Zero correlations among tests of intellectual abilities.

It is often asserted that intercorrelations among tests of intellectual abilities are almost always positive, justifying the belief in a "g" factor and supporting the choice for oblique rotations of axes in factor analyses. Empirical information is presented from correlation matrices obtained in 13 typical analyses of intellectual measures showing that among more than 7000 correlation coefficients, 17-24% can be considered to be 0. It is estimated that under optimal conditions, when there are 15 factors, as few as 11% would need to be 0 to determine a clear, orthogonal simple structure. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Two types of conditioning in psychotics and normals.

The conditionality of 2 groups of schizophrenics (chronic paranoids and chronic nonparanoids) and a normal (male nurses) was tested via 2 methods of conditioning: visual (stimulus)—eyelid (response), and auditory (stimulus)—handpress (response). The results indicated no difference between the groups re: eyelid conditioning, but the paranoid group took significantly longer to condition on the verbal procedure. Suggested reasons for the results are discussed, and the results are compared with that of previous research. 18 refs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Predicting the outcome of social therapy with chronic psychotics.

A group of 69 male, long-hospitalized chronic psychotics in an experimental rehabilitation unit was tested on a new device, the Hunter problem box, prior to their treatment by 1 or 3 variants of social therapy. A summary score, the Hunter Process Index, was developed to relate to patients' postprogram adjustment on completion of a social therapy program. The index reflects changes in the degree of problem solving rigidity displayed by the patient as he moves from a simple, 2-light, single alternation problem to a more complex, 4-light, double alternation problem. The Hunter Process Index was validated with a group of 71 long-hospitalized, female psychotics who also had been exposed to the social therapy approach of the rehabilitation unit, and again with a group of 48 male chronic psychotics who had received some slight variation in the program. The index scores were predictive of the outcome of patients in these groups. Clinical judgments failed to predict outcomes. A normal control group in a separate study earned better Hunter index scores than did either the released or hospitalized groups of male chronic psychotics. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Performance of functional psychotics on a repetitive task.

On a repetitive task for 2 successive periods of 10 minutes, non-paranoid schizophrenics showed little improvement with practice during the first period, a rise in level of performance after rest, and a fall in level during the second period. Endogenous depressives showed improvement during both periods, but little increase of performance after rest. Differences in performance were significant between the 2 groups. For the schizophrenics there were differences in response rate depending on length of hospitalization. These findings support results of other investigators and are consistent with the theory of differential susceptibility to reactive inhibition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Factors in the motor behavior of functional psychotics.

The author presents a continuation of a research project (see 32: 1873) which suggested that reactive inhibition developed to a greater extent in schizophrenics than normals. The initial task (depressing a key in response to the appearance of a light on a panel) was altered to permit the possibility of quicker response rates, and a group of depressives was added for comparison. The results of the follow-up study are shown to continue to support the theory re: reactive inhibition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Use of reinforcement and imitation to reinstate verbal behavior in mute psychotics.

Verbal behavior was reinstated in 3 long-term, mute psychotics using reinforcement procedures. For 2 Ss, shaping and fading techniques were used to establish limited verbal repertoires. Wtih a 3rd S, the shaping technique was ineffective; however, a reinforced imtiation technique succeeded in developing imitative vocalizations which were then established as verbal responses. For all Ss, the functional role of contingent reinforcement in maintaining the recently developed verbal behavior was demonstrated: when Ss received reinforcement only when they were not responding verbally, their rates of verbal responding showed marked decreases, but recovered when contingent reinforcement for verbal behavior was resumed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reaction time, distractibility, and overinclusive thinking in psychotics.

Fifteen paranoid schizophrenics, 15 nonparanoid schizophrenics, and 15 nonschizophrenic psychiatric inpatients were given 3 of Babcock's tests of psychomotor retardation, and a test of overinclusive thinking based on Benjamin's proverbs. In addition, they took part in a simple and multiple-choice auditory reactiontime experiment in which the presence and number of distracting stimuli were varied. As predicted, the reaction times of the overinclusive patients were initially significantly slower. Overinclusive patients were also significantly more affected by the distraction, presumably because they are less able to filter out these irrelevant stimuli. A similar performance characterized those diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenic, as contrasted to those with other diagnoses, probably because of the significant relationship between paranoia and overinclusive thinking. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Allowing for correlations between correlations in random-effects meta-analysis of correlation matrices.

Practical meta-analysis of correlation matrices generally ignores covariances (and hence correlations) between correlation estimates. The authors consider various methods for allowing for covariances, including generalized least squares, maximum marginal likelihood, and Bayesian approaches, illustrated using a 6-dimensional response in a series of psychological studies concerning prediction of exercise behavior change. Quantities of interest include the overall population mean correlation matrix, the contrast between the mean correlations, the predicted correlation matrix in a new study, and the conflict between the existing studies and a new correlation matrix. The authors conclude that accounting for correlations between correlations is unnecessary when interested in individual correlations but potentially important if concerned with a composite measure involving 2 or more correlations. A simulation study indicates the asymptotic normal assumption appears reasonable. Because of potential instability in the generalized least squares methods, they recommend a model-based approach, either the maximum marginal likelihood approach or a full Bayesian analysis. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Increasing test validity by considering interitem correlations.

Several investigators have proposed item-selection methods which construct a 1st-stage test consisting of the most valid items then a 2nd-stage test by adding to the 1st-stage test items which are moderately valid yet which correlate low with the 1st-stage test. Several proposed indices for selecting 2nd-stage items were compared, and some found noticeably better than others; a 3rd-stage test was noticeably better than a 2nd-stage test, but a 4th-stage test was no better than the 3rd-stage test. A method which adds several items to form each new stage was found superior to a method which adds only 1 item. The best method constructed tests substantially better on cross-validation than methods which ignore interitem correlations. (19 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Within-groups correlations and their correction for attenuation.

"Situations frequently occur in which an investigator obtains the correlations between the same two variables in several groups of subjects and wants to obtain some over-all estimate of the degree of correlation between the two variables." Several techniques for evaluating such statistical problems are presented. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An Empirical Evaluation of Alternative Methods of Estimation for Confirmatory Factor Analysis With Ordinal Data.

Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) is widely used for examining hypothesized relations among ordinal variables (e.g., Likert-type items). A theoretically appropriate method fits the CFA model to polychoric correlations using either weighted least squares (WLS) or robust WLS. Importantly, this approach assumes that a continuous, normal latent process determines each observed variable. The extent to which violations of this assumption undermine CFA estimation is not well-known. In this article, the authors empirically study this issue using a computer simulation study. The results suggest that estimation of polychoric correlations is robust to modest violations of underlying normality. Further, WLS performed adequately only at the largest sample size but led to substantial estimation difficulties with smaller samples. Finally, robust WLS performed well across all conditions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Toward using confidence intervals to compare correlations.

Confidence intervals are widely accepted as a preferred way to present study results. They encompass significance tests and provide an estimate of the magnitude of the effect. However, comparisons of correlations still rely heavily on significance testing. The persistence of this practice is caused primarily by the lack of simple yet accurate procedures that can maintain coverage at the nominal level in a nonlopsided manner. The purpose of this article is to present a general approach to constructing approximate confidence intervals for differences between (a) 2 independent correlations, (b) 2 overlapping correlations, (c) 2 nonoverlapping correlations, and (d) 2 independent R2s. The distinctive feature of this approach is its acknowledgment of the asymmetry of sampling distributions for single correlations. This approach requires only the availability of confidence limits for the separate correlations and, for correlated correlations, a method for taking into account the dependency between correlations. These closed-form procedures are shown by simulation studies to provide very satisfactory results in small to moderate sample sizes. The proposed approach is illustrated with worked examples. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An analysis of correlations corrected for attenuation and range restriction.

An empirical attempt at demonstrating the bias in correlation coefficients that are corrected for both attenuation and range restriction was recently presented by R. Lee et al (see record 1983-02451-001). Using asymptotic methods, the present article analytically derives properties of the double-corrected correlation. It is shown that the double-corrected correlation is negatively biased. This negative bias decreases with increasing sample size and/or selection ratio. An expression for the standard error of the corrected correlation, useful for confidence interval estimation, is presented. Although the standard error of the corrected correlation is larger than that of the uncorrected correlation, the increase is proportionately smaller than the respective increase in the point estimate. Findings represent progress toward the request for full information about corrected correlations set forth in the Standards for Educational and Psychological Tests. (12 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A short method of factor analysis.

"Occasions arise where it is desirable to apply factor analytic techniques, but the exploratory nature of the work and the time available may not justify a complete centroid analysis. A diagonal method, modified by using reliabilities instead of guessed communalities in the diagonal cells, is suggested as a statisfactory and economical substitute for the complete centroid solution under certain conditions. The results of an empirical comparison of this method with the complete centroid method on one correlation matrix show that the two agreed fairly closely upon most of the factors obtained." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Some personality and intellectual correlations of intolerance of ambiguity.

The relations among authoritarianism, intelligence, ambiguity tolerance, and adequacy of personal adjustment are investigated, employing 20 male undergraduates as subjects. Authoritarianism correlates positively with manifest anxiety and negatively with intelligence, measured by academic achievement, and ego structure as estimated by an experienced clinical psychologist. No significant relation is found between authoritarianism and tolerance of ambiguous visual or auditory stimuli. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The masculinity-femininity dimension in normal and psychotic subjects.

A research was designed to test hypotheses derived from psychoanalytic theory that psychotic and normal women differ in their responses to measures of different levels of masculinity organization. "On the DC (Drawing Completion Test), the psychotic women obtain more masculine scores than do normals. However, using the DAP (Draw-A-Person Test) as a measure of body image, only two of four measures yielded significant differences, and these did not hold up on cross-validation. The verbal statements of normal women concerning masculinity-femininity status correspond more closely to their respective measures of body image status than do those of psychotic women." Theoretical implications of findings and areas for future research are discussed. 22 references. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A factor analysis of managers' ratings.

Assignment ratings on 97 insurance company division managers, for a list of 20 assignments, were factor-analyzed into an orthogonal solution containing a general factor and five group factors. The group factors were named: "Skill in dealing with others," "Judgment," "Effectiveness in supervising the work," "Effectiveness in planning the work," and "Effectiveness in improving operating efficiency." The general factor accounted for more of the variance than any of the group factors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Validity data on the psychotic reaction profile.

Psychotic Reaction Profile (PRP) ratings were obtained on random samples from 4 identifiable groups of hospitalized psychotics: closed-ward patients without ground privileges (N = 59), closed-ward patients with privileges (N = 60), open-ward patients (N = 52), and open-ward patients involved in predischarge planning (N = 25). It was hypothesized that if these groups reflect an ordering in terms of degree of psychiatric incapacitation, then the mean PRP-scale scores for these groups should show the same ordering. Significant between-group differences were found on 3 scales (Withdrawal, Thinking Disorganization, and Paranoid Belligerence). Comparisons made between the means of the "adjacent" groups, using Duncan's test, indicated the scales to be sensitive enough to differentiate in most cases. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An informational analysis of clinical judgment.

Information theory was used as a theoretical model and methodological tool for the study of certain aspects of the clinical judgment process. By means of such a model, the capacity of a group of clinicians to process case information was studied. 3 types of input conditions were systematically varied with 3 types of judgments. It was found that the number of discriminations made by each group was close to the maximum of 3.00 bits, although the number of reliable discriminations was more limited, ranging from .88 to 1.49 bits. An increase in reliable discriminations as a consequence of adding more case information was rather slight. The 3 judgment systems were found to be highly interrelated, suggesting a common underlying response dimension. (17 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)