity development theory and the data were analyzed for internal consistency reliability, item-to-scale reliability, and interscale correlations. Results of these and factor analysis support the existence of 4 relatively independent deaf identities. Results of 4 separate analyses of variance with post hoc multiple comparisons reveal that onset and severity of hearing loss influences one's deaf identity development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A modified model for test validation and selection research.

It is argued that the clasisc prediction model is grossly oversimplified and has resulted in corresponding oversimplifications in the design of most validation studies. A modified and more complex prediction model is presented. Implications for future validation research are discussed in the context of the kinds of behaviors to be predicted, the necessity for investigating heterocedastic and nonlinear relationships, and the important advantages in prediction which may be realized by discovering homogeneous subsets of jobs, tests, people, and behavior within which prediction equations may be developed and crossvalidated. (32 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reliability and behavior domain validity: Reformulation and historical critique.

Determination of the reliability of psychological scales has remained a problem over the last 50 years because of a rigid adherence to unobjective and unrealistic postulates about the nature of measurement. From the general form of the reliability of an unstratified composite several computational formulae are derived. These derivations make no assumptions about underlying factors or of statistically equivalent test-samples but rather are derived on the basis of the objective principles of domain sampling. 27 references. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory: Development and validation of a short version.

This article reports on the development of a revised version of the Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory (OCI; E. B. Foa, M. J. Kozak, P. Salkovskis, M. E. Coles, & N. Amir, 1998), a psychometrically sound, theoretically driven, self-report measure. The revised OCI (OCI-R) improves on the parent version in 3 ways: It eliminates the redundant frequency scale, simplifies the scoring of the subscales, and reduces overlap across subscales. The reliability and validity of the OCI-R were examined in 215 patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), 243 patients with other anxiety disorders, and 677 nonanxious individuals. The OCI-R, which contains 18 items and 6 subscales, has retained excellent psychometric properties. The OCI-R and its subscales differentiated well between individuals with and without OCD. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses demonstrated the usefulness of the OCI-R as a diagnostic tool for screening patients with OCD, utilizing empirically derived cutscores. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development and validation of adaptability criteria.

A factor analysis of 22 variables obtained from aviation cadets revealed 5 interpretable factors: peer respect, peer acceptance, group conformity, academic achievement, and flying achievement. Hypotheses derived from the adaptability construct were supported. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Recipe for a cook book.

"The purpose of this note is to point out that the base rate is an essential part of every validity study, that p1 and p2 determined without reference to the base rate are quite meaningless, and that every valid continuous predictor, properly used, can give better predictions than those given by the base rate alone." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development of a Psychometrically Sound Internet Addiction Scale: A Preliminary Step.

The Internet Addiction Scale (IAS) is a self-report instrument based on the 7 Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.; American Psychiatric Association, 1994) substance dependence criteria and 2 additional criteria recommended by Griffiths (1998). The IAS was administered to 233 undergraduates along with 4 measures pertaining to loneliness and boredom proneness. An item reliability analysis reduced the initial scale from 36 to 31 items (with a Cronbach's alpha of .95). A principal-components analysis indicated that the IAS consisted mainly of one factor. Multiple regression analyses revealed that Family and Social Loneliness and Boredom Proneness were significantly correlated with the IAS; Family and Social Loneliness uniquely predicted IAS scores. No evidence for widespread Internet addiction was found. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Must all tests be valid?

Validity "is universally praised, but the good works done in its name are remarkably few… . The basic difficulty in validating many tests arises, we believe, not from inadequate criteria but from logical and operational limitations of the concept of validity itself." 4 indications of difficulty with the concept of validity are specified and bases for these problems are considered. "We would suggest that meaningfulness replace validity in the usual lists of major desirable characteristics of a measuring instrument." From Psyc Abstracts 36:04:4AE40E. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)