Multidimensional models and iconic decay: Reply to di Lollo and Dixon.

Discusses 2 issues raised by V. di Lollo and P. Dixon (see record 1992-33922-001). First, the authors formalize the notion of "informational dimensionality" and demonstrate that G. R. Loftus's extraction-rate model is equivalent to di Lollo and Dixon's "dual-decay model" with respect to dimensionality. Second, the authors describe how the extraction-rate model can be modified to apply it to 2 data sets reported by di Lollo and Dixon. The major modifications involve (1) the assumption of capacity limitations in short-term memory and (2) the assumption of differential information-extraction rates prior to and after probe presentation in a partial-report paradigm. The authors demonstrate that although the model can account qualitatively for di Lollo and Dixon's data, it cannot account for them quantitatively. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

On the accuracy of personality judgment: A realistic approach.

The "accuracy paradigm" for the study of personality judgment provides an important, new complement to the "error paradigm" that dominated this area of research for almost 2 decades. The present article introduces a specific approach within the accuracy paradigm called the Realistic Accuracy Model (RAM). RAM begins with the assumption that personality traits are real attributes of individuals. This assumption entails the use of a broad array of criteria for the evaluation of personality judgment and leads to a model that describes accuracy as a function of the availability, detection, and utilization of relevant behavioral cues. RAM provides a common explanation for basic moderators of accuracy, sheds light on how these moderators interact, and outlines a research agenda that includes the reintegration of the study of error with the study of accuracy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Homoscedasticity.

William Kruskal, of the Department of Statistics at the University of Chicago, has been kind enough to point out an error in my interpretation of Narumi's theorem in my comment (La Forge, 1958) on Nefzger and Drasgow's article "The needless assumption of normality in Pearson's r" (see record 1959-02530-001). "Homoscedasticity" had a different definition in the conditions of Narumi's theorem from the current definition of equality of variance among all the conditional distributions of y given x; Narumi used "homoscedasticity" to mean identity of the conditional distributions themselves, as the condition implying bivariate normality. Thus my specific criticism in the last sentence of my first paragraph on page 546 is unjustified. The general criticism remains in force, however, since Nefzger and Drasgow were actually discussing, on page 624 of their article, "the assumption of normal and homogeneous dispersions" in the y × x. Since normal distributions are identical up to a translation if their dispersions are equal, the conditions of Narumi's theorem are satisfied. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

What's in a stage name? Comment on Vecera and O'Reilly (1998).

M. A. Peterson and colleagues proposed that early object recognition processes proceed in parallel with processes assessing "low-level" configural cues and that the outputs of all these processes combine to determine figure–ground segregation. S. P. Vecera and R. C. O'Reilly (1998) presented an interactive model designed to account for Peterson and colleagues' results while retaining the traditional assumption that figure–ground segregation precedes access to object memories. This commentary explicates the figure–ground-first assumption, reviews the evidence for the parallel proposal, and critiques the Vecera and O'Reilly model. It is shown that, because the Vecera and O'Reilly model relies on an assumption that object recognition affects figure–ground only when low-level cues are ambiguous, it retains the figure–ground-first assumption in name only. Further, it is shown that the model cannot account for all the evidence. Implications of possible amendments to the model are considered. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Cross-validational studies of the personality correlates of the A-B therapist "type" distinction among professionals and nonprofessionals.

Notes that research with the A-B therapist "type" variable has included many analog studies in which A and B undergraduates have been assumed to be personologically similar to A and B professionals. To assess whether this "invariance assumption" is tenable across samples varying in vocational commitment/training, sex, education, and adjustment, the personality correlates of A-B status (identified in a prior study with the Personality Research Form) was cross-validated across 5 new samples. A and B Ss among 94 male professionals, 661 male undergraduates, 114 male college clinic patients, and 720 female undergraduates were compared. Univariate and multivariate analyses lent strong support to the invariance assumption: in every sample, B-type Ss exceeded A-type Ss on scales measuring risk taking, dominance, change, sentience, and "counterdependence." (32 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

High school yearbooks: A reply to Schwarz.

Examines the criticism of J. C. Schwarz (see record 1970-14955-001) of the study by C. N. Barthell and D. S. Holmes (see PA, Vol. 42:17448) on preschizophrenics using archival data. The traditional assumption that nuisance variables like social class should routinely be "controlled" by case-matching or statistical suppression is challenged. Whether and how much, shared variance should be removed in archival studies is shown to hinge upon a prior causal framework. It is argued that in most archival studies the assumption is highly problematic, and no safer than the substantive theory of interest itself. It is further argued that statistical control of nuisance variables is not "playing it safe," since under several plausible assumptions such control will generate misleading results (e.g., will pseudofalsify a good causal theory). (22 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The deprofessionalization of civil commitment.

Replies to comments made by Page (see record 2007-09054-001) on the original article "Indigenous Paraprofessional and Involuntary Civil Commitment: A Return to Community Values" (see record 1985-10551-001). The suggestions I offered for the reform of existing civil commitment laws are, clearly, "liberal," in so much as the intention was to curtail the medical prerogative in civil commitment procedures. Based on this proposal Page seems to have made the assumption that if I espoused such a reform I must be, naturally, politically liberal, which I am. Page errs, however, when he states that my policy suggestions rest on the belief that the community is also liberal and as such will exert a "liberalizing influence upon the social control and 'person-blaming' aspects of establishment psychiatry." I made no such assumption, however, I did indicate that the layperson may, in fact, have a potentially "corrective" influence in the accurate prediction of dangerous behaviour in civil commitment procedures. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Preschoolers' default assumptions about word meaning: Proper names designate unique individuals.

Ninty 4-year olds took part in this experiment. Children heard a novel word (e.g., "X") uttered in an ambiguous sentence frame (e.g., "This Y is X", where "Y" was a basic-level count noun, such as "dog") and applied to either 1 or 2 drawings of familiar animals. This word could be construed either as a proper name (e.g., "This dog is Fred") or as an adjective (e.g., "This dog is red"). Children were more likely to interpret the words as a proper name (and less likely to interpret it as an adjective) if it was applied to 1 than if it was applied to 2 objects. Children thus made a default assumption that, in order to be a proper name, a word should be applied to only 1 individual. However, children overrode this default assumption if sufficient contextual information (from additional syntactic cues) indicated that they should do so. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interspecies versus Species-Specific.

Comments on "Experimental investigations of species-specific behavior" by Beach (see record 1961-01865-001). With respect to Beach's plea for the investigation of species-specific behavior, perhaps the assumption should be made by all comparative psychologists that "Any behavior is presumed interspecies until proven species-specific." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Therapy recommendations of the Drug Committee of the German Medical Association--an instrument for quality assurance in drug therapy. Drug Committee of the German Medical Association, Cologne

This article addresses the inadequacy of the standard genogram for African American families because of its underlying assumption that "family" is strictly a biological entity. The author suggests that this assumption is not culturally valid for African American families who have a long history of defining "family" as a kinship based on biological and functional ties. Using this conceptualization, an African American genogram is proposed.     

Traditional versus "new therapies."

Comments on S. A. Appelbaum's article (see record 1983-13146-001) which discussed new "human potential" therapies. The current author opines that while it is gratifying that Appelbaum (September 1982) could see how psychoanalytic therapy could benefit from some of the criticisms offered by the "new therapies," the assumption in the article that traditional equals psychoanalytic is a disservice to all those nonpsychoanalytic therapies that have been around for many years. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The real world of special education.

Comments on D. K. Detterman and L. A. Thompson's article (see record 1997-30052-007) concerning special education. The authors feel that the argument that "the goals of special education should be stated in terms of achievement and IQ" is an untenable generalization, and suggest that the assumption that current special education instructional practices are ineffective is inaccurate. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interrelations among three criteria of improvement in group therapy: Comfort, effectiveness, and self-awareness.

7 measures (3 of comfort, 2 of effectiveness, 2 of self-awareness) were obtained from 15 neurotic patients at the beginning and end of 20 weeks of group therapy. "Significant change was found on three measures… . Of the 21 intercorrelations between change scores, only one was significant at the .05 level." The "assumption that changes on different measures and criteria go together and that improvement can be considered a unitary process" is not supported. 16 references. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Why Don't You Listen to What I'm Not Saying?

Reviews the book, Why Don't You Listen to What I'm Not Saying? by Judith Milstein Katz (1981). This tiny volume reads like 13 enjoyable undergraduate lectures: enjoyable because the writing style is light rather than ponderous. Katz challenges the view that reality exists independent of our interpretation of it. The central theme of the book is that we create our social realities because all interpersonal behaviour is ambiguous. We generate hypotheses or theories about the behaviours of others. Each of these hypotheses is based on assumptions of differing weights. Our weighting of an assumption, our preference for a particular hypothesis, influences the probability of finding "evidence" to back up our preferred assumption/ hypothesis. Our hypotheses and theories become self-fulfilling prophesies. The focus of the book is mainly on the interpretations of the social interactions of marital (or near-marital) partners, with some additional illustrations from parent/child interactions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The needless assumption of normality in Pearson's r.

With regard to proper application of the Pearson technique, statistical textbook authors fall into 2 groups: those who indicate that it is necessary for each of the variables to be normally distributed, and those who point out that normality of distribution is required in neither of the correlated variables. Perhaps the erroneous assumption of normally distributed variables stems "from Pearson's first presentation of the method and has been perpetuated through 11 Editions of Fisher's classic text. An objection to Pearson's choice of a poor example and his failure to generalize beyond the restrictive limits of normal data were pointed out at the time by Yule." Psychologists and statisticians "are still harassed in many quarters by the needless assumption of normality for the proper computation of Pearson's r." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Multimodal replenishment.

Presents a model of self-assessment. The multimodal orientation is predicated on the assumption that most psychological problems are multifaceted, multidetermined, and multilayered, and that comprehensive therapy calls for a careful assessment of seven parameters or "modalities": behavior, affect, sensation, imagery, cognition, interpersonal relationships, and biological processes. The first letters from the 7 modalities form the acronym BASIC I.D., although the "D" modality represents the entire panoply of medical and biological factors. A weekly, or at least fortnightly, self-assessment of one's BASIC I.D. is recommended. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's emotional attributions to self versus other: An exploration of an assumption underlying projective techniques.

Examined the assumption that children attribute socially undesirable or conflictual affects to ambiguous characters that they ordinarily censure when attributing affect to themselves. The quality and intensity of 72 1st, 3rd, and 5th graders' emotional attributions to themselves and to others as characters in affect-laden stories were examined. Each of 5 stories was told twice, once using "you" as the subject of the story and once using an ambiguous character named Mary or John as the subject of the story. Results indicate that Ss attributed a greater number of sad and scared responses and fewer happy responses to the other than to the self. More intense responses were attributed to the other than to the self. Boys attributed more intensely happy and less intensely scared responses to characters than girls did. Results partially confirm the assumption underlying projective techniques and are discussed with reference to the development of children's defenses, to social desirability, and to developmental studies of empathy. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Comment on "The Needless Assumption of Normality in Pearson's r".

Comment on article by M. D. Nefzger and J. Drasgow (see record 1959-02530-001), in which they emphasized the fact that the computation of r does not require an assumption of normality in the marginal distributions. They have, however, failed to take the equally desirable next step of pointing out that linearity also need not be assumed in the computation of r. The next term to be denned is "assumption." The implication apparently is that if you use a linear prediction equation you assume it to be the true relation in the sense just defined. I think this implication is unnecessary and that considerable confusion can be avoided by not making it. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)