Bayesian item selection criteria for adaptive testing

Owen (1975) proposed an approximate empirical Bayes procedure for item selection in computerized adaptive testing (CAT). The procedure replaces the true posterior by a normal approximation with closed-form expressions for its first two moments. This approximation was necessary to minimize the computational complexity involved in a fully Bayesian approach but is no longer necessary given the computational power currently available for adaptive testing. This paper suggests several item selection criteria for adaptive testing which are all based on the use of the true posterior. Some of the statistical properties of the ability estimator produced by these criteria are discussed and empirically characterized.Portions of this paper were presented at the 60th annual meeting of the Psychometric Society, Minneapolis, Minnesota, June, 1995. The author is indebted to Wim M. M. Tielen for his computational support.     

Desirable but not smart: preference for smarter romantic partners impairs women's STEM outcomes

Although women today excel in many areas of society, they are often underrepresented in the traditionally male‐dominated fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM). The present research examined whether traditional romantic partner preferences—specifically, a desire to date partners who are smarter than oneself—affects women's tendency to minimize their intelligence in STEM fields when pursuing romantic goals. Women (but not men) who preferred smarter romantic partners showed worse math performance (Studies 1–2), less identification with math (Study 2), and less interest in STEM careers (Study 3) when the goal to be romantically desirable was activated. A meta‐analysis across studies supported results. This research thus demonstrates that partner preferences influence women's STEM outcomes in response to romantic goal pursuit.     

The role of person versus situation in life satisfaction: a critical examination

Two main theoretical approaches have been put forward to explain individual differences in life satisfaction: top-down (i.e., personological) and bottom-up (i.e., situational). The authors examine the relative merit of these 2 approaches and the psychological processes underlying top-down models. Consistent with a top-down approach, meta-analytic findings indicate that Neuroticism, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness are related to both various domain satisfactions and life satisfaction; however, consistent with a bottom-up approach, domain satisfactions are strongly linked to life satisfaction but only weakly linked to each other. Path analyses based on meta-analytic estimates did not support a simple "direct-effects" top-down model but supported both (a) a temperament-based top-down model and (b) an integrative model that incorporates the direct influence of domain satisfactions on life satisfaction.     

Self‐esteem moderates preferences for accepting versus rejecting interaction partners

Two experiments compared the social orientations of people with high and low self‐esteem (HSEs vs. LSEs). In Experiment 1, participants received positive or negative interpersonal feedback from an accepting or rejecting evaluator. HSEs chose to interact with a rejecting evaluator more often than LSEs did. In Experiment 2, participants received solely negative interpersonal feedback from an accepting or rejecting evaluator of high or low social status. This time, both HSEs and LSEs chose an accepting/high‐status evaluator over a rejecting/low‐status one, but only HSEs chose a rejecting/high‐status evaluator over an accepting/low‐status one. Implications are discussed. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Important criteria for spouse selection in a sample of Iranian youth

The aim was to study important criteria for spouse selection by a sample of Iranian youth, 110 Iranian university students (60 women and 50 men; M age = 21.7 yr., SD = 1.5). Participants were single. Face-to-face interviews indicated that the order of the first 10 important criteria for the women were chastity, virtuous, religion, education, family characteristics, financial resources, job, commitment, social skills, and social prestige; for the men these were physical appearance, chastity, education, family characteristics, virtuous, religion, personality traits, social skills, housekeeping, and commitment and financial resources.     

Empathic accuracy of intimate partners in violent versus nonviolent relationships

This study compared the empathic accuracy of men and women who had perpetrated physical intimate partner violence with that of partners in nonviolent but distressed and nonviolent and nondistressed relationships. Examined was the empathic accuracy (a) of partners for one another’s thoughts and feelings during a relationship problem discussion in the laboratory, (b) of partners’ empathic accuracy for each other with the empathic accuracy of objective observers who watched the couples’ interactions, and (c) the males’ empathic accuracy for their female partner to their empathic accuracy for female strangers. No significant group differences were found among women’s empathic accuracy, but the data suggest that violent men exhibit poor empathic accuracy when attempting to understand their female partner’s thoughts and feelings.     

A hybrid neutrosophic multiple criteria group decision making approach for project selection

The project selection is one of the most important phases of a project life cycle. The project selection is considered as a Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) problem. This research aims to study the integration between Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) into Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) under neutrosophic environment to provide a new technique for making a decision regarding the choice of appropriate project (project selection) as one of the most important phases of the project life cycle. Projects are selected by comparing them against many criteria. Criteria are evaluated based on expert’s opinion. Sometimes experts cannot give reliable information due to the non-deterministic environment. The neutrosophic set theory will be used to handle and overcome the ambiguity or lack of confirmation of information. The criteria are weighted by DEMATEL, then the best project alternative is selected using TOPSIS. In the proposed model, each pairwise comparison judgments is symbolized as a trapezoidal neutrosophic number. Experts will focus only on (n − 1) judgments for n alternatives to overcome the difficulties of [(n * (n − 1))/2] consistence judgments in case of increasing number of alternatives. A numerical example is developed to show the validation of the suggested model in the neutrosophic environment.     

Experimental tests of the mean-variance model for portfolio selection

Statistically knowledgeable male and female undergraduate students participated in 40 portfolio selection problems with monetary payoff contingent on performance. The portfolio selection task included two independent risky assets with normally distributed returns. It provided access to information about previous returns, allowed borrowing and lending at a fixed interest rate, and forced on each decision period a choice between the two risky assets. The findings show a high percentage of inefficient mean-variance portfolios which does not decrease with practice, a high rate of requests for useless information, a large frequency of switches between the two risky assets, and sequential dependencies. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are briefly discussed.     

Further examination of factors that influence preference for positive versus negative reinforcement

Factors that influence choice between qualitatively different reinforcers (e.g., a food item or a break from work) are important to consider when arranging treatments for problem behavior. Previous findings indicate that children who engage in problem behavior maintained by escape from demands may choose a food item over the functional reinforcer during treatment (DeLeon, Neidert, Anders, & Rodriguez-Catter, 2001; Lalli et al., 1999). However, a number of variables may influence choice between concurrently available forms of reinforcement. An analogue for treatment situations in which positive reinforcement for compliance is in direct competition with negative reinforcement for problem behavior was used in the current study to evaluate several variables that may influence choice. Participants were 5 children who had been diagnosed with developmental disabilities and who engaged in problem behavior maintained by escape from demands. In the first phase, the effects of task preference and schedule of reinforcement on choice between a 30-s break and a high-preference food item were evaluated. The food item was preferred over the break, regardless of the preference level of the task or the reinforcement schedule, for all but 1 participant. In the second phase, the quality of the break was manipulated by combining escape with toys, attention, or both. Only 1 participant showed preference for the enriched break. In the third phase, choice of a medium- or low-preference food item versus the enriched break was evaluated. Three of 4 participants showed preference for the break over the less preferred food item. Results extend previous research by identifying some of the conditions under which individuals who engage in escape-maintained behavior will prefer a food reinforcer over the functional one.     

A developmental cross-sectioning of women's careers and marriage attitudes and life plans

A new cultural imperative, “marriage and a career,” is probably emerging. This conclusion is based on study of a random sample of 180 women (60 each) in junior high, high school, and college. Amazing consistency appeared in this cross-sectioning of women's attitudes toward Education, Occupation, Marriage, and life Plans. The cultural imperative “to marry” was present at age 12, but by adulthood, the biological surge for early marriage had been passed and/or fulfilled, and career emerged as part of a life pattern. As young women develop they become more liberal in their attitudes and desires about work, which can now be fulfilled because of the relaxing cultural interdiction against married women working.     

Increase in arab women's perceived power in the second half of life

An increase in perceived power in midlife was demonstrated among 60 middle-class Arab women in Israel. 20 of the women were young (age 20–40) 20 were middle aged (45–55) and 20 were older (60–80). Perceived power was studied using card 4 of the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT). The TAT stories were rated on three dimensions of perceived power: security, inner strength, and interpersonal influence. Results indicate that the young Arab women ranked lowest in security and inner strength. There was a bigger difference between the young women and the two other groups than between the middle-aged and older women. In addition, all three groups, while describing men as having more interpersonal power and security, still described women as having more inner strength.The authors wish to thank Latifa Manzur and Anat Zohar-Aizen, students at Tel-Aviv University, for their help in the data collection.     

Relative versus absolute measures of explicit attitudes: Implications for predicting diverse attitude-relevant criteria

The authors report 4 studies exploring a self-report strategy for measuring explicit attitudes that uses "relative" ratings, in which respondents indicate how favorable or unfavorable they are compared with other people. Results consistently showed that attitudes measured with relative scales predicted relevant criterion variables (self-report of behavior, measures of knowledge, peer ratings of attitudes, peer ratings of behavior) better than did attitudes measured with more traditional "absolute" scales. The obtained pattern of differences in prediction by relative versus absolute measures of attitudes did not appear to be attributable to differential variability, social desirability effects, the clarity of scale-point meanings, the number of scale points, or overlap with subjective norms. The final study indicated that relative measures induce respondents to consider social comparison information and behavioral information when making their responses more than do absolute measures, which may explain the higher correlations between relative measures of attitudes and relevant criteria.     

Professional knowledge for policy discourse: Argumentation versus reasoned selection of proposals

Public policy analysis, a profession aimed at knowledge transfer, gives advice concerning public decisions. It can also recommend styles of reasoning, for citizens as well as analysts, to decrease the likelihood of misutilization of knowledge. These recommendations are more appropriate for an early stage of discourse reasoned proposal selection, than for the later stage of persuasion. Duncan MacRae, Jr. is William Rand Kenan, Jr. Professor of Political Science and Sociology at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27514. He has written extensively on the foundations of public policy analysis, includingThe Social Function of Social Science (1976),Policy Analysis for Public Decisions (1979), with James A. Wilde, andPolicy Indicators (1985).